20 Days to Dragon Cliffs from Gold Rock City in Dhow

[Rafterman]

I for the life of me can't seem to tack this ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ boat. No matter what I do the wind shifts against me. How can the wind be blowing from the Northeast, East and Southeast at the same time? ♥♥♥♥ this game.

[ling.speed]

Welcome to aparent wind, turbulent shear layer of the trade winds, as well as their relation to DC. All conspiring against you. Its pretty easy to get wind in your face all the time on that route if you dont plan around it.

20 days isnt bad thou, its 3knots straight line. Next time try sailing on a further north latitude and only when at DCs longitude turn south, you'll have to tack only once. Or maybe at all if storms have something to say.

... at least thats the idea, the winds can have the mind of their own at times too.

[Primus]

Stay at 33N latitude and you'll have tailwind all the way to Dragon Cliffs. There is a map of prevalent winds, find it. It's extremely useful.

[gregoriskat]

Originally posted by Primus:

Stay at 33N latitude and you'll have tailwind all the way to Dragon Cliffs. There is a map of prevalent winds, find it. It's extremely useful.

The only useful thing is to put a mod to have the winds from behind. The headwinds in this game are permanent and probably programmed.

[Green Death]

Originally posted by gregoriskat:

Originally posted by Primus:

Stay at 33N latitude and you'll have tailwind all the way to Dragon Cliffs. There is a map of prevalent winds, find it. It's extremely useful.

The only useful thing is to put a mod to have the winds from behind. The headwinds in this game are permanent and probably programmed.

Except they're not. I sailed 8 days DC > GRC with following winds or beam all the way. Just sailed 6 days from GRC to FFL with no headwinds. GRC > FA, no headwinds.

Winds in Al Ankh are extremely predictable, Emerald also bar the storms. Aestrin is the only place which really makes me feel that the wind hates me, in particular Fort Aestrin to Happy Bay.

[Thundercracker]

Originally posted by Rafterman:

I for the life of me can't seem to tack this ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ boat. No matter what I do the wind shifts against me. How can the wind be blowing from the Northeast, East and Southeast at the same time? ♥♥♥♥ this game.

20 days against the tradewinds in a small ship isnt bad at all. it'd take ~10 going with the wind.

Originally posted by Green Death:

Winds in Al Ankh are extremely predictable, Emerald also bar the storms. Aestrin is the only place which really makes me feel that the wind hates me, in particular Fort Aestrin to Happy Bay.

this is the only route you mentioned that really goes against the tradewinds, assuming you got a little lucky with a storm or got north enough to get out of going directly against the wind for GRC -> FF

Originally posted by gregoriskat:

Originally posted by Primus:

Stay at 33N latitude and you'll have tailwind all the way to Dragon Cliffs. There is a map of prevalent winds, find it. It's extremely useful.

The only useful thing is to put a mod to have the winds from behind. The headwinds in this game are permanent and probably programmed.

incorrect. i follow the winds, and almost never have to fight a headwind unless i chose to do so myself, for a bit of challenge.

[m61a1]

Personally, I'm hating the wind after coming back after a year..

[ling.speed]

The facehugging wind is topic as old as simulated sailing and have been beaten to death in this game as well... but i will add/repeat one more detail i believe to be true: missions pay well *because* the weather is bad. As soon i stop taking front page missions the wind improves. So to some extent, the wind is in our face because we choose so.

[Green Death]

Originally posted by Thundercracker:

this is the only route you mentioned that really goes against the tradewinds, assuming you got a little lucky with a storm or got north enough to get out of going directly against the wind for GRC -> FF

Nope, headed directly E by SE fro GRC to FFL. To be fair it was in a fin rigged Sanbuq which can hit 10knots plus close hauled, but no storms or full headwinds. Little bit lucky maybe on the second half, but heading those extra few degrees south (rather than to DC) does make a difference.

Fort Aestrin > Happy Bay is no better or worse than Happy Bay > Fort Aestrin, in my experience. Sucks both ways. My point is more that the Aestrin zone is the only one where the wind shifts feel particularly pernicious. Everywhere else is pretty predictable.

Originally posted by ling.speed:

missions pay well *because* the weather is bad. As soon i stop taking front page missions the wind improves. So to some extent, the wind is in our face because we choose so.

