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I thought the article Gunnery in Great War at Sea: A Designer's Perspective did an excellent job breaking down some of the challenges in portraying the gunnery of the dreadnought period. Obviously Ultimate Admiral is much more granular than GWAS. Having said that, the campaign and battle system of GWAS is often considered the one of the best of all time. This article touches on many of the topics of discussion concerning the accuracy of guns during the period, the effectiveness of secondary armaments and so on that have arisen on this forum recently. Especially of interest to players of Ultimate Admiral are the many well-researched articles on a variety of topics concerning naval warfare and ship design. For example, the two articles on British Pre-Dreadnoughts are an engrossing read. All in all, I think that while computer games allow for more granular simulation than boardgames, the fundamental questions of game design remain largely the same. The ability to use more detailed models in computer gaming can sometimes obscure the fact that there are always choices to be made between 1-to-1 simulation and simplification for playability or accuracy versus authenticity.

Already talked about in Discord, but this will be more permanent. The developers are doing a stellar job and I don't mean any disrespect, but the current technology system is pretty much the worst possible system that could have happened. Why has the dev team abandoned the tried-and-true technology tree and instead tried to reinvent the wheel (and made it square)? I suppose the RNG system was envisioned to add replayability, but it only adds frustration right now as you're given tech you don't want or can't equip anyways. Currently, mostall players go by without ever seeing most technologies. And even with the reroll system, the RNG can screw you over and leave you with technologies you do not have the weight to equip anyways. Players should be given agency in which tech they choose to buy and not be left to the tender mercies of RNG. If balance is an issue, they already have limited finances (for buying tech), shop inventory limits (for researchable weapons), and the weight limits (for ship upgrades). There is a very simple solution to this problem, one already found in another game: Hearts of Iron IV. In HOI4, the earlier you research a technology before the date of its historical discovery, the time it takes to research it grows exponentially. In addition, it uses the conventional tech tree so there are prerequisite technologies. Both prevent cheese strategies by researching certain technologies early on. Change research time to money required to buy, and you have a solution to the technology "bush" you have in this game. Have each tech be tiered to a turn number or date, and increase the cost of high-tier exponentially the earlier you are. You get your balance and a tech tree that doesn't have me replaying the intro mission for an hour so RNG can give me a better roll in technology. P.S. Speaking of upgrades, given that sails are destroyed pretty often, why are sails permanent upgrades? Maybe there should be an unequip cost instead to represent having to tear out the sails. And the weight limits are too strict for hull or sail to be worth it for most combat vessels.