Ryujo's project is almost complete, but several unresolved issues remain. Apart from problems with shadows, planes falling on takeoff and an incomprehensible algorithm for the operation of anti-aircraft artillery, it is not clear to me what the strength of Ryuze’s hull should be in the IL-2 environment.
It is known that despite the fact that Ryujo’s hull was created according to the contours of the heavy cruiser Aoba, it did not receive full armor. Only the ammunition magazines, engine rooms and chimneys received light anti-fragmentation armor. The hull had a double bottom throughout, and after modernization it also had side bulges as anti-torpedo protection. The small displacement did not allow for any improvement in the structural protection of the aircraft carrier. Ryujo died in battle near the Eastern Solomon Islands on 08/24/1942 after being subjected to successive attacks by aircraft from the aircraft carriers Enterprise and Saratoga. The first two or three attacks carried out by TBF torpedo bombers from the Enterprise were ineffective. The final attack, consisting of 30 SBD dive bombers and 8 TBF torpedo bombers, proved fatal for Ryudze. It is known that the dive bombers carried 1000 pound bombs. Ryudze received 3-4 direct hits from bombs and reliably one, possibly two or three torpedoes. In addition, there were at least three or four close bomb explosions. The ship received heavy damage but managed to stay afloat for almost four more hours. It turns out that there is an obvious discrepancy; the weakly protected ship received serious damage but remained afloat for a long time.
In the Japanese Navy, Ryujo belonged to the class of so-called small aircraft carriers. Conventionally, it can be attributed to the group of escort aircraft carriers with which I will compare it. The only escort aircraft carrier presented in the IL-2 is the Casablanca-class aircraft carrier. In fact, this is a cargo ship with a flight deck that does not carry any armor. However, for some reason, the strength parameters of its Hull hull correspond to those of the cruisers Indianapolis and Kirov. Kirov carried 50 mm side and deck armor. Indianapolis carried even more powerful armor. That is, there is a clear discrepancy in the protection parameters of Casablanca.
I think that escort aircraft carriers, in addition to the Independence and Saipan types, should have hull strength parameters corresponding to a cargo ship in the Il-2, that is, _HullMedium with the damageTime parameter increased by 10-25 units. Aircraft carriers with minimal protection, such as Ryujo, Ranger, Wasp, can claim the hull strength with the _HullLarge parameter characteristic of armored cruisers. What strength parameters do you think Ryujo should have?
Google translation.