Zezo forum:

Post by Journeyman27 | 2017-10-23 | 00:04:43

Hi all

It seems impossible to be able to obtain any auto sails cards. I only acquired 1 at the start of the race and none when the barrell opened and none from purchasing 10 random cards. So this creates the problem that once this period runs out, I either manually change sails (not going to happen)or have the wrong sails up and go backwards.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Cheers,

Jez aka Journeyman27

54 Comments

Post by wonder1 | 2017-10-23 | 00:33:31

Autosail seems to be the rarest card.

Post by turb | 2017-10-23 | 00:44:53

I just got 3 in the barrel.

Post by Marty6 | 2017-10-23 | 10:21:46

Also got 3 with random cards from barrel

Post by Journeyman27 | 2017-10-23 | 09:13:55

Nope, none in the recent barrell. How do you contact VR?

Post by JohnT | 2017-10-24 | 05:58:02

Also, to add to the pain an autosail card now only give you 12hrs - one card used to be good for 24hrs.

Admission of possible guilt: I wrote to support about the crazy number of programming cards needed to make use of the 10 steps available. And one of my arguments was that the contrast with an autosail card being good for 24hrs. I was hoping for them to lower the cost of programming multiple course changes.

Specifically I pointed out to them that to get the 55 cards to fully use the course programmer (once!) would on average require buying 10 navigation packs (assuming 50/50 waypoint & programming cards). And that was before I saw the zezo best route for the last 24hrs!

I certainly haven't achieved that, but if I was the cause of them changing the autosail card value from 24 to 12hrs I apologize to all.
John

Post by Breaksea | 2017-10-27 | 08:30:38

Is there away to abort the autosail before the 12hours expire ? I dont sleep for 12 hours and would like to tell my bowman myself what to do when I am on shift again.

Post by zezo | 2017-10-27 | 08:39:32

I think that clicking the boat icon inside the compass and then a specific sail does the trick. No refund on the card, though.

Post by YourMomSA | 2017-10-27 | 18:49:49

That's correct. I'm not sure, though, but I think there might be a bug in that... I think it might hit you with one sailchange penalty when you do it, even if you select the sail you're already using. I was in a thick pack a couple days ago and lost several positions when I did that, and this might have been why. I'm not sure, though. It's hard to be sure.

Post by zezo | 2017-10-27 | 19:03:40

Well there actually is a way, but I'll need a good IP lawyer if I tell you about it.

Post by YourMomSA | 2017-10-27 | 22:18:02

No worries. I don't need to know how to determine whether or not the theory is correct. But if you at some point determine on your own whether or not the theory is correct, I'd be happy to hear the conclusion. I also suspected at one point getting hit by a sailchange penalty for turning autosails ON at a time when the autosails wouldn't make an actual change, which would be an even worse bug. Hopefully I'm wrong about that. Thanks!

Post by zezo | 2017-10-27 | 22:36:28

Hmm my second boat has not finished yet, and is has autosails on, so I'll do a little test.

Post by zezo | 2017-10-27 | 23:02:02

We have a winner:

1) Yep, I changed Auto Code zero with Code zero and got a penalty.
2) The penalty is still 1 minute, even without pro winches. Don't waste your hard-earned points on winches.

Post by Rostef | 2017-10-27 | 23:12:18

WTF :-), it's just one minute, but I just gained 8th place against Charlie2010 by .01mile, so it's this minute we're spending hours and lately nights on!

and I think i sent a very long post of mine in the other thread into nirvana by clicking 'edit post' without writing anything in and uuups...

Thanks a lot Cvetan, for all the work. We appreciate...

Post by zezo | 2017-10-27 | 23:17:39

Check your mail ;-)

Post by WretchedExcess | 2017-10-28 | 04:33:31

Is there anywhere that explains exactly what the penalties for changing a sail, changing course, and any other time pleanites I do not know about? Is there any advantage to using cards as opposed to doing manually? (Other than money and sleep)

Post by Inicio | 2017-10-28 | 08:04:26

On the penalty of 1 minute (probably 75 sec.) By switching from Auto Code 0 to manual Code 0 without Winchs pro.

Maybe this 1 minute (75 sec.) penalty is not the same as the 500-second penalty in sails change ... but a different penalty not described in Help?
This would be confirmed if a penalty of 1 minute (75 sec) occurs at the time of Autosail activation without effective sail change.

Activating or deactivating Autosail without effective sail changes causes a penalty of 1 minute (probably 75 seconds, the maneuver time with Winchs pro).

I still need to check what the penalty is if you deactivate Autosail with an effective sail change, both with and without Winchs pro.

