Virtual Ship and Ship Management

[CJFlint]

I'm a former Silent Hunter 3, 4 and 5 player. One of things I really enjoyed in that game is the fact you could explore the submarine and man say a sonar station, radio room, para scope ext ext. You could also go up to the coning tower and man the deck gun. It added a high level of Immersive game play. I really enjoyed it. Age of pirates 2 had a similar thing but not quite as good. You could move around on the deck of the ship and go down below to the captains quarters and store your belongings and so forth. I believe it is really necessary in a naval game.

 

It would be cool to see something like that for naval action but possibly even better. It would be really cool to get a feel for what it was really like to be on one of these ships. It would also give the player something to do on longer voyages. Every naval or age of sail game I have ever player, a large amount of my time was spent sailing from point a to b, having added immersion during this process is really needed. 

 

Also many of us enjoy the idea of captaining a ship, and managing the ship in a realistic manner. Having a realistic crew, not like potbs were the crew is just a number. Age of Sail ships were ran by pure man power, we really need to see that. We really need to be able to access it and manage who does what. We need to have access to things that effect morale and crew exp. A captain is only as good as crew.  Every book I have read about the age of sail, showed that there was a real human struggle and drama much more so then present time. A great example of what I'm talking about is the movie mutiny on the bounty or master and commander. Sailing these vessels was an epic undertaking.

 

One thing I always felt was vary missing from POTBS was a true sense of adventure and immersion. It is really needed in any age of sail games, it has to be there.

[LTao]

Fully modelled interiors and exteriors of ships detailed enough to allow third/first-person exploration can lead to a significant increase in the amount of development time and effort required to create aesthetic pleasure. For a game like Silent Hunter, where the game is centred on a single vessel, this isn't a difficult proposition, but modelling dozens of interiors for dozens of ships will most likely be very costly and time-consuming. 

 

I can't recall if modelling full interiors has been discussed or not, but I'd venture a guess and say that it's very, very difficult and beyond the scope of current goals.

[CJFlint]

Fully modelled interiors and exteriors of ships detailed enough to allow third/first-person exploration can lead to a significant increase in the amount of development time and effort required to create aesthetic pleasure. For a game like Silent Hunter, where the game is centred on a single vessel, this isn't a difficult proposition, but modelling dozens of interiors for dozens of ships will most likely be very costly and time-consuming. 

 

I can't recall if modelling full interiors has been discussed or not, but I'd venture a guess and say that it's very, very difficult and beyond the scope of current goals.

Thanks for your reply.

 

Whats is planed currently, Is this going to be a 3rd person game? Or 3rd person with some 1st person viewing?

[admin]

• deck view (like AC 3)
• outside view (more like potbs) but we limit camera and distance to not turn it into strategy game.

[CJFlint]

 

• deck view (like AC 3)
• outside view (more like potbs) but we limit camera and distance to not turn it into strategy game.

I think that sounds reasonable. There is going to be deck view and external view. 

 

Here's an couple ideas and it might not be to hard to pull off. As we know from playing games like POTBS and Age of Pirates, is in the deck view you don't always have the greatest visibility.

 

1) Optional Transparent Sails, similar to POTBS. 

2) A crows nest view, for spotting and Immersion . I think having this view would be stunning and functional at the same time. 

[Barberouge]

I'd favor quite a long camera range though. After changing the PotBS camera range limit, my gaming experience improved so much. Because of the tactical improvement I have to say, but also because of the movie feeling. I didn't zoom out very far, but the basic range was just too limited.

 

Crows nest view would be awsome.

[Ampen]

Being able to zoom out properly does so much for the tactical aspects of PvP.

Also, a good zoom out will make for better youtube-videos.

[Barberouge]

The possibility to watch important battles without participating to them could be a nice addition. With free camera.

[bikkebakke]

The possibility to watch important battles without participating to them could be a nice addition. With free camera.

 

I wonder if it's possible to do something like spectate mode in dota2 (if people are interested )

[admin]

It is already possible. But it would give some advantage if the viewer is on TS with one of the teams 

[Barberouge]

Couldn't it be possible to circumvent that problem, such as with adding a delay to the spectator view ? Or maybe an option to record the battle and then view it with free camera ?

[BullpupBarrie]

Please please allow a spectator view with no restrictions on where the camera can go and the ability to turn the UI off completely.

 

Your screenshots look fantastic already and it would be a crime not to give people the chance to make nice pictures and movies themselves.

 

Just include a server-side option to disable spectator mode for competitive games or something.

[BrutishVulgarian]

 

• deck view (like AC 3)
• outside view (more like potbs) but we limit camera and distance to not turn it into strategy game.

 

I don't think the 3rd person view should be higher than your tallest mast and shouldn't  stray too far from your ship.   Spectator view should be delayed and there should be a battle recorder like Warthunder, to be reviewed after the fact.

[Bobbydylan]

 

• deck view (like AC 3)
• outside view (more like potbs) but we limit camera and distance to not turn it into strategy game.

