CA I beseech you! (With poll)

[Sir Beane]

A couple of thoughts:

- By now we all should know CA's stance on realism vs. gameplay = gameplay wins. It is pointless to:
a. disagree
b. point out that realism can be fun too

- Naval battles will be more on the fun side, as opposed to super realistic***, because, well, see above.

Finally, internet poll aside, this baby ships on March 3rd/4th and that is the end of the story.

***Can you imagine the howls of complaints if the Battle of Trafalgar were presented accurately. The Franco-Spanish fleet in disarray with sub standard crews and the absence of a strong breeze? It literally took hours to get the Royal Navy fully engaged. Who really wants that?

A realistic, hours long battle of Trafalgar is something many fans here would be drooling about.

Most casual gamers however want something relatively easy to pick up, fun, quick (compared to real battles) and they aren't prepared to mess around with things like wind direction. CA can't risk alienating them by making naval combat too complicated, so they really have no choice but to compromise in the way they have.

While ships may be able to sail against the wind, they will be slow and tacking will be faster. That way the purists can tack to their hearts content and the casual gamers don't have to wonder why their ship isn't moving.

Truly realistic naval battles would be days-long affairs, consisting of hours of manouvering and chasing until the two fleets actually met. Imagine fighting a few of those a turn, you'd be auto-resolving in no time.

I expect that a Realism Mod for naval combat will probably have to be made to satisfy those who can't tolerate arcade combat.

[Schiltrom]

A realistic, hours long battle of Trafalgar is something many fans here would be drooling about. .

According to PC Gamer, the game only goes up to 1799.. I won't see my great great great great grandfather have his head blown off. George Duff (admiral of the HMS Mars) actually was my great great great great grandfather.

[ThePianist]

OK, OK, I understand the "delaying the release would cost money" thing. I wasn't pushing for more development time, only if they needed it.