Outboard Motors

[rellufdarb]

How would I model twin outboards? I thought perhaps I could use Azimuth drives but they do not go astern and have to be rotated 180--not realistic for normal outboard operation.

[rellufdarb]

Hmmm, just thinking and working my way through the file specs. I suppose if I use normal twin shaft propulsion and  if I deliberately increase the rudder effectiveness in Astern, that would have a similar effect as an outboard-IE it would "pull" the stern sideways? The big difference is that in real life, a rudder usually only has much effect if the vessel is making way whereas an outboard will turn the vessel "on the spot" as soon as revs increase and well before the vessel starts to move sternways through the water. Similar with ahead engaged too I suppose!

Thoughts anyone?

[forum_admin]

Thanks for asking. I'll have a look into this, I think it would be relatively simple to change the way the azimuth drive is modelled to allow reverse propulsion direction as an option.

I think you could get the right turning effect from tuning the rudder parameters, but I'm not sure the lateral motion would be realistic.

[rellufdarb]

There is obviously a lot of clever programming behind Bridge Command and I do have an electronics and programming background so I understand, but yes, I would think a "tweek" of azimuth drives would be one way to go. Just allow reverse thrust same as shaft drives but limit the rotation angles like rudders. The drives would have to be placed at the stern, but I see you already have parameters for the drive location.
In our case we have two outboard (on a rescue vessel) cross connected and steered from the one helm. I imagine both azimuth drives could be connected to the same joystick input so they turn together, just with separate throttle input for each.

[forum_admin]

Hello, I've added a new parameter that simply allows 'azimuth drives' to be engaged astern. This is the parameter 'AzimuthDriveAstern' in the own ship boat.ini file, and should be set as AzimuthDriveAstern=1 for your case. The change doesn't limit the range of allowed angles, but particularly if you are using a joystick input, this could easily be mapped to give you the angle range that you want.

This change isn't yet in a formal release on the website, as I'm trying to finish a few more things related to the VR implementation, but if you have a GitHub account, you should be able to download the automatically built installer (assuming you are on Windows) from https://github.com/bridgecommand/bc/actions/runs/9119286367 (look for the 'BC_windows' artefact. (Note that the automatic builds are not code signed, so you may need to click through various Windows warnings to install).

This also includes some improvements to the scenario editor for the initial course and speed of own ships.