Request - rudder controls

['Sharpe]

Hi dev team,

I'm having a lot of fun in the backer's build and am very much looking forward to this superb game.

There's really only one disappointment I can find in the early gameplay, it's the fact that the right-click functionality for ship movement seems to be the only way to control rudder. The problem is that right-clicking controls not only the rudder, but also the sails. The game interprets a right-click as "go towards", so if my sails are purposefully at 25% and I'm looking to merely change course or angle for a better shot while maintaining the same sail setting, a right-click to course-adjust will also automatically bring sails to 100% because it thinks I want to go towards that location as quickly as possible.

This is obviously quite frustrating and takes one "out of the moment" - feels a bit arcadey. It's also caused me to miss stern rakes, fall out of formation, etc, all because I don't realize my sail setting is inexplicably moving towards 100%. Maybe I'm old school when it comes to this genre but, to me, sail settings and rudder settings should always be distinct from each other - the player always keeps in the back of their mind the state of each. Once they become linked unexpectedly, it gets disconcerting quickly, and you lose that connection to the sense of sailing.

I do think that the right-click "go towards" functionality definitely has a place in this game, especially during large engagements where you need to plot courses and then divert your attention elsewhere. So, my suggestion would be as follows:

1- One single right click simply sets your bearing towards the direction you choose. Sails are not affected.

2- Two right clicks is "go towards" the chosen location, at speed, and continue on once you arrive (this is the same as the current single right-click).

3- Three right clicks is "go towards" the chosen location, at speed, and anchor there (this is the same as the current double right-click).

 

Cheers -

Sharpe

 

[SleventyFive]

I definitely think that automatically going to full sail is annoying, but a ship shouldn't be able to rotate in place, you should need steerageway to maneuver.

Edited November 23, 2019 by SleventyFive

[Vitalik Beloded]

Right click set sails to 100% only if you current sails is 0%. It already do your first two cases.

['Sharpe]

On 11/23/2019 at 3:48 PM, SleventyFive said:

I definitely think that automatically going to full sail is annoying, but a ship shouldn't be able to rotate in place, you should need steerageway to maneuver.

Oh, I totally agree! I'm not requesting an instant-turn that is inaccurate to sailing physics, just that rudder controls be separated from sail controls. If a ship has no current movement, forwards or backwards, then changing course via rudder should have no effect.

The situation I'm trying to avoid is: start at full sails with speed, and I set my sails to depower to a lower setting. My ship has a certain momentum that will decrease slowly, and during that time I need to steer my ship. Or another instance, I'd like to stay at battle sails throughout the entirety of a fight. Right now, making any course adjustment click brings me back to full sails again. Incredibly frustrating.