Lester Eberle

Note on torpedoes. Until late in WWII (earlier for the Japanese) torpedoes that were fired had a high percentage of duds. Currently, any torpedoed hit detonates. This was due to the very high cost of testing torpedoes which navies preferred to spend elsewhere. Advances in tech tree could allow for improved detonations in time. Also, beware of making torpedoes too powerful, especially as targeting small craft is very hard to hit, and all weapons must be currently targeted at one ship. Otherwise you will end up with a Jutland type paranoia where admirals flee at the mere hint of a torpedoes attack. This would negatively impact the playability of the game. Note on fire control. Visual ranges can be very short. Due to the curvature of the earth, the horizon is not far away and large ships will appear to rise above the horizon close by. This does show the importance of spotting towers as the increased hight allows for a greater visual range and is highly important. Review comments by Engilsh officers and spotters at Jutland. However, range finders did make a difference in she'll accuracy (again, different nations having different tech) once that spotting occurred. It would be great if there was one tower and spotting tech for secondary weapons and torpedoes (perhaps the aft tower which would allow for dual targeting) and the primary tower and spotting tech for the mains. Note on tech. Nations for various reasons were nation centric in their tech and rarely copied other countries even when the other nations tech was proved superior. Some was copied, but by no means all. I recal that the ineffectual spotting tech of the English to the German in WWI was not changed because a retired Admiral was the one promoting the poor tech and used his influence to line his pockets at the expense of his nation. It would be a nice touch if a ship's design was limited by the tech of the nation they represent.