Brigand

You are correct, I edited the post. ~Brigand

There where rules concerning flags you could fly. A Navy ship had to fly its own colors. I've read some fiction that suggested otherwise, but I'm pretty sure this rule was followed. Then privateers.. they where only allowed to fire under their Nation's colors, failing to do so (opening fire while flying false colors) was considered piracy. I'm not sure about all countries, but at least France, England, Spain and the Netherlands followed this rule. I've read about convictions for piracy with both the English and the Dutch (the latter case resulting in actual hanging) for captains that where proven to have attacked under false colors. Then pirates... well, they did not recognize any country allowing to set rules for them, so they pretty much did as they liked. The above could still lead to very unpredictable scenarios. I just read about the following encounter (1958/7 years war): Three merchantmen get attacked by a large French privateer. One (the smallest) of the merchants manages to get away and runs in with an English privateer some time later. The English privateer promptly lays a course for the French ship and the English merchants which are by now presumed to have been taken. The following morning, the privateer spots the two merchantmen, escorted by a ship flying His Majesty's colours. The privateer is not stupid and shows his majesties colours as well and chases the convoy. Upon coming in hailing distance, they hail the presumed French privateer in French, which is greeted by an intimidate full broadside from the His Majesty's Navy Ship, which encountered the merchantmen while under attack by a French privateer and came to their rescue. Cheers, Brigand

I love this argument for the sake of Ryan presenting us all those nice little video clips . On a more serious note, I can't imagine why a ship under sail would not create a bow wave and leave a wake. A point that is also (in my mind) clearly shown by the videos. ~Brigand

With regard to windward performance, Barberouge linked a very nice article. very much worth reading, especially with regard to this topic. ~Brigand

An idea that could spice up match-play. I'm assuming most of us are acquainted with Risk. In Risk (at least in the European standard edition), each player is given a secret mission. The secret mission is nothing more than a differentiated win condition: each player wins by satisfying so specific conditions only know to them (for example: capture 18 territories and occupy each with two troops). Off course, the other win condition is to just wipe out all other players and conquer the whole world. If you translate this to Naval Action, you would introduce a certain uncertainty as to what the other players are up to. If, for example, 50% of the times a player's assigned task would be 'conquer the enemy fleet' but 10% of the time the goal could be 'escape with all ships in good condition', it would introduce some interesting twists to how you would approach the enemies ships (based on your own mission). Thoughts? ~Brigand

I just stumbled across this website full of ship plans and related resources of very high quality: Antology of ship model plans : general index of different ships plans (examples: a, b, c, d, etc) > Sail ship archive : archive of unsorted ship and boat designs. > (book) Rigging period ship models : by far the most detailed resource I've ever seen online. > (book) The neophyte shipmodeller's jackstay : a guide to modelling ships, full with very detailed and usefull diagrams. Most draughts seem to be of French design. ranging from ships' boats to Xebecs to 120-gun Ships of the Line. Cheers, Brigand

There will be no Navy Characters or Merchant Characters or whatever else pre-fit classes. Instead, there will be the Character and how she builds her Career (reputation permitting). ~Brigand

A classic, probably already on the bookshelves of the development team and most of the enthausiasts on these forums. The art of Rigging by George Biddlecombe (master in her majesty's royal navy) published in 1848. Available for download through the Internet Archive. ~Brigand

Good topic. I don't think matches should be based on 1v1, 2v2, 8v8 or 24v24. Instead, the matches should be based on some other parameter that indicates the relative 'weight' of a ship. As a result, you would get 2v5 battles etc. and still have fairly balanced sides. My first thought was that the 'weight' factor could be broadside weight, but I guess that would not work because too many small ships should always be able to overpower a single large one, just by the sheer number of options in manoeuvrability. Then, +1 for the racing scenario! it gives a welcome change from what most of us have come to expect as the default and it would put a strong emphasis on the players sailing skill. ~Brigand

Ideal would be: the option to work out your own different sail configurations and assign them to hotkeys. If you're not interested in the detail, you would just use the default configurations provided by the game. These sail configurations should not be applied instantly, but should result in the order being given and the sailors going to work on the sails as commanded. ~Brigand

Ryan, In all your enthusiasm, you are creating a lot of new replies. Above me, I count five posts all made by you. While there is nothing inherently 'wrong' with that, it may be perceived as against the etiquette by some. May I politely point to the 'edit' button (located at the bottem of each each of your posts)? ~Brigand

