Well, off the top of my head, a few surface to surface pointers for naval sims in general are:
Naval surface combat breaks down into 5 major factors, speed, manuveribility, staying power (including armor), hitting power and range of weapons. Other secondary, but important factors are crew quality and fatigue level, ammo quality, the weather, ability to detect targets.........and........a whole bunch of others I can't think of right now.
A good captain needs to know all of these factors about his ship, or ships and that of the enemy as well, if at all possible. In battle he needs to be aware of which strengths he has that best match up against the enemy's weaknesses. As the battle is conducted he must try to maintain any advantage he has with his strengths and exploit those weaknesses of the enemy. while protecting his own. A ship that has a speed and weapons range advantage would want to fight a long range gun duel and would be able to control the course of the battle with it's speed. A DD attacking a BB or BC only has the advantages of speed (except in heavy weather) and manuveribility and can only run away from the enemy or use these advantages to attempt to close and use it's only effective weapons against capital ships, torpedoes. Use the weather if possible. Reduced visibility can allow small ships to approach others without detection for much longer than in normal lighting and weather conditions. Try to sail your ship so that all of your main guns can bear on the target. Sometimes this will mean chasing or running away at an angle to your opponent so that both your stern and forward guns are clear to fire. This will slow you down, but using your firepower effectively is a critical factor in naval warfare. Crossing the T has been mentioned and is the perfect firing situation for any captain. You can fire all of your guns at your opponent while you present the narrowest target, but the enemy can only reply with his forward guns and presents the entire length of his ship to plunging shellfire.
When combing torpedo tracks, it is easier to do it moving away from the source of the torpedos, you have more time as you and the torpedo are moving in the same direction.
Groups of ships operating together have to watch to not foul the range of the other friendly ships and are best used in formations, at least for ships of DD and above size. Ships in a line ahead formation can bring all of the formations guns to bear on a target, or targets and will not be in each others way or blocking the vision of the other ships with it's silhouette and smoke. Formation tactics, of course, take training and are not easy to accomplish, but they can be devestating when used correctly. It's infuriating when you can't launch torpedos due to one of your compatriates in their path.
Thats all that comes to me as as I'm sitting here, but I have just barely scratched the surface. Many books have been written on this subject. I can't do it justice in a couple of paragraphs. I'll think of a hundred other things tonight as I'm trying to sleep, lol.
Regards.
SeaWolf
