GrogHeads Forum

http://www.navalaction.com/#ageofsail

Been watching this off and on for the past year or so am excited for this even though it is still EA. Looks like a proper age of sail game with no dancing/dragons/fantasy.
The Steam Store page isn't up yet but I assume it will be very soon.

Anyone else interested?

Quote from: AchillesLastStand on January 19, 2016, 02:33:03 AM
http://www.navalaction.com/#ageofsail

Been watching this off and on for the past year or so am excited for this even though it is still EA. Looks like a proper age of sail game with no dancing/dragons/fantasy.
The Steam Store page isn't up yet but I assume it will be very soon.

Anyone else interested?

What about Krakens ;)

looks good

I am so interested I think I am going to get it as early access, I think the game being developed and tested for long already.

http://grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=11867.msg410029#msg410029 (http://grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=11867.msg410029#msg410029)

I played quite a bit around Thanksgiving, trying out the open world.

My yacht made a few trade runs and captured a merchantman and another small vessel and sank several more.  At that time you could just sail around looking for trouble or get some missions to fight pirates.  I know there is also crafting, but that didn't really interest me.

I saw a lot of ships, but very few humans, maybe 3 the whole weekend.  The rest are AI bots.  I imagine the number of humans will increase a lot with Steam coming on line.

If you like the age of sail and open world mechanics, you will probably like this game.

It appears to be multi-player only.  Pass.

Quote from: Raied on January 19, 2016, 03:31:58 AM
I am so interested I think I am going to get it as early access, I think the game being developed and tested for long already.

  Yep.  I'm pretty used to being a very bad multiplayer.  Maybe I can get a fast boat and stay alive.  This should be pretty fun.

I've had it since about this time last year. 

Back then it was just a multi-player team skirmish game, like Steal Ocean & World of Warships.  Without all the content, of course.  They had to stop taking on customers in the Alpha for stretches due to getting overloaded.

Haven't played since they added all the open world MMO stuff, but the ship battles were the closest to reality I had seen in a first-person game on the subject.  Long, but very fun.

From their stated plans I expect this to be an MMO somewhat similar to Pirates Of The Burning Sea.  Except with better graphics, more realistic mechanics, more focused on the naval warfare & trade, and (hopefully) minus the bad design decisions & changes PotBS regularly made.

so its elite with sails?

hmmmmmm

Quote from: undercovergeek on January 19, 2016, 10:28:06 AM
so its elite with sails?

hmmmmmm

That's one way of saying it.

I'd think they still have quite a ways to go before having all the target features they originally listed.  Not sure how long they expect to be in Early Access but it will probably be awhile.  Then you can expect at least one wipe before final release, although I can't say for sure.  It's standard MMO practice and this is definitely an MMO.

Quote from: tgb on January 19, 2016, 08:36:09 AM
It appears to be multi-player only.  Pass.

They have plans to make it single player also in the future.

I have had this for quite a while and it can be very immersive and played at a slower pace. No one shot kills here  O0  It also works well on older systems. The game requires DX11 ready video card with full Shader Model 5 support.. The engine does a great job of making you feel like you are on the seas during the age of sail.

The Steam page is up: http://store.steampowered.com/app/311310/

Regards

Quote from: AchillesLastStand on January 19, 2016, 02:33:03 AM
http://www.navalaction.com/#ageofsail

Been watching this off and on for the past year or so am excited for this even though it is still EA. Looks like a proper age of sail game with no dancing/dragons/fantasy.
The Steam Store page isn't up yet but I assume it will be very soon.

Anyone else interested?

Details of release:

http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/8353-important-release-information-and-next-steps/

Thanks for the link.

Current owners better make sure to log in during headstart and create a new character to get your exceptional ships.  I'll have to try to remember to do that tonight.

Quote
3. All current owners of the game will be able to start playing before Steam early access opens. Head start date is set on 19th of January. Everyone will receive several exceptional vessels for participating in the testing of the game. To receive the exceptional vessels you must login and create a character during head start. Only created characters will receive ships.

Quote2. Servers will be down from 17th until 19th of January for preparing the release databases. All character data will be deleted and wiped. This will be the last XP (rank) reset and in the future your XP will be saved and safe. There might be drops or increases in rank if the testing shows that xp will have to be rebalanced, but your earned XP will always stay.

Well.. I guess this is the last wipe.  ^-^

My attention is most certainly grabbed...

If she doesn't cost too many doubloons, I be gettin' her too.

I saw a post on the Steam forums that it was gonna be 40 clams. 

I'm not sure I love it 40 clams worth.  I'll be sitting and watching the feedback a while, methinks. 

Sounds great, but I just don't know if I really need a sailing MMO at the moment.

Quote from: IronX on January 19, 2016, 08:19:38 PM
If she doesn't cost too many doubloons, I be gettin' her too.

I said that about a wench recently...

Quote from: RedArgo on January 19, 2016, 02:40:00 PM
Thanks for the link.

Current owners better make sure to log in during headstart and create a new character to get your exceptional ships.  I'll have to try to remember to do that tonight.

Hi RedArgo - I logged in and created a character (been in since Beta but haven't played for a few months) but don't see any changes, or additional ships (just the Lynx, not even the Yacht I had previously). Do they only appear after the official launch?

Hi,

I have no idea what is going on in 'Naval Action' anymore, .. haven't played it in months.  :-[

Signed up when it was first available in Early Access on Steam, .. and enjoyed it thoroughly, .. and had many glorious battles in my Bellona  :),  and ended up on top of one of the lists.

When it moved to Open World, .. I kinda lost interest, .. as, as much as I loved the Battles etc., ... I'm not really into the whole resource building/collecting etc.. so, stopped playing.  :(

Logged in today, .. and have no idea what is going on with the UI ..  ??? .. where are the several Ships I'm supposed to get ??

Would love to get back into the Battles etc., .. but, is there a way of doing that, without sailing around looking for Gold, or whatever other resource one needs to get ships.

I really just want to get my beloved Bellona back, .. and wreak havoc on the seven seas.  :D

Any advice for a  .. re-newbie ..  ;)

Thanks

Cheers
Tom

I think I worked it out - the exceptional vessels will come on the 21st. Info from the NA forum:

QuoteShort version

1. 17th Jan - Servers stopping
2. 18th Jan - Data wipe
3. 19th Jan - Head start
4. 20th Jan - Long maintenance (approx 9pm CET till 9am CET next day)
5. 21st Jan - Several exceptional ships given to all captains who logged in from 19-21
6. 21st Jan - Release (tentative on valve timing)

So log in, create a character and then wait.

Smithcorp, that sounds right.  I was able to redeem my yacht code, so I have that plus the default ship.

I guess we'll find out tomorrow what our prize is.  I'm assuming a 100 gun ship of the line.  :)

Naval Action Early Access Trailer 1 [Official]



Published on Jan 19, 2016

Quote from: smithcorp on January 20, 2016, 03:29:31 AM

Quote from: RedArgo on January 19, 2016, 02:40:00 PM
Thanks for the link.

Current owners better make sure to log in during headstart and create a new character to get your exceptional ships.  I'll have to try to remember to do that tonight.

Hi RedArgo - I logged in and created a character (been in since Beta but haven't played for a few months) but don't see any changes, or additional ships (just the Lynx, not even the Yacht I had previously). Do they only appear after the official launch?

I logged in and was able to claim the Yacht.   No Lynx.

I'd rather have had the Lynx.

*shrug*

Avast! 

Well, I'll giving this one a go this weekend for sure.  I had no idea this was ready to go Early Access.

Hmm, I'll have to find some way to redeem my yacht, didn't see it.

For me, the button was in the top middle of the screen while sitting in port.

I can't stand the UI. It keeps me from playing every time.

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on January 21, 2016, 08:22:03 AM
I can't stand the UI. It keeps me from playing every time.

Fugly generic gray looks like crap, doesn't it? 


I thought they'd have UI art in at this point but I guess they aren't giving it much priority.   :-\

IMPORTANT WARNING: Do not delete your players

Dear Captains.

This is extremely important - please share this information within your guilds or group of friends.(national moderators please translate this message to individual communities)


Do not delete the players unless you are absolutely sure. Deleting the player will delete it on all servers.

Player XP is saved across servers (including the name). If you delete your player on one of the servers - you delete it EVERYWHERE.

We cannot restore the players. We plan to eventually add some long cool down options for nation switch, but before that if you delete your player this decision is final and you will have no way to restore it.

There is already a warning on deletion but we will update it to have more warning content :)

Hrmm..

I've not even started playing.  Dunno what nations others will be playing, so I started a Dutch character.  My old Warhammer/PotBS guild was run by a Dutch couple & wouldn't be surprised if one or both eventually started playing.  I'm sure all my gaming friends & acquaintances will be scattered to the six national winds anyway.   :))

Hey Nef

I wanted to go Neutral but it is not there so....It's a pirates life for me....

