From what I've heard, more often than not ships were not usually sunk in combat. Instead, either the sails/masts were all destroyed, making a ship dead in the water, or the crew was annihilated (to at least a point where they were forced to surrender). So, as one can imagine, in a fair fight it would take a long time to destroy an enemy ship. Boarding was also popular.
What I want to know is how close the game will be to reality with things like that. With yachts like the ones fighting here, a load of grapeshot from the bow back at close range would have killed almost everyone onboard. I don't think many players would be up for losing a battle that easily, and most might not do enough study to see that kind of thing coming.
The constructor does work, and you need to use it. Most of the ships are actually set up way undergunned when you unlock them and you can change the cannon layout in the constructor. For instance, the brig is using 4 pounders by default, but can fit 6-pounders.
Sidestrafe, if you are interested in learning more of combat in this era, try and find the "Richard Bolitho" novels by Alexander Kent, the "Hornblower" novels by C. S. Forester, the "Aubrey/Maturin" novels by Patrick O'Brian and the "Ramage" novels by Dudley Pope. While all are novels, they are all reasonably historically accurate for combat of the time.. The Bolitho novels are good in that they start off with him as a Midshipman, and end up with him as an Admiral. They usually have maps depicting some of the major battles featured in the book too.
It might be easier for him to find some of the Hornblower TV movies from the 90's. They were quite well done and of course Master and Commander is a must view. Loved all the books you mentioned btw but the Aubrey/Maturin are by far my favourites
The Pirates of the Caribbean had a very similar battle format. The battles were good in that game and they had boarding as well to capture the enemy ships.
I think this a very interesting game! I would love to see where this goes and what comes of it. 3:20 actually, it's interesting, there would usually be around 4-5 men per gun. With only one man, like this game, it would take full minutes. But for it being in Alpha it is amazing looking and I feel that the sailing mechanics are decent for this stage too! Thanks for the video also!
1:10 that's what they are working on, they will be turning the game into an open world MMO but just like stat citizen they let people play sea trials to test combat mechanics, we will first get upgradable ship parts then they will release open world hence why ships like the Surprise don't have figure heads because they will allow us to change our own ones
Nice! I've been waiting for a game like this FOREVER. I'd like to see captain shouting orders and lots or people working around cannon and sails. Imo one more step forward would be to have a crew of players manning the guns and doing boarding actions
Man this looks good. Hope you do more of this, and cant wait for it to be full release. I'm always leery of early-access, but will def buy it if it makes it to full game. Thanks for the videos, keep up the good work sir!
That really does look like a gorgeous game. I can only imagine how much better it looks when you're not watching it through RU-vid. Issue is I can't see dropping $40 on it right now. Nice video though, as per usual. Merry Christmas.
repairing mid battle (especialy a sail) is not that unrealistic actualy, more advanced repairs where done after a battle, but actualy where quite effective!
If they give economic simulation like in the Port Royale series where you patrol the waters, protect your nation, build colonies and plantations, look for treasure, stalk the Spanish Treasure Fleet, carry out Governors' and Viceroys' missions, and solve mysteries, this would be so nice. Port Royale 3 was a disappointment because I expected something similar to what has been achieved by Naval Action on the naval warfare side. I feel that I'll like this game.
I think the idea of being able to design your own ship down the line sounds interesting. For Example I could use the yacht and put a few heavy guns on in,making a glass-cannon type of ship,that moves quickly.
I've wanted someone to make a game like this for years! Eve online but in ships! Age of pirates came close but no multilayer and derpy land combat meant was a killer... Please play more of this :)
Ooh, nice tip. Had no idea this even existed. If they develop a world around this, I'm all over it. I love sail ships type games. It's a genre that is totally underrepresented. I loved the basis of Uncharted Waters Online. Unfortunately, that game is plagued by bad business and bad design decisions. I were a billionaire, I'd totally develop a pseudo historical naval trade and combat type game. It's a wonderful setting with so many possibilities for cool mechanics and atmosphere.
Looks very interesting. I've been looking for an age of sail game that isn't all arcade. I'll probably not join alpha stage, but once they add more content I may just hop aboard.
plus actual wind mechanics. I like the AC games, and black flag, but... as fun as it was to sail around, the sheer simplicity of the naval combat bugged me.
DFX2KX Yeah. Black Flag was pretty shallow in its ship gameplay. Will there just be ship gameplay in this? It looks like thats the case from this video. I feel one thing that made black flag good was the ability to freely walk about the ship, board other ships and go ashore etc. It looks like - though the ship gameplay is more interesting - the freedom of movement from BF is missing
Jolly Monkey It would appear to be the case that you do not walk about the ship. Certainly would be fun, but I suspect that they're aiming to focus on the naval tactics and sailing over the actual boarding, I could be wrong, though
Wow! A non F2P title of boat combat and more to come? Color me EXTREMELY interested. Especially if they eventually have private server/offline content. Investigating! Thanks SideStrafe!
Z6U6Z6U completely disagree. Their integration of pve, PvP and eve are the best I've seen yet in any mmo. Over time they ruined it sadly but it was a great game
na you could grind a level tp character in a day if ypu ran with mates. the economy was a grind but that was paet of what gave ship combat its value. when i finished playing i had 4 level 50 privateers, 2 lvl 50 NO and 2 lvl 50 FT.
