Range lock

[Destraex]

once i find my range i want to press a key that freezes the red line. This way i can move around to other decks etc without fear of ruining my aim once more.

 

i still want to be able to move left and right mind you with the range height locked.

[admin]

The question is not if it is possible

The question is which buttons to use

Current mouse aiming works perfectly in sniper weapons in BF4 or other semi realistic shooters with bullet drop. It is even easier in NA as in battlefield target moves and jumps and can hide in bushes and a sniper cannot lay 50 bullets simultaneously.

[Destraex]

current system is fine. Just use L orr something to freeze aim reticle in the vertical.

[Henry d'Esterre Darby]

I'd still prefer the mechanic of having a light grey transparent line at the height of the last shot from that particular side of the ship.  You can either line back up on it, or offset from it to adjust for your last fall.

[William Reade]

One of the things I love about this game is it involves a level of skill, ok not a lot, but at least some level of thought and judgement. Any dumbing down of the aiming mechanism would be a bad thing in my view, and I wouldn't say I'm much good at it yet either. It's a 10 minutes to learn, but a lifetime to master kinda thing, and that's good.

 

Also I'd see no point in 'fixing the red line in the vertical' as between one broadside and the next so much will/could have changed in terms of range, and then there's the roll of your ship as well. If we were sailing on a flat sea, with both ships on parallel courses, at constant speeds then 'fixing in the vertical' would work, but thanks devs, we don't have that. I'm learning to use a cloud in the sky, the enemy name tag or a yard arm to give me an idea of the range on this shot then adjusting/guessing the next shot appropriately given whats happened during reload time.

 

If you still think something like this might work, take a strip of 'Glad Wrap' the height of your monitor, put some marks/graduations on it and lay it on your screen it might help you remember your vertical elevation but I don't think it'll help you get more hits, too much else is changing. Getting hits at short range is easy, getting hits at longer ranges isn't, that's historically true, accept there's a skill to learn here and enjoy that.

[Destraex]

the only reason i want a hold elevation button is because if I alt tab or move the mouse even a tiny bit the difference can be huge. This is most noticeable when you turn the boat and have to move the guns left or right, i often then move the elevation by mistake as well. It is also noticeable when you have been dueling at long range, even a tiny accidental range adjustment throws things way out. Especially from a tower. It hurts my neck holding a mouse perfectly pixel correct for 1hr. It also impedes me looking around.

 

At short range it is equally true as i do a lot more looking around. Eventually i will instinctively know the range at closer than 200m of course. But it would be nice to lock the elevation. I am not looking to get n aiming assitant, just a way to remember where i last was on a particular side in terms of elevation.

 

p.s. It is also realistic. Usually the elevation was set by the gun captains and did not have to be held in place by anybody. The guns elevation was fixed by a wooden jammer iirc.

[akd]

The gun elevation may have been fixed, but the deck of the ship was not, so in reality the actual elevation (and apparent aimpoint) was continuously moving and shifting. This means that shooting accurately at long range was not just inputting the correct elevation, but also the finesse and timing involved in compensating for movement and delayed ignition. It was more about gut instinct than inputting a rigid and repeatable elevation setting that could then be fired consistently shot to shot. In fact, accurate shooting at long range in the era was probably largely nonexistent, or at least exceptional.

However, we have a hybrid system that partially compensates for ship motion and gives us a stabilized aimpoint except when elevation is near the limits and the limits are shifting because of ship motion. In my opinion, the current finesse required with the mouse, especially at long range, is a good substitute for the many complicating factors totally absent from the game, especially continuous ship motion. It adds an element of art to gunnery instead of making a purely mechanical system in which you input elevation changes, adjust and then fire like a bot. It is not easy, but it is not hard either and accurate shooting at long range is far from exceptional. It might even possibly be routine after some practice (although there may be those who just never "get it"). But yes, sometimes you miss due to carelessness and/or misjudgment. Happens to me frequently.

My biggest fear for the game is that there will be continuous calls to make the gunnery system easier and facilitate shooting at the longest ranges, to make it a certain and predictable process, and that eventually the devs will submit and start adding in more visual aids and additional "aim stabilization." I hope it is resisted as it would be totally contrary to the spirit of the era and would probably not improve gameplay at all. Small ships would never be able to escape larger ships. Battles might always devolve into long, slow attritional exchanges of fire at max range.

