Cruiser Hulls & Towers

[Shiki]

As noted in another post, we are sorely lacking in new, unique hull models for the majority of what is possibly the most important and diverse type of ships one can represent in this game: cruisers. Whether heavy or light, armoured or protected, semi-armoured or scout, we have practically nothing for this important type of warship (for the sake of convenience we're ignoring the battle- prefix). They are your fleet screeners, your reconnaissance, your commerce escorts and their raiders, your destroyer leaders and the ones responsible for driving them off.

This following list is what I believe to be the absolute minimum necessary to bring this class some sorely-needed life. Note that most of these would go into the 'CA' category, thanks to the 'CL' category in UA:D being mostly relegated to pre-1929 European-type light cruisers and later-era destroyer leaders. I've prioritized historical ships that can be be rebuilt as class members or derivatives in order to make the most use of the proposed hulls and their respective towers. I will include eras of availability where I feel it's necessary.

Honestly, this post could be seen as a companion for this shameless plug, since it would make it much easier on the developers to leave the gun designing and balance to the player - "balancing" in a single player game? Really? - and moreover would make some of these more possible.

Imperial Russia / USSR

• Svetlana — Available from 1910-1920.
• Kirov — Available from 1925-1935.
• Sverdlov — Available in 1936 onward.
• "Super-Sverdlov" — Slightly up-sized variant of the hull and towers which can take 8in / 203 mm artillery mounts. Available in 1936 onward.

USA

One of the best things about the U.S.'s cruisers in regards to UA:D is how most classes are similar to or directly derived from one another- for instance, all of their wartime cruisers derived directly from the Treaty-era Brooklyn type, with Wichita being a direct offshoot of their general design and Baltimore being an 'improved Wichita', and Cleveland being a St. Louis (a subclass of Brooklyn) with one of the turrets deleted in favor of moving the superstructure slightly forward and accommodating two more 5"/38 twins.

• Omaha — Available from 1912 onward.
• Pensacola — Available from 1920 onward.
• Generic Treaty CA (Northampton through New Orleans all look the same) — Available from 1930 onward.
• Brooklyn / Wichita — Available from 1936 onward.
• Cleveland / Baltimore — Available from 1938 onward.

Japan

• Yūbari (the original- not the abomination we have currently) — Available in the CL category from 1920 onward.
• Myōkō — Available from 1920-1934.
• Takao — Available from 1930 onward.
• Takao Kai — Slightly enlarged variant of the hull for the proposed "Takao Kai" variant, cancelled by the 1930 London treaty. Available from 1936 onward.
• Mogami (you can make Tone off Mogami's hull, but not Mogami off Tone) — Available from 1936 onward.
• Agano — Available from 1936 onward.

France

• Lamotte-Picquet — Available from 1910-1920.
• Suffren — Available from 1925 onward.
• Algérie — Available from 1930 onward.
• La Galissonnière — Available from 1936 onward.
• 'Enlarged La Gal' — Representative of the De Grasse & C5-class cruisers cancelled due to the German invasion, available from 1936 onward.

Germany

• Emden (1920s) — Available from 1920-1935.
• Königsberg — Available from 1925 onward.
• Admiral Hipper — Available from 1936 onward.

Great Britain

• E (Emerald) class — Available from 1914-1922.
• Hawkins — Available from 1920-1928.
• County (Kent through Northampton) — Available from 1925 onward.
• Leander / Arethusa — Available from 1930 onward.
• Town (Gloucester through Edinburgh) — Available from 1936 onward.
• "Admiral class" — Slightly enlarged Town hull to be able to accept heavy cruiser-calibre artillery.

China

• Ning Hai & Ping Hai — Available from 1925 onward in the CL category.

While many of these are early-to-late interwar or WWII-era cruisers, unfortunately, I don't have much in the way of documentation and photographs for WWI-era cruisers that hasn't already been shared. If you feel like there are valuable additions to these proposals that I've missed, feel free to comment on them.

[davidt_man]

you left off the Atlanta with its triple super firing forward battery. 

 

[HistoricalAccuracyMan]

I don't know if it would be worth mentioning or considering...but what about the Tone class heavy cruisers from Japan? I realize that they were designed to be scout cruisers with float plane catapults on the rear, which led to their 4 twin turrets being all on the front of the ship, but it's an interesting cruiser design no less.

[Commander Reed]

Yes, we need all of this!

[RedParadize]

I would prefer having more generic part all across the board... There is a cruel lack of CA/BC parts from 1905 to 1920. Not to mention that balancing all the existing ones before that would be a great idea.