Something I'd really, really appreciate seeing is better indication of the EFFECTS damage is having on my ships.
1) If steering is damaged, I'd like some indication of WHAT that damage has done to my ship's ability to turn.
2) If engines are damaged, again, some indication of WHAT that damage is doing to my ship's max speed.
3) Does fire cause damage over time? its hard to tell.
I get that not knowing EXACTLY what damage is doing to a ship is part of the "fog-of-war" but as a gamer and mariner the lack of information is killing me.
Like, in the event of a steering hit a tag indicating "limited to port" or "locked to starboard" would be a nice feature and would aid in managing multiple battle damaged vessels.
As someone who has been a commercial sailor for the last few years, in the event of a steering failure the helmsman and the bridge crew will rapidly try to assess the limits of their maneuvering control so the conning officer will be able to make intelligent conning commands. The bridge/captain may not know exactly what is going on with a ship's maneuvering in the heat of the moment, but there will be some idea passed along.
Similarly, engine damage/flooding/hull damage, there's some feedback in the vessel portraits about a negatively impacted speed, which is great, but without better (/more obvious) control of when those portraits are displayed, it is hard to know what a particular ship's limits or even get a good sense of them.
In short, I'd really appreciate simple visual indicators giving a very general idea about damage effects, and I'd actually find it really cool if it took any where from half a minute to several minutes for the vessel's "crew" to assess and report that damage effect.
Also, I'm very unclear as to how much damage fires do to a ship.
THIS IS MAKING THIS GAME UNPLAYABLE FOR ME. Please make it toggle-able, I find it extraordinarily hard to focus on the game at less that x2 speed, to the point I get bored during DD vs TB duels at close range and log off. Additionally, I find the unanticipated speed change to be jarring.