Brigand

Although I definitely do not like the idea that buying something with real money could, in any way, provide a boost to gameplay (in other words, I would not like the scenario given as an example). I think that if stuff could be bought (cosmetic and vanity stuff only) than it would indeed be a nice idea to be able to buy gifts for fellow players. ~Brigand

*Cough* classical Athens, 6th century BC? ~Brigand

Did some searching in the members list. Since January 28 2015: 501 new members have registered for the forums; 64 new members made more than 1 post; 67 new members made 1 post only; 371 new members have a post count of 0. With these numbers, anything is possible. Now I'm a decent person and I do not want to ruin it for everybody, but I was tempted to write a script myself to register another 500 new members and have all the votes go to the least popular one, just to see if the reactions on the forums . But, nooo, I'm going to behave myself. Cheers, Brigand

With all due respect, the amount of visits to the forums is of little consequence in case of a poll. Most people here are worried about a large batch of new registrations, which then proceeded to cast their vote for the HMS Indefatigable. So, the interesting question is: how many newly created accounts since 28 January and how many of those voted on this poll. Maybe even more interesting, how many newly registered members have voted, but not otherwise participated on the forums. We're not saying that the poll is manipulated, we're just saying that the numbers look suspicious. high regards, Brigand Edit: another method of stopping this discussion is to simply close the poll and announce the two winners and the two wildcard choices.

No, it is not: It's a Chapman yacht. It is done based on the charts in this book. ~Brigand

I've seen a lot of internet polls and have been keeping a close eye on this one. Polls can be manipulated of course, and the chances of it happening increases if there is something to be gained from doing so. They rattlesnake has been in the lead from the beginning, until last week the HMS Indefatigable suddenly started to close the gap. I've a strong suspicion that somebody is manipulating the votes to get what they want. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the votes for the HMS Indefatigable came from either new accounts or accounts with a very low post count otherwise. Just my two cents, Brigand

You mean brailing up instead of scandalizing? Yes, indeed that is what I meant to ask. ~Brigand

Does anybody know why they used fuses instead of primer directly in the vent/touch hole? I've seen some demonstrations where they primed the cannon with by filling the vent with blackpower directly, and the delay between touching it with the linstock and the firing was almost non existing. Cheers, Brigand

Whould the use of brailing lines lessen the amount of effort required to re-set the gaff sail? ~Brigand

Somewhere in another thread, @maturin suggested a very nice solution for the grieving concerns: apply wind shadow only to enemy ships (ignore wind shadow from friendlies)! and, of course, apply wind shadow from coastal features and islands to all ships (islands are not friendly ) Cheers Brigand

This topic has been discussed earlier: Protecting your underwater hull: Cleaning, graving and sheeting. ~Brigand

Yeah, it looks kinda 17th century instead of 1740. So I guess the model is not the Prince of Wales, or at least not from the year claimed. At the same time, the model looks quite detailed. So maybe she is a model of a real ship, only the website who tried to sell it (modelships.de) didn't know which one and came up with a nice name? I think it is still a nice model to include though, we need some medium sized merchantmen :-) ~Brigand

Maybe the someone in staff should check if all those votes came from newly created members? ~Brigand

How long will the poll be running for? ~Brigand

Hi, Just stumbled upon a nice model of an Eastindiaman: the Prince of wales (1740). She looks like a smaller merchantman, so maybe she is an interesting choice for the open world some day. more info on the model at modelships.de. Cheers, Brigand

