The unofficial Distant Guns 'wish list'

[saddletank]

I think before we plead for SES to go make an Age of Sail game *drools* I'd request more coverage of WWI - at least the ships for the more famous battles of 1914 and 1915 between Britain and Germany.

After that my humble request would be for a Mediterranean Map and campaign that could let the player fight Austria against Italy and include British and French units against Turkish.

Possibly even Black Sea Russians against Souchon-led Turks.

Please.

 

[Von der Tann]

A Baltic map would be nice as well - mine warfare to make you dribble, and the Russians pitted against potentially hugely superior Germans. With any luck, the Gangut class BB would see some action as well, and the naval war would have an even bigger impact on land operations, as the Germans relied heavily on transport over sea to support their troops fighting in the east.

 

[SMS Biene]

Two more wishes:

Would it be possible to create bombarding mission scenarios in the campaign?

And secondly - perhaps you could remove the ugly propaganda picture, frequently appearing in the loading screen, showing WII as a bloodthirsty, crazy monster and replace it by something else (eg. gunboat SMS Biene :smoke, more appropriate for a professional naval sim ...

Thanks and regards
SMS Biene

 

[Zakalwe]

Would it be possible to create bombarding mission scenarios in the campaign?

Don`t understand, there are already bombardment missions in the campaign.

 

[SMS Biene]

Don`t understand, there are already bombardment missions in the campaign.

Missions yes. You can choose those missions. But as far as I can see no battle scenarios are created within the dynamic campaign when your ships have reached the relevant coast. You just receive a message if the mission has been accomplished and that's all. Looking at same historics events between 1914 and 1916 it could make sense and would add to the atmosphere of the game to create such scenarios by the dynamic campaign system too. E.g. Aufklärungsgruppe opened fire on ships in a harbour, SMS Blücher took damage by British shore batteries etc ... On the other hand it might also be interesting to get some influence on the shore batteries, being the defending party.

 

[saddletank]

My guess is that would be a lot of work to incorporate since the map would have to include hot spots that the ships can identify as specific targets, e.g. "the town of Scarborough" that would have a defined boundary, some model buildings and which the game would let the German side shoot at.

Then players would be requesting land explosions, demolished buildings, transfers to depict craters... a lot of eye candy. Given that it was unheard of for the raiders to be interrupted actually during bombardment, making that event a simple scripted part of the campaign system is a wise idea.

All that work just so a player could shell an inert unresponsive target for fifteen minutes without meaningful result is something I would place very low on a wish list.

 

[Zakalwe]

All that work just so a player could shell an inert unresponsive target for fifteen minutes without meaningful result is something I would place very low on a wish list.

yup,

see it the same way. Even shore-batteries are in-destructable in the game IIRC.

Z.

 

[SMS Biene]

My guess is that would be a lot of work to incorporate since the map would have to include hot spots that the ships can identify as specific targets, e.g. "the town of Scarborough" that would have a defined boundary, some model buildings and which the game would let the German side shoot at.

Then players would be requesting land explosions, demolished buildings, transfers to depict craters... a lot of eye candy. Given that it was unheard of for the raiders to be interrupted actually during bombardment, making that event a simple scripted part of the campaign system is a wise idea.

All that work just so a player could shell an inert unresponsive target for fifteen minutes without meaningful result is something I would place very low on a wish list.

That’s too complicated. Just put 3-5 ships with 0 knots in a bombardment circle (similar to good old FS), make the shore batteries vulnerable and use the existing bases on the campaign map. I suppose that wouldn't mean too much effort. The game is already designed for such scenarios to a certain degree (I have seen many such scenarios in the channel when playing the defending German side, just watching my shore batteries in action). So it would be consequent to see some similar scenarios if you have decided for such a mission and chosen a TF for that mission. :yummy:

Regards
SMS Biene

 

[SMS Biene]

Look at these fantastic elderly coastal defence ships, I love them and it seems to me that a few of them were still in service in 1916:

http://www.german-navy.de/hochseeflotte/ships/coastdefence/beowulf/operations.html

http://www.german-navy.de/hochseeflotte/ships/coastdefence/frithjof/operations.html

http://www.german-navy.de/hochseeflotte/ships/coastdefence/agir/operations.html

In addition to that a more detailed and corrected running victory projection at the upper left corner of the screen would be nice to have.

