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Thread: Well call me Ishmael, Naval Combat!

  1. #1

    Default Well call me Ishmael, Naval Combat!

    I read this:

    You'll command not just one ship, but entire fleets, using the full range of tactics and stratagems from the period. Want to know how's it's going to play? Watch Master and Commander - and just imagine what it's like to be Russell Crowe.

    Mike is enthused. "We've got a full and very detailed damage model on these ships. The cannonballs can damage the hull, they'll damage the panels they go through, they'll kill individual men, they also knock down masts, tear sails off... that obviously affects the manoeuvrability of your ships. You can tell your ships whether you want to aim at the sails or at the hull, or at the men on the decks. You can choose what ammunition to load, or even whether to board an enemy ship."

    Best of all, you'll see and feel it all: the wind in the sails, the choking atmosphere of the gun-deck as the crew frantically reload the cannons, the fights on deck... the man at the steering wheel, driving the boat. Umm. Maybe we need to read up on the actual nautical terms before we start wearing epaulettes.

    Reading up might indeed be helpful, because naval tactics is an entirely new subject for even Total War veterans. Learn from the experts. Such as Nelson. Or James.

    "You want to cross in front or behind - it's called crossing the enemy's T. That's the classic line of battle. You want to line ships up so your gunnery faces the enemy: essentially the ships are just great big floating double-deckers full of guns. You want those rows facing the enemy. There are other tactics: doubling, where you effectively get your line of ships around the front of the enemy, and bring them around the enemy's line so you're firing from both sides."

    Mike: "That's important because boats only have enough gun-crew to fire from one side at once. You're getting a two-to-one advantage."

    "Exactly," says James. "That's a tactic we can get in the game. It works. Similarly, raking fire - what Nelson did at Trafalgar - was precisely the opposite. He charged in and fired along the longitudinal axis of the ships, from stern to bow (from back to front - Naval Translation Ed). Instead of the cannonball going through one gun-crew and out the other side, potentially it could plough all the way along the decks, and take out nearly all the gun crews in a single shot."
    This applies to open-sea ships vs ships battle,

    but how about shore bombardment? Ships were also used attack the seaports or any large towns close to the shores. Or am I wrong?

  2. #2

    Default Re: The Sea Battle feature

    Hmm, good point - how cool would it be to have ships offshore in a coastal map, firing into the battlefield like artillery
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  3. #3
    Orko's Avatar Praeses
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    Default Re: The Sea Battle feature

    it would be nice to see ships supporting a land army.
    BTW what are the numbers of the ships in the game? I mean they will be 50+ ships per unit? because it will be hard to do the tactics of naval battles with so many ships, also the largest navy in the world was the British, and they had close to 1000 ships! it was a huge navy! the Spanish Armada was a formidable huge navy with 300 ships, in a total war game it is just a small fleet. so what are the numbers of ships in the game?
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  4. #4

    Default Re: The Sea Battle feature

    Each ship unit will be 1 ship in a battle.

  5. #5
    Atterdag's Avatar Tro og Håb
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    Default Re: The Sea Battle feature

    Sounds really, really cool.
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  6. #6

    Default Re: The Sea Battle feature

    BTW what are the numbers of the ships in the game? I mean they will be 50+ ships per unit?

    Yes 1 ship is the only sensible option. There weren't thousands of warships running around

    Love the news that they're going into depth with the sea battles. I doubt I'm the only one who's going to focus on naval dominance

  7. #7

    Default Re: The Sea Battle feature

    I just hope there's lots of splinters, "AAAARRGGGHHH"ing, chainshot, and dismembered limbs.

  8. #8
    Eric's Avatar Praepositus
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    Default Well call me Ishmael, Naval Combat!

    I just need to know, is anyone else here RIDICULOUSLY excited by realtime, 3D naval combat finally coming into the Total War series? I'm kinda bordering on indifferent for the rest of the game (I'll wait for some more screenshots and maybe some videos before I get excited), but naval combat is something i've been wishing for since RTW first came out. Now we're finally getting it, and in possibly the most exciting era of naval warfare, the Napoleonic age. Imagine it, rolling broadsides of cannonfire, the crackle of muskets, the shouts of men and the crash of iron against wood as cannonballs smash hull and mast. This is the only thing about ETW so far that's exciting me, anyone else share my feelings?
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  9. #9
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    Default Re: Well call me Ishmael, Naval Combat!