Check your pm i have sent you something Nef

Regards

Quote from: Asid on January 21, 2016, 03:08:39 PM
Hey Nef

I wanted to go Neutral but it is not there so....It's a pirates life for me....

Check your pm i have sent you something Nef

Regards

Heh!  Thanks Asid.

Some day we'll meet up in a digital war again.   On the same side, of course.. I can't shoot the big guns as well as you.   :)

Quote from: Nefaro on January 21, 2016, 03:14:35 PM

Quote from: Asid on January 21, 2016, 03:08:39 PM
Hey Nef

I wanted to go Neutral but it is not there so....It's a pirates life for me....

Check your pm i have sent you something Nef

Regards

 

Heh!  Thanks Asid.

Some day we'll meet up in a digital war again.   On the same side, of course.. I can't shoot the big guns as well as you.   :)

  I'm going to be Spanish.  So many nice Ports!  On USA/NA Reserve PvPTWO -- as MengAreciebo or something.  Maybe MengIago?  Or Iago y Meng?  MengDiego!

Quote from: Nefaro on January 21, 2016, 03:14:35 PM
Heh!  Thanks Asid.

Some day we'll meet up in a digital war again.   On the same side, of course.. I can't shoot the big guns as well as you.   :)

If you go Dutch and i am a pirate...That could be sooner rather than later  :knuppel2:

:-*

I have definitely wishlisted this for later contemplation.

It may be MMO, but it seems possible to play it fairly single-player; the game characteristics would also seem to discourage rabid asshats griefing your game for their amusement and profit.

(Except for, you know, the pirates, duh. ;) )

Quote from: JasonPratt on January 21, 2016, 03:47:54 PM
I have definitely wishlisted this for later contemplation.

It may be MMO, but it seems possible to play it fairly single-player; the game characteristics would also seem to discourage rabid asshats griefing your game for their amusement and profit.

(Except for, you know, the pirates, duh. ;) )

Clearly Pirates were the "asshats" of their age.

Quote from: Jarhead0331 on January 21, 2016, 04:17:15 PM
Clearly Pirates were the "asshats" of their age.

:knuppel2:

:-*

Ahoy! 

Well, I done shoved off from me home port in a fine little skiff, flyin' the flags of His Right Royal Majesty King George, may God bless em. 

Now I'll be senden' you scurvy dogs to the bottom of Davy's Locker faster than Jack Ketch'll take yer head!

So are we calling this a "must buy" or a "maybe buy"?  I'm looking at it, and I'm feeling this weird moist feeling in my loins, but 40 clams, man...I gotta be sure I didn't just leak or something.  I am 45 after all.   ::)

I am curious to hear opinions about actual gameplay.

Well, first run seemed fun.  I took out my 12 gun starter and was immediately drawn into a huge brawl against a French Frigate.

Put her down in about a half hour of combat. 

Really pretty so far.  Bad UI on the port. 

I haven't got the hang of sailing the ship, but I was able to get a few solid volleys. off and came away with some quick gold and xp.

Everyone seemed to be having fun in social.  Maybe not quite worth $40, but too early to tell.  First foray and I'm having fun.

Quote from: Toonces on January 21, 2016, 05:03:23 PM
So are we calling this a "must buy" or a "maybe buy"?  I'm looking at it, and I'm feeling this weird moist feeling in my loins, but 40 clams, man...I gotta be sure I didn't just leak or something.  I am 45 after all.   ::)

You spent just as much on a crap mp shooter, why not spend it on something actually unique?

^ Good point.   :-[

At least the 40 doubloons spent 'ere goes to the cause of makin' this schooner ship shape and able to sale for a long time and take on more crew. 

There be times a sea dog has to invest in the ship so's he can bring a bigger prize back to port.

In my thinkin' I spent me gold  on a few sailors that deserve a reward fer tryin' to tack into the wind rather than float in on the easy current. 

Ain't so bad really.  Better'n a night with Salty Kate back in St. Kits and the Grog Ol' Stumpy serves up.

Quote from: MengJiao on January 21, 2016, 03:27:27 PM
I'm going to be Spanish.  So many nice Ports!  On USA/NA Reserve PvPTWO -- as MengAreciebo or something.  Maybe MengIago?  Or Iago y Meng?  MengDiego!

Quote from: Asid on January 21, 2016, 03:31:12 PM

If you go Dutch and i am a pirate...That could be sooner rather than later  :knuppel2:

:-*

You guys are all over the place!   :crazy2:

I suppose that we can only choose one nationality for all our characters?  To prevent Unlawful Knowledge of the other side?



Doubt I'll be on deck just yet.  Evidently caught a filthy virus while at the Doc's office earlier this week.  Feel it in mah bones.  :buck2:

Quote from: Nefaro on January 21, 2016, 07:41:13 PM

Quote from: MengJiao on January 21, 2016, 03:27:27 PM
I'm going to be Spanish.  So many nice Ports!  On USA/NA Reserve PvPTWO -- as MengAreciebo or something.  Maybe MengIago?  Or Iago y Meng?  MengDiego!

Quote from: Asid on January 21, 2016, 03:31:12 PM

If you go Dutch and i am a pirate...That could be sooner rather than later  :knuppel2:

:-*

You guys are all over the place!   :crazy2:

I suppose that we can only choose one nationality for all our characters?  To prevent Unlawful Knowledge of the other side?



Doubt I'll be on deck just yet.  Evidently caught a filthy virus while at the Doc's office earlier this week.  Feel it in mah bones.  :buck2:

Well, if it be meanin' we all fight under the same banner, I'd be considerin' jumpin' ship, sendin' me character to Davy's Locker, and haulin' up a flag fer another side. 

Quote from: SirAndrewD on January 21, 2016, 08:31:26 PM

Well, if it be meanin' we all fight under the same banner, I'd be considerin' jumpin' ship, sendin' me character to Davy's Locker, and haulin' up a flag fer another side.

I suppose Meng's choice of Spain would probably provide lots of action.  It certainly did when I sailed as a Spaniard in PotBS.  Lots of ports & crafting/industry options, but also being the primary target of many other factions' players made for lots of PvP. 

Not sure how all the faction vs faction stuff is handled in Naval Action right now, though.

Asid's Pirate faction would be fun, too, of course.  But from my experience it will probably be the most populated and likely contain a higher ratio of young Jackanapes-in-Dickerchiefs.   Because... PIRATES!  ARR!  I'd still like to hang with Asid, though, because our gaming hours usually overlap.  Plus he's gonna be my Baby Momma.    ^-^  Perhaps we can bring him to the dark side?  Or he'll just hunt me down for sport.  :D


Maybe we can get something coordinated for a GH fleet?  I've not begun playing my new character yet so I'm flexible.

Quote from: Nefaro on January 21, 2016, 08:44:49 PM

Quote from: SirAndrewD on January 21, 2016, 08:31:26 PM

Well, if it be meanin' we all fight under the same banner, I'd be considerin' jumpin' ship, sendin' me character to Davy's Locker, and haulin' up a flag fer another side.

I suppose Meng's choice of Spain would probably provide lots of action.  It certainly did when I sailed as a Spaniard in PotBS.  Lots of ports & crafting/industry options, but also being the primary target of many other factions' players made for lots of PvP. 

Not sure how all the faction vs faction stuff is handled in Naval Action right now, though.

Asid's Pirate faction would be fun, too, of course.  But from my experience it will probably be the most populated and likely contain a higher ratio of young Jackanapes-in-Dickerchiefs.   Because... PIRATES!  ARR!  I'd still like to hang with Asid, though, because our gaming hours usually overlap.  Plus he's gonna be my Baby Momma.    ^-^  Perhaps we can bring him to the dark side?  Or he'll just hunt me down for sport.  :D


Maybe we can get something coordinated for a GH fleet?  I've not begun playing my new character yet so I'm flexible.

Well, considerin' Britannia rules the waves and the right honorable King George is lookin' out fer us (God bless em') and our Admiral is...

Our glorious and indefatigable Admiral, Lord Sir Horatio Nelson........  A moment to consider his greatness....

I've of course fallen in with His Majesty's fleet in hopes of Lord Nelson askin' me to pass the salt. 

So, I'll be willin' to send Frenchies, Dutchies and Spaniards to the bottom, at least for a share of coin and a good portion of grog at the tavern after. 

Are all ship types available to all factions?

Or are there national restrictions?

Something informative to watch..

I shall also be a poncy Brit.  With a lace collar....and a wig...and a beauty spot....and a swooning fan...and a fancy walking stick....and buckled shoes.  How ribald!

Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on January 21, 2016, 11:29:31 PM
I shall also be a poncy Brit.  With a lace collar....and a wig...and a beauty spot....and a swooning fan...and a fancy walking stick....and buckled shoes.  How ribald!

