DeRuyter

Of course now you'll have to put a prize crew aboard and sail it back to port in company with your ship.

Thanks for your response Skully. So to be clear you are sailing up to a battle and you can only join it for a limited window - as the engagement circle passes over your ship? Is the choice of engagement distance only for the initial participants - the tagger and taggee (and their groups)?

The recent concern over the timer is not new. Here is the thread discussing the reduction of the timer from 10 minutes to 5 minutes: http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/7652-battles-now-remain-open-for-only-5-minutes/page-2?hl=battle There are multiple other threads on the "battle entry timer" but the issue remains the same - how do you deal with the OW time dilation vs. the battle instance. So my question is does your expanding battle circle resolve this problem? If not your goal is not being met IMO. There is a suggestion in the above thread to do away with the timer but to have ships spawn a distance away from the battle based on their arrival time from the OW. Is this captured by your expanding circle?

A crew member with multiple splinter wounds could be just as combat ineffective as a dead one cut in two by a ball, just sayn'

Even better go back and see if you can book a sail on her! I sailed on Lnyx in Baltimore for an event and they put up every scrap of canvas including the fisherman sail! very fast and handy ship. Very fun sail. Got to fire the 6 lb carronade as well.

FYI - John Harland's "Seamanship in the Age of Sail" has been reprinted and is available on Amazon (in the US anyway) for an amazingly low price of $38

+1 You know I think in all the posts in thread that is the first time this came up. Now if everyone complaining about sailing back to port, or more accurately "potentially" sailing back to port to replenish crew would just stop and think about how many times they have sailed back to port because it is cheaper to repair their damaged ship there, then crew replacement wouldn't be an issue.

Yeah that was bizarre - I was in the top 500 until I had to ration supplies and sail off to a resupply point.

See admin answer above ^^

For your reference here is detailed thread about this topic: http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/380-musketmen-sharpshooters-swivel-guns/page-7?hl=musket#entry182936 Keep in mind that effective range for musketry, especially on a moving platform is about 75m.

Looking forward to testing this system. A couple of comments: How will the surrender mechanic work for the crew on the surrendered ship? Surrender should be a valid option to save crew as it was historically. So if you surrender do you lose the ship but keep the crew (and officers)? Seems to me that this adds an element of player controlled morale into the game. Now you have an incentive to save crew (and officers) instead of letting your ship burn and explode for example. I like the idea of having to put a prize crew on a captured ship to sail it back to port. Would we still have the option to "send to admiralty" and just get prize money without having to sail the ship back to port? Might be a good option versus just add to fleet or sink. Definitely need to have a casualty recovery system after the battle so you really only lose the KIA crew. Surgeon officer comes into play here. That way you may be able to continue cruising without having to return to port after every battle.

Actually that was the USS Chesapeake which was the same size as the HMS Shannon - both were 38 gun frigates with 18lb main battery. More like 2 Tricomalees fighting each other in game. The Halifax squadron pursuing the USS Constitution also contained a 64 gun SOL in addition to the 4 frigates 2x 38 gun, 36 gun and a 32 gun) and some unrated ships. In game this would roughly translate to an Ingermanland plus 2 Trincs, a Frigate and a Belle Poule. This would be interesting but I would suggest that the Connie would lose this fight.

Ramming with bow generally perpendicular at high speed: Ramming ship: Damage to bow structure leaks incl below waterline possible loss of mast/rigging damage + rigging shock Target ship: Side damage If armor mostly down also module damage? above waterline leaks Ship size, speed and angle of attack make a big difference to damage. Cutter position in front of Victory should be simply run over by the much large ship or pushed away with little damage to much larger ship. Glancing blows should not result in much damage at all.

IRL specific sailors were detailed as boarders and led by naval officers not necessarily marines. Marines were also held back to provide covering musket fire. So I am not sure that higher marines casualties was a given in a boarding action. From a game play perspective I can see your point though.

Currently in dry dock undergoing major refitting and restoration work. https://ussconstitutionmuseum.org/restoration/

I bought that pen last time I visited the ship in 2014. Several of the books I have on the Constitution are good but perhaps too detailed for your friend. One that I got at the museum is "Men of Iron" which is about the crew. Another is "Old Ironsides" by Thomas Gillmer which is 50% history and 50% about the bicentennial reconstruction. I got that one before going to see her sail in 1997. For a more general history Roosevelt's Naval War of 1812 is good. For fiction I might recommend Hornblower over Aubrey/Maturin as it is better for someone new to age of sail reading. Although now there is a slew of age of sail novels and series on kindle. Any interest in Lake Erie and Niagara? "A Signal Victory" is a good read.

