Alright. I have a feeling this is going to continue unless I make a response, so here goes:
You have a right to enjoy the story
theJMPer wrote. I know I did, for the most part. But Jmpr lost interest, and people had valid complaints-- there was a sense of powercreep with each new Abyssal that showed up (which ultimately culminated in Wisconsin and Missouri returning with their 1980s refits). The deaths he put into the story came out of nowhere. No leadup. No closure. Iron handled his better because we got to know Kawakaze somewhat, and her demise had a much more weighty impact on Pennsylvania, who was starting to warm up to her. Don't get me wrong, though, his handling of Naka and Jintsuu's reaction to Sendai's death was also good, but again, there was a subtle lack of weight to it, because we barely knew Sendai.
There have also been accusations leveled about how Jmpr also turned the story into America-wank. I won't get into that particular shitstorm, but it's one regardless. Some have also said there's too many characters to keep track of in the main story, between Jersey, the Taffies, Musashi, Alaska, Crowning, Gale, and probably others that I can't remember right now. So a more focused story is needed as a result.
As for my thought process behind all of this: I obviously have my own headcanons, and my own takes on characters. Some of the stuff I find to be dumb, other bits clever. But I don't want to change the basic premise: that America is finally getting its mighty battlewagons back, and is finally able to march forward and finish the fight that has taken such a toll on its forces.
While I'd rather show, not tell, you've forced me to tell, so here's what I plan to do, and why:
1) re: Richardson/Mutsu: Think of it less as "wiping the slate clean" and more as "picking up where things left off." Aside from some roster changes, the course the two took to their marriage and impending childbirth is more-or-less the same. Why tell the same story twice? It was something like two or three years before we saw their wedding. Why wait two or three more? The only change is that since Jersey wasn't around at the time to finally push Richardson to actually be with Mutsu, Hiei had to, in her own Kongou-class way. Jane is also present with her own ambitions, though I'm not sure if I'll make her someone Special. I'll have to discuss that with Iron.
2) re: New Jersey's intro: I suppose that needs expanded. But Crowning was meant by Jmpr to be a bit character until people liked him, until people realized he had no chemistry with Jersey. I plan to avoid that mistake. And one of the things Jmpr has as part of his headcanon, and something I feel definitely is a core part of the story, is that shipgirls have presence. People can tell, through some deep, primal sixth sense, that they're dealing with someone who's much more than a person, even if the shipgirl in question doesn't look terribly out-of-place in an otherwise normal crowd, such as the Myoukou sisters, or Intrepid in a casual outfit. Even I am starting to adopt it somewhat, because the concept is that interesting. So yes, maybe things were too hasty. But at the end of the day, I'm hoping to make the primary arc about Jersey and how she comes to grips with the world around her.
3) On America and the War: As stated, one of the major complaints was the whole "America! Fuck yeah!" thing being taken a little too far. With my take on things, I hope to mitigate that. America gets hit, too, and not just the Navy, either. Cities get hit, and people die by the thousands. But things won't quite start out as shitty for America's shipgirl situation. America has shipgirls, though they're few in number. Jersey is the first actual battleship to return (because let's face it, it can't be called "Belated Battleships" if America already had, say, most of the Standard Battleline back), but obviously won't be the last.
4) On Abyssals: People complained about powercreep among the Abyssals. We had a highly-radioactive Abyssal!Saratoga, several Nazi wunderwaffe H-Series battleships, Tosa, and the mention of the "Forsaken Empress" (who was planned to be Montana), all within a fairly short time of one another, and each massively scaling in threat. Sara threatened the Gulf. The H-Series battleships nearly took Pearl. Tosa had a seemingly endless fleet. The latter two were meant to justify bringing out Missouri and Wisconsin in their 80s refits, which include Tomahawks, in a setting where they've been gimped, alongside countless other weapons that would make mincemeat of WWII-era ships, due to the so-called "levelling effect." While I don't want to diminish the threat of the Abyssal Fleet, I don't want it to be such that something that blatantly overpowered needs to be broken out.
There's a hell of a lot more I want to do with this. Stuff I hope will make things interesting and perhaps fix the faults people originally found (and act as subtle nods to the original). I'd rather not be forced to give away everything else just because you want to rain on this parade.
