[Andrew Lonon]

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Thanks for your detailed note. I took a long weekend, and have just slogged my way though my email, and coasted into the forums a little lower than full speed, if you know what I mean. So – If I miss anything – let me know.

Re ‘Bugs’ It looks like its time to start planning a slight update for Salvo. Im keeping a log of stuff that needs attention, and I am adding your contributions. Your input makes it MUCH easier to fix the items that need it.

I’m also adding your first two oddities to the above category, but, there is a good reason for the third. When a ship is selected, other friendly ships are not selectable because they are often in the way of enemy ships that you want to shoot at. The selection overlay of the various parts of ships is rather broad, and it was simply impossible to get anything done when all ships were ‘active’ and things were crowded in close quarters. Instead of shooting at an enemy, you ended up selecting any friendly ship that was in the way. That’s not the final word on the matter by any means, but that’s how it came down for the initial release of Salvo.


>> Ship Speeds and Mast Damage
This may depend on what the wind speed is. The sailing simplifications of Salvo (max speed 6 & lower) caused me to have some hard choices about how fast ships go. In low wind situations, nearly all ships can move at least 1 space, where realistically they should be moving one space ever 3 – 4 rounds.

>> Rigging & Sailing Advantage
The sailing advantage of various types of ships is covered in the Handling rating for the ships. First rates usually have –1 handling and small sloop – lateen ships are often a 1, which you can think of as a +1. This factor influences how often the ship can turn, likelihood of sailing errors, and how many crew are needed to achieve a ‘sufficient’ or the coveted ‘Generous’ crew allocation.

>> Pirates Don’t Strike
Im sure I meant to document this, but it must have gotten lost in the push for Gold. But, you are correct, Pirates should not strike and the only way that a prate ship can be captured is by boarding. Historically, pirates that were captured were hung. Heck, if crewmen spoke out of turn they were flogged.

>> Pirate Boarding Bonus
This comes in the form of larger Marine contingents on both Caribbean and Mediterranean pirates. While they would not have ‘Marines’ of the same ilk as shot Nelson, they would have larger crews and many of the crewmembers would be armed and ready for hand to hand at any time. This is not ideally modeled, but does the trick IMHO.

>> Ammo Types & Damage
Easier said than done. I would say the basic key is that if you are within 1 – 3 spaces Doubleshot is worthwhile. If you want to do more crew damage at anything shy of 1 / 2 range (5) then Grape/Canister will work. Also, if you want to do more rigging damage, and you are MORE than 2 spaces away, link/chain shot is your baby. Now, Quality, Disruption and other factors play a significant part, as does a random factor and the settings for Damage & Difficulty. And that’s just getting started. <Sigh> As far as boarding goes, there is both a solid combat factor, and a wildly random “we just captured your captain” factor. A small band can capture a much larger ship – but it is unlikly. The best rule of thumb is to be the attacker and to have a large assault force. <Not much help – I guess.>

>> Reload & Gun Crew Allocation
Reloading should be fairly predictable, but there are several factors to consider. First of all, the division of the port and starboard gun crews is only applicable if both batteries are empty and need to be reloaded. The crews will reload the guns they are allocated to first, and then will assist the other battery. Second, Salvo’s relatively long turn (5 minutes) necessitates that a fully loaded broadside would actually be more than one round of shooting for a elite crew. So, there is some fudging going on to make the game work. <Im not sure what that means – but I thought I would throw it in.> Last of all – Disruption is a big factor, and Quality & Moral have strong effects. (Let me know if this helps or if I am missing the point.)


>> Generous Allocations
Generous Allocations are your hedge against Disputation and other problems. Generous allocation of sailors will almost never have a sailing error, and will defiantly reload faster. Granted, in many situations, generous will provide about the same effect as adequate does.

>> Scenario Editor
That’s a good question, and I would like to get a little help… What features would you most like to see in a Salvo Scenario editor? I’m thinking of making first a scenario ‘generator’ that allows you to make new battles based on limited inputs like # ships per side battle type & other circumstantial settings. Then, the existing battle could be altered as far as ship characteristics go. Humm, seems I totally doged the original question. I don’t have a good answer, and I also don’t have a good track record for this type of thing. So, lets say we are getting started now.