Ryan21

Could we not compress the distances instead of the time?

I think the lynx is a brilliant starting vessel, if you are heeling too much for your shot trajectory reduce sail. It was rare that ships went into action with full sail set, they had to moderate heel in real life as well. Ships usually went into battle under topsails and headsails + spanker, and then could set or douse any combination of the others as needed. This also made the line handling less complicated because they were dealing with less gear, and therefore they could pull off manuever's much quicker, I fully rigged ship of this era has alot of rig. As for the smoke, this isn't modern propellant, this was a problem they simply had to deal with. I would say add a bunch of tips for newbies as to how to sail and fire effectively. The Lynx is the perfect starter because she sails well and you can outrun most larger vessels to windward, and you have enough firepower to deal with the small ones.

Im not going to lie, I cracked up pretty good at this..

I agree, some large luggers would be excellent. Gunboats close inshore were always a danger, some of them would have very large caliber guns mounted in the bow and could wreak havoc on a small brig or schooner. A good general reference is a book called Harbours and High Sea's, it's an accompaniment to the Patrick O Brian novels and has pictures of just about every one of these rigs.

I absolutely love the current ship lineup, but as time goes on I would really like to see some unique vessels that dont fit the standard Royal Navy bill, some of which could easily compete with the brigs and schooners. We need to get some big Xebec's going on, a few Polacres, certainly a Xebec frigate like El Gamo. There are so many interesting rigs from the Med especially that were used on fairly large vessels of war and privateers, not to mention merchantmen.

Charge of the light Brigade, 1960's version. Sharpes Rifles. And by far the best period nautical movie, Mutiny on the Bounty 1962, Master and commander was very good but they REALLY actually sailed the bounty for just about every shot in the movie except in the storm which of course at the time was done with models, I watch this movie over and over just to watch the sailing shots of bounty. In master and commander they shamefully used CGI for a number of sailing shots, one especially where the sails are barely full and she's putting out a wake that makes her look like she's running 12 knots on a flat calm sea.

In the Navy fully manned a frigate or line of battle ship could set all three masts one sail at a time plus the headsails at the same time, main mizzen and for topsails would be sheeted home together and halyards walked around the deck at the same time. Of course at sea in watches this didnt always happen this way but the Navy had the manpower and knew how to do things efficiently. Check this out.

The brig already has significantly more firepower than the schooners, get a copy of seamanship in the age of sail, learn about Center of lateral resistance and factors affecting rotation and about how to properly manuever a square rigger and then go back to the game, I am currently quite satisfied with the brig. In fact I wouldn't even complain about the current inertia, I have had no problem slowing the brig at the opportune moment and turning right under opponents sterns, often with my jiboom crossing their quarterdeck and delivering a broadside.

Some schooners would have been able to carry six pounders, schooners of the period varied greatly in size, and many of them as stated used fairly heavy carronades for maximum punch. As a merchant brig the original Lady Washington of 210 tons carried two 6 pounder long guns and between 6 and 8 1 pounder swivels, the six pounder is fairly hefty but could still be carried by smaller vessels, the 9 and 12 pounders however are a huge jump in size and weight.

well, this is interesting, because upon re-entering the game I was most pleased with the brig, if you know how to use manual control she really does tack and wear close to the real thing. What are your largest concerns as admin? I know people complain that they are slow and manuever poorly, the reality is that yes a brig with a bluff blow is going to be much slower in general and in stays than a baltimore clipper like the Lynx. I have however found them to be quite usefull in game, I can very nearly spin her on a dime by properly wearing ship and find she has special maneuvering capabilities that can counter the smaller vessels speed, she also packs much more of a punch than the schooners, I really am finding it hard to find to many major faults here, you cant make them faster, because they simply aren't. Unless they are a brig with an enormous rig and a fine clipper bow like Niagara, or one of the later 1820's to 1830's brigs that handled quite well compared to there earlier counterparts. Niagara has a hull speed of 15 knots or therabouts and tacks very quickly, but the current brigs in game have the late 1700's hull shape so I would say their maneuverability is fairly realistic. Perhaps you should add a little variety to soothe the brig Naysayers, we really have three very similar brigs, that perform largely the same, maybe take out say the generic Navy brig and actually model the Niagara, which is radically different, being quite large for a brig, 198' overall, 30' beam, fine clipper bow, immense rig, etc.. She had 18 32 lber carronades and 2 12 lb long chasers, for a vessel that is twice the length of Lady she tacks like a ferrari, and I think it would be an interesting segway between the brigs and the larger vessels, her biggest handicap is her range with the carronades but she really was the USS Constitution of sloops of war. The ship plans are readily available, in fact I have a full set of them at my house. She also sails closer and faster on the wind than the shorter bluff bowed brigs, I was on the tiller and watched her point 48 degrees on the anemometer with full topsails, not luffing, and we were making 8.5-9 knots in a 20 knot breeze, on the older vessels it's hard to get them to point higher than 65-60. She is slightly longer than the Surprise, but with much less free board and limited long range capability with her armament, she was meant to run in at light speed and hammer up close. http://images.travelpod.com/tripwow/photos/ta-009a-5cba-99e5/u-s-brig-niagara-duluth-united-states+1152_12796342478-tpfil02aw-16428.jpg Model her nicely, get rid of the Navy Brig, keep the regular brig and snow, and she would bridge the gap. I think players would love to use a very unusual vessel like this, also I believe this game should encourage and promote vessels that were historically significant, especially those that we have replica's of, this game could get people interested in really sailing these ships!

