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Flags, Ensigns, Banners


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I do believe that Admirals had their own banners. I remember reading that Nelson had his own.

And if you consider, the RN had "Blue" & "White" squadrons. They had flags for that. When you step back and ask the fundamental question: what is a player society? It is a Squadron of the National fleet... And they can have their own custom flag, the same as any other historical Navy (well, RN in this case).

Edited by Grim DeGrim
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Grim,  yes admirals had a personal flags and would raise there flag on the ship they choose to command.  These officers were 'flag officers', hence the term 'Flagship'.  It was a kind of message to the fleet that here was the boss.  Victory had jervis's flag at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent and Nelsons flag at the Trafalger (amoung others).

 

I think it would be fun if in a group, you could tag an enemy and the system would send a message to the team to "attack the 1st rate" and this would then be signalled using flags.

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Because pirates could choose in RL. Naval officers or merchants couldn't. It make sense to me also that custom flags should be limited to the pirate.

 

At least with regards to US ships, a number of Captains had a custom flag flying (Don't Give Up the Ship comes to mind).  The British had three different colored Squadrons, and they would fly a flag commensurate with the Squadron, as did the Spanish I believe.  The National Flag and Ensign were fairly standard, but I think there's room to fly a Squadron flag, which, since this is a game, could be custom for a particular group in my personal opinion.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi there

I want sail under this historical polish privateer jack ensign:P72187b6313a71e9aac426dfc90600712.jpg

 

While similar to the flag shown above, I would love to see the bloedvlag in the game.  It was originally used by the Dutch against the Spanish in the eighty-years war and can be seen in painting of Dutch ships throughout the time period represented.  Also, even though it was used to fight Barbary pirates, it soon was also flown by pirates.

 

Bloedvlag:

Bloedvlag.jpg

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While similar to the flag shown above, I would love to see the bloedvlag in the game.  It was originally used by the Dutch against the Spanish in the eighty-years war and can be seen in painting of Dutch ships throughout the time period represented.  Also, even though it was used to fight Barbary pirates, it soon was also flown by pirates.

 

Bloedvlag:

Bloedvlag.jpg

 

It may be nice to note that 'bloedvlag' mean 'blood ensign'. In its earliest form it was a plain, blood red flag. It was hoisted to signal 'engage the enemy in full'.

 

~Brigand

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I came across this picture, provided by the Queen Anne's Revenge - Blackbeard facebook page.

 

The image seems to be fairly accurate of the captains and their respected flags, though there are some discrepancies, Such as Mary Read and Anne Bonny having their own design, when they would should have the same as Jack Rackham's, since that's who they sailed under/with.

 

The map also does not accurately show where the pirates operated, as the flags are simply strewn across the coast at random.

 

I do not know how authentic this picture is as a source from the era. (and I am going to assume that it is not)

 

yzPkhHl.jpg

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Flags, Ensigns, Banners as ship identifiers are a very simple and practical tool that engages the player in community interaction. Used as communication though could be somewhat tedious. Still we are faced with the fact that signal flag in fleet engagement were in many instances key to command and control and the making or breaking in many a naval action example being Nelsons splitting of the French and Spanish fleet during the battle of Trafalgar. Having recently spied the post "Battle of Trafalgar Nelson's Tactics Fail!!!" http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/5143-battle-of-trafalgar-nelsons-tactics-fail/ gave me pause to ponder on a solution.

Perhaps implementing a system that makes it necessary to have a line of sight in order to receive  player transmitted chat messages would provide the key tactical aspect that visual communication played in Naval actions of the time period.
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I love the concept of limited ingame communication, to simulate the slowness of communication in the times.  I think people would log into TS anyway and communicate that way, as they do in PotBS, but thats a seperate issue.

 

Here is an idea for those of us that would prefer a more immersive experience and forgo the TS route. 

 

To simulate the use of flags as communication in battle, line of sight would be required, a captain would enter communications into a "text box" and those commands would appear at the top of the screen for all ships within the line of sight of that ship, or other ships that were able to relay signals.  It would read something like "Cmdr Hood of the HMS Valiant signalling all ships tack in succession."  

 

To simulate dispatches, I see a blockading force approaching one of our ports and dispatch a cutter to get word to friendly forces.  All ships my cutter passes receives a notice on the top of their screen, "Dispatches, enemy force attacking St. Johns"  When my cutter reaches admiralty headquarters, then NPC cutters could be dispatched to spread the word.  The cutters could be attacked by opposing nations to limit the word getting out.

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I was reading about this topic and I think that english flag should be the red ensign for the caribbean and north atlantic area. Before 1864 they have the red ensign for merchant and red squadron. In 1864 was when they stablish the red for merchants and white for all Royal Navy.

 

White ensign was for home waters, France coast and mediterranean. The blue ensign was South atlantic and pacific.

 

This is the reason for al british colonies in pacific have blue flags and the caribbean and north american colonies (included United States but they add the white stripes) was the red ensign.

 

Am I correct that the game english flag should be this? 60px-Civil_Ensign_of_the_United_Kingdom.

Edited by Siegfried
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  • 2 weeks later...

 

KNM Kongelig Norske Marine

(Royal Norwegian Navy)

 

 

nor_sven_flagger.jpg

"Sildesalaten"

Union between Sweden and Norway

 

 

 

I don't want to sail under the Sweedes, a little late for this game, Denmark- Norway fits more, and also especially considering United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway was a personal union wich ment in reality at that time Norway had already got it's own independence (1814) :P, we only shared Monark at the time:) I may add, the swedish king never got the popularity among Norwegians as the danish king:D, still stands today :lol:

 

As a proud Norwegian I hope I never see that flag in NA haha

Edited by kaboki
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  • 3 weeks later...

Not technically flags ensigns or banners, but last week i went to Boston and naturally i visited USS Constitution including the museum, so i noticed that she had multiple figureheads, here are the ones i saw in museum

5OyaIyal.jpg

 

1906 - Wartime figurehead

0c8leZ3m.jpg

 

 

1906 - Peacetime figurehead

pf1KDVLm.jpg

 

@admin - will those also be put in the game ?

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  • 3 weeks later...

Royal Navy rank flags:

RN+Rank+flags.png

Lord High Admiral:                                                                  Navy Board:                                                

 

330px-Flag_of_the_Lord_High_Admiral_of_t      270px-Flag_of_the_Navy_Board.svg.png  

 

Customs and Excise flags:      https://flagspot.net/flags/gb~cust.html                              

 

Irish (Green) Ensign: 

 

 

 

450px-Green_Ensign.svg.png330px-Green-Ensign_1783.jpg

 

 

Austrian Naval Ensigns:

 

(1749-1786)                                                     (1786-1915)                                                       Austrian Commodore and Senior Officer (18thC)

ah-nven3.gif  ah-nven1.gif ah-com1.gif

 

  Austrian Commodore and Senior Officer (1786-1915):            Cornish flag:

 

ah-com2.gif      338px-Flag_of_Cornwall.svg.png

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