Learning ship internals

[Tisx]

Currently in game there is no way to understand a ship's internals (Rudder chains, pumps, mags) without going though 10s of battles of doing nothing but guessing where things are on a ship by spraying it with cannonballs. 

 

I propose a way to see inside of your vessel when you are at port, and port only.

 

Now what I'm not proposing is a War Thunder x-ray system that allows you to inherit superman's vision and look into your ship's internals mid-battle/voyage. 

 

Why? Currently almost no one in game knows what the inside of their own ship looks like. People only have the basic idea of what and where stuff is inside of their ship, this in terms causes captains to use tactics that if they knew what the internals of their own ship was would be deemed unwise and even suicidal. 

 

One great example of this; is the Snow. The Snow has an above water magazine that is somewhere near the bow of the ship. Now if a captain knew this info he/she would know that showing the bow of the vessel for a extended period of time is not smart and may end up giving him/her a very explosive grave.

 

Instead captains (especially new ones) go in blind, not knowing that closing the distance with that NavyBrig head on may not be wise. 

 

Now what I propose is not a click here for superman vision for every ship in the game, but rather something a bit more realistic.

 

In order to learn the internals of a ship you most have one of two things.

 

1) The ship itself.  If a captain doesn't know whats below deck or whats going on below deck that captain is signing his own death warrant. 

 

2) The blueprint to the ship.  If you're making the thing you should know where everything goes right? 

 

Now if a captain wants to view his/her ship's internals they should right click on ship. (or something like that)

 

Then a screen like this should show: 

 

 

Of course it's up to the devs to make this as they see fit. 

 

 

So, What do you think of this? 

[Aetrion]

Huh Whuat? That example has like the most absurdly huge rudder and pump and worst placed magazine imaginable.

[James Rackham]

that doesnt mean that the ship builders didnt put the magazine right there, I agree knowing where the internal elements of your ship are may change how you use it and it would be a good thing to have visible but only in port as you have suggested.

Edited February 14, 2016 by James Rackham

[Tisx]

Huh Whuat? That example has like the most absurdly huge rudder and pump and worst placed magazine imaginable.

Eh it was more of a concept picture then what was going to be put in the game. 

[akd]

Why not just let people figure it out through experience?

[tipsypo]

I imagine that the actual UI they are going to replace the test UI with in the ports will be showing an image of the ships. And could include such details in the images?

[maturin]

Huh Whuat? That example has like the most absurdly huge rudder and pump and worst placed magazine imaginable.

It's meant to be a crude example. Let's not have a moral panic of pedantry here.

 

 

Anyways, knowing pump placement would be nice, because learning this from experience without janky use of the Damage log is really difficult. Magazine location is probably not too important because it's always below the waterline and you can't hit it anyhow. And the rudder's location is obvious.

[The MetaBaron]

Lets step back for an instant.

 

Sure all sides are sailing the same ships, HOWEVER this is only the case because the developers simply do not have the resources to make hundreds and hundreds of ships. In other words it would be logical that the ships you are attacking you don't know inside and out.... that you don't now where the pump or magazine is, as this would not be information that is made public to enemy nations.

 

So suspend your disbelief for a second and pretend you are not sailing the same ship as the enemy, and that logically you would not have schematics to their design available to you.

[Mirones]

you know you could just lokk at the ship plans for these ships on google and know the internal layout?

[maturin]

you know you could just lokk at the ship plans for these ships on google and know the internal layout?

It takes a lot of knowledge to pick out magazine and pump locations on the less-detailed plans, and it's impossible to know whether the developers followed the plans perfectly. Captured ships would have pumps rebuilt and possibly relocated, for instance.

[ObiQuiet]

It's not a big ask, is perfectly realistic that a captain would know this, and is at least somewhat useful in game esp given the accuracy with which the dev modeled the damage areas. General location of these crucial areas is precise enough, like the sample shows.

Edited February 17, 2016 by M.Cmdt. ObiQuiet

[VehoNex]

At least for your own ship. I'm pretty sure the captain would know where his pump and magazine were located. I like the idea. Once they add 3d ports I think it would something worth taking a look into by the devs. Being able to click a button that lets you look at your ships armor setup, angle of the hull, were critical items are located, etc etc. In my head I'm seeing it kind of like WarThunders armor/internals view (Not saying it should be emulated, just that's how I imagine it). Sure players can just screenshot those to learn the best areas to shoot but most won't take the time to study every ship class in the final release.

 

 

 

Pictures for how I'm seeing it in spoiler. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tomas MacMoragh]

I do think we should give the players info that the captain of a ship would reasonably have.  As many captains historically took command of the ship well she was still under construction, (or refit) and was expected to supervise the work.  There where advantages to this, making the captain more Familer with there ship.  Thus making her more effectively sail and fight his vessel

[Ojibwa_Wind]

Its a game, lets not make it more complicated then it already is. The more buttons to look at the more multitasking you are doing and not paying attention to what you should be doing. You know you our in a wooden ship and a broad side is dangerous to your ship. Damage will happen. You need to develop a tactic when attacking.

 

I read lets have factories to build our own supplies. Its happening in the future. Lets feed the crew at sea. No decision yet but let me add if they do lets make sure we add a button to empty what they put in as well. We are already getting a button to handle the crews at there stations! more tasking to what we already have. No one in here is ever happy with what we have. 

 

How about this, lets just play the game can't we. Or will this end up like the failure the MMO WOT, Ships and Airplanes turn out to be when players took the game over to their advantage. Ppl leaving those games for good.

 

 

DEV'S enought already, fix the bugs, manage the game but to much multitasking is going to take the fun out of this game.

[Wicked Mouse]

I'm with M.Cmdt. ObiQuiet on this one. I think it's not a big implementation to put some sort of a cross section of the ship available at a management window in port, when handling cargo or upgrades or whatever, where one can see the positions of the critical parts of a ship, once the design of the UI graphics will kick in. A cross section along the length of the ship, like for instance this perpendicular cross section in the game Tempest:

 

Edited February 22, 2016 by Wicked Mouse