Ship Speed

  • Cryptoheros88
    Founder

    Loving Sea of Thieves - I honestly can't remember how long it's been since I had this much fun in a multiplayer game. I've pillaged other ships on my own and as part of a crew and I've spent lots of time being chased, shot at and sunk - Every moment has been exciting and tense.

    My thoughts on ship speed though - the galleons seem to be just as fast as the sloops, if not even faster when sailing with the wind. The sloops are definitely more maneuverable and can turn through the wind easier, but it seems like galleons can still outrun a sloop in most situations. Shouldn't it be the other way around? Particularly from a game balance perspective - more crew, more guns, more strength should come at the cost of speed and maneuverability. At the moment it feels like the bigger ship just turns a little slower - but not enough to put it at a disadvantage. With matched sail angles and on the same heading the galleon always seems to beat a sloop. When sailing a sloop I found myself fighting hard to keep ahead of chasing galleons. When crewing a galleon I never found it that hard to catch little sloops. I'm coming to Sea of Thieves from other sailing games so I understand how to use the wind to my advantage - so I feel like I've been doing things the right way.

    Am I missing something/doing it wrong or have other players noticed the same thing?

    Thanks!

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  • Drachmul
    Master
    Founder

    yes sir the galleon is indeed faster as in top speed versus the sloop. it always catches you. and the sloop has a very hard time catching the galleon.

  • KarateMonkey800
    Master
    Insider
    Founder

    The Galleon is definitely faster than the sloop. The only time it can't catch the sloop is when they are both heading directly into the wind (the most effective tactic if they get close). I don't know if Rare was trying to be accurate, but in the world of sailing vessels the longer the boat the faster it can be (length at the water line).

  • Cryptoheros88
    Founder

    @tke800 Indeed, but then the smaller, shorter vessel can zig-zag into the wind and leave the longer, less maneuverable vessel behind. I only achieved this when I could see the the other crew were not setting their sails right. Faced with a crew that match my sails and movement, the galleon always caught me. They could still turn fast enough to gain on me when chasing me into the wind.

  • Hotel Actual
    Founder

    Larger ships are faster because of their length, their sail height and their sail number. It's realistic for a galleon to be faster than a sloop, and it's also realistic for a sloop to be more manoeuvrable than a galleon.

  • Cryptoheros88
    Founder

    @hotel-actual said in Ship Speed:

    Larger ships are faster because of their length, their sail height and their sail number. It's realistic for a galleon to be faster than a sloop, and it's also realistic for a sloop to be more manoeuvrable than a galleon.

    Yes, I agree. But by the same logic the smaller ship can make better progress when sailing into the wind, using its maneuverability to put distance between itself and the larger ship as it turns through the wind. Or at least that's how I expected the wind mechanic to work, but in practice it didn't make any difference.

  • Hotel Actual
    Founder

    @cryptoheros88

    It does make a difference, sailing into the wind on a galleon slows you almost to a halt and you just have to drift and turn until you hit some good wind.

    Been playing since alpha day one and it's definitely the case that the sloop is better in head wind than galleon.

  • Cryptoheros88
    Founder

    @hotel-actual I'm beginning to realise that the game allows you to sail into the wind and still move forward.

    I've been over-playing it. Rather than zig-zagging as would be necessary in real life, I should just head in a straight line directly into the wind, yes?

  • Hotel Actual
    Founder

    @cryptoheros88 said in Ship Speed:

    @hotel-actual I'm beginning to realise that the game allows you to sail into the wind and still move forward.

    I've been over-playing it. Rather than zig-zagging as would be necessary in real life, I should just head in a straight line directly into the wind, yes?

    That's what I do but it's very slow going maybe zig zagging is more effective, however the detouring of your direct route may be the cause of them catching up? Not sure

  • LIFEWCOKE
    Commander
    Boatswain
    Founder

    @cryptoheros88 That is what I do, just sail into the wind, play it a song and hope that is enough to get it to change directions.

  • Cryptoheros88
    Founder

    @hotel-actual Yeah you're probably right. I've been playing the game like it's a little more realistic than it really is. I assumed heading directly into the wind even with angled sails would result in the ship coming to a full stop or moving backwards. I've been trying to sail like a pro and weave into the wind all this time :P

  • The Lion Turtle
    Captain
    Insider
    Founder

    Technically the Galleon being fast in the wind is correct and lines up with physics.

    The Galleon has more surface area in both hull and sails. Meaning that even though it's larger and therefor heavier, there is more surface area for the wind to push on.

    The opposite is also true for the Sloop. It can't go faster than the Galleon in the wind just because it's lighter and smaller. It has significantly less surface area for the wind to push on. Especially consider that about half the ship is below the water and it's sail is very small.

    However this is the same reason the Sloop can go faster against the wind than the Galleon can. Galleon is bigger therefor more surface for the wind to blow against slowing it down. The Sloop is much smaller and has less surface area meaning less for the wind to push against when going against the wind. Hence why the Sloop can outpace the Galleon against the wind.

    If I ever see a Galleon coming for me, I turn against the wind if possible. They follow for maybe 5 minutes before they realize they can't catch me anymore.

  • Cryptoheros88
    Founder

    @the-lion-turtle This is also what I took into account, but overall it bares down to the wind mechanics of the game. Whatever ship you’re sailing, if you can point it directly into the wind and still move forwards, then weaving only offers advantage to the ship with a higher top speed, not manoeuvrability. I thought by zig zagging away from the larger ship I would lose them faster, but ultimately I was helping them catch up.

  • The Lion Turtle
    Captain
    Insider
    Founder

    @cryptoheros88 Yeah as a Sloop you definitely just need to sail in a straight line against the wind.

    The Galleon can try the whole zig zag thing to catch wind but it turns so abysmally slowly that they end up wasting more time trying to turn to catch the wind than actually getting a boost of any kind from it.

    I had a Galleon try this on me last night and I ended up leaving them behind because they constantly kept trying to zig zag for wind and it never worked.

  • Cryptoheros88
    Founder

    @the-lion-turtle Which is exactly why I have always zig-zagged away from galleons. I was assuming that I could out-turn them, putting ground between them and me as I changed tack quicker than them. All this time I thought if I pointed my ship directly at the wind I’d just stop moving so never tried it. On one hand I’m pleased that this balances the ships, giving each the ability to escape a chase. On the other hand, it’d add an extra layer of depth to the game if a skilled crew could chase or escape from a faster ship by using the wind and manoeuvreability to their advantage. I guess that pushes the game into the realms of realistic sailing simulator and away from pick-up-and-play fun though.

  • Crazymanstu
    Captain
    Insider
    Founder

    I feel there should be more of a "time to top speed" mechanic added. In real scenarios the shorter and lighter sloop would be able to get to speed much faster than the longer and heavier galleon, i also wish the sloop had the musical note for hitting full wind that the galleon does, it is such a rewarding sound.

  • btnz
    Marauder
    Insider

    This is just a suggestion, I feel that Rare should add a Full Rigged Pinnace to SoT. It would match up well against a Galleon or a Sloop. You wouldn't have to be worried about Galleons anymore! :)

  • hammy hamstar
    Commander
    Insider
    Founder

    Galleon is faster with the wind sloop is faster against. If in a sloop don't turn with the wind they will always out run you. Go across and against and turn a lot they will not catch you.

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