I wouldn't expect you to introduce FPS elements right into the DG engine or game design as it is. It hasn't been designed for that. I'm referring to a future game built from the ground up to be an FPS/RTS hybrid. TF1942 maybe isn't a good example to use because while it was a good game it was also hilariously broken in plenty of areas.
Jutland's gunnery AI is waaaay better than anything that's come before it. The other naval sims i've played of the last few years have Pirates of the Carribean (AKA Sea Dogs 2), Battlestations Midway, and Silent Hunter. All of them did indeed suffer from the -> AI Gunnery = Ass; problem. But Jutland is the first real naval sim i've come accross without serious AI balancing issues in gunnery. Would their be a major difference in now just allowing the player to take control of one ship in the line?
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In an FPS-type game like TF1942, however, the player's high level command role is very limited and he spends the bulk of his time aiming guns. The game forces the player to do this, because when he's not aiming his guns himself, his AI gunners are rather worse shots than the enemy AI gunners. Thus, to win, the player must jump to the critical point of the battle, man the most important weapons, and take out the most threatening enemy. Repeat for the next critical point in the battle, with a quick glance at the map in between to give some simple order to his rather small fleet.
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A good point. On the other hand, Jutland makes the player spend most of his time giving direction and speed changes. Nothing wrong with that, after you've made your changes it's the down time between major orders that seems wasted to me. Time Compression and the shellcam were designed to diminish the lack of input during that time, (which in real world time can range anywhere from 1 minute to 1 hour) but why stop there?
I'm saying i've got the fleet setup in the manner I want it, but instead of hitting the "time compression" key, how about a button that makes me commander of a ship? A simplistic AI will control the fleet while you aren't, and you can leave it with basic incentives like "Attack Cautiously/Chaaaarge rarrarar." Simply hitting "resume fleet command" would bring you back to the sky. Ideally, this would be Jutland's gameplay covering for the weaknesses of a naval FPS and vice versa.
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Both types of games are quite fun on their own merits. However, they don't mesh well.
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They don't mesh well because no one has really tried to make them work. Back in the 90s it was attempted repeatedly, and progress was being made. Though we all know the story, the sim market dried up, high profile sim-studios died out, etc etc.
It's not a naval sim, but B-17 The Mighty Eigth was wildly successful at being an FPS/RTS hybrid.