Now you have it old bean!  Oh my...has my accent changed?  What ho?  Shall we venture forth and give Old Bony a sniff of grape?  I think we shall!

Got the game and me and a couple friends did a handful of missions before I got sunk. My friend did manage to board/capture the ship though. He whittled it down with ball shot then switched to chain shot for the sails then grape for crew then boarded/captured. The game has the ugliest UI I think I have ever seen.
We joined the PVP 1 server as USA and my name in game is "MrChristian" as in Fletcher.

So dumb question...can someone explain the player vs environment option?  Heard that might be useful for people want single player like game, even though not fully.  Do you fight ai controlled ships?  Besides not competing with other human players, are there any other limitations?

I played for a couple hours last night as an American sailing out of Charleston.  I engaged in a bunch of battles with pirates in my cutter and was able to get enough money to put 12lb carronades on my yacht.  I think only one battle was I by myself.  The rest all had two or three other humans join in to pound the unfortunate pirate.

The last battle I helped a guy run down a merchantman smuggler and he ended up boarding her.

Differences I've noticed in my short playing time vs the pre-EA is no more double shot for cannons, at least not in the small ones I have on my ships. The smoke seems a lot thicker, there were times I couldn't see anything. Way way more humans running around, which is a good thing, I hope anyway.

Next time I get a chance to play I think I'll cruise down to Spanish Florida and see what's going on down there.

I'm RedArgo in the game too, so say ahoay if you see me, or let me run away if you're the enemy. :)

You guys always hype the shit out of these new games, and I buy them, and then a month from now you've all moved on.  Is this going to have staying power, or am I going to buy this and then a month from now I'm playing with myself?

Yeah, I know what I said.   :P

I'm sure it'll be as popular and well-played as Verdun and The Ship were round here.

Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on January 22, 2016, 08:57:24 AM
I'm sure it'll be as popular and well-played as Verdun and The Ship were round here.

Ouch.

Verdun.  Exactly.  That's the game I was thinking of.  What a complete waste of money that was.   ::)

Quote from: Grim.Reaper on January 22, 2016, 05:48:55 AM
So dumb question...can someone explain the player vs environment option?  Heard that might be useful for people want single player like game, even though not fully.  Do you fight ai controlled ships?  Besides not competing with other human players, are there any other limitations?

I read some dev responses on stuff like this yesterday.

PvE server prevents other players from attacking you on the Open Sea.  There was some mention of being able to queue for somewhat equalized PvP skirmishes on the PvE server, though, as in many MMOs. 

The PvP server is as you would expect.  You can be attacked on the open sea.  If someone attacks another ship from the same nation, they turn Pirate so you probably won't see that much early on as the ones who wanted to go Piratin' probably started off that way.  There is also currently no navigational aids for the open sea, so it's completely dead reckoning when beyond sight of land.  That will probably discourage beginners from attempting long distance travel to enemy ports for PvP purposes.  For awhile, at least.

Character XP is shared between the PvP and PvE servers.  But your ships, goods, etc are not. 

The size of ship you can sail is limited by how much crew your rank allows you to command.  Start off small and it goes up over time.  This will transfer between all the servers.  But you will still need to work up the money & such if you switch servers with the same character.  While you may be able to command a Frigate, when you first switch you will have just the basic starter ship & money, and will have to earn ships & items again.

Quote from: Toonces on January 22, 2016, 08:40:25 AM
You guys always hype the shit out of these new games, and I buy them, and then a month from now you've all moved on.  Is this going to have staying power, or am I going to buy this and then a month from now I'm playing with myself?

Yeah, I know what I said.   :P

I buy what I play and play what I buy

:)

Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on January 21, 2016, 11:29:31 PM
I shall also be a poncy Brit.  With a lace collar....and a wig...and a beauty spot....and a swooning fan...and a fancy walking stick....and buckled shoes.  How ribald!

So many quotes from Zorro the Gay Blade are coming to mind...

Quote from: Nefaro on January 22, 2016, 09:39:40 AM

Quote from: Grim.Reaper on January 22, 2016, 05:48:55 AM
So dumb question...can someone explain the player vs environment option?  Heard that might be useful for people want single player like game, even though not fully.  Do you fight ai controlled ships?  Besides not competing with other human players, are there any other limitations?

I read some dev responses on stuff like this yesterday.

PvE server prevents other players from attacking you on the Open Sea.  There was some mention of being able to queue for somewhat equalized PvP skirmishes on the PvE server, though, as in many MMOs. 

The PvP server is as you would expect.  You can be attacked on the open sea.  If someone attacks another ship from the same nation, they turn Pirate so you probably won't see that much early on as the ones who wanted to go Piratin' probably started off that way.  There is also currently no navigational aids for the open sea, so it's completely dead reckoning when beyond sight of land.  That will probably discourage beginners from attempting long distance travel to enemy ports for PvP purposes.  For awhile, at least.

Character XP is shared between the PvP and PvE servers.  But your ships, goods, etc are not. 

The size of ship you can sail is limited by how much crew your rank allows you to command.  Start off small and it goes up over time.  This will transfer between all the servers.  But you will still need to work up the money & such if you switch servers with the same character.  While you may be able to command a Frigate, when you first switch you will have just the basic starter ship & money, and will have to earn ships & items again.

Thanks...torn as to whether to buy yet....if was complete single player, would have been a no brainer....still might jump in.

Well, I had my first one on one with a human player. 

A solid fight that I didn't get the better of sadly.  Equal ships, both cutters.

I tried to play strategic and use single ranging shots to get the distance before I gave him a volley.  He apparently had the better plan and just preserved his shots for point blank.  The one or two careful hits I put on him were more than overcome by his point blank broadsides when we got closer. 

I went with the go for the rigging with chain and slow him down tactic.  He went with the brute, shoot ball at the hull tactic.  His was better. 

I had my moment though, as we closed and his sails were below 50% I did a quick tack to port after cutting my speed and raaked his aft with my starbord guns loaded with round shot.  It was devastating, but it was the only real damage I did to his hull.   Even going to round shot with my undamaged starboard didn't close the gap fast enough. 

I guess in the future I'll stick to ball and not try to get fancy.  I do hope that I made him pucker a bit when I raked him from the aft (stop with your jokes) but who knows.

Quote from: MengJiao on January 21, 2016, 03:27:27 PM

Quote from: Nefaro on January 21, 2016, 03:14:35 PM

Quote from: Asid on January 21, 2016, 03:08:39 PM
Hey Nef

I wanted to go Neutral but it is not there so....It's a pirates life for me....

Check your pm i have sent you something Nef

Regards

 

Heh!  Thanks Asid.

Some day we'll meet up in a digital war again.   On the same side, of course.. I can't shoot the big guns as well as you.   :)

  I'm going to be Spanish.  So many nice Ports!  On USA/NA Reserve PvPTWO -- as MengAreciebo or something.  Maybe MengIago?  Or Iago y Meng?  MengDiego!

Well, I'm Meng Ariceibo y Matteo.  My Spanish is not so good, but I've seen a lot on my 11 engagements so far: ships on fire, Lynxes sinking me fast, distant boardings,  the deadliness of my medium guns at medium range.  Medium 6 pounders that is.

I played Spain in PotBS.  Lotsa action.  :)

I somehow ended up with a Pickle after my last combat.  I never boarded it so I'm not sure how I ended up with it.  I think I might have killed all the crew.  Anyway, fear me for I now command a basic cutter and an undermanned pickle!

I am not listening:). This does sound interesting...maybe I forgo my multiplayer embargo for it:)

Quote from: SirAndrewD on January 22, 2016, 11:03:52 PM
Well, I had my first one on one with a human player. 

A solid fight that I didn't get the better of sadly.  Equal ships, both cutters.

I tried to play strategic and use single ranging shots to get the distance before I gave him a volley.  He apparently had the better plan and just preserved his shots for point blank.  The one or two careful hits I put on him were more than overcome by his point blank broadsides when we got closer. 

I went with the go for the rigging with chain and slow him down tactic.  He went with the brute, shoot ball at the hull tactic.  His was better. 

I had my moment though, as we closed and his sails were below 50% I did a quick tack to port after cutting my speed and raaked his aft with my starbord guns loaded with round shot.  It was devastating, but it was the only real damage I did to his hull.   Even going to round shot with my undamaged starboard didn't close the gap fast enough. 

I guess in the future I'll stick to ball and not try to get fancy.  I do hope that I made him pucker a bit when I raked him from the aft (stop with your jokes) but who knows.

I'm no expert.  So far I've only fought AI (1 Lynx, 1 Snow, lotsa "pirates" (in cutters? I guess)).  I wonder if your opponent was using 12 pounder carronades.  At close range, he would have had double your weight of shot (or tripple if you had 4 pounders).