Post by zezo | 2017-10-28 | 08:07:46

No. It's the same penalty for everything. They just haven't bothered to implement the Pro Winches sever-side (yet).

Post by karriv | 2017-10-28 | 08:29:17

And this is a game the CEO has nerve to call the best game.

Post by Inicio | 2017-11-03 | 10:34:23

Has anyone recently checked if the maneuver time difference with Autosail has been implemented?
Maneuver time without Autosail 500 sec.?

Post by mcmgj | 2017-11-03 | 12:18:52

free cards : clipper : Mini
help : 13 / 6
meteo : 38 / 33
auto sails : 16 / 9
WayPoint : 17 / 9
programmation: 10 / 9
Furtif mode : 8 / 3

winch pro : penalty for sail change : 75 s
without winch pro : penalty for sail change : 500 s
yon can't view penalty on your own boat, but from another boat : yes (look mph).

Post by zezo | 2017-11-03 | 12:24:21

The penalty is visible from another boat's point of view, indeed.
As are the speed differences because of "gusts", broken foils and so on.

You can just register a second boat, add yourself as a friend and watch your boat speed instead of digging in the game protocol.

Post by mcmgj | 2017-11-03 | 12:32:05

I have 6 boats on each race, so it's easy for me to see one boat from another (boats mcmgj...)

Post by Inicio | 2017-11-03 | 18:05:42

EDIT:

Then, have you confirmed that the difference between the maneuver with Winchs Pro (75 sec) and without (500 sec) is already implemented?

And the Autosail??

Post by turb | 2017-11-04 | 00:53:18

Waow ! And you will race it on the 4 races in November ??? :-O

Post by zezo | 2017-11-04 | 00:55:16

Damn. I did exactly the same math exactly 3 seconds ago ;-)

Currently having 2 boats in 2 races and racing foils vs sails and it's already too much.

Post by JohnT | 2017-11-04 | 04:53:29

maybe practicing to become the 'ideal' customer for VR: someone willing to be online 24/7 for each leg :)

Post by hophop | 2017-11-04 | 12:20:43

Ce n'est jamais bon de courir plusieurs li�vres � la fois.

Post by Inicio | 2017-11-04 | 10:59:43

The theothetical standard maneuver time is less than in the past.
300 sec.
https://www.facebook.com/download/preview/1995380544073943
Any confirmation?

Post by chelonia | 2017-11-08 | 09:58:11

Just curious how or where to check the remaining time for auto sails. Last night auto sails was on, only to wake up sailing with a bad sail.

From the virtual robbers website:

"Auto sails are a very convenient tool! Once activated, they allow your boat to sail with the optimal sail regardless of the wind speed or direction.

With the auto sails, you can be sure to sail with the best sail available on your boat.

Auto sails can be activated in X-hour increments (their duration may change for each race). To activate this option, you will have to spend one or more "Auto Sails" cards."

So, ONCE ACTIVATED reads like once it�s activated it�s activated.

To add to the confusion it then goes on saying X-hour increments.

My question is for how many hours, and how/where to check the (remaining) time in order to manage to properly manage the auto sails function.

No reply yet from VR but I will post it here once the frogs respond

Post by JohnT | 2017-11-09 | 05:39:21

In all the current races it is 12 hours: If you use one. A vountdown timer starts. If you add another you get 12 hours in addition to the fime remaining on your current card...

Post by fadoue | 2017-11-10 | 02:08:50

I have much more autosail than i need... i am searching for the programming cards...

Post by meteo79niort | 2017-11-10 | 14:35:50

@mcmgj @zezo,

you said : penalty during 75s with winch pro and 500s without winch pro.

It's not 50% speed during this period (75s and 500s) ?

Post by zezo | 2017-11-10 | 15:04:19

First, I think it's 5 minutes / 300 seconds without pro. It seems that the number 500 comes from the faq but I think that someone made a typo, confusing minutes and seconds.

The penalty is supposed to be 75 seconds, but the implementation is not clear. The game seems to run at regular intervals, but that means that penalty time should be multiple of 60 seconds.

To implement 75 - second 50% in 60 - second game you can actually make one turn with (60/75) * 0.5 correction and that would be multiplier of 0.4. But this is pure speculation.

Post by mak08 | 2017-11-10 | 15:32:36

The interface gets updates at 120sec intervals in Clipper (and VOR i think), but 135sec in TJV. I have no idea what the server uses internally.
The actual penalty (Pro Winch, in Clipper) seems to be higher than 75sec at 50%.

Post by zezo | 2017-11-10 | 15:38:49

The state push may not be in sync with the game engine, but could also be related to it. BTW it was 60 seconds during the intro races.

