waves and their effect on naval gunfire

[flyingtaco]

So the developers have stated that waves will not be modeled.. at least initially. My question is, Do waves matter one way or another? Would they just be eye candy. I know comparatively little about World War II naval fire control, but even as early as World War I, they had systems that only allowed guns to fire when the ship was on an even keel. That being the case, could they even be a factor in gameplay if they were added? I like the idea of waves, but would adding them add anything to the game?

[MM2ss]

It depends.

 

If the devs want waves/sea state to influence fire control, it will.  After all, I think we all know that in sea state 5 your accuracy would suffer.

 

On the other hand, if the devs do not want wave action to influence gunnery, then it will not.

 

So, adding waves could add to the game or not, according to the intent of the devs.

[PhilJD_NA]

Sea state has a massive effect upon both gunnery and speed - the more massive the ship then the better it can maintain speed, the rougher the sea state then the more difficult it is to obtain and implement firing solutions.

The encounter between HMS Renown and Scharnhorst/Gniesenhau (sic) off Norway is a classic example (as is the actual sinking of the Scharnhorst) - the sea state was so bad that the destroyers accompanying Renown could not keep up and the Twins were withdrawing at high speed into the heavy seas which led to flooding of their forward turrets.

A different kind of example is at Dogger Bank - the earlier Dreadnoughts/BC's had their main FC optics originally in the actual turrets, these were being obscured by spray and needing some one with a cloth to clean them regularly (outside the turret in combat). Another advantage of the main FC being mounted on the superstructure.

Visibiity is also a factor - it is possible for one ship to see it's target better than the target can see it (at Jutland the run to the south by the BC's is a good example of this, as is the actual encounter between the two main battlelines - in the former the Germans had the advantage, the RN in the latter).