maturin

I really hope we have a damage model where HP means very little, and am sort of worried about apparent hitpoint bars shown in screenshots. The only way hitpoints can work is if there are dozens of them. The mainmast, for example, should have integrity tracked for the timber itself, and then the standing rigging that supports it. The only hitpoints a hull can have is the amount of water in the hold and the rate of leakage. Sails can have hitpoints based on the number and size of holes in them. And remember that 6-pounders will do nothing at all to the broadside of a battleship. If it takes too many system resources to make simulation-style damage models, then at least create a probability-based system, assigning damage to rigging, guns and (the very few) crucial control element in the hull whenever shots pass nearby.

Или с 4.5м в тумань. Я не старался давать правильные дистанции. Скоро узнаешь общий вид корабля, но очень трудно узнать чей он. Маскировать как торговое судо легко. Как я сказал, активная маскировка не особо нужна... только если тумань войны как важный элемент геймплея. Почти всегда не знаешь, что за шлюп, который подходит на горизонте. Опознание зависит от качества информации о судах, которые действуют в регионе. И узнаешь знакомые корабли, конечно. Если есть динамическая система опознания, тогда немного маскировки (краской, флагами) легко добавить.

Way too early, sorry.

I think you could use the deck plan of any large sloop for the yacht. It looks like it has an open waist and a quarterdeck, probably with a small foredeck as all. No yacht is going to vary in the essentials inboard. Just give it brass guns and make the bell and quarterdeck bulwarks a little prettier.

Нужна пасивная маскировка. Не знаешь что за корабль до того, как он стоит за километр от тебя. Но паруса были видны с тех пор, как они появились, 30км в дали. Когда обычный геймплей так загадочный, создать и балнсировать сложные системы маскировки уже не так важно.

IIRC, the crazy Brits built an 80-gun ship on Lake Champlain.

I don't think sea state is actually simulated, though, or there would be a stat for swell height. And it doesn't seem possible for a square rigger to roll 40 to windward with too much sail set.

If anything, the pirates on this show are deliberately un-flambuoyant. The extras would look unremarkable on any merchantman. I wish they would have researched a bit more of the lingo, though. Patrick O'Brian was great at that. The people on this show sound too modern, with their talk of pussies and condoms, when period slang can be really expressive and aggressive without the slightest bit of stilted Shakespearean historico-corniness.

Most of FLS' ships were built by fans. Not that many of POTBs hardcore PvP-ers gave a shit what their vessels looked like. The game just re-used models and made up gun counts regardless of the what was physically modeled. I hope that this will be a game where players will have a reason to fight in vessels of all sizes, and where (actual) piracy and commerce raiding will take place, thus giving various smaller vessels an important role.

Возможно эти разные виды футов. В то время было много размеров. Шведские, английские и голландские. Источник не очень хорош--http://www.amazon.com/review/R31KS4RHVYTG4C/ref=cm_cr_dp_title?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0486451550&nodeID=283155&store=books Если что, говорят что все рисунки 1:64. Ага, еще источник, хотя национальности отличаются. http://www.abebooks.com/book-search/title/architectura-navalis/used/page-1/

Если есть опытный экипаж, вполне возможно отходить немного от боя и восстановить верxные мачты (topgallants) доволно быстро. Гораздо меньше час. Средные мачты (topmasts... извиняюсь за словарь) можно убрать через час, минимум, поэтому разумается что восстановить, тоже возможно. Когда погода спокойна. Просто помните что ремонтировать нижные мачты--невозможно кроме в порту. Но можно ставить временные запасные паруса. Обычно использовали реи как мачти в том случае. И конечно, ремонтировать под огнем--самоубийство.

They went and built a model of it? That's just sad. You can tell at a glance that that monstrosity is a work of fiction. Ugly doesn't even cut it.

I just watched the premiere, and it's about 200% less trashy than I expected, especially given the Michael Bay involvement. The shocking thing is that it's not just 'drama aboard a pirate ship.' Pirates of the Caribbean is drama aboard a pirate ship, completely divorced from history. It's very clear that while this show may not be particularly historically accurate, it is in fact historically-inspired. Power struggles between officers on a democratically-run pirate vessel, recruiting disgruntled seaman from prizes, New Providence as a lawless hub (albeit too fortified, with a luxurious plantation house on it), freed slaves everywhere, etc. The basic structure is lifted directly from the history books (not to give them too much credit, as reality has always been better than fiction in regards to this topic). It's just a question of how far they distort it from there. CGI isn't the best; I don't think there are any actual sailing vessels being used. Shooting is done in South Africa. It does make me want to look up how pirates fenced their goods, though. You have to hand it to a pirate series that gives economics and politics such an immediate role.