It can feel that way, but as far as I know nobody has found any evidence for that in the code. Missions often pay well because they go against the prevailing winds, doesn't necessarily mean they're rigged. I do feel sometimes that the game 'knows' when you take heavy load missions. There are times when I'm convinced the game knows I'm heading to X and spawns a storm (or dead calm) on that location as I approach. It's just as possible a perception bias. How much attention do we pay to all the times that doesn't happen? Answer; not much because those are easy voyages.

That said, last time I visited Oasis I loaded up on 4 sculptures and took a mission carrying 3 gold. Two storms immediately spawned at the same time NW of Oasis, and a 3rd the next morning.

[ling.speed]

Originally posted by Green Death:

It can feel that way, but as far as I know nobody has found any evidence for that in the code. Missions often pay well because they go against the prevailing winds, doesn't necessarily mean they're rigged. I do feel sometimes that the game 'knows' when you take heavy load missions. There are times when I'm convinced the game knows I'm heading to X and spawns a storm (or dead calm) on that location as I approach. It's just as possible a perception bias. How much attention do we pay to all the times that doesn't happen? Answer; not much because those are easy voyages.

That said, last time I visited Oasis I loaded up on 4 sculptures and took a mission carrying 3 gold. Two storms immediately spawned at the same time NW of Oasis, and a 3rd the next morning.

I dont mean its "rigged" but that the economy itself takes weather into consideration, naturally producing demands that follow bad weather. Whats really "rigged" is the sorting of missions by value, making new players pick the worst ones even if they are not chasing profits.

As for storms, there might be some clamping on initial weather conditions that makes it seem like there are more storms around the moment we get lucrative missions... That said i had similar experiance with Fire fish. 3 times in a row going DC-FFL there was always a storm between them at the same exact spot... so could be something to do with transitions between oceanic and archipelago bound weather patterns.

Thou any Oasis trips for me (including gold) were generally storm free, so who knows how much of it is bad luck haha.

[Thundercracker]

Originally posted by ling.speed:

Thou any Oasis trips for me (including gold) were generally storm free, so who knows how much of it is bad luck haha.

i'd say it all was RNG and any claims to the contrary are simply confirmation bias. i mean, lion said that's how he wrote it, and he has no reason to lie.

Originally posted by Green Death:

Nope, headed directly E by SE fro GRC to FFL. To be fair it was in a fin rigged Sanbuq which can hit 10knots plus close hauled, but no storms or full headwinds. Little bit lucky maybe on the second half, but heading those extra few degrees south (rather than to DC) does make a difference.

ah, i havent really played with the fin sails yet, i'd have to leave my brig, i dont want to change the sailplan on it, and i dont want to have my stuff get messed up while i'm out of region. so i dont really have any experience with how close the fins can sail into the wind.

[Green Death]

Originally posted by Thundercracker:

ah, i havent really played with the fin sails yet, i'd have to leave my brig, i dont want to change the sailplan on it, and i dont want to have my stuff get messed up while i'm out of region. so i dont really have any experience with how close the fins can sail into the wind.

Not that different to lateens really. What they are is fast. 90%+ of that trip I had beam or broad reach winds, so even a square rigger would have made good time.

Edit; also, you can just copy your save file and rename it for a new slot (if you don't want to grind up from scratch) then use the other boats. I run seperate saves for Sanbuq, Brig and Junk for the same reason.

[BattlePants#2233]

Originally posted by ling.speed:

The facehugging wind is topic as old as simulated sailing and have been beaten to death in this game as well... but i will add/repeat one more detail i believe to be true: missions pay well *because* the weather is bad. As soon i stop taking front page missions the wind improves. So to some extent, the wind is in our face because we choose so.

F that and whoever made that "gameplay" decision should hoist himself to a mast top!

[boris.glevrk]

Originally posted by gregoriskat:

Originally posted by Primus:

Stay at 33N latitude and you'll have tailwind all the way to Dragon Cliffs. There is a map of prevalent winds, find it. It's extremely useful.

The only useful thing is to put a mod to have the winds from behind. The headwinds in this game are permanent and probably programmed.

It's called prevailing wind. It's programmed, but not programmed against you.

[FreeQuest]

Yeah first run took me about 15 days. It is a gruelling right of passage and +1 to you for doing it. Welcome to the Club (❁´◡`❁)