Separate gun loading?

[Black Raven]

Ahoy mateys!

In all the games about sailing and pirates, I was surprised by the fact that I can't load the ship cannons separately. It seems it would be quite reasonable (and realistic) to be able to, say, load the chase and retreat guns with chain shot, and the side batteries with cannonballs or bombs. It also would be great to be able to change the type of charge for the side that is empty after the salvo, without reloading the already loaded cannons.

This raises the question: is it even theoretically possible to implement this feature in the game?

 

[Grey Roger]

I don't think that would be possible without a major rewrite of the command interface as well as the cannon system. Neither of those are set up to allow for different ammunition types in different arcs. For similar reasons, although real ships had cannons of different calibres, the game won't allow you more than one cannon type on a ship.

 

[Black Raven]

I don't think that would be possible without a major rewrite of the command interface as well as the cannon system. Neither of those are set up to allow for different ammunition types in different arcs. For similar reasons, although real ships had cannons of different calibres, the game won't allow you more than one cannon type on a ship.

Funny thing, one of the oldest pirate games allowed you to have guns of different calibers on your ship (there was a concept of a maximum caliber for each gun port) and separate loading of different types of charges. Moreover, you could shoot both single shots and a salvo. And this game was made at the dawn of computer games. I think it was called "Pirates!", but I could be wrong. According to the plot, you started on a frigate that was ambushed and sunk, but you managed to survive, and then you started everything from scratch.

 

[Grey Roger]

That would be "Sid Meier's Pirates!", a completely different game. (Though in the version I played, you were taken as an indentured slave, then led a mutiny on the ship and took over as captain. The loading screen if you play "FreePlay" with the default settings for Julian McAllister looks like the loading screen I had for "Pirates!".) I don't remember being able to shoot single shots, though - perhaps the version which allowed that wasn't quite as far back as the dawn of computer games.

But the point is, "Pirates!" was nothing like "Pirates of the Caribbean", as you might have noticed when boarding a ship or storming a fort.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Funny thing, one of the oldest pirate games allowed you to have guns of different calibers on your ship (there was a concept of a maximum caliber for each gun port) and separate loading of different types of charges. Moreover, you could shoot both single shots and a salvo. And this game was made at the dawn of computer games. I think it was called "Pirates!", but I could be wrong. According to the plot, you started on a frigate that was ambushed and sunk, but you managed to survive, and then you started everything from scratch.

We've been talking about the feasibility for something like this on our upcoming project Home - Dawn of Piracy .
Don't expect it for the initial release (gotta keep things simple to be able to release in reasonable time at all), but there's a reasonable chance something will be considered for a future update.
See our Discord Server if you're interested in pitching in with your feedback: Join the PiratesAhoy! Discord Server!