tidal currents

[richard]

I am new on this forum, so apologies if this has already been discussed. Have you included the, time based, effects of tidal currents in your simulation?

 

It would make the simulation much more interesting in certain areas, for example the french coast where tidal currents are particularly strong and passage of certain areas (e.g. Chenal du Four off Brest) can only be achieved at certain states of the tide.

[IonAguirre]

Hi Richard:

The Caribean sea and the Gulf of Mexico are actually the only areas included in the Open World. Anyway, I agree with you, tides and currents would be a nice improvement to the game. By the way, I'd also include wind drift.

[Henry d'Esterre Darby]

To date, the Developers have felt that modeling currents, tidal currents, and leeway are too far towards the "simulation" side.

[richard]

Not sure whats wrong with going down the simulation side unless it adds too much computational load and slows gameplay unacceptably. Tidal data is around in electronic form (in navigational software) and could be integrated into the game. I think it would add a whole new dimension, particularly recreating things like the blockade of the french fleet in brest, battle of quiberon bay etc.

[IonAguirre]

Fom a mathematical point of view (Regarding the computational load and software design) drift, tides and currents are simple things. About the simulation side .... Im with Richard .... what's the matter with it ?

 

Regards

[Henry d'Esterre Darby]

Naval Action is the most advanced and realistic age of sail action game in the world. We have implemented many mechanics that NEVER existed before in a sailing game - including box haul, proper naval artillery and ballistics affected by heel and roll. 

 

We know what we want of the product and leeway is not going to be implemented.. Constantly holding your rudder or trim in a certain position to compensate for drift.. is boring as hell. It is a fake feature: leeway is managed by your helmsman and your sailmaster and first lieutenant know how to trim the sails and place the ballast the right way. It brings no depth and no meaningful choice, thus can be safely thrown out.

 

If you cannot recruit a helmsman that can control leeway - we will provide one for you.

But if you are really looking for leeway in your game.. well. sorry. then you should play... hmmm. which game has proper leeway again?

 

End of admiralty message on leeway

 

It's not that it's a bad thing to have simulation, it's just about focusing resources on making a fun game to play, that has enough of the complexities of sailing to give you the flavor of the age, without making things so tedious or complex that the layperson is totally lost and confused.

 

Now, I'll agree that Admin's explanation above isn't exactly accurate for leeway - one doesn't hold the rudder, one simply adjusts course to account for the lateral drift, much like an airplane that is in cruise does to account for the same effect, and I'll agree that it was excessive leeway that made some ships poorer sailors than other ships (the more leeway you have, the less speed you can get at a particular wind angle as forward speed is converted to lateral speed creating drag), but I'll argue that instead of implementing leeway directly, you could model that behavior through a slightly slower straight-line speed for a particular ship that was not weatherly, as well as more rapidly reducing the ship's best possible speed as the wind direction approaches the ship's desired course.

[IonAguirre]

Admind sounds like a "stop bothering me". Sorry if we made you feel that way. But .... in fact, Henry d'Esterre Darby got it. Drift is not a matter of rudder, but of course compensation.

Including the feature or not is your choice, but please lets keep basic navigation concepts clear for all readers.

 

Best regards

Edited September 5, 2015 by IonAguirre

[Henry d'Esterre Darby]

Please understand that Admin's English is better than my Russian. He is quite open to ideas that will enhance gameplay. He also has to rely on those of us that are moe familiar with sailing terms and concepts to give a friendly explanation where needed without being dismissive or condescending.

There is a ton of hours that go into even the most simple feature and Admin has to triage only the most important features to include to ensure the game gets finished before the end of the century. Please cut him a little slack, thank you.