-1 (impending text-wall, shame on you for not implementing spoiler tags NF!)
Taking parts of the game out just because you don't like them is exactly where this game DOESN'T need to be going.
Take a look at what modes people play. GB. People play GB 90% of the time...why do people play GB 90% of the time when there are so many other modes that would add more variety, and are available for many different types of ships? Because GB is all-encompassing; -anyone- can play GB in -anything-.
Your suggestion, essentially, is to allow players whether or not to completely eliminate smoke from the game, at their whim. It's a poor solution to a problem you face in the game that you have no other way of solving...
Asking devs to remove features from the game to fit your playstyle is the exact opposite of 'skill'. Yes, it would improve your skill, because its something you don't know how to counteract, and yet, at the same time, would it not reduce the skill required to play the game? Would players not have to blindly fire into smoke only knowing a ships current speed, size, direction, any and all shots coming from smoke, and any and all shots that hit a player within smoke, that give away the position of a concealed player, within the [somewhat] small area of concealment?
No, removing smoke does not 'improve skill' in my opinion (improve whos skill? the smoke user? the person firing into smoke? the overall skill of the entire community? as loosely worded as that is, and being your only reason, I cannot see how such a suggestion could ever be implemented...).
Also, removing torpedos does not implicitly 'improve skill' (whatever it is that means) should you happen to (and likely so) believe that, because now BB's don't have to watch for torpedo bombers, subs, or DD/TW's, they don't have to consider AAW of ships, they don't even have to shoot AA at torp bombers any longer, they don't need to consider bulge as part of their armor setup, they don't have to take evasive manuvers if a TB wave -does- go after them...worse of all, now FF, DD, CL, SS, and to a lesser extent, CL, have no effective means of combating BB's...
You sound like a person who'd like the entire game to revolve around BB's (which it already does since they're the most overused and one of the most-powerful ship classes in NF) but to the extent that you'd want to make necessary changes to nerf all other ship classes into oblivion...
The only thing i can reccommend, to you personally (and ironically so, being a noob), is to "get some skills" and learn how to, if not when -not- to, shoot into smoke...
That ss you let slip close enough to be enough of a threat to you to consider shooting? Too late, cant shoot it through smoke when it pops up to replenish it's tank...should've kept closer to sonarsman-cover such that, a sub would never even get in range to even attack you to begin with.
The same goes with DD and FF, only you can 1-shot them a mile away already, you only need to decide whether to or not, or to rely on your nearby cover...
Removing smoke would, in every way possible, deterioriate the tactical aspect of this game...Yes noobs can rely on smoke to survive 10 seconds longer then they normally would, thats why you have to be better than a noob and kill them before, while (if you have fast firing support-guns giving away their position within smoke, or if they're firing at you -from- smoke giving away their position -and- orientation at once), or after smoke recedes...
The fallacy of "i don't use smoke because I'm too good" is a laughable one...If you don't need smoke, someone on your team does. If someone on your team doesnt, you're either gonna roll whoever you're fighting, or you already let everyone else on your team die, or you're playing competitively (where you can't use smoke anyways?). Why don't you "not use armor because you're too good" while you're at it...or since you don't need any in the no torp games you're playing, "not use any guns because you're too good"?
From a personal-level, I could care less whether smoke gets removed or not, but being a noob, and smoke being a noob-friendly addition to the game, I'll defend it from getting removed just because some people don't like it...This game already has enough encouragement during the first half of the progression...up to level 80-90 or so, I'd imagine, where you'll get semi-reliably 1-shotted if you try to do anything besides stay behind someone else no matter what you end up sailing up to BB....FF, DD, CL, CA, and early BB's even...If smoke were removed tonight, it wouldn't really affect me in a couple of months by the time i get a BB with enough range....but it sure would make me hate -EVERY- single ship class besides BB, a little more than i already do (besides CV, I'll try that soon enough).
If no-smoke were implemented and tried to be used in GB's, theres a pretty good chance that the majority would opt otherwise, since you've got your elitests who hate on smoke, and then you've got noobs who enjoy it, combined with everyone else who doesn't really care even...
