More Ships ... More Beauty ... More Flavour [IMPLEMENTED]

Ok thanks guys,

I will try to come up with a good balancing and something immersive.
It is not my highes priority, but I already prepare my "Ship Concept" as base for the new stuff to come.

• Cargo Slot Overhaul
• War of Independence Overhaul
• Europe / Africa / Port Royal Travel System Overhaul
• Ship Promotion System Overhaul
• ...

It is simply important to create all these puzzle pieces ahead of time and check for potential conflicts before they happen.
That is why I also spend so much time on creating concepts and improving them before I start implementing.

 

Barque would likely be harder to maneuver, as Toad explained, due to rigging set up.

Sloop (most) and corvette (lesser) variants will be far more agile, shallower draft especially with sloops. Pirates /loved/ sloops because of speed and handling, and that they could hide in shallow water and rivers, ambushing smaller merchants and evading the heavy draft warships. I know I've said before, I'd really like to see a smaller pirate class that can traverse rivers.

Is "deep water harbor" a terrain feature planned? There were plenty of ports that couldn't accommodate galleons or other larger ships. Either an improvement built or requiring a certain dock level to accommodate large ships, or terrain to consider when choosing site

 

The contrary has happened:
Shallow Coasts are introduced in branch "Plains" (and Reefs and Rocks and Streams and Fog and ...)

In public version 3.0.1 - everything is "deep water harbour". Which I never liked.
With internal branch "Plains" that is not be the case anymore, not every harbour is accessible for every ship.

But I can simply not repeat every monster concept a dozen times.
Please read the threads here and here. (All of that is implemented already in "Plains".)

To make it clear again:
You play a heavily outdated version of the mod considering features and improvements.
"Plains" - the current feature branch - is about half a year of development ahead of what you guys know.

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I am simply not yet done.
(It is still has a few unfinished implementations, is not balanced, still lacks maps or mapscripts, ...)

 

Hey that serves the same purpose lol. And I'll switch over and look at those other threads.

Is there a way to get into a "beta release group" for the in-progress changes? Would that be under github?

Wrong thread, ill ask that elsewhere

 

An old work of mine for a different game.

But can help with comparison.

 

I found other interesting ship graphics here.
They were created by @PPQ_Purple .

 

I was trying to start integrating a few ships.
The ships are the ones from my post here.

Currently I am having a problem though with these ships.
(Ships of Civ4BTS sometimes crash Civ4Col and vice versa.)

e.g. I tried to integrate the ship below as a "Pirate Cutter" being able to sail to Port Royal and transport Units.
(It is pretty fast but also a lot weaker though than e.g. the Pirate Frigate, so more of a "Sniper" for small trade vessels.)



Took me a bit to create a nice 2D Europe Screen / City Screen graphic.
(Really did this the first time ever and had to learn a bit how to do it best.)



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Summary:
I am working on new ships, currently having a few problems though.
Pretty sure I will get them solved with a bit of help.

 

With the help of @MightyToad we now have one more ship.

 

Ok, the Schooer is now also fully integrated.
(Including UnitArtStyles for all European Nations.)

Credits for 3D graphics:
@MightyToad

Buttons, Europe Screen, Balancing, ... all done.
The Unit is basically ready to play.

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@Kendon:
Could you please write the Pedia Entry for it to save me some time?
TXT_KEY_UNIT_SCHOONER_PEDIA

At one point it might also get its own Events and Achievements.
Currently I need to finish all the other Ships first though first.

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Here is how it looks ingame:
(Attached you will find more screenshots of e.g. Europe Screen.)

 

Done.

 

Thanks.

 

Hi guys,

and here is the next fully implemented Ship: Naval Brig
(Including UnitArtStyles, Buttons, 2D Europe Graphics, Balancing, ...)

Credits for 3D graphics:
@MightyToad

This one also comes with a new feature:
Increased chances of capturing enemy ships
(It is a new XML tag configurable at units.)

Summary:
This Ship is a bit weaker than a Frigate.
And it is a bit less effective against Pirates than a Corvette.
But if you want to capture Ships during War, this is the one you want.
(Maybe weaken them a bit first with other Ships.)




@Kendon:
Could you please write its Pedia Text again.
TXT_KEY_UNIT_NAVAL_BRIG_PEDIA

 

Hi guys,

and here is the next fully implemented Ship: Slave Barque
(Including UnitArtStyles, Buttons, 2D Europe Graphics, Balancing, ...)

Credits for 3D graphics:
@MightyToad

This one also comes with a new feature:
"isSlaveShip" --> It can load only goods, slaves or criminals.
(It is a new XML tag configurable at units.)

