WIND

[Khendon]

can the wind stop racing around counter clock-wise? 

 

i would prefer a strait-up RNG wind generator over this contestant speed wind rotation. i would prefer a RNG generated system with guidelines like:

 

cannot change with in 30s of another change

rare chance of changing by more than........like i dunno...70 degrees at once. just to avoid situations where u are sailing along with a perfect wind and then BAMM HEADWIND! cuz is that even realistic at all??? 

 

thay can math in situations where the wind rotates around 70+ degrees  in slightly more or less varying segments ending with a squall and you are in a storm. that would be really cool.

 

can we also become becalmed? just have a few moments where RNG says THIS AREA OF THE MAP SHALT HAVE NO WIND. and let it be so. people will get mad....but really...ships were becalmed all the time back in the 1800's.

 

(edited for terrible spelling corrections)

Edited February 11, 2016 by Khendon

[Lord Anson]

I agree that the wind situation is kind of bogus. I would suggest A) variable wind intensity maybe with most wind in the "average"intensity(10kt?<kt is US abbreviation for knot>), and some wind above or below that, and very little "becalmed" or "squall" intensity. have just 2-4 weather patterns during a day with wind not shifting direction much during each main pattern. This would allow more strategic planning amongst factions for the day's activities

[Pirata]

I don't know how difficult it would be, but there are games, like flight simulator, that rely on real world / real time weather, that would be great.

If that's not possible, at least I would suggest that the developers try to recreate the area real wind currents (for the most important ones, like the mexican guld wind current), and use this pseudo-random wind model for the other areas.

[maturin]

Oh jesus, don't mention calms.

 

Whenever anyone mentions the slightest tiny tweak to wind, the devs leap headfirst into the massive strawman of saying 'calms are no fun why do you want calms guyz.'

[Hethwill, the Red Duke]

A small tweak that could be done is to have variation of the cycle speed. We know it goes round the compass but would be nice to have it slower turning at times and others have it turn faster. Guess it wouldn't be hard to implement.

[Lord Anson]

The constant wind rotation is very unrealistic, and driving me nuts. Many of my clan members agree. [MT6]

[ObiQuiet]

I like the idea of a variable rate. I'd also suggest a change in direction at midnight, maybe, to keep us on our toes.

Still not realistic, but more interesting.

I agree with the developer points that realistic fickle and contrary winds will frustrate us more than they are worth in realism.

[Francis Tabernac]

Looking forward to the first time the RNG turns the wind against an assault fleet and the forums are immediately bombarded with "Wind is BS, devs favour X faction, made wind our greatest enemy!"

[Herrick]

I don't know how difficult it would be, but there are games, like flight simulator, that rely on real world / real time weather, that would be great.

If that's not possible, at least I would suggest that the developers try to recreate the area real wind currents (for the most important ones, like the mexican guld wind current), and use this pseudo-random wind model for the other areas.

All this would need to to pull in data that is freely available on the web ...

[Decoy]

Oh jesus, don't mention calms.

 

Whenever anyone mentions the slightest tiny tweak to wind, the devs leap headfirst into the massive strawman of saying 'calms are no fun why do you want calms guyz.'

 

With the current system in place, calms don't really provide any meaningful game-play. They're just a delay. 

 

But if you had to manage food, water and crew morale, then suddenly calms become a lot more interesting.

[ObiQuiet]

All this would need to to pull in data that is freely available on the web ...

My ratings for this real time wind idea:

Realism: Very High

Gameplay: Ruinous

For the pseudo-random:

Realism: Good

Gameplay: Frustrating

Mitigation: if players knew where the wind was going ahead of time, we could plan for it. This might simulate local knowledge.

BTW, I suspect winds that vary by location are an unreasonable dev effort. But a global wind is still ok by me.

Edited February 19, 2016 by M.Cmdt. ObiQuiet

[Vernon Merrill]

Random wind would also help with the crazy port switching. If you had the chance of being becalmed with the capture flag, defenders would have a much better chance of assembling in time due to the fact that attackers would have a potentially smaller choice of ports to capture. As it is now, you can capture pretty distant ports by having advanced wind knowledge.

