Add Fog of war to Minimap during nighttime and fog battles

[z4ys]

Prolog:

On the 21st of December, in the evening, the Lady Nelson cutter was observed off Cabareta Point, surrounded by, and engaging several French privateers and gun-vessels. Lord Keith, who was lying in Gibraltar Bay, immediately dispatched the boats of the Queen Charlotte and Emerald, to row towards the enemy, in hopes it might encourage the cutter to resist until she could get under the guns of the ships; but in the interim she was boarded and taken in tow by two of the French privateers, in which situation Lieutenant Bainbridge,- in the Queen Charlotte's barge, with 16 men, run alongside the cutter, boarded her with the greatest impetuosity, and after a sharp conflict, carried her, taking seven French officers, and twenty-seven men prisoners; six or seven others were killed, or knocked overboard in the scuffle: the privateers instantly cut the tow-ropes, and made off under Algeziras, pursued and attacked by Lord Cochran, in the Queen Charlotte's cutter. The darkness of the night prevented the boats acting in concert, otherwise all the privateers would have been taken. Lieutenant Bainbridge was severely wounded on the head by the stroke of a sabre, and slightly in other places. Some of the men were also wounded in this gallant conflict.

 

Suggestion:

Add fog of war during nighttime and fog battles to Minimap.

• Ships closer than 200m are still displayed on the minimap.
• Ships further away than 200m are not displayed anymore

That will add a new layer to combat. Nights and fog could be used to disengage. A new thrilling lvl of confusion during battles.

[Angus MacDuff]

+1, Love it.  Add that we can turn off our stern lights. 

[Slim McSauce]

First the day/night cycle needs to be fixed. I get the OW is compressed in size/time but Instanced battles should show normally, and a battle that starts at night, should take place at night and maybe into early morning, not have 3 days pass in the battle where things aren't suppose to look or feel compressed.

Edited December 21, 2018 by Slim McSauce

[Hethwill, the Red Duke]

No matter how awesome it looks in my imagination ... With full free cam ( above and below waterline ) this feature is, in my opinion, pointless.

 

[z4ys]

50 minutes ago, Hethwill the Red Duke said:

No matter how awesome it looks in my imagination ... With full free cam ( above and below waterline ) this feature is, in my opinion, pointless.

 

Doesnt the cam only show whats on the map?

[William Death]

No. 

If nights were actually dark, allowing us the ability to turn off stern lights in OW would be neat and useful. 

But really nighttime NA is not that dark...especially if you adjust your monitor settings properly....

Besides this, nobody I’ve ever spoken with complained that they had to use the minimap to find and keep a fleeing enemy tagged. You just look for the bright white sails and look with the spyglass or freecam to check the flag if you’re unsure. 

 

So so it sounds like a neat, immersive gameplay improvement ... but all it will do is frustrate new players and have no effect on veterans who know all the tricks. 

[Pada]

1 hour ago, Hethwill the Red Duke said:

No matter how awesome it looks in my imagination ... With full free cam ( above and below waterline ) this feature is, in my opinion, pointless.

 

I thought at release the free cam will be removed or was that changed?

[Sir Lancelot Holland]

Weather conditions frequently played a role in naval battles, night and fog offer an interesting perspective as they work to neither sides real  advantage. Close inshore they can provide additional risks such as grounding, or, no port battery support, one cannot aim at what one cannot see, neither would it have been easy for the gunners to see which ship to engage when poor visibility hampers the visual identification of flags, it is also, in part, why today, warships are painted grey, they blend in with fog and the horizon particularly at dawn and in the evening.

In low visibility it was very difficult to see any great distance, (even today with radar sailing in fog is high risk, as the inability of the Bridge watch aboard the Stockholm to see, and, accurately plot the position of the Andrea Doria demonstrated, the following collision caused major loss of life)   heavy fog or rain could reduce visibility to mere yards, cloud cover could make nights darker, as does the phase of the moon, off-white canvass blends in with fog, so often you'll see your opponent when he is  either  right on top of you or through lighter patches of fog, if you watched Master and Commander, you, will have seen what I mean, add powder smoke and many battles would be inconclusive, but, then again many battles were just that, were it not for ship board noises, or good instincts, both ships could easily of passed by unnoticed. 

While I think that low visibility does add depth in game, I suspect that the small advantages, especially for shallow draught vessels, who even in fog may slip away into shallows or coves unnoticed, (Captains who operate in particular areas always have the advantage of knowing the coastlines better)  or downwind breaking contact (if possible at the time) may give rise to many complaints of unfairness, just as,  the speed of some traders and smaller warships have in the past.

On balance, we lose nothing by seeing how it works out, it is, after all, the point of testing.

 

 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, William Death said:

No. 

If nights were actually dark, allowing us the ability to turn off stern lights in OW would be neat and useful. 

But really nighttime NA is not that dark...especially if you adjust your monitor settings properly....

Besides this, nobody I’ve ever spoken with complained that they had to use the minimap to find and keep a fleeing enemy tagged. You just look for the bright white sails and look with the spyglass or freecam to check the flag if you’re unsure. 

 

So so it sounds like a neat, immersive gameplay improvement ... but all it will do is frustrate new players and have no effect on veterans who know all the tricks. 

i remember i had to use the minimap once to see the direction of the enemy players, but that was during HEAVY rain and fog but then i only had a view distance of maybe 500m and it was nighttime aswell. Was actually a really fun battle

Edited December 21, 2018 by Guest

[Gregory Rainsborough]

Turning the rear lights off would be useful, I've managed to follow people in bad storms by following their rear lights.

[William Death]

3 hours ago, Wyy said:

i remember i had to use the minimap once to see the direction of the enemy players, but that was during HEAVY rain and fog but then i only had a view distance of maybe 500m and it was nighttime aswell. Was actually a really fun battle

I was scrolling through some old screenshots the other day, and I remember some of the old storm battles we had. Even after they removed the rough seas map, we still had storm maps with medium seas and heavy, driving rain and thick fog too. I haven’t come across instances like that lately. Have they removed/toned them down or am I just lucky to always get the milder storm maps?

#bringbackstorms

But yeah, if storm battles were more intense, then I could see where hiding in the fog could be a viable strategy as long as the minimap or freecam can’t circumvent it. 

[z4ys]

1 hour ago, William Death said:

I was scrolling through some old screenshots the other day, and I remember some of the old storm battles we had. Even after they removed the rough seas map, we still had storm maps with medium seas and heavy, driving rain and thick fog too. I haven’t come across instances like that lately. Have they removed/toned them down or am I just lucky to always get the milder storm maps?

#bringbackstorms

But yeah, if storm battles were more intense, then I could see where hiding in the fog could be a viable strategy as long as the minimap or freecam can’t circumvent it. 

they are back just not with those big waves.

[Macjimm]

18 hours ago, Gregory Rainsborough said:

Turning the rear lights off would be useful

It would be great to be able to turn all the lights off.  Really great.  Perhaps someday.

Edited December 22, 2018 by Macjimm

[Kejsaren]

21 hours ago, Hethwill the Red Duke said:

No matter how awesome it looks in my imagination ... With full free cam ( above and below waterline ) this feature is, in my opinion, pointless.

 

Full free cam could be removed though.