I have allways loved sailing and guns. This looks like it models sailing bretty good. Looking forward to your future input, or i just try to get a alpha key :)
I wish I could have heard your voice chatting and in game sounds...ram has live commentary and I always like those...the post recording is nice sometimes but I definantly like the live much better.
Dude//// how did I miss this? Need to coordinate with you Strafe for a Twitch episode of this.....I have a friend who has played this for hundreds of hours on the original version.....this could be an epic sailing sim.
I think a game like this with a more crew-oriented gameplay would be interesting. Think Guns of Icarus but in a more realistic age of sail setting. You could have individually controlled swivel guns as well as the broadside cannons controlled by the helmsman. There could also be marines taking shots at enemy crews and sailors running around trying to patch up sails and fill holes in the hull. And then of course some kind of boarding system as well. But this game looks good as it is, and I wouldn't like to see the company ruin what they have so far by going overboard (pun intended) with features like the ones I wanted. The genre could do with a breathe of life, and this could be it.
Sidestrafe, I'm by no means an expert in naval combat, but I cringed watching you play this. You kept making the WORST mistake any warship in that period could make by "crossing your own T" and also neglected to make the best attack possible, firing up the stern of the enemy ship, many times.
I had only watched half way when I said that. You got worse when you said at 3/4 that he was "only giving you the front of his ship to shoot at." That's the perfect place for you to hurt him! He can't shoot back at you from that position, but you can rake him with your full broadside. That's "crossing his T."
SideStrafe Hey, I'm a fan. I enjoyed the game and the video. I was just trying to give you a little insight into naval tactics, the way that you studied about the strengths and weaknesses of various tanks. I'd like to see more of this game, looks cool.
***** Great point! However, Nelson's plan to force the French fleet into breaking up by sailing into their lines was just unorthodox enough to win. The thing is that in single ship combat you can't pull off what Nelson did.
SideStrafe This comment makes me cringe - so i will watch another form of commenting. Dude i did not expect a comment like that from you. The guy is right and did not write it up in a negative - provocative way. The truth hurts or what is going on?
A note to the developers: Being a huge fan of 18th century warfare (Empire: Total War, Master and Commander, Age of Sail, etc), I've been yearning for a return to the high seas in the next gen. I know handfuls of friends who would instantly shell out cold cash for such a title. However, after visiting Naval Action's website I get a very "pay to play" feeling with wording like "Pre-order now because the price will only go up" and "includes a ship valued at $20". How can a ship be valued at $20? Are ships going to be sold rather than earned? The pre-order "alpha" money tactic turns a lot of people off, including myself. I would hate to purchase this beautifully rendered high-seas simulator with open world trading that nobody plays because the initial price is over $60; or worse every ship costs money. Please don't mess this up Game-Labs :)
Hey SS you should take a look at Blackwake, it's sort of like this game but it's a first person shooter ship combat game. Right now it's in pre-alpha. It's also a multiplayer game.
Holy shit this game looks good. One of my favourite games of all time was the Pirates of the Caribbean game on the Xbox. That had some fantastic naval combat, as well as smuggling and piracy. I've been dying to play a game like that since, and this looks almost a carbon copy of the combat. If they can do stuff like piracy, and trade/smuggling then I'll buy it
Except for the fact that you won't have any magical skills/perks that will decide a battle. the Devs generally thrive towards realism rather than the "cartoony" approach of PotBS.
game looks promising. They need to make the maps more interesting though and they need to put more color and details for the ship. Man o war will be an interesting ship to control
Beautiful game must try it. If you wanted to get into naval warfare a bit from a fiction point of view I'd recommend reading Patrick o'Brian novels (21 of them!). The first book is Master and Commander (immortalised by the film with Russell Crowe) He goes into great detail about the ships and how to sail them. So you learn about naval warfare in the time of sail and also get a good novel to read as well. Don't know if your friend ramjb would agree.
Love your videos, you got me hooked on Chivalry a while back dodging arrows and heads rolling..! I've been playing Uncharted Waters Online since the release in North America and have been looking for something different for quite some time. The game has gotten quite mundane and it's pretty much pay to win which blows...I do love any sailing era games! Anyways I was just wondering what kind the specs on your PC were. This game looks amazing and I hope mine can run it just as smooth. Always a pleasure watching your vids!
sidestrafe is it possibilt they would later make it so you can buy this game on steam ? it looks very impresive. like game unity of command , wasn t steam game for a while ..but now it is. just saying not everybody have or are able to buy this game. thankes and keep up with the good youtubing sidestrafe :)
Hey Sidestrafe, have you ever told to Jingles about this game? This ol' salty sailor would be more than interested in this game I think, especially that he is alpha testing World of Warships as well. Also it could be a new cooperation with Ram, Jingles and you if you are interested in this game. And Jingles would add to this coop with his sailor and historic interested background. Just an idea, but I would love to see you three starting off a regular Naval Action channel, because I pre-ordered this game right away after I looked your content and want to see more of it. Hhmmmm, Twitch.tv 'ing it would be also a good idea, wouldn't it? And if you pull it off and become famous just mention me for my 2 seconds of brilliance. ;-)
SideStrafe if the Open World is Uncharted Waters-like, or even Sid Meier's Pirates! like then I'm there. But I'll wait and see what they have planned for the Open World.
DrPfeil Realllllyy? :D I've been asking for something similar to Pirates of the CCaribbeanonline but more realistic and less dumb for such a long time...
