Barberouge

There could be shark fins behind damaged ships, and flying dolphins at the bow of others ? Then players could also fish More seriously, I'd be fine with HP bars, but the trick would be to shape them in an ergonomic way. They should provide a quick and intuitive reading. As for opponents damage state, I feel that not displaying it as an HP bar would create a difficulty for the players to track and remember which ship they damaged and where it went. But I'd be fine with more immersion if it wouldn't mean too much TS communication required.

Here's a video from the alpha test, 4v4 battle, 'Victory' first rate ships. I used bad recording settings, thus the quality is poor. It gives a first impression, but it is alpha test. It is a temporary UI and everything seen in the video is subject to change.

I moved here some posts of the "Little things you'd like to see" thread - a discussion about sailing square rigged ships as a living.

The reasons from my point of view, come from the naval combat tactics. It is most of the time more advantageous as a fleet to use the power of the wind, than trying to gain to windward (see post #4 1.). In PotBS at least, the open sea fights always tended to drift down wind. Also there's no leeway as of yet.

On smaller vessels the effect is the same but less sails move. I couldn't remember how exactly though. I'm personally a big fan of set positions on keybinds, because it's the best setup to fully look at the battle evolution (thus to have a better reaction time). I only used the 3 keybinds in PotBS (furled, battle, full), except when approaching in line.

Basically it's the angle of the sails to the ship which is controlled (both the braces and the sheets). There are a couple buttons for all the square sails of the foremast, and a couple buttons for all the square sails of both the mainmast and the mizzenmast. The control is analogic (you have to keep pushing the button until the sails are at the angle you want). I like the set positions system, at least for tacking. But I'm not sure it is intended to make players find the best trim of the sails depending on the point of sail. ATM it is automatic, in any case.

Here is the site I used for PotBS flags & sails: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Heraldry heraldic flags http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Heraldic_flags naval flags:http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Naval_flags heraldic banners: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Heraldic_banners http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Banners_in_heraldry ensigns: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Ensigns Free and Independent State of Cundinamarca, New Granada 1813 (first province to declare independence from Spain in 1811)

np - also a FAQ will be provided by the devs at some point

Hey there ! I've been sailing and fishing since I was 4. The area is around the Brittany coasts, with St Quai Portrieux as home port. The ships were 6 to 8m recreational monohulls named 'Farain' ('Periwinkle' in dialect), 'Barbiturix' (obviously) and 'Dre An Avel' ('Small Gust' in Breton) - just for the record. My father used to "smuggle" from the tax-free British islands of Jersey and Guernsey Also I've been studying merchant navy in Le Havre, went on the Bourbon sea-going salvage tug Merou (we helped the Navy finding dead whales and making them explode to clear the boating ways ), but didn't make my job of it. I enjoy going to the old tall ships festivals 'Tonnerres de Brest' and 'Armada de Rouen', but never sailed those kinds of ships.

All meaningful topics are referenced here (and in red are the developer's topics). You will find answers, and discussions. Feel free to create new threads if your topic isn't listed, or if you want to address a subject more specifically. Ephraim Chambers’ Cyclopedia, published in 1728: SoL cross section drawing How were warships hulls made thicker to take more punishment? Copper sheathing English Iron Were chasers permanently mounted? Cannons Cannon firing reference material Live Cannon Test bronze/iron cannon dimensions Cannons and their "labels" Chain shot vs. Bar shot USS Niagara Live Cannon Demonstration (Damage Re-creation) Crew The Crew - without them your ship will not sail anywhere Captains and Admirals Greatest Admiral's Sir Frances Drake Surcouf A world without Napoleon? It nearly happened! Pirate Profile: Lafitte and the Battle of New Orleans Sir Richard Grenville Navigation Shipping Routes Maps Exploration in the Age of Sail A Captain's Description of his Ship's Condition After a Hurricane Lateen Xebec style rig vs Square Rig Places Old buildings, ports and 17-18 century plans... Major Danish Warships Built at the Holmen Shipyard 1692-1744 - article Haslar - Royal Naval Hospital during the time of Nelson Information for the Cartagena de Indias´s forts Companies Economy - Name of companies Admiralty Royal Navy Articles of War - 1757 Flags, Ensigns, Banners Marines uniforms ? Period sailor costumes Prize Money History of the Liverpool Privateers and Letters of Marque Navies Fleet power by Nation Did France EVER have a chance against Britain at sea? Russian Ships took part in the Napoleonic wars in the med and atlantic with British The Danish navy's history Denmark "Official" Brandenburg Navy from 1684-1701 History of German Colonies in the Caribbean Battles Trafalgar - A Different View First Siege of Louisbourg & Capture of the Vigilant (1745) Voyage of the Glorioso Battle of Texel (The ultimate collection of Dutch Ships) What beats the USS constitution ? Historical Age Of Sail Maneuvering During Battle Eyewitness Account of Battle of Lake Erie Pirates A Brief History Guide of Pirate Flags The truth about the Perfect Pirate Ship: & what loot's in the Hold //xpost from piratesahoy An unapologetic Piratehunter About the law,piracy & beyond Privateer or Pirate? What's the Difference? Television Sailing Movies Age of Sail Documentaries Videos from wreckdivings in Sweden Black Sails Premiere Songs Your favorite songs from the age of fighting sail. Books Useful books on combat, sailing and naval history in the age of sail Recommended reading for new Captains Age of Sail readers Old Naval Books on Google Books and Project Gutenberg (free e-books) Books to read on this topic - Hornblower and Jack Aubery - any more? Any good books detailing the french navies exploits from 1700 on? King's Cutters and Smugglers Sailing Places available for sail training Shipyard - 3d Models, References, Technical Drawings... Lost and found Last update 30/01/16

