Exploding ships? Fire?

[Ligatorswe]

It would be nice with the possibility of fire aboard. Perhaps instigated via heated cannonballs? And that ultimately the ship would explode after the fire reaches the gunpowder.



Kronan. 1676. 126 cannons. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kronan_(ship)

[maturin]

It's not possible to heat shot on a wooden ship. Where do you put the furnace? What happens when the gunner drops one of them?

[NewWorldTrader]

I agree that this would be a cool idea if:

 

  1.)  The ship firing the heated cannonballs was in at least as much danger from fire as the ship being fired upon.  This is due to the risks associated from having a burning forge on board being hit by cannon fire and moving the heated cannon balls from the forge to the cannons while under fire.  Since having any fire on board a tar soaked wooden ship was extreme.  And the powder monkeys getting hit or knocked down by fire from the opposing ship was also highly likely.

 

  2.) You could dispatch damage control parties to put out any fires caused by the heated cannon balls, with an asscociated decrease in some other area of operations (sailing, cannon firing, sailing, etc).

 

  3.) Potential for fire or explosion damage to any ship sailing too close to the ship when it explodes.

 

I am aware that forts from time to time would use heated cannon balls, I am unaware of ships doing this.  But, I'm far from an expert regarding this.

[BungeeLemming]

 

It's not possible to heat shot on a wooden ship. Where do you put the furnace? What happens when the gunner drops one of them?

^this!!!!

 

heated shots were resticted to fortifications only. Someday the french experimented with this on ships and found out.. its not practicable.

the reload was horrendious because of the multiple safety instruction the had to follow. And all the new danger to ignite itself..

[Edward Vernon]

If you fire heated cannonballs at an enemy vessel, hot enough to set light to combustible materials, surely it would explode the black powder charge in your own cannon on being rammed?

[AKPyrate]

oldnavy, fortifications would heat their shot.  A moistened barrier was placed between the ball and the powder to prevent ignition (usually cloth or clay).  Even so, the ball was only loaded immediately before firing.  It would be hot enough to ignite things when it hit the boat, but usually not immediately.  It would do it's damage, then roll to a corner somewhere and simmer until it hopefully ignited materials around it.  It's not like you can easily pick up a hot iron ball and toss it overboard, especially if it's below decks.  They could pour water on it to cool it some, as well as wet the surrounding area, but that was labor intensive with buckets, running to a fill station and back in the midst of battle, and it would take many bucketloads to cool the ball enough to no longer be a danger.

 

Heated shot was occasionally used on board ships (the Constitution had a shot furnace at one point for her carronades), but it was dangerous and generally a bad idea (the Royal Navy didn't allow it on their boats).  In general, even the galley fire was extinguished while heading in to battle for the sake of safety.  It would be neat to see this optional upgrade to land based forts protecting harbors (possibly with a fair amount of coin from whomever controls the port).

[Ligatorswe]

Well skip heated cannonballs. Naval scientist is correct. But SOME ships used it, like  the American ship USS Constitution.

But fire aboard was common. And most often I think that it happened because oil-lamps ans such was hit when enemy cannonballs hit the ship.

So FIRE aboard is something I think should be modelled in the game one way or the other.
 

[Destraex]

Fire would I agree be good.... magazine explosion also.

[Mirones]

they are working on fire effects but an magazine explosion like the Orient or like in Potbs wont be that common

[Dagann]

I can't wait to see fire into NA. But are the devs really working on fire ?

Heated canonball is not the only way to set fire to a ship.

I hope to see dynamic fire such as this video from a "rival" game, at 0:52

[D. Federico de Gravina y N]

I hope to see dynamic fire such as this video from a "rival" game

 

It isn´t a rival game, they made a different mode of sea battles, and i like it  

[Dagann]

It isn´t a rival game, they made a different mode of sea battles, and i like it  

This is the reason why i used " "

[Ligatorswe]

They were not uncommon. Almost at every large seabattle a ship exploded. And the explosions were so violent that they got struck in peoples memory. The stories of such explosions always tell the same story. A massive amount of fire and smoke and wood. The flames rose so high that it went twice or thrice higher that the highest masts.

There are plenty of such stories from the old.,

Orient - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Orient_(1791)
Endeavor - http://pirates.wikia.com/wiki/HMS_Endeavour
Kronan - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kronan_(ship)

Achille - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Achille_(1803)

"It was a sight the most awful and grand that can be conceived. In a moment the hull burst into a cloud of smoke and fire. A column of vivid flame shot up to an enormous height in the atmosphere and terminated by expanding into an immense globe, representing for a few seconds, a prodigious tree in flames, specked with many dark spots, which the pieces of timber and bodies of men occasioned while they were suspended in the clouds."