Quote from: MengJiao on January 23, 2016, 07:08:06 PM

Quote from: SirAndrewD on January 22, 2016, 11:03:52 PM
Well, I had my first one on one with a human player. 

A solid fight that I didn't get the better of sadly.  Equal ships, both cutters.

I tried to play strategic and use single ranging shots to get the distance before I gave him a volley.  He apparently had the better plan and just preserved his shots for point blank.  The one or two careful hits I put on him were more than overcome by his point blank broadsides when we got closer. 

I went with the go for the rigging with chain and slow him down tactic.  He went with the brute, shoot ball at the hull tactic.  His was better. 

I had my moment though, as we closed and his sails were below 50% I did a quick tack to port after cutting my speed and raaked his aft with my starbord guns loaded with round shot.  It was devastating, but it was the only real damage I did to his hull.   Even going to round shot with my undamaged starboard didn't close the gap fast enough. 

I guess in the future I'll stick to ball and not try to get fancy.  I do hope that I made him pucker a bit when I raked him from the aft (stop with your jokes) but who knows.

I'm no expert.  So far I've only fought AI (1 Lynx, 1 Snow, lotsa "pirates" (in cutters? I guess)).  I wonder if your opponent was using 12 pounder carronades.  At close range, he would have had double your weight of shot (or tripple if you had 4 pounders).

He might have had carronades or better weapons, indeed. 

However, I think I was a bit incorrect with going for the sails as my primary tactic, at least in the smaller ship.  I just didn't do enough damage to slow him down and get a measurable advantage in maneuver. 

I had HOPED to slow him, put him in a bad position, cut his armor down on aft or port and then use grape until I was in a good position to board.  Oh well. 

We'll see if I have Nelson's luck next time.

Well. I have always been a HUGE fan of anything to do with naval combat, particularly in the Age of Sail.

I picked this up last night, created a toon, and ran my first mission. It was a blast, exactly as advertised.

I have already researched the build requirements for a Lynx Trader, and will be steadily accumulating the necessary mats for this. In this game, it is my intention of becoming the pre-eminent ship builder/trader on the server. Trading sims, builders in general are also a very strong passion for me!

If you see me online, invite me into your group! I am currently rolling with the Basic Cutter, with the quite proper American name of Edward Simmons.  :)

Going to purchase myself today, sailing ship just too good to pass up, even if MP....but before I do, just a couple of quick questions.

1)  Once your lose your ship, do you basically then just create a new character and start over?  What if when they make premium ships available for purchase, you lose them in the game too?  When you start over, do you get those back?

2)  Do you only control one ship or are you able to control multiple sheets like in a fleet?  If multiple, how difficult is it to fight with them all at once?

3)  I have seen posts at Steam that indicate they only have one server (I think) capable of hosting up to 2000 players.....are you able to get one when you want or long wait times?

4)  When your looking to build/craft something, does the game clearly tell you what the materials are needed or do you have to figure it out on your own?

Well if there is one thing this game needs that I'm sure everyone agrees on is a Manual. Most of the stuff you have to learn on the fly or ask someone in chat.

Quote from: Grim.Reaper on January 24, 2016, 07:41:17 AM
Going to purchase myself today, sailing ship just too good to pass up, even if MP....but before I do, just a couple of quick questions.

1)  Once your lose your ship, do you basically then just create a new character and start over?  What if when they make premium ships available for purchase, you lose them in the game too?  When you start over, do you get those back?

You don't lose your captain.  You lose one "durability" off your ship.  Premium (crafted) ships start with 5 durability so they can be sunk 5 times before you need to buy a new one.  Ships captured in boarding combat have 1 durability.  When you lose your last such life of your ship, your captain respawns in your home port.

You can always get the basic Cutter for free so you will never run out of something to sail.

They pretty much copied this concept straight over from the old PotBS.

Quote
2)  Do you only control one ship or are you able to control multiple sheets like in a fleet?  If multiple, how difficult is it to fight with them all at once?

One ship.  You can switch while in a (home?) port. I think there are up to two AI ships available for hire that can be used for PvE encounters but I don't know the details and probably not something I'd want to rely on anyway.

Quote
3)  I have seen posts at Steam that indicate they only have one server (I think) capable of hosting up to 2000 players.....are you able to get one when you want or long wait times?

Should be able to log right in.. unless some preset login cap is hit.  Dunno the details.

Quote
4)  When your looking to build/craft something, does the game clearly tell you what the materials are needed or do you have to figure it out on your own?

I think it indicates exactly what you need.  I've not looked into the crafting yet.  The developers have stated that the crafting isn't in a finalized state so some things may change, but I'm pretty sure it's not a guessing game when making stuff, if you have unlocked the 'recipe' in question.

Quote from: Grim.Reaper on January 24, 2016, 07:41:17 AM
Going to purchase myself today, sailing ship just too good to pass up, even if MP....but before I do, just a couple of quick questions.


3)  I have seen posts at Steam that indicate they only have one server (I think) capable of hosting up to 2000 players.....are you able to get one when you want or long wait times?

There are currently 3 servers, each capable of hosting 3000 players.  The two North American Servers have relatively low populations at the moment.

Ended up buying, will see how it goes...as others have mentioned, the user interface is very rough.....won't have time tonight to really dig in, but hopefully some time early this week....

I have about a dozen hours in..here's my initial thoughts.

This game is what Pirates of the Burning Sea SHOULD have been. An open ended MMO, with crafting, and consensual PvP.

Pros:
-Massive game world, with HUNDREDS of ports, across about ten factions.
-No ingame mapping feature. You leave the port, and it's all dead reckoning. I LOVE this...great immersiveness, and you better learn the coastlines pretty darn quickly!
-Very solid crafting system, much more fleshed out that I would have thought
-Good combat system, using instances. Not sure if these instances are designed to have additional players jumping in, or if this is a bug. Steam forums disagree on this point
-LOTS of ships, across ten tiers, each of which have 3-10 variants. In some cases, these variants are striking
-Customization is massive, with gray, green, blue, purple, and gold (think WoW) upgrades
-No pay to win, or freemium, in ANY way that would increase your chances to perform at a higher rate, or to even earn exp and a higher rate
-You earn "labor points" when you play online, used to craft. Absolutely no ability to have bots do the work for you
-All files are kept server-side..virtually eliminating cheating or bots
-Player created ships are the best ships in the game. Period. This is a truly awesome design decision, IMHO. The Gods of RNG may grant you an Exceptional (gold) ship when completed, whose value would be priceless
-Each ship you have has five lives. Lose the fifth, and it's gone, as are its permanent upgrades.

Cons:
-Grindy. Personally, I like grindy, and this has it on steroids. 50 exp per battle, which can take up to an hour, 20 battles to level up.
-Commerce, i.e. trading, is broke. You purchase from a town that produces the goods, and take them to a town that does not, and lose 50% in the process. I cannot see, at this time, ANY way to turn and actual profit while being a trader. Major bummer for me..as this is what I like to do
-Crafting a widget, just to skill up, works...but ALL crafted goods need to have a market, or you will just throw away the completed material. Not a huge deal, as money doesn't seem to be an issue yet
-Crafting an actual ship will take weeks of gameplay, when you can probably generate the resources to purchase that same ship in about 1/3rd the time
-Mats to craft are scattered all over the Caribbean. You won't know what a city produces until you visit the city. I have been looking for coal (for iron ingots), for the last four hours.

You should be able to use a sextant if your location is not plotted on a map. I missed that in the old Pirates!

Quote from: DennisS on January 25, 2016, 12:37:47 AM

-Good combat system, using instances. Not sure if these instances are designed to have additional players jumping in, or if this is a bug. Steam forums disagree on this point

The combat instances are, indeed, designed to allow extra players to join the battle.

The ability to join is limited to the first 5 minutes, however.  After that time, it is locked.

This allows nearby friendly ships to reinforce.  I'm not sure how grouping is done but if you have a group of players spread out, in multiple squadrons, the others still have a short chance to help out if they can get there quickly enough. 

Similar to the way it was in PotBS.  For PvP one person in a small fast ship with good sailing properties, usually a lateen-rigged ship that could run close to the wind, would be the so-called "tackler" and attack a large enemy squadron.  Then he could evade until his other larger buddies in a different nearby squadron could catch up & join in.  The retarded Red pvp Zones around contested ports, in PotBS, added way too much meta on top of this though.  I don't think there is such a thing in NAction, thankfully.  Also.. I'm not sure how much ship speed varies while sailing on the strategic map.  If they're all about the same, it would nullify the need for such "tackling" tactics.

Quote from: jomni on January 25, 2016, 02:54:26 AM
You should be able to use a sextant if your location is not plotted on a map. I missed that in the old Pirates!

I imagine they're going to add something like that.  I do recall planned features about navigational stuff being on the dream list. 

