Scale Of Ships.

[Ornlu]

Yeah, AoK small and fast ships rocked, even though it was unrealistic. Just a bit bigger and it will be perfect.

It would also be nice if there were different "dominating" ships, not just one, like in AoK(massed galleys have no counter).

[Marcus Petrius]

Acumen, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the design document off limits for non team members?

If not I would like to receive a copy.

[Tonto_Icy_Tripod]

I think the scale of ships is completely dependant on how large fleets you expect to have. If we're talking 40 ships or so (like in aok) then you can't have them much bigger than they were in aok either... meanwhile, if we're talking 10 or so ships at the max, go ahead and make them huge. You've also got to consider pathing, how close the ships will be allowed to go next to each other and such. From a pure aesthetic point though, 1:1 scale would of course be the best.

[Mythos_Ruler]

Double the size of AOK ships and I'll be happy. That would still allow for large fleets (I wish we were just sticking to 2D myself so we could have greater detail and more units on the screen, but I digress. ).

[Wijitmaker]

Yeah DD is only availible to staff.

[Murchad]

Yeah DD is only availible to staff

I am wondering why? since it is not for profit

[The_Avenger]

Do you want everyone stealing your stuff? No.

[Ulysses S Griffin]

im starting to change my mind, some people have given pretty good reasons why having smaller scale ships would be more funcional in a game like this...i wouldnt like to just have 10 ships for my fleet, i want 40 !

[Acumen]

Acumen, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the design document off limits for non team members?

Ideas aren't the problem. Ideas are a dime a dozen. What matters is successfully implementing that idea. That's what separates the winners from the also-rans.

But there are various reasons why it's inadvisable for the DD to be public access:

a] There's nothing left for you to enjoy. It'd be like skipping to the last page of a great novel, or reading the full shooting script before seeing a great movie. There are no surprises, no moments of wonder, no plot twists. As an example, do you really want to know every aspect of Half Life 2 before it's released? Every weapon spec, every monster type, every level design, every conversation thread, every twist in the storyline? Of course you do . But then why bother to make the game if everybody already knows what's coming. Valve are doing the right thing by withholding the details so the public will have a better experience at the end of the day.

b] Too many cooks in the kitchen. We'd be inundated with cries of "why are you doing that?" "do this!" "no, do that!" "that sucks, do this!" It's already enough of a challenge to keep the design static enough to implement with the contributions from staff members. We have to reach a point where the design is "feature locked", or we'll never get a chance to implement any of it.

c] Culpability. As hard as you try to plan ahead, a project inevitably evolves beyond its original constraints. Maybe a key feature is discovered to be impractical to implement with our resources (remember, most games require a multi-million dollar budget; we have literally *no* budget), or it's discovered that it just isn't fun, or through usability testing we discover that there's a more intuitive way to achieve the same thing. If the design is publicly known, we will be expected to stick rigidly to those constraints, and we can't guarantee that will be plausible.

d] Why? At the end of the day, what would be the point? You'd satisfy your curiosity, still have to wait two years to see the final result, and probably have a lousy experience as a consequence.

[CodeOptimist]

Well said, Acumen.

[Ulysses S Griffin]

yes, yes exellent points Acumen

[Math_the_great]

mmmm....I want it To scale....and I would like every boat to be able to transport the unit! I think it would be the first game with real scale boat...

[Ulysses S Griffin]

yeah, but ive come to realise that having to scale ships would suck, simply because of all the hassle it would require to get the boat together, the amount you'd have to zoom out to see a fleet of 5, it would just be annoying. id now rather have it like AoK scale ships, just *slightly* larger like %25-50 larger, but still having nice animations like small, animated catapults firing off the ships and hurling arrows firing off the ships aswell (not like EE and RoN, where only one crappy arrow or cannon ball shoots out the ship).

[SUD]

What happened to the old idea of ships as big floating pieces of terrain with units and stuff inside?

I would vote a size about 4 times AOK ships

[King Tutankhamun]

To full scale. 1:1

[Ulysses S Griffin]

well i didnt expect so many replies from this topic, so did u developer guys find this response useful for what to do with this certain part of the game?

[Phoenix-TheRealDeal]

Not really, because ship size, relatively, had been determined long, long ago (yes, SUD). Furthermore, as with almost any spec, there are other ramifications of design that ship size integrates with, so frex, if you change ship size then you change a lot of other lil thangs about the game.

[phantom_rider2]

Medium-Relatively large, enough to give you the best size with the largest fleet.

I know what you're saying, AoM they gave out plenty of stuff showing early screens with ships that lowered their sails when they unloaded, then what did we get? ships that are about the size of two infantry units. It really is sad, most of the early building designs they had were cut while I think they are cooler then the current ones.

That's why any models you guys cut should be avaliable to the public one way or another, if at all possible

[Tonto_Icy_Tripod]

because ship size, relatively, had been determined long, long ago

You know I just have to ask this So what is the size then? Approximately of course

[Childhood Trauma]

I personally would like big fat massive ships. It would add a sense of "wowww".... as the camera zooms out for a naval battle. And architecture could all be real size as well. It would make the game look monumental, but the units would look pretty tiny. I always hated the ships in AOK which were the same size as 1 knight. That sucked @#$%. And the houses were also as big as one knight. It was very silly. If everything were real size, that would be awesome.

[battlestar]

I've thought about this before and I think to-scale ships are too huge to manage, hard to drive around the map, plus then there won't be any large sea-battles involving lots of ships. Most historical ships are meant to be fighting in the Mediterranean sea, in large spaces that probably the size of an 1300x1300 map.

I think Garrison will do fine with ships, larger than those of AOM, but not too big. when archers garrison inside, the ship'll act just like an tower so they can shoot out, and when foot soldier garrison inside, the ships are allowed a special melee attack to take over other ships, kind of like how "troopships" work in "Conquest."

the more foot soldiers garrisoned in the attacking ship, the more chance of success, the more foot soldiers garrisoned in the defending ship, the less chance of success.

[Ulysses S Griffin]

yeah, that idea isnt bad, shouldnt be too hard to do...but i wouldnt know, im no expert

[Khazun]

i like the idea of too scale. Hence i voted to scale

[King Tutankhamun]

Yes, to scale ships would be a great impact to the worldness of the game.

Then would it mean everything else would have to be to scale?

[Ulysses S Griffin]

You'd need a masive map to play on if u wanted everything to scale