Rick W

Just be patient gents... Its all good. This is going to be a long road. Enjoy the ride and stop asking "Are we there yet? Are we there yet?"

If all Game Development teams were as client oriented, forthcoming, involved with, and considerate of their targeted clientele, the gaming industry would be infinitely superior to what it is and has been. I have already noted that many of the early posters that loudly and aggressively tried to push this project towards a Mass Multi Player, World of Warshits clone have pretty much gone silent and disappeared. Now maybe we can get on with helping the devs in building the legitimate 1890-1945 Surface Combat sim that they clearly intended and has been so painfully lacking in the PC wargaming genre.

It appears someone has COMPLETELY missed the focus of this project.... And since he opened the door, that comes from someone who was probably alpha and beta testing software before the original poster was born. At least he wished us success... and I'm sure we will have it. Without Mass Multiplayer, but perhaps with a limited Player v Player for those who enjoy it.

If voices are ever added, which I doubt will happen, PLEASE give us the option to completely turn them OFF.

Found answer. They will fix soon.

Has a work around been found and status of fix? I didn't see it listed in the Alpha-3 fix list...

Not if the primary target is within the range of the secondary guns as well as the main battery. If it is, then they fire at the primary which is completely wrong. I can't count the times my primary target has been within say, 5" range (roughly 11K) and the secondary 5" has held to the main target (which the can neither hit consistently nor hurt in the slightest) while 2 or 3 DD's or Torpedo Boats have closed unfired at to within torpedo firing range. That is what secondaries are for... to protect the ship from closer in enemies, not to engage distant primary targets unless they have nothing else closer to shoot at. This HAS to be fixxed.

Congrats!!!!

Like Fishy, I see the 1939-1945 era as just a segment, roughly 1/4 to 1/5 of the planned destination of this product, yet all many people seem to go on about is Carriers and Aircraft. They form little to no part of the bulk of the time period that is being modeled here. The product is called 'Dreadnoughts' for a reason, but many of those here seem to be missing the logic of that and what it implies... This product is about ship to ship Surface Combat. Nothing in the developer descriptions or comments have indicated anything beyond that. Since we are just in a very early Alpha state, discussion about anything beyond getting the core basics of this product 100% right and forming a strong base from which to move on to more complex game and combat systems (Aircraft, Subs, Carriers, Shore Batteries and such or Head to head and limited Multi Player options) way down the road is extremely premature. Nor does it help the Devs solve the current significant issues that need to be corrected long before they go down those other roads. Until the Damage Models, the Damage Control Models, the Secondary/Terrtiary gun issues and even simple things like a ship firing at enemies on both sides of it rather than letting one enemy calmly cruise down one side and blast away as though he wasn't even there while only the guns on one side engage and the guns on the other side remain silent... Or the AI blindly and stupidly firing 5" guns at the main battery selected target 10 Kilometers away while 2 or 3 DD's or Torpedo Boats close to within a a couple kilometers to launch torpedos unmolested. At this stage, there are a large number of flaws and failings, some major and some minor, that are FAR more important than what many of the posts are throwing out there. The AI as it stands is nearly clueless about standard and correct naval combat tactics at this stage of development. They are still working on getting ships to move correctly. Despite that, many of the posts are about things that as yet are not even notes on a yellow sticky pad in the cubicles of the developers... More constructive observations on what currently exists and less blah blah blah on what as yet has no relevance to the product might go a long ways towards getting to the things you want added later...

I am desperately hoping that given this design studio's ultra high quality track record with 'UG: Gettysburg' and 'UG:Civil War', that they will produce a solid, single player and head to head player product with accurate technical specs, a creative campaign and a powerful, fully customizable editor. This product is in its Alpha infancy and already many here want to turn it into something it does not appear to be intended to be...

Certainly they were used in enough historical ships and in many' never built' designs to warrant their inclusion in the not too distant future... Rick W

I just want a simple, solid, technically accurate naval surface combat game circa 1898-1945. No bells, no whistles, no Massive Mullti Player. Accurate models of actual ships in addition to the shipyard creation types or at least the standard style parts of a broad range of actual ships so we can create them. A start to finish Campaign with shorter sub-Campaigns ( Spanish American War, Russo Japanese War. WWI, 20's-30's What If, WWII ) and above all, a powerful, fully customizable Battle/Campaign Editor to create our own battles and campaigns to allow us to play the game the way each individual chooses to play it! Head to head play with up to 10 players would be cool. Rick W

Until they stuff your hull with those pesky torpedoes And if you don't sink the little bastards, they will do just that.

Come on! You can do it! Blast those little pests to Davy Jones locker! Admitedly, it is a very frustrating fight. Think it took me 8 or 9 tries and winning it took a rather cowardly approach. Somehow I don't think David Farragut would have been impressed, but his 'Damn the Torpedoes' tactics just don't work on this one... Rick W

Then I stand on my bridge wing and salute you, Sir! What was your last scenario to beat? Mine was 'Destroyers vs Torpedo Boats'. Rick W

Didn't think I'd ever beat those 10 damn Torpedo Boats!

The DD had just been hit. The Sunk notification displayed and ... Well, you can see the rest...

