Many people have no idea what Sailing is, or don't understand how a ship works, with the wind and all that.
I'm a Marine for almost 5 Years now, and I've been on the sea more times in 5 Years then I can count.
(PS: I'm Portuguese Marine, sorry for any technical english mistakes, keep in mind, we Portuguese invented most of these terms.)
In SoT the sailing is actually very realistic. And this is one of the things I love about the game.
So thought about passing some knowledge to you guys, so you can improve your sailing when in-game.
Sailing Tips:
Left - Port
Right - Starboard (Stbd)
Front - Bow
Back - Stern
Ship Rotation:
Unlike a car for example, wich rotates over the front from its wheel, a ship rotates at its center.
When you turn the wheel on a ship you make the rudder (Thing on the back of the ship, turn as well).
Usually we use angles to turn a ship in Navigation, unslees you want to keep a course, then you use Easting which is the numbers on a compass from 1º to 360º (North).
So each spin of the wheel its usually 25% of the Rudder Shovels turn.
You can always know where the Wheel Center is because that Wheel Handle its marked diffrently from the others.
Example of orders to the Rudder Men: (Navigate Stbd or Port Three Six Zero) wich is North, or you can give the order in degree's: (Turn 15º to Stbd or Port).
Manouvers:
Wind Manouvers:
When wind is blowing behind you, called Stern Wind, and its the easyest and fastest Navigation you can get.
Here we say for example the wind is coming from South, so you're Heading North.
(Here you want to keep all your sails down in order to achieve maximum ship speed, and remember to always adjust, as wind keeps changing direction, even in SoT.)
When the wind is blowing in front of you we call it Bow Wind.
Navigation here its tricky, you can do it, but it will take you longer, and you can't achieve always the same speed.
To gain as much speed as you can, you need to do boards. In my language translated to english is "luff".
Example: Wind is blowing South, and you want to head South, you'll need to do for example, South Eeast till you get some wind and speed, at this time you want to turn your sails all the way to Portboard (Left), so the wind can keep tacking them (remember to always look at your sails, you can always notice when you're getting more speed), then head South West with the same turn, but this time, you'll need to turn your sails all the way to Starboard (Right).
You'll realize your sailing like a snake, against the wind, but South, and faster then if you just move towards the wind.
When doing this, try to use just the front and middle sail, that way your 3 team mates can help you turn the middle and front sail faster, in this case, you might want to keep you back sail up, at least in real life. In-game, I actually don't know how it works, maybe you can benefit with it centered, so as soon as the game is out, I'll try this, and I'll update my post about it.
Docking:
As many of you might know, in the old days the sail ships always had an auxilar boat, it was a wooden boat with oars on it so you could reach a land or a port. (The risk of collision was very high, due to its poorly maneuverability).
The ships used in SoT are exactly the same. They are not made for docking.
But!, You can actually dock the ships in SoT. You need to consider 4 things.
- Wind Direction
- Speed
- Sails Up Timing
- Anchor Drop Time (Optional)
These are crucial for a successfull docking in SoT.
Its always better to put the wind behind you and aproach the dock as horizontal to it as you can.
As you aproach the dock, get your sails up (Timing here is essencial too.)
Then, as sayd in before, mind the ship rotations.
Never turn more then 20º of your Wheel.
Start by making longer aproaches untill you're familiar with the ship turns.
(Optional) - Count the time the anchor takes to drop. (Remember when dropping anchor, the Ship Wheel needs to be at center, or you will do a slightly spin and hit the dock or get the stern too far from it).
Practice, and Practice until you get it right.
Combat Engagement, Positioning and Boarding Tatics
(Please keep in mind I'm making this based on my knowledge and based on real life facts, SoT it's nothing but a game so every aproach needs to be made diffrently, every opinion I post here, is nothing but that, it's fair to be arguable and not appreciated).
In real life, in the time of Pirates, the common thing to do was to disabble the sails of the enemy ship, so you could board it with your auxiliar boats. (If you were looking to reach their cargo and actually steal from it, so the cargo don't sink.) - So lets call boarding Active Aproach
If not, you would just want to sink your enemy, firing your cannons. Lets call this Passive Aproach
In SoT aproaches are made slighly diffrent.*
So right here we have 2 diffrent aproaches, wich are applyable in SoT, because we are Pirates, and all we look for is the other ship Values. In countrary of real life, you can sink the ship, because the cargo will stay floating and you can still get it.
Passive Aproach (In SoT) aka Loose Cannons!!
Keep your distance! It's harder for you to hit, but so it is for them.
Mind the Waves, Timing and Angle. Remember a projectile always go further at 30º Degrees, don't get you cannon to low or to hight, play with the waves, get your timing right. (And Skill ^^).
Do some rounds so you can fire your cannons from both sides!
It's important you never give the same side or keep the same route, or it will be easyer for the enemy ship to compensate their shots, change courses, make some zig zags, or circle around, you can even pretend you're fleeing and drop some Gun Powder on the water then turn back!
Remember to use Islands as cover, either to make evasive maneuvers when you're in need of hard repairs or to take your enemy by surprise.
(Here I really recommend you guys to Google some Horatio Nelson maneuvers, the guy that defeated Napoleon!).
Ative Aproach (In SoT) aka Boarding
Now Lets say the enemy team can be really good at repairs, so you will need another approach!
When you are boarding you need to consider 4 things:
- Aproach Timing
- Wind Direction
- Your Ship Position Rleative to Enemy's Ship
- Who/How many Men will Board
The best way to aproach is with your Bow directly into one of the enemy's side (Port or Stbd). If they are moving, make sure you make a hard turn so you can get the wind behind you to reach them fast, playing with your wheel for collision timing!
Let's say you did a successful aproach, you need to have 2 Men ready to board, and 1 to help you getting the hell out of there!
One of those men priorities - Drop their Anchor!
If they dont succeed, wait for your team mates to respawn, keep your distance, and repairs and prepare to make another approach.
If they do, keep close, try to keep the other man firing at their ship, and wait for your men to kill them all while you watch them sinking!
This way they can't board you, but you can always board them!
(If you guys have any other ideas please let me now on the comments below!)
Flat Seas and Good Winds on March 20th!
Make sure you check out my Sailing Tips as well as #OP | Order of Pirates | Community, join our Discord anytime you want to find someone to sail with!
(EDITED 8 MARCH 2018, I appreciate for all the corrections, everyone has been extremely helpful, contributing to my knowledges, and everyone one in the Community about English Technique Terms for Sailing!)