Summary:
1. It can be bought only in Africa (not in Europe or Port Royal)
2. It can also be built in the Colonies (once you have docks)
3. It is generally a pretty strong Trade Ship, but susceptible to Pirates.
4. It has 5 Cargo Slots so it can also transport a lot.
5. It has about the same speed as most other ships of its size. (5 Movement Points)
6. It also has the same terrain limitation as other ships of its size. (e.g. no Reefs, no shallow Coasts)
5. However, it can transport only goods, slaves or criminals.
6. It is the only real trade ship that can sail to Port Royal

Images:

Spoiler :

 

Hi guys,

here is the next fully implemented ship:
The "Royal Troop Galleon".

• It is currently a "King only"-Ship. (Maybe in the future player can get it by an event.)
• It can only transport goods and troops. (King has little usage for anything else anyways.)
• It is a lot weaker than the "Man-O-War". (So player may try to snipe them first.)
• It can however transport more Troops than the "Man-O-War". (6 vs 4)

In the next phase King will get 2 more ships as well.
(Could not finish it all today though. I am a bit sick and tired.)

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Credits for 3D graphics: @MightyToad
(I also created nation specific UnitArtStyles to it.)

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It is also part of the "War of Independence Overhaul", which was also already discussed a couple of times.
(Of which I have started implementing small parts - but just as much as necessary for the new Ships I add.)

Explanation:

Spoiler :

To simplify the part with "More Royal Ships":
There will be different Royal Ships with different specializations and roles.

Other parts of "War of Independence Overhaul" will for now not be implemented.
They will have to wait for a later release.

Images:

Spoiler :

Colopedia


As part of the Royal REF.


How its Europe Graphic looks like.


In comparison to a "normal" Galleon.

 

@Kendon:
Could you please write the English Pedia text again ?
TXT_KEY_UNIT_ROYAL_TROOP_GALLEON_PEDIA

 

Screenshots of the new Royal Frigate of the Kings
(Their REF is now a little more diversified.)

Credits for 3D Unit graphics:
@MightyToad

2D Europe graphics I created myself.

Spoiler :

Colopedia


In Comparison to other War Ships


How it looks in Europe:


REF forces with now more different types of Ships

 

Screenshots of the new Man'O War for the Colonies (aka "Colonial Man'O War")
(The Man'O War of the Kings has been renamed to "Royal Man'O War".)

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Credits for 3D graphis:
@Schmiddie

2D I created myself.

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Gameplay:

Spoiler :

You can not buy these (Colonial) Man'O Wars in Europe.
But you can build them in the colonies with a Great Ship Yard.

Royal Man'O War are still generally not available to the player, just Kings.
(Unless the player gets them by Events, which has been unchanged.)

They are stronger than Ships of the Lines but still a bit weaker than Royal Man'O Wars.
(So the strongest ships of the Kings are still a stronger than your strongest ones.)

They are allowed to transport troops and goods.
But they are not allowed to transport normal Units.

Images:

Spoiler :

Comparison on Map:
Colonial Man'OWar (middle) to Ship of the Line (left) and Royal Man'O War (right)


Colopedia:


In Europe:


City Screen:

 

Ok and finally the last one done ! I am done adding Ships !
My brain is totally wasted now ... ... too much repetitive XML work ... ...

But well, here it is:
The "Royal Ship of the Line".
(Credits for 3D graphics: @Schmiddie)

So now all of these 3 Ship categories now have a "Colonial variant" and a "Royal variant"
(The UnitClasses are separated however in case somebody wants to make both available to the Player in a modmod.)

• Frigate <- vs -> Royal Frigate
• Ship of the Line <- vs -> Royal Ship of the Line
• Man O' War <- vs -> Royal Man O' War

So here are some more images:

Spoiler :

Top Row: Colonial
Bottom Row: Kings


Colopedia: new Royal Ship of the Line


New Fleet Setup of the King:
(There is some randomness in there which Units he uses.)


City Screen:


Europe Screen:

 

Ok guys, I consider this finished now.
At some point we really have enough ships.

I have added now these 8 !!! new Ships:
(And I guess 8 new Ships is really more than enough.)

1. Pirate Cutter ---> Can bring Units from Port Royal, weak Pirate
2. Schooner ---> Fast Trader for e.g. trading with coastal Natives
3. Naval Brig ---> weak Colonial War Ship but very good at capturing Ships
4. Slave Barque ---> Specialiced Slave Ship
5. Royal Troop Galleon ---> Diversifies REF
6. Royal Frigate ---> Diversifies REF
7. Royal Ship of the Line ---> Diversifies REF
8. (Colonial) Man' O War ---> To symetrically balance Colonial Fleet

 

Great job!!!