Naval Combat
Several bits of information on Alyrian Naval Combat!
Ship Combat in Alyria is no laughing matter. You've invested a fortune of gold into your ship, its weapons, and its defensive upgrades; now it's time to hit pay dirt... but that doesn't mean to go sail into the nearest land mass. :P
Here I have compiled a few bits of information on Ship Combat, things to remember, things to use, and things to do to help give you an edge.
Player vs. player naval combat can only take place in Ship Player Killing, (SPK). Below, you may click the link for the jpg chart. Accuracy of the SPK boundaries is guaranteed +/- 10 rooms.
The chart only details the Oceanus Ingenii; since the Oceanus Decarus is all SPK in the deep water, a map is not necessary.
Balancing Ship Commands Quickly: Managing Movement and Combat
Being only one captain and trying to manage an entire ship during the heat of combat can be quite challenging. Making sure all of your weapons are firing is not so hard; but making sure your opponent does not get out of range or sails away along with making sure you stay within SPK can be challenging.
Your best bet is to have shore aliases for ship direction and speed. This helps quite a bit in your mobility; yet if you can assign those commands to your number pad, you will increase your lethality. I know of MUSHClient and Portal scripts that will do just that. These are detailed on the www.Aodojo.com message board.
Darkmagic's MushClient Ship Keypad Script
Ryshad's Portal Ship Keypad Script
Zakainen's Ship Script, Adapted by Zazou.
Ship Fire Commands: Aliases and Macros for Efficient Firing
There are 7 ship weapon types. Whether or not your ship has all 7 types doesn't matter, what does matter is that you use them all as fast as possible. With each type having a reload time, that is the interval that you want to enter the fire command from that weapon at. There are 2 pairs of weapons that share a reload time. Medium Cannons and Light Ballistae can both fire ever 3 seconds. With this in mind, you could set an alias or macro that enters commands to fire both, saving you precious time. Harpoons and Heavy Ballistae also share a reload time of 5 seconds. Have a set up with your own aliases or macros that maximizes your quickness in sending fire commands.
Combat Logistics: Loading your ship with enough of all ammo.
If you ship has every weapon possible, then it also needs to have the ammo to fire with those weapons, and most likely the black powder as well. There are two perspectives with which you need to approach carrying ammunition, carrying enough to sink an enemy, and carrying enough of each ammo type.
In terms of Ship PK, it would be overkill for a corsair to carry enough ammo to sink a dreadnought, the dreadnought would sink the corsair before they even get into the 2nd half of the ammo. Carry enough ammo to sink a ship the same size as yours, or maybe the next ship larger. Make sure to carry enough ammo with respect to 2 ratios, one to the amount of each weapon you have, and one to the reload time. Save for Skiffs and Coasters, which have dismally low damage outputs, it would take anywhere from 20-60 seconds for any evenly matched SPK battle. So if a battle would take 30 seconds, basic cannons could fire up to 15 volleys in that time period, (est battle time divided by reload time).
Just because ships shouldn't stock their entire hold with ammo doesn't mean its a bad idea. I do just that. Just keep in mind if you're using steam power, more fuel will be used to propel a heavy ship.