We assume, for the sake of illustration, that the reader wishes to become practically acquainted with the method of fitting out, arming, manning, and manoeuvring privateers and letter-of-marque ships in ancient Liverpool. A book worth the (free) download and definately worth reading: History of the LIVERPOOL PRIVATEERS and Letters of Marque by Gomers Williams, 1897 (available in several other formats) An excerpt (p. 26): [On how to act when met by a ship of much superior force] "Begin the attack upon the weather quarter, shooting the ship upon the wind with the helm a-lee, till the after- lee gun, with which we begin, can be pointed upon the enemy's stern ; then fire, the lee broadside, as it may be called. The ship begins the attack upon the enemy when the topsails are thrown aback, with the helm a-lee, boxing the ship round on her heels, so as to bring the wind so far aft that the ship may immediately be steered close under the enemy's stern, with particular orders to begin with the foremost gun, to rake them right fore and aft with the great guns, as they pass in that line of direction, all aiming and firing to break the neck or cheeks of the rudder head, the tiller' ropes, blocks, &c, so as, if possible, to destroy the steerage tackle, which design, if it proves successful, takes the management of their ship from them, so that she must lie helpless for a time, in spite of their endeavours. When the aftermost gun is fired, put the helm hard-a-weather to bring the ship by the wind ; and then stand off on the other tack, to keep clear of their lee broadside and act according to their motions, and the experience of the effect your attack has had upon them. (...)" Cheers, Brigand

Very interesting read, it is only 11 pages long so there is no excuse for not reading it. ~Brigand Update I also found the other part of this article: http://cnrs-scrn.org/northern_mariner/vol14/tnm_14_3_57-68.pdf

Whatever level of simulation, manual control vs auto-skipper is going to be implemented, I would very much like to ask for one thing: Please, animate the sails to act as they would in the reality when performing the sailing manoeuvres. Whatever the design decision is made, for example, to simply steer the ship by pressing 'left' and 'right' or whatever other level of sailing control is decided upon, please do make the sails go through all the steps that you would see in reality. Animate the fore square sails being aback for a little while, the yards swinging around at the correct moment, spanker being eased and sheeted in tight when appropriate. If at all possible, have different wind speeds result in a different set of sail being set and used in manoeuvring. When playing the game, you would see those animations time and again. If they are 'realistic' looking, it would help immersion a lot. It would also set this game apart from every other Age of Sail game I know of; it would create the game all future games would be compared against. Please? Brigand

Of interest for the discussion on the sinking of ships (cross posted): The History and Development of Ships' Bilge Pumps, 1500-1840; Thesis by Thomas James Oertling Especially Chapter II 'Of Leaks and Men' is interesting to read. ~Brigand

Of interest for the discussion on the sinking of ships: The History and Development of Ships' Bilge Pumps, 1500-1840; Thesis by Thomas James Oertling Especially Chapter II 'Of Leaks and Men' is interesting to read. ~Brigand

What maturin and I where arguing was not that water inside the ship isn't a problem (it is, it should be outside and stay there) but that it is not realistic that the vessel will lean to the side where the holes are in the hull (as was suggested in the OP). My understanding is that leaning to the side where the leak is suggests partial flooding. Since there where no watertight bulkheads, there would be equal flooding everywhere. ~Brigand

This doesn't strike me as realistic, nor good for gameplay. There where no watertight compartments in the age of sail, so a hole below the waterline will allow water to flow in. The flow of water will fill the whole of the ship (lowest point first) and likely ruin your cargo in the process. Nothing in the construction of the hull would make the water stay on one side, or prevent it from sloshing around. ~Brigand

Welcome to the boards Ryan21, very nice info. The Lady Washington is a very interesting brig, too bad the online information is limited. I would love to hear more about how to sail her in different winds, how to get under sail in various conditions, etc. (I'm one of those people who's interested in all the little obscure details ) Cheers, Brigand

They are on my list of books to buy ~Brigand

The second link will do the job, thanks!

Hello, I used to have a bookmark to a chart listing various weights and dimensions for naval carriage guns of the 17th and 18th century. I've worked all the search engine foodoo I know, but I can't seem to find such a list anywhere now. The closest I could find is about field and garrison guns. Is there anyone who has a (link to a) chart that lists: Shot weight, Length of gun, Calibre/bore diameter and material (iron/bronze). (schematic drawings for each of the various (1/2pounder, 2 pounder ... 24 pounder) guns would be a big bonus). Cheers, Brigand.

maps, charts and more maps: http://www.oldmap.co.uk/List/gallery.php?cid=18&page=8

The term 'polacre' (sometimes called 'polacca' in English) can be a confusing term, mainly when applied to the (18th/19th century) habit of classifying vessels by type of rigging. The distinctive feature of a 'polacre' is that they carry pole-masts. Thus, there are many vessels that can be polacres; there are 'polacre brigantines', 'polacre ships', 'polacre frigates', etc. The rigging usually was usually a bit different too, because of the pole masts: the (main) yards would be lifted from/lower to the deck. This difference is however very hard to spot on anything but a most detailed images. With the comming of aluminium masts, the term lost its significance. Hope this helps, Brigand

Does anyone have some clear images that show a typical 'xebec-frigate' ? I would love to draw the sail plan for one of those. ~Brigand