Originally Posted by Ultra_Dog
Skeleton BO?
Most of you don't have L120 BOs. Most of you don't have KM SS5s with full crews. So, the assumption that you can just strip the sailors off your bridge operator and will have no effect are completely wrong.
first off, the BO provides vision. When I am approaching the enemy's BB line, I can see their ships in the shadows a whole lot further out than any of you can. My BBs can see those ships and begin shelling them promptly.
When you strip the BO, your surface vision is reduced. This is an incomparable advantage. It allows both your team and yourself to see the enemy further out without the aid of a scout. My L120 BO is max full of sailors.
The second reason is that the BO is also a repairman/restorer. If you cut back on sailors for your BO, you lose SD.
Go ahead, cut back on your crews, save some weight, gain 1 knot. Meet you for lunch in the middle.
The bolded part of you post: having a high level doesn't equate to having any idea what the mechanics of the game are, you are still short on that as you show in the underlined part. That is not how BO's work.
A BO does 2 things: 1st he determines how long your guidelines are and how far out you can spot your shells land, 2nd he gives a decent amount of repair ( and restore).
What he
doesn't do is improve your surface view range when on the surface. Whether you have 300 vets on a BO or 0 sailors on a BO, when your sub is on the surface you will spot ships at the same distance. When on the surface, your surface view range is determined by the FCS that you use, nothing else. When submerged, your sonarman takes over that function.
When underwater all a BO does is providing some repair and restore.
Most subs do not have guns that are worth using, so the BO's primary function is not important for those subs. As for the repair/restore he provides, a lot of subs are so tight on displacement that you can better use the BO's weight on either a sailor that gives a much better repair rate and a similar or better restore( repairer on the R-slot) or on (a) fatter engineer(s) to provide more OH speed/time. Or you can keep your base speed up with the weight savings, improving your travel times and maybe your OH speeds giving you more time to attack the enemy.
As for the 1 sub that does have guns that are usefull: a ghosted U-flak BO will still see some of the max range shells, especially when firing north or south. Firing east or west can be a problem to spot though.
So until subs have enough useable displacement that the weight of a BO will not mean a drop below a base speed I find acceptable, or restricting my use of the truely important sailors, my sub BO's will remain as light as possible.
I know nothing can convince you, but I hope some newer players might be willing to try and get a little bit extra out of their crew.