BIG WAVES IN BATTLE

[admin]

2 hours ago, maturin said:

Why do the waves need to change shape in real time?

There are storm instances but there are no big waves.

First reason - no-one fought during big waves, sometimes even cutting off masts to survive.

second reason - All instances have the same water and synced day night cycle.
Also you don't see it but to save money instance pools use certain resources for multiple instances. Like water
Wonder tech basically. But no storm instances.

If we want to create big waves we have to stop servers and all waves become storm waves for a day. 
But it does not stop there. Weather engine to be beautiful at all times has to be hand painted by an artist. Thus he has to repeat his last 12 months of work just for storms. 

Huge waves are not coming in this game. Keep your expectations low.

[Bart Smith]

I was participate in many storm battles and despite aiming and buoyancy problems i loved them - a lot of fun and unexpected battle output. Bring them back and just make them not happen too often

[Cecil Selous]

Storm in Battles in storms in the OW go hand in hand with many possibilities for a more challenging, interesting and varying OW experience. Since the goal is to get more people into the OW, I think it is a good idea to spice up the OW experience. Only adding rougher seas into instances alone won't do it imho.

We already have a thread (or many) about varying wind strength which favor bigger ships over smaller onces and vice versa. The possibility to catch ships in stronger winds, which would normally escape with ease or the danger of damaging your rigging due to to much canvas, because you wanted to get the most out of your ship but you went to far and now one of your masts is gone. Combine this with an actual representation of the different speeds in OW (Like you try to find out with this other thread) and maybe more in depth manual sailing mechanics, where the right trim is important to really sail on the edge and you have a way less boring OW experience. Even OW chasing comes down to skill and knowledge and will get more thrilling.

But back to storms in battle instances. Like many others said, this offers opportunities for smaller ships against bigger ones if those can't use their lower decks. If you maneuver wrong you can capsize etc. pp. So many opportunites for a more interesting gameplay.

Storms in OW are rare and if you don't want to fight in them, then you don't have to. But for rough seas or stronger winds we don't need full blown storms everytime.

 

EDIT: Just saw the last answers from you devs. Don't take this personal and don't get me wrong, it is not an insult and I love your work but I am amazed at how restricing the unity engine seems to be regarding many different things (not only storms) that aren't possible or hard coded or whatever. Looks like a massive design flaw. 

 

Edited April 25, 2017 by Cecil Selous

[Snoopy]

2 hours ago, Cecil Selous said:

[..]But back to storms in battle instances. Like many others said, this offers opportunities for smaller ships against bigger ones if those can't use their lower decks. If you maneuver wrong you can capsize etc. pp. So many opportunites for a more interesting[..]

 

During Sea Trials storm battles, three deckers actually had a big advantage: the upper decks could shoot above wave crests and hit Frigates hidden behind waves - while those Frigates could not respond.

[elite92]

will we have storm battles with big wawe

2 hours ago, admin said:

There are storm instances but there are no big waves.

First reason - no-one fought during big waves, sometimes even cutting off masts to survive.

second reason - All instances have the same water and synced day night cycle.
Also you don't see it but to save money instance pools use certain resources for multiple instances. Like water
Wonder tech basically. But no storm instances.

If we want to create big waves we have to stop servers and all waves become storm waves for a day. 
But it does not stop there. Weather engine to be beautiful at all times has to be hand painted by an artist. Thus he has to repeat his last 12 months of work just for storms. 

Huge waves are not coming in this game. Keep your expectations low.

will we have this storm battles with big waves in NArena? (Naval Action Arena)

[Cecil Selous]

12 minutes ago, Snoopy said:

During Sea Trials storm battles, three deckers actually had a big advantage: the upper decks could shoot above wave crests and hit Frigates hidden behind waves - while those Frigates could not respond.

There could be some increments between calm sea and heavy storm. And I think many agree that you shouldn't fight in a heavy storm anyway. But in a moderate bad weather it could still be possible that the lower decks can't be used. By good positioning In a heavy swell with strong winds (If we get variable wind strength someday) you could force a two decker on a course where he heels so much that he can't use his lower deck (maybe even introduce the option to close the gun ports to prevent flooding) making it possible for you to escape or fight back.

