Player Controlled Ships (BASIC).
For player controlled ships, dependent on how and/or what is implemented, I would say to start that the heaviest ship class to be player controlled will be the Light Cruiser. Reason I pull for the Light Cruiser class is to counter, more effectively, the Cruiser we currently have within the TG's. When Battleships are implemented, give the player the ability to control a Heavy Cruiser to counter. The reason to not go any higher is simply due to the fact that the BB's are locked into the task group. A player controlled ship is, of course, not. We can move freely compared to the BB, which translates to more maneuverability, which equals better survival.
Expanding further on this subject:
Players could control the following types of ship classes: Corvette, Frigate, Destroyer Escort, Destroyer, Heavy Destroyer, Light Cruiser. With the implementation of Battleships to Task Groups; Cruiser and Heavy Cruiser. I am uncertain about the Heavy Destroyer Class, if such a designation existed. If so, we would have the ability to control a ship of this class. If not, omit.
Each class of ship will have "gun packages" to choose from and will affect it's ENY/OBJ value (if possible) as well as incur a Perk Price if deemed necessary. Things such as Sonar/Advanced Sonar, Radar Controlled Fire Control, Depth Charges and Radar(?) could/would incur a Perk Price, for example. These gun packages will fall into year ranges (Rough Example: 39-M41/M41-M43/M43-L44/L44-45) and will affect what your ship's gun setup would be. In other words, if you chose the 39-M41 gun package, your ship's guns will be majority setup for Anti-Ship combat. A L44-45 will be setup with less Anti-Ship guns and more AAA. This will apply to Hulls that were used through out the war, example being MANY of the Japanese Ships.
Player Controlled Ships could use spawns out to sea (PT Spawns, or spawns designated for ships), but would otherwise need to launch out of port off one of the docking piers. Adding a Dry Dock to ports would allow players to knock it out and prevent ship spawn, but the hardness of such a target is in question. Hanger Hardness at the very least, but possibly require 4-6k ords to knock out. The down time of such a target will be of hanger down time, 15 minutes. Knocking out ords at a port will affect the amount of ords a ship can launch from. If all ords are down at a port, you will only have 2 torpedoes per tube for example. Otherwise you take a full load. The safest way to "land" your ship would be to return to a port and bring her within a certain range or within the docking piers. However, like ground vehicles, if there are no enemies within 6k(?), you will get a "successful landing" and you are less than 3(?) knots.
Damage sustained to player ships will behave as they would with Task Group ships. If the appropriate damage is sustained to your ship, you will list, go fore/aft heavy, slow, lose maneuverability, and possibly leave an oil slick. You can also sustain and lose your Fire Control Tower if your ship class uses one (this would be implemented into TG ships as well). Losing any turret is permanent, meaning if you want that turret back, you will have to up a new ships. "Soft" guns, 40mm/37mm AAA and less, can be repaired though it will cost you 1 repair point. When repaired, all soft guns will repair, not just partial (for game play reasons). After all, it would be no fun if you couldn't at least defend yourself against enemy air. Other damage sustained to a player can, in some cases, be repaired at sea. However while you can do a stop-gap repair, your speed and/or turn radius will still be affected. It isn't meant to fix your ship perfectly, though it doesn't mean you are out of the fight. Player ships can have their rudder/engine/sonar/radar disabled and the player will not be able to implement repairs until you are 6k away from an enemy. At which point, you would have to drop to less than 3 knots to repair. This means you can slow to less than 3 knots, but still have visual on an enemy ship. So long as he's 6+k away, you can initiate repairs. Of course this is risky. These stop-gap repairs can only be done an X amount of times (dependent on ship class) before supplies would have to be ran out to you, unless you have supplies on board (Explained Later).
A rough example of the amount of times you can do repairs at sea without resupply:
Corvette: 1
Frigate: 1
Destroyer Escort: 1-2
Destroyer: 2-3
Heavy Destroyer: 3
Light Cruiser: 3-4
Cruiser: 4-5
Heavy Cruiser: 6
A "ship stall limiter" could be implemented that would automatically counter-flood in case of listing. You can turn this off, but would have to order your crew to counter flood (a button click). With it on, your crew will automatically counter-flood with no input from you. Turning it off will allow more control over how you want your ship to behave in the event of listing. However if you have it off and don't pay attention, the possibility of capsizing in an otherwise survivable hit, exists. The same for having it on. While your ship will automatically counter flood, the result may cost you the speed/maneuverability to win or escape. A double edged sword.
Controlling Your Guns.
You will, of course, have the ability to man your guns (or even call in a gunner). When you click the button Man Guns, the clipboard will pop and show available guns. Tabs at the top could be used to select between the following: Fire Control Tower; Main Guns; Secondary Guns; AAA; Torpedo Launcher(?). If a gun has been knocked out, it will show red on the clipboard. AAA will work as they do on bombers however, when not manned, AAA on your ship will be under AI control. You can toggle an option for your AI to shoot at other ships or to ignore them (if possible). If a player jumps into your AAA, the AI will "shut down" until the player leaves. The AI used for our auto-guns will be sufficient, so there shouldn't be a need to rewrite AI. The thing to note is that, even if your ship is capable of putting out puffy ack, the AI will not be able to use these. This will be solely, a player control aspect of your ship. No AI puffy of death, so rest easy AC. If you are shot down by a player ship's puffy, rest assured it will have been by a human player in the guns. There has to be some give somewhere, and AI for your AAA is something I feel is best in this situation.
EDIT: I forgot to mention another important factor, that also applies to TG Ships: Free Mode, Land Mode and Sea Mode. This will be explain further in my next post.Destroyer Escort/Destroyer Supplies.
There could be two type of supplies carried by the DE/DD's: Hull Supplies; which add 1 repair, or Ship Supplies; which rearm a quarter of your ords (shells, torpedoes, depth charges, etc.) You may be able to push Ship Supplies to half, but I wouldn't fo further. DE and DD's will be the only class that will have the ability to run supplies, but at the cost of your torpedo load. One example would be to take on supplies to resupply a player, but at the cost of half of your torpedoes. It is to my understanding that submarines, at times, would take on supplies from a DE/DD simply because it was too dangerous for a Supply Ship to be sent. These supplies could be taken by any player ship, but both would have to slow to less than 3 knots in order to drop/take on supplies. Hull Supplies will add 1 more repair to the target ship, including your own. In other words, if you up a DE with supplies, you will have 3 (using high end) points of repair for your ship, though only half of the amount of torpedoes you could carry.
