Idea: pirates in crows nests see cannonball trajectory

  • Although being able to accurately hit your target with the cannons is an important skill to learn in SoT, I thought it would be an interesting dynamic if pirates in the crows nest could see the cannonball trajectory before the cannons are fired.

    I know that they are different games (with entirely different philosophies), but see this screenshot from Black Flag as an example of what I'm talking about: this screenshot from Black Flag

    Adding this ability would add an additional teamwork dynamic and encourage communication ("a little higher and to the left") when making long-distance shots. It would also force crews to make choices on where to allocate crew members; it takes time to climb up to the crows nest, so is it worth pulling a player from other tasks to direct cannonfire? This would probably get the most use in Arena, where landing shots earns points and you're guaranteed to start with a multi-person crew.

    Of course, there are plenty of reasons why Rare shouldn't add this feature, primarily because it goes against their core philosophy of not using visual markers/overlays that don't exist within the player space (e.g. no way points, no mini map, no warnings, etc). It would also be useless to solo players and those without microphones. Finally, you could argue that this ability would not be utilized much because most fights occur at close enough range that you don't need additional help to land your shots.

    Personally, I don't think the advantages outweigh the downsides, but I was still curious what the community would think about this feature: is this a change you would welcome or reject?

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  • I don't see a reason not to add this feature, but I also don't think it would be very useful. You can usually gauge your own shots and make adjustments, so having someone standing at the top of the crowsnest far away from the cannons, sails, and not being able to repair is more of a disadvantage.

    I'd categorize this one as a good feature that won't get the return on time investment to put it together.

  • You can already do this if you wish, but @D3ADST1CK already covered the fact that once you get used to cannon arcs, this is really not needed. Work on your Legend of the Sea of Thieves commendation for sinking 500 skelly ships and you will be a pro cannoneer in no time.

  • @limbicfanatic
    I don't think it's necessary. If you are in the crows nest you can already see if the cannonball is too high or low or whatever it is, so adding a trajectory wouldn't show you anything that you can't already see. As for people who are ON the cannon, you can normally see if your shot is too high or low or whatever it is, so adding a trajectory for someone on the cannon isn't needed either.

    It's a good idea, I like it in AC4, but it's just not needed in SOT as you can already judge your cannons from where you are now. Also, adding a trajectory before you shoot (like in AC4) would no longer make cannoning a skill, since anyone can see the path the cannonball will take, so there's no reason to even get good at aiming in the first place.

  • @D3ADST1CK @KaiJoi @KommodoreYenser

    Fair points from all of you (and thanks for the encouragement, Yenser).

    It's funny; I was fully aware that you can use your previous shot to adjust the cannon angle for your next shot (AI ships will shoot at you from long range, so I'll even use the angle of incoming shots to fine tune my aim), but it completely slipped my mind when I thought to post this idea.

    I guess the only advantage to this idea over what you can already do is to make sure your first shots hit (even at long distances), rather than fine tuning your aim over several volleys. Between the disadvantages I mentioned earlier and your own feedback, it's looking like this idea probably isn't worth adding.

    Cheers!

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