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Thread: "Granularity" of the wind

  1. #1

    Default "Granularity" of the wind

    I'm curious what knowledgeable sailors and/or gamers in other systems think of the 8-direction wind model.

    I was a little surprised it was that coarse-grained. I know SOG was designed to be simple, and in that sense it's fine. But my layman's impression was that a 45 degree shift is fairly dramatic.

    I wonder what people would think of a houserule where you had more (16?) wind directions, perhaps with a slightly greater chance that shifts would occur (since they would be smaller) and maybe some low-probability chance for a larger than 22.5 shift (representing gusting or variable winds)?

    Would that add a bit more reality? Another thing to keep you on your toes as a sailor? Or am I thinking about the wind wrong?

  2. #2
    First Naval Lord
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    I've given it some thought... very little, but some. I was contemplating a 16 side Attitude Indicator to facilitate this very thing. I don't think we'd need to change the wind rules at all, just continue changing by one increment on the AI.
    Quote Originally Posted by Cool Breeze View Post
    I just didn't want to be seen as the, "Thread Pirate Roberts" and get too far off topic.

  3. #3
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    I think it fits with the overall granularity of the rules.

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    Would people then want to 'go the whole hog'? Name:  points of the compass.jpg
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  5. #5

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    Having a 32 sided wind indicator would do nothing but cause disagreements on the gaming table. 16 sides would probably be max, and that might be too much???
    I've seen people barely managing 8 sides without disagreeing. The picking the best attitude when close rule, is a good one but might be abused when using 16 sides.
    I think the broader base of eight sides makes the game faster, friendlier and more FUN.

  6. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by David Manley View Post
    I think it fits with the overall granularity of the rules.
    Very dry

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    When pursuing the particular over the playable in adding extra historical detail, methinks it better to understand what might be gained. Once the tactic of holding the wind gauge is understood by a player there is little else to add with the current set. Nor will there be until house rules come up against the real historical consideration of wearing, over tacking, a line. For most games rules this critical consideration is almost always left out - sad really.

  8. #8

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    I'm certainly willing to buy that's there would be no advantage to making it more fine-grained.

    I guess where I was coming from was my sense of age-of-sail combat, as a situation in which the successful captain was always attuned to the constant subtle (and of course sometimes not so subtle) shifts in the wind currents, and making small adjustments accordingly. The SOG wind rules don't appear subtle to me, or to require ongoing fine adjustments; they look more like getting bashed over the head with the wind once in a while. I thought maybe more-but-smaller wind changes would improve the flavor without really being much of a change.

    But maybe 45-degrees is all the game system will support. Or maybe it will feel subtle to me once I actually get playing...

    At any rate, the point about just creating more opportunities for ambiguity and dispute also definitely has merit

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    45 deg works fine for me. There are enough close calls on wind and facing now without adding another eight directions to alighn with. It would add only a modicum of "realism" in exchange for a bucket full of aggravation.

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    Keeping it simple is fine by me.

  11. #11
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    If you look at the AI it already shows all 32 points that a squared rigged ship would sail as does the wind compass! I think if one wanted to use that level of detail in the game though it would probably require a complete rewrite of the maneuver cards to better reflect the ship being "close hauled" etc., and steering by points!! So you'd have a few turning and tacking cards rather then the larger variety of cards each ship currently has in it's deck.

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    I think the more I play, the more apt I will be to keep things relatively simple. I find the more I play WoG, the more I appreciate the overall design. I do incorporate some of the house rules from the OTT campaign, but those rules primarily add as opposed to change rules, for example what occurs to pilots when shot down.

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    I gave some thaught about wind, too. And I think 1/8 is fine, having in mind wind change system. Such 1/8 change is rough, but and not erratic. If scale would be finer, wind change woudn't be that noticeable in game terms.

  14. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by Collingwood RN View Post
    When pursuing the particular over the playable in adding extra historical detail, methinks it better to understand what might be gained. Once the tactic of holding the wind gauge is understood by a player there is little else to add with the current set. Nor will there be until house rules come up against the real historical consideration of wearing, over tacking, a line. For most games rules this critical consideration is almost always left out - sad really.
    I think this would depend on whether you envision playing fleet actions with SoG. It seems that level of play is not the primary focus of the game given the attention to crew actions on individual ships. Although you would have some of those maneuver considerations in squadrons as well. Certainly crew quality comes into play here. Would the Spanish admiral trust his fleet to tack in succession? or would he be forced to wear instead?

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    Most of the AoS rules that I have used and the ones that I have enjoyed playing for many years cover these important distinctions and in addition the importance of damage in a ship's ability to perform these manoeuvres. SGN doesn't, but its a deficiency that I am currently happy to overlook given the nature of the game

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    Quote Originally Posted by David Manley View Post
    Most of the AoS rules that I have used and the ones that I have enjoyed playing for many years cover these important distinctions and in addition the importance of damage in a ship's ability to perform these manoeuvres. SGN doesn't, but its a deficiency that I am currently happy to overlook given the nature of the game
    I agree, especially as is SoG is still a fast and fun game to play. The temptation to add more into the game will probably slow it down, and take away some of the fun and rapid decision making it offers now.

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