Nassau 1715

[Delta Hawk 1829]

 

"In an honest service there is thin commons, low wages, and hard labour. In this, plenty and satiety, pleasure and ease, liberty and power; and who would not balance creditor on this side, when all the hazard that is run for it, at worst is only a sour look or two at [hanging]? No, a merry life and a short one shall be my motto."
- Bartholomew Roberts
A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates (1724)

"Fear not the sea, for those born to hang will never drown."
- Ancient Proverb

Intro
Nassau 1715 is about the economic, social and power struggles that occurred in the West Indies during the early 18th century and the events leading to that, telling the true and brutal story behind some of history's most notorious criminals who plundered the seas and the bold and determined men who hunted them down.

 

This is a proof of concept release.

 

This is not meant to be a complete conversion for ArmA 3. Rather it's meant to show that this concept, 18th century naval warfare, is possible in ArmA. Another goal of the proof of concept is to attract more developers to help with the long term goal of creating a complete total modification for ArmA 3, DayZ or even ArmA 4. After the proof of concept release the project will be reevaluated for a viable total modification.

 

In the long term, the mod is planned to encompass some of the most significant events in Europe and the West Indies that led to the Golden Age of Piracy, including parts of the War of Spanish Succession and the English privateer voyages in the West Indies against the Spanish and French. These events come together with the wrecking of the Spanish Plate Fleet of 1715 off the coast of Florida, leading to the rise of the Pirate Republic at Nassau, New Providence Island. From there, Nassau 1715 explores the world of pirates of the West Indies and the East Coast of America, and the steps taken by the English government and colonies to suppress them, using real life events as a story backdrop for multiplayer gameplay in an open world setting.

 

The biggest feature of Nassau 1715 is being able to authentically sail large vessels, therefore sailing, while greatly simplified from real life, is difficult and challenging, requiring basic seamanship and knowledge. You must read the field manual in the game and review the Quick Sail Guide in order sail.

 

Screenshots

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

 

Features
Included in this release are

•  Several Sloops (including: Adventure, Albas, Royal James and Antelope)
•  1-Pounder Swivel Gun
•  6-Pounder Naval Cannon
•  .62 Flintlock Pistol
•  .69 Naval Pattern Carbine
•  17 Uniforms (not counting variants)
•  3 Vests (not counting variants)
•  4 Hats (not counting variants)
•  Map of Gun & Cat Cay
•  High Seas Map
•  Ingame Documentation/Field Manual
•  Some Basic Missions (SP & MP)

More content will be added over time.

 

Quick Sail Guide
Quick Sail Guide

 

Considerations while playing
You must learn how to sail in order to sail. This is not an arcade game, it's an authentic simulation of sailing. It will be difficult. You should expect to be frustrated and confused at first. Only after studying the art of sailing you will be good at sailing. In order to become a better sailor you should listen and follow the instructions of more experienced players who know how to sail. Sailing is a crew effort based on skill and knowledge. If you are a beginner you should avoid shoals at all cost or you'll run aground. Because this is an early proof of concept release, features, classnames and assets may change and/or be removed. This mod brings gameplay features that have never been attempted before in ArmA, so there will glitches and other issues.  Lastly this was develop with the idea of being used on a multiplayer server.

Compatibility
We did not specifically develop this mod with compatibility to other popular mods in mind, therefore  you may encounter some issues if you choose to use this mod with another mod.  Compatibility with other mods isn't a priority since every other mod is from a different century.

End User License Agreement

• Do not reupload any 3d or 2d assets, original or derivatives, including, but not limited to, the Steam Workshop
• Do not retexture or remodel
• Do not port to other game engines
• Do not use on monetized servers

Derivatives
Some of our work has been kindly donated specifically for this project, therefore for development and copyright reasons we don't allow reuploads, derivatives or retextures of Nassau 1715. However, if you do want to create derivatives or retextures please consider actually becoming a part of the team to help create more content and/or modify existing content.

Thanks and Credits
Philipjn from the Pirates Ahoy! community for donating the base model of the sloop
Major (Retd) Kelly, https://www.KellyBadges.co.uk
Peter Davis - HMS Surprise Simulator
Keith H. Burgess, Wychwood Forest, Armidale NSW, http://woodsrunnersdiary.blogspot.com/

 

Team Members
Delta Hawk - Lead Artist, Shipwright
Bloodwyn - Lead Scripter
Luca - Lead Terrain Artist
Bava - Historical advisor and Shipwright
ppitm - Historical advisor, Research and Sailing Master
Kola - Artist
J0tA - Artist
Noklaschmi - Artist
LAxemann - Lead Sound Artist

 

How to connect with us
Discord
Twitter
BI Forums
Pirates Ahoy!

 

Steam Workshop Please do not reupload anywhere else, this modification will probably change often with updates

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1726376971

 

Spoiler

You've found buried treasure! Not really, treasure is no good when it's buried.  Where's the English frigate you may ask?  It's not included in this release because it's going to take a long time to make it to where you can sail.  Also sailing the English Frigate will be extremely difficult and we want to see everyone's reaction to sailing the sloop first.

