My major objection is fleet 5" guns.
Here's an example from the last Snapshot I flew:
Out of 9 TBMs, three were shot down by zekes. Our fighter escorts killed ALL the remaining Japanese interceptors. So we drop down on the deck and set up a torpedo run. I pull it off pretty close to perfect -- pickle right as the small-caliber ack comes up.
Of 6 TBMs, NONE returned. Every single one was killed by 5" ack.
Okay, in WWII, torpedo-bombers were always marginal because of their incredibly high casualties. When the fleets beefed up their AA and got such toys as prox-fused shells, they were obsolete.
When you're making a torpedo run on the fleet, if you're disciplined, you have a shot at surviving the AI ack. But if the fleet has humans at all the 5" prox-fused guns, you're dead, along with all your buddies. Torpedo-bombing involves flying slowly on the deck along a steady course that requires a minimum of lead. The effective range of the torpedoes means that they must be pickled in icon-range.
Now put on the other side a guy lobbing shells that will kill TBs from the moment they appear as dots. Figure 10,000 yards for dot range. That means the gunner has one minute to pick up and fire wildly at the target in the hope of a lucky shot. Then the TBs pass the threshhold from rough to precise positional update, and the gunner can zoom in on plane type. If the gunner's good, he can hit at this range, and the TBs won't see the shell. If the TBs are in formation, there's a really good chance of getting multiple kills. After all, deflection isn't really an issue.
Thirty seconds later, the tracers become visible to the bombers, and the gunner gets a handy range counter above the planes, one that corresponds precisely to the data in the top-left corner of his firing screen. The bombers have to fly another 10-15 seconds before they can release. Then they have to turn out. If they bank hard, the AI ack chews them to pieces. If they do a rudder turn, they stay in 5" range for another 30 seconds. Remember all the gunner has to do is get close.
Dive-bombing is similar, only that the planes are exposed to 5" ack for a much shorter period, and the solutions are not automatically computed.
In short, putting humans in the 5" position makes for great fun for the gunner; but I do question the merits of allowing it in a scenario, particularly if the other side is required to use torpedoes -- it's neither realistic nor in any way fair.
I don't have an issue with other gun types, but the 5-inchers are really unbalancing, because of their cool radar-fuses and the range computer.