Thanks for your answers. I can't find the comic yet but next time I'll go to the library I'll try to find and translate the quote. Maybe it had something to do with the standing rigging.

I'd say questions 4) and 5) are still active, but the overall Wind and its role question also, regarding naval combat. 1) is already answered, and 2) and 3) are currently much more easily performed than described, but will be further tested. Also see: http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/211-navigation-exploration-and-time-travel/ (3. and 4. - extended to weather and its role) And: http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/130-maps-and-combat-scenarios-help-wanted/ if some ideas pop up reading this thread I think some thread about naval combat tactics will be needed at some point, but maybe it's too early. I think the armchair has sailed in the right direction in this thread, i.e. naval combat and weather gage. Maybe wind, islands and estuaries could be included (different wind flows, wind from sea or from land etc) - but much more complex and at the moment I'm oscillating between a lie-in and an after-lunch siesta

I read in my youth comics that to gain speed, one could throw some cannons over board. How much could be thrown over board without destabilising the ship ? I also read that one could "unnotch" the masts (making a more significant area affected by wind, but making the masts more fragile to gusts in the process). Is this procedure real or fictional ? Also I read somewhere else that it's not always best to put as much sail area as possible, because too much heel sometimes decreases speed (depending on the hull shape). Would you confirm those Ryan ?

Got a wall ready, but it'll be for another time. As Admin said somewhere, to get a good open world, a good naval combat is needed first. I'd add: to get a good naval combat, a good sails management is needed first. I think Ryan's explainations open the possibility to make sails management both more realistic and more interesting. I know that the look of the sails isn't the priority right now, but a better look could help understanding the effects of the wind on the ship. Which could help to complexify the auto-skipper. Which could help to add new interesting options to the experienced mode. If we skip the look of the sails, I'd say that the next step should be to tune the current effects of yard trimming. There's shouldn't be just more turning radius when we put the yards on one side. For example, the effect of yards trim making the sails flap could be added. Then the effect of yards trim putting the sails in a 'stalled flow' or 'attached flow' mode could be added. I don't have the necessary english vocabulary yet, but it's about how a ship can make headway around the direction of the wind (<90°). The differentiation between auto-skipper and experienced is interesting because it helps finding out which actions were necessary to some basic maneuvers, which actions made the maneuvers more effective, and which actions enabled more advanced maneuvers (box hauling for example). Maybe there would be no need to manage every sail, but the final question should be (IMO): which maneuvers could be reproduced ? - i.e.: what would be interesting regarding naval combat gameplay ? Also, this would depend on the difficulty of crew focus management and aiming. Also, some ships (small) could be easy to tack, as maybe other ones (3-deckers ?) could require the use of the experienced mode ? The key point about tacking is IMO: what happens when a ship doesn't have enough speed, and can't turn using only auto-skipper (because of bad preparation, too big ship or too light wind) ? That being said, trying to answer the OP now (based on Ryan's explainations): 1) The headsails are eased off 2) The helm is put a-lee 3) When head to weather, the mainsails and mizzensails are braced to the new tack - but the foresails aren't, and become set aback 4) The headsails are also sheeted in 4) When the mainsails and mizzensails fill with wind, the foresails are braced to the new tack too I didn't add the spanker yet, but we can already see the differences: 1) foresails and mainmast+mizzensails don't always only decrease the turning radius 2) the headsails also have a specific procedure I got questions for Ryan: 1) Can the headsails be set aback (like in my recreational catamaran) ? 2) Can the spanker be set aback ? To sum it up: it's difficult to answer yet, but I think there's some room to complexify both the auto-skipper and the experienced mode. And this thread contains lots of useful info. It's quite difficult to think about this subject without knowing how the ships move exactly (formulas). Also I agree with comments about UI.

