On the subject of the lack of ships, I am not quite as disappointed as one might be prima facie. Although at first glance there are some glaring ommissions, we do have to realize that it takes time to build these models, and the dev team had a limited amount of time to do it (while building the rest of the game, or at least the new parts of it). I'll break my opinion down a bit by ship type:
(BTW - I just realized that they were talking about traffic, and not the roster. Since I've already posted, I'll leave it here anyway as I feel the roster has been under-rated by others).
Battleships: Out of the 5 commissioned types of IJN BBs, we got 4 (plus the CVB variant of the Ise class, for a total of 5). Only the Nagato class has been omitted. This seems to be acceptable to me, considering the beforementioned limits. On the US side, we got three classes; I am fairly satisfied with this, although I would have liked the Tennessee class (modernised variant) either with or in place of the New Mexico class. I am more concerned with Japanese shipping than US shipping, as the Japanese ships are our prey.
Carriers: This is the only area where I really am disappointed, especially on the US side. On the Japanese side, we do get the essential Shokaku class, Taiho, and the Taiyo class CVE. The Akitsu and Chitose classes are nice additions as well, especially the Chitose class. However, if I were going to choose one of the four 'Midway' carriers, I would have chosen the Akagi over the Hiryu. Also, the absence of the Zuiho class, Junyo class, the Shinano, and to a certain extent the Unryu classe seems like too noticeable a gap. I could live without the Hosho, Ryujo, Ryuho, the Chitose class after conversion, whatever two Midway carriers that were chosen for ommission over two more (2/4 would be enough - presumably Akagi and Hiryu over Kaga and Soryu), or all other CVEs. On the US side, things are really bad, with only the Wasp representing all US fleet carriers (and the two CVE's from SHIII). The US really needed the Yorktown and Essex classes, at the very least.
Heavy Cruisers: Again the selection here is not bad - from the IJN, we get the Furutaka class (representative of old Japanese CAs), the Mogami class (upgraded version only), the essential Takao class, and even the upgraded Maya (which I regard as a bonus, rather than a waste of resources
). The Myoko or Tone class would have been nice too, but I am satisifed with this (I am not concerned about the Aoba class though). On the US side, we got the Baltimore and Northampton classes, which is good, but the inclusion of the New Orleans still feels necessary to me.
Light Cruisers: On the Japanese side, the Kuma, Naka, and Agano classes constitute a fair inclusion, although it would have been good to have had the Yubari, if there had been time. The Tenryu class, Katori class, and Oyodo can be omitted, and the Nagaro class was very similar to the Kuma class anyway. On the US side, the Atlanta class feels like a glaring ommission, but the Omaha, Cleveland, and Brooklyn classes are alright.
Destroyers: We get a good selection of Japanese DDs, and although one more older class of US DDs might have been alright, I'm not concerned about those for some reason.
Escorts: Although I am satisfied with the US selection, I would have liked to have seen a Japanese Kaibokan (either a D, or preferably a C type). Maybe a Matsu or Tachibana class frigate as well.
Merchants: I am not going to go through each merchant class, because I am pretty much satisfied with all of them - more so than with any other Subsim merchant selection ever before.
We even get random tonnages for the first time since AoD.
I would have liked to have seen a Whale Factory, but didn't and don't really expect such a ship to be included. However, I did expect a 906 GRT Juyusen class Coastal Tanker, which were very common and were included in SHI (and in AoD and DftD for some reason
). A Sea Truck might have been a good addition to. Overall, happy with this though.
Plus, we get a few Commonwealth vessels, plus various US merchants and some Japanese auxiliaries.
No Dutch ships though - a DD or CL might have helped.
Overall though, I think we got a pretty good selection, with the excpetion of carriers. Plus, of course, there are always modders...
