I must firstly admit that I have not read all of this extensive thread, but it seems to me that some degree of multiplayer is most necessary, especially for the long-term health of the game.
I think it's necessary, however, to break down the multiplayer element into three areas (looking ahead slightly too):
multi-player within a U-boat
multi-player within up to 4 U-boats
multi-player within 1 or more escorts
Of these, in my estimation, and as a generalisation, the 1st and 3rd do, are, or are likely, to work well. The 2nd is a problem area, as all too often it just means that a minute before your torpedoes strike, someone else alerts the convoy and maybe an hour and half's effort on your part is wasted. Although the wolfpack attack is well documented, I have my doubts that it was so concentrated an attack that these near simultaneous attacks were common at all.
I think that there's no question that the multiplayer within a particular boat works well, especially when you get an experienced crew together, plus maybe one new-guy. Likewise, provided that the right measures are put in place for crewing escorts, such as the ability to transfer between escorts (with a cool-down period between such transfers), then this will be very good for gameplay for several reasons:
Firstly it will greatly improve the otherwise rather lacklustre AI performance of escorts, it'll greatly extend the periods when a particular U-boat is hunted, and also the periods under actual attack. Secondly it creates a very personal battle of wits between the U-boat commander and the escort captain and convoy-commander - and it'll feel personal too, with the intelligence behind and persistence of, a nerve-wracking DC attack being directed by an opposing player rather than the AI. Thirdly, it'll no longer be possible for a commander to be able to look at an escort and know that he's out of visual range at a particular range, or indeed that the escort he's looking at is AI manned or human manned. If the former, then the range/observation limits, as now, would apply, but he can't know that he's not been spotted....
In summation, some aspects of multi-player work well, other's less so. It's my estimation that multi-boat crewing should only be possible with a variable spawn-distance from the convoy and well out of visual range. YMMV. In other areas swapping AI for human multiplayer would greatly improve the game, again YMMV.
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