SMS Biene

 

[Bullethead]

Look at these fantastic elderly coastal defence ships, I love them and it seems to me that a few of them were still in service in 1916:

As I understand it, the few that hadn't already been decommissioned by 1916 didn't last long into that year, and were in the Baltic anyway. But I could be wrong.

I know they were active in 1914, however, so if we ever get around do doing early-war expansions, they could well show up at some point. I'm rather fond of these ships, too--they're almost as bizarre as some things the French designed .

 

[SMS Biene]

OK, go ahead and get some inspiration:

http://www.arbeitskreis-historischer-schiffbau.de/modell/2004/beowulf/beo1.htm

BTW, just another campaign topic: I think those created mini scenarios, where some of my lonesome cargo ships are finished off are a boring waste of time. As to this a short message on the campaign map would be sufficient. Better give the opportunity to knock out some coastal batteries as mentioned earlier in this thread.

 

[Coypus]

1/ A 15ft rangefinder setting for the Queens that enables their gunnery to stick out a bit

2/ Different accuracy for different gun type ie 13.5, 13.5 1400, 15

3/ A Dreyer on/off switch

4/ A class roll button. Some ships RN/HSF/USN were better platforms than others

5/ Machinery reliabilty risk increasing with higher speeds

6/ A design speed setting that locks ships to their design speed

7/ Forcing machinery option for greater speed at greater risk

8/ RN battleships dont explode battlecruisers do explode option , which would be a nice variation on the blanket system.

7/ AI to detach ships for home once a damage threshold is reached

 

[Von der Tann]

I have a question regarding this item on the list:

3/ A Dreyer on/off switch

What would that be?

 

[Yang]

I have a question regarding this item on the list:

3/ A Dreyer on/off switch

What would that be?

Basically it would mean that with "Dreyer on" RN ships need to maintain a straight course to get a solution whereas with "Dreyer off" RN ships are able to maneuver more freely but at the expense of long range accuracy.

Allthough im not sure how far this has been modelled into the game. Its hard to tell what kind of impact maneuvering has on accuracy imho.

 

[Coypus]

Basically it would mean that with "Dreyer on" RN ships need to maintain a straight course to get a solution whereas with "Dreyer off" RN ships are able to maneuver more freely but at the expense of long range accuracy.

Allthough im not sure how far this has been modelled into the game. Its hard to tell what kind of impact maneuvering has on accuracy imho.

At the minute it seems to punish ships that hold a straight course firing broadsides against a target that is closing on a straight course. If sliders arnt the option I would just like a simple fix that can make the gunnery of the GF worse than the HSF not dramactically worse.

 

[Bullethead]

At the minute it seems to punish ships that hold a straight course firing broadsides against a target that is closing on a straight course. If sliders arnt the option I would just like a simple fix that can make the gunnery of the GF worse than the HSF not dramactically worse.

Um, high range rate? We've been through this before. You've also exhausted my patience. Consider our truce over.

 

[rgreat]

Gunnery of the GF already much worse compared to HSF.
And putting ship at 'straight course firing broadsides' is not always a good choice, as you being an easier target.

P.S. I want sliders.
And yes, machine failure (slowdowns) can be nice to model if ships running at high speeds for a long time.

 

[Coypus]

I think crew fatigue is worth considering to impact on gunnery efficency. Would make harrasment tactics viable.

 

[saddletank]

Ships become 'fatigued' in the RJW campaign if you keep them at sea without 'resting' them for long periods. I am sure it is not just ship speed that is affected but crew efficiency as well.

 

[Von der Tann]

I think Coypus is referring to "tactical" fatigue, i.e. battle fatigue, and not the one from sailing too long without taking a break.