wind?

[Warlord-616x]

hey guys so enjoying the game and midway through, but keep noticing that i can sail one of my ships almost against the wind, but then when i turn to catch the wind it loses all speed and just sits there.

whats going on with this?

[albrightwillie0]

If you are turning across the eye of the wind, you can get caught in irons unless you have enough speed, depending on the ship.

[Warlord-616x]

no i mean turning with the wind. i was shooting across it but then you turn with it and suddenly stop in place with it directly at your back.

[Warlord-616x]

and why when i have 2 of the exact same ships with the same loudouts, upgrades, skills and cannon and they are in the exact same positions (in regards to the wind) and one turns quickly and the other doesnt at all?

[mag8five]

Have you checked If you hit shallows?

[Aluminum Elite Master]

A few things:

#1 - A command does not always lift anchor. If you order a ship to anchor, there are times where clicking a short distance from the ship essentially rotates it without lifting anchor or raising sail. Meaning that it could be as simple as just needing to click further away from the ship if you want to not just turn but to go back to sailing.

#2 - Formations (grouped ships) have special rules to try and stay in formation. It will sometimes say 'waiting for formation' and this will mean the ship will stop in its tracks to try and get back into its place in the line. So if this is with ships grouped, and you issue an order to all at once, that could be a possible explanation.

#3 - Like someone said above, there are shallow areas that aren't always obvious. It's possible to have a ship come to a dead stop (or even show as running aground) in areas that graphically look to be at a safe distance from the nearby shore.

#4 - Once or twice in my play time, I have indeed had glitches where the wind direction seems off and ships do not appear to move properly. These were mostly earlier on, but I wouldn't rule out that it's a glitch... if this only happened once, in one mission, could have been a bug.

Overall:

It would help to have more info on this... which mission was it? Or, is this a problem that is now occurring consistently? Are any of the ships grouped? Are there any coastal areas the ships were near? More info would help people figure it out and help them give you better advice.

[BanzaiCharge]

Depends on the sails of your ship. Square rigged ships (frigates, ships of the line) are faster if you go close to the wind direction. Lateen sailed ships (sloops and xebecs) can go fast into the wind. There is a speed indicator which shows the possible speeds in various directions compared to wind direction.

[swinedad: hogfather; boarsire]

Originally posted by BanzaiCharge:

Depends on the sails of your ship. Square rigged ships (frigates, ships of the line) are faster if you go close to the wind direction. Lateen sailed ships (sloops and xebecs) can go fast into the wind. There is a speed indicator which shows the possible speeds in various directions compared to wind direction.

I struggle to read the speed indicator. Does the lightest green in the circle show where the ship would be going fastest?

[BanzaiCharge]

Originally posted by DAAD85:

I struggle to read the speed indicator. Does the lightest green in the circle show where the ship would be going fastest?

Yes. A bit confusing because there are two indicators, the outer is the wind indicator, the other is the armour. At the wind indicator green direction will be the fastest for your ship and red will be the slowest.

In extreme cases (like the Xebecs and little sloops) the dark red is close to the green, so be careful.

Also don't put sloops and frigates in the same formation, because they behave differently, and will slow eachother down.