To learn the basics of handling a square-rigged ship, start the "Harbour" scenario, click on the instructions button at the bottom left, and follow the instructions to try to get out of Portsmouth harbour.
To go for a long sail, start the "The World" scenario. Open the map, control+click anywhere on it to move there; control+click on the compass at the bottom left to turn the ship to that heading; then activate travel acceleration at the bottom right.
It's a simulator more than a game - think MS flight simulator. There's no sinking, but you can lose sails or spars in high winds. It's windows only.
This was released a couple of years ago, but this is an updated version from the end of January. See the devlog (https://thapen.itch.io/painted-ocean/devlog) for the changes. You can also find some discussions there on historical sailing performance numbers.
I've played some sailing games and had fun, but they weren't simulations. I've never tried a sailing simulator. This one looks great, and I'll try it out, if I can make it run on Linux. (I notice you say that it's Windows-only, I take that as a challenge)
I used to be a race coach for small boat sailing - happy to give lessons
If you want to go sailing this summer, Id be more than happy to show you how!
It runs under WINE with no issues
You made me a bit curious, why not? Illinois seems to have sailing opportunities in many places, and with a good drysuit or wetsuit even dinghy sailing in colder climates is fine. And if you still do not fancy swimming, there are small keelboats you can handle on your own relatively easily. (Take your time to learn in easy winds and preferably a teacher of some sort, though)
Almost a haiku!
Or join a yacht club on a lake and make friends :)
And those big Illinois lakes probably have yacht clubs with regattas, which is where you really learn to sail well. And it's great fun; there's a lot of strategy involved in racing, I'd feel like I was captain of the Enterprise fighting the Klingons.
These effects only last for about 48 hours. Pure joy after that.
I'm a few books into the Aubry/Maturin novels by Patrick O'Brien (highly recommended! The movie Master & Commander is based on them).
This should help to get a better feel for the ships and the battles!
If, like me, you’re unfamiliar with ship terminology I’d suggest not getting too hung up on understanding exactly what bit of the ship he’s talking about. There’s lots of great historical detail - but O’Brian also tells a fabulous story.
I had no idea I would enjoy this film as much as I did. Highly recommend to all explorer and adventurous types.
I had two main questions to answer when making this. First, how does ship physics work anyway; second, what is an appropriate UI that feels like being an officer ordering a couple of hundred people around? I previously worked on a flight sim, where it's appropriate to move a joystick, or a mouse, and have the plane respond straight away. I think that would feel wrong here - it would make the ship feel like a toy.
A benefit of the technical language is that it helps convey the idea that the ship is a big, complicated machine, with all the parts worked by people. It's also fun to see the strange words. So I decided to lean in to technical language and verbal commands. I was starting to work with git, and thought about using a command-line UI for the game; but I went with something inspired by the menus and hotkeys of old roguelikes.
they have especially discounted prices for youth (14 to 25) and even offer stipends for youth from low income families.
Also, does anyone remember Empire Total War from back around 2011? One of my favorite games of all time despite its millions of issues. This brought back some fond memories of high school, getting back from class and running back home to battle some 18th century French warships…
https://store.steampowered.com/app/794860/eSail_Sailing_Simu...
Out of curiosity, is it possible to tack with a square rig, or do you always have to jibe? I've tried all kinds of strategies, including dropping all sails at 11 knots, and I just can't make it through irons.
Edit: the tutorial level, getting out of harbour, is practice for this.
She's a "dull" one -- unable to tack without making sternway, which definitely is not a compliment. But many ships apparently could not tack without making sternway, so this not an inaccurate part of the simulation.
Applying all the tips and tricks in Seamanship, I can now at least get her head to wind before losing leeway. (Quite a few sail adjustments).
Wearing is easy enough (a 270 degree jibing turn). So I'm off to see if I can "boxhaul" her to change tacks. :-)
"It's probably safe to run that .exe"
