The wind's effect on movement can greatly change the speed of a ship depending on its attitude. A ship heading into the wind will always come to a full stop. That is why ships will tack to the left or right of the direction of the wind, close-hauling their way forward.
The most effective speed is achieved by moving with the wind to the left or right rear (reaching), rather than running directly with the wind. A longer description of each of these is given below:
Reaching indicates the ship is travelling nearly perpendicular to the wind, adjusted to fit the hex grid of the battle map. Because of this limitation, we need not be concerned with close, broad or beam reaches for the purpose of the rules (which would require creating six more compass points). The reach is the fastest pont of sail.Running indicates the ship is moving in the same direction as the wind, with the mainsail is eased out as far as it will go. Steering can be difficult when running, making the ship less stable, so that it may go off course more easily than on other points of sail. The ship can jibe accidentally (turn its stern through the wind), causing the boom on yachts to swing across the ship quickly. Most sailors prefer to avoid running with the wind, which is inferior to the speed achieved through reaching.Close-hauling describes when a ship is beating or working to windward, when a ship’s sails are trimmed (set) tightly so that it is sailing as close to the direction of the wind as it can go without losing forward momentum. When close-hauling, a ship is moving at its slowest speed while yet making progress.Heading to the wind describes a course that is too close to the direction from which the wind is blowing, causing the ship to stop moving forward. For the system’s purposes, a ship that has turned its head into the wind will come to a stop once the ship’s movement of that round has been spent. Ships will rarely come head to the wind except when caught in irons (the ship has stalled).
Ships may, if they wish, trim their sails to reduce their speed to any speed less than their maximum, no matter what the ship’s attitude may be.
See Also,
Naval Combat
Wind
I do plan to create a list of simple terms that can be addressed by us lubbers when we're talking about these things.
Approved. :) To nitpick just a little, though, what you have here is succinct description of sailing a fore-and-aft rigged vessel. Ships which are square-rigged such as in your diagram, sail a bit differently. While the points of of sail are the same, the handling is different. For example, passing the stern of the vessel through the eye of the wind is jibing a fore-and-after, and needs to be controlled to be safe, but wearing a ship a pretty painless. Tacking, passing the bow of the vessel through the eye of the wind, is the trickier evolution on a ship. And to really nitpick, two more points. The sail adjustment to drop just a little speed is usually to "ease" the sails rather than "trim" them. Turning the bow into the wind doesn't stop the vessel so much as reverse it; although she's stopped for a moment while changing from forward to reverse.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that's because it was copied from websites, not because I fully understood it.
ReplyDeleteSince you say it's nitpicking, and since we're basically speaking of things that won't affect the actual game play (since the system IS based on fore-and-aft rigged vessels), I suppose I'll leave it.
If you'd like to rewrite a sentence here or there, Sterling, let me know which sentences, give me a direct quote and I'll plunk it in.
As you say Alexis, this doesn't really affect the game play, however I've re-worded it in case you'd prefer to lose the language that makes it less general. The ships of the line in WSIM were not fore-and-aft rigged vessels, so if ships of that sort ever come into play as well, this wording would apply equally. I threw in just the barest of terms for flavor hopefully without making it harder to grasp.
ReplyDeleteThe most effective speed is achieved when reaching, that is sailing with the wind off the left (port or larboard) or right rear (starboard quarter) of the vessel. A longer description of each of these is given below:
Reaching indicates the wind is coming nearly perpendicular to the ship’s attitude, adjusted to fit the hex grid of the battle map. Because of this limitation, we need not be concerned with close, broad or beam reaches for the purpose of the rules (which would require creating six more compass points). The reach is usually the fastest point of sail.
Running indicates the wind is coming from behind the ship which then moves in the same direction as the wind. This point of sail is slightly less efficient than reaching for most vessels.
Close-hauling describes when a ship is beating or working to windward, when a ship’s sails are trimmed (set) so that it is sailing as close into the direction of the wind as it can go. When close-hauling, a ship is moving at its slowest speed while yet making progress.
Heading to the wind describes a course that is too close to the direction from which the wind is blowing, causing the ship to stop moving forward and begin drifting. For the system’s purposes, a ship that has turned its head into the wind will come to a stop once the ship’s movement of that round has been spent.
Ships whose sails are trimmed sub-optimally for their point of sail whether intentionally, accidentally, or through inattention reduce their speed to any speed less than their maximum.
When would sails intentionally be trimmed sub-optimally?
ReplyDeleteIn battle, you might not want to get as close to your enemy as optimally trimmed sails would take you. You want to avoid collisions and you always want to approach in such a manner, or ease up, to give you the best advantage with weapons or with grappling/boarding.
ReplyDelete@Homer2101 when a faster vessel wants to sail in company with a slower one, for example.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the rewrites, Sterling. I've logged them and I'll update the wiki later today with other new content.
ReplyDelete