Can you go around ground based on the ghost boat ?
Post by iconPost by bibi63 | 2021-06-22 | 20:22:33

I know it is better tu use WP to go around islands and grounds. In case it is not possible or too late or you screwed up your WPs, what is the best approach to go around ground with your ghost boat ?

I noticed that if you turn too early and there is ground in between your previous position and you next position (5 minutes later), you can run aground. Is there any trick and /or recommendation to go quicker than to wait that your last position has completely cleared the land ?

Thanks
Yves

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Post by iconPost by BooBill | 2021-06-23 | 03:20:18
The game works in 1 minute cycles, but only updates your position between the client (your computer) and the server every 5 minutes. Changes you make in between will be effective at the next 1 minute cycle. The "ghost" ahead of your verified position moves every minute and is approximately where you where you will be on the next 1 minute cycle.

So, if you believe that you will ground before the next 5 minute update, by all means steer away immediately. If the ghost has already reached land, or will on the next 1 minute cycle, then it's too late. You are already aground and will be informed at the next 5 minute update. If that's the case, steer back. It's often a messy situation and the only sure fire way to get clear is to go back exactly they way you came. Wait at least 1 minute before resuming your course.

Best bet is always waypoints. Remember to set them early and then keep you hands off the controls until the finish. You will often see odd behaviour, ignore it. Go read a book or something. Unless you get a grounding notification, do no intervene.

Post by iconPost by bibi63 | 2021-06-25 | 00:51:45
Thanks Boobill, good advise

Agree. Just wanted to know if you can turn to contour island. Last time I screwed up my WP at last minute and I waited for 5 minutes in the wrong direction until update before turning around island. I was wondering if I could have turned a little earlier based on the ghost position.


Post by iconPost by YourMomSA | 2021-06-25 | 14:48:11
You can, but it's risky and you have to be willing to live with uncertainty and stress the whole time... Between the 5-minute cycle updates, your ghost boat's position is approximate and doesn't necessarily match what's on the server. The grounding will be calculated based on what's on the server. You've likely noticed that when the wind is shifting rapidly and you're sailing a TWA angle, sometimes you'll get jagged edges in your trail, because the UI jumps your boat from its ghost track to the calculated server position with each 5-minute update. Your actual path wasn't jagged... It was on the track of the calculated 5-minute positions. And if you close the window and re-load, when you come back, your trail will show the server position track, not what was your ghost track with jagged corrections.

So... in situations like that, let's say you make a sudden turn to starboard around the tip of an island. Well, if the wind was stable and your ghost boat's position was accurate, you're fine. If not, then you might find that at the next 5-minute update, the server positions decide that you turned too soon, into a beach party.

The benefit of waypoints in those situations is... accuracy of the ghost boat (UI position) won't matter. It'll sail to each waypoint. The only thing that can get messed up is that it might get to a waypoint sooner, or later, than expected... But the course sailed will be identical in the server and the UI.

You can't skip over land. The grounding checks aren't based solely on your position at the end of each 5-minute cycle. (I think that may have been possible in a very old version of the game, before I started playing in 2014... I remember hearing something about it). The game checks your whole track between the 5-minute cycles (using server positions, not ghost/UI positions).

Of course, another challenge with WP is that you can't set the first one within a certain perimeter of your current location. So you need to get a chain set in advance, or hand-steer as best you can.

If you have Full Pack or VIP, the best thing is to set a string of waypoints around the contour of the island (assuming that's what you want to do, tactically), and then leave it alone and let it do its thing. Don't intervene unless you get an indication that you're aground. Don't tweak and adjust waypoints while you're close to hitting waypoints. If your ghost boat sails through a waypoint and then you change things before the server registers that you've hit the waypoint (or vice-versa), and then you confirm some changes to a later waypoint, or add one, you can get all sorts of weird impacts, such as your boat turning around to go back to that waypoint before turning to go forward again. VR has corrected a lot of bugs like this... It works much better now than it did a few months ago... But there are a few things in the game where it pays to be paranoid, and this is one.

If you don't have Full Pack or VIP, then it gets difficult due to the 2-WP max. I did Solo Maitre Coq on credits without VIP. I was very competitive and sailed the contours of every island rounding. To do so, I had to set a new second waypoint every time I hit a first waypoint, before hitting the next one. This meant that sometimes I had to do it when the ghost boat arrived, before a 5-minute cycle ended to confirm. It worked... Hence my statement that I believe VR has corrected a lot of the bugs. Maybe all of them. But it took constant attention and I found it stressful.

The killer was... after all that, I grounded when exiting the last island terrain, for confusing reasons. There's a causeway from Ile de Re to La Rochelle, and the West end of it appears to exist in the game as a very narrow "land" element. There must be some minimum granularity of time for the game's grounding calculations. Because I ran aground on it, and I could see in Dashboard that others had sailed through the same water (and even closer to Ile de Re) without running aground. Others also grounded (some further out than me). Best guess is that it was a matter of how the timing cycle of the grounding calculation matched up against your movement over the causeway. Not sure. Frustrating, but on the other hand, perhaps not unrealistic. If a large fleet sails through risky rocky waters, there will be some apparent randomness to who wrecks their keel.



Post by iconPost by bibi63 | 2021-06-30 | 02:47:17
Thank You so much YourMomSA for the detailed explanation. In summary you can rely on your ghost boat and if it's location is accurate you are fine but of course as it is an estimate it could not be accurate.

This is good information because I thought you couldn't turn until your last confirmed location has pas the island so I waited for 5 minutes in the wrong direction !. No agree WP is the way to go but good to know if you need to recover or have to cancel WP last minute.

Thanks again
Yves
Post by iconPost by bibi63 | 2021-06-30 | 13:50:03
Thank you again one more question if anybody knows

Does the ghost indicates the last place recorded (place you were at the end of previous minute)or the place you will be at the end of the current minute ?

Thanks
Yves
Post by iconPost by BooBill | 2021-06-30 | 21:13:50
Where you will be. That's why it always looks like you are ahead of people who are in fact classed ahead of you.

Corollary of that, do not turn as soon as your ghost boat has cleared a headlands, wait at least 1 minute.
Post by iconPost by bibi63 | 2021-07-01 | 16:06:15
Thanks Boobill,

I think you answered my question. If you see the ghost at one point to rely on it you have to wait one minute at least. So the ghost point is the estimation of where you will be at the end of the current minute. Correct ?

Yves
Post by iconPost by BooBill | 2021-07-01 | 19:17:23
Correct
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