Renaud - Dès que le Vent Soufflera

Tasty breakcore: Rotator - Black Flag (pirate song)

Roger Wagner Chorale - Fifteen Men

You may find some info there: http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/136-crew-focus-question/

Maturin, part of what you propose is already described in this thread. I can't say more, but some of the rest is also already covered. No worries

To help understanding the aim: http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/121-sinking-ships/ post #9 Also see the drawing in http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/138-shooting-system/ post #4 except the view is from the deck, and remove the horizontal arcs by the fire sector described in the OP.

The auto-skipper should provide a damage-safe sail area, as the hardcore mode would give more speed at the cost of possible damage. Swell, gusts, condition of the vessel would be factors to be taken into account to avoid damage. Also I found this text well written and interesting: http://www.cnrs-scrn.org/northern_mariner/vol13/tnm_13_4_29-39.pdf . The close hauled numbers confirm yours: 67.5° at best for square rigged ships. Also it's given 3° of leeway at best (up to 12° depending on the conditions). The best frigates could tack in their own lenght, and wear in four times'. Would you confim those numbers ?

Thanks for the answers. It takes me some time to read through this kind of text but I already knew some vocabulary (recreational sailing from time to time). The videos also help a lot. The game won't be a very accurate simulator maybe, but the procedures are interesting for the complex management mode. Nice hat, good flag

Full realism would imply "fire as bear", or aiming each cannon. The current aiming system (firing each full battery) is unrealistic, but rather a gameplay feature. The reason for it is IMO that since there aren't magical skills, the gameplay has to be complexified. Maybe rigging management could do it, but it would be much less rookie-friendly. New crew management skills would help in those matters. A disadvantage of 1st person shooting, is that we don't see on our own ship the broadside being fired (less "movie feeling"). About raking without missing shots, the idea of a progressive broadside is interesting. Controlling its speed would solve the problem of the ship speed, but an average firing speed could work. I like the idea of firing a part of a broadside aswell. Maybe 2 parts would be a good start. Thinking about a progressive broadside, maybe it could also be usable when shooting at longer ranges (since the cannons already don't fire at the exact same time, we could choose the order). More precise at medium ranges, but more skill required (because we'd have to anticipate the target speed a bit more). As for discovering why 3rd rates were the most used ships, I got no idea. I only played 1v1 with alpha spike round shot demasting, and PvE battles with submarine flying dutchmen Interesting challenge though, mass battles will tell. Also the new round hasn't gone out yet.

Good read. I never sailed square rigged ships but I came to read about it. I've found this text interesting and quite fun: http://www.hnsa.org/doc/luce/ "Haul well taut! LET GO AND HAUL! To the man at the wheel, Right the helm!" I'd ask a couple questions though (english isn't my language). What means "sheeting the sails home" ? Are all the yards hauled up to stretch the sails out, or only some of them ? Also, did you apply to the focus testing ? ( http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/392-focus-testing/ ) If you got some time, your advices could help there. There will be both auto-skipper and more hardcore rigging management. The first problem I'd see, is that in auto-skipper the game only detects the point of sail, not the anticipated maneuver. Maybe by keeping track of the ship rotation and rudder angle, something could be worked out.

The ballistic system is realistic and good. Not sure about the aiming system though. 1) The gunners are horizontally aiming. In the Dead zone paragraph, the picture shows parallel vertical shots. Are the gunners also vertically aiming (for each deck) ? 2) If the range of some decks is drastically shorter than others, the cannons won't shoot. But what about a broadside fired at point blank on a stern or bow (which widths are shorter than the lenght of the broadside) ? 3) The damage on crew could be higher when the ball would be fast enough to pass the planking but slow enough to create lots of wood splinters. 4) Maybe a simple water resistance parameter could be implemented to allow balls to hit below the waterline (as a modification of the speed of a ball, since you already know when it hits water). About aiming, there's one thing you didn't mention which may help people understand the interest of the system: the balls travel slowly enough that it is required to apply an horizontal correction due to the ships speed (anticipation is required). Also it isn't explained exactly how the horizontal fire sector visualization is working. In its initial shape, the transparent sector drawn on water is quite wide (bad accuracy). If we don't move the aim, the sector tightens during the timer needed to get the best accuracy (a few seconds). The more we then move the aim, the more the sector widens back (anticipation again). 5) "For this we have lines on the aim showing approximate distance where cannonballs will land." -> How does that distance change exactly, related to the real distance ? My criticism of the aiming system is double: 6) The more time we spend aiming, the less time we spend looking at what happens in the battle. When we have to aim for each battery, we spend a lot of time aiming. I'd like to test a fully 3rd person aiming system which would enable us to look at the battle while aiming (aiming as a captain, not as a gunner). I'm thinking about melee fights mostly here. 7) I agree the system is a bit too simple with displayed distance of the target, distance on the notches, static deck and no wind correction. Very hardcore aiming as you described (non-static deck) would IMO be too difficult, especially if it would imply not only a vertical movement, but also an angular one (swell, roll and pitch). EDIT: it's the aim movement which makes the fire sector widen, not the cannon movement.