broadsword
Landlubber
I think it is awesome what has so far been done by this mod. With realistic sail mode on, the sailing and sea-battles have greatly improved. I thought, however, that I might throw in a few ideas for discussion.
1) Wind damaging rigging - In reality, when the wind reaches certain strength, it could severely damage the rigging/masts of a wooden sailing ship unless the sails are appropriately taken in. I realize that during storms, this is already present to some degree and that lowering your sails will suffer less damage when taken in. However, sometimes, when there is no storm, the wind can still get ridiculously fast without any consequences on the rigging (and some ships moving ridiculously fast as a result even in simulation mode). My thought is that perhaps when a ship has full sails set and the wind is above a certain speed, the ship will suffer severe rigging damage and may even become demasted. Of course, there would need to be some provision for forcing the AI to lower to battle sails during such a wind.
Perhaps the game is already good enough, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to discuss this possibility.
2) Tacking - in reality, a trained crew on a square rigger would actually use the sails to help turn the ship during a tack across the wind. They didn't just lower the sails and use momentum alone. I wonder if it would be possibly to add an "ability" similar to the "come about" ability that would be a tack and would allow the ship to move across the wind easier. And also, if this were added, would it be possible to force the AI to use this instead of just sailing straight into the wind?
3) Heeling - I haven't noticed this in the game as of yet, but would it be possible to add heeling with the wind if it's not already in there? This would affect tactics as it would change the arc of the cannons depending on whether you were shooting to windward or to leeward.
4) leeway - I think that leeway is already present in simulation mode. I wonder though if it might be possible to add ways for a captain to skillfully reduce leeway. For example, a captain of a small, beamy, shallow-draft schooner would not set top sails when sailing into the wind because the resulting leeway would actually counteract any gain in speed. This may be a bit overboard, but I thought I'd throw it out there.
Edit:
also, a small point about cannons. Cannons do not help a ship sail faster or more maneuverable. Some of the stock ships in the game have a pretty ridiculous amount of cannons for how small/handy they are. A small schooner with 20 or so cannons is going to loose a lot of its handiness. Also, a small ship like that with a full broadside firing 10 or so cannons is going to have its hull under a lot of strain. Also, these cannons are often a too close together in my opinion
1) Wind damaging rigging - In reality, when the wind reaches certain strength, it could severely damage the rigging/masts of a wooden sailing ship unless the sails are appropriately taken in. I realize that during storms, this is already present to some degree and that lowering your sails will suffer less damage when taken in. However, sometimes, when there is no storm, the wind can still get ridiculously fast without any consequences on the rigging (and some ships moving ridiculously fast as a result even in simulation mode). My thought is that perhaps when a ship has full sails set and the wind is above a certain speed, the ship will suffer severe rigging damage and may even become demasted. Of course, there would need to be some provision for forcing the AI to lower to battle sails during such a wind.
Perhaps the game is already good enough, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to discuss this possibility.
2) Tacking - in reality, a trained crew on a square rigger would actually use the sails to help turn the ship during a tack across the wind. They didn't just lower the sails and use momentum alone. I wonder if it would be possibly to add an "ability" similar to the "come about" ability that would be a tack and would allow the ship to move across the wind easier. And also, if this were added, would it be possible to force the AI to use this instead of just sailing straight into the wind?
3) Heeling - I haven't noticed this in the game as of yet, but would it be possible to add heeling with the wind if it's not already in there? This would affect tactics as it would change the arc of the cannons depending on whether you were shooting to windward or to leeward.
4) leeway - I think that leeway is already present in simulation mode. I wonder though if it might be possible to add ways for a captain to skillfully reduce leeway. For example, a captain of a small, beamy, shallow-draft schooner would not set top sails when sailing into the wind because the resulting leeway would actually counteract any gain in speed. This may be a bit overboard, but I thought I'd throw it out there.
Edit:
also, a small point about cannons. Cannons do not help a ship sail faster or more maneuverable. Some of the stock ships in the game have a pretty ridiculous amount of cannons for how small/handy they are. A small schooner with 20 or so cannons is going to loose a lot of its handiness. Also, a small ship like that with a full broadside firing 10 or so cannons is going to have its hull under a lot of strain. Also, these cannons are often a too close together in my opinion
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