Signal: Close Action!
A tactical naval combat simulation set in the Age of Sail

LISBON, PORTUGAL
DOWNLOAD HERE!!! ONLY 15 MEG!!!
 

 

RTFM - Peace out

  - to pan the camera, click and drag the mouse. be careful, it's a bit touchy.
  - up/down arrow keys pitch the camera.
  - left/right arrows rotate the camera, but i would not recommend it.
  - W/S keys raise and lower the camera. btw there are no "stops."
  - K key raise and lower the camera. careful with those too, there are no "stops."
  - C key toggles formation or chase in combat mode (combat)
  - L key iterates each Line of Battle (lines)
  - G key play/pause (go)
  - escape key exits.
it will run in full-screen mode, but you need to hack a text file called "app.icf" in notepad, and enter your screen resolution here's the salient portion:
 
 
  WinFullscreen=1
  WinHeight=480
  WinWidth=640
  WinFullScreenHeight=768
  WinFullScreenWidth=1366
  WinPosX=0
  WinPosY=0
 
 
my res is 1366x768 - put yours in there. i assume everyone can handle this.
THE SCENARIO -
16 orange ships (you) face off against 16 black ships (the enemy, apologies to african friends) with hazardous islands between.
each ship initially chooses its opposite ship to hunt and engage.
the wind is coming from due east so no side has the weather gauge. the goal is to obliterate the enemy!!!
here are the signal flags, to help me debug (amazingly useful, much better than printf() ), and to help you to understand the state of a ship.
the interpretation of these flags is based on the current international standard, modified to the context of 18th century sail. ie, the mapping is not arbitrary. google it.
press the "K" key to hide/show the signal key.
GUNNERY

okay, don't laugh!

and no comments about the cannon shot being, umm, how shall i say... "disproportionately sized" in relation to the ships :p

for the sake of demo, the gunnery range is extreme, and the ships quickly start out with their bow chasers. once within appx 1/2 tactical grid distance, they try to helm about for a broadside as best they can, given obstacles and other ships. again the range is extreme. if they cant make a broadside they will fire a bow or stern chaser. i have yet to decouple reloading/firing times between bow/stern and star and lar broadsides. for now one and only one battery fires, depending on how she bares, and reload is from 5-8 seconds.

btw, any ship in the line of fire not the target is ignored, the balls pass right through (for now). no worries about friendly fire. also, no collateral damage.

you will notice that the gunnery is unbelievably accurate, ie, they (almost) never miss. i must reiterate that the ai is NOT cheating, it is just insanely good at picking an elevation and powder charge to drop the ball on point. if you choose to man your own guns, you have the same control params, charge and elevation.

because the gunnery is not faked in any way, i will be able to easily modify the shot based on difficulty level, crew skill, wet or poor quality powder, drunkenness, morale, worn guns, hot guns, poor command, what have you, simply by manipulating a few variables.

oh, yes, the trajectory is also bit exaggerated for clarity.

THE COMPASS ROSE

click a direction in the compass rose to change the wind. for now just the 8 points are active - temporary, i need to make a special widget for this.

amazing what an effect the wind has. this is an instantaneous change in direction, i'll interpolate it soon enough (time to make a class just for the wind). wind has no effect on gunnery yet, but it will soon. this will make the AI gunners less deadly.

btw changing the wind to your favor is cheating!!!!
SHIP COMMAND

okay don't get too excited "commanding" is very primitive.

select a ship by left mouse down and "hold" for a moment. remember i intend to release on tablets, so i'm making input first for them.

NOTE: this ship is now in MANUAL HELM.

the "G/N" effectiveness hud will light up yellow. G/N effectiveness represents your current state of gunnery and navigation. you could think of these as hitpoints (but not quite). btw, once in manual helm, there is no going back - not until i have finished the menus...
once a ship is selected, select a location in the same manner. if within the tactical area, a small yellow square will appear. if outside, no square, but the ship will sail to that point and wait there. it will still engage enemies but it wont chase them. the currently selected ship will automatically sail to the currently selected location. basically, it follows the square. i'll soon have follow friend/foe enabled. next release.



to repeat: your currently selected ship (mouse down and hold) will show it's G/N numbers in yellow. you can now direct the ship to a point. it may take time for the ship to sort out its sails and get going in the right direction.

once near the point, it will take station. it will fire at enemies but it will not chase them.
GRAPPLE AND BOARD, SINKING SHIPS, AND RESCUE OPS

"grapple and board" is automatic when two opponents are within a short distance. they grapple for 30 seconds and release. multiple ships can grapple. i reckon in the final, once grappled, one ship or the other will become a prize, and will remain stationary for the rest of the scenario.

gunnery is automatic (for now). when a ship has G/N less than -10, it is "on fire". see the signal flags. it is on fire for 30 seconds, then it sinks.

but yes, we even have rescue operations! they occur automatically if a ship is within a certain distance (appx 8 ship lengths) of an ally ship that is "on fire." note: sometimes the flags get overridden by a child state (i'll fix it eventually), so if you see a ship with no G/N numbers, it is basically on fire and will sink within 30 seconds. the rescue ship(s) within proximity will scoop up survivors and buff their G/N numbers. when in rescue it can not fire guns. it can still navigate, but i think i'll constrict that, so she really is a sitting duck.

i've watched the scenario play out with wind steady from both east and west, theoretically giving no side an advantage. if i don't touch anything, just let it play, it "ends" about even, there are a few ships scattered about with no navigation or no gunnery.

so, my captains, can you "beat" the scenario!!!

i would say a "decisive" victory would be having 8 ships remaining with G/N both positive, and the opponent being all burnt/sunk, or all remaining with negative G/N



FOLLOW THE DEVELOPMENT

i'm beta testing with a group of aficionados of AoS sim on this forum thread. 11 pages now, well worth the read, but you can always jump to the last page.

join in!
SUBSIM FORUM THREAD