@danielalex3266

Awesome suggestion! Great designs! Thumbs up from me!

I really do enjoy your work every time mate! Keep it up!

@ninja-naranja said in More rigging variations:

Neat concept! Although I feel that whatever sail gives you the clearest view would be the one used most. Because it could give a competitive advantage.

Crabclaw for the win!

@william-flint said in More rigging variations:

I would add a set with a gaff rigged sail in (like on actual brigantines) for consideration.

Gaff rigs are great, but I don't think they would work within the game. Here's an animation to illustrate the problem: (Also the sloop is a cutter now.)

The problem is that the gaff jumps as the ship turns into the wind.

I can think of one workaround for this problem, but its not really elegant. Basically, you can only control the turn of the square sail that sits above the gaff. The gaff turns automatically. This also means that the gaff could swipe you off the deck, which would be quite funny to watch.

There is also the problem that the gaff blocks the ladder to the crows nest on the sloop and brigantine.

Then again the gaff sail looks very good on a sloop and brigantine.

@ghostfire1981 said in More rigging variations:

I love these!

More variation is always good,
BUT they should only be cosmetic, no benefits in speed and/or benefits regarding wind angles.

Thank you!

That's what I thought too. Having changes in speed, turning and handling would invite lots of problems.

@galactic-geek Looking through the artbook, it seems that the decision to stick exclusivly with square sails was made quite early in development - you barely see any other sail. And I do think that it was a very sensible and reasonable decision. As you said, in terms of simplicity and balance, square sails can't be beat.

But I think that by now, adding more rigging variations has become viable. It's similar to how costumizable cannons, capstans and steering wheels were added some time after launch.

Don't get me wrong; The game works perfectly fine with just square sails. (Unless you are as obsessed with sails and riggings as I am.) But it could be even better if more types of rigging were added. Spending resources on something that's purely cosmetic has become more and more viable after launch.

At least the simpler ones like Studsail and Junk Rigs. Trying to animate staysails without having them clip through the other sails all the time might still not be worth the effort. What I did was more an exhaustive list of all possible rigging types anyways. Doesn't mean that all of them have to be added, but I would love to see one or two new types of rigging.

@galactic-geek said in More rigging variations:

@danielalex3266 I'm sure we'd all like to see something new, but there's also the question of balance - how much it obscures your view or not is a very real factor.

That's a good point.

The largest offenders when it comes to obstruction of view are the crabclaw, which doesn't obstruct your view at all, and the ljungström, which would be like sailing with a blindfold. But those two were on the highly unconventional side anyways.

The studsail and lateen rigs shouldn't be an issue. The studsail is slightly slimmer at the bottom, the lateen is slightly wider. (You might have noticed that the central sail on the studsail rig is a bit slimmer then the regular square sail.) Studsails and lateens wouldn't upset the balancing any more then ripped sails (like kraken sails) or the dark adventurers sails aready do.

The junk sail is difficult to judge. Its advantage is that it is thinner then the square sail. Its disadvantages are that it unfurls the other way around (it obstructs your view even at low speeds) and that it does not billow out.

Staysails would barely have an effect on your view from the helm.

Balancing concerns over obstruction of view do rule out the crabclaw and ljungström, but the other rigs should be fine.

I've made a quick render of all sail plans side-by-side for a galleon. They use the same order as before; The most conventional and sensible sail plans come first at the left with the more unconventional and problematic ones towards the right.

Changes to the Lateen v2 sail plan

There has been an update to the lateen v2 sail plan. In the updated design, the lateen sail is 10 degrees offset behind the square sail, allowing the square sail to overlap it.

This would make reading how much the sail is turned a bit less clear, but it looks much better. I think it’s a worthwhile trade-off.

Mistakes

It turns out I got some nautical terms wrong.

Rigging

I have used rigging or rig to describe the types and arrangements of sails. My mistake was that rigging describes masts and ropes only. The correct term is sail plan.

Cutter

I have said that the sloop with gaff sail plan is a cutter. It has one mast with a jib foresail, gaff mainsail and square topsail. But actually, it is not a cutter, because a cutter is defined by having a single mast with at least two foresails. It does fit the definition for a sloop (single mast, two or more sails). Here’s a quick render to illustrate the difference:

All of these. I wish all of these were in the game, although I admit to moreso fancy exotic, less square seeming ones such as Lateens, Ljungström, Crabclaw and Junk, but then that's most of the designs haha.

As for Lateens, I'd say mainly V1 would be my choice though I would argue if ever it made it into the game perhaps it would be best if we were allowed to choose each masts independently with some choices being limited in the event they clipped and didn't structurally fit well with another chosen sail.

I love the simple thought of just having a lateen on my sloop, aaah. Have there been any news regarding new sail designs lately? The game's at season 9 now and I daresay was and is rather successful, they should have the leeway to implement such things perhaps?

I guess it would take some time to adjust cosmetics into variants befitting whatever new sail type, maybe that stops them.