Better Bow Waves and Wakes

[FlashTX]

One way that I used while in the Navy to judge a ship's speed was by its bow wave and the wake it left behind and on some ships the size of the rooster tail.  We have none of that to speak of now.  Please improve the bow waves and the wakes to be more speed sensitive and MUCH more visible.  The wakes we have now are tiny compared to what they should look like.  Sometimes this is also a clue you are near another ship you might not otherwise detect especially at night.

Thanks, Love the Game!

PS.  Still want MM to give max one tier up or down in battles and the Poll I took proved others do as well.

[Zim_Xero]

The Arizona never achieved invisibility due to its wake.  Aside from that, the methods employed, hurt the crew members.

[Teahee]

It would be nice, but the current game engine is not really up to the task. Ships now are moving along a flat plane, and the waves are simply animations that do not truly interact with the ship's movement. When in future the game engine is updated, this feature could be pretty interesting. 

 

Plus/minus 1 matchmaking will not be introduced in the foreseeable future. This is for a number of reasons:

• Player base size, restricting the MM will make waiting for matches longer, and off-peak hours could be challenging 
• A large aspect of the game is having ships of different power and ability competing. Yes this means that sometimes you will be the underdog, but there will also be times when you are at the top. (Ideally this should be around 50/50, but this isn't always the case such as in tier 5 and 6 matchmaking)

 

Obviously you are at a disadvantage when bottom tier, but you are far from powerless. Fires deal percentage based damage, meaning cruisers and gunboat DDs can still do significant damage. Likewise, battleships can citadel any broadsiding cruiser they can meet, and can still do respectable damage to enemy battleships. The only class that really suffers from being bottom tier are carriers, since their planes are vulnerable to higher tier AA. 

[DelroyMonjo]

I've often wondered why  the bow wakes aren't more pronounced and as the OP says,  indicative of the speed of the moving ship.  I've often been in situations where the dark background obscures the ship smoke and bow waves would be a big help to determine the speed.

[Aduial]

Yeah, the game would look so much better with larger and more life-like wakes. But unfortunately as Teehee explained, we don't have any water physics in the game. What we see is just a flat plane with a bunch of filters and textures. 

[Punisher_One]

Yeah, it would be awesome to see waves break over the bow and spray goes flying. Someday when the water isn't a separate layer I guess. 

[FlashTX]

It would be nice, but the current game engine is not really up to the task. Ships now are moving along a flat plane, and the waves are simply animations that do not truly interact with the ship's movement. When in future the game engine is updated, this feature could be pretty interesting. 

 

Plus/minus 1 matchmaking will not be introduced in the foreseeable future. This is for a number of reasons:

• Player base size, restricting the MM will make waiting for matches longer, and off-peak hours could be challenging 
• A large aspect of the game is having ships of different power and ability competing. Yes this means that sometimes you will be the underdog, but there will also be times when you are at the top. (Ideally this should be around 50/50, but this isn't always the case such as in tier 5 and 6 matchmaking)

 

Obviously you are at a disadvantage when bottom tier, but you are far from powerless. Fires deal percentage based damage, meaning cruisers and gunboat DDs can still do significant damage. Likewise, battleships can citadel any broadsiding cruiser they can meet, and can still do respectable damage to enemy battleships. The only class that really suffers from being bottom tier are carriers, since their planes are vulnerable to higher tier AA. 

 

Thanks for the reply, I'm not savvy on how the game works so now I understand.  I know you can add a mod that gives you a higher sea state now, so I thought it would be possible to do the bow waves and wakes.  So, I will have to wait for it, that's fine. 

As for the +1/-1 MM, I understand what you are saying, but when the game first launched if you were waiting too long you went ahead and changed tiers to get a battle, it's not that hard.  As far as wanting a larger variety of ships, most players don't agree with that and want a +1/-1 MM.  I bought the USS TEXAS BB-35 and I have been in nothing but Tier 7 battles in it for 2 months now, except for 2 times.  On YouTube posters are recommending that players not buy any T5 or T6 Premiums because the MM is so bad for those 2 tiers now.  

We play to have fun and it's no fun constantly playing ships 2 tiers higher than yours.  Some like me just aren't very good players, so we are going to play mostly low to mid tier battles so we can enjoy them and have a chance to play well.  At higher tiers we are just cannon fodder and it's no fun.

[Aduial]

I know you can add a mod that gives you a higher sea state now, so I thought it would be possible to do the bow waves and wakes

 

Speaking of the mod, does it look nice, and does it have an impact on performance? I was considering using it, until WG upgrades the wave effects. 

[FlashTX]

 

Speaking of the mod, does it look nice, and does it have an impact on performance? I was considering using it, until WG upgrades the wave effects. 

It does look good and realistic.  However, if you think DD's are hard to see and hit in the normal sea state forget it in the stormy sea state.  I quit using it because it was giving enemy DD's a huge advantage.