> 1. Have some of the WW2 ship data for US/UK/Japanese/German
> or Italian ships been converted to the Grand Fleets format?
> If so, is it available?
> ==========
>
> I believe I've converted all of the US and Japanese ships
> necessary to refight any of the Guadalcanal naval battles,
> with probably a few extra thrown in. I've also done a few
> British and German ships (enough for the Bismarck
> encounters), but I don't think I've done any Italian ships yet.
>
> ==========
> I started my own conversion but it takes an incredible amount
> of time ...
> ==========
>
> Why yes, yes it does.
>
>
> ==========
> 2. When looking at the gun data, it seems almost impossible
> to penetrate BB armor at long range: even a 16" gun would
> need a dice roll of 10 to penetrate a belt armour of 14 at
> long range. Is this normal for plunging fire during WW2?
> ==========
>
> I'm not sure.
> It's possible we were a little conservative in our mechanics.
> We used an average of the deck and belt values, with the
> logic that plunging fire would hit either the deck or belt
> roughly half the time.
> Geometry shows this to be the case, but you could also make
> the argument that adding in the superstructure would cause
> the non-belt portions of the ship to be hit a little more
> often. I've thought that averaging the deck and belt, and
> then averaging that result with the deck again might be a
> little more appropriate.
> For example, say a battleship has a belt of 14 and a deck of
> 8, in game terms. The second belt value is then 11. Using the
> optional method the second belt value would actually be the
> average of 11 and
> 8, which would be 10 (rounding up).   
> The WW II games I've played have been satisfactory, but I
> haven't used a lot of battleships yet.
> One thing you can do to open things up a little is to use the
> straight deck armor value for plunging fire. I believe a
> friend of mine has played the Bismarck scenario that way and
> it works fine.
> This may swing things a little too much the other direction; i.e.
> make plunging fire a little too effective. But you'll get
> quicker results.
>
>
> ==========
> 3. I tested successfully a few additional die-roll modifiers
> that are usually found in other naval rule sets:
> crossing T: +1 for gunfire
> smoke screen: -1 for firing from/into a hex with smokescreen
> except if radar-equipped. No fire allowed through a
> smokescreen hex except if radar-equipped.
> night fire or poor weather: -2
> first broadside at target: -1
> target already hit by same ship: +1
> threading torpedoes: -1 for torpedo attacks