Experiment: Command station cards

You're right that some orders might be completely useless to me but would be of worth to someone else. We have no limit on cards we can add, but I'd want at least a modicum of playtesting done before I add some.
For the Hard turn one, I'd not make it too complicated, just allow for a second turn with the same restrictions as the first, i.e. you need to have moved 5cm before you can turn.
The others need to be checked for balance issues and overlap with other orders. I don't have any opponents due to the lockdown currently, so my playtesting is lacking. Maybe some others on the forum who still have opponents can be mobilized to give feedback?

Here are the ones that made the cut this far:

Airborne spotter
This order is played as an ADVANCED ACTIVATION instead of a normal gunnery attack activation
Any fleet
3+
‘Before radar became an effective tool, larger ships carried float planes to spot their fall of shot.’
Requires ship with 'Spotter plane' special rule
Select a friendly ship. Even if no hits were scored this activation add a splash marker to the target ship. Cannot be used if the target ship is in range of a patrolling flight.
On failure: The order fails, no added effects.
Critical failure: The order fails, no added effects.

<< I really like this one even though I had to go through the entire database to add spotter planes to all ships that carried them. I always wondered if I should do something with the fact that those planes were carried, and this is the perfect way.>>

Chase the salvos
This order can be played as an ADVANCED ACTIVATION instead of a normal maneuver activation
Any fleet
2+
‘Many captains under long-range gun attack would make violent maneuvers to "chase salvos" i.e., maneuver to the position of the last salvo splashes because it was unlikely that subsequent salvos would strike the position of the previous salvo.’
Small ships only
Select a friendly ship. Remove all enemy splash markers that target the ship.
On failure: The order fails, no added effects.
Critical failure: The order fails, no added effects.

Hard turn
This order can be played as an ADVANCED ACTIVATION instead of a normal maneuver activation
Any fleet
2+
‘Right full rudder!’
Select a friendly ship. It can now make two 90º turns, keeping in mind the normal turning rules.
On failure: The order fails, the ship uses a normal maneuver activation instead.
Critical failure: The order fails, the ships uses a normal maneuver activation instead but the rudder becomes stuck in the direction of the turn.

Anti-air barrage fire
This order can be played as a REACTION to an enemy attack activation
Any fleet
2+
‘Before the introduction of the VT proximity fuze, a common tactic was to saturate a sector with AA fire to create a barrier of fire attacking aircraft had to fly through’
Select a friendly squadron of at least 2 ships. Increase the DP RoF of each ship by 2, but reduce the pwr rating of all AA by 1.
On failure: The order fails, no added effects.
Critical failure: The order fails, reduce the power rating of all AA by 1

Working on more. Most of these were based off of your idea's, so keep them coming

I really like the way you have used and adapted my ideas. Sorry for more work! I was thinking about the emergency stop card and on a successful roll you don't count as being stationary? Also I never saw the turn 180, but use all speed and count as stationary!
I did realise that I had been using adapted tactics wrong this whole time and was allowing for it to negate all activations.... Would it be too powerful like this, like the RN one? Maybe an extra 1 or 2 research for it like this?

Well, adapted tactics already work vs all orders except basic activations. The RN 'Intercepting communications' only works on Timed orders and Advanced activation orders as described in the card. So it already covers more ground. I kind of want to keep basic activations sacred as that would really mess with someones ability to play the game.

Came up with some more:
Stringbags is now Swordfish only
RN Emergency repairs has been simplified into an auto-success of the damage control roll. It now also works for fire or flooding.
'Out of the Blue' Allows an air attack to half the DP AA of one target ship.

I really fail to see why you would want to make a full stop. I also can't remember a single time I read about a ship coming to a full stop on purpose. If we would allow that it would be used mostly to avoid torpedoes, which would be grossly a-historical because it was impossible to come to a full stop in the short time after a torpedo wake would be spotted. Currently the best way to avoid it is to maneuver, which is the historical way to avoid torpedoes. As you have observed there are already rules to handle island collisions and such.

Each time I read the updated version of the rules I spot something I missed all the times before! I was just trying to think of different orders.

In 1.5.9 the US Logistcial Superiority timed command says it should be played in the end phase. Shouldn't it be in the preparations phase instead when support is actually called?

Also found two small typos: Evasive Action and Torpedo Reloads: both have incomplete words in the end of their benefit descriptions: "fol" and "twi".

Interesting, there seems to be a cap on the number of characters I can use after which it just cuts off. I'll rephrase a bit to make it fit. I'll revise all three cards and re-add them to the zip-file. You are correct on the US card also.

Hello, I want to try this game but just noticed this change from command stations to cards. Could the River plate scenario also get an update with some recommendations for these command cards. Trying to sort them all myself proved quite overwhelming and I can't find the previous command stations anymore.

Hello TheSwindler,

I would advise to use the following command station cards for this scenario:

Kriegsmarine:
Fleet special rule
1. All hands on deck
2. Breakout
3. Fatal Hit
4. Krupp armor
5. U-boat threat
6. Airborne spotter (any Fleet)
7. Flank speed (any Fleet)
8. Evasive action (any Fleet)
9. Make Smoke (any Fleet)
10. Stroke of luck (any Fleet)

Royal Navy:
Fleet special rule
1. Brittania rule the waves
2. Emergency repairs
3. England expects every man...
4. Radar fire control
5. Sustained fire training
6. Intercepting communications
7. Evasive action (any Fleet)
8. Flank speed (Any Fleet)
9. Make smoke (Any fleet)
10. Stroke of luck (Any fleet)

In the back of the rulebook you can find a rundown of all the available orders, I hope this helps. You can also experiment with playing with less orders (for newer players) or switch out orders if you find some that are more suitable, but since the fleets are quite small, involve no small ships, subs or aircraft I don't think that there are a lot more options to choose from.