Really nice ship! ~Brigand

That's an interesting selection of vessels you have lined up there, yet, not all of them are schooners and I believe some are outside or on the very edge of the time period selected for Naval Action (three masted schooner where a relatively late setup). Let's see what they are: 1. A three-masted gaff schooner, metal hulled from the looks of it (update: it is the Alliance which was built in 1995 by Treworgy Yachts in Palm Coast); 2. A jackass-brig (schooner-rigged with full square rig on the fore mast) looks Ok? (update: it is a 3D model of the Halcon, built in 1840, so not Ok); 3. A two-masted gaff schooner, looks Ok (update: she is the Alabama, a newly build example of a typical Gloucester fishing schooner of the early 1900s); 4. A photograph of a three master schooner. Since it is a photo, we can deduce it is too young (update: she is the Wawona, launched in 1897); 5. Another three-masted gaff schooner, hard to make out the details, but the shape strongly hints at a metal hull; 6. Another two-masted gaff schooner, looks like a quite small vessel from her lines (update: it is a Light Scooner designed by Philip Bolger, who was born in 1927). So basically, most of the images you presented show schooner (or a jackas-brig) designs which are outside of the selected Naval Action time frame. Schooners from the game's time period typically still had square top sails. ~Brigand

Hmmm, last time I checked, there where no classes in Naval Action and I sure would like to keep it that way. No levels, just skills which each player can use to build his own perfect captain. The problem with 'levels' is that progression is a) step wise, introducing 'new' and 'better' at certain predefined (and often arbitrary) moments (unlocking ships is a pefect example of step-wise progression) and it puts a limit on how people can progress in the game, both in terms of diversity as in terms of focus. Cheers, Brigand

The 'problem' with Xebecs is that most people's idea of this ships capabilities are based on earlier games and, as a result, are flawed. Lateen rigged vessels require a lot of crew and -because the lateen yard needs to be lowered to the deck, moved to the other side of the mast and rehoisted- changing tack takes a lot more time than with either square or fore-and-aft rigged vessels. Since many video games just show an animation with the sail clipping the mast, many people got the idea that it is on-par with just about any other rig, which it is not. The good thing about the lateen rig is that it looks spectacular, is able to handle a wide variety of changes in the wind (very useful in the Meditireanean) and can sail close to the wind (yet, not closer than 18th century fore-and-afters). Cheers, Brigand

No, there is just one Amsterdam, it is docken next to the Nautical Museum and it is not historically accurate at all. The one in Lelystad is a different ship, she is called Batavia and she is a real replica. The Batavia was build near Lelystad at the Bataviawerf (Batavia shipyard) where they are currently building the Zeven Provinciën, which is indeed quite impressive. Then there is alos the Statenjacht Utrecht, for which I cannot comment on its authenticity (but she looks quite allright). Cheers, Brigand

caption: Brigantin donnant chasse a une Felouque et prest a la border. (Just to show you guys what a 13th century Brigantine looked like).

The problem with the Amsterdam is that they changed her to suit the needs of modern museum visitors: the height between the decks has been increased, there are two 'doors' in her side for ease of access, she has a modern staircase going from through the main hatch (which had to be significantly widened to make the staircase fit), etc, etc. So, calling Amsterdam a 'replica' is quite a statement, she is more a historically inspired modern museum attraction. At least, she is self-floating, unlike some other 'replica ships' which are build on barges. Having said all that, I would still like to see the East Indiaman Amsterdam (1748) to be included in the game, provided they use the original plans instead of the distorted 'modern' ones. ~Brigand

Sorry, to put it bluntly, but you are wrong. Privateers operating within the (very strict) confines of their letter of marque, where jailed (and could return home after either paying a sum of money or when exchanged for prisoners held by their home country). Pirates where hanged. (for a more detailed explaination, read the post by @Baggywrinkle) Also, I don't really see how the Convention of Geneva (1864) or the behaviour of Germans in WOII is relevant to the discussion of privateers? ~Brigand

As @maturin said. Also, The Osprey books are not exactly know for their historical accuracy; a point which they nicely demonstrate in the caption of the image linked by @Destraex: the 'sloop' Flying Dragon is actually a (two-topsail) schooner. As for the romantic picture of pirates drawn in this thread I can only say it is just that: a romantic picture. Cheers, Brigand

Hate to nitpick, but for the Amsterdam, "Spiegel retour schip" should be translated as "Transom return ship". Sure, a 'spiegel' is a mirror, but a 'spiegel' in nautical terms means 'Transom'. Cheers, Brigand