 

 

Sounds great. The last think we need is feature creep that doesn't actually add anything to game-play. 

What I would suggest is adding in a "captain cabin". Either in 2D or 3D (if there's enough time) to allow the player to look at charts, review "news" check known prices of goods, see his reputation level, or his progress in "navel exams".  Hell, this could double up as a menu screen I guess. Kinda like the bunker menu in Metro 2033.

 

 

I don't think the 3rd person view should be higher than your tallest mast and shouldn't  stray too far from your ship.   Spectator view should be delayed and there should be a battle recorder like Warthunder, to be reviewed after the fact.

 

 

Hmm... I see where you're coming from, concerned about exploitation.   However I really like the "cinematic" feel that a 3rd person cam offers.  I's good fun to see that damage to your ship after a battle. Like Batman in Arkahm Asylum a scared and battered ship is almost a character itself.  

I'd go perhaps a midge further that your suggestion and say no more that +- 50% higher than the top of your mast. 

[admin]

moving camera very far from the ship (unless you are in spectator mode) does cause some artifacts visually (impossible to create perfect looking water at all heights and angles)

+ it turns game into a strategy (it looks less atmospheric)

[admin]

Sounds great. The last think we need is feature creep that doesn't actually add anything to game-play. 

 

that is so true!

[Gavel]

Hey All!

 

First post here.  I just have to say, I've been playing ship games for a LONG time, and I simply CAN'T WAIT for a game like this to come to the market!!!!

 

With regard to the topic on hand, my only hope with ship management/crew management is that there are not any female crew on board.  I've seen games do this to appeal to girls, and teenage guys, but it's just not historically accurate in any way, shape or form.  I'd love to see a game get this right for a change!  "NO, there were not hooker-looking ladies aboard the ships back then, sorry guys/gals!"  If this is something that the gamers HAVE to have, then PLEASE make it a toggle!!! lol 

 

Also, a side note: I REALLY hope that you, the devs, will not allow female captains (also not accurate historically).  In PotBS, all we saw EVERYWHERE were lady characters with little-to-nothing on.  It was getting so bad, that I had to call it quits in PotBS just because I couldn't let my daughter see the grotesque names, and clothing of the female characters; as they were QUITE sexual in nature.  So, I know I may get flack from some for saying this, but: 

PLEASE keep this game historically accurate in that ladies (sorry girls) are not included as characters or crew.  If, female characters MUST be included (your call), then PLEASE make sure that the customizable clothing available is not looking like hooker clothing, or it'll be a slippery slope of graphical hoochy coochy all over your game, thus taking away from the insane amount of awesomeness in this game already; not adding to it (sorry guys).

 

If you guys get this historical stuff right, then I KNOW there's going to be a lot of the more 'values-minded' and 'historically-minded' people playing your game, and thus increasing your profit.  Keep in mind that keeping with history appeals to ALL gamers here, and curving that historical margin to try to appeal to females or lusty male eyes does not appeal to all gamers.  Which will give you more profit in the end?  Keep it historical please!

 

PS - THANK YOU FOR MAKING THIS GAME!  It's much needed!

[Bobbydylan]

I was wondering if there's going to be an element of crew management in the game.  

 

I was wondering if we'd be involved in setting watch periods, and if crew fatigue would affect ship performance. 

 

 

Silent Hunter had an interesting crew management system.

 

[Barberouge]

You may find some info there:  http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/136-crew-focus-question/

[BrutishVulgarian]

I just downloaded SH 4, I like the crew management, I don't understand it, but I like it, with watches and damage control teams.   Even if it didn't effect battles that much, it would be fun to monkey around with little crew player cards.

[admin]

haha - its funny. that's our design document for the future

but not as complex

as you still have to sail and fight

 

we will see how deep we can go during testing. overall plan is to do something close to FTL/SH3. 

[admin]

I just downloaded SH 4, I like the crew management, I don't understand it, but I like it, with watches and damage control teams.   Even if it didn't effect battles that much, it would be fun to monkey around with little crew player cards.

SH3 had done it better we believe. But maybe that feeling is from the fact that SH3 was just a bit better game than SH4 and 5. 

we played all of them

[maturin]

Ooh, FTL could be an excellent inspiration here.

[Sindrio]

Before discovering this game, I was thinking to myself; How awesome wouldn't it be if there sometime would come a game, like Silent Hunter, but in the age of sail? Then I started searching around and wouldn't you know. Here the game is!

 

I support crew management. In Silent Hunter it could give me some kind of relations to my crew. Though not alot.

[tater]

SH3 had done it better we believe. But maybe that feeling is from the fact that SH3 was just a bit better game than SH4 and 5. 

we played all of them

That's my thought as well, though I didn't bother with SH5, it seems eye candy without fixing fundamental realism issues that people had asked for since SH3.

 

SH4 out of the box was not worth playing on multiple levels (the campaign was jarringly terrible). Modded SH4 is far more playable (I'm biased, obviously, since I did a lot of modding on it).