They still have quite a bit to add to this thing.  Should probably still call it an Alpha, if being technical. 

I ended up buying and joined the Netherlands. Still very much learning though

Quote from: Surtur on January 25, 2016, 07:35:38 AM
I ended up buying and joined the Netherlands. Still very much learning though

You don't have time for playing games!   You need to get Oriental Empires released sooner:)

Quote from: Grim.Reaper on January 25, 2016, 07:20:19 PM

Quote from: Surtur on January 25, 2016, 07:35:38 AM
I ended up buying and joined the Netherlands. Still very much learning though

You don't have time for playing games!   You need to get Oriental Empires released sooner:)

(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sherv.net%2Fcm%2Femo%2Fangry%2Fwhipping.gif&hash=49c81dc86e6c03fe7747d02dade2d7983f067e21)

Sorry if I'm repeating somebody, I haven't read the whole thread.

I watched an hour or so of Youtube vids and played a little this weekend and it seemed like a game that is going to require some time commitment to get the hang of. 

Sailing around seems like it is not real-time but not all that different from it, either.  The sun moves quite slowly.  I can just imagine the thrill of sailing across the Pacific. . . .

Somebody said something about sextants?  Do you have to frickin' PLOT your location?  I did notice that there was no apparent hint of my location on the map when I went out chasing an enemy on my first mission.

I watched a video about combat, but I couldn't get my cannons to fire when I was sailing around.  Do you have to have an enemy targeted?  It may well simply be that I have no clue.

My overall impression was:

(1) Beautiful, scratches a sweet spot, WANT WANT WANT, but
(2) Very early in development, not really ready for prime time

I'm inclined to come back in a few months, but I'm glad I looked at it.  I won't forget that this game exists.

I'm planning on watching this tutorial tonight to get a better idea about this game and how to play it.

Quote from: glen55 on January 25, 2016, 08:25:31 PM

(2) Very early in development, not really ready for prime time

I'm inclined to come back in a few months, but I'm glad I looked at it.  I won't forget that this game exists.

You do realize it's an "early access" release, right? Your impression should come as no surprise...it's not ready for prime time, but it has come a long way since closed alpha.

...and when you are sailing in the open world, time is compressed in that you sail much faster than you do when you enter combat. You are able to cover much more sea in open world travel than you would if you were sailing in the combat mode.

There is time compression, when you are on the strategic map. Battle instances are much more deliberate, as they should be.

There are no map plots of your position. Ever. Once you leave port, you're on your own. Dead frigging reckoning..and I like it!

In about two minutes, I am going to build my first ship. I have levelled up, twice, and am now an official second lieutenant. This enables me to have more crew, thusly having the capability of running a larger ship. Shame that I spent so much gold on purchasing ship building materials!!!

Quote from: glen55 on January 25, 2016, 08:25:31 PM
Somebody said something about sextants?  Do you have to frickin' PLOT your location?  I did notice that there was no apparent hint of my location on the map when I went out chasing an enemy on my first mission.

I watched a video about combat, but I couldn't get my cannons to fire when I was sailing around.  Do you have to have an enemy targeted?  It may well simply be that I have no clue.
ned to come back in a few months, but I'm glad I looked at it.  I won't forget that this game exists.

Hello,

There are currently no navigational aids in the game.  If you get lost you can either teleport home (button in the top left of the screen) or sail until you find a city, press 'M' for map and use that to re-orient yourself.  Of course if it is an enemy city, there will likely be lots of enemy ships around too.  I've read the devs may add some kind of navigation at some, but not yet.

To fire your cannons, you have to be in combat mode, not open world, then you have to orient your view in the general direction of your guns arc of fire.  Next right click to bring up the firing view, like looking off the deck of the ship instead of the normal third person view, then press space bar to fire one cannon or left mouse click to fire all the guns in that arc. In the beginning that will just be your left and right broadsides, but eventually you can have multiple decks of guns and fore and aft guns too.

Hope this helps.

Quote from: DennisS on January 26, 2016, 08:15:37 AM
There is time compression, when you are on the strategic map. Battle instances are much more deliberate, as they should be.

Your ships definitely move faster in open world than they do in combat. That is what I meant by a form of time compression.

Quote from: glen55 on January 25, 2016, 08:25:31 PM

My overall impression was:

(1) Beautiful, scratches a sweet spot, WANT WANT WANT, but
(2) Very early in development, not really ready for prime time

I'm inclined to come back in a few months, but I'm glad I looked at it.  I won't forget that this game exists.

  It's a classic MMORPG in many ways.  They go through many stages and are often more fun in their earlier stages.

  What I like so far about this one is -- instead of starting out fighting giant rats or being killed by chickens, you start with a fully functional boat.
I got lucky I think and got a oak cutter as my second cutter.  So it is less easily penetrated by small shot.  I put long (high penetration) 6 pdrs on it
and I can generally penetrate the pirate ships (big things with two masts!) from outside their penetration range.  I assume they are using medium guns of some kind. The upshot (harhar!) is that
I shoot the pirates to bits in about 15 minutes.   Very satisfying compared to fighting giant rats.
  Of course the rest of the grind might be quite different, but for now, I'm happy with the game.

It's an Age of Sail game: I DEMAND GIANT RATS FOR VERISIMILITUDE!

Also, rum and the lash. The sodomy they can make an optional DLC, on the Paradox model.

Quote from: Nefaro on January 23, 2016, 06:46:35 PM
I played Spain in PotBS.  Lotsa action.  :)

Spain seems to be doing okay at the moment.  The chatter last night suggested some victories in battles around Bimini.

Quote from: MengJiao on January 24, 2016, 05:18:15 PM

Quote from: Grim.Reaper on January 24, 2016, 07:41:17 AM
Going to purchase myself today, sailing ship just too good to pass up, even if MP....but before I do, just a couple of quick questions.


3)  I have seen posts at Steam that indicate they only have one server (I think) capable of hosting up to 2000 players.....are you able to get one when you want or long wait times?

There are currently 3 servers, each capable of hosting 3000 players.  The two North American Servers have relatively low populations at the moment.

  Some time soon there will be 4 servers (3000 each): 2 PvP EU and 1 PvE NA and one PvP NA.  There were almost 700 players on PvP NA last night!
I had to wait 3 seconds to get on! 

Quote from: JasonPratt on January 26, 2016, 10:28:16 AM
It's an Age of Sail game: I DEMAND GIANT RATS FOR VERISIMILITUDE!

Also, rum and the lash. The sodomy they can make an optional DLC, on the Paradox model.

I think PotBS had all that and more.  I think Naval Action is a much, much, much better Age of Sail gunnery simulator, though.  I may think this because I ran down and blasted a AI pirate to bits last night in a spritely little action that even got applause from the extra players who turned up in hopes of spending 20 minutes pounding a pirate to splinters.  But I ran out at medium range and finished him off with about 12 long 6 pdr shots.  It was all over pretty fast even though I fired one shot at a time.  The pirate was shooting back, but I think what is happening is that I have (by pure luck) an oak cutter.  So with long 6 pdrs, my shots penetrate anything most of the time at longish medium range while the pirates seem to have shorter 6 pdrs and cannot penetrate oak very much at say 200 meters (which feels like longish medium range to me in this game), though they get off more shots and probably almost as many hits as I do.  So the oak boat and the long guns and careful aiming (locked automatic -- ie the convergence is reset based on my range estimation per shot since I shoot one shot at a time) and sailing (going as slow as possible while keeping the target at the optimum range).

I just switched to the 6 pdr long cannons on my yacht from the 12 pdr carronades last night.  I was able to stand off and blast the pirate from long range taking little damage in the process.  I am a pretty bad shot though, so I don't know how this will work against humans.  So far I've just been hanging around Charleston running missions to get my rank up and I haven't encountered any human opponents. 

Quote from: RedArgo on January 27, 2016, 10:54:20 AM
I just switched to the 6 pdr long cannons on my yacht from the 12 pdr carronades last night.  I was able to stand off and blast the pirate from long range taking little damage in the process.  I am a pretty bad shot though, so I don't know how this will work against humans.  So far I've just been hanging around Charleston running missions to get my rank up and I haven't encountered any human opponents.

  Plus carronades have had their penetration increased very recently.  I have no idea how the long six strategy might work against humans.  It seems like they could easily run in and hit you hard well before the long sixs (which reload relatively slowly) could do much damage.  So i think I'll buy I boat I don't much like, load it with medium sixs and see what a human does to it.  I just can't give up my oak boat at the moment.  It is just murder vs the AI.

PS.  I'm working out of Havanna.  I tried ramming as a tactic: died fast 2 out of three times, killed the AI fast the other time.  Sounds like a poor tactic, unless you want to die fast for some reason (which was why I tried it the first time when it worked fine and I didn't die!).  Oh the humanity, or oh the AI!