Thank you for the update on the patch, Nick! So far this has been one awesome product and given the early development stage, well, lets just say we all have a lot to look forward to!!! Rick W

Reading's really not your strong suit is it? I asked ABOUT it, not FOR it. There is a huge difference. Nor did I make any reference as to WHEN they might do anything... And for some one who joined this group 16 hours ago, your opinion is not worth the kilobytes it takes up on the server. Lastly, since all I have done to date is praise the heck out of the Dev's and their product, I feel no compuntion about telling you to get lost...

I have refrained from any but my initial 6 hour observations and concentrated on getting truly comfortable with the manuver and fire components currently present. While I still do not like the ship navigation design structure, I am getting used to it. The lack of a compass rosette with 360 degree headings to set specifically for individual divisions or single ships makes for a less than ideal way of aligining ships, particularly ones not in the same division. Some ships within a division (particularly divisions of 3 or more ships) have a strange tendancy to head off to parts unknown on a whim for reasons unknown. For the time being, I'll put this down to a bug of some sort. However, it is more that a bit disconcerting to be charging into battle with 3 or 4 DD's or TB's in line ahead and after going 3 or 4 kilometers looking back to find either the 3rd or 4th in line well on its way to San Francisco for some R&R... The most bizarre thing I have seen to date is a BB of probably WWI era tech taking fourteen ( yes, thats 14) torpedo hits and her damage chart showing her as not so much as having sprung a leak. Not even a single popped rivet to create a new drinking fountain for the black gang. Now I know that torpedos of the period were small with limited hitting power, but after setting up a brilliant 2 DD torpedo attack and working my way in to less than a kilometer to release and watching the ships side torn open stem to stern like a soda can meeting up with a chainsaw, I found it somewhat disheartening to watch her continue on as if a school of herring had run into her by accident. I took it in stride and proceeded to my cabin to don my best dress uniform and returned to the bridge to await the inevitable salvo of 14" shells at close range obliterating all trace of my pathetic failure. I didn't have long to wait... I have started a list of questions ( beyond 'Why didn't my 14 torpedos turn that ship into so much scrap metal on the sea bed?')... 1. Where is the 'Help Manual' in the files on my system? I would VERY much like to print it out in its entirety and put it in a binder. 2. Will you be creating a DLC of most or all actual, historical ships from the periods this game currently covers? In otherwords, will we have the ability to use visually correct models of most of the real ships like Mikasa, Potemkin, Derfflinger, Tiger, Hood, Graf Spee, Fuso, Scharnhorst, Oklahoma, Houston, De Ruyter, Helena, Atlanta, Fubuki, Fletcher etc. etc. etc. on ad infinitum? 3. Will we be able to name the ships we create and build in the campaign? 4. Will a DLC campaign that is purely historical beginning with say the Russo-Japanese war and running through the end of WWII be available with the ability to choose which country you will control? 5. Will we be able to have 'Naval Architects File Room' to save and store our own designs? All in all, I stand on my bridge wing and snap a sharp salute to the design team for what has been done to date. Having been part of numerous pre-Alpha and Alpha sims, I can honestly say this one is the most polished at this stage I have yet seen! Rick W

I've spent about 6 hours with the game so far. My initial impressions is that you have the basis for a truly outstanding series. Thank you for the early release and the invitation to add player input... I fully realize that this is in a very early devlopment stage and as such the following are in no way criticisms, merely initial thoughts... VERY Early Observations: 1. Stunning ship/environmental modeling in 'fantastic' mode 2. Excessivly (very excessively IMHO) fussy and rather confusing ship/division (particularly division) navagational orders system. Far more complex than needed. I would much rather see a basic down-view 360 compass with the simple ability to click on the desired ship or divisional leading ship heading with an added single click for Line Ahead, Line Abreast or Line Staggered aft of the lead ship port or starboard. This aspect of the game is so far the only one I genuinely dislike. 3. AI Auto Targeting is highly questionable. BB/BC Main battery guns should be engaging the nearest similar large 'threat' type vessels, while seconday batteries and terrtiary weapons should engage the nearest smaller threats. So far I am seeing Auto Targeting turning ALL a ships armarment on the nearest enemy vessel, regardless of size, more often than not. Ships do not seem to be 'dividing their fire' at the appropriate targets.... ie. Main armarment at BB/BC targets, secondary armament to closer CA/CL/DD targets... As a further observation to this, ships weaponsry seems to remain on a target until it is devestated into oblivion rather than shifting to more dangerous and less damaged ships. 4. Large caliber shell splashes could be taller and of greater 'water volume'. 5. The initial damage model seems too forgiving with regard to ship systems continuing to operate. I have noted ships that are blazing end to end, flooding and essentially devestated still firing consitent salvos and scoring hits. This seems to be not in keeping with naval battle after action reports from the 1890's pre-dreadnaughts right up through WWII. Turrets seem extremely resilient, but were in fact, quite easy to disable even when not destroyed. I won't make any suggestions as to what features you are probably already working on that are as yet not present. Suffice it to say I am thrilled with what you have done so far and will await each new build with anticipation! Thank you for bring back a genre of sim that has been brutally ignored over the past 20 years since 1999's SSI 'Fighting Steel' (a wonderful, fully featured, well designed, yet simple sim that captured naval surface combat almost perfectly). Rick West

I updated to 1.25 and now I can not maually detach skirmishers. Is this intentional? Or is something amiss??