A list of suggestions to improve gameplay- Batch 2

[nightraven1901]

G'day. After a grueling experience of chasing down the British fleet, I have some further suggestions.
 

• Literally never disable the x10 and x30 options, please. I just wasted half an hour or so chasing a lone heavy cruiser with a torpedo cruiser of my own that it clearly didn't want to fight. It felt like an eternity, and it keeps happening. While we're on the subject, a x50 and x100 option wouldn't hurt either for that kinda crap.
• Torpedoes need more information about readiness. I have no idea why the underwater lateral launchers just refuse to work; I can't slow down to give them more time or my attacker will die. I'd like coloured arc lines to be displayed when a launcher type is mouse-overed so I can visually determine when a ship is in range and a World of Warships style targeting line for all launcher-equipped ships when they're selected and have a torpedo target selected, even if the launchers are switched off. I still want all launchers to pre-train when a torpedo target is selected again even when the launchers are switched off. I'd also like to select which launchers to turn on- I'm happy for my ships to lob a bow tube shot almost all the time; it's the deck launchers I want to be more careful with.

 

• I'd like to mount additional bow torpedo tubes underwater. Five to seven seems possible on larger ships. Aft too, though I doubt I'll ever mount that many for any reason beyond having more underwater torpedo ammo- past 1900 ships move too quickly to effectively use stern tubs anyway, unless their arcs are widened as per my earlier request.

 

• My battleships never seem to fight. I spent hours making the design and the AI just never uses them. I want to use my battleships, please. I imagine the task force system will fix it, but the footage I've seen from let's players looks awful... Victory points awarded to the wrong party, task forces can't engage other ones even though they're within spitting distance of each other, and direct assaults on ports seems impossible. Further, I'd like more starting options for campaigns- adjusting ship build times globally, a slider to adjust naval budgets for all parties, separate sliders to boost or reduce each nation's relative strength (a la Hearts of Iron), and special campaign options to block certain ship types or configurations would also be nice (so I can just stop nations using 120 torpedo heavy cruisers, for instance), etcetera.

 

• I despise the lack of backwards compatibility for techs as it stands. I would like a button for "display outdated techs" for all circumstances, please.

 

• Please increase sonar detection range. If the module system is implemented, then having multiple mounts stack would be nice.

 

• Torpedoes are dang near invisible. This is good and realistic- but spotted torpedoes should have tracks outlined in red with a separate warning (with audio) for torpedoes on course to impact a friendly non-transport ship would not just be nice, it's nearly necessary. I can't even see the warning when I have seven plus one-ship divisions to handle... I need to know when a ship is actually in danger, please. If the avoid torpedoes button worked for single ships, that'd help a lot, but further warning is desired.

 

• I would like to specialise each weapon on a ship. If only my main armament needs more ammo, I want an option to make that change without increasing every weapon's ammo load, with reduced penalties for partial increases. Same goes for torpedoes. I seldom run out of underwater torpedoes, but my deck launchers need more ammo. My interception destroyers with one quintuple and one single launcher could do with more rounds for the single launcher, but the quintuple is fine with one reload. Similarly, bow-mounted launchers on cruisers often need a few extra reloads but stern launchers are normally fine with one.

 

• I would like to specialise each weapon's role and configuration. We should be discounted in money and weight for turrets with smaller firing arcs as they're simpler to build and require less resources. I would like to specialise weapons to focus on range, rate-of-fire, damage, and turret traverse rate separately, with appropriate penalties and trade-offs. My main guns need electro-hydro treatment, my secondaries normally do not. Same goes for barbettes. I don't care if my super-battleship has a two-inch secondary ammunition explosion, a twenty-inch ammunition explosion is less tolerable.

 

• Many  towers and some hulls have perfectly good firing positions I can't use. Implementation of my structures idea would solve this- I could sink a barbette into the tower superstructure and mount the desired firepower there. Failing that, please add additional low-calibre secondary mounts to pretty much all towers, and force the engine to allow mounting turrets on raised deck sections which at the moment are utterly unusable.

 

• Would like to add sunken turret mounts in all sizes. Basically, a barbette that takes a small chunk out of the deck to permit the mounting of turrets that don't interfere with their neighbours.

 

• Would like finer control over range, quarters, and other things. Also I would like to mount my towers and funnels wherever I please. I have no idea why, if a secondary tower suffers from smoke interference, why I can't just mount it forward of the dang funnel. No, I don't care if it looks silly; have you seen what it looks like to add a central funnel between those hideous Bismarck-style towers that you've forced upon us on all 1940s heavy German ships? Because it isn't any worse than that. Speaking of, mounting four funnels abeam of each other seem like a perfectly reasonable thing to do. They already do dual funnels, for crying out loud.

 

• Would like a length slider to go with the beam one, for making super-fast but very slow to turn ships. Like battlecruisers.

 

• Would like full underwater torpedo turrets, placeable in underwater torpedo slots on larger ships. If large subs could use them, large surface combatants should be able to as well.

 

• Would like to extend funnels and towers for bonuses.

 

• Would like mounting options for adding small turrets off the side of the hull, like they do on carriers, so my light guns (and possibly AA) can have perfect firing arcs at the expense of roll.

 

• Would like to add a third tower. Because damage control. And also spotting...

 

• Fleet spawn ranges are a bit off. Convoy escorts are a complete crap shoot as to whether you're able to get to your ships to protect them. For the distress call scenario, this is fine, if unfair and arbitrary and poor game design. The range from your transports in this specific case should be based on the rescue ships' speeds. In all other cases- put the dang escorts in the transport formation, where they bloody well would be in reality... It seems that only happens for the AI and it cheats enough...

 

• Please correct victory point calculations. Why is it that I can sink a heavy cruiser, a light cruiser, and two destroyers, along with eight transports, lose one destroyer, and the enemy gets nearly as many victory points as me? It's garbage...

 

• Gun shields should be optional for al weapons. Simply setting their armour values to none should remove the gun shields. Some people want to faithfully recreate real ships, and we can't because of forced gun shields. This also needs to be optional on a per-turret basis; some destroyers had gun shields on their bow turrets but not on their stern ones.

 

• Raking a ship with fire should kill gun crews on secondary weapons. A button to call in and send out secondary gun teams should be added in case you want to turtle up while being barraged by multiple ships but you don't need your secondaries right now (say, because you're on a torpedo attack run).

 

• Please do *something* that stops destroyers and cruisers from being blind...

 

• Smoke sightings and RADAR spotting lines inaccuracy is too great. Please reduce by 50%.

 

• Gun accuracy on a relatively stationary target (one with no transverse velocity and minimal closure or escape speed) should improve gun accuracy. That'll teach the AI for running directly away from my ships!

 

More suggestions to come. I brew then up as I play, so give it time. Also please excuse my poor wording; I am so heavily medicated right now I can literally barely stand...