Post by Toppen | 2017-11-11 | 15:49:43

Not sure if someone has noticed yet but extending the autosails (with another 12 hours) will result in a sail change penalty...

Post by zezo | 2017-11-11 | 15:51:33

Oh, shit. Thanks.

Post by Ursus Maritimus | 2017-11-11 | 17:12:40

naughty VR again, that is just plain stupid.
a penalty with every automatic sailchange would be fair though

Post by marcusbelgicus | 2017-11-12 | 21:31:27

Did not noticed that. What about if we put 2-3-4-... autosails cards at the same time?

Post by chelonia | 2017-11-13 | 09:58:51

Did you notice a penalty? There is no mention of it in the help files. As far as I know the only penalties are for sail changes, gybing, and tacking. Maybe handy to open a new topic about penaltie and for what.

What are auto sails for?

Avatar [VR] Virtual Regatta
7 hours ago Updated
Auto sails are a very convenient tool! Once activated, they allow your boat to sail with the optimal sail regardless of the wind speed or direction.

With the auto sails, you can be sure to sail with the best sail available on your boat.

Auto sails can be activated in X-hour increments (their duration may change for each race). To activate this option, you will have to spend one or more "Auto Sails" cards.

Post by zezo | 2017-11-13 | 11:14:57

Yes, there is a penalty for additional auto sail card activation and the new extension shows it clearly. Also for autosail deactivation.

Don't know if it's a bug or undocumented feature.

Post by Toppen | 2017-11-11 | 15:54:19

Crazy really... but the Help-section in the game probably describe this very thoroughly...

Post by Inicio | 2017-11-11 | 17:50:18

No. Not at all.

Post by Toppen | 2017-11-11 | 18:17:22

It was a joke, maybe not a funny one but, still a joke ;)

Post by Lazy_Hikers_Finland | 2017-11-11 | 18:40:27

Even more reason to invest in good grinders !

Post by Toppen | 2017-11-11 | 17:47:37

I don't think it is intentional... they have just not bothered to develop the game properly

Post by karriv | 2017-11-11 | 22:39:57

So you get a penalty when you turn autosails on, you get the penalty when it expires and also when you extend the time.

That's just plain ridiculous...

If I were VR, I'd eliminate all of the above, just for the sake of making the option tempting.

Post by karriv | 2017-11-14 | 15:43:53

OK, so I spent one autosail card to see what happens (utilising the awesome chrome plugin) in regards to speed penalty. The plugin reports normal distance traveled over two minutes to be 0.51 nm (= 15.25 kn). For the cycle of the penalty it reported 0.42 nm, giving a distance loss of 0.09 nm. That corresponds to speed being reduced by 50 % for 42 seconds.

Post by mak08 | 2017-11-14 | 16:01:38

Unfortunately my computation of the remaining time is incorrect as GeGaX and Cvetan noticed (see the plugin thread).

Still, the effect that is shows is real, imo:
The penalty does not carry over to the next update cycle.
If you manage to time your manoeuvre on the last second of the cycle, you should practically avoid the penalty.

Post by karriv | 2017-11-14 | 16:39:55

Holy s**t. Somehow to me it would seem logical that the penalties would be applied in a consistent manner, not depending on when you hit a button in relation to some server internal cycle. But then again, it could be that's just me and my limited perspective.

I once said in another thread that IMHO the client SW is total crap. Cvetan did not quite agree with me, but to me it seems like also the server side SW is total crap. Ok, the code itself could be first quality, but it seems like no-one bothered to think about how the game should work for it to be logical and playable. But then again, we have nice waves and winds blowing like hell over the 3D hulls of our boats. Maybe I just don't understand the priorities correctly...

Just a remark, I did not pay attention to the remaining time, just looked at the stats on movement of the boat which to my understanding should be very accurate.

Post by arturdayne | 2017-11-15 | 14:56:52

So if you play all your autosails cards inside the same minute (look like there is an update every minute correct?) you minimize your overall penalty, correct? Or does VR addition 75s + 75s + 75s... ?

And even better if you manage to do that at the end of this minute?

Post by zezo | 2017-11-15 | 15:56:47

Yes and yes. Not additive, so if you add sails do it all at once.

But it might be hard to minimize the penalty because the updates and position report are not exactly synchronous (or the server clock off)

Post by zezo | 2017-11-15 | 16:52:09

But the there seems to be no penalty for sail changes with auto sails activated, even with manual steering, so the penalty may be intentional attempt to compensate for that ...

Post by arturdayne | 2017-11-15 | 17:59:45

Good to know! (the problem is that it can change for the next race without any info from VR...)