World of Warwinds (Development Thread)

[Neurotoxin]

 

In the wake of the Napoleonic Wars a declaration of peace is once again enacted between the major European powers of Great Britain, France, Austria, Prussia, and Russia.  However, conflict on the high seas remains a common occurrence among pirates and privateers, beyond the prying eyes of the authorities in sovereign waters.  This is where you will find your calling.  Fight the unsung battle on the treacherous frontier for king and country, or wrest for control of the tradewinds on your own illegitimate terms.  The sea awaits, captain, will you embark?

 

Greetings, good friends of the tide.  Having enjoyed some time here on the forums and seeing the degree of trollage we've experienced as of late, I have taken the liberty of creating a mini-game to ease our anxiety in the months leading up to World of Warships alpha.  Without further ado, I present to you World of Warwinds. :Smile_izmena:

 

World of Warwinds is an immersive text-based roleplaying strategy game based right here on the forum, in our beloved off topic section.  As a player, you will command a ship or small fleet to the high seas against your fellow sailors on behalf of a nation or yourself alone, where you will engage in acts of aggression using period-accurate methods and technology, drawing from your own logic and a simple action chart on which to base your strategies.

 

That's the gist of the overall objective.  As for the economic side, you can purchase upgrades for your ship(s) (and new ships entirely) at friendly harbours along your travels with the money you earn from combat.  Additionally, you can load your decks with domestic commodities for shipment and sale at different harbours during your voyage to greatly boost your revenue.  Take good care during such hauls, however, for your enemy eyes your manifest with lust.

 

Well, that's enough introduction.  You may be wondering why all those words are not followed by game-pertinent resources, such as item lists and action sheets, and instead you find yourself reading this apparently meaningless paragraph.  My response is simple: I understand that this is the World of Warships forum, and I am by no means wishing to encroach upon the forum rules (specifically section 2.3).  As such, I will not run this little game without permission from those who have devoted their time to upkeeping this board.  I have no interest in advertising any content that will not be directly affiliated with the WoWS forums (I intend to keep everything centered around a few threads if possible).

 

So, my petition is to the mods.  Is this a permissible endeavour, or would it be best to turn the attention of the off topic residents back to Ariecho and his cat army until we see the light of alpha?

 

World of Warwinds has been approved and is now slated for release.

 

Let me know how this rests, good friends in high places.  And potential players, let me know what you think of the idea. :Smile_smile:

[VioletZer0]

Would Tier X's have Ironclads?

[Neurotoxin]

VioletZer0, on 20 October 2012 - 12:44 AM, said:

Would Tier X's have Ironclads?

It's possible.  I intend to introduce all manner of period-accurate vessels, including some of the more radical designs.  Iron and steam will favour the bold.

[anonym_auUiRfWCi1jI]

Perhaps rename the thread "World of Tall ships"...

[Eyeless_Camper]

Then i would wanna use Kronan  :Smile_trollface:

Type: ship of the line

Displacement: 2,300 tonnes (approximate)

Length: 54.5 m (179 ft)

Beam: 13.1 m (43 ft)

Height: 66 m (217 ft) (keel to mast, approx.)

Draft: 6.23 m (20.4 ft)

Propulsion: sail, three masts

Troops: 300 soldiers

Complement: 500 sailors

Armament:126 guns from 6 to 36 pound

[Neurotoxin]

t42592, on 20 October 2012 - 12:47 AM, said:

Perhaps rename the thread "World of Tall ships"...

Hah, the name can be whatever it ends up being.  I don't want to imply that it's only tall ships, however, for steamers do have a place here.

[Windhover118]

I dont see a reason why the mods would have a problem with this. Its not advertising any other games. At best this would be classified as a forum game. A little roleplaying might actually be good for the forum.

[Neurotoxin]

Windhover118, on 20 October 2012 - 12:56 AM, said:

I dont see a reason why the mods would have a problem with this. Its not advertising any other games. At best this would be classified as a forum game. A little roleplaying might actually be good for the forum.

That's my hope, but I wasn't about to jump the gun.  It also gives me a chance to get some feedback from fellow sailors first, which is always useful. :Smile_glasses:

[VioletZer0]

t42592, on 20 October 2012 - 12:47 AM, said:

Perhaps rename the thread "World of Tall ships"...

I love World of Warwinds as a name.

