An Unintended Path?

[EvanJones]

I think the game may be powered down a possibly undesirable path. (And it would be easy to fix.) We got a CA v. Cap Ship problem, here.

Currently, if you pass your command check, you can freely add/transfer CLs to a CA division and vice-versa. That makes CAs more useful. Not mentioned in the manual. However, you can only combine CAs and BCs if the scenario sets them up in a div or if you "add an extra ship". You can't transfer from other divs. And CA/BC cooperation IS mentioned in the manual.

As a result, cap ships and CAs are mostly oil/water. Which would be okay if it were the CAs that got marginalized.

The Problem is that this makes large CAs-only plus Night Fighting a killer path. I am sure I am not the only one who has discovered this. And much of the charm of the game is invested in capital ships.

One might even consider nerfing the CA/CL combo. But if you could fit both CAs and BCs into your Fleet Scout division (only), that would solve the problem nicely, and the player will transition naturally to cap ships rather than to be forced in the CA (i.e., wrong) direction.

Another approach might be to nerf the vastly overpowered Night Fighting a bit. Under current conditions, when an 16" 8-gun BC encounters a 10" 16-gun CA at night, that BC is wet toast. And even in daytime, CAs can hold their own. So why even bother with caps? I think that dynamic needs to be fixed.

[EvanJones]

It seems to have been fixed. You can now freely assign CAs to BC divs. That fixes the problem.

Good going. I built a nice BC in a Spain game and wound up scrapping it because it was just hanging out there. That problem no longer exists.