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Suggestion to make small ships more fun and usefull


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The idea is simply to introduce water depth, reefs, shallow water, rocks, small islands. Mainly making parts of the water more dangerous, especially for big ships running the risk of run aground.

 

Mainly it feels like there is a risk of the small ships just beeing something you use becasue you can t afford a bigger one. There is no real pro of having a smaller one despite better maneuverability becasue the fights take place in open waters.

 

If there was places on the battlemap there the bigger ships would be running a big risk of running aground to lure them when beeing persued or to escape through I think the samaller ships would feel more usefull. The big ships would have to sail around or slow down and carefully navigate in order persue.

 

In an open world setting there could be places where only smaller boats could get protected by reefs

 

Smaller boats persued by bigger ones could also escape by sailing towards more shallow waters.

 

This would also make it possible to introduce things like:

 

Running aground, ship getting stuck and slowly taking damage from waves. Smaller vessels would be able to sail above most of the reefs.

 

Putting the crew to work at getting a grounded vessel afloat again. Smaller vessel would do this a lot faster than a big one.

 

Fathom (I think that is the correct word) the old way. Meassuring the water depth by basicly using a string with something heavy in the end. Would be possible at intervals at lower speeds.

 

The reefs could be made visible by either having small rock formations sticking up through the surface of the water or if below surface by a lighter green colour of the water/or much darker. ( As it would in reality due to the object beeing partly visible through the surface.

 

Anyhow my first post. I tried to check aorund to see if this is planned to be introduced or allrdy suggested.

 

Regards

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Also, one two more things i came to think of. When going into shallow waters the ships usually had a sailor in the front watching the seas shouting out warnings about reefs in front of the boat. You could have that in the game. A sailor shouting a warning when the boat was getting close to a reef in front of it.

 

Also smaller boats would with water depths and reefs be better than ships of the line in coastal battles over key points or settlements or battles in waters with a lot of reefs or islands because the big ones would be to hard to maneuver and easily run aground.

 

Basically giving smaller vessels a purpose.

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I agree with all your points, however, the small ships are a blast.  I spent most of my games this weekend in the lynx (even though I have all ships unlocked), and I had a blast going yard arm to yard arm with bellonas, trincs and constitutions who couldn't hit me.  I sank a Surprise and a snow.  I finished off several surprises, a bellona, a trinc, and was an all round nuisance.  I had a Bellona wasting broadsides on me instead of allied frigates and bellonas.  I had surprises and conis and snows primarying me instead of their equivalent.

 

Pretty good for a ship that had a broadside weight of 48lbs.

 

p.s.  The all time favorite moment from this weekend was when my allied Trinc purposefully rammed the lynx I was fighting, pushing him into me and running us over.  Both lynxes sunk.  Pretty funny since I still had 2 repairs left and was beating the enemy lynx.

 

I can't wait for the navy lynx that is being released in the next two weeks.

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Also, one two more things i came to think of. When going into shallow waters the ships usually had a sailor in the front watching the seas shouting out warnings about reefs in front of the boat. You could have that in the game. A sailor shouting a warning when the boat was getting close to a reef in front of it.

 

Also smaller boats would with water depths and reefs be better than ships of the line in coastal battles over key points or settlements or battles in waters with a lot of reefs or islands because the big ones would be to hard to maneuver and easily run aground.

 

Basically giving smaller vessels a purpose.

 

But they didn't know how deep the water was until they could get a sounding line on top of that "reef", and by then it was usually too late.  I've spoken before about charting channels from a small boat, maybe even something as small as a rowboat or pinnace.  Until you've sounded the water, you don't have any idea how deep it is, and until you've properly surveyed it (which could take a very long time) you don't have anything more than one or two little rows of numbers, which may or may not be in the "correct" relation to each other.

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