Creating new ships from scratch

[Daniel Alessi]

Perhaps I'm looking too far into the future here, but what will happen once a significant amount of ships have been modeled by the devs... (around 200)? 

 

I fear that in a community of a few thousand gamers we will start to see repeated models (for example, 25 Constitutions or 14 Victories) with some minor customization, and not really a lot of novelty in the same. As far as I know in history no two ships in the age of sail were exactly the same.

 

To counter this possibility, I suggest we come up with a system to design, plan, build and test ships of our own creation, with the obvious chance of creating ships that prove to be cumbersome or not sea worthy, for example. Not precisely suggesting we should start modeling ships after the Black Pearl or anything, but I hope you get the idea.

 

So... what do you think? 

[Flip]

Perhaps I'm looking too far into the future here, but what will happen once a significant amount of ships have been modeled by the devs... (around 200)? 

 

I fear that in a community of a few thousand gamers we will start to see repeated models (for example, 25 Constitutions or 14 Victories) with some minor customization, and not really a lot of novelty in the same. As far as I know in history no two ships in the age of sail were exactly the same.

 

To counter this possibility, I suggest we come up with a system to design, plan, build and test ships of our own creation, with the obvious chance of creating ships that prove to be cumbersome or not sea worthy, for example. Not precisely suggesting we should start modeling ships after the Black Pearl or anything, but I hope you get the idea.

 

So... what do you think? 

 

I doubt the devs (6 people) will ever model 200 ships without community help. 

 

I'm not sure if you understand how it works but the model itself doesn't have to be sea worthy, the characteristics given to it by the game engine make it float or turn at a certain speed etc.

[admin]

This topic should have been posted in the shipyard.

 

We promised long ago that we will ask for the community ships from volunteer modelers.

Unfortunately our tech requirements constantly change and improve during development and we cannot still stabilize them. 

 

Because we cannot stabilize them we can't ask volunteers to make ships to then ask them to remake them again. 

But we will ask .. and this time is getting closer and closer to full understanding of what we want from the model. 

[Daniel Alessi]

Oh, terribly sorry about the mistake. Feel free to move the discussion to the Shipyard at your convenience. 

[Henry d'Esterre Darby]

At the same time, the intent isn't to allow players to invent their own ships from a fantasy from what I understand, but only to allow skilled players to model historical ships for the game.

 

Is that correct Admin?

[RAMJB]

At the same time, the intent isn't to allow players to invent their own ships from a fantasy from what I understand, but only to allow skilled players to model historical ships for the game.

 

Is that correct Admin?

 

 

I reckon you are

[Lord Hood]

As do I. I can hardly imagine what monstrosities we would see on the ocean should player designed and not historical warships be allowed.

[Balck]

As an architect with 3D modelling skills, I'll be happy to lend a hand when the time comes.  I may not have the time to do an entire ship, but could help with smaller items like guns, rigging, etc.

 

It goes without saying, real historical ships only!

[RAMJB]

As do I. I can hardly imagine what monstrosities we would see on the ocean should player designed and not historical warships be allowed.

 

 

HMS IPWNY0N00BS. 150 guns per broadside, and the size of two Santisimas one next to another

[Harry White]

Don't forget the crew of 10,000 men for instant boarding wins yo 

[KillBox]

Also, can do 150 knots upwind, and 250 knots running with 20 masts with yards up to Moonraker XXII (also called n00brakers), 2000 staysails, 100 jibs and can launch Exocet Missiles from it's cannons.

[OTMatt]

Also, can do 150 knots upwind, and 250 knots running with 20 masts with yards up to Moonraker XXII (also called n00brakers), 2000 staysails, 100 jibs and can launch Exocet Missiles from it's cannons.

 

All that and the ship will still end up outside the battlezone and sunk thanks to tunnelvision.

[KillBox]

All joking aside, we shouldn't immediately scoff at non-historical ships.

 

A well-intentioned community member may have plans for a custom Schooner he's drawn and would like to submit it, it should be taken with just as much seriousness as a user modelling a historical ship.  It should be judged on it's own merit, and we have plenty of real life sailors aboard who should have a good idea as to how it should handle.

 

But I will agree that HMS #SWAG4LYFE should never come to be.

[gimpygary]

My problem with historical ships only is that in real life there were a handful of ships that stood out in combat so all the navies of the time adopted that ship style and that is no good for a game. 

Even if its not historically accurate I think the Devs should add ships that were not real, kinda like how wargaming adds tanks that were only drawings. It will be wonderful to see a bunch of different ships in the game, and 

i'm not talking about slight differences i'm talking about substantial hull differences, looks, guns, sails, everything. The Devs should be able to change ship properties pretty quickly to adjust anything for balance regardless.

So fictional ships would be awesome as long as its realistic enough and not over powered. 

[Dagann]

My problem with historical ships only is that in real life there were a handful of ships that stood out in combat so all the navies of the time adopted that ship style and that is no good for a game. 

Even if its not historically accurate I think the Devs should add ships that were not real, kinda like how wargaming adds tanks that were only drawings. It will be wonderful to see a bunch of different ships in the game, and 

i'm not talking about slight differences i'm talking about substantial hull differences, looks, guns, sails, everything. The Devs should be able to change ship properties pretty quickly to adjust anything for balance regardless.

So fictional ships would be awesome as long as its realistic enough and not over powered. 

