Port Lights, long range identification and sea mist

[Crankey]

I believe we should be able to see ports from further away, twinkling of lights from afar from Dusk till dawn. (Although in the dead of night I believe few lights would show.

 

Lighthouses, some ports had them.

 

Clicking on a port from afar could show it as a named 'target' just like enemy ships are identified, no need to be at anchor in the harbour before its name is visible above the port.

 

I also don't understand the continueous and constant 'Haze' in the OW, Perhaps a sea mist at dawn or an occasionally sea fog but permanently hazy ?

 

Its the Caribbean, I would love balmy sunny days, the horizon revealed to the curvature of the earth.

[Prater]

I have also thought it is hazy all the time.  However, this past weekend I started logging my gameplay.  Here is the majority of my gameplay this past weekend.  Any entry that doesn't include the weather is Clear Skies and normal seas.

 

http://namap.neocities.org/misc/logbook.html#

[Hugh Latham]

I believe we should be able to see ports from further away, twinkling of lights from afar from Dusk till dawn. (Although in the dead of night I believe few lights would show.

 

Lighthouses, some ports had them.

 

Clicking on a port from afar could show it as a named 'target' just like enemy ships are identified, no need to be at anchor in the harbour before its name is visible above the port.

I don't like the clicking from afar because it detracts from navigational aspects. If you don't know what port it is from afar, then you don't know where you are.

[DesertRat]

I would also like to be able to click on a port to get it name from a distance.

 

As for the fog, when this new update to OW first launched it was foggy almost constantly, I think they did a fix on this, because sense then it has been quite nice with lots of days being mostly clear.   Praters log is close to what my guess would have been for last few days.

[DesertRat]

With the new haze it seems that you have to be a lot closer to the port to read the name.  when I am sailing up to a port, it is almost always the port I thought, but having to get so close to read it doesn't seem  right ether.

['Sharpe]

I actually like the distance currently required to see the port name. It adds to the challenge of navigation and keeps long journeys interesting. If I could click on any port from afar and know exactly where I am, it's akin to having a GPS.

It's far more rewarding to need to identify terrain features and harbor approaches, and also provides a nice natural advantage for captains familiar with a certain area.

[Haratik]

I'm fine with the haze, it adds an element of mystery to the game, also great for cloaking the hunters or hunted during a chase.  I would prefer to see said fog limited to the coastline perhaps, rather than the general OS.

[maturin]

As I understand it, fog in the Caribbean is actually more likely to form offshore and roll into land like a cloud. The islands and coasts themselves aren't particularly known for regular fogs.

[Haratik]

Ah, my mistake then, thanks for clearing that up.

[Arnaud Arpes]

I would like to see port lights visible from a little further away by night, or some light houses. I don't think having the ability to click ports from distance should show the name, it should only display the name once you reach a certain distance. Similarly, I'd like Ships nationalities not to be apparent until the player is within a certain range. This would add to the element of mystery as you spot a ship on the horizon. The fog doesn't bother me too much, though it'd be nice if it occurred about a third as often as it does now.

[Captain Lord Cochrane]

I have also thought it is hazy all the time.  However, this past weekend I started logging my gameplay.  Here is the majority of my gameplay this past weekend.  Any entry that doesn't include the weather is Clear Skies and normal seas.

 

http://namap.neocities.org/misc/logbook.html#

 

Nice log. I too have found that it is actually clear more than any one other weather, I love the fog and haze though, the grey cloudy days are brilliant. I like that the haze seems to 'burn off' by mid morning, which is how it is.

 

Big on my wish list is light and short rain showers during sunny days with the big puffy white clouds, which is very common in the Gulf and Caribbean, it doesn't always storm when it sprinkles or rains hard for 30 minutes.

[Ronald Speirs]

I would like to see port lights visible from a little further away by night, or some light houses. I don't think having the ability to click ports from distance should show the name, it should only display the name once you reach a certain distance. Similarly, I'd like Ships nationalities not to be apparent until the player is within a certain range. This would add to the element of mystery as you spot a ship on the horizon. The fog doesn't bother me too much, though it'd be nice if it occurred about a third as often as it does now.

To add even more mystery that we don't get any information at all from ships, we just have to look and take a risk to weather its in a fleet or not next level crazy

[Magnum]

The haze is to hide the render line: You will notice as you pull up to an island it will first look like a distant mountain, then as you get closer the trees and other features will render in to fill the gaps. Without the haze you would stare at this render process instead of the other ships near you as you should.

