bombs

[seawer]

Why are there no bombs available in stores, or anywhere in the builds (i.e. 14a6), and what files do i need to edit (and how) to get them back?

 

[mark]

bombs were removed because they were unrealistic. No ship until well into the 19th century used cannons that fired explosive shot. The only exception is the bomb ketch which had a big mortar type gun that fired bombs. They were used for attacking forts. Without the use of bombs you now have to use a little bit of strategy as apposed to the simple battering of the enemy hull with bombs and sinking your enemy in a very unrealistic timeframe. Now you actually have to either get lucky or start aiming your guns at specific targets like masts, sails, and the main deck. And now chain and grape shot become more useful as the bombs aren't so overpowering. In the stock potc, cannonballs were virtually useless. Well, now they very usefull. And now the fights are more involved. Now most fights will end up in either your enemy striking colors or a boarding fight which is quite historically accurate.

 

[morgan terror]

to actually answer the question, enter a fort by land and 'persuade' the ammunition supplier for the fort to give you a load of bombs.

what you're saying is not entirely true. there's a drawing of a 17th century galleon (drawn in that period) using bombs.

 

[seawer]

thanks good sirs, i only wanted to get a good old broadside with some explosive outcomes <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" />

 

[mark]

We also "draw" people putting a spin on the tennis ball to make it spin around the side of the net from central court and land in the other court today. Just because the media of the time showed something doesn't mean that it is true. Forts fired super-heated shot to help start fires on ships, but not explosive shot. When a cannon ball hits the wooden side of a ship, it causes some kind of "explosion" where splinters and dust fly everywhere (and usually didn't damage a ship nearly bad enough to sink the ship, most damage was crew and rigging damage). Painters who knew very little about life at sea may have been enthralled with the majestic sihps and such and exagerated details.

It is not uncommon for popular and supposedly relyable media sources to be completely off in their interpretations of things. Popular Mechanics frequently refer to a phenamena in which a pocket of air is trapped under the wing of an airplane blah blah blah. This is completely unscientific and such and as an aerospace engineering student, I can confidently claim it as false. In the same way, the media in the past may not have always been very accurate. I would not trust the media of the 7th century as a source for fact. Historians always refer to archeological finds, military letters, records, etc. and very rarely if ever do they refer to a painting to prove their point. Can you trust paintings from the 19th century of davy crocket's adventures to tell you what was true about the 19th century? Absolutely not. It would be absolutely ridiculous to assume that because someone painted something ridiculous happening with davy crocket in the 19th that it really happened.

Historians used media from a time period to tap into the culture of the time period and not to prove fact.

And plus if bombs were used in a cannon ever, the battle line would be much less effective. The bombs would render the heavy armor of the battleships very inaffective and the hulls of even the toughest ship of the line would be torn to shreads in only a broadside or two (if the hulll was itself was not torn apart, the internals would be and there would be nothing left to fight with). Why did the ships last long enough to move into boarding actions? They weren't using bombs. And if other ships were using bombs, why would the navies of the world who needed the firepower the most not use them. It seems quite logical that bombs were not used.

I did not know you could get bombs from the fort though. I will not use any though. I like chainshot anyway <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile2.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=")" border="0" alt="smile2.gif" />

 

[morgan terror]

although i don't fully agree, i don't really feel like an argument, so i'll leave it. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="rolleyes.gif" />

grape is nice too. can kill 500 men in a single broadside if you do it right.

 

[seawer]

the chinese did use some form of explosive balls on some of their more military-orientated ships, although i cant remember names.

TO further this discusssion of the cannon-fodder (so to speak) in potc, and to satisfy my curiosity:

I read in another post that aiming the balls does in fact affect where they go (which is obvious) but can cause damage such as broken masts... which i had not known. So is it infact to possible to implement 'location damage' on enemy ships via aiming?

And are there any threads that discuss the full potential of the different balls and how best to use them in strategy/tactics etc?

thanks again <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" />

 

[morgan terror]

well, the reason that you can shoot down masts is because the masts itself are in fact seperated from the ship, along with the sails. the programming for letting the masts fall off was in fact already in the stock game, but it was unfinished. the modders here (or somewhere else, back in some shady past) finished the programming.

maybe it could be done by adding a locator to the ship where the powder room would be. it should of course be a very small one, to decrease the chance of actually hitting it, which was in reality very small as well. powder-rooms can already explode, but only due to fire.

 

[mark]

does firing on the stern or bow of the ship cause more damage?

 

[morgan terror]

well, i think it does. you do at least have a chance of knocking out more cannons than just the ones on the stern or bow, which doesn't happen when fireing on one of the sides.