But all those thoughts are pointless as it is certain now that it will never be in the game.

[Anolytic]

On 25/04/2017 at 8:29 PM, admin said:

If we want to create big waves we have to stop servers and all waves become storm waves for a day. 

While I understand that it's more to it than just that, I would love it if we had a storm/hurricane weekend (friday-monday) every 2 months or so. Those landlubbers not daring enough to face the storms could stay on land for that time, while the rest of us could brave the seas.

[Guest]

Yeah, a 'hurricane hits the carribean' weekend every few months would be great.

[Kilo]

Well that's a downer. This was something I was truly hoping to experience again - even if just a gale with swells would have been fine. A big storm wasn't needed for the experience.

At least we have an answer - no swells/rough weather in instances.

[Jeheil]

On 4/25/2017 at 8:59 PM, admin said:

another thing is that they were awesome 1-2 times for many players. The participation rates was extremely low. Most players who encountered a storm battle just exited the battle leaving their ship stationary. 

This.

During Sea Trials you could get like 5 of them on the bounce. They, like relatives visiting are good on occasion. But not something you would want all the time.

I really enjoyed them as a 1 in 10 or 1 in 20 thing. 60% of your shots were eaten by the sea. You couldn't even make out a ship at 500 yards. You got capsized in a 4th rate if you hit a wave 'just wrong'. It was wonderful madness. It was also a lottery...if the waves rolled just right you would shoot your enemy through almost the bottom of their ship !!

Beautiful...mad...lots of players however would insta-concede if they got one when they were not in the mood.

[maturin]

8 hours ago, Jeheil said:

This.

During Sea Trials you could get like 5 of them on the bounce. They, like relatives visiting are good on occasion. But not something you would want all the time.

I really enjoyed them as a 1 in 10 or 1 in 20 thing. 60% of your shots were eaten by the sea. You couldn't even make out a ship at 500 yards. You got capsized in a 4th rate if you hit a wave 'just wrong'. It was wonderful madness. It was also a lottery...if the waves rolled just right you would shoot your enemy through almost the bottom of their ship !!

Beautiful...mad...lots of players however would insta-concede if they got one when they were not in the mood.

In the current OW build, storm battles would be far less common than 1 in 20. And they required skill, not luck.

But we've got the message that they cost too much money to run the additional instances on the server. And when it comes to the purse strings, testers aren't qualified to offer an opinion.

 

[H2O]

On 4/23/2017 at 6:12 PM, maturin said:

They're coded, tested and tuned. They look hello kittying awesome.

 

They were removed from the game over a year ago.

I guess I will tell mother nature she is called Hello Kitty now. 

[Capn Rocko]

On 4/25/2017 at 1:29 PM, admin said:

There are storm instances but there are no big waves.

First reason - no-one fought during big waves, sometimes even cutting off masts to survive.

second reason - All instances have the same water and synced day night cycle.
Also you don't see it but to save money instance pools use certain resources for multiple instances. Like water
Wonder tech basically. But no storm instances.

If we want to create big waves we have to stop servers and all waves become storm waves for a day. 
But it does not stop there. Weather engine to be beautiful at all times has to be hand painted by an artist. Thus he has to repeat his last 12 months of work just for storms. 

Huge waves are not coming in this game. Keep your expectations low.

Thank you admin for clarifying this issue. It is a shame the game was programmed in a way that prevents larger waves in battles. It would have made a great addition to the best age of sail simulator to date. 

At least the issue can be put to rest and everyone can start complaining about the Wasa again xD

[Navalus Magnus]

6 hours ago, Capn Rocko said:

It is a shame the game was programmed in a way that prevents larger waves in battles. It would have made a great addition to the best age of sail simulator to date. 

 

@admin No offense intended (you devs did a great job with many things), but that‘s so true!

Edited January 16, 2018 by Navalus Magnus