Following an old idea of mine, and a suggestion posted by @rogueranger1993, I've been thinking about creating a clearer and standarized pattern for the starting ship descriptions (which also appear in the Appearance menu of the shipyard). At the moment, they're all over the place. Some contain useful information about the ship's characteristics, some are just a quote, a humorous comment, a historical note on the real ship the model is based on... or a mix of all the above.
Standarizing the descriptions would be useful for new players to make a more informed decision on which their starting ship will be, and it would also look neater and more polished.
I've been trying a couple of things, and this is the pattern I've worked out:
1st line: general description and number of guns
2nd line: most significant performance tips (very fast, good/bad upwind, etc.)
3rd line: description of the paintjob
4th line (optional): extra flavor text (quotes, comments, etc.)
Many of the current descriptions already cover 2 and 3, so they would only need some reworking. 4 would be reserved for those "special" ships that deserve some extra flavor, like a quote or funny comment, so the flavor and personality of some of the current descriptions won't be lost to standarization. This fourth line only appears in the ship selection screen, because the shipyard "Appearance" menu only displays up to 3 lines. This way, the last line in the shipyard menu will always be the description of the paintjob, which is the important part for that intance. The sentences have to be short and to the point, or they'll run out of the text box in the shipyard menu.
A couple of examples of my proposal compared with the descriptions currently in the mod:
So, now that all is explained, question time:
Standarizing the descriptions would be useful for new players to make a more informed decision on which their starting ship will be, and it would also look neater and more polished.
I've been trying a couple of things, and this is the pattern I've worked out:
1st line: general description and number of guns
2nd line: most significant performance tips (very fast, good/bad upwind, etc.)
3rd line: description of the paintjob
4th line (optional): extra flavor text (quotes, comments, etc.)
Many of the current descriptions already cover 2 and 3, so they would only need some reworking. 4 would be reserved for those "special" ships that deserve some extra flavor, like a quote or funny comment, so the flavor and personality of some of the current descriptions won't be lost to standarization. This fourth line only appears in the ship selection screen, because the shipyard "Appearance" menu only displays up to 3 lines. This way, the last line in the shipyard menu will always be the description of the paintjob, which is the important part for that intance. The sentences have to be short and to the point, or they'll run out of the text box in the shipyard menu.
A couple of examples of my proposal compared with the descriptions currently in the mod:
Caravel1_Descr{A 32-gun merchant caravel.Caravel1_Descr{Lateen masts give good upwind performance.
Decorated merchant ship with red and white hull.}
Her lateen rig gives her good upwind peroformance.
White and brown hull with golden decorations.}
HMS_Bounty_Descr{A 14-gun full-rigged merchantman.HMS_Bounty_Descr{Resembles the famous 'HMS Bounty'.
Better keep your distance from Tahiti.}
Her square rig is more suitable to sail downwind.
Hull painted black, blue and yellow reminds of the HMS Bounty.
Better keep your distance from Tahiti...}
So, now that all is explained, question time:
- Is it worthwhile doing this in the first place? Do you think it benefits the mod or we shouldn't bother?
- Do you agree with my proposed pattern? Do you have an idea to make it batter? Should it prioritize other information?...