I think that the exploding ships would be one of the features of the game that people will fear and love. Screenshots of exploding ships would spread like wildfires on the internet and be good advertisment for the game.

 

[Mirones]

cut the potc out there was an enoucnter where a Britisch 74 sailed between two Spanish lineships at night and the only ships that got the most damage are the spanish once who keept firing at each other after the british left.

[Thomas Blackwell]

cut the potc out there was an enoucnter where a Britisch 74 sailed between two Spanish lineships at night and the only ships that got the most damage are the spanish once who keept firing at each other after the british left.

 

I think Patrick O'Brian covered this in one of his books, didn't he?

[Baggywrinkle]

Great canvas damage model in that video.

Fires are in, which is a good thing. Anyone have any official word on explosions? It would be fun if they were in, but it would be hard keeping them rare enough to have any impact. Anything much more than once a month (?) and it would stop being talked about and just become part of the damage model, rather than an awful and awesome feature. No to heated shot from ships' guns from me for the reasons stated above. Like the idea for shore batteries though.

Baggy

[Subutai]

I think Patrick O'Brian covered this in one of his books, didn't he?

 

Yes, HMS Superb commanded by Captain Richard Keats. The two Spanish 1st-rates literally destroyed each other (both exploded) while he sailed past to capture a French 74.

[Hawke]

I seem to recall the developers mentioned somewhere that hitting the magazine and causing a ship to explode would be featured in the game, albeit it would be a rather rare occurrence. I imagine it will be one of those features which will be in the game at some point. 

[Mageprince]

Explosions should happen imo if you hit the magazine with your cannon balls not by chance (literally speaking here) 

 

 

/                                    //// Other Ship//

(cannon( ----0              ////magazine   //

/                                   ////                  //

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

 

there sort of like that 

 

IE if some lucky cannoneer on your vessel had been lucky enough to aim at the right spot at the right time and then lucky enough to hit the ship 

then viola! an explosion would incure

 

To Be Clear!: i am only illustrating the fact that there can be random chance just by letting the game do the work for you my hope is that there isn't just some invisible number that will trigger this, rather i would like it to be done in a simulated fashion for instance having an actual area on the ship that represents the magazines/magazine of the ship (forgive me 18th-19th century naval ships are not exactly my forte)

Edited November 11, 2014 by Mageprince

[maturin]

Time for my weekly 'the frigging magazine is underwater of course' post.

[BungeeLemming]

Maturin, ty.

 

And fuck no to any kind of random shit wich will kill you in one hit.

 

 

Fire is a different matter. If you cant distinguish it, your doomed anyway. Better flood the magazine to survive the hell your crew is in.

[Sir. Cunningham]

Good luck hitting this in battle :

 

 

Not only do you have to penetrate several layers of thick planking (copper plated in this area mind you), but it's also well below the waterline - which means that, at a minimum, you'd have to plow a cannon ball through something like 30 feet  of water first as well  

 

Yeeah, not gonna happen

 

The only way for the magazine to blow up is if a fire reaches it ..... or if some dumbass decides he wants to smoke his pipe down there

[AKPyrate]

To be fair, the copper plating doesn't protect the hull from cannon fire at all.  It was thin copper used to keep weeds from slowing the ship down as much and shipworm from burrowing in and destroying the wood.  Additionally, the magazine was not always completely under the waterline (thinking smaller ships here).  That said, having an uncontrolled fire would be extremely dangerous, and if it reaches the magazine, then an exploding ship would be great.  Hopefully it would be only if you chose not to fight the fire or were unable to.  That would help to keep it a rare occurrence, while still having it be a devastating consequence to neglecting your damage control during a fight.

[Sir. Cunningham]

To be fair, the copper plating doesn't protect the hull from cannon fire at all.  It was thin copper used to keep weeds from slowing the ship down as much and shipworm from burrowing in and destroying the wood.  Additionally, the magazine was not always completely under the waterline (thinking smaller ships here).  That said, having an uncontrolled fire would be extremely dangerous, and if it reaches the magazine, then an exploding ship would be great.  Hopefully it would be only if you chose not to fight the fire or were unable to.  That would help to keep it a rare occurrence, while still having it be a devastating consequence to neglecting your damage control during a fight.

 

Indeed the copper wasn't in any way intended to protect against cannon shot, but instead mainly to protect against shipworm (teredo narvalis). However I'd assume it would've added a tiny bit extra resistance to the hull if any cannon ball was to strike it - albeit I do remember reading somewhere that the sheets were only approx. 1 mm thick, in which case the added resistance would probably be close to non-existant

 

It was the 30 feet or more of water that would've taken the punch out of the shot

[Baggywrinkle]

Given rarity, and the voiced concerns of one's own vessel blowing up under your feet... How about if any cataclysmic explosion trigger was only for NPCs? We'd still get the spectacle but not the WTF.

Baggy