Nautical Nitpicks

[YouKnowWho]

Had a couple of thoughts spring to mind as I was sailing the seas of the constant today, so I thought I'd share them all with you instead of jotting them down on a notepad and forgetting about them forever like I usually do. Here you are!

1. Boat Indicators

Currently, the little direction indicators that are underneath a mast don't change at all with different skins. It wasn't too big a deal when we only had the big brown circle to work with, but now that boat skins are a thing it can tend to stick out; especially if you're using the fantastic Abandoned Ship skin. 

It wouldn't have to be anything major, just a simple color change, but it'd make using mast skins all the nicer.

2. Cannon Prompts

When a character loads a cannon they'll automatically say their individual examining quote. This is fine if you're only taking a few potshots, but find yourself in any rapid-fire situation and things will quickly start getting repetitive. It makes me of one of those overly voice-acted JRPG fights. I'd rather there were separate, more compact lines for this instead. 

Also, one of my favorite little details about sailing are the little "Heave! Ho!" prompts when you're raising a sail. It just gives so much character to such a relatively small interaction, so I'd love to see it extended to the cannon now that we're able to aim the things. Just the simple switch from "Shoot" to "Fire!" would make navel battles feel all the more satisfying.

3. Steering Wheel Animation

Using sails tends to feel much less responsive than rowing and I think this is due in part to the animation. I'm fine with the delay, as boats don't exactly turn like cars, but Wilson will spin that wheel uncontrollably no matter if you've got ten sails or one. If the animation speed scaled with the turning speed, on the other hand, things would feel much more in the player-control 

Additionally, it'd be nice if there were more angles to the animation itself. It's a little hard to feel any real sense of direction or movement when your character is locked staring straight at you all the time.

 

That's it from me! What do you think? Are there any other little nitpicks you have with the current sailing system? Do you think I'm some kind of detail-oriented buffoon? Let me know below! Please, I'm desperate.

[Pet Rock]

1̶.̶ ̶I̶f̶ ̶w̶e̶ ̶c̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶p̶l̶a̶c̶e̶ ̶b̶u̶m̶p̶e̶r̶s̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶b̶o̶a̶t̶ ̶r̶e̶g̶a̶r̶d̶l̶e̶s̶s̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶s̶t̶r̶u̶c̶t̶u̶r̶e̶s̶/̶i̶t̶e̶m̶s̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶o̶p̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶m̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶g̶r̶e̶a̶t̶.̶ This was an issue on controller and was fixed in the latest patch

2. on controller the base boat is hard to reach (to repair it) if too many structures are on the boat

3. Not a problem in the base game but the geometric placement grid doesn't adjust/lock on boats so my placement keeps getting messed up when I move the boat an inch.

[ADM]

My only wish at the time would be that the Rudder could rotate the direction of the masts as well, that would make it a very good upgrade of the Steering Wheel on top of rotating boat, that tiny base not moving is by far one of the most triggering thing I've seen in the game.

(and because of the side effect I really don't think that would make the wheel itself totally useless, but I really want a stronger wheel for a emergency drift or so)

[YouKnowWho]

Another small irk: it'd be nicer if the driftwood oar was made just a tad more craggy than its regular wood counterpart. Right now it's just a straight-up recolor which doesn't feel very consistent with all the other items made from the stuff. I'm thinking just something like a small crack at the blade would do