my current 3 wishes for an improved game

[median marsh]

Binoculars to scout docking space/location, be able to wash the windows in the wheel house, and turn on and of the lights on the boat without killing power to everything else

[timid solstice]

Any weapon with an optical sight can double as binoculars, though I get why having them as a separate option could be important for loadouts that don't feature an optical sight.

[median marsh]

Yes, but it takes a long time before you get a scope

[timid solstice]

Hm. That's a good point, but I'm not sure why we could make binoculars without being able to make a scope. If binoculars did exist, I would expect them to be unlocked at the same level as the optical sight. It would probably be better to just move the optical sight to a lower level.

[median marsh]

well, we had binoculars and telescopes on ships long before we put them on rifles 🙂 Compared to an rifle scope, binoculars and telescopes is pretty low tier science

[timid solstice]

Scopes came much later because guns which could use them came much later. Even as late as the early 1800s, most rifles struggled to hit targets farther than a trained eye can see unassisted, so there just wasn't any need to add magnification. The moment rifles were accurate enough to warrant a telescope, we added them without too much fuss, because the scope was a far simpler invention than the rifle it was attached to. And in our case, we have a Fabricator and unlock electric torches at level 1, so I'm not actually sure what's stopping us from making an optical sight as soon as we have a weapon that could use it.