In the old PvP matches I played, about a year ago, Long Guns were definitely pretty popular.  There have been changes since then but, overall, it still looks to be the same.

Of course, we were able to load Double Shot back then, and I think they removed that option.  That alone is enough to make you think twice. 

On most ships, I'd still have a tendency to use Long Guns when there is a possibility of PvP.  There's nothing more frustrating than having an opponent raking your bow while you're attempting to close.  If they're a good shot, and can do a good delaying dance, you'll end up with some serious damage before firing a shot.

Medium guns sound like a good compromise, but I'm not sure how good their penetration is these days.  IIRC, they used to bounce noticeably more against larger ships such as frigates and maybe even some of the smaller square-rigged ones.  Same with Carronades.  The biggest problem was their pen, which probably doesn't become as much of an issue until you get into larger ships.

Going all Carronade or Mediums seems to be more popular against the AI.  I've seen people recommend using them when "farming" those because the AI reportedly doesn't try to use any gun range advantage it may have when maneuvering.  So you can rush AI more easily.   

This discussion reminds me of how in Mechwarrior my favorite build, if Clan weapons were available, was to load up on the smallest caliber double-barrel ("ultra") autocannons, nothing else (except as many close defense Clan small lasers I cared to fit in any laser slots after bulking up armor, engine, etc.). Sure, I ran out of ammo eventually (although I could also bring a lot more ammo), but until then I was shooting stupidly long ranges with little heat buildup and tons of punch. And the closer the enemy got, my damage per second went up a little by proportion. (Most of the damage being from explosive shells of course, but with small amounts of increasing kinetic.) Aiming was a little fuzzy at long range, compared to point-and-shoot lasers (or the railgun), but that was the only problem and could be easily adjusted.

When I taught my late pupil to play MW, (back in the days of MW4, not the online version), and he got to feeling a little cocky, I'd pull out the massed small-caliber autocannon build and murder him in about ten seconds at long distance. He was convinced I was cheating with haxors.  >:D

Naturally that wouldn't work as well with non-Ultra ACs.


All of which is to say that my interest in getting this game eventually continues to increase.  :smitten: :smitten: :smitten:

QuotePS.  I'm working out of Havanna.

Are you on PVP One server?  Maybe I'll see you once I venture out. I started on PVP One before I understood there is a NA server.  I'd hate to switch now because I already redeemed my bonus ships and they aren't available when I log into PVP Two, plus no gold.

Quote
  I tried ramming as a tactic: died fast 2 out of three times, killed the AI fast the other time.  Sounds like a poor tactic, unless you want to die fast for some reason (which was why I tried it the first time when it worked fine and I didn't die!).  Oh the humanity, or oh the AI!

I've accidently rammed a couple times, but haven't killed or been killed that way.  I did see a guy actually capsize another ship by sort of getting underneath him and flipping him though the other day.  Back in the old days before open world, I got ran over a couple times by large ships when I was focused too much on shooting and not enough on navigating.

Quote from: RedArgo on January 27, 2016, 05:21:20 PM

QuotePS.  I'm working out of Havanna.

Are you on PVP One server?  Maybe I'll see you once I venture out. I started on PVP One before I understood there is a NA server.  I'd hate to switch now because I already redeemed my bonus ships and they aren't available when I log into PVP Two, plus no gold.

Quote
  I tried ramming as a tactic: died fast 2 out of three times, killed the AI fast the other time.  Sounds like a poor tactic, unless you want to die fast for some reason (which was why I tried it the first time when it worked fine and I didn't die!).  Oh the humanity, or oh the AI!

I'm on the North American PvP server (PvPTwo, I believe).  Haven't done much except now I know that Live Oak is very nice and just plain Oak, not so good.

I've accidently rammed a couple times, but haven't killed or been killed that way.  I did see a guy actually capsize another ship by sort of getting underneath him and flipping him though the other day.  Back in the old days before open world, I got ran over a couple times by large ships when I was focused too much on shooting and not enough on navigating.

Quote from: Nefaro on January 27, 2016, 02:37:28 PM
In the old PvP matches I played, about a year ago, Long Guns were definitely pretty popular.  There have been changes since then but, overall, it still looks to be the same.

I tried a Small PvP battle.  I took a basic cutter with the basic not-even medium 4 pdrs on it.  There were 7 other cutters and I think they all had the same stuff except maybe for a guy who ran in with carronades and was sunk pretty fast.  Which left our team down to 3.  I got the rather disappointing 4 pdrs to hit at something approximating long range for such a fight and in the end my side won.  Or at least the battle ended when we sank somebody -- maybe there were some collsions else where?  Collisions seem like a potential big problem in these small melees.  Overall, I'm not sure what happened except that the bottom-of-the-line 4 pdr is not an impressive weapon and yet seems to be pretty popular in small PvP -- no doubt because they cost nothing to replace.
Next time I might take some long six pdrs and some powder monkeys...which I guess might get me ganged up on, but it might be worth it in terms of fun if nothing else.

Is there any content in PVE ?  Can you try out battles other than one player vs one AI ?  (6 vs 6 with 11 bots and the player for example).

I know PVP is the the way to go in games like this, but i would prefer PVE for training.

Quote from: Pete Dero on January 29, 2016, 11:04:52 AM
Is there any content in PVE ?  Can you try out battles other than one player vs one AI ?  (6 vs 6 with 11 bots and the player for example).

I know PVP is the the way to go in games like this, but i would prefer PVE for training.

  The missions are PvE battles.  It's true in theory that they are 1 ship vs 1 ship (actually a very common occurence for smaller ships in the Age of Sail)
but 1) at first the AI ships are definitely not easy to defeat and supposedly there is an incentive to board and capture.
      2) you can ask for reinforcements (CTRL while pressing the reinforcement button) -- I haven't done that, nor have I managed to board anything
      3) there are AI fleets around to attack (and if you hit reinforcements, you might get a big battle)
      4) PS -- you can have a group on your side
      5) lots of players join fights in progress
      6) there are non-mission AI you can attack

At the moment I'm leaning toward doing more PvP battles since the players don't seem to be quite as relentless or well-armed or accurate or fast as the AI AND you get about 2 times the points and money, though the battles can be long.

Anyway, if you learn to sink the AI 1 on 1, I think you will find the average player in small battles is not as much of an opponent.  After all the AI always fights to the death and players occasionally seem to have second thoughts somewhere along the line.

BUT, I've only been in about 30 battles and haven't (for example) managed a boarding fight, so my advice (ie fight the AI until you are confident at least of sinking them most of the time and then do some PvP) might not be well-based.

^ How does the boarding work ?  Do you see the combat or is it abstracted in some way ?

Quote from: Skoop on January 29, 2016, 01:50:44 PM
^ How does the boarding work ?  Do you see the combat or is it abstracted in some way ?

  You have to get next to the target and hit G (grapple).  I've gotten that far.  Then the battle is resolved with each side picking its moves (fire, grenades, muskets, brace, melee/attack/counter-attack)...it can go on for quite a while I'm told, with morale bouncing around and casualties piling up.
But relatively  abstractly.

So you actually see the pixel crew man engaging in combat but abstract in a sense that you can't micromanage them like an rts ?  You pick some baisic moves then sit back and watch it play out ? 

Boarding is by far the weakest component of the game.  It's an entirely menu driven affair.  You select a tactic from a list of options (brace, attack, defend, musket volley, grenades, deck guns) then wait while you watch a timing circle fill up.  Once the circle fills, you get a spreadsheet that shows the number of casualties your tactic inflicted, morale losses, and changes to boarding efficiency.   There are no graphics showing the boarding action.  What you see is a close in view of the two ships involved as a background image with the boarding mini game menus superimposed over the image. The fight continues until one side's crew is wiped out or their ship sinks. It's really quite dull.

Additionally, you're prevented from seeing what is going on around you as you board.  If you're lucky enough to have decent allies, they'll luff up and fire grapeshot onto the deck of the enemy which will cause crew casualties.  If you're unlucky, your allies will fire round shot into the fight and sink the ship you're trying to board (or into you).  Even worse, they'll ram you out of the way so they can try to board. 

Maaan, I so wanted to see pixel marines firing and throwing grenades from the rigging.

Woo!  I finally made Ensign.  Things are finally starting to get a little easier after I swapped to Carronades from Long Sixes.  Still 1-1 against humans, but I'm doing well against the AI. 

I want to start working my way down towards French waters and seeing if my prospects improve on upgrading.  It seemed to take forever to make Ensign, and I don't quite see a logical next step ship considering the prices I am seeing on the market in Kingston.

Still haven't managed to capture anyone or anything.  They seem to sink before I have opportunity to grape them and get to grips.

