Re: [GZG] Full Sail and Morale

[Jerry Han <jhan@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Laserlight wrote:
> Jerry said:
>
> > some other things I'm playing with, but I'm not convinced the extra
> > complexity is worth it e.g. tracking wind direction and have that
> > affect thrust (whether you're running, reaching, beating, in irons),
>
> That's rather a key factor in Age of Sail tactics.

It is,  but, it's a question of how complex you want to get versus
playbility.  I've always tended to err on the side of playability when
given a choice.  For example, one set of the rules I worked up
involved a thrust and max speed modifier for every point of the FT clock,
based on some sailing guides I found online.  Much more realistic,
especially when you're dealing with tacking versus wearing, but, does
it really make it... fun?  (8-)  (Especially when your focus isn't
on the operation of a single ship, but on a whole fleet of 15 of the
line bearing down on your enemy.)

The current version splits the clock up into 4 different 'zones' -
in irons, beating, broad reach, and beam reach / running, which I
think will add enough flavour and tactical complexity without
slowing things down too much.

> > and declaring whether you're firing at the hull or firing at the
> > rigging.  (The declaration isn't the problem, the thing is you have
> > to change the way thrust damage is handled to make rigging fire
>
> work.)
>
> Instead of MD being one system, have it be 3 or 4--one icon per mast.

*nod*  Yeah, that's what a lot of people have come up with, independently,
and together.  However, it's the various ways to model rigging fire --
does it force a threshold check at a penalty?  Do you keep a separate
damage track for masts, and so you have TWO sets of damage tracks?
How do you reflect that fact that some ships were just better sailers
than others e.g. an American 44 heavy frigate should be able to outsail
a British 74, all other things being equal?  etc. etc.

I'm tending to favour the 'one icon' per mast rule, but, having each
mast represent a different proportion of the total amount of thrust,
so, losing a mast on a single mast merchie is a heck of a lot worse
than losing a mast on something like Victory which had thousands of
square yards of canvas.

Oh, and that's the other thing too -- battle sail versus full sail.
(8-)


> You might want to get Mark Campbell's game Close Action, about US$ 40
> or so from Clash of Arms Games--similar to the old Avalon Hill title
> Wooden Ships & Iron Men.  I've met Mark and played in a couple of
> games he's run (including a 60-player Trafalgar last October), and
> he's a fanatic for historical accuracy.  There is also an advanced
> movement system using 12 directions rather than 6, i.e. you can move
> along hex spines as well. That's somewhat more complex, but IMHO it's
> worthwhile.

Hmmm.  I've looked at buying that, there's a copy here in the FLGS (at
least, there was, your comment makes me interested in seeing if it's
still around.)

My latest fighting sail reference is the one provided by GMT's
"Flying Colours."  Haven't played it, but, it looks tight, and
certainly provides the framework to fight a fleet action (which
is what I look for in games in general -- I'm very much an
operations level gamer, when I get a chance to game these days.)

> The key thing, though, is to try to have one ship per player, and
> severely restrict signals.  I'm reading about the Bailli du Suffren,
> generally considered France's greatest (or second greatest) admiral,
> and it's amazing how often the battle plans of both sides foundered
> because the commanders simply could not communicate adequately with
> their captains.

Exactly, which is what made Nelson's battleplan work, the idea of making
sure every captain knew beforehand what to do in various situations.

However, I'm still thinking of larger scale actions, within the FT
philosophy of 'fun and fast.'  So, there's definitely going to be an
abstraction to detail, and, in the interests of 'fun and fast', my mods
won't have any real sort of command and control framework.

For a Frag based sail game, C2 is pretty much irrelevant anyway as each
person is only fighting their own ship.

JGH

--
Jerry Han - jhan@xxxxxxxxxxxx - http://www.warpfish.com/jhan - TBFTGOGGI
"The snow is coming down, on our New England town, and it's been falling
all day long; what else is new? What can I do? But sing this Valley
Winter Song, I wrote for you" -- Fountains of Wayne,"Valley Winter Song"
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