Wind and the Age of Sail

[John DiFool2]

Did a search on wind and weather, didn't notice any discussion of this idea, so...

Anyone ever play Pirates! (in any of its incarnations)? You had to pay special attention to the wind direction, having to tack upwind if your destination lay in that direction. It would seem that Civ could be easily set up for this, with more or less stable wind patterns (westerlies, trades, etc.). Frigates would be faster when tacking than Galleons, Triremes could move against the wind very well with their rowers, etc. If this in fact has already been discussed here my pardon.

[Rusty Edge]

Yes, I play Pirates! whenever I need a break from Civ.

I think this is one of those things like trying to change Civ tiles from squares to hexes. People that are familiar with the alternative can appreciate how it contributes to realism, while others don't want a confusing change that seems to complicate the game unnescessarily.

Since I enjoy the naval element I could see trade winds and maybe a couple of currents such as the Gulf Stream.

[vra379971]

Yes, I would actually enjoy some more tactical depth in the water.

[buffalo6542]

I have played pirates and have noticed that Civ does not take into account a wind factor when sailing somewhere

[uk53]

or current and gulf stream which throughly annoyed me when i first played civ II but it is rather obsolete around the modern ages unless your going to introduce more regular weather in the random events i.e. huricanes tornado and earthquakes

[TheDS]

This makes me think of roads for ships. It is often better to take a road, even if it goes a little out of the way, than to try the direct route. Likewise, if "currents", be they air or ocean, give a movement bonus for ships, it may wind up being better to take a longer route than a shorter one.

Envision each water tile having an arrow, and if you move along it, you only consume like 1/2 of a movement point, if you move against it you consume an extra 1/2, and moving across it is just 1 like normal. Like land units, you'd get a minimum of 1 move, and any fraction of an MP is worth a move. Many water tiles might not have any arrows, and so no bonuses would be available there.

I would NOT extend this to making different rates of movement bonuses for different kinds of sailing ships. Land units aren't using that kind of excessive attention to detail, and neither should water units.

Self-powered ships could also be affected by these currents, but less so, like 3/4 and 5/4 of an MP respectively.

All this is a simplified assumption that wind and water tend to move in the same direction, which is probably not the case very often.

[Magma_Dragoon]

This would certainly make naval warfare more interesting.

[jake667]

I loooove pirates!

Anyway, I think it would definitely make naval warfare more strategic than sailing a frigate into a square with a galleon and tearing it apart.

[Rusty Edge]

Originally Posted by TheDS

This makes me think of roads for ships. It is often better to take a road, even if it goes a little out of the way, than to try the direct route. Likewise, if "currents", be they air or ocean, give a movement bonus for ships, it may wind up being better to take a longer route than a shorter one.

Envision each water tile having an arrow, and if you move along it, you only consume like 1/2 of a movement point, if you move against it you consume an extra 1/2, and moving across it is just 1 like normal. Like land units, you'd get a minimum of 1 move, and any fraction of an MP is worth a move. Many water tiles might not have any arrows, and so no bonuses would be available there.

I would NOT extend this to making different rates of movement bonuses for different kinds of sailing ships. Land units aren't using that kind of excessive attention to detail, and neither should water units.

Self-powered ships could also be affected by these currents, but less so, like 3/4 and 5/4 of an MP respectively.

All this is a simplified assumption that wind and water tend to move in the same direction, which is probably not the case very often.

I like the idea! As for differences between wind and water movement, the arrows would simply represent the net change in speed in a given direction.