[Lord Hood]

I can't say that I am in favour of locking the line once your range has been found. I think that it would detract from the skill required. It would almost be like auto aiming in World of Tanks. I hope that the developers do not give in to the pleas of aiming being too hard because it would detract from all of the people who are training to become good at it and developing the skill required. I think that akd has put it well that there would have been other factors affecting gunnery that is are not in the game and therefore the current system is a fairly good representation.

[RAMJB]

^^^^ what Samuel and akd said, I fully subscribe.

[Destraex]

Maybe i am not being clear.

all i want is to be able to lock the red dash. I can deal with everything else, the sway, the roll. I can remember when to fire on the roll and correct for any changes in direction etc. I can guess pretty well as long as every time i move the mouse i don't get my guns rolling up and down again.

 

changes

[Destraex]

i should add that the same effect can be had right now by people getting the mouse where they want it and taking their hand off the mouse or holding the mouse perfectly still.... Might i remind you that we are not firing rifles here, no need for the crews to hold there gun elevation with muscle power.

[Comandante Gómez]

I think that it is implemented already. When you right click to aim your cannons with the red dash, and press again right click, game saves the last position you've put the red dash.

[Destraex]

OH WOW... will try this. Be amazing if it is already in. That's all I wanted.

[Freebooter]

I would like to be able to "lock fire" so that I can look around the ship in order to check course, maintain formation and avoid collision.

[akd]

I would like to be able to "lock fire" so that I can look around the ship in order to check course, maintain formation and avoid collision.

Hold ALT key to look around without affecting aim.

[evilcode]

Hi all, as I wrote previously 

"In a real ship, I think, change elevation or horizontal angle of the cannons take time. This plus the extreme sensibility of mouse plus some problem with exit visual etc, not explain me why the system is this and not a some kind of regulation of angles with keyboard, with angle that remain fixed until change( example: order 1 click down, 1 second later the cannon point 1 pixel down)"

 

The actual system seems too arcade. Instant correction with hand cramp for aiming preserve; it rewards the physical sensitivity and not 'mental' one  . I'd like no waves compensation, but key (y, h or mouse wheel or other) to raise cannons with appropriate changing time. 

[Gunnyhighway]

I personally like the way it is now, as it requires a little bit of skills, focus and attention, as you would need in real life to fire a cannon of this type. This is supposed to be 18th century technology.

 

With experience, your brains does the calculations automatically and after a while it becomes less of a challenge.

[nornica]

I agree with Gunny.
It's absolutely fine now.
Winning is now a skill of a player, not script.

[Feriluce]

One of the things I love about this game is it involves a level of skill, ok not a lot, but at least some level of thought and judgement. Any dumbing down of the aiming mechanism would be a bad thing in my view, and I wouldn't say I'm much good at it yet either. It's a 10 minutes to learn, but a lifetime to master kinda thing, and that's good.

 

Also I'd see no point in 'fixing the red line in the vertical' as between one broadside and the next so much will/could have changed in terms of range, and then there's the roll of your ship as well. If we were sailing on a flat sea, with both ships on parallel courses, at constant speeds then 'fixing in the vertical' would work, but thanks devs, we don't have that. I'm learning to use a cloud in the sky, the enemy name tag or a yard arm to give me an idea of the range on this shot then adjusting/guessing the next shot appropriately given whats happened during reload time.

 

If you still think something like this might work, take a strip of 'Glad Wrap' the height of your monitor, put some marks/graduations on it and lay it on your screen it might help you remember your vertical elevation but I don't think it'll help you get more hits, too much else is changing. Getting hits at short range is easy, getting hits at longer ranges isn't, that's historically true, accept there's a skill to learn here and enjoy that.

 

Making things less annoying is not dumbing it down. Holding the correct elevation is really just annoying, as you invariably move your mouse slightly up and down while adjusting it from side to side. I think you people who say that being able to freeze the horizontal movement of your mouse is somehow removing a HUGE amount of skill either A. dont understand what it is we're asking or B. Thinks this is a twitch shooter.

 

All that is being asked is to not have to keep your hand 100% stead until you fire your broadside. All that needs to be done is to reverse the functionality of the alt key. Hold alt to adjust your vertical aim, let go to free look.

