Again, I'm asking for less information.

[Sonar]

I responded to a comment from Stealth about asking for a predeployment screen. It's copied below. 

 

 

 

I don't think we need a deployment screen.  The game should be setting up realistic formations for you.

What we need are better AI, better formation AI, better individual AI, and AI that can take into account the entire fleet around it when it's moving ships around or firing torpedos. 

Heck, use how they would have actually done it in real life as a template.

I don't know if people understand how difficult it actually is to change formations, particularly when the enemy is being engaged.  

How about the player can set predefined formations that the game would use when able?  Then you get your spacing and all that, but you don't get the ability to put your ships exactly where they would be most effective because in real life that would almost never happen.

I mean... We already get all the information on our and enemy ships down to the last shell and exactly how fast they are moving.  We can always find the enemy fleet even with just "smoke spotted". Who needs a radar? 

Right now the game is a puzzle to be solved, not an exciting naval battle.  Let's have some factors still be random please?

 

 

***

 Expanding on that puzzle comment:

 

Why do we need all the exact time information in game?  Doesn't it take away from the feel of an actual fight I'd all the blanks are filled in?  Why does my side know the exact specifications for the enemy shop down to the last bolt and 2 inch shell?

 

Why do I know the exact speed that ship 10k away is moving in 1895?

 

This takes away from the game, I already know how any given battle will play out because I have perfect information.  

 

Do most historical fights always have one side wiped by the other?  Or does one side withdraw because they aren't sure how they are doing?

 

I fear in the interest of "accuracy" this game is missing what actually makes it fun.

 

Can we reduce the feedback please? 

[Wowzery]

I will admit, in the campaign I always auto-resolve the battles.  I view myself as the Secretary of the Navy, not Fleet Admiral.  I think even if I viewed myself as Fleet Admiral I'd pick one battle to do the rest auto-resolve as even an admiral can't be present at every battle.  Just my quirk while playing.

[Sphere]

Pre-deployment would be nice, but improving the automatic fleet deployment would also help the AI be more effective in battle. It won't be a fun game if the player gets to perfectly build ships, task forces, and fleet formations while the AI is hopeless.

 

 

[HistoricalAccuracyMan]

To be fair though, some of those problems would be remedied by tech upgrades or (in real life anyways) repeated sightings of that ship/espionage.

Why do you know the speed of that ship 10km away in 1895? Maybe because you have the technology to measure and plot it's course and speed or your crew knows how to do it? (I realize that in UAD, the year 1895 gives you very little to work with as far as technology goes, but if you just spec into the same research categories it's technically possible to obtain those upgrades)

Why do you know some exact details about that enemy ship? Maybe because the war has been dragging on for a few years and you've seen that ship repeatedly (so you would know what ships can/can't catch it (speed), the roughly estimated range of it's guns (what size guns can shoot that far) and you can identify it faster)? Your spies have reported back? Before they were your enemy, maybe that nation boasted about/showed off their new ship design?

I realize that a lot of this stuff isn't in UAD at the moment (espionage, ship identification charts, ship building secrecy or lack thereof, etc) but much of what is in-game at least has a basis in reality.

And I would argue that unless you were in a situation where your 1930s super BB is fighting some 1895 bath toy armed with 10" guns, you won't know how any engagement will play out. For example, an enemy torpedo hits the very front of my ship, at least a quarter of the ship away from the nearest gun turret, and I get an ammo detonation which leads to a flash fire that sinks my ship. If I have anti-torp V, barbette IV, triple bottom hull, double reinforced bulkheads, the safest propellant and bursting charge available and the All-or-Nothing armor scheme...why is a single 21" torpedo from a 1250 ton DD giving my 105,000 ton battleship the "full HMS Hood experience?" Nothing in UAD is a forgone conclusion unless you have something like a 10 (or more) year tech difference.