Guns 'n' Roses (or Lilies, or something)

[Gryffon300]

OK, I need some guidance.

Against strong advice from some, I have been using the deck gun in engagements with solo merchants.

I'm using SH IV 1.5 with TMO, RSRD and Travellor. It's 1942 in career mode with a stern-mounted 50 cal (4). There are some issues that I wonder if anyone has addressed with Mods (or are there settings that I am not aware of?) I have looked through the mods lists and some comments and I am aware there are some mods, but they seem to up the fire-rate or damage or so on, and that's not what I am after.

- as the AI is far less accurate at medium distance than I am on the gun (and only 'better' at distance because the inadequate zoom on the gun-sight means the target just gets too small to see what's happening), I have occasion to be concerned about the sanity of some of my deck crew. When slewing the gun far port or starboard to fire back over my shoulder, as it were, there is a crewman standing watch on either side and forward of the conning tower. It means two things: first, they block the view through the sight, and second, they are standing in front of the barrel. Now, I know they are all macho and fans of 'Kelly's Heroes', but, really?! Mod adjust anyone?

- Why, as I have 'No stabilise view' selected, is the gun so rock-steady regardless of sea-state? Is this native to SH IV? (Disappointing as the bouncing gun barrel in previous versions of SH was an appreciated 'realism' feature - it's been done - perhaps the code is somehow useable as a template? (Waiting for the barrel to steady and timing swells became one of my better skills....)) Is there a Mod out there that amends this anomaly?

If any guru genius modder actually wants to improve game play significantly for Gunnys, here's a couple of suggestions (if they haven't already been spotted and modded? If so, where, where!?):

- When gun is zoomed in, slew-rate on left-right arrows should be radically adjusted down to allow micro-adjustments. As it is, the arrows are useless - it wildly overshoots left or right at the briefest touch, so you have to use the mouse and that's a Royal Pain.

- Have some kind of Range read-out slaved from the bridge TBT or, even better, have range called out from the bridge (the same way sonar contacts are called), say, with every 100m change. (Its a real pain once you lose track at distance because the zoom is inadequate to see if you are under or over-shooting and have to leave the gun; run up to the bridge and take a range reading; then run back down to the gun AND BEGIN ELEVATION ALL OVER AGAIN FROM 500! That's a total waste - at the very least, couldn't the gun stay in the elevation last set, so long as 'Man Deck Gun' is selected. Re-elevating is a painfully slow waste of time! (I can see on the zoomed gun-sight view that if the mouse pointer hovers over the right or left sides of the screen, the word 'Range' pops up, but no amount of left or right clicking achieves anything- even though the manual mentions 'right click range', but then doesn't explain). Or is all this just a glitch and something that should be there and isn't?

Sorry to ramble, but for us patient Gunnys who want to contribute (semi-realistically), taking down a merchant at 6 km is very satisfying. Just give us the tools!

Thanks