We spend a goodly portion of our day researching our forums for feedback and suggestions. I don't mind saying that our track record is pretty strong in this regard.

It is inevitable that a thread or two will get lost in the shuffle, that's to be expected given the ratio of FLS staff responding to the number customers posting. It certainly helps when people take the initiative to share threads they think are interesting and important, and especially pleasing when they uncover (almost entirely) respectful, reasonable and thoughtful threads like this one.

One might take some time to check out the In Concept Forum for additional proof that we are not only seeking new suggestions and ideas from the community, but actively engaging in dialogue with our customers to help flesh out those new ideas and feature requests.

Best,
Aether

I have some (minor) revisions to roll out to address some of the things found by you lot so far, but nothing major is coming out with the rollout of 1.3 to Testbed in the Data Service API.

(I'm also looking into the error you reported.)

What I'm hoping to pinpoint are the specific locations you were (the royal "you," that is, not you specifically, GroundZ) when it seemed as if you had no further directions. We want to make sure folks don't get stuck without anything to do in the level 30 range, which seems to be where most people encounter this problem.

If you're stuck on a particular mission chain but have plenty of other missions to do, that's not exactly what I'm looking for--but please post about that in the "World & Missions" forum and we'll try to help.

And thanks to KevinShook for bringing this thread to my attention. I've already taken the liberty of circulating your feedback amongst the appropriate parties here in the Lab.

Cheers,
Aether

Thanks all!

Very perceptive! I just haven't gotten around to it yet. Gratings will be added soon.

When I started modelling the figurehead I was thinking I'd make a custom texture for it. Unfortunately, as I was working it became clear that I might not have enough texture space both for the lion and for other art on the stern. We'll just have to see.

Ideally, the lion's body would be painted red with gilded mane and other details.

I fully confess, it's not a very ferocious lion. I mussed with the shape of the mouth to no end yesterday and just couldn't get him looking more aggressive. I realised some time between last night and this morning, though, that it might help if I added a couple more edge loops around the mouth so I can give him a more scowly look. Successfully doing that might depend on texture support, though, so I'll save that work for later. (I meant to add claws too, but it escaped me at the last moment.)

As for the bruising, I'm pretty sure what you're noticing is just Deep Exploration's sucky lighting at work. If not, I'll deal with it at conversion.

With the tongue, I don't think having it set to the trim color will work. What if someone wants blue trim? Then the lion will look like it had too many blueberry Skittles

Oh, and about the mane -- keep in mind, Dutch shipwrights had very little direct experience with lions In just about every Dutch figurehead I've seen, the lion ends up looking like he's wearing a powdered wig. That's something shipwrights were familiar with.

While these are lovely designs, and I personally have a particular love of Japanese art, you'll probably want to scale back your designs a little. Remember that the overarching theme of User Content is "Would it, could it?" -- would it have been sewn into a flag or sail, and could it have been made in the manner depicted?

To be frank, all of these designs look more like ukiyo-e prints from the mid-19th century than Japanese flags from the early 18th. They're also quite detailed, using lots of intricate, irregular organic curves which would be extraordinarily difficult to sew into fabric at the scale required -- a typical flag would be at least as tall as the maker, and often the ensigns at the stern of the ship were several storeys tall.

You also might want to consider the purpose of a flag, and under what circumstances it's normally seen. While it's true some flags are more about an overall impression or texture than a specific, clear meaning per se, in general the more complicated a flag is the less its visual impact. Sadet recently found a great online pamphlet published by the North American Vexillological Association. While you don't have to follow that guide in detail, it's a thought-provoking read that can really help anyone design truly striking flags.

Again -- I love these designs as designs unto themselves, and they're phenomenally executed. I'm just not entirely sure they're appropriate to a game set in 1720 or thereabouts (regardless of geographic setting), and would hate to see someone put such good talent toward flags that might be sent back for simplification and out-of-period flavor.

I decided to go with a fairly traditional lion figurehead for the Zephyr. A couple quick renders from DE attached. And though I love the look of older Dutch ships, this one I'm fitting out as if built in the early part of the 18th century -- thus the shorter beakhead.

We're not accepting new ships of more than 50 guns, per the request of DesignCo (Taelorn & co.). That's been the case for quite some time, though ship projects of that size begun prior to the freeze may still be finished. We don't care what they're called as that varied from nation to nation -- we simply care about the gun count.

As this ship carries fewer than 50 guns, there's no worries on that front.

Split off from the Project Announcement thread, since that is reserved for shipwrights actually working on ships for the game.

As for the Santissima Trinidad, while she is indeed an awesome ship, she is too modern in design for the game. Eligible ships date from 1660-1740. If memory serves, the Santissima Trinidad was launched on or about 1765.

Hey all,

Let's make put this back on topic and keep the firey flamey bits out of the discussion, okay? It isn't wrong to discuss and even debate topics, but the trolling and flaming shouldn't be a part of the discussion.

Cheers,
Danicia