Post by Neil Thapen in Sailing model feedback thread

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Increasing the drag at low speeds would change this behaviour. This already happens a little bit but could happen more. (Unfortunately, I think the skin drag slider in the UI now doesn't have any effect.) This would also make getting under way more difficult. Really the question is, how long should it take a ship like this to slow down?

And it might be worth distinguishing two situations here. In one, the helmsman is keeping the ship pointing straight; in the other, it's drifting and likely to turn off to one side, which should slow it down more quickly.

ppitm5 years ago

Yes it's a classic sailing model dilemma where one improvement causes problems in another area. Getting underway is already reaaalllllly slow from a gameplay perspective (I really have no idea what's realistic here). More importantly it would make tacking a lot harder if you increased low speed drag.

How long should a ship take to slow down? Well in a small boat, you coast to a stop very rapidly, whether power or sail. The ship stops rapidly when tacking, due to wind pressure on the sails. My gut tells me that stopping due to water drag along should not be more than 2-3 times slower.
All in all, it's the kind of situation that would make me want to create some sort of artificial braking effect when the sail area is under a certain threshold.

MartesZ5 years ago (2 edits)

Didn't they usually bring the ship to a stop by backing sail(s) and/or turning into the wind and then dropping anchor?

>All in all, it's the kind of situation that would make me want to create some sort of artificial braking effect when the sail area is under a certain threshold

I would think it's possible to condition the drag not only by sail area, but also by checking if the ship accelerates or decelerates.

P.S. Here are two articles concerning period ship maneuverability I found recently - maybe they can be of help.

https://www.cnrs-scrn.org/northern_mariner/vol13/tnm_13_4_29-39.pdf
https://www.cnrs-scrn.org/northern_mariner/vol14/tnm_14_3_57-68.pdf

ppitm5 years ago

The usual procedure was to bring the ship into the wind, then drop the anchor while making sternway. Unless there was a very tricky confined harbor, they wouldn't drop the anchor while still moving forward. I haven't actually tried backing sail that much yet. Even if that method works well, I would still say that the issue is the large disparity in deceleration time of luffing up under full sail vs drifting under bare poles.

Those are fantastic articles and definitely read them. I think your simulation already jives nicely with the information they contain.

MartesZ5 years ago (1 edit)

>I think your simulation already jives nicely with the information they contain.

I am afraid you have confused me with Neil. :) The game I work with allows much less, although I tried to mix the numbers available to implement at least some of the effects.

itch.io

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