[Graf Paper]

Kafka BC, I believe you'll notice many statements regarding visual detection ranges, some being allegorical. Your assertions regarding spotting ranges are well thought and backed by historical and technical sources.

However, you must consider that your own direct observations regarding low-light visual acuity in distinguishing a horizon were done on dry land. Light behaves differently on water, which is both a highly reflective and refractive surface that redirects and absorbs light in some interesting ways that is not at all similar to how trees, grass, and terrain interact with light. Most ambient and direct light is absorbed by foliage and earth, making dimmer lights like stars stand out more brightly, thus emphasizing the horizon. Couple water's behavior with the atmospheric effects on light, and the greater haze in the air over large bodies of water, and you will find the horizon on the open ocean can be very indistinct at night, especially without landmarks to use as a referent. I have seen this in action with my own eyes on open ocean.

My statements regarding visual acuity are taken directly from testimony made by both u-boat crewmen and merchantmen. Since they were actually there and we were not, I'll have to take their word as the final authority. I don't recall any of them saying they could spot mastheads at 35 kilometers with the naked eye. Although one thing is interesting to note: The u-boat lookouts primarily spotted ships by the smoke exhausting from a ship's funnel, not mast tops or superstructures. Coal-fired vessels could be easily spotted from very great distances, some estimates around 50 miles, by the dense black smoke belching from their stacks.

Also, this mod primarily deals with night vision using the unaided eye, a fact I think some have missed while attempting to prove some points. This is why you must tweak the sensors configuration to properly account for special optics, be they ordinary binoculars or low-light lenses. You must also bear in mind that SH3's engine is rather incomplete and limited in the data and factors that allow for a more realistic simulation, as h.sie has said. This mod is a compromise that attempts to ameliorate one particular shortcoming (if not a bug).

I wholeheartedly agree with you that surface ships seem to visually spot my u-boat far too easily. I must endure enough abuse later in the war, thanks to radar and ASDIC, but the visual powers of the enemy serve only in adding insult to injury. It's bad enough that the enemy radar, ASDIC/sonar, and hydrophones are not the least bit impaired by land masses, ships, or other solid bodies while I'm forced to sail in an ocean that has no thermoclines, currents, or inversion layers.