Bring Back Historical Photographs and Ship Names

Historical photographs were a feature until sometime less than 12 hours ago when they updated. Now historical photographs of units are not available.

The photos did have some faults — notably, the entire line of Japanese battleships was one step ahead of the names — but both in colour and in black-and-white they were part of the game, looked nice, and added professionality and detail the thumbnails in the stats never could. It was nice to see what a unit looked like when building or inspecting it. Now this is lost.

The ship names were fun too. They still appear in the newspaper but not on the stats. I understand this is because certain players gave names inappropriate to the game's protocol, but others should not be punished for this. If we're curbing players' ability to harass, swear etc. using these, why not ban the World Herald and Diplomacy as well (not to give anybody ideas)? That's where most of the toxicity happens. I think we should bring them back.

While neither of these features contribute functionally to the game, ultimately online games are a frivolity anyway, and they were fun.

Aeroplanes are interesting toys but of no military value.
— Marshal Foch
A pretty mechanical toy [...] the war will never be won by such machines.
— Lord Kitchener, on tanks

9 Replies

I agree, these little details did make the game alot more fun, and in reinactments, ships were named historically, which made this function all the better to have in game.

That the toggle to view historical images has gone missing seems to be a bug, I will forward it.

freezy wrote:

That the toggle to view historical images has gone missing seems to be a bug, I will forward it.
Thank you.

We appreciate your role, and that of your colleagues, in making this game. Thanks for providing this enjoyable hobby.

Aeroplanes are interesting toys but of no military value.
— Marshal Foch
A pretty mechanical toy [...] the war will never be won by such machines.
— Lord Kitchener, on tanks

Fox-Company wrote:

I agree, these little details did make the game alot more fun, and in reinactments, ships were named historically, which made this function all the better to have in game.
So what do you name your ships normally? I like naming them after pre-dreadnoughts myself.
Aeroplanes are interesting toys but of no military value.
— Marshal Foch
A pretty mechanical toy [...] the war will never be won by such machines.
— Lord Kitchener, on tanks

Lord Crayfish wrote:

Fox-Company wrote:

I agree, these little details did make the game alot more fun, and in reinactments, ships were named historically, which made this function all the better to have in game.
So what do you name your ships normally? I like naming them after pre-dreadnoughts myself.
Depends on the map, but usualy i pick a random battleship or dreadnought from that era and country.

Dreadnoughts are battleships surely?

Aeroplanes are interesting toys but of no military value.
— Marshal Foch
A pretty mechanical toy [...] the war will never be won by such machines.
— Lord Kitchener, on tanks

Lord Crayfish wrote:

Dreadnoughts are battleships surely?
There is a difference, Dreadnought had turbine engines fueled with oil, making it faster than previous battleships even though it had more displacement. In other words, it was more heavily armoured, more heavily armed, and faster than any other battleship in the world.

The "dreadnaught" term was coined in the early 1900's and used for modern battleships at that time; their heyday was during WW I. In the interbellum the term was deprecated, basically because ALL battleships used the dreadnaught concepts; so the term "battleship" returned again. So by the time covered in this game, you cannot say that dreadnaughts "are faster/heavier/better than any other battleship", simply because ALL battleships in the game are actually post-dreadnaught (term).

Fox-Company wrote:

Lord Crayfish wrote:

Dreadnoughts are battleships surely?
There is a difference, Dreadnought had turbine engines fueled with oil, making it faster than previous battleships even though it had more displacement. In other words, it was more heavily armoured, more heavily armed, and faster than any other battleship in the world.

K.Rokossovski wrote:

The "dreadnaught" term was coined in the early 1900's and used for modern battleships at that time; their heyday was during WW I. In the interbellum the term was deprecated, basically because ALL battleships used the dreadnaught concepts; so the term "battleship" returned again. So by the time covered in this game, you cannot say that dreadnaughts "are faster/heavier/better than any other battleship", simply because ALL battleships in the game are actually post-dreadnaught (term).
Another conversation about ships again.

To be super pedantic, a dreadnought is defined purely by its all big-gun armament scheme as inspired by the Japanese performance at Tsushima and HMS Dreadnought. Generally the term is taken to mean big gun battleships built between 1906 and the 1922 Washington Treaty, and not "fast battleships", although technically they do use the Fisher paradigm. Dreadnoughts built before HMS Orion are simply termed "dreadnoughts" and those dreadnoughts built after her after as "super-dreadnoughts" — these typically featured 13.5in or larger guns in superfired turrets and were much larger than previous dreadnoughts. Iron Duke and Ise are typical examples. After 1922, the Washington Treaty led to the creation of "Treaty" battleships and "Fast" battleships.

In the Pan-Asian and Allied doctrines (been a while since I've seen a Comintern battleship) most battleships are super-dreadnoughts (Nagato, Tennessee, etc.), and only the last two or so (South Dakota, Yamato) are fast or treaty battleships.

In answer to Fox-Company's comment, HMS Dreadnought also didn't have significantly more armour than the preceding Agamemnon or Edward VII classes. What was revolutionary about her was her uniform main battery of 10 12in guns (made possible by better fire control) rather than the 4 12in and 1-14 6in guns typical of pre-dreadnoughts, and her steam turbines which made her the the fastest battleship.

Although turbines were common they weren't a requirement, or a feature of most German or American dreadnoughts pre-WWI; speed could be increased also by improved version. Oil-burning isn't exactly a qualification either and even the British ships as late as HMS Iron Duke were burning coal doused in oil to increase burn, not pure oil firing.

Although I'm more knowledgeable on pre-dreads myself.

Aeroplanes are interesting toys but of no military value.
— Marshal Foch
A pretty mechanical toy [...] the war will never be won by such machines.
— Lord Kitchener, on tanks

Post a Reply

Please log in to post a reply.

Back to Questions and Answers
Quick Launch