 

[ppitm 43]

Welcome aboard! Landsmen are welcome to tag me with questions about the sailing model.

 

And if anyone would like to contribute, we are very much in need of custom missions, public domain sound files related to water, wind and weaponry, as well as customized Fx.

 

 

[jerryhopper 286]

YARRR!... this is AWESOME!

 

i will give it a spin tomorrow...  i loved the little yacht+sailing mod, but this is a whole diff level of sailing :)
btw: great job on that sailing document.

[Delta Hawk 1829]

Real quick I want to say thank you to the whole team for working on this project.  It has been a very difficult two years.

 

Here's a extremely basic and simple....well it's not really anything, still read the quick sail guide and sailing manual

 

[x3kj 1247]

congrats on the release, looks great

[WA Lancer 94]

Congrats on release guys. I'm happy you toughed it out through the hard work and got to a release!

[froggyluv 2136]

Amazing!

[atunero 44]

Wow!!

 

Congrats to all the team.

 

 

[Rydygier 1309]

It's so cool, finally proper naval warfare in Arma 3!

[DSabre 2332]

Your team approach to sailing is quite brilliant! Also totally caught me by surprise to be able to climb all over the masts and sails! - Hats off.

[Vandeanson 1677]

This looks awesome, hope i can give it a try soon! Looks like one can walk around on deck freely? 

[bloodwyn1756 130]

34 minutes ago, Vandeanson said:

This looks awesome, hope i can give it a try soon! Looks like one can walk around on deck freely? 

You can give it a try right now 😛

17 hours ago, Delta Hawk said:

Steam Workshop Please do not reupload anywhere else, this modification will probably change often with updates

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1726376971

Yes, you can walk around freely, set the sails, shoot the cannons etc.

[Vandeanson 1677]

45 minutes ago, bloodwyn1756 said:

You can give it a try right now 😛

Alright! (shuts down work pc, walks out of office) 

 

Very impressive! 

Totally going to try and implement this somehow into a zombie apocalypse setup XD

[Alwarren 2767]

This has to be one of the most original mods for Arma I have ever seen. Congrats on the release, this looks fantastic!

[ppitm 43]

We are working on fixing an exploit involving 'semiautomatic' fire for the swivel gun.

 

Also, the musket is currently shooting blanks when using the Zoom Temporary (Hold RMB by default) function, so the workaround right now is to shoot from default camera zoom.

[Knokke 2]

Fantastic mod.

The cutter is sailing very nicely, and is easy to master once you've a basic understanding of sailing and once you're accustomed to where the different controls points are located in the ship.  I was able to enjoy a cruise around Tanoa until I fell in the water while firing the guns (I still don't know how I managed to fall off the ship, but it was a shock to realize how fast it was moving away and how slowly I could swim). The ship is very maneuverable and it is possible to sail between the islets without running aground.

 

At first, I had a lot of trouble with the ship not wanting to turn and responding very sluggishly to either steering with the rudder, or steering with the sails. Basically, the ship wanted to stay with the wind blowing from astern, and it was almost impossible to sail close-hauled. Furthermore, the ship was barely able to move forward, even with all the sails properly set and drawing, moving at a crawl. That was because I had tied the yawl with a rope to the stern of the cutter, thinking that I would be able to tow it astern. But as long as I kept it there, it was almost impossible to steer the ship: the yawl probably has too much drag in the physic simulation, and/or it was acting like a floating anchor, or a drogue, keeping the ship pointed with the wind astern.

 

Once I deleted the rope and abandoned the yawl, the ship surged forward and started to be controllable again. It's unfortunate that it is not possible to tow another ship or boat; I hope you'll be able to find a way to make it possible without screwing the sailing of the cutter.

 

Also, I had the impression that the ship is not making any leeway, even close-hauled, or with the wind blowing abeam where it should be more noticeable. It would have been more noticeable with a square rigged ship, but I was expecting to see leeway, even with a good sailer like a cutter.

 

As for the rest of the mod, It looks very promising, even though there are still a number of bugs. The biggest drawback that I can see with doing a period mod for Arma 3, is that the animations of holding or charging the weapons are way off and would need to be redone from the start. Also, I'm curious as to how you would handle fighting with swords, bayonets and borading axes.

 

I'm eagerly waiting to hear more from this mod.

 

[ppitm 43]

Saw your post on Steam, but to elaborate, leeway might not be possible for Physx-based boats. Maybe some experimentation with config could make it possible, but that's going to be a slow process even if any improvements are possible.

 

The whole sailing system works on simply applying force to various points on the model. It's elegant and reliable, and means that no one has yet managed to send the sloop into orbit, as tends to happen with your average Arma tank. No leeway is probably better than trying to hack the system and getting unpredictable or jerky results.