    Yeah it's really exciting. I can't wait to do drivebys on spanish settlements in the carribean I really hope they allow for real "coastal sieges" involving ship bombardments. That will truly rock my pants off!

    But you will almost definitely need a new computer. Just imagine how amazingly laggerific it will be generating those waves and storms. Thats the only thing that worries me.

  10. #10
    Spiff's Avatar That's Ffips backwards
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    Default Re: Well call me Ishmael, Naval Combat!

    I hope they do it well - collision models for wooden battleships will not be an easy thing to do convincingly. In theory things will have to splinter and smash properly or the illusion will fall apart.. and then there's writing the AI so the individual crew members accurately respond to parts of the ship suddenly becoming inaccessible.. i don't envy CA in this regard, a lot of complicated design and implementation i think.
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  11. #11
    Slaxx Hatmen's Avatar This isn't the crisis!
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    Default Re: Well call me Ishmael, Naval Combat!

    Yeah you can see why they've held it off for so long. I imagine that somewhere in Essex(Or was it Sussex?) there is a guy sitting at his PC at work screaming at the CGI sailors who are committing suicide by jumping off the ship for no reason.
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  12. #12
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    Default Re: Well call me Ishmael, Naval Combat!

    From here http://www.totalwar.com/index.html?p...l&nav=/us/6/8/

    New Real-Time 3D Naval Warfare takes Total War’s unparalleled battle action to the high seas with players commanding single ships or vast fleets. These will be the most exciting and realistic sea battles ever seen in a PC game. They will feature a realistic sailing model, cannon and musket fire, boarding actions, fully destructible sails, rigging and hulls and a full range of weather effects to influence battles. These will play out on stunning, ultra-realistic seascapes, as cannons and muskets blaze away, cutting through the smoke and fog to splinter, pierce and shatter hulls, sails and masts, laying waste to crew members and sending them to Davy Jones’ Locker.


    Lets hope that this is even half true!

  13. #13
    Lias_solano's Avatar Semisalis
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    Default Re: Well call me Ishmael, Naval Combat!

    I cant wait to try out the naval battles.They are going to add a whole new dimension to the total war game.Im off to watch master and commander to get in the mood

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  14. #14
    tco's Avatar Ducenarius
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    Default Re: Well call me Ishmael, Naval Combat!

    No what we need is to replace those old cannons with something like the ones in Eric's sig. Yes I am really excited about navel battles. I really hope they do it well.

  15. #15

    Default Re: Well call me Ishmael, Naval Combat!

    I'll finally be able to use my Pirates of the Caribbean impressions in a battle!

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  16. #16

    Default Re: Well call me Ishmael, Naval Combat!

    I am wary of the naval combat, but also excited. I am happy that the dev's have attempted to take this on. I fear though that it might be less then inspiring regarding the key elements of naval combat, but it is early days yet.

    I am more conerned about how the ships will move through the water and how the rigging will be displayed. The couple of screenies I have seen have been a good shot at it, but nothing spectacular yet. Still, I remain hopeful that I will enjoy this game in any case. It's a treat!

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  17. #17

    Default Re: Well call me Ishmael, Naval Combat!

    What are the odds pirate captains will be modelled after Barbossa or Sparrow?

  18. #18

    Default Re: Well call me Ishmael, Naval Combat!

    60%.


  19. #19

    Default Re: Well call me Ishmael, Naval Combat!

    Quote Originally Posted by Chuffy View Post
    What are the odds pirate captains will be modelled after Barbossa or Sparrow?
    I dunno about that but I'm gonna learn how to mod just for that.

  20. #20

    Default Re: Well call me Ishmael, Naval Combat!

    Definitely. I have no doubt I'll enjoy the naval combat more than the land-based combat. There's just something about the sea and warships.

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