Littorio

Yes, come to think of it. Where the hell is the Kiel Canal? That was of prime importance for the German Navy precisely because ships didn't have to sail all the way around Denmark.

"Can you really take that away?" Yes....yes I can. A smaller ship, such as a TB, can change course and speed faster than a large target. That is how it survives. Use them in fog, rough weather, etc. to take advantage of the much reduced visibility of larger ships (though given the completely utter lack of visuals in the game that show these conditions we're in a depressing place in this regard). Even so, for the sake of argument under perfect conditions, just because my hypothetical BB can see a given TB, doesn't mean she is going to hit it. A TB swarm is still dangerous. Smaller vessels shouldn't get some kind of "survivability buff" as you say just because they are "small and easier to kill" so to speak. As I said above, that isn't necessarily true if used properly given the prevailing tactical conditions. Are you actually arguing in favor of this current, ridiculous spotting system with it's complete lack of bearings?

CVs should not be considered for a LONG time. That is absolutely a last step for this game, like, something to do finished before the game is completely done. This is about battleships, period. Carriers have a million other games about them, and I for one don't mind not dealing with airpower for awhile. There are too many other things that need fixing/creating before we even think about carriers. Also, the current "smoke sighted" system is garbage and floatplanes could give you a precise location or at least a definite bearing, as opposed to one of eight very vague compass points... Campaign bonuses would be nice.

Yes, you don't want to build anything more complicated on a shaky foundation. This just leads to bigger problems down the road when your later systems start to interact with the earlier issues in unforeseen ways causing a cascade of failures. While I wouldn't really say the entire game is on a shaky foundation, certain elements are, anmely as well have said multiple times: missions being generated that the AI retreats from immediately, in-battle spotting, weather/time of day/sea state graphics (which will help get a handle on the previous two issues), and the merchant system. Well here I think you are viewing the point of this initial campaign wrong. Yes, it is "provisional" and will change. Obviously once more countries are added, the UK vs. Germany dynamic becomes much less important. But this current campaign serves as a testbed for all later mechanics and changes. If Britain vs. just Germany can't be balanced, what happens when the Royal Navy needs to be in the Med against Italy at the same time, or against France for that matter? Will ships magically leave Malta and Alexandria and pop up in one turn in Scapa Flow? What about France? It will have to have Atlantic and Mediterranean fleets. The campaign dynamic needs to optimized now before it is expanded to other areas. If you don't see anything else wrong then I suggest you poke around the forums more. From port shuffling among ships, to nonsensical missions generated with no obvious strategic value or sense, to lack of intelligence on fleet disposition. Though i do agree the torpedo hits can seem a bit magnetic at time, well before such detonators existed. Agreed, Baltic Russia is a good start. Full Russia will only come into play when they get around to China and Japan and want to do the whole Russo-Japanese War thing (which I am looking forward too)

To me, this is where the current system goes out the window, most especially in the early ears. If someone is shelling you, how can they be invisible? You need a visual on them. At the very least, we should be able to "detect" some classification of vessel based on the trajectory of the shells and possibly their caliber. As it stands now, you can get magically shelled out of nowhere and your "spotters" don't pick up anything, not even a bearing on the incoming fire....

I know I only "got" one when I had sunk a lot of the enemy, so I would hypothesize that you need to do serious damage to them in order to outnumber their forces sufficiently. Of course...the super-duper 1890s magic radar they had meant they all turned around and fled for the whole "strike" so i never got to actually engage anyone...

Agreed. I am trying to get away from their monopoly if possible...granted without much success but hey... And yeah this seems a bit weird. The campaign needs more polishing before release on Steam. Unless they have a truly huge patch they have been hiding this will get eaten alive...

Very interesting indeed. I will have to consider this info in my designs.

Correct me if I am badly mistaken, but I feel that 3-4" early is a good minimum for CLs, and 5-8" for CAs (belt that is)? What kind of fore and aft schemes do you use? Conning Tower? What kind of guns do you try and proof against and at what ranges?

No, do you?

I was wondering about all those offsets...

