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    Maelstrom New Horizons


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New Models!

Finally got around to finish my interpretation of the Prince Regent:

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Under construction

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And in game​

It is, essentially, the same hull as the Forte with only differences being a spar deck, different gun and boat arrangements and slightly different stern board, and she looks very realistic to me. Much more so than the first attempts in the reconstruction thread over at modelshipworld anyway. Slightly overgunned, but they didn't care for range there, so that might not have been much of a problem.

For the final variant I applied a standard frigate paint scheme with single stripe - the upper stripe, interestingly looking as it is, appears only on one drawing of 3 different pictures of the ship I found, so it might have been a fluke or existed for only a short time.​
 
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As I mentioned, I did plan to rebuild the Colossus, and here is the new version. The mesh is more detailed and accurate.

To make things somewhat more interesting, I added a round bow using a configuration of Minotaur/Tremendous, with the head still at upper deck level:

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Two schools of naval architecture - Danish (Cambridge) and French (Colossus):

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You can, by the way, notice that the Cambridge also changed a little - the bridle ports are repositioned along with the hawseholes. This may appear a little off the plan, but that's a topic for separate discussion.
 
Martes said:
Two schools of naval architecture - Danish (Cambridge) and French (Colossus):

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Click to expand...
:shock :shock :shock

That's a really interesting comparison!

Could I ask... what are the main differences?
I see a sleeker stern on one of the two, but what else?
 
Pieter Boelen said:
I see a sleeker stern on one of the two, but what else?
Click to expand...

Funny thing, the stern has nothing to do with it - soon after 1815 they got to the round stern, then elliptical, but lines of the hull remained more or less intact, and that's what counts - underwater especially.

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Left: Cambridge Right:Colossus
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Aside from the very visible difference in the shape of the midship section, note the foremost station (the narrowest on the right half of lines) on both drawings. The Colossus has the widest part of this line very close to waterline, while the Cambridge it is considerably higher, and the overall symmetry of the Cambridge fore and aft. When you turn the 3d models around you can see how differently they sit in the water and how they move through it.
 
And I went into rebuilding the 74 for a reason.

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I used the Vindictive plans on the hull of the Colossus (which will explain a slightly different gunport arrangement and a straight stem). The elaborate semi-elliptic stern with hanging quarter galleries is especially interesting.

So we have a frigate of a size of a battleship, with comparable armament, built to 1830's specification over a hull with lines designed in 1740's. Lacks only steam engine for complete madness, and even that's not impossible.

For me it was a long dream, to actually and properly razee something (you remember the Indy, which will get her turn here as well, hopefully).

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Interesting, that most of the large post-war British frigates, starting with the Vernon, were, more or less, similar to those converted frigates, both in size and in armament, as if the Admiralty, after long decades got the idea that it just may be easier to design a large frigate from the beginning, than to build a two-decker and then cut it.
 
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How simulating ship's boats could look like:

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I replaced the submarine mesh (it's hardcoded in the dll, as I already suspected), and restricted it's vertical movement so it doesn't sink when approaching a ship. It can be towed, detached, attached again, it can stop and move in any direction, so with a bit of modelling, it can look right.

Unfortunately, there are two virtually unsolvable problems here. First, the boat does not have a collision detector with a ship (that's what allows the submarine to pass under one). It can collide with land, though, thankfully. Second - it's still invisible by adversary side.
So, by (temporarily) sacrificing the submarine and replacing a dll and a config file it's possible to use boats, but for scenic purposes only.

...I really wish for a new engine.
 
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Martes said:
...I really wish for a new engine.
Click to expand...
Could you perhaps write an article (or a series) about the game, the type of gameplay, your modifications and the historical research behind it?
I don't have this game and don't have access to it either; but maybe with such an article, we can point in a different direction.

For example, have you heard of "Virtual Sailor/Vehicle Simulator"?
Or @ChezJfrey's Maelstrom?

Maybe those two offer some options?
 
Pieter Boelen said:
Could you perhaps write an article (or a series) about the game
Click to expand...

It's not a bad idea, but where to post it? Not that we have a large audience here.

Pieter Boelen said:
For example, have you heard of "Virtual Sailor/Vehicle Simulator"?
Or @ChezJfrey's Maelstrom?
Click to expand...

Of course. But, those games are of different scope and perspective (think about difference between simulator and RTS), and technically their adaptation will be in no way easier than making it from scratch in Unity. I just have no idea where to get somebody who has time and knowledge enough paired with interest in the subject.
 
Little fixes:

Raised the 74-razee a little above the waterline, aligning (but keeping slightly lower than) with the Pique and polished the 74, removing the upper deck stripe on the head, adding curved rails and refining the lines.

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Caught almost Van de Velde style angle for the 74:

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Unfortunately, the game camera lens allows this only at a distance, so it's relatively pixelated.
 
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Reminded by @Armada 's post I ran an experiment I thought of for some time already:

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A bomb vessel!
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In the game config files there is an unused slot for additional gun caliber (heaviest, 68-pounder), for which I altered the damage/distance table for a very heavy damage only at the farthest possible distances, around 1.5 km. While not completely historic (real firing distances were about 3-5 miles, if I remember correctly, as opposed to 1 here), it gives most of the experience with bomb vessels that is required. Takes forever to reload, hits once a day, requires painfully careful positioning, but in the end it delivers.
So now I can place a bomb vessel model somewhere in the shipyard queue.
 
Another ship in my "monstrous frigate" series: the HMS Vernon (1832)

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Considered at that time an experimental frigate, she was very large (similar in size to 80-gun ship), and one of the first to be constructed with some ergonomics in mind (space between decks increased to 7 feet, for example), and carried her guns at 10 feet above the waterline. The stern is also interesting - it's actually an extended round (elliptic) construction with a very conservative sternboard attached to it to make the appearance more classic.

I have a weakness for the works of William Symonds, apparently. His ships have a unique playful attitude found nowhere else.
 
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