I know it is standard to make guns have rotation in big gun, but what about elevation/depression?? Is this possible, or not. would it be useful?
Yes, depression is not only possible, it is reasonably common on bigger battleships. Every club has a rule that you can never point your guns above horizontal, but aiming closer comes in handy for a wide range of situations. Let's see... 1) close range slugfest against another battleship 2) anti-torpedoboat defense 3) finishing off a disabled/immobile ship The idea is that all cannon barrels are held onto the guns with a length of flexible tubing. If you mount a servo on top of the magazine, you can pull the barrels down and hit water at a closer range. This allows you to score black and red hits at a much closer distance. If you're hitting reds when your opponent is hitting greys, you win. There are downsides to this, of course. It is very tempting to over-use your depression system, and waste most of your ammunition short of your target. Grey hits are better than no hits, after all. The other downside is complexity. Adding a servo on top of your magazine provides a bunch of additional failure points. The servo could get wet, the wires could get tangled in your rotation mechanism, the servo could get stripped from the shock of firing, etc. It's one more servo you have to salvage every time you sink. And, of course, smaller-caliber guns have less underwater penetrating power, so they benefit less from depression. For example, I have sailed a number of battleships with and without depression. My current ship, the dreadnought Prinz Eugen, does not have depression. It only has one turret (out of four) that I can fit a reasonable depression servo in, so I'm better off fixing all my turrets to hit at 3 feet and maintaining my distance. Other ships, like the Iowa, Roma, or Kreuzer P, benefit much more from using depression. Overall, it's a trade-off. You gain additional tactical flexibility in exchange for extra maintenance. Done right, it is very useful. Done wrong, or used wrong, and it is a detriment to your team.
I have included a photo of a cannon with depression. You can see the servo, mounted on top of the magazine, and attached to the barrel brace. The flexible tubing isn't very visible because it's clear, but you can see the zip ties holding it tight. This cannon is using a HS-81MG servo, one of the more popular servos for depression. This many barrels is about the maximum the HS-81MG can handle, though. It works better with twin cannons, and for quad cannons you need something with more torque. Is depression control possible in a Maryland? Certainly. The question, though, is do you want to. Without depression, you can operate that ship on 4 channels, and it is mechanically simple and easier for your brain to process everything. Once you add depression, you need an extra channel, plus your brain needs to handle the depression control in addition to all the other features. Do not discount the extra load it places on your brain; some skippers who don't use depression can take advantage of this againts skippers who do use it. My recommendation: make allowances for it, but don't install it immediately. Try fighting without depression control. Then, if you often find yourself wanting it, you can add it in later. Just make sure adding depression isn't a permanent change; you may find that you're better off without it, and you'll want the option of changing back. Remember, even with fixed depression, you can still adjust the settings on shore. So you can set turrets A and D for long range, and turrets B and C for short range, or align all four turrets at the 2.5 foot mark. All depression control does is give you more flexibility.
There are several ways to do lay out the radio controls. Usually, the rudder and throttle are on one stick, with rotation and firing are usually on the other stick. Depression is usually on a dial. I've seen some people place it on a two- or three-position switch, to simplify their controls a bit. The dial provides plenty of adjustment and control, but the switch is much simpler to use in battle. Of course, not all radios have all of these controls, so part of it depends on your radio. I've borrowed a ship with all the bells and whistles to run in a gunnery and maneuvering event, with nobody trying to shoot me, and found it very difficult to operate. That ship will be a force to be reckoned with once the captain has some more time to master his controls, but that will likely take a year or two. Simplicity is a very important quality, considering how often I build, buy, or trade ships.