I went PvE and I'm finding it fairly easy to climb ranks.  I made 2nd lieutenant a few days ago and I'm about 1/2 way to 1st lt now.  I traded up to a brig with 6lb medium cannons on port and starboard and 6lb long guns as stern chasers.  I'm finding it difficult to fight as I got used to sailing my cutter.  The brig is nowhere near as manoeuverable and I often find myself caught in irons as I fail at tacking (gotta get a run at it or you'll never get the bow around before you lose steerage.)

Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on January 29, 2016, 08:34:52 PM
I went PvE and I'm finding it fairly easy to climb ranks.  I made 2nd lieutenant a few days ago and I'm about 1/2 way to 1st lt now.  I traded up to a brig with 6lb medium cannons on port and starboard and 6lb long guns as stern chasers.  I'm finding it difficult to fight as I got used to sailing my cutter.  The brig is nowhere near as manoeuverable and I often find myself caught in irons as I fail at tacking (gotta get a run at it or you'll never get the bow around before you lose steerage.)

Yeah, I think I was doing it wrong in the early going, trying to go more for captures rather than just bruting out the early ranks.  Now that I'm just sinking pirates with carronades, it's become a lot more smooth. 

It took me forever to make Ensign, but I'm already a third of the way to 2nd LT after just an evening. 

Yikes, approaching 2nd LT and I see Brigs at Kingston are selling at over 100k.  I'm assuming these are player Brigs as they have a player name next to the seller.  Is this standard price for an upgrade? 

I paid 55,000 for mine.  Player-made one (green category with extra speed.  I can't remember what quality green is. Good, I think).

I learned a lesson about teleporting this morning.

I spent the better part of my last two play sessions sailing from Charleston down to West End which is an island east of Florida.  I set up an outpost there thinking I could use it to teleport back and forth without having to sail.  Apparently though, unlike teleport to capital which teleports your character and your ship, teleport to outpost only teleports your character.

So, I teleported with my ship back to Charleston, so I could sell a couple ships, then I planned on teleporting back to West End, to do some sailing.  Instead, when I teleported back to West End it was just me and I don't have a ship, since that is back in Charleston.  So my options are to wait four hours until the teleport will work again and go back to Charleston and get my ship and start sailing south again or get another free cutter ship in West End, I think I'll go clean the garage and come back later.

I guess now I know. :)

Quote from: RedArgo on January 30, 2016, 10:45:03 AM
I learned a lesson about teleporting this morning.

I spent the better part of my last two play sessions sailing from Charleston down to West End which is an island east of Florida.  I set up an outpost there thinking I could use it to teleport back and forth without having to sail.  Apparently though, unlike teleport to capital which teleports your character and your ship, teleport to outpost only teleports your character.

So, I teleported with my ship back to Charleston, so I could sell a couple ships, then I planned on teleporting back to West End, to do some sailing.  Instead, when I teleported back to West End it was just me and I don't have a ship, since that is back in Charleston.  So my options are to wait four hours until the teleport will work again and go back to Charleston and get my ship and start sailing south again or get another free cutter ship in West End, I think I'll go clean the garage and come back later.

I guess now I know. :)

That's the kind of thing that needs a pop-up warning & confirmation button.

I agree that is a bit of a pain.

Also, I've heard of some people becoming pirates when they accidentally click on attack on one of their county mates.  I'd like to see a confirm there too.

Don't you have to chase them and keep them in the circle for 20 seconds in order to attack?

I'm not sure, I've only attacked on a non-mission once.  Maybe clicking attack changes you to pirate instantly, otherwise, yeah, just move away.

Quote from: RedArgo on January 30, 2016, 06:46:04 PM
I'm not sure, I've only attacked on a non-mission once.  Maybe clicking attack changes you to pirate instantly, otherwise, yeah, just move away.

Game needs a few "Are you sure" prompts.  I accidentally stuck a blue quality rudder on my Niagara, thinking I'd had my cutter selected.  Really would've liked a fast undo for that. 

Of course it was Friday and I'd had, ahem, my full ration of Grog, so it might not have made a difference.   

Quote from: SirAndrewD on January 30, 2016, 07:16:10 PM

Quote from: RedArgo on January 30, 2016, 06:46:04 PM
I'm not sure, I've only attacked on a non-mission once.  Maybe clicking attack changes you to pirate instantly, otherwise, yeah, just move away.

Game needs a few "Are you sure" prompts.  I accidentally stuck a blue quality rudder on my Niagara, thinking I'd had my cutter selected.  Really would've liked a fast undo for that. 

Of course it was Friday and I'd had, ahem, my full ration of Grog, so it might not have made a difference.

I am THIS close to having enough crew for my Niagara. I went on a test run, and blew UP a Cutter. Good times, good times!

Hooray!  I captured my first ship!  So is it more advantageous to sell them right off or break them up for parts?

Quote from: SirAndrewD on January 31, 2016, 05:55:39 PM
Hooray!  I captured my first ship!  So is it more advantageous to sell them right off or break them up for parts?

Supposedly if you break them up, you have a chance of finding the crafting blue print for that ship.

I took a cutter and took the mediium sixs off it and sold it for 3200.

Quote from: MengJiao on January 31, 2016, 06:54:08 PM

Quote from: SirAndrewD on January 31, 2016, 05:55:39 PM
Hooray!  I captured my first ship!  So is it more advantageous to sell them right off or break them up for parts?

Supposedly if you break them up, you have a chance of finding the crafting blue print for that ship.

I took a cutter and took the mediium sixs off it and sold it for 3200.

I captured a trader, and ripped it up for mats, and now have a Brig BP (blueprint).

I also just earned enough experience to get promored again, from 2LT to 1LT. I can noew run ships with 140 crew.

I had a very tense but satisfying fight between myself in a brig with 6lber medium cannons along with another player in a privateer vs. two AI controlled French ships consisting of a Lynx and a Snow.  The Snow immediately focussed on me and her opening broadside did a massive amount of damage.  Knocked almost 1/2 my hull away and sprung a leak.  I thought I was going to have to try and make a run for it but I was able to turn just a little tighter than the Snow and avoid the full force of her broadsides while I continuously picked away at her bow.  My ally in the privateer stood off and lobbed chain at the Snow's sails while I hammered away at her hull.  I took a pretty bad beating but ended up de-masting the Snow after about 15 minutes and she sank soon afterwards.  The Lynx made a nuisance of herself by plinking away at anything that got in her firing arcs but didn't really do too much damage.  I was able to rake her stern once the Snow had gone down and that knocked out almost half of her guns.  They privateer moved in to board but hit too fast and the collision sank the Lynx.

Very fun fight!  It's made me want to play the Sails of Glory miniatures game so that's now lined up for this coming Friday.  Should be fun.

Sounds like a good fight SDR.  Were you out looking for a fight or did they come find you?  I should get out Sails of Glory too, haven't played that in quite a while.

I had my first PVP encounter last night.  I was in the Florida Keys in my brig sailing west to Key West, which is a free town, and when I got there I ran right into four Spanish ships.  There were two Renomees, a Snow, and a Cutter.  The Renomees have 12 gun broadsides to my 8 and can carry heavier guns too.  I tried to run, but they were able to get long shots into my sails and eventually slow me down enough to catch up.

I ended up doing the most damage I've ever done, but to no avail, I caught on fire, was dismasted, which I had never seen before, and sank. 

I respawned in Key West, so I waited a bit, hoping they'd leave and then made a run to the north and eventually back to the eastern part of the keys which is under United States control on the PVP One server.

I'm enjoying the game a lot.  Need to get into crafting maybe to experience more.  Right now on the long journeys between ports I just play Civ 5 to pass the time.  Good thing my brig can get a connection to Steam on the open seas. :)

The guy who was commanding the privateer called for help.  I was close so I joined in.

So did he just ask for help in the chat box, or is there a different mechanism for that?

I see the reinforcements available label on the screen, but I thought that was handled automatically if you are in an area protected by a friendly port.

Quote from: RedArgo on February 01, 2016, 02:28:38 PM
So did he just ask for help in the chat box, or is there a different mechanism for that?

I see the reinforcements available label on the screen, but I thought that was handled automatically if you are in an area protected by a friendly port.

Rumor has it that you have to push ctrl and hit the reinforcement available tag to get reinforcements

And possibly in battle you have to hit 'm' to command AI ships (but I havent' done any of these things).

He asked in the chat box.  I saw the crossed swords icon in the area he mentioned so I sailed towards it and was able to get to it before the timer expired.

Quote from: MengJiao on February 01, 2016, 02:47:28 PM

Quote from: RedArgo on February 01, 2016, 02:28:38 PM
So did he just ask for help in the chat box, or is there a different mechanism for that?

I see the reinforcements available label on the screen, but I thought that was handled automatically if you are in an area protected by a friendly port.

Rumor has it that you have to push ctrl and hit the reinforcement available tag to get reinforcements

And possibly in battle you have to hit 'm' to command AI ships (but I havent' done any of these things).