[RMS_Gigantic]

So what would the first two tiers entail? The concept is fascinating. I hope that the USS Constitution can make an appearance!

[Neurotoxin]

Starting out, you're looking at small, moderately-paced, poorly armed, albeit easily maintained schooners and gun brigs (unrated), with branches into two primary lines (and a few secondary).  The first real warship you'll encounter will be an unrated or sixth-rate sloop-of-war around tier 3.

[Eyeless_Camper]

What tier would Kronan be from the looks of it?, she might be abit old, 1670s, but heavily armed and armored

Like 3rd largest ship ever when put to sea

[Neurotoxin]

Kronan is a bit outdated, but her tonnage and armament suggests that she would be around tier 8, behind a more contemporary ship of the line (HMS Victory) at tier 9, depending on how I integrate ironclads.

[Mermaid_Witch]

World of Ships-of-the-line.

[DementedMind]

Came in here thinking you were talking about this:    

 

But I had to remind myself why would one talk about such game on naval warfare game forum.  :Smile_veryhappy: .... :Smile_smile:

 

Carry on  :Smile_honoring:

[Neurotoxin]

DementedMind, on 20 October 2012 - 05:11 AM, said:

Came in here thinking you were talking about this:  
But I had to remind myself why would one talk about such game on naval warfare game forum.  :Smile_veryhappy: .... :Smile_smile:
Carry on  :Smile_honoring:

Haha.  The name may very well change.  It's just a placeholder for now, and you can see why. :Smile_smile:

Anyway,

Here is an example of a basic tech tree with two branches (one ending with colossal yet cumbersome ships of the line and the other focusing more on flexible cruisers).  This is more of a template than anything concrete, but it gives you an idea of what I consider suitable for each tier.  It's difficult to assign classes to a given tier due to the massive range of differences seen by 19th century navies, so rating and displacement are my primary focus.

Click me!

[Mermaid_Witch]

Neurotoxin, on 20 October 2012 - 05:20 AM, said:

Haha.  The name may very well change.  It's just a placeholder for now, and you can see why. :Smile_smile:

Anyway,

Here is an example of a basic tech tree with two branches (one ending with colossal yet cumbersome ships of the line and the other focusing more on flexible cruisers).
Click me!

Ewwww.   I wouldn't end one line at large ships of the line and the other line at iron screw frigates.  That's sort of like ending heavy tanks in 1943 and allowing medium tanks to go to 1960.  That's just asking for trouble.  I'd end both lines firmly within the age of wood and sail, say 1830 at the latest.

The problem with the age of sail is that design remained stagnant for a long time.  A ship from the 1500s could easily take on a ship from the 1600s and expect a reasonably fair fight.  So instead of trying to find 10 tiers worth of wooden ships to throw in, I'd suggest spreading all the designs out over 5 tiers or so.  So tier 1 to tier 5 for frigates, brigs, sloops, ship-of-the-lines, etc.  Then, take those base ships and add a modifier based on their current module setup that dictates what tier in the standard 13 tier battle system they get thrown into.  With this system in place, the path is open to give each ship a truly insane amount of options for outfitting.  Furthermore, make it so no particular module set-up is "best".  Make the base designs truly customizable to the user's preferences.  If the player wants to add so many heavy guns that his frigate hogs from the added weight, he can do that.  If he wants to give it a larger-than-normal amount of sail to get every last ounce of speed out of the ship while simultaneously risking having a strong wind carry his mainmast away, that's his prerogative.  Go hog wild and find the balance that suits you.

This, I believe, would be the best way to make a "World of Sailing Ships".

[DKM_Bismark]

Ill play it, as long as i can use a barqentine, and a Fluyt, in combat.

[Neurotoxin]

Mini_Bolo, on 20 October 2012 - 06:56 AM, said:

Ewwww.   I wouldn't end one line at large ships of the line and the other line at iron screw frigates.  That's sort of like ending heavy tanks in 1943 and allowing medium tanks to go to 1960.  That's just asking for trouble.  I'd end both lines firmly within the age of wood and sail, say 1830 at the latest.