Your welcome! Johann is great. Venture was such a good port to us.

Hahaha. Really! I don't remember, I have been back in Victoria since the 3rd. Im usually pretty tunnel vision bound when I'm day sailing, trying to direct crew to the braces etc..

Greetings! After a ten month absence from the real world I am back from my two stints as Bosun on the brigantine Fair Jeanne and the Brig Lady Washington. I have to say the game has made leaps and bounds, I love how the brig tacks and wears, it really feels close to how Lady behaves, very well done. Hull speeds are a bit high in general but the game would be far to slow otherwise. On the whole it strikes a very good balance between reality and gameplay enjoyment. One thing I noticed with the schooners is that when they are sailing close on the wind from beam reach to close hauled they sail fastest with the booms wung out all the way, in reality when you are sailing on the wind this would spill some of the wind you could be using for drive, so they should be sheeted not completely fore and aft but just off when close hauled, and eased just a little bit more for the 90 degree beam reach. When you want the booms eased all the way out is on a broad reach or a run. Also when running, there should be a speed bonus for the booms being eased out on opposite sides, it's called running wing on wing, when running if both the booms are eased out on the same side the mainsail will block the wind from getting to the foresail and you will lose the driving force of the foresail. Also I want to say the storms are wonderful, but I really am begging you guys to consider that you cannot sail in force 8-9 with topgallants set, and since you seem to only have two basic sea/wind states would it really be that hard to adjust sailing parameters for two weather conditions? I know you guys cant do topsail reefing because it requires another animation but can you make it so that you have to work with just topsails and courses in the storm sea state? The ships should be going as fast off the wind in the storm state with tops and courses as they are with full sail in the normal wind state, make it so that you can set topgallants etc, and get a speed boost but make it steadily damage the masts and break them after a short period. Also there should be a large speed handicap when sailing close hauled in the storm, if you were making 10 knots off the wind you should be making maybe 5 at most into it, in real life that sea state pushes you back something brutal, also make it so that tacking in the storm takes longer so that people are forced to wear ship. Please heed this request devs. By the way did you borrow the Navy Brigs paint sceme from the Lady Washington;) I love it! PS. thank you sooo much for fixing the order of sail setting it was driving me nuts, things look alot more realistic now, with ships tooling around under tops and courses and not topgallants set above furled topsails.

It would certainly be better than full sail up to royals in a storm haha. You can carry Ladies full topsails to about 35 knots, then its generally good to throw a reef into them, at about 45 your going to want close reef. I would definately be up for a compromise with the devs, they are certainly doing a wonderful job.

I have not been on the forum in awhile so I am not really aware if anything has been put on the table officially regarding proper sail set for worsening weather conditions. I think this could be a relatively simple but integral part of the game that will exponentially increase game depth and dispel the possible misconception for those who have not sailed on square riggers that you can have full sail set in 40 knots of wind, etc... I would like to draw on the support of people like me on this forum who care about the reality of sailing being embedded as best as it possibly can into this game. That being said, I read on the forum that the devs are testing a few different weather scenarios to decide on a few that work well for the game, with all things taken into account. With that being taken into account I think it is extremely important once these weather situations are decided upon that the devs set up realistic sail combinations that will work with each scenario, and if the player elects to set more sail, there should be possibility of damage and the recourse will be having to repair masts or spars, just as if they were shot away in battle. I think there should be a simple strain indicator in the HUD. Also I think that we should push for 1 or two more animations that bring the topsail yard lower to "reef" for the very heavy weather scenarios, I think that it would be well worth the effort. It does not need to be 100 percent accurate as long as it gets the point accross that you need to balance your sail plan depending on the weather scenario, also coming back to something Maturin said, I think in the release of the game you should be able to have more independant sail control, not required, but as an option for those of us who are really into sailing and understand the ship dynamics. So in short 1. Once a few weather scenarios are decided upon, there should be a "safe sail set" for that condition, and if you set more, you should be able to push it a bit but ultimately the consequence is damaging your vessel. 2. Reefing topsails animation . 3. Smaller vessels have lower margins of error, eg your cutter will have to reef or take in sail before a frigate will. 4. More independant sail control 5. Speeds in heavy weather with a big sea running should be reduced or handicapped when close hauled, and you shouldnt be able to set as much sail close hauled in heavy weather, so more "strain" in general close hauled. When off the wind in heavy weather the strain should be less and a speed bonus added, sometimes even exceeding a ships rated hull speed, because in real life you can effectively surf down large waves when running in heavy wind, which allows you to exceed your displacement hull speed by effectively "planing"