A Ship Through The Eyes of A Game Designer
Taking a ship to piecesEach member of the World of Warships development team sees a ship in a different way. When a 3D-modeller looks at a ship, first they will see the details and elements of its design: the deck, anti-torpedo bulge, anti-aircraft guns etc. A sound designer will hear the sound of propellers and shots crashing into the water. A historical consultant will recall scenes of the ship in vivid combat and Art QA specialist will present drawings, sketches or archival newsreel footage.
The Game Designer’s task is to see this incredibly complex picture as a whole, in order to bring bright, lively and realistic images of each ship to the game. To do this, you must first take ship to pieces, literally…
The view from aboveLet’s first understand that a ship is a complex thing – the result of the work of thousands of people over many years; a multi-ton machine with a crew consisting of hundreds and hundreds of people. The weight of small-caliber guns alone can be compared to that of a tank.
Ships were churned out – almost each one was piece-work, unique and an inimitable product. If the path of tank or aircraft from the factory floor to the battle field was often a very short and swift one, then that of the ship is much longer. So is a ship’s lifespan which can be measured in decades, all leading up to its eventual end in a single moment of battle.
In World of Warships we have four main ship classes:
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Battleships are slow and not an easy ship to manoeuvre but this is all compensated for by thick armour and powerful artillery, which often able to destroy the enemy ship with a single salvo.
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Cruisers are quite easy to play and fast but they have weakened armouring and are not so powerful in terms of guns.
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Destroyers are fast and manoeuvrable but very vulnerable ships. If you skilfully use the smokescreen and torpedo tubes, you can easily create panic inside the ranks of the enemy team.
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Aircraft Carriers are huge and unwieldy ships. With the help of air groups they are able to attack the enemy at ultra-long-range, simply not allowing the enemy to come close enough for a shot.
Each class has its own “character” and unique characteristics, requiring a special approach. In general terms, the ship can be described by several parameters that strongly affect the gameplay.
Displacement - one of the main parameters that affects the mass of a ship. Displacement is the amount of water displaced by the ship when its underwater part is immersed in water, which is equal to its actual weight. For example, most large ships – battleships and aircraft carriers – usually have a displacement of 20,000 to 70,000 tons. In the game, it will be reflected as the amount of hit points
Dimensions - represent three quantities: length, width and keel depth of ship. In the game all the ship models exactly match the measures of the actual real-life ship. This will allow you feel the difference in controlling small, brisk destroyers and large, heavy battleships.
Keel depth - the depth of the underwater part which affects how close a ship will be able to approach the shore. For example, due to its small keel depth, destroyers are able to sneak through shallow water, evading enemy attacks or launching an ambush from places that other classes can’t access.
Power-Plant Capacity - unlike in tanks and warplanes, the power plant of a ship is a complex consisting of several steam turbines powered by steam from a number of boilers. In order to start a huge ship moving, it develops hundreds or even thousands of horsepower. In World of Warships, we have simplified this a bit: we have combined engine and boiler rooms into a single unit called the power plant.
Ship Speed -measured in knots (1.852 km/h) or in nautical miles per hour. The fastest ships are the destroyers which are able to achieve speeds up to 40 knots; cruisers average around 35 and low-speed battleships and aircraft carriers move at a speed of 25-28 knots – although some of them can accelerate above 30 knots. Speed is dependent on many factors including the displacement, the size and shape of the ship and its power-plant capacity.
A glimpse from the insideThe structure of a ship is much more complicated than that of a tank or an aircraft and therefore it influence gameplay in stronger ways. In order to simplify this, the hull is divided into three main parts in World of Warships:
Bow/NoseStern -in this part of the ship, modules like the “steering engine” will be located. When they are damaged, for example, the player will not be able to manoeuvre.
The mid part of the body, where the citadel and casemate are situated. It includes several modules, for example, bow and stern ammunition. When such modules are damaged the player will not be able to open fire from any main calibre armaments or can even blow up. If critical damage is done to power-plant modules, the ship will lose its power and become an easy target.
Armour is strong and destroyers are fast!Battleships carry some of the most powerful artillery of all the time and one successful hit can send an enemy ship to the depths. To survive such fire, you must have decent protection. Ship armour is one of the most important factors that a player must take into account when planning in-game actions.
The scheme of ship armour is much more complicated than that of a tank. It was impossible to protect the entire ship, so some parts were armoured more strongly than others. Armour was thicker only in the area of the citadel, which allowed designers to securely protect ammunition magazines and power plants. In order to strengthen the protection, different technical tricks were used, such as sloping armour and boxed ammunition magazine protection.
From the sides, the citadel is protected by anti-torpedo protection, an armour belt and also deck bevels that made penetration harder. Travers can be found at the front and rear, these are transverse frames which are armoured bulkheads and only slightly less armoured than the main belt. The resulting construction is enclosed by deck armour.
Above board the upper-side armour belt and the second deck are situated. Depending on the overall armour scheme, it could be thicker than the previous one and was intended to protect against air bombs. On the same level, the main barbette armour starts. In ships of a later construction, secondary guns were placed on the upper deck and therefore were shielded by light armour.
The stern and bow were basically covered by thin sheets of ship steel. Steering mechanisms were individually armoured inside the ship or externally with the use of high strength steel sheets. Located in the central part in an anti-torpedo bulge intended not only to give extra protection, but also added buoyancy to the ship and, in some cases, even stability.
The most protected place was the conning tower – the “brain of the ship”, which was protected to almost the same level as the citadel. The rest of the ship’s structures were protected by sheathed steel with virtually no protection from enemy fire.
Especially well protected were the main calibres of the ship. These armaments included main calibre guns and secondary guns. Air defence guns provided protection from enemies in the sky. These consisted of heavy anti-aircraft machine guns and small-calibre guns. The main calibre itself was always as well protected as the citadel and in some cases even better because the loss of the ability to fight back almost guarantees a ship’s destruction.
After gathering all these and thousands of other smaller items together, we get a complete image of the ship, which is ready to enter World of Warships.
The ship is ready, action stations!