[Destraex]

exactly. And as I say this is how it was done in real life. I don't think the guns elevation would be adjusted every second while reloading! It would be re adjusted just a bit again after loading if at all.

[gautrek]

My biggest fear for the game is that there will be continuous calls to make the gunnery system easier and facilitate shooting at the longest ranges, to make it a certain and predictable process, and that eventually the devs will submit and start adding in more visual aids and additional "aim stabilization.

 

Err no one is asking for this. They just want the guns to stay pointed where there are so they can then go back and not have to fart about moving them again. This is more "realistic" than the current system which has you using a FPS twitch mechanism to aim the guns. So you can constantly alter the range which is totally out of keeping with the time frame. Also we have a rudder which can be locked to full turning by using a key press. Yet people seem to think wanting the same for the guns is wrong.

[Destraex]

I think that it is implemented already. When you right click to aim your cannons with the red dash, and press again right click, game saves the last position you've put the red dash.

This works but its not what I want. I want to be able to move the mouse left and right while in aim mode without having the height change. i.e. tell the gunner to keep elevation but adjust left or right.

[Gunnyhighway]

Destraex, I have respect for you in regards to SimHQ, so I am saying this with all due respect.

 

Reloading by the mouth a canon like that inside a moving ship must have been something of a concept we are all foreign from, let alone the conditions in which it was done.

 

Beside, those canons did not have wheels with teeth mechanism for elevation memory, their elevations was guaranteed by a wooden wedge (like a door block) stuck between the support of the beast and the beast itself. Wooden wedge that was certainly moved with the recoil and heat.

 

Then, they were not mounted on rails, but on wooden uneven rounded wheels, semi-rolling on a hardwood floor alike, held by ropes.

 

I am confident that they would have to start from almost zero after each reload.

 

All those stages of control of lack thereof, must be reproduced in one way or another in the game.  

 

Moreover, those canons were not rifled and used balls instead of miniballs, hence notoriously inaccurate.

[gautrek]

Destraex, I have respect for you in regards to SimHQ, so I am saying this with all due respect.

 

Reloading by the mouth a canon like that inside a moving ship must have been something of a concept we are all foreign from, let alone the conditions in which it was done.

 

Beside, those canons did not have wheels with teeth mechanism for elevation memory, their elevations was guaranteed by a wooden wedge (like a door block) stuck between the support of the beast and the beast itself. Wooden wedge that was certainly moved with the recoil and heat.

 

Then, they were not mounted on rails, but on wooden uneven rounded wheels, semi-rolling on a hardwood floor alike, held by ropes.

 

I am confident that they would have to start from almost zero after each reload.

 

All those stages of control of lack thereof, must be reproduced in one way or another in the game.  

 

Moreover, those canons were not rifled and used balls instead of miniballs, hence notoriously inaccurate.

  Yes but the current system in no way simulates what you have just said. Its a twitch gaming mechanic for use with a rifle or the like. Not to simulate heavy guns being manhandled. It worked fine with aiming keys in RO when tanking. The elevation could be set and left ditto the side movement of the turret. 

Leaving the elevation set  in now way takes into account the ship roll or sea movement. Its just so the guns are still at the elevation you left them. You will still need to account for the other ship and your own ship moving .

[Destraex]

Destraex, I have respect for you in regards to SimHQ, so I am saying this with all due respect.

 

Reloading by the mouth a canon like that inside a moving ship must have been something of a concept we are all foreign from, let alone the conditions in which it was done.

 

Beside, those canons did not have wheels with teeth mechanism for elevation memory, their elevations was guaranteed by a wooden wedge (like a door block) stuck between the support of the beast and the beast itself. Wooden wedge that was certainly moved with the recoil and heat.

 

Then, they were not mounted on rails, but on wooden uneven rounded wheels, semi-rolling on a hardwood floor alike, held by ropes.

 

I am confident that they would have to start from almost zero after each reload.

 

All those stages of control of lack thereof, must be reproduced in one way or another in the game.  

 

Moreover, those canons were not rifled and used balls instead of miniballs, hence notoriously inaccurate.

 

True, good point. So in that case the sight should be locked neutral until the guns finish loading and only then can we adjust elevation...

After that. We can lock that elevation in until we want to fire.