Well, I know, collision avoidance could be too tricky to build up to work properly. You know, the WO should be vice enough to make right decessions in few seconds depending the event. Sure we don't wan't to see any stupid actions.
BUT, when should the game go to x1? One of the most irritating things with SHIII is that if the watch spots the ship when you are at TC (256 or so, doesn't matter), you'll know right away is it the enemy or a friendly unit, because the TC drops to x1 for the enemy and x8 for friendly / neutral units.
These kind of little things can sometimes really spoil your feelings. They are like a morse code...
About sunrise: I usually do the routine dive starting maybe an hour or half BEFORE the sunrise. Why? Just for the case there is a ship not yet spotted because the lower visibility = no nasty surprises when it'll start geting brighter. In my case automatic dive on sunrise won't be a problem because I would be already submerged. But how about when on shallow waters? And sure there is many (between non-hardcores, I think) of us who don't wan't to do routine dives every morning. So, this should be optional... And also, maybe Devs could use their time more creative than thinking how to build up a properly working automatic dive on sunrise?
So I think maybe these kind of actions should be left to player himself. BUT, how about just information coming from the bridge: "Hey, Conn, tell the skipper the weather will be bloody foggy before soon..."? And sure, TC x1. Major changes in weather = info for player. That would be, at least, easy to script properly I think.
How about periscope routines? Somehow I miss the WO, who would be able to raise the scope let's say in every 10 or 15 minutes when on routines and submerged. But how to build this up? Own periscope station for the WO in control panel? I mean, I don't wan't my WO to take a quick look when the hot situation is on...
One new idea pop in my mind: You know, in RL skippers use to leave notes for the WOs (about changes in course, speed and other things). So, WHY we can't have this kind of system. You know, a drop list encluding some actions like "Go to periscope deapth - Take the look with the scope - make your cours... make your speed... dive if any ship spotted... and so on + possibility to add time when the action(s) should be take over. This kind of "notebook" could work like an alarm watch, in 24 hours sifts... You got what I mean (I'm not a native speaker as you can see...)?
Greetings,
-RC-