Hull sinker - Cannonball

[Stan Rogers]

Does this sinker shot fire the very first volley ?
If you attacked a frig fleet that led and tailed with a cutter with a sinker shot equipped sloop fleet, what would be the result ?

If not too much trouble, give me a fictitious rundown how this battle might play out.

[Warrior]

The sloop will easily take down the first cutter. Next the sloop will hit the frigate by 20% and a little bit more each round. This will continue as long as the sloop can survive, if the sloop survives for 5 rounds then it can defeat the frigate and move on to the next ship. But I don't think when its sloop vs frigate, a sloop can withstand for 5 rounds. If it can then the sloop fleet will win. If not, damages will be done to the frigate fleet and multiple attacks on it can defeat it

[Stan Rogers]

Interesting... What I am trying to understand is, if the Sloop will carry more than 1 "sinker shot" in its holds or if the shot is essentially wasted on the lead cutter in opposing fleet leaving the frigates free to eat the sloop.

I am making the assumption regardless of the opponents lead ship, cutter/frig/SotL, it will be destroyed from the sinker shot however the 2nd ship in line is fighting a regular sloop with regular shot and if capable, will defeat the sinker sloop.

[Warrior]

One Sinker is shot only once in a round. So the sloop can defeat the cutter easily in very less rounds. I don't know the exact rounds but still we can pass on to the frigate left with some sinkers. The number of hull sinkers a ship can carry need to be decided. But anyway, the sloop will be still left with some sinkers to hit the frigate. Even if it loses to the frigate then we can hit the fleet again, where the cutter can be taken with one shot and then we can take the frigate. Its a very hard battle for a sloop against a 3 frigates and 2 cutters. So, many attacks are needed and the loses are significant (the sinkers are expensive). But still the purpose of this feature is to make it achievable without voodoo curses. And with a decent fleet, we can take anything. This is not power come free, as making sinkers requires resources and also the defender fleet if stationary may also have some sinkers. This feature can also be advantageous to pirates to hit big moving targets if the profits gained is more than that of invested. So hull sinkers should be hard to come by but at the same they should not be too expensive otherwise it'll defeat the purpose of hitting big ships.

[Stan Rogers]

I think I did not word my question properly but allow me to toss this out to see if it conveys your desired results.

I think the Sinker Shot must be some sort of voodoo but perhaps not the traditional voodoo we all are familiar with.

Something more along the lines of what may be invented and built in the forthcoming witch hut. Something that cost you resources to produce for a 1 time usage.

It is a special cannonball that can cause incredibly devastating damage when striking opponents ship. This sinker cannonball will inflict xxxx damage points to any ship it hits. You are restricted from carrying more than X sinker cannonballs due to size/shape/weight/ etc.

When the Sinker shot is used is to be determined.

With the announcement of the Witch hut, I will be really surprised if admin even considers such without it involving the witch hut somehow

[Warrior]

This has nothing to do with voodoo and witch hut. It is a CANNONBALL. It needs to be loaded before attack. It can cause a damage of 20% of the defending ship's Health. One hull sinker is shot at the end of each round and it never misses.

The reason it should be different from voodoo is that some people have 24/7 mindbar and this is a bit expensive means to just damage their big ships. Also this game shouldn't rely on voodoo completely.

[Dr Vegapunk]

this is pirate romance,,,,

[Psychodad]

This has nothing to do with voodoo and witch hut. It is a CANNONBALL. It needs to be loaded before attack. It can cause a damage of 20% of the defending ship's Health. One hull sinker is shot at the end of each round and it never misses.

The reason it should be different from voodoo is that some people have 24/7 mindbar and this is a bit expensive means to just damage their big ships. Also this game shouldn't rely on voodoo completely.

I agree with this game shouldn't depend on voodoo. Voodoo is not very realistic and only exists in the game to generate real world revenue for the game owners.

Following that same line of logic, it is also unrealistic to put a "god mode" cannonball on a itty bitty ship. You have to consider the requirements of such a weapon if kept in the context of the times. Damage from a cannonball comes from kinetic force and in some cases secondary explosions. Kinetic force is derived from muzzle velocity and weight of the round. Muzzle velocity is created by the force of the expanding gases expelled by the rapidly burning powder. The launcher (cannon) has to have the structural integrity to withstand and direct the force of the exploding powder out through the muzzle. Most of the force pushes the cannonball out, but some pushes or recoils the cannon backwards and that energy would be transferred to the ship. If you accounted for all of the above to achieve consistently the damage you are looking for, your cannonball and a cannon capable of launching it would be very large and heavy and you would have to suspend the limitations of the sloop. That is a gun and cannonball of sufficient mass to accomplish what you are suggesting would probably swamp or make the sloop too unwieldy to benefit from it's inherent speed.

Perhaps in Avonmora the laws of physics are suspended, magic is real and pirates are the good guys.

[Warrior]

I agree with this game shouldn't depend on voodoo. Voodoo is not very realistic and only exists in the game to generate real world revenue for the game owners.

Following that same line of logic, it is also unrealistic to put a "god mode" cannonball on a itty bitty ship. You have to consider the requirements of such a weapon if kept in the context of the times. Damage from a cannonball comes from kinetic force and in some cases secondary explosions. Kinetic force is derived from muzzle velocity and weight of the round. Muzzle velocity is created by the force of the expanding gases expelled by the rapidly burning powder. The launcher (cannon) has to have the structural integrity to withstand and direct the force of the exploding powder out through the muzzle. Most of the force pushes the cannonball out, but some pushes or recoils the cannon backwards and that energy would be transferred to the ship. If you accounted for all of the above to achieve consistently the damage you are looking for, your cannonball and a cannon capable of launching it would be very large and heavy and you would have to suspend the limitations of the sloop. That is a gun and cannonball of sufficient mass to accomplish what you are suggesting would probably swamp or make the sloop too unwieldy to benefit from it's inherent speed.

Psychodad, your arguments are correct. So let there be a change in my suggestion : Hull sinkers can only be shot by ships that have 100 crew or more. I also think that the damage should be reduced and it should not rely on percentages rather it should have a specific damage amount... So suggestions regarding that are welcome if you think think this is a feature that should be developed...

[Psychodad]

I think that the discussions I've read relating to experience or training of crews as well as development of better ships, etc. is more realistic.

As metallurgy improved and cannon became stronger and lighter, rifling of bores etc these improved range, muzzle velocity, and accuracy all of which should provide a more lethal cannon shot overall. Additionally, the first rounds fired often were not as accurate as subsequent rounds due to ranging and sighting issues.

The variables are many and most tiresomely interrelated. I think the programming would be frustrating for CJ or anybody.