 

It still sucks - since the Caribbean is mostly clear, with a slight distance haze AT 100 KILOMETERS!

 

 

Fog all the time is a bug - nowhere in the Caribbean is there fog every day for 3 - 4 hours ---- the trade winds would shred it in 1/2 an hour!

[Jim Bligh]

 

I also don't understand the continueous and constant 'Haze' in the OW, Perhaps a sea mist at dawn or an occasionally sea fog but permanently hazy ?

 

Its the Caribbean, I would love balmy sunny days, the horizon revealed to the curvature of the earth.

As to living in the tropics there is only two weeks of the year when you are likely to get sea fog and that is at the height of the dry season the coldest part of the year when the temp drops to 17c at night. By 8am all fog has burnt off as the temp is now climbing to 30c. distance view over the ocean is to the horizon and extremely clear. In game it seems that the sea fog Hazy is still around at 2pm when the temp would be 33c and the sun burning bright. this sea fog hazy would work well in the Baltic sea,north coast of America/Canada and English Chanel. Not in the tropics where this game is currently set. It does not add to the realism of the tropical environment.

[Prater]

The haze is to hide the render line: You will notice as you pull up to an island it will first look like a distant mountain, then as you get closer the trees and other features will render in to fill the gaps. Without the haze you would stare at this render process instead of the other ships near you as you should.

 

It still sucks - since the Caribbean is mostly clear, with a slight distance haze AT 100 KILOMETERS!

 

 

Fog all the time is a bug - nowhere in the Caribbean is there fog every day for 3 - 4 hours ---- the trade winds would shred it in 1/2 an hour!

 

 

Does anyone have proof that it is foggy or hazy as much as everyone is saying?  I too agree that it needs to be less, but when I start actually keeping track, it isn't as much as I thought it was.

[Magnum]

IRL it is very hard to find a video of anywhere in the Caribbean without at least a brisk breeze - thus NO FOG - fog requires relatively still air to form and hang around, breeze is fogs enemy!

 

Aruba (notice the breeze always) >  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ug8tr5i9DE4

 

Bonaire (always breezy) > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5puTiQ4pKl0

 

BVI (mostly breezy and a tiny bit of distance haze) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnsKXIq-lNM

 

USVI (always breezy) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j44gbqXY99w

 

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Need I go on?

[Prater]

I'd rather them keep fog in for and visuals (especially for ea crowd) than take out something that developer resources were spent on and it is well done to top it off. Yes, maybe it happens a little too much, but my log shows it isn't as much as we think.

[Henry d'Esterre Darby]

IRL it is very hard to find a video of anywhere in the Caribbean without at least a brisk breeze - thus NO FOG - fog requires relatively still air to form and hang around, breeze is fogs enemy!

 

Aruba (notice the breeze always) >  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ug8tr5i9DE4

 

Bonaire (always breezy) > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5puTiQ4pKl0

 

BVI (mostly breezy and a tiny bit of distance haze) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnsKXIq-lNM

 

USVI (always breezy) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j44gbqXY99w

 

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Need I go on?

 

We're testing here.  Part of testing is complete weather systems, including fog and haze.  There's no guarantee the map that will be used on release is the Caribbean, and if that is the case, fog and other effects not normally found in the Caribbean will be important to have in the game.  Personally, I'd like to see them add capabilities for snow as well for future compatibility.

 

Let's focus on testing fog as if we're off the coast of Boston or in the Channel, on how it affects game play, performance, etc, and focus less on whether or not fog is realistic in the testing map that we're currently using.

[Crankey]

Using fog to hide rendering is not a valid in game reason for having it. No-one is running a 1980's PC and Unity is surely powerful enough that it doesn't have to have such a game mechanic to mask its short falling's.

 

I would accept this being a 'temporary situation' pending some broken code being corrected but not that this is acceptable practice. Perhaps the Dev's could comment on this.

 

Testing fog for the English Channel or North Sea Environments I can understand, but again lets have the Dev's comment so that we know this is the case.

[maturin]

 

 

I would accept this being a 'temporary situation' pending some broken code being corrected but not that this is acceptable practice. Perhaps the Dev's could comment on this.

This happens every time there's a new feature.

 

To test storm battles we had them appear way too often. To test AI allies they were made cheap and easily available. The only reason there's so much fog is to gather data on it and find bugs.

[Magnum]

Well for visually impaired players - all of the fog and haze is a "bug".