maturin

Thing is, dynamic sail animations are always a one-way trip to the Uncanny Valley. They usually come across like two-inch pieces of tissue paper blowing in the breeze on your front porch as it spirals down an alley way and between parked cars. Sail animations need artists mimicking the real thing with an observational technique, not something based in physics.

Here the question isn't about realism or depth. It's how we can draw on realistic limitations to discourage some incredibly ugly, gamey behavior and teach people to actually sail their ships.

I may be mistaken, but I believe that 1. is the jib and 2. is the flying jib. The foretopmast staysail isn't set. And 4. is the maintopmast staysail. The middle staysail and mainstaysail aren't set. But damn, that maint'gallant staysail is massive. For game terms, it's enough to learn what each mast is, and know collectively what jibs and staysails are. You can refer to everything forward of the foremast as a jib and no one will judge you too harshly. And knowing the square sails bottom to top is good too. Courses, topsails, t'gallants. Edit: Mixed numbers 1 and 2 up after I scrolled away from the image.

Good idea, I don't think anyone's proposed it yet. This would probably require a special key. Plus new animations, but there are tons of things that should happen with headsails that require new animations. If they ever take the plunge, this should be on the list. Also, have you noticed that jibsheets stay the same on different tacks? On a port tack, you keep using the port jib sheet.

And equally important, a ship under bare poles should soon develop a heavy roll, spoiling gunnery. That, combined with loss of rotation control, should teach all these newbs a lesson. My soul bleeds every time I see players in a sailing game sitting at the edge of a fight without a scrap of canvas flying, sniping away with long guns. Fie, fie, fie.

Only one I know. I was once forced to learn it lefthanded and blindfolded.

Even PotBS had variable winds on the map.

Privateer is just up-gunned Lynx, so they both have two masts and two yards you can control. These vessels don't work correctly yet because they aren't square riggers.

Don't use manual sails with the privateer, cutter, Lynx or yacht. These gaff-rigged vessels have unfinished sailing models, and fiddling with the yards cannot aid your turning or tacking. You can use yard control to slow down, but anything is likely to do more harm than good.

The long and short of it is, it looks really freaking weird. A DC3 next to a 747.

There weren't any steamers in 1800. And steam didn't really make much of a dent in world commerce until after the US Civil War. Most of the time, steamers were just the rickety things that towed sailing ships out of harbors and roadsteads. The Golden Age is usually held to be the few decades of the clipper ships, or of the bulk carrier in the latter half of the 19th century, when square riggers reached their apex in size and strength.

That would actually open up some very valuable testing opportunities. Such as, what happens with an all-carronade fleet?

I know, right? If you have real-world insight on this point, I could use some help fact-checking the proposals,

With the wheels sideways?

Err, am I the only person with an SoL?When a large ship and a small ship collide, only the latter should seriously suffer. This makes sense. It is also good for gameplay because it prevents cretins from turning cutters into anti-bowsprit tripwires or roleplaying as Greek triremes. If an SoL rams a cutter, it is only because the cutter's captain is being an idiot. Ramming should not be a path to victory.

Crew loss currently affects turning way too much and gunnery not enough. Really the penalties should depend on focus. Two hundred men can realistically handle Victory no problem, unless they want to simultaneously set or furl all sail. To really get it right, we need context-dependent yard rotation speeds.

It's completely fair. Ramming is a BS tactic that should be discouraged, except for giving SoL's a way to handle pesky little brigs. It's far too popular already and this would fix it.

Yeah, full speed should result in full dismasting for the rammer, much of the time. That will dissuade people!

Only the armchair variety. There's no obligation for teamplay at present. But if you aren't going to listen to the polite commands of the lead SoL, then you had damn well keep out of their way. There's nothing more righteous (or amusing) than a little brig getting capsized or dismasted by a friendly First Rate.

I would love for bowsprits to get an actual hitbox, so if we clip someone's stern with the jibboom, it will snap off. Conversely, an SOL's bowsprit (the lower, thicker part) should outright dismast a smaller vessel. And of course no bowsprits should be snapping off just because the ship's beak crunched a cutter ten feet below.

Well hold on a minute. The French heap scorn on the French they speak in Quebec.

Crossing between zones should be determined by prevailing winds. Try to sail directly from England to New England without plotting a course well to the south, and you're going to have a hard time.

Well that's completely backwards, isn't it? Since most group battles are won or lost due to the useless matchmaker and not your own skill...

I'm confused, though. According to the Leaderboard, Doran has won under half of those 750 matches. Everyone was thinking it...

Black Sails, though, as the name suggests, actually features sails that don't look totally screwy. The animations are usually off, but they have a few good shots in that first season.