Challenge . . . Figure this out!

Westley_Roberts · Iron Guts Posts: 960 **10339 Gold** -

It seems my post induced an experiment, and while I'd personally like to test it out, I do not have the time nor the resources to do a fact finding mission. So, please, someone, anyone, with the guts and skill, and knowledge, please take up the FLAG and run with this..

We'll all thank you for your findings !!!
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Have an Army Day

fossaman · Gunner Posts: 726 **3515 Gold** -

We need to get Strange to come do this...
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Like my fossa? He's a pirate! Razz

Mycroft Stanyer · Seaman Posts: 146 **2709 Gold** -

There's a lot of things going against you. The transient nature of wind speed and direction. Failure to take Frames Per Second into accurate account. And the optical illusion of speed changes that occur as the camera zooms in and out whenever your fleet has potential targets in sight.

Javi · Cutthroat Posts: 458 **2778 Gold** -

As I posted in another topic:

"Apart from the "wait for me" ad, the best way to check by yourself if the slower ships of your fleet slow your flag ships is: start sailing in any direction and calculate, more or less, your speed looking the way you sail, enter in the fleet menu and abandon your slower ships, then check if your flag ships sails fasten or not."

Trying it, IÃ‚Â´ve confirmed that the slower ship has influence in your flag ship speed

Airsaw · Rigger Posts: 1840 **3281 Gold** -

Rupert: Off the top of my head, pointy as it may be.

Your fleet speed is very much affected by the ships in tow. However, if you are towing a faster ship than yours, it'll never pass you. It might be a good idea to use THAT one as a flag ship till you get where you're going.

Prize ships will sail RIGHT over rocks, and if you've got weather gear and try using a hurricane for propulsion, a prize ship will FIND a way to get blasted by lightning. Damaged prize ships drag even worse.

However, sometimes a thing like differences in rigging might put a flag ship at a disadvantage in some wind conditions, but your prize ships will love it and try to scoot past you. If you choose to tow an extra ship, try to get one similar to yours. With cotton sails and a copper hull, there's no noticeable slowdown.

Another thing to consider is prize ships, or ships in tow, carry few crew. The flagship is fully-manned, the towed ship gets the remainder. If the flagship isn't fully-manned, the minimum crew is put aboard the towed vessel. Your carpenter and sailmaker will repair towed ships en route, however it's less of a fix than they do on the flagship, and it calculates as the month turns.

When towing vessels, it's best to forego what makes YOUR ship sail best, and tack according to the prize ships' preferences. Always be careful around rocks and lead ships in tow trying to avoid the rocks yourself. Don't expect the prize ship to avoid the rocks!

When you sell prize ships in ports where your repairs and upgrades are free - upgrade the ship, then sell it. You get more money that way.

Mycroft Stanyer · Seaman Posts: 146 **2709 Gold** -

The flagship will not only slow down to keep the prizes in tow, but to keep the prizes in formation. I have had a frigate followed by a group of undamaged Sloops, Cotton Sails and all, and the entire fleet crawled along like a galleon. Why? Everybody was trying to form up in a nice little chevron when the flagship turned to a beam reach. Those sloops on the outside of the chevron couldn't catch up, and those on the inside needed to slow downÃ¢â‚¬â€ it was madness trying to get the group going again.

That going, the more ships in the fleet, the slower it gets. Having one prize tag along in bare semblence of a formation is one thing. Having six consorts trying to demonstrate how pretty they can formate the flotilla is another.

rupertlittlebear · Helmsman Posts: 4545 **10381 Gold** -

Gun Pierson · Gunner Posts: 809 **5053 Gold** -

PirateOfDarkWater · Powder Monkey Posts: 32 **1058 Gold** -

I'm kind of looking at this issue.

1) Do you travel as fast as your slowest ship?
Nope. I don't think it matters what type of ship your trailing ships are. It only matters what type of flag ship you have and the NUMBER of trailing ships. So a war canoe (flagship) and fluyt fleet is as fast as a war canoe (flagship) and pinnace fleet.

2) Is your fleet speed influenced by your Flag-Ship!
Definately. It seems this is the base factor for fleet speed. Most of the other factors will modify this speed.

3) Something Else?
I suspect there are a number of factors for fleet speed: (but some things I need to test yet)

a) The sailing points of your flagship and the direction you are sailing in. (relative to the wind direction)
b) The wind speed.
c) The number of trailing ships you have. There appears to be 3 groups. First group is just a flagship by itself this is by far the fastest. The next group is 1-4 trailing ships. And the final group is 5-7 trailing ships - this makes a significant difference also. So it doesn't seem to matter if you have 1 trailing ship or 4 your fleet appears to travel the same speed. It only makes a difference what group you fall under. (I'll have to test this some more for sure though)
d) Whether or not you have the navigator crewman and the navigator skill.
e) Whether or not your sails are reefed.
f) The amount of damage done to your flagship and trailing ships. (don't know how this factors in yet)
g) The difficulty makes a differences but only between the 'close-hauled into the eye' sailing points. You go much faster for all ships on Apprentice than on Swashbuckler between those points.
h) Cotton Sails upgrade
i) Whether or not you have the minimum number of crew.

One thing that do NOT affect fleet speed:
a) Crew Morale. A mutinous crew travels as fast as a very happy crew.

I was thinking of writing a special subjects FAQ on fleet speed. But it is turning out to be a large task. Maybe I will but probably not. We will see.

PirateOfDarkWater · Powder Monkey Posts: 32 **1058 Gold** -

I tried some more tests that involved a longer distance. It looks like fleet speed gets rather convoluted in large fleets. If you have one ship in your fleet you can predict the fleet speed pretty well given all the other variables. But in fleets of like 8 ships it gets difficult. Problem is the ships slow down and speed up and the fleet travels and different speeds at different times.

But I think that the number of ships in you fleet is more important than how fast they are (with the exception of the flagship). When you must make a new 'row' it slows you down more. What I mean is a new row in the formation in your fleet. you can fit two ships in a row. The speed of your flagship is important. The speed of the ships in your fleet is a factor too but not so much as those two.