Modules suggestion

[MikedaBike]

Yeh, or hire grown men to do it, increase the fire rate 20%! Then they could have built a shed on the deck to store the powder and shot in too, increase the fire rate 30% ! They could have tied ropes around whales and had them tow the ship, increase speed 50% !

 

There are certain improvements that are sensible and there are some that aren't..

Powder monkeys were all young boys mostly about 12 to 14 yrs of age, thy were chosen for the job of getting powder to the guns because of their speed and the size, which allows them to move much faster than a grown man could, in the limited deck spaces between the magazine and the guns. A Grown man would only ever do this job if all the powder monkeys were dead, they simply were to big and slow compared. This though should be a crew upgrade not a stick it in a module box . Good powder boys would mean the powder was all at the guns as it was needed and would make a huge difference in a battle. They were an integral working part of a fighting ship. Long live the monkeys i say.. hurrah!

[SueMyChin]

Powder monkeys were all.... 

 

Yup, like both the shed and the whale modules, totally impractical..

 

The idea that the bottleneck on reload times was powder being brought up from the hold is ridiculous anyway. You could have 400 people tasked with carrying powder to the gundecks and it wouldn't help them fire the guns any faster.

 

Can anyone actually think of an upgrade that would naturally come under a 'modules' tab on a ship? Perhaps an extra pump at a push but everything else would be either improvements (copper sheathing, arguable the extra pump), upkeep (careening), crew training (improved powder monkeys!) or something that wouldn't come under ship alterations at all, like improved gun sights.

[MikedaBike]

Guns are pretty useless without powder how ever stupid or ridiculous you seem to think the need for it is.

 

400 men have there own jobs, powder monkeys had their set tasks and it was up to them to fulfill that task, should they be a module? No, they are crew. If a crew does not all work together on a sailing ship, then that ship sails less efficiently, if you have ever crewed or sailed you should know that, if you haven't then take it from someone who has sailed thousands of miles on sailing boats.

The powder is as important as every other job on the ship, saying slow delivery or running out of powder does not create a bottle neck seems stupid in its own right.

 

Quoted from the article linked below

 

  Therefore, the very performance of the ship, its output of fire-power and ultimately its
effectiveness in defeating the enemy was dependant on the ability of the powder monkeys to
supply gunpowder quickly and efficiently.

 

http://newhistories.group.shef.ac.uk/wordpress/wordpress/the-%E2%80%98powder-monkeys%E2%80%99-of-the-napoleonic-royal-navy/

Edited June 12, 2015 by MikedaBike

[Magnum]

Glad the game is immersive enough to have us arguing over the "benefit" of powder monkeys on board. Arrrrgggg!

[SueMyChin]

Guns are pretty useless without powder how ever stupid or ridiculous you seem to think the need for it is.

 

400 men have there own jobs, powder monkeys had their set tasks and it was up to them to fulfill that task, should they be a module? No, they are crew. If a crew does not all work together on a sailing ship, then that ship sails less efficiently, if you have ever crewed or sailed you should know that, if you haven't then take it from someone who has sailed thousands of miles on sailing boats.

The powder is as important as every other job on the ship, saying slow delivery or running out of powder does not create a bottle neck seems stupid in its own right.

 

Quoted from the article linked below

 

  Therefore, the very performance of the ship, its output of fire-power and ultimately its

effectiveness in defeating the enemy was dependant on the ability of the powder monkeys to

supply gunpowder quickly and efficiently.

 

http://newhistories.group.shef.ac.uk/wordpress/wordpress/the-%E2%80%98powder-monkeys%E2%80%99-of-the-napoleonic-royal-navy/

 

I don't know what you're replying to but it has nothing at all to do with what I said. I'm fully aware a gun needs powder to fire, please, tell me where I stated it didn't...

 

The idea that the bottleneck on reload times was powder being brought up from the hold is ridiculous anyway. You could have 400 people tasked with carrying powder to the gundecks and it wouldn't help them fire the guns any faster.

 

But the idea that all a ship's captain needed to do was hire more lackeys to carry the powder from the magazine and they would instantly improve reload times is again, ridiculous. The bottleneck was manning the guns themselves, swabbing, loading, aiming and firing the guns. Not the supply of powder.

 

I'm surprised having such a knowledge of sailing you've underestimated how resourceful, organised and inelegant sailors can be. The thought that hundreds of thousands of them overlooked that it was simply poor training/lack of powder monkeys holding back reload times is hugely misguided.

 

Again, I'm obviously not saying powder isn't need, I'm saying that a captain is no more likely to go to sea without enough of them, to the point where it holds up reload times, than he is to leave port without a mast.

 

The 'powder monkey module' is the gunnery equivalent of a 'sail module' "sail module: Add some sails to your ship to make it go 100% faster"... Surely we're working on the assumption that in game a captain has the foresight to take sails with him, just as he would take more than enough lackeys so that there was no danger of them holding up reload times...

 

Baffled that I even had to explain that but I hope it clears the matter up.

[ObiQuiet]

I'm not enamored of the current modules, either.

 

Some thoughts:

* Ships of the same class should have varying +/- capabilities for intrinsic ship handling:  speed, ability to point,  turning rate, and maybe propensity to roll.  These are not things easily bought in the real world.

 

These characteristics would be evident in the store (properly listed on the window sticker!).

