Some suggestions to improve high latency user experience

[Munro]

Because of the pace of the game, high latency doesn't make gameplay too difficult. Most of the skill in this game involves thinking several steps ahead and usually you have several seconds to react to your opponents' actions. However there are a few places where latency has a more pronounced effect and I wanted to share some observations about it.

 

 

Rudder Control: the delay before the rudder responds to input is manageable because it's a delay in when your maneuver starts, but the delay after you release it to neutral is more difficult to manage because it affects your final heading and requires more accurate compensation for delays (and the delay often varies in the span of a battle). The delay also makes fine-tuning your heading more time-consuming. 

 

I think this issue would be solved by having the ability to click on your compass to set a heading that the helmsman will try to automatically hold (I also think this would be a good enhancement to the current controls for all players, improving the feeling of playing as a Captain who can switch between 'command' and 'control').

 

 

Yard Control: The delay after your input starts/stops is almost as long as the time it takes for the yards to move. When you want to move the yards all the way to port or starboard this isn't a problem, but it's impossible to accurately neutralize the sails quickly, for example when you want to momentarily minimize your heel while on a reach.

 

A keybind to have the crew neutralize sails would be useful here, or an interface/option setting to adjust the sensitivity of the yard control so that high-latency Captains can have them move more slowly.

 

 

Gunnery: The delay before the cannon respond to your fire command is fine, in fact it feels like a natural/intended delay. The problem is when you need to maximize elevation in aim mode while the ship is rolling: you can't aim higher than the cannons can shoot at that precise moment. With immediate response you can fire as soon as you feel the ship at the peak of its roll, but with high ping you have to predict when the roll will peak but each roll varies and by the time you sense the deceleration of the upward roll it's already too late.

 

Being able to aim higher/lower than the cannons can actually elevate/depress (in the same way that you can laterally traverse the camera further than the gun traversal) would allow high-latency Captains to compensate for their delay far more effectively. You could alter the aiming reticle to notify the player when their aim passes beyond the cannons' limit. If a player fires outside of the current elevation limit, the cannon can either fire anyway or not fire, according to player settings (high-latency players will prefer the latter option).