New Models!

[Martes]

A quick question.

I had a number of variants representing the quarterdeck-forecastle gun ports, and can't completely decide on them.

First was this:

Black rectangle on dark-grey hull with gun muzzle. Problem here is that black-on-black is barely visible.
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And a pair of alternatives:

Gray framing and red framing
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The question is what looks more... realistic, or, to put it more correctly, representative?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

@Armada, @Captain Armstrong, @Captain Murphy, @Flannery, @Hylie Pistof or @Grey Roger: do any of you know?

 

[Martes]

@Pieter Boelen , it's not as much a question of knowledge (everything was painted black there usually), but of perception. After all, texture tries to provide 2d illusion of a 3d object, and the question is what looks more real.

 

[Martes]

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Looking at the contemporary pictures (which are more or less what I mean to recreate), I am beginning to think of another possible solution - make the hull dark gray lighter, more varnished, and keep the black ports with no frames.

But I would really welcome some input at this point.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

@Pieter Boelen , it's not as much a question of knowledge (everything was painted black there usually), but of perception. After all, texture tries to provide 2d illusion of a 3d object, and the question is what looks more real.

Personally I think the red looks quite nice, but I am no expert whatsoever so I'd prefer hearing what the others have to say.

 

[Grey Roger]

Have a look at this:

In particular, from 1:10 onwards. And on the subject of gunports specifically, 1:48 onwards.

Summary: red is correct. But the main hull colour should be rather more pale. See also:
Released - Repainted HMS Victory
First @Armada repainted the PoTC version of HMS Victory to match the new, more correct colours of the real ship in Portsmouth. Then I applied the same hull colour to the rest of the British ships, though a few already used the lighter hull colour anyway. (The thread also includes a link to the same YouTube video.)

 

[Martes]

Thanks, @Grey Roger !

After very carefully looking at the photos of Victory and the above video, I decided on this:
The enclosed ports, that can/should have been able to be closed will appear with red frame (adjusted the color, also). And added some pixels for volume.
The quartedeck/forecastle ports, that are painted red only from inside will appear with almost-invisible frame, but the volume shadow will be red.

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Also, I bleached somewhat the hull colors, but I will retain the yellow, if pale, since it was common to Spanish ships also.

Hope it all does the trick.

And in the game it will look like this:

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[Martes]

I thought I might show what kind of scenarios this game makes possible - in it's unique way.
The bane and the blessing of the game is it's scenario editor. While the scenarios packed there initially will not work with my new database, and are rather dull (usually one-on-one with different ships and several fleet engagements, which are a total mess), the editor is very flexible.
But then, you have to set everything up yourself before playing.

Anyway, I chose a coastal map, made a playable region of 40 by 40 km, and attempted to recreate a situation typical for French coast patrols of around 1800.

A British frigate slides along the coast, driven by southerly wind:

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Several strange sail are spotted.

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The lookouts report four merchant ships and a small frigate leaving an inlet protected by fort.
One of the merchants turns out to be a fast xebec, that rapidly tries to make a run for it.

Bird's eye view: the xebec is far on the left of the image, the group of merchants after it and the frigate attempts a chase from the right
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As the xebec is the fastest and the most suspicious of the ships in the area, we pick her as primary target:

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Passing the xebec, a shot fell her main mast, but the French rushed to the rescue:

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But, following several broadsides and chaotic maneuvering, we find ourselves in the midst of the merchant group, while French frigate withdraws to lick her wounds:

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French transport catches fire:

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And surrenders:

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[Martes]

Happily, we chase the remaining merchants:

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When a French frigate makes a second attempt to intervene:

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And draws us into full engagement:

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With inevitable finale:

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But the merchants had time to scatter:

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And the dusk is near:

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The frigate, though, is much faster:

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But then, the one's speed may be one's worst enemy:

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And it takes some hurried maneuvering to bear the guns on the target again:

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The result is a complete success of the operation:
3 merchants, one smuggler and a national ship captured in an action that lasted around 3 1/2 hours in a straight view of enemy coast.

I suspect though that upon reading this report, the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty will undoubtedly think a 24-pounder frigate being criminally impractical and uneconomincal for such purposes.

 

[Martes]

And something from the shipyard:

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[Martes]

The heavy 24-pounder frigate:

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If anybody didn't recognize her, that's the HMS Java, as designed in 1815, and she can represent both Newcastle and Leander.

But the main question is...

Does this look Connie enough?
(or would anybody want a separate and more accurate version?)​

 

[Martes]

The current showcase:

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Impressive work, mate!

 

[Martes]

Ran an experiment with creating a new steam ship, and finally figured out how to do that!

My previous attempts seemed to work graphically, but the ships were not moving under steam.
It turns out that the game is sensitive to the names of configuration files - at least to how those names begin.
So to make a steam ship working it's type has to be set as "paddle-boat", and config named "paddle_boat*.shp".

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Unfortunately, there are two a little annoying limitations here. First, the speed under steam can't exceed 2 knots (it seems to be hardcoded value), and the ship emits smoke whether it is under sail or not. And there is no mechanism (not that I found at least) to enable a steam ship to tow another ship.

But still they work

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Ran an experiment with creating a new steam ship, and finally figured out how to do that!

Oh dear, adding steam ships? That's the beginning of the end, mate!

There is still hope though; when we first added a steam ship to PotC, it was completely faked.
But I managed to figure out a way to make it work for real, which the game engine should never ever have allowed for!

In other words: you never do know what you may yet accomplish that seems impossible right now.

 

[Martes]

Oh dear, adding steam ships? That's the beginning of the end, mate!

Make no mistake, the original game contained a steam ship (as well as a rudimentary submarine and a balloon with bombs), but till now it was limited to only one steam ship with no ability to add new ones. I could change the model, but it would stay a single ship.

But now I can have a steam packet, steam frigate and even steam ship of the line, any way I want

The interesting point here is that while one ship can't tow another, it can tow a submarine. But I wouldn't build any hopes here, it stinks of dll editing I know nothing about.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Some cool features in that game, by the sound of it!

 

[Martes]

I told you it's a good game, and massively underrated from the beginning.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I told you it's a good game, and massively underrated from the beginning.

I never doubted that.

 

[Martes]

Made some small corrections to Endymion (I must say she's absolutely lovely to sail):

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And the 64-gunner, the first of my two-deckers, is slowly taking shape:

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