Some Newbie Questions

[4535jacks]

Hi guys, i am new to Naval Action and although I don't have access to the game yet, would like to ask some questions so I can gain a better understanding of the level of detail and complexity of the game.

1. To what level can sails and yards be controlled. Can you unfurl and furl any individual sail and can you control individual braces, halyards and sheets? Can you reef? Can you rig royals or studdingsails?

2. Can you anchor?

3. In the event of a demasting, can you jury rig a temporary mast?

4. Can you trim a ship using ballast?

5. Is fouling modelled on non copper bottom ships?

6. Can you sail under a false colour to deceive your opponent?

7. How does the damage model work? It is a probability based system or does the area that the ball hits receive damage I.e to damage the rudder, the rudder must be hit a ball.

Apologies for these rather basic questions but I am really interested in this game and want to understand it a bit better.

Thanks in advance,

Jacks

[OlavDeng2]

1. You can not control individual sails, you can change between 0 to 100% sails in steps of 20% and you can depower the sails in between masts and the most fore sails(dont remember what they are called)

 

2. stand still, yes but not specifically anchor

 

3.no

 

4. no

 

5. no

 

6. no

 

7. it depends on where the ball hits, penetration and internal modules.

[Prater]

4. There is a module called ballast. It represents optimal ballast configuration. It is very simplified.

5. Kind of. It is simplified. Ships without copper plating are in general slower. So it is like they have a fouled bottom while copper plated ships have differing qualities. Exceptional copper plating is a simplified version of always having clean copper.

[4535jacks]

Thanks for the quick replies!

Another question I forgot to ask was whether or not yards and lines can break or snap if you push the ship too hard with too much canvas for the weather.

Thanks again,

Jacks

[OlavDeng2]

Thanks for the quick replies!

Another question I forgot to ask was whether or not yards and lines can break or snap if you push the ship too hard with too much canvas for the weather.

Thanks again,

Jacks

at the moment no, in the future, maybe

['Sharpe]

I believe 3 was answered incorrectly, there is a sail repair feature available. Currently it is one per battle, and it repairs 30% of your sails. Now, I know you asked about demasting...the mast integrity and sail integrity values all roll up under "sails", so using your sail repair will restore your sail state +30%, including whatever mast restoration that end state entails.

In a recent battle, the powder keg exploded on a nearby first rate and blew off my fore topmast and my fore topgallant mast. After using my sail repair, my fore topmast was restored, so this can be considered a jury rig of sorts.

I cannot confirm if masts that break at the stem can be restored, but from the way the system works it appears at least the lower mast will be restored.

['Sharpe]

Also, re: 1, what Olav said, but also to clarify there is the ability to adjust orientation of sails at any time for both your foremast, and main + mizzen (they are jointly controlled). This is called "manual" sail mode in game, and is essential for optimizing turn rate, tacking, and decelerating. The granularity of individual sheets is not available though.

You're going to have a blast with this game Jacks, hope to see you soon.

[admin]

 

7. How does the damage model work? It is a probability based system or does the area that the ball hits receive damage I.e to damage the rudder, the rudder must be hit a ball.

 

No probabilities there

You have to hit the rudder and actually break it. If the rudder is big and strong it might require multiple hits.

 

 

 

Hi guys, i am new to Naval Action and although I don't have access to the game yet, would like to ask some questions so I can gain a better understanding of the level of detail and complexity of the game.

 

1. To what level can sails and yards be controlled. Can you unfurl and furl any individual sail and can you control individual braces, halyards and sheets? Can you reef? Can you rig royals or studdingsails?

 

 

We wanted to find the balance between complex or simpler sail management and i think we found it.

NA is actually one of the first combat oriented sailing games where you can control yards and actually make your ship behave like a real age of sail combat vessel.

 

Remember that you have to

1) Keep the station

2) watch the surroundings, waves, heel

3) aim

4) shoot

5) position your ship along side the enemy

And as the max battle size is 50 ships complexity goes up a lot. 

 

You could say that individual sail setting is possible through speed pre-sets. They are all done according to Seamanship at the age of sail book if you are interested why they look this way. Sail setting is realistic and is controlled by your crew. You are the captain, you give orders and your crew does everything according to your desires. In addition to speed presets you have depower setting (taking off all staysails and jibs) and battle sails.

 

BUT we would do individual sails if we could (e.g. can fire ALL guns individually for example) 

 

The main reason for having a preset (not individual free setting) is technology

Controlling individual sails and trim would create a lot of technical, animation, destruction model and general gameplay issues. Because its multiplayer it needs to be synchronized and it increases amount of packets increasing server load in geometric progression. 25 v 25 first rate ship of the line is a lot of sails, cannonballs, polygons and positions (including positions on waves) - syncing the sails (especially if they are individually set) will get servers in trouble. 

 

In addition to that we have A LOT of varied vessels which all can be in the same battle. And it increases texture and polygon requirements. Having more types of sails and trims increases the load on video cards and CPU. And we are already not the most GPU friendly games.

 

Having said that we would like to mention that we are thinking of making a spin-off: single player simulation game about a single frigate or a brig where you will have full control on sails and will not have multiplayer limitations with walking on deck and sleeping in captains quarters. But it will be expensive and might require crowdfunding. We will do it some day we promise . 

[4535jacks]

Thanks for the info! I think you are probably right that it is the right balance given that a player is effectively covering all the jobs of a crew of 100s+.

Since the crew perform most of the tasks and we command, does a crew collect XP and get quicker/more effective as they gain experience in the game? If so do you then lose your experienced crew if you are sunk or captured?

Also does the crew tire during a battle and get slower/less accurate until they get a rest period?

Again apologies for all of these newbie questions!

Jacks

Edited November 12, 2015 by 4535jacks

[OlavDeng2]

Thanks for the info! I think you are probably right that it is the right balance given that a player is effectively covering all the jobs of a crew of 100s+.

Since the crew perform most of the tasks and we command, does a crew collect XP and get quicker/more effective as they gain experience in the game? If so do you then lose your experienced crew if you are sunk or captured?

Also does the crew tire during a battle and get slower/less accurate until they get a rest period?

Again apologies for all of these newbie questions!

Jacks

1. no, crew does not collect or loose experiance

 

2. no, not yet atleast but performance does decrease as you loose crew

[4535jacks]

Thanks Olav!

[maturin]

 

They are all done according to Seamanship at the age of sail book if you are interested why they look this way. Sail setting is realistic and is controlled by your crew.

Well, almost.

 

Are you going to implement the corrected sail setting order that I sent you? It solves the confusing behavior of Battle Sails transitions and improves realism and aesthetics, especially for brigs and staysails.

 

Cerberus, Belle Poule, Lynx, Snow, Pickle, Merc, Renommee, Constitution, Cherub

Surprise, Trincomalee, Santi, Cutter, Brig

Victory, Pavel, Niagara, Bellona