[I'm goin' down]

Not to disparage the work of the major modders or the work of others (Mobo is an example from awhile ago that comes to mind), minor mods ought to be carefully considered. I state their case.

In July an innocuous post appeared authored by Nicolas, from Guatemala, announcing a fix to the ATD (Attack Tools Dial per CapnScury's High Realism Tutorial) that permits manual rotation of the AoB dial with the PK turned off. This adjustment has commensurate effect on the movement of the Target Ship on the TBT dial. This fix permits the upper dial on the TBT to be adjusted to match the Target's course relative to the Submarine's. It aids captains in verifying if their attack set up is correct.

Immediately thereafter, ddgrn, from Canada, with Nicolas' permission, joined the thread and modified the fix to include range/aspect ratio and speed, and incorporated all of the above into a mod known as the Easy Aob. The upshot was a mod that enabled accurate torpedo shots at comparatively long range and variety of angles.

Word of the thread spread quickly, and it had thousands of hits in the first few months when it became clear that a major breakthrough had occurred in manual targeting as a result of their combined work. The mod can be incorporated to the stock game, RFB, FOTRS, and TMO via JSGME.

A few months later, gutted, from New York (I believe), introduced a stand alone program entitled the Solution Solver. This program incorporates CapnScury's Calculator, as defined in his High Realism Tutorial, into a workable Calculator as described therein. It sits on the desktop, and is accessible when the game is paused. Gutted explains its operation in a three part video tutorial in a real time attack scenario which is part of the program download. It is simple to use the program in a game setting, as once the program is opened, a captain can pause the game and toggle between the game and the program in seconds. Modifications to the course of either the target ship or the submarine is simple. One of the benefits of the program is that you can use a pop up tool and see the effect of a course change on your desk top and gain an understanding of how the change affects Aob while the target moves along its course.

Both of these mods represent a major advancement/technological breakthrough in manual targeting. They are state of the art. Their creators had to have a complete and thorough understanding of concepts underlying manual targeting and the TDC to tackle their respective projects. They are our rocket scientists in a manner of speaking.

Some modders work on eye candy, some work on special effects, etc. The Easy Aob mod and Solution Solver are aimed at sinking ships, which for many Subsimmers is a key purpose in playing the game, and in real life is obviously the purpose of the Submarine force during war time.

Don't get me wrong, the major mods, especially the recent works of ducimus and skwasjer (spell?), the later which is beyond my capabilities, are incredible pieces of work. But some of the smaller mods have a great impact on the game, and if one from that group does not take home the prize, the Committee should consider according them recognition of some sort, such as an Honorable mention, a six pack, and a promotion.