Precisely to all of the above. It's getting late in my war and the Brits are running out of ships, so of the last 20 or so battles I've chosen (or been forced by the campaign) to fight, I only made visual contact in about 2-3. The vast majority of the time the AI just immediately does an about face using it's magic 50km 1895 super-radar and vanishes while I putt around chasing "smoke" on 10x speed for 5 a minutes a pop. Multiply that by 17 or 18 and we're at almost 2 hours of IRL time just steaming around an empty map "battle after battle." I get that the AI needs to be cautious, especially when it is losing the war and has few ships left, but as it's been said, they shouldn't even have an option to "fight" the battle then. Just flee on the CAMPAIGN layer. This current system has no net benefit for anyone. It isn't a case of "realism vs. fun gameplay." It's not realistic AND it's not fun. No one wins in any fashion and it really drags down what would be an otherwise enjoyable campaign. Some examples: first my above photo finding my nemesis HMS Resolution. No contact made with anything...Then another off Cork! No contact made with anyone. Finally, it seems we all followed them into the Bay of Biscay...and you guessed it no contact, pure 10x all the way as they retreat. This is WITHOUT even getting into the deeper logic behind the mission generator such as WHY HMS Resolution, one of their precious battleships, was operating alone in a losing, late-war scenario behind the Danish Straits all the way over by Gotland (how on Earth did she even get there without being detected at the start of the Baltic!?). Or why the hell they sortied into the Bay of Biscay of all places. Or for the matter, how my same four cruisers seemingly chased this ship from Gotland to Bordeaux and back, bases be damned.

AI behavior on when to flee or fight needs a lot of balancing...

Well well well, lookee here boys. See what I found sailing alone in the wrong neighborhood? Updates on the saga to come (though why she is alone in the Baltic is just beyond me...)

Smoke needs to rendered, and we also need bearings desperately. The format should be along the lines of: "Ship Spotted Bearing 0-4-9 Long Range!" Just play some Silent Hunter or Destroyer Command to see what I mean.

I agree with this. It should throttle down to normal speed when detection is made, that way you can figure out the appropriate speed to proceed with given the range at which the enemy is.

Absolutely, this is the biggest issue we have right now. It kills the UX because it drains our time chasing enemies that cheat and see through the literal fog of war to flee. Intel and scouting are desperately needed, and not just for the actual tactical engagements. We also need intelligence strategically to know what to build! "Oh great, I have 5in of armor on my cruiser. Is that enough? Hell if i know since I can't see even estimates of enemy gun capabilities..."

1. I agree, Examples would be many Italian vessels full of portals, such as, you guessed it, Littorio. 2. Yes, formations aren't always very easy to wield when threats are inbound. I think there is some sort of evasion logic when they detect torps as part of a formation, but i will have to see. 3. For Custom Battles and such, yes that would be cool, but I think it is a low priority right now given all the campaign work that must be done. 4. True, that should be possible 5. Also agree 6. Perhaps...as it stands right now idk, but maybe later. I know the Japanese used colored dyes in their shells to help avoid this issue, and later on, radar systems helped as well. 7. Before this can happen I think we need actual weather conditions to finally be visible. This is one of my biggest issues with the current state of the game. We have basically two visual backgrounds...sunny or cloudy, and neither reflect the waves or wind. There is also no real night background. This needs to happen before anything can be toggled for custom battles. 8. That would be nice indeed. 9. No objection 10. Very much agree. This is about dreadnoughts after all, which used casemates... 11. i haven't noticed yet, but I agree in principle 12. Intriguing proposition 13. Could be useful, but UI changes impacting UX to such a degree need to be tested a lot first 14. Absolutely 15. Agreed 16. I don't think you are giving the campaign enough credit. All those goodies will come, but what we have is still very interesting. My issues are not with it per say, but in the components of it: how enemies are detected and thus encounters generated, weather as I explained, etc...

Agreed, solid first start given all the systems that need to be laid down. My biggest complaint has to be how scenarios are generated in which the AI has no intention to fight and retreats without even making contact with you. They should at least have to make contact before running away.

Do you think v96 improved this? Also, does anyone know if munitions costs factor into this, or is it under ship maintenance? Or, is restocking munitions not accounted for as an expense at all in-game?

This is definitely needed. Having to retrack the weapons is annoying when you switch to off to prevent friendly fire or save on shells.

I think Greece and Turkey should be considered too. They might not have many actual big gun units, but they could have a number of solid cruisers and destroyers plus TBs. It would make the Med more interesting to be in for Italy, the UK, France, and Spain.

An excellent suggestion, i agree.

Does anyone have floating component issues in the designer??

I think I saw somewhere that they said a flooding overhaul is in the works.