Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Realism Factor - weather, navigation, depth, currents, tides, etc?
bb74
Member Posts: 2
I've followed this game for a bit now and have to admit I am slowly getting hooked to the concept. The thing that makes it enticing perhaps more than anything else is the 100% player run economy and the hope that this will create a more mature, realistic environment for the otherwise hack / slash approach in most games I've seen so far. That being said, one could imagine that if a bunch of people only want PvP pirates, that those interested in the more immersive gameplay may be in for a bad suprize - I hope the developers have figured out a way to deal with this - and that doesn't mean spawning the Spanish Armada every 15 minutes to go deal with the hack/slash pirates in my humble opinion... for the game I'd be more than happy running trade routes and some smuggling/skirmiching but I don't want to get wasted every 15 minutes by 108 gun pirate ships manned by 12 year olds with "fire" as the primary work in their vocabulary....
Onto the core question - based on the video I have seen so far it appears that the game play in the ships is still quite "arcarde" like - load, position, fire, recover debris, etc, etc... I assume this is still undergoing refinement and/or the vids only tell a very small part of the story so I will keep my hopes up. Having sailed extensively however I was curious to know what considerations have been made regarding weather, sea conditions, depth concerns (sandbar, rock formations, channel currents, tides, etc, etc)? There's much more than 30° to port and fire when dealing with ships of this size and rigging complexity. I would be more than thankful if the developers could provide some more insight into these elements and how they tie to gameplay. If the gameplay does take these into account then I think this game could be something special as you will have multiple dimension tactics to take into account and more immersion in the world.
I can't wait to see the first 108 gunner stranded on a sandbar at low tide because someone thought it was like parking a car!
Many thanks to the team for the insight and best of luck getting this game out the door!
Comments
Those things are not currently in the game in any way that affects gameplay. While some of them would be fun and cool (like weather, which we would like to add at some point) most of them are going to be frustrating for all but the reasoned real world sailor. We've looked at doing depth, sandbars, ship draft numerous times, and there are lots of discussions of that on our site. We have currents, but only in sofar as there are places on the Navigation Zone that will speed your travel in a certain direction. We don't have tides, so there's no "I can get through here at high tide but not a low tide." For most of these, the call has been that the extra fun and gameplay afforded by implementing them isn't work the (often large) amount of work. And in some cases, it's questionable how much fun it would be for most of our audience. Most players won't know a yard from a mast when they start, and almost none of them want to learn the complexity of what it really takes to run a 74 gun ship. We've got a 4 encylopedia volume sized guide to just that one ship in the office. Great reference, but not something you want for required reading to play!
While our game is far less arcadey than say Sid Meir's Pirates (a fine game, btw, for what it's trying to do), it's a far cry from an accurate sailing sim or some kind of Microsoft Flight Sim at sea. Similar to how we've had to reduce sailing times between islands from real world values to something reasonable in a game, we've made other compromises to reality in the name of the most fun for the most people.
Rick Saada - FLS Dev & EPFBM
Rick Saada - FLS Dev & EPFBM
Im a sad panda without weather.
Navigation? The game is already boring enough. If you add all of this it will be more realistic, but will it enhance the fun outside of the 600 of you I currently predict will be playing this game in 6 months?
Not to side track, but how is this game any better then the free to play versions that exist out there? How does what you suggest make it better? Because it will take more thinking? Is that extra thinking really contributing to the fun? Is it the best use of the dev's time?
The game is different from the normal, but to date I have been unimpressed versus the many other pirate games that already exist (or are in co-dev at this time).
Did it take you all of five minutes to come up with this opinion? I am not certain that you really intended your post to sound that way, but it really does. There are a number of complexities in this game that are being drawn from other successful mmo's out there - player economy, user created content, historical accuracy (within reason) and most certainly an earnest attempt at something new and different in a genre dominated by orcs and elves.
Why don't you go to their website and take a look. As to the "other" pirate games, I really don't think they compare in any way. Voyage Century and Pirates of the Caribbean (which I assume are the ones you are talking about) are not even in the same league.
thanks for the insight Rick. I think there's a good starting point here with what there is so I'll be looking to get it when it comes out. It will be interesting to see where the updates go - either more naval warfare or a more immersing experience as the world becomes more and more realistic I guess.
I know weather is a pretty tough thing to do but if I was looking for one thing this would be it - it's a great way of maintaining some "chaos" in regards to the economy and powers out there. You could eventually tie it to the skill levels of the captains by giving them better forecasts than those that are just starting out - this would give a pretty good advantage - eventually tying this into the instances to influence battle where weather conditions are ofter more important than the ships themselves on the outcome - just see Trafalgar...
Anyhow, good job and I'll look forward to giving this a spin when it comes out.
Regards.
As far as realism goes...
Floating icons over NPC heads
Being able to instaport from one town where one of your ships is docked to another town across the Caribbean where another one of your ships is docked
No weather? In a sailing game? Um....
Are you a Pavlovian Fish Biscuit Addict? Get Help Now!
I will play no more MMORPGs until somethign good comes out!
There is wind direction that is very important to combat. As can be seen from the videos, but Rusty has said that a dynamic weather system with rain and storms the like is something for after release.
Weeeelll no rain not that sad cuz i hate rain hehe.
But one reason im glad that there is no rain is cuz then there is no big waves... makes it easyer.. HMM! that will make me able to kill everyone even easyer!! MMMUWAHAHAAAAHAHAHA
eehhh whooo caaares, ya just gotta chill and not wooorrry so much just gotta chilll
well GL again on finishing up
Just chillax guys. It'll be fiiiiine
I am sad that depth has been left out, the tactical options of having a ship with a lower draft would have been great. Reefs and the like would have created tactical options for smaller ships to outmaneuver larger heavier ships in exciting ways. I will hope for it to be included in an update.
Is this just me or is it a troll... doesn't appear to be adding any real value just highlighting content that is known not to be in game at this point in time very unbalancced.
________________________________________________________
Sorcery must persist, the future is the Citadel
very sad indeed it was a very important factor in that time period