Finally someone did it right. In my opnion "Sea Dogs" is fantastic! It`s dynamic, the battles are excellent, the graphics are superb, the sea state and weather are stunning. I have yet to see more so stay tuned.

Boxcar

Boxcar,

Why don't you throw up a few PICs with a war story ... I'd like to see some of this.

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Ken "KC23" Cook
Contributing Editor,
SimHQ.com
KC23@SimHQ.com
BoB Strategy Guide

Boxcar, I don't remember wich review it was, but I've read that the performance of the ships are unrealistic, this means that the speed of the ship is proportional to the wind speed, independent from the sea state. With the result that the ship reaches it's maximum performance in a storm! Is this correct? BTW I think that I will order it very soon!

Long John Silver

To KC23,

I Would love to except I have never posted a pic before......believe it or not!
I sort of need a small tutorial on how to do it.
Other than that I would be glad to....Cheers

Boxcar

Boxcar,

You'll notice when you write a post you will see a link to the left of the area you type in labeled *UBB Code is ON which is underlined as well.

Click on that and it tells you how to do it. The only tricky part is you need to upload the image to your web page. Once on a web page it is just a matter of following the directions.

[img]web address [\img]

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Ken "KC23" Cook
Contributing Editor,
SimHQ.com
KC23@SimHQ.com
BoB Strategy Guide

To nico,

You may be right there but the battles pan out quite realistically and the performances of each ship and wind factor seem to disperse amongst you and AI fairly.

I was just reading a post at the SeaDogs forum about add-ons and mods already in the works. Apparently the ini.files are tweakable along with other relevent parameters, like weather, ship performance, etc. Sea Dogs appears to be open-ended which is a "good thing" to an already great game!

I must say that next to my first love "flight sims" this is the best game I have ever played. It`s way to good to pass up! Can you imagine graphic and performance tweaks to an already "stunning pallette".

* I just escaped two pirates in a running battle with my new " light sloop" and a hold full of ebony to the Isle of D`Orange......way to cool this Sea Dogs.

Boxcar

This sounds promising! I think I'll order it next monday or tuesday. It will take a while until it arrives because they don't have it in their stock and they'll have to import it. Without your hint in the MA forum I would have missed this gem! Thank you!

To KC23,

Thanks, I`ll have to try this out.

In the meantime I`ve saved enough gold to swap for my much coveted "Brig"! 24,000 hard earned coins for this baby. Plus I had to trade in my well used light sloop. I`ll miss this little gem, she made me alot of money. My Brig will hold three times the cargo and I get an upgrade to 14 pounders. I can be a little cocky now.
I lost my escort earlier today to two pirates. A Corvette and Shnyava, the pirates love speed. They ambushed us off Grey Sail Island. There are two channels that lead into the bay and they caught us coming around the corner.....jeesh. Man I tell you, I really felt sorry for my Frigate Escort. I watched from the stern of my sloop in a down wind retreat. They circled and broadsided her into oblivion. I felt sorry for the guy, I mean after all he volunteered his services.
The sharks off Gray sail had a feast......bloody pirates don`t like to take prisoners.
I`m actually doing buisiness with some pirates(cannon balls and rum) but I`m flying the British Flag.
Wait until I run into them next time. I can now afford a first mate and a top gunnery officer. They gobble up a third of my holdings but it`s worth it if I stay in the trade market. In fact with my new Brig I am tempted to do a little plundering........to pirates that is. Don`t want to piss off the french, even though they don`t like me.
I`m totally wired on this Sea Dogs! Anyway back to Belfor for another load of Bombs and Linen......Cheers.

Boxcar

Boxcar,

Couple of questions.

Can you link me to the SD forum and who makes this anyway? I'd like to review it for SimHQ.

------------------
Ken "KC23" Cook
Contributing Editor,
SimHQ.com
KC23@SimHQ.com
BoB Strategy Guide

Ken,

Publisher is http://www.bethsoft.com/adv_index.html

Sea Dogs page:
http://seadogs.bethsoft.com/main.html

Sea Dog Dev.
http://www.akella.ru/

Well there you go KC23, the lad beat me to the punch.

Boxcar

Thanks. I have been reading up on Age of Sail II ... anyone have any thoughts on what they think that will be like? Sounded pretty cool.

------------------
Ken "KC23" Cook
Contributing Editor,
SimHQ.com
KC23@SimHQ.com
BoB Strategy Guide

Age of Sail is essentially a "real-time strategy" sort of game with warships. Its emphasis is on the combat aspect, whereas Sea Dogs is more of an adventure/RPG game. It's also a bit more realistic, but judging by the beta-demo, not much more. If you're interested in naval warfare simulation, these don't fit the bill: you'd be better off reading a Horatio Hornblower novel. Sea Dogs in particular has nothing in common with real sailing or combat of the time...but as a remake of the old Sid Meier game "Pirates!" it doesn't do too shabby.

For the person that requested screenshots:





(Yes, that's a light sloop vs a frigate. I sank it too)






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-Mekhazzio Sssth'rhee, Magedragon at large

And give up on the brig They're relatively fast, sure, but not very maneuverable, not very sturdy, and not very well armed (for its size). They're transports and prison ships, not fighting ships, which you should know if you've ever fought any. They're easy pickings You'd be better off with a Shnyava...it's fast enough and well-armed enough to let you pick off whatever you can, and run from whatever you can't And with a couple prize ships captured (especially loaded Spanish merchants), you really start to rake in the cash and can forget about bothering with mere trade.

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-Mekhazzio Sssth'rhee, Magedragon at large

Full review here:
http://www.subsim.com

Cheers!
Neal

I have ordered it today! But it may take a while until it will arrive (import).

[This message has been edited by nico (edited January 29, 2001).]

Neil,

Great job on the review. Sounds like a fun game. What is your general overall opinion now that you have played it for a quite a while?

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Ken "KC23" Cook
Contributing Editor,
SimHQ.com
KC23@SimHQ.com
BoB Strategy Guide

Fun, imaginative, and pretty interesting. It's mostly a RPG but the sim and wargame elements round it out nicely. I'm almost finished with the second quest and I'm finding it easy to go back for more.

Neal

Neal,

Sounds fun. I have been reading a lot about Age of Sail 2 and Sea Dogs. I'm going to take a good look at both. Sounds like Age of Sail 2 is kind of the Falcon 4 and SeaDogs is perhaps the WW2Fighters of the genre?





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Ken "KC23" Cook
Contributing Editor,
SimHQ.com
KC23@SimHQ.com
BoB Strategy Guide

KC, I`m still having a gas with SD. I sold my Frigate for a larger capacity merchant. A little weaker in combat, but now I run from the battle and spank the odd shynava`s....heheeheh.

Boxcar