Cargo weight, and vessel speed?

[Godream]

So I am not that familiar with all of the long-term promised features, please forgive me if this has already been promised or disgarded as a future-feauture.

I am very interestes in seeing the devs plans in having a ships speed affected by the quantity of cargo in her hold, or basically the percentage of the hold being occupied by cargo. So that a merchantman filled to the brim with cargo would sail slower than an identical merchant ship which is only half-full? In addition has there been any discussion of a "dumping cargo" feature? Perhaps to allow a vessel to decide it would rather give up it's goods or profit in favour of attempting to flee?

These are just suggestions I would love to see in some form or another, primarily to add tactical depth and meaningful player decisions when it comes to engagements etc. Let me know what you think?

[Macjimm]

Heck yeah. Bring it on.

[Ligatorswe]

Yes. Agree

[AKPyrate]

So I am not that familiar with all of the long-term promised features, please forgive me if this has already been promised or disgarded as a future-feauture.

I am very interestes in seeing the devs plans in having a ships speed affected by the quantity of cargo in her hold, or basically the percentage of the hold being occupied by cargo. So that a merchantman filled to the brim with cargo would sail slower than an identical merchant ship which is only half-full? In addition has there been any discussion of a "dumping cargo" feature? Perhaps to allow a vessel to decide it would rather give up it's goods or profit in favour of attempting to flee?

These are just suggestions I would love to see in some form or another, primarily to add tactical depth and meaningful player decisions when it comes to engagements etc. Let me know what you think?

 

However, a vessel full with cargo won't necessarily sail slower than one that's empty.  It will maneuver slower and take longer to get up to speed, but ultimately the hull speed will be equivalent to the same vessel empty except in very light winds (which we don't seem to have in game).  This dynamic has been discussed before, though if I remember correctly it was found that the weight of cannons, shot, powder, increased crew and their belongings, etc. made up for the weight of cargo, especially as the cargo would be naturally stowed better than cannons on the gun deck ready for action at a moment's notice.  I would like to see overall weight (including cannons with their powder and shot, crew, cargo, etc.) make a difference in a ship's turning rate and acceleration, but with the other modifications and qualities of vessels, it's doubtful that you'd see any real difference.

 

As for jettisoning cargo to escape an enemy, this was not generally done as it wouldn't make much of a difference, and the act of jettisoning cargo (beyond water stores or throwing cannons off) would require lots of time and often using the lower yards for hoisting the stash out of the hold.

[Captain Red]

However, a vessel full with cargo won't necessarily sail slower than one that's empty.

 

They usually used ballast to compensate the cargo, and balance the ship's overall weight.

A street in La Rochelle, France is paved with stones from all over the world brought there as ship ballast.

[Hethwill, the Red Duke]

One thing we have to remember is that the ships were ( and are ) built taking into account the mass not only of the cargo but also of the complements, like carriages, supplies, etc.

Effectivelly, and talking about the big war ships, changing radically the planned mass, but wanting to change the planned guns for it, will ultimately change a ship sailing characteristics.

[AKPyrate]

They usually used ballast to compensate the cargo, and balance the ship's overall weight.

A street in La Rochelle, France is paved with stones from all over the world brought there as ship ballast.

 

Yes, many waterfront cities are built on ballast of ships.  The reason they used ballast when the ships were empty was in order to keep them stable.  If you jettisoned the cargo without compensating with some added ballast, the stability of your vessel would become severely compromised necessitating the reduction of sail and reducing weight and forces up high.  This would slow down your vessel