[Grundle von Grundel]

asking for calms is just masochistic.. sorry, please do not ever add calms.  Also, random wind will simply aggravate people into constantly complaining about how the RNG wind system ruined their entire operation despite the best laid plans.  I suppose to some people that heightened level of realism is appealing, but I believe that vastly overall the population will complain far more about such a system.  The wind as it is is already an interesting factor that forces people to contend with it within reason for this game, which realistic, but far from extremely realistic.

[Francis Tabernac]

Random wind would also help with the crazy port switching. If you had the chance of being becalmed with the capture flag, defenders would have a much better chance of assembling in time due to the fact that attackers would have a potentially smaller choice of ports to capture. As it is now, you can capture pretty distant ports by having advanced wind knowledge.

 

Shouldn't you be rewarded for planning your attack in such a way as to take advantage of the wind, and punished for failing to take it into account? As the attacker the initiative is yours to take or not. To have good planning be thrown to the wind (ha!) because of random chance might be more realistic, but (in my opinion) it makes for poor gameplay, and as I mentioned above the forums would become inundated with demands to remove the random factor.

[ObiQuiet]

Due to real life player time constraints, wind in the game has to be predictable some time in advance. Otherwise it will just be aggravating, imo. That doesn't mean it can't be random, just has to be predicted at least 30-60 real minutes ahead.

Edited February 21, 2016 by M.Cmdt. ObiQuiet

[Viziam]

New player here, and ya.. the steady rotating wind is annoying. I don't want realism, and certainly no calms (how boring would that be?).. but definitely a touch  more realism. In general though, the wind blows towards the ocean in the morning and towards the land during the afternoon/evening hours. That shouldn't be that hard to implement. but also, I think the day/night cycle is too short and should be lengthened. How about 1 day per hour rather than every 20 minutes or so?

[eriks]

The Leeward islands are called the Leeward islands for a reason.

 

Major ports ended up where they are because of prevailing winds.

[Grundle von Grundel]

The Leeward islands are called the Leeward islands for a reason.

 

Major ports ended up where they are because of prevailing winds.

In this game a realistic application of wind, such as you mention would be hugely problematic.  Imagine - due to their port locations and realistic wind patterns certain nations can run a great distance downwind to raid an enemy and then teleport back 3 hours later... consistently.. because "hey, prevailing winds".  Meanwhile the enemy has to travel upwind nearly all the time to get to strike back taking 3x longer and requiring tacking.

[hoarmurath]

Oh jesus, don't mention calms.

 

Whenever anyone mentions the slightest tiny tweak to wind, the devs leap headfirst into the massive strawman of saying 'calms are no fun why do you want calms guyz.'

 

Calms are fun if you have fishing...

[eriks]

In this game a realistic application of wind, such as you mention would be hugely problematic.  Imagine - due to their port locations and realistic wind patterns certain nations can run a great distance downwind to raid an enemy and then teleport back 3 hours later... consistently.. because "hey, prevailing winds".  Meanwhile the enemy has to travel upwind nearly all the time to get to strike back taking 3x longer and requiring tacking.

Yeah, teleporting kind of screws up the idea of using historical winds.

[Gonzo]

Wind needs to be alive. And need to correspond more with actual situation on water and overall weather.

[Pirata]

any devs have any comment on this matter? I would love to read about the future plans (or if there is any)

[Henry d'Esterre Darby]

The Developers don't like the idea that, due to some bad random numbers, you could be becalmed or unable to reach port for an extended period of time.  At the moment, the inexorable rotation of the wind is to ensure that, for a majority of the time, you have wind in a direction that will work for where you want to go, while still forcing you to sail and beat up from time to time.  Having trades, or other systems that prevent you from reaching your destination for a long period of time would, naturally, cause a lot of rage amongst players.  Hence, for now, the auto-rotating wind is a compromise to playability.

[Khendon]

awww come on. the calms dont need to be bone crushing. and as for advance knowledge of winds...no???

 

there are several wonderful examples of the wind literally smashing invasion forces, or turning at the last moment to favor this side or that. in drakes day the wind arrived and englands wind powered ships defeated the oar powered vessels of her enemies...meanwhile in japan the kamakaze (spelling shut up i know) winds suddenly arose and smashed an entire invading chinese(?) army.

 

point is that the wind can and should be a powerful wild card in the game. throw out calms if you will....but RNG wind would be seriously bad ass