Post by stingray on Jun 20, 2022 11:50:15 GMT -6
In the Ship Status Display, if you move your mouse pointer over the data boxes, some of them produce another box giving extra info or clarification of what is being displayed. For example, placing the pointer over the “Max speed” box at the lower right, produces the message “Current max speed/Original max speed”.
Likewise, the “Endurance” box at the bottom right produces the message “Remaining range at current speed/Remaining range at 16 knots”. The attached screen shot shows an example of this particular message. However, in the screen shot, the message was triggered not with the pointer over the “Endurance” box, but over the “Torpedo data” box. (For some reason the screen shot didn’t include the mouse pointer, which was actually located just to the right of the “...@27” in the Torpedo data box.)
This is obviously a fault. I presume that it should actually give some expanded info relating to the torps.
Further thoughts / observations relating to this screen.
Some of these things may have been raised previously, if so I apologise for the duplication.
1. Would it be possible to indicate which of the numerous data boxes on this screen will provide extra info if they are “pointed at”. Maybe this could be by simply putting a * after the name of the box, such as changing “Endurance” to “Endurance *”, with a note in the manual or at the bottom of the screen saying “* indicates further info available”.
2. The “Floatation” box gives a nice indication of how close or not a ship is to losing buoyancy and thus sinking. But upon being “pointed at”, it expands to give actual figures for the initial and current buoyancy values. For this class of DD it shows “1342 of 1342”. It would be nice if the “Structure” box would do the same. The internal coding to enable this already exists, as it is used for the “Floatation” values. Also, the initial structural value for each class of ship is stored in the save folder, so implementing this should be quite simple.
3. This screen is only available during combat or a fleet training exercise. Could it be made available during peacetime as well? It is not possible, to my knowledge, to get the structure or floatation point values for an undamaged ship from any other screen in the game. (Yes I know these figures can be extracted from files in the save folder, but doing this is something of a pain).
If this screen, or a variant of it were to be available outside of a combat situation, the assumption would be that the vessel is in port. So the Current speed and course boxes would be blank. It could also be used to show the progress of repairs after battle, with the Structure and Floatation damage displays showing the damage being reduced over time as repairs are carried out. If damaged / destroyed systems were indicated in some way, say red for destroyed, yellow for damaged. Then as they are repaired, this could also be indicated in the display.
Extending the concept of being able to see what systems were in need of repair, it just occurred to me that it could be possible for the player to be able to prioritise what order systems are repaired in, in order to get the ship back in action asap, before repairs are 100% done. Desperate times call for desperate measures & all that.
4. A review of which data boxes could benefit from being expandable may be a good idea. For example, while the meaning of “Torpedo hits”, “Rounds fired” etc are obvious, and do not need expanding upon. What does “Flooding” mean? Is it the number of holes punched in the hull below the waterline? Does it mean the rate at which water is entering the hull, and if so, in what units is it being quoted? Is it some composite figure calculated from the number of holes, and how big they are? Does it take any account of the ability of the ship to pump out water? Can you reduce this value by reducing the speed of the ship? (In the last case I believe the answer is generally yes, but by how much?)
5. In the Main guns section, we have “Gun calibre”, in this case “4 in (0)”, meaning 4 inch guns of quality 0. In the Secondary guns section, we have “Gun type”, in this case “3 in (1)”, meaning 3 inch guns of quality 1. Why is one called calibre and the other type, when they relate to exactly the same thing?
6. Crew quality data is shown here in numerical form, -1, 0, 1 etc. While in the Ships in service screen it is shown in literal form, Poor, Fair, Good etc. I suspect that internally the actual value for this would be held in numeric form, possibly to several decimal places, then rounded to an integer for display purposes. In that case, would it be better to have the same data type displayed to the player on each screen.
Likewise, the “Endurance” box at the bottom right produces the message “Remaining range at current speed/Remaining range at 16 knots”. The attached screen shot shows an example of this particular message. However, in the screen shot, the message was triggered not with the pointer over the “Endurance” box, but over the “Torpedo data” box. (For some reason the screen shot didn’t include the mouse pointer, which was actually located just to the right of the “...@27” in the Torpedo data box.)
This is obviously a fault. I presume that it should actually give some expanded info relating to the torps.
Further thoughts / observations relating to this screen.
Some of these things may have been raised previously, if so I apologise for the duplication.
1. Would it be possible to indicate which of the numerous data boxes on this screen will provide extra info if they are “pointed at”. Maybe this could be by simply putting a * after the name of the box, such as changing “Endurance” to “Endurance *”, with a note in the manual or at the bottom of the screen saying “* indicates further info available”.
2. The “Floatation” box gives a nice indication of how close or not a ship is to losing buoyancy and thus sinking. But upon being “pointed at”, it expands to give actual figures for the initial and current buoyancy values. For this class of DD it shows “1342 of 1342”. It would be nice if the “Structure” box would do the same. The internal coding to enable this already exists, as it is used for the “Floatation” values. Also, the initial structural value for each class of ship is stored in the save folder, so implementing this should be quite simple.
3. This screen is only available during combat or a fleet training exercise. Could it be made available during peacetime as well? It is not possible, to my knowledge, to get the structure or floatation point values for an undamaged ship from any other screen in the game. (Yes I know these figures can be extracted from files in the save folder, but doing this is something of a pain).
If this screen, or a variant of it were to be available outside of a combat situation, the assumption would be that the vessel is in port. So the Current speed and course boxes would be blank. It could also be used to show the progress of repairs after battle, with the Structure and Floatation damage displays showing the damage being reduced over time as repairs are carried out. If damaged / destroyed systems were indicated in some way, say red for destroyed, yellow for damaged. Then as they are repaired, this could also be indicated in the display.
Extending the concept of being able to see what systems were in need of repair, it just occurred to me that it could be possible for the player to be able to prioritise what order systems are repaired in, in order to get the ship back in action asap, before repairs are 100% done. Desperate times call for desperate measures & all that.
4. A review of which data boxes could benefit from being expandable may be a good idea. For example, while the meaning of “Torpedo hits”, “Rounds fired” etc are obvious, and do not need expanding upon. What does “Flooding” mean? Is it the number of holes punched in the hull below the waterline? Does it mean the rate at which water is entering the hull, and if so, in what units is it being quoted? Is it some composite figure calculated from the number of holes, and how big they are? Does it take any account of the ability of the ship to pump out water? Can you reduce this value by reducing the speed of the ship? (In the last case I believe the answer is generally yes, but by how much?)
5. In the Main guns section, we have “Gun calibre”, in this case “4 in (0)”, meaning 4 inch guns of quality 0. In the Secondary guns section, we have “Gun type”, in this case “3 in (1)”, meaning 3 inch guns of quality 1. Why is one called calibre and the other type, when they relate to exactly the same thing?
6. Crew quality data is shown here in numerical form, -1, 0, 1 etc. While in the Ships in service screen it is shown in literal form, Poor, Fair, Good etc. I suspect that internally the actual value for this would be held in numeric form, possibly to several decimal places, then rounded to an integer for display purposes. In that case, would it be better to have the same data type displayed to the player on each screen.
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