300 mph? Try three times that! A Napoleonic 12-pounder, depending on the powder charge, had a muzzle velocity of 439 m/s! The terrifying thing about this, is that it means that shot was supersonic for part of its flight. That means the sound of a passing ball would be akin a lightning bolt hitting next to your ear. Now imagine a point-blank broadside ripping through the rigging. It would sound like the end of the world, as loud and threatening as any WWII artillery barrage. Also, magazines were placed below the waterline, for obvious reasons, so no shot is going to hit it anyways. All explosions were due to secondary fires.

Also, if the anchor slide strikes you as ugly, I would call it optional, especially for a pleasure craft. Outside of Chapman's drawings, I almost never seem them on draughts. It may have been an early 18th century trend (it's odd for practical features like that to go away rather than increase in popularity, or maybe the anchor-handling tackle improved). But I can't find a ship of the line that has them, nor do they seem to be a common feature of small vessels.

The Gotheburg also has one of those funny slides for the anchor: http://www.timedesign.de/ship/goetheborg.jpg

Yeah, #2 is just a thickened bit of timber for mounting the hawsehole. For hawsers, or anchor line. I've noticed that the textures on one of your other ship models made its hawsehole look like it was planked over. When really, it should be a black hole with maybe a hawser coming out of it, attached to the anchor. These are Chapman drawings (another good addition to the library). As I understand it, there should be some text attached, in the full edition of the book (there are PDFs online, but some seem to be behind minor paywalls). But anyways, Chapman drew examples of vessel types, rather than draughts of existing craft (AFAIK). He probably just had a preference for a protruding hawsehole mount. You can see the same sort of construction on practically every other hull on that page. As for component number 1, that is a sort of slide for the anchor head, to avoid the iron scraping across trim and planks. I've have never actually noticed such a construction before, and don't know what it's called. Again, Chapman must have been a fan, because he's drawn one on just about every vessel in the book. Here is a real-world example on the Rose (movie HMS Surprise): http://www.modelships.de/Museums_and_replicas/Frigate_HMS_Rose/gIMG_3624.jpg As for the rig, since the yacht itself never likely existed, we'd have to find analogues, which would require some more background on the drawing, or some hunting. But sloop rig is the only real option, probably with square topsail and t'gallant. Maybe something like this, although Chapman's vessel seems larger: http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/66167.html Or here: http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/drawings-watercolors/dutch-school-18th-century-an-english-admiralty-5366895-details.aspx

I know I'd work for peanuts and cred Better storytelling than Skyrim is actually not that difficult to accomplish. Bethesda tends to shed their best writers. But MP still needs well-written gameworld dialog, written orders, tutorials etc. I want to be a writer and historical consultant for your team, and I'm probably not alone. That would be much better than beta testing. Here's a writing sample, depicting the sort of thing I'd love to re-create in the game. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-TmCbH-99MIla_-kbRexf6heJwQnmkO3Tf6O5XGEc7c/pub

Wind, do you have a host that doesn't cost 20 rubles?

Actually, that brings up a very good point. Every decent-sized vessels needs a few such small craft for everyday work. And in the game, we could steer them around ports or as yachts.

You have to allow me a chuckle at this one.

Oh, THAT Blagodat! I saw her every day for six months, or at least, her clearly non-sailing restaurant replica. Does wonders for that part of the Petersburg skyline, which you can't say for that novy russky abomination, the Flying Dutchman.

Everyone who's voting should remember that the Santísima Trinidad was so slow and bad at maneuvering that it was suggested she be restricted to sitting at anchor at Cadiz, like a floating battery. That famous fourth row of guns was made up of 6-pounders, which are basically useless in a real battle, except for making really tiny holes in sails. And for all that, there were larger battleships in the period who could actually sail.

The Pennsylvannia would be very unbalanced. And ugly. In my opinion, the only post-1800 vessels that should be allowed are those that wouldn't look out of place in 1799. During this period, most ships didn't change much, but there were various advancements. As I understand it, all the current 1820 vessels are smaller than ships, and won't look too modern. Let's keep it that way, because the timespan is really tenuous for open world play.

Not replicas, of course, but might it have been possible for backwater ports in the Carribean to continue building outdated designs for a few decades after everyone else moved on? Not really sure here, just speculating. As for a ship from 1820 appearing in 1750, that just can't work.