Now that is true Pirate game play!!

Unfortunately this works both ways. It is easier to jump out of port and sail to someone's aid but at the same time it is also easier to exploit sitting invisible in port/ battle screen, etc and jump into battle/gank started by a bait ship. Look at it this way - on the open ocean the only ship able to aid a distress call was one that happened to sailing nearby and see your sails on the horizon. That is what the 2 minute timer represents. You may need to adjust your tactics - one can certainly have a large battle on the open seas the fleet will just have to sail closer together - in formation it you will just like fleets in the time period. Frigates can scout ahead to spot the enemy fleet. If you sail independently as a pirate or privateer looking for traders you can chase one while scanning the horizon for enemy warships without fear that a fleet will be joining the battle from a port 200 miles away. IMO the timer promotes a type of game play that you may not like, but is more representative of naval warfare of the age of sail.

The key is whether you are able to open the range and sail out of his chasers range or make him miss a couple of shots allowing escape. To your situation the LGV should be faster than a frigate close hauled, generally speaking). If the chasing ship is faster and hitting you I am not sure we want to limit that scenario.

Excellent post Cragger. I don't think people remember to subtract the idlers who have nothing to do with sailing or gunnery. While a number of crew were not trained gun crew, much if not all of the gun crews were able seamen or topmen with assigned sailing stations. So turning off gunnery in game represents sending gun crews to their sailing stations. I am not sure whether the crew numbers for sailing with both modes on already represents the minimum sailing crew for maneuvers under battle sail. The game already allows for much more sail changes than was done IRL in close action.

Exactly. Somewhere admin said that a complete height map with a detailed collision model would be a lot of coding and may effect performance. But it does not have to be that detailed to have an effect on different ships and PB. One of the other threads on depths and draft had some good suggestions on how to add it technically. So for game play you don't have to have a detailed running around with damage model, just what we have now. Simply add in layers to the ports preventing an SOL from sailing right up under the forts guns for example. Some good suggestions in this thread: http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/12929-keel-depth-system-expanding-the-water-depth-system/?hl=draft#entry235468

Ah Marechal Lannes much like Napoleon you are thinking too much of land battles! Most battalions and squadrons were only at "paper strength" upon leaving the depot. However an infantry battalion could perform its' maneuvers at 80% strength the same as if it were 100% strength. The numbers given for crew represent the historical full complement or "paper strength". What we are saying is that even at full complement or "paper strength" a ship would not be able to handle sails at 100% and man the guns at 100% during a battle. Do not think of the total numbers listed on the sailing and gunnery tabs as the number needed for full crew. Ships were often not at full complement for various reasons (prize crews, sickness, etc) but this is not represented in the game. Yes you can increase the numbers with hammocks - sometimes ships did have additional crew (French ships often had higher crew numbers) or were transporting an infantry battalion for a landing (marines or muskets modules). Also you can adjust the numbers in the gunnery tab based on which cannons you have mounted on the ship. Carronades require less crew per gun for example. Here is a great reference for the manning and crew management on ships in the Royal Navy: http://www.amazon.com/Nelsons-Navy-Ships-Organization-1793-1815/dp/0870212583 Yes we do. But he is referring to the use of battle sails to free up more crew to man the guns, which the game does not do automatically, you have to turn sailing mode off completely.

This type of selection would come naturally if ship draft and multiple harbor depths are added when land and proper forts get in to PB.

I'd be happy just to see variable depths have some effect in PB and battle instances near the shore. If running around is properly modeled you'd not only see leaks but masts going over board as well. Many times once around a ship was out of the battle, ie; Copenhagan, The Nile. You wouldn't want that for game play reasons of course. On the OW I was chasing a player trader towards the Bahamas in a deep water ship - just after I hit the attack button my ship was stopped dead by the shallows. In the battle instance the trader was so far away that he got away. There's a nice effect for shallows in the OW.

+1 nice find. Love to see plans with draught listed! IMO something needed in game. Was she captured at Copenhagen in 1807?