What's the difference between a structure and a construct?
muffinman42 wrote:Two sailing ships cannot go head on into each other due to wind directions so thats an extra rule, now there would be how you work out speed and turning circles. Then since cannons would be used a lot they could do we some evened out rules depending on bore and barrel lengh (for custom cannons).
Im obsessed with the Age of sail not pirates! I don't want extra rules for oil tankers and skiffs!
Actually it turns out that sailing ships go head-to-head very nicely; you can travel just about 45 degrees into the wind if you need to, depending on how your sails are rigged. It sounds counterintuitive, but there are all kinds of ways to convert lateral wind into forward velocity.
I prototyped out some sailing rules years ago, they went like this:
Movement: a ship's movement is determined by the wind direction, the furl of the sails, and the resistance of the water.
First, measure the widest point of your ship's hull. This is the beam, and every inch of beam gives -1" to movement. If your ship has a 4" beam, then its first four inches of sailing movement are canceled by water resistance.
Choose a point to be the center of gravity for your ship and put a flag there (usually there'll be a mast there to mount the flag). Imagine a big "X" centered on that point, with lines going out at 45 degrees, dividing the ship and everything around it into quadrants. Everything in the aft quadrant is abaft, everything in the port and starboard quadrants is abeam, and everything in the fore quadrant is afore. (This is most important for determining wind direction.)
Sails boil down to two types: square-rigged and everything else, and like everything in BrikWars they're classified by Size. (Junk rigs are a special case but I've never seen anyone build a Lego version.) Square rigs are driving rigs and provide forward momentum. All other sails (lumped together under "jibs" because I'm lazy) provide angular momentum.
Every sail has associated rigging, which allow minifigs to use an Action to furl and unfurl them. (Due to the nature of Lego construction you'll often have the same rigging used to control multiple sails.) Sails only affect movement if they're unfurled; furled sails are ignored. It takes two minifigs working together to work a square rig, and one to work a jib. Sails can only be furled or unfurled once per turn.
One inch of square rig provides two inches of forward movement if the wind is abaft, one inch forward and one inch turned away from the wind if the wind is abeam, and one inch backwards if the wind is afore.
One inch of unfurled jib provides two inches of turning movement if the wind is hitting it within 45 degrees of dead-on, or one inch otherwise, unless the wind is hitting the jib EXACTLY from the side in which case it does nothing. (This most often happens when a jib isn't stayed properly and is allowed to swing freely in the wind.) Whether the ship turns to starboard or port depends on the position of the jib and the direction of the wind; it should be obvious in most cases.
If a ship has inches of turning both to starboard and to port, each starboard inch cancels one port inch and the two turning inches are converted into one inch of forward movement instead (Or backwards movement, if the wind is afore). This is the way to move forward if you've only got triangular sails to work with. It's possible to turn both ways during the same turn if you (for instance) use up all your port inches before unfurling the jib that turns you immediately to starboard.
In order to turn, grab the foremost part of the bow (ignoring the bowsprit, if any). Holding the stern in place, move the bow to port or starboard the correct number of inches. Turning inches can be used before, during, or after forward movement, or in any mixture, but they must all be used by the end of movement.
All movement is calculated at the beginning of the turn; don't bother trying to recalculate movement every time you turn into a new point of wind. If a sail is unfurled in the middle of the turn, add its movement based on the position of the ship at the moment it's unfurled.
A rudders can be used to turn the ship at the stern by a flat two inches as long as the ship is moving forward. Minifigs with oars can provide an extra inch each of either movement or turning.