I seriously hope NA will stay 1 000 000 000 km away from WOT.

Proto, panzer paper and fantasy tanks with fantasy stats changed every patch. WOT tanks are everything except realstic.

They are many choice with different class of ship from many nations. No need to create fantasy ships.

[KillBox]

I don't think anyone is saying we need to add early ironclads or something ridiculous like that - the point is (especially when the Warships are saturated with historical content) that there's going to be a huge gap at the bottom-to-mid end concerning Brigs, Merchanmen and other working boats. 

 

Name one famous fishing smack that isn't famous for getting ripped up by a more famous Warship?

 

So at some point, somebody is going to have to look at some old drawings, maybe at Sane and af Chapman's plates and put something together that didn't necessarily terrorise the Bluefin Tunas of the period, but is still very much at home in the 18th and early 19th century waters.  It's hardly a game-breaking concept.  In fact - please help me out veteran forumites - I don't think the Yacht or the Brig are based specifically on any one ship.

[akd]

I think the terms "historical" and "famous" are getting confused here. There are plenty of historical plans for ships of great variety that were never famous. There is no need for fantasy ships, and it would introduce a host of problems. Sticking with historical designs tends to be self-balancing as they were all made with a consistent set of real world limitations.

[KillBox]

I think the terms "historical" and "famous" are getting confused here. There are plenty of historical plans for ships of great variety that were never famous. There is no need for fantasy ships, and it would introduce a host of problems. Sticking with historical designs tends to be self-balancing as they were all made with a consistent set of real world limitations.

 

You are, of course, right - my meaning was "historical" and not necessarily "famous". 

 

Like the current Brig, which is historically correct for the period, the game should be well-served with unnamed (or player-named) generic ships of most classes (Frigates especially - as they were rather prolific) without having to be of a specific class.  A light, 26-gun Frigate of ~500 tons burthen is just that - it's certainly not a game-breaker, even though it would be, for all intents and purposes, "made up" by a user/the Devs.

 

I think everybody shares the same sentiment - and I hardly doubt the Devs would allow HMS #OPSWAGLOL to leave drydock with her 400 guns and gas-turbine engines.

[Lord Hood]

Agreed. You run a terrible risk that with self imagined or prototype warships then you have horrific balancing issues. I personally hope that Naval Action only incorporates historical warships. They do not have to be famous, many of the ships that were not famous still played an important role at some point during their careers. There was an immense amount of variety at this period of time (each nation having their own rating system) and there was a constant evolution of warships through capture et cetera. At the beginning many warships had their guns to close to the waterline which cost all nations a major warship or two. In short there is a huge amount of historical warships in this period that could be incorporated into the game. There is no need for self designed warships or prototypes.

[OTMatt]

Would still like to have the Queen Annes Revenge, someones going to have to make a semi-fictional design for the ship containing 40 guns. Aside from that theres not much else for fiction ships that I seeing as needed for the game.

[gimpygary]

If the Devs can produce at least 10 diverse ships good at specific things in each of these categories when the open world MMO comes around ill be happy.

 

Battle

 

Trade

 

Exploration

 

Those are just basic specialitys. and of course your ship is not limited to doing those.

 

 

I seriously hope NA will stay 1 000 000 000 km away from WOT.

Proto, panzer paper and fantasy tanks with fantasy stats changed every patch. WOT tanks are everything except realstic.

They are many choice with different class of ship from many nations. No need to create fantasy ships.

Never said they were real. I seriously don't see a problem with adding fictional ships, NA will likely have to tweak historical ships as well for balance. I just want more ships in the game.

NO magic crazy ships tho of course.

[Captain_Jack]

Why wait for official documentation? LOL!

 

I am teaching myself Blender for other reasons. Since i have a full set of plans, I decided to try a ship as first project....ya know, start easy!

This is great for learning Vertices, Edges and Faces...how to create, manipulate, delete, create again, etc, etc. Also for learning the technique of using background images.

 

HMS Druid 1775

 

Cheers!

[gimpygary]

Why wait for official documentation? LOL!

 

I am teaching myself Blender for other reasons. Since i have a full set of plans, I decided to try a ship as first project....ya know, start easy!

This is great for learning Vertices, Edges and Faces...how to create, manipulate, delete, create again, etc, etc. Also for learning the technique of using background images.

 

HMS Druid 1775

 

Cheers!

Can you recommend me a blender guide? Ive been wanting to try it out but i have no idea what anything does.

[Captain_Jack]

Can you recommend me a blender guide? Ive been wanting to try it out but i have no idea what anything does.

 

gimpygary,

 

A friend offered these links a few weeks ago to get me started. Here is Episode 1 of a series...well worth watching all of them in the series. I watched about 4 or 5 episodes to get the basic ideas, then went through them again working in Blender repeating what he did to learn the basics. You should be able to find the rest of series on the authors YouTube page.

 

I then found this video where a guy makes an airplane. The video is in 2 parts. He explained a lot and things just clicked for me...so I decided to use his example, but with the above ship. For the ship, I started with a cube instead of cylinder.

 

More Advanced topics.....I have yet to get this far...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2-FfB9kRmE -UVmapping.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5KcOwCL6RA -Alpha mapping

 

Also, as I worked through things, if I got stuck, I looked up the topic online. The Blender wiki is a useful resource and if you search correct terms you can find lots of examples and video on each topic.

 

Cheers!

[gimpygary]

Thanks Ill look into these.