How about better navigation tools, and crew uniforms

[DannyC]

I have some suggestions for some elements I'd really enjoy in the game.

1. Navigation

I love the idea of exploring the open world map, but it's very boring and time consuming, and it can get a bit difficult at times. Having more navigation tools would make it a more immersive and rewarding experience. My suggestions are as follows:

- you should be able to plot a course on the map, more than just a straight course with a protractor (if you need to follow a winding course next to land masses)

- re-introduce the ship's present coordinates. Back in the day they would perform daily noon observations to work out latitude, and they had chronometers for the longitude... It doesn't have to be super accurate, but for example every day at noon the ship's current position can be obtained (if it's not cloudy or raining) and a cross placed on the map, so you can see where you are. dead reckoning with just orienting by islands is not enough, and it's too tedious.

- a wonderful example of navigation tools is the implementation in silent hunter 3. again, it doesn't have to be super accurate, and indeed errors can be introduced, for example proportional to the number of times the ship changes course, turns, etc, and an error can also be associated with the noon observation?

 

2. Crew

I think that for a really immersive age of sail experience, there should be more adequate crew uniforms. A captain pacing the quarterdeck would be really cool, and maybe even marines firing muskets when engaged battle, officers giving orders to the gun crews etc... If officers or the captain are killed, a morale shock can take place. At the moment the crew looks like a bunch of golfers taking their yacht out for a spin...

[St0nkingByte]

I think better navigation would be more accurate because captains of the day really did know where they were with a high degree of accuracy and the Carribean was not the great unknown during the time period in question. Perhaps the devs view us being lost as part of the game play experience?  The same line of thinking would lead you to believe we should get a warning or notice when a sail is spotted on the horizon.

Still I think having some better indication of your location would be more historically accurate. Maybe make it a perk or an update like 'Expert Navigator' or something like that?

[George Washington]

Protractor is a very accurate tool. What else do you need? 

1. Exit port + set protractor over it. Draw the line to your next destination.

2. Look on Compass, red marker appears and you just follow it. 

3. Once reached your destination reset protractor and draw new line. 

4. Always know where you are and always check compass. 

Edited October 13, 2017 by George Washington

[Sunleader]

48 minutes ago, George Washington said:

Protractor is a very accurate tool. What else do you need? 

1. Exit port + set protractor over it. Draw the line to your next destination.

2. Look on Compass, red marker appears and you just follow it. 

3. Once reached your destination reset protractor and draw new line. 

4. Always know where you are and always check compass. 

 

No its not lol.

Because unless you hit an Island or something. You have no Way of Confirming that you reached your Target.

 

Hell. They had better Navigation Tolls on their Ships in the 17th Century than what we got in the Game.

 

1.

We have no Speed Relation. We cant rely on realistic Travel Distances based on Speed.

In Reality you would know how many Hours you traveled at what Speed and thus be able to tell how far you got in that Direction. Hence know an rough Position of yourself.

2.

We have no way to confirm our Position. In Reality they would check the Night Sky and find out their rough Position based on the Stars.

3.

We dont even have a proper Map that includes Landmarks.

In Reality if they hit an Island they could check the Map for Hills and other outstanding Features to see what Island they landed on.

 

 

 

We need.

A.

An Better Map. That actually includes Basic Terrain and Landmakrs so we can Identify it.

B.

An rough Travel Estimation on the Map. Which draws an rough estimated Line based on the Direction and Speed that we Traveled at for the last Hour.

C.

An way to Confirm our actual Position. For example make it so that our Map Position is Updated once per Ingame Day during the Night. As our Crew Confirms out Position based on the Night Sky.

 

None of that would Break Realism.

In Opposite it would actually make it more Realistic cause no Ship in that Age would ever have Sailed as Blindly as we do it.....

[Apina]

I like the adventure

 

[Hodo]

2 minutes ago, Sunleader said:

 

No its not lol.

Because unless you hit an Island or something. You have no Way of Confirming that you reached your Target.

 

Hell. They had better Navigation Tolls on their Ships in the 17th Century than what we got in the Game.

 

I agree they had better navigation tools in the 17th and 18th century, and this game is based in the 19th century.

BUT with that said, I can sail from Nassau to Charleston to Bermuda to Mortimer Town without getting lost just using the protractor, a stop watch or a clock, and the trader tool.   

I would set my protractor line to a set point say the tip of an island, then sail to that point.  Reset the protractor from that new position, then sail to my next mark.  I know in my Prince I average around 22kn no mater the wind.   Or my Cerberus I average about 19kn. So each grid is roughly 25km so I know how long it takes me to cover a grid.  I can set a watch and sail by it.   If I get off by a bit I can check the trader tool with the nearest town and adjust from there. 

[CaptVonGunn]

9 hours ago, Sunleader said:

 

No its not lol.

Because unless you hit an Island or something. You have no Way of Confirming that you reached your Target.

 

Hell. They had better Navigation Tolls on their Ships in the 17th Century than what we got in the Game.

 

1.

We have no Speed Relation. We cant rely on realistic Travel Distances based on Speed.

In Reality you would know how many Hours you traveled at what Speed and thus be able to tell how far you got in that Direction. Hence know an rough Position of yourself.

2.

We have no way to confirm our Position. In Reality they would check the Night Sky and find out their rough Position based on the Stars.

3.

We dont even have a proper Map that includes Landmarks.

In Reality if they hit an Island they could check the Map for Hills and other outstanding Features to see what Island they landed on.

 

 

 

We need.

A.

An Better Map. That actually includes Basic Terrain and Landmakrs so we can Identify it.

B.

An rough Travel Estimation on the Map. Which draws an rough estimated Line based on the Direction and Speed that we Traveled at for the last Hour.

C.

An way to Confirm our actual Position. For example make it so that our Map Position is Updated once per Ingame Day during the Night. As our Crew Confirms out Position based on the Night Sky.

 

None of that would Break Realism.

In Opposite it would actually make it more Realistic cause no Ship in that Age would ever have Sailed as Blindly as we do it.....

Trader tool combined with the Protractor is all that we need.. Hell half the time I just look at the map eye ball the direction and use the Trader tool to tell me when I should be seeing land. What we really need is the ability to Read Ports name at a distance using the Spy glass.. Because in Real life they all were not exact copies:).. Once you have been close enough to any city to read the location in OW you should then later be able to know which city your looking at in the spy glass..  Contour maps of the islands that match the actual islands in game would be nice for spotting which mountain is which based on the map