 

A ship I capture might be a pig, or it might an outstanding example of her class -- depends on luck.   If I happen to get a good one, I'll try harder to keep it, or it should sell for more.  (Admin once alluded to something like each individual ship having a mix of characteristics -- perhaps this was considered and abandoned already.)    

 

Then, in each category I suggest these:

 

Armament - current system of buying guns seems OK to me.  Damage and reload is a function of the gun choice.   

 

 

Sailing - consider:

* Payment to either clean or recopper a ship's bottom.  The bottom gets weedier with time-at-sea, gradually slowing the ship.

* New sails.  Expensive, but able to increase speed.

* Spare sails.  Allows sail repair at sea, rather than at a port.

* Re-rigging.  Expensive, but improves the ships speed and ability to point.

* Re-ballasting.  Expensive, but improves the ships speed and rolling.

 

Armor -

* I can't think of many modules here.  The ship is what she was originally made of.  All ships have hammocks.  Maybe boarding nets could be a module.

 

Crew -

* I could use some XP to "buy" or "earn" a better first lieutenant or better sailing master who would improve reload and ship handling by some %.

* The longer I keep a ship, the better the crew get at reload, setting sails, etc.   Not a lot, but enough to make a difference.  If I lose the ship, I have to start training them over again.  If I choose a different ship, the crew retains some portion of their training.  This is a "crew XP".

 

Boarding -

* Assume a crew has XP too.   The more they have, the better they get at boarding.

* I'd spend $$ for crew weapons.   These go with the ship, I should think, not with my personal effects.

 

Repair -

* I could buy spare sails, spare yards, spare topmasts, spare rudder (only for small ships) to allow repairs at sea without a port.  Or, at least make repairs at sea more quickly saving me a trip to a port.   This may be fine with the current "repair kits" model, but "repair kit" as a term isn't very satisfying for this era.

[Magnum]

Um.. nothing...what happens in Haiti stays in Haiti...?

 

I'm not sure with your character's name that you should bring THAT up

[jodgi]

Captured a frig with two speed mods installed, bought a yellow speed mod for it and it flies at 20 knots - silly.

[Magnum]

Captured a frig with two speed mods installed, bought a yellow speed mod for it and it flies at 20 knots - silly.

 

Thanks for the warning, heuheu

[Reki]

ok, bellow is Plan.

 

1. Most of cells with icons = cathegories. In other words its micro passives with % to X, where X is some stat, associated with cathegory. Stack oriented, which means that player can try to stack this minor things in chosen cathegory.

2. Colored cells is Modules itself, in other words - empty slots module-cathegory based, where player can place any module from this cathegory with aproriate color. First option is hard imperative colored module/ Second option is "any from cathegory list". There are not so many of them, as you can see.

3. Places, numbers of present cathegory, colors and "broken" brown cells is random based within some max limit.

4. Player can't see this field untill he open a box with ship.

5. Player obtain constant amount of points which he can spend, moving horizontal or vertical from start - black centrall cell.

6. Using high quality color modules will require having some aproriate oficer on board.

 

Benefits over current system:

- any quality modules in use

- more brain required

- low chances for ship clones

- player's tuning based

 

[Reki]

i wonder. Is it not worth even single comment?

[jodgi]

i wonder. Is it not worth even single comment?

I don't understand it, so maybe too complicated?

[Reki]

I don't think so. Well, il try to be more understandable:

there is 81 cells with random positions (some of them - brown one - can't be used). Each cell is some little passive boost, but among them there is few empty color slots. Color means quality. Player have, for example, 10 upgrade points and can spend them, investing each point in some cell, moving from central black cell in vertical or horizontal direction. Player will get some passives until he moves to purple cell, for example, but purple cell itself isn't passive. It is purple module slot, where player can insert purple quality module. On picture there is stern wheel in this cell, and it means that player can use there only modules from category "Navigation"

 

Some example of how it works bellow:

 

to get open purple module slot i need spend at least 5 upgrade points, so i do so from beginning going right side from start point. I use red color to show "way" and numbers to show chain of used cells. On my way to first module slot i get minor passives to navigation, artillery, maneuvering and and open sea vision (all of this categories is for example here ofc). Finally on fifth point i get empty module slot, where first high quality module can be installed. Well i choose some module from navigation category list and set it there. Now i still got 5 other points and looking where its better to invest. Moving from start again i can get to 2 grey modules and one more blue quality module. Also getting 2 passives on my way this time: crew bonus and well.. ropes ( I don't know how to translate its meaning). In Total, i opened one purple slot, 1 blue and 2 grey modules, but i could chose other way to spend point and get 2 blue without getting purple, for example, if i don't want navigation high quality slot and prefer artillery mid quality module instead, or just move further after purple slot in top, to get boost to musket fire and boarding (but in this case i wil not open maximum of available for this ship modules). 

At the end each ship will have his own 81 cell random field where all this categories and colors will be placed in chaotic way, so it means someone could get more module slots or some specific focused in one category ship. It means random stats customization + player own decisions + a bit luck or unluck. Almost no same ships, and you always will need grey or blue modules, not only purple one.

[Reki]

up

[jodgi]

I think I understand what you're getting at, but I do think it is complicated. Imagine explaining this to a new player.

It does make unique ships and I'm not saying it's a bad idea. The result is cool, but complicated to understand and use.

WOWS skill trees are easy to understand:

You need to come up with a very clear and understandable version of your idea to sell it, I think.