So this is to humor Mikael Hasselstein more than anything else but here goes.

Here is the rule:

"During the Command Phase, each player chooses commands for only the ships that he controls. He may discuss his choices with his teammates, but he must do so openly at the table and cannot show his command dials to another player."

The question: Can a player use a visual aid to openly communicate so I don't have to state out loud the command I am thinking about taking to my teammate?

Pointing towards a location on the "visual aid" (ie. the Commands cheat sheet) that is obscured from view.

Just develop play calls like in football or baseball

Hey armada is a sport

The rules don't prohibit it, but it's an example of poor sportsmanship.

The rules don't prohibit it, but it's an example of poor sportsmanship.

It's not much different than me watching you spin your command dial that was used last turn.

This is a game of information. Disinformation is actually a good thing.

If I was playing with someone as a teammate and we had set up a system where Navigate ment squadron, squadron was navigate and the other two were flopped. What's the difference? Where is the bad sportsmanship?

Good sportsmanship is following the spirit of the rules, not just the letter.

The spirit of the rules is that any discussion between teammates should be public, but the actual setting of the dial should be secret. Circumventing this by establishing a private communication method between the teammates is within the letter of the rules, but clearly against their spirit.

Then again I was educated by the British, I wouldn't expect someone across the Atlantic to comprehend this

Good sportsmanship is following the spirit of the rules, not just the letter.The spirit of the rules is that any discussion between teammates should be public, but the actual setting of the dial should be secret. Circumventing this by establishing a private communication method between the teammates is within the letter of the rules, but clearly against their spirit.Then again I was educated by the British, I wouldn't expect someone across the Atlantic to comprehend this

Where is the spirit being broken?

Do they not use hand signals in Futbol? It is a form of open communication. So is them yelling what they are doing.

"He may discuss his choices with his teammates, but he must do so openly at the table"

It's not "open" if you're using a secret code, a hidden panel or some other communication method inaccessible to your opponents. That's the spirit of the rules.

The fact that the spirit of the rules is unenforceable does not mean that circumventing it while keeping to the letter is good sportsmanship.

I'll leave the discussion with a quote from the wonderful Flanders & Swann:

"And all the world over each nation's the same,

they've simply no notion of playing the game:

they argue with umpires, they cheer when they've won,

and they practice beforehand - which ruins the fun!"