Board Thread:Game Updates/@comment-3502824-20180328015558/@comment-26574811-20180331065929

AnimeFreak40K wrote: - An Escort Destroyer (Johnston or Hoel), that will have the same in-game values as a Destroyer. Just a reminder: Both Johnston and Hoel are DD, not DDE.

Right, let's get back to the new USN DE, forget about USN being well or not-so-well educated in how to classify ships. Is it possible to fit the new DE into KB? It...WAS. That is, before they used the term "destroyer" to describe the new DE. Remember, the devs would see this in a Japanese perspective, not a USN one. From the Japanese perspective, KB is a bloody patrol ship, something you would probably assign to coast guard instead of navy in modern days. (Japan didn't have a coast guard before 1945) and all KBs, if put in the right era, would be exempt from the London/Washington treaty. DEs, on the other hand, are mostly defined as a destroyer under the same criteria (due to being faster than 20 kt and/ or having torpedoes). Now, don't give me shit about Japan being absent in the 2nd London Treaty, these treaties were very important in defining ship categories, such as creating the whole definition of "light" and "heavy" cruisers, even after its expiration. Now, game-wise speaking, KB+torpedo or destroyers? Think about this: what will happen in each case scenario? 1. KB+torp: KBs are now almost entirely used for ASW, while Sammy B was famous for her surface combat. You can tamper with the stats and give her a good reflection of her IRL counterpart, but that would make Sammy B de facto very different from the rest of KBs, despite being "officially" a KB. 2. Destroyer, either DE or DD: DD is currently the most diverse category, we have AA DD, surface attack DD, ASW DD, transport DD, you name it. The impact made by introducing Sammy B into the "greater DD" category is negligible, especially given the fact that we are already expecting the Matsu class, which are also transport/escort DDs. Some of the US DEs are converted into high speed transports (just like the relationship between Matsu and Nr.1 class transport), which means it would be preferable to allow US DEs to carry daihatsus in order to reflect this in the game.

Therefore I see absolutely no reason to put DEs, especially torpedo-capable post-Evarts DEs, as KBs. Either DE as an independent category or as a subclass of DD is far more doable.