 

For the frigate, we can just compensate by reducing windward ability from the theoretical maximum, accordingly.

 

It might be worth hacking the cutter's performance somehow to make it more towable. However, I will say that the cutter has a very low hull speed, and IRL it would be highly inadvisable to attempt to tow it under sail at 8+ kts. The boat would be liable to get towed under or capsize atop its own bow wave. So there is a happy medium somewhere.

[Defunkt 431]

Haven't had time to check this out (though looking forward) but keep seeing amazing screenshots all over. A Bloody Well Done to all involved.

[Eogos 24]

Loving the mod, the interactions and sailing mechanics are amazing.

I made a challenge mission for those that think they've gotten the hang of sailing with Nassau 1715 or for those that want a trial by fire.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1734381684

[Delta Hawk 1829]

Hey everyone. The release of Nassau 1715 has been pretty successful. If you haven't tried it and please feel free to do so.  It's a dramatically different experience for ArmA.

We're going to continue to work on this modification, adding more ships, clothing, equipment, weapons and specific locations, but in order to be successful as a total modification we really need help. What we're trying to do is basically a huge modification with a lot of never before seen assets in ArmA 3 and we simply can not do it on our own. We have a small team with only a few salty and experienced 3d artists and scripters and what we have planned is simply too much for us to do within a reasonable amount of time.

We really need help in is making 3d assets, such as forts, houses, weapons, objects, cannons, boats and uniforms. We also need a dedicated project coordinator, public relations manager and project manager.  If you'd like me to elaborate our needs I would be glad to.

We have a road map for the required ships, starting with the sloop. Next we're going to add an English Frigate, the HMS Perspehone, based on the HMS Blandford along with her real life sisters the HMS Greyhound, HMS Phoenix and possible the Scarborough.  We're also going to add more variants of the sloop. From there we're going to add a snow/brig (which was also kindly donated by Phillipj) and then a French frigate but we need in order to accomplish this.

This is project is very possible. That hard part is over, we got the proof of concept to work in the game except for a melee system. Everything else simply requires additional help. If you're interested we can discuss it here or at the Nassau discord. If you have any questions or concerns please don't hesitate to ask. Thank you.

[Delta Hawk 1829]

 

Hey everyone, just wanted to let you all know we're still working on Nassau1715.  Our current goal is to get the English galley frigate of 20 guns sailing.  Currently fore and aft sails are functional!  If you would like to help out, even if it's small, just drop me a pm.

[Timberhawk 1]

hey, loving the mod, sailing around Tanoa is extremely satisfying once you get the hang of things.

 

however, I wonder if someone can give me some pointers on tacking into the wind? I always seem to end up in irons with the ship not turning anywhere, until it actually starts sailing backwards . . .

 

also, what exactly does the Tops'l yard halliard do?

 

example: how does one get out of the harbour of Harcourt on Tanoa with a southern wind?

 

[Delta Hawk 1829]

Hey Timberhawk, I'm glad you're enjoying sailing.  Tacking into the wind is sort of simple.  If you're sailing on your own you'll want to douse your tops'l if it's set (I'll get to the halliard in a second).  If you're tacking into the wind you're probably sailing "Closed Haul", which means the wind is coming from either the front right or the front left of the sloop.  Look at the bottom left of the Quick Sail Guide for a picture of the points of sail.  First thing to do is fall off from the wind, putting the wind abeam, therefore increasing your speed in order to tack.  When you're ready to tack turn the wheel all of the way to the side you want to tack.  If you're fast enough before you turn the wheel you can lower the heads'ls at the bow so it's easier to turn into the wind.  As you get close to irons haul the gaff sail amidship so it doesn't slow you down.  You should have enough momentum to past through irons.  Once you do just wait for the heads'ls to push the bow downwind.  If you lowered your heads'l raise them again at the pin rails near the wheel once you pass irons.  It's also a good idea to trim the gaff so the wind isn't pushing on the stern while the bow is turning down wind.  Fall off the wind by putting the wind abeam and once you pick up speed again set your course for a new tack.

 

See?  Simple!

 

Sailing ships act like a weather vane.  The more sail towards the bow (the heads'ls), the more the bow will turn downwind.  The more sail to the stern (the gaff) the more the bow will turn up wind.

 

The tops'l halliard raises the tops'l yard, which is the horizontal pole that's holding the topsail.  By default the yard is lowered and the tops'l clews (corners) are up.  To set the topsail you have to both pull down the clews with the sheets and raise the tops'l with the halliard.

 

[Delta Hawk 1829]

Happy New Years from the Nassau 1715 team!  We want to take this opportunity to show you even though we've been quiet we're still working on the mod, specifically the English gally frigate of 20 guns.  As you can imagine something like this is very, very complicate, probably the most complicated and complex vehicle for ArmA ever, and requires a lot of work.

 

 

[uzabit 38]

Man, this is unbelievable! I can't imagine how much dedication and work went into this ... 😲