The problem with the age of sail is that design remained stagnant for a long time.  A ship from the 1500s could easily take on a ship from the 1600s and expect a reasonably fair fight.  So instead of trying to find 10 tiers worth of wooden ships to throw in, I'd suggest spreading all the designs out over 5 tiers or so.  So tier 1 to tier 5 for frigates, brigs, sloops, ship-of-the-lines, etc.  Then, take those base ships and add a modifier based on their current module setup that dictates what tier in the standard 13 tier battle system they get thrown into.  With this system in place, the path is open to give each ship a truly insane amount of options for outfitting.  Furthermore, make it so no particular module set-up is "best".  Make the base designs truly customizable to the user's preferences.  If the player wants to add so many heavy guns that his frigate hogs from the added weight, he can do that.  If he wants to give it a larger-than-normal amount of sail to get every last ounce of speed out of the ship while simultaneously risking having a strong wind carry his mainmast away, that's his prerogative.  Go hog wild and find the balance that suits you.

This, I believe, would be the best way to make a "World of Sailing Ships".

This is something that I can strongly agree with, and limiting the tiers is much more convenient.  As I mentioned, this was more of an example to define what kind of ships would be available down the line, and obvious balancing would follow to ensure that each tier down each line was a sufficient counterpart for the other.

I would not like to preclude screw entirely, for I believe that it can add an interesting degree of complexity to the game, but I will assuredly be finding ways of limiting its godliness (especially in the maintenance department).

I'll run up a new, 5-tier tree today.  I have a basic idea, so we'll see how it turns out.

DKM_Bismark, on 20 October 2012 - 02:02 PM, said:

Ill play it, as long as i can use a barqentine, and a Fluyt, in combat.

There will be a strong differentiation between ship rigs and fore-and-aft rigs, especially in combat and travel, so brigantines and barquentines will definitely be available.  As I scale back the age of some of the designs, fluyts will be available (though not under the British tree, of course).

[Neurotoxin]

A second rendition with more balancing in mind.  Each overall type of warship has its own five-tier line and is placed in one of two major categories: Privateers (for small, light, generally independent raiders and skirmishers) and the Line of Battle (for frigates and brutish ships of the line).  This two-category system is intended to function as its own form of matchmaker, preventing frigates and battleships from competing against unrated sloops, while also dividing the overall strategies of the battle itself.  Much like the existing WoT/WoWP matchmaker, it is possible to bring a tier 3 brig into a tier 8 battle, but not vice versa, in the event that you need a scout or a cheap fire ship.

 

British Tech Tree

[Windhover118]

Will there be a US tech tree? Also, what would the pirate tech tree look like?

[Neurotoxin]

Windhover118, on 20 October 2012 - 08:11 PM, said:

Will there be a US tech tree? Also, what would the pirate tech tree look like?

I am planning an American tree and a French tree at present, with more to be added later.  Currently no such tree exists for pirates, as they did not actually build their own classes of ships to any appreciable degree, and instead simply modified national vessels to suit their own ends.  To this end, pirate players will use the same trees as military players, but will be capable of outfitting their vessels at illegitimate harbours in addition to a unique set of command abilities (because, frankly, there is no authority to tell you how to live and fight).

However, there comes a cost with piracy.  Should you violate the terms of the Letter of Marque and Reprisal, you will lose harbour rights within a certain sovereignty, and may even acquire a bounty.

[Mermaid_Witch]

Neurotoxin, on 20 October 2012 - 08:18 PM, said:

I am planning an American tree and a French tree at present, with more to be added later.  Currently no such tree exists for pirates, as they did not actually build their own classes of ships to any appreciable degree, and instead simply modified national vessels to suit their own ends.  To this end, pirate players will use the same trees as military players, but will be capable of outfitting their vessels at illegitimate harbours in addition to a unique set of command abilities (because, frankly, there is no authority to tell you how to live and fight).

However, there comes a cost with piracy.  Should you violate the terms of the Letter of Marque and Reprisal, you will lose harbour rights within a certain sovereignty, and may even acquire a bounty.

World of Side Meyer's Pirates! Online.

[Crag_r]

Yeah i don't think we are going to see this for the same reason we are not going to see boarding here; the simple reason that the Devs cannot deal with all the Pirate references  :Smile_trollface:

[Neurotoxin]

A more detailed example of the potential tech tree.  Below each class is a list of crew complement and the combined firepower of a single discharge from all carried armaments (with a historically-accurate loadout, and will change depending on the player's choice of weaponry).

 

British Tech Tree

 

Bear in mind that gun layout is going to be equally as important as overall caliber, but those specifications would grossly overpopulate the tech tree if I tried to display them all.