I'm a bit confused about the Reinforcement Available tag.   I have control clicked on it in the open world and nothing happened.  I've just sailed into other players battles at will before they close. 

I've also had players freely join my fights without any needed action on my part. 

I'm wondering if that tab is just there to tell us that there are open battles nearby?

Quote from: SirAndrewD on February 01, 2016, 06:41:37 PM

Quote from: MengJiao on February 01, 2016, 02:47:28 PM

Quote from: RedArgo on February 01, 2016, 02:28:38 PM
So did he just ask for help in the chat box, or is there a different mechanism for that?

I see the reinforcements available label on the screen, but I thought that was handled automatically if you are in an area protected by a friendly port.

Rumor has it that you have to push ctrl and hit the reinforcement available tag to get reinforcements

And possibly in battle you have to hit 'm' to command AI ships (but I havent' done any of these things).

I'm a bit confused about the Reinforcement Available tag.   I have control clicked on it in the open world and nothing happened.  I've just sailed into other players battles at will before they close. 

I've also had players freely join my fights without any needed action on my part. 

I'm wondering if that tab is just there to tell us that there are open battles nearby?

Supposedly joining battles is frowned on.  Which is odd.  The mechanism for joining all battles is the same, except that mission battles close in five minutes or something.  I have joined a comple of relatively large battles without too many "social" problems, but then I generally signal my intentions and haven't yet been threatened with being sunk by my own side (though I have seen that threat made, as well as a few "green on green" exchanges of grape and shot).  i haven't used it, but I think the reinforcement tag brings in the AI fleets in the area.  I haven't seen anything like that happen
in my limited experience as a Spaniard off Havanna in PvPTwo.

Why do you think join battles is frowned upon?  I just assumed it was a okay and I've only had one person who had a problem with me joining, so I just left.  I will always defer to whoever started the battle as far as if they want to board or sink.

I haven't read much of the forums, is it bad etiquette to join someone else's battle?

It's sometimes annoying. I was trying to capture a Lynx and was just about finished the battle when half a dozen "allies" showed up.  In their eagerness to score hits, they proceeded to do more damage to me in 30 seconds than the Lynx had all battle.  Then one bumped me out of boarding position and tried to take the Lynx for himself so I had to sink her out of principle.

Quote from: RedArgo on February 02, 2016, 01:00:25 PM
Why do you think join battles is frowned upon?  I just assumed it was a okay and I've only had one person who had a problem with me joining, so I just left.  I will always defer to whoever started the battle as far as if they want to board or sink.

I haven't read much of the forums, is it bad etiquette to join someone else's battle?

In traditional MMOs, it can be considered "kill-stealing" (where you grab the XP for yourself after somebody else whittled the monster down).  Ss little as I know about NA, I have no idea whether that dynamic prevails here or not, but some people frown on it just because it is traditionally frowned upon even it games where there's nothing really wrong with it.

Quote from: RedArgo on February 02, 2016, 01:00:25 PM
Why do you think join battles is frowned upon?  I just assumed it was a okay and I've only had one person who had a problem with me joining, so I just left.  I will always defer to whoever started the battle as far as if they want to board or sink.

I haven't read much of the forums, is it bad etiquette to join someone else's battle?

  I think the theory is that you form a group and then you all do a mission.  This almost never happens.  Even more confusingly, you can't tell mission battles from encounter battles until you click on it and even then its not always clear.
  As another poster notes, this is more a matter of how MMORPG games get played than anything that makes sense in NA.  A lot of people apparently have to play every game more or less the same way as in "Its not a hard game, I'm already an Emperor, just join a clan and use Teamspeak" or "no afternoon of painting the kichen need be boring -- I've already painted all the kitchens in the nieghborhood -- just shove your hand into a live wire behind the fridge every few minutes!"
  So yes, just being a normal, casual player is, as usual, very much not the done thing.  But if you follow a few simple basic social rules (for example, much as in Real Life, always put on the watch cap that makes you look like a criminal when discussing car insurance problems with somebody who hits your stationary car in the parking lot) -- be slightly aggressive, vaguely helpful, bluff, don't whine and get ready to run -- you can actually avoid all the clan-oriented strictures and play the game as a relatively open game with lots of options.
  So yes, you are apparently supposed to be "in a clan using teamspeak" and not playing the game like an ordinary human being which means that you aren't supposed to intrude on other players for some reason -- though you are supposed to turn up for some battles and in theory there are people to PvP out there somewhere -- so yes, there is some frowning on joining battles -- even encounter battles -- but, if you don't deliberately foul things up, nobody really seems to care.

As Glen mentioned, it's considered bad manners in MMOs to jump in on someone else's fight.  Unless they specifically called for help.

That was originally due to how xp & loot was rewarded for killing mobs.  In the past, it was often the person who got the final killing blow, so whomever had been whittling down the mob could get all his efforts nullified by someone who just jumped in out of nowhere and killed it later on. 

Some games have adjusted how the rewards are handled to ease this problem, such as splitting rewards or awarding the first player to hit the mob an exclusive right to awards for a specified time if they continue to fight it.  But none of that really changed the expected MMO etiquette.

I'm not sure how xp & such is reward in Naval Action.  I think it's split by some kind of percentage.  Whether that's directly related to damage done or shares.. dunno.  It's quite likely that the original attacker is losing rewards if you join in, though.


TL;DR :

It's fairly likely that you're reducing the original attacking player's rewards when joining their ongoing battle and attacking their target.  So keep that in mind.  That's the reason it's considered rude to attack other peoples' AI targets in MMOs when they're already engaged (unless they ask for help in chat).

I am completely OK with someone jumping into my missions. The sooner they are killed, the sooner I can accept another mission and progress.

If you want to run solo, capture missions, then don't start them right outside of Charleston. Common sense.

If you could select your mission locations that'd be fine but as you cannot and as the AI usually assigns them right around your capital, you are stuck with asshats jumping in and screwing things up.  Of course, Murphy's Law always applies and on the occasions when you're getting pummeled and could use a hand, that's when nobody shows up.

I think he means go to a different port to get your missions assigned.  When I've gone south of Charleston down towards Florida, I hardly see anyone.  Actually, I one time I went north up to Wilmington I didn't see anyone at all.  Of course then if you capture stuff you've got to sail back to Charleston to do anything with it which could be time consuming, unless you set up an outpost in your new mission port, so there is that downside. 

In any case, although I don't mind people jumping in on my missions, I'll wait for a call or ask before I enter anyone else's from now on.  Don't want to ruffle any hard core players sails. :)

The mechanic in this game encourages people to jump in on missions.  I'm usually pleased when someone does, it makes the fight easier and faster and gives me opportunity to head back to port and get more Admiralty orders. 

I've saved a commanders here and there with coming in on their fights.  I've been saved as well. 

I've never heard anyone complain about coming in.  It's either been positive coordination or dead silence.

Quote from: Nefaro on February 02, 2016, 02:28:42 PM
As Glen mentioned, it's considered bad manners in MMOs to jump in on someone else's fight.  Unless they specifically called for help.

That was originally due to how xp & loot was rewarded for killing mobs.  In the past, it was often the person who got the final killing blow, so whomever had been whittling down the mob could get all his efforts nullified by someone who just jumped in out of nowhere and killed it later on. 

Some games have adjusted how the rewards are handled to ease this problem, such as splitting rewards or awarding the first player to hit the mob an exclusive right to awards for a specified time if they continue to fight it.  But none of that really changed the expected MMO etiquette.

I'm not sure how xp & such is reward in Naval Action.  I think it's split by some kind of percentage.  Whether that's directly related to damage done or shares.. dunno.  It's quite likely that the original attacker is losing rewards if you join in, though.


TL;DR :

It's fairly likely that you're reducing the original attacking player's rewards when joining their ongoing battle and attacking their target.  So keep that in mind.  That's the reason it's considered rude to attack other peoples' AI targets in MMOs when they're already engaged (unless they ask for help in chat).

You are slightly reducing the original attacker's extra rewards, especially if the attacker wants a capture.

However, you do not reduce the reward the Admiralty offers for the mission, which is typically much in excess of whatever extra you might gain from a long one on one running battle, with the exception of a capture. 

The AI is decent enough in Naval action to actually make some one on one, or later two on one confrontations more than a near run thing.  Even with solid gunnery, just the wrong swell hitting or the right volley by an AI enemy can turn a winning fight into a losing one. 

I'd rather share some of my combat XP and money with a helpful friend than lose a fight because I got holed randomly by a ship half my size that had a good raking shot.

Quote from: SirAndrewD on February 03, 2016, 12:38:41 AM

Quote from: Nefaro on February 02, 2016, 02:28:42 PM
As Glen mentioned, it's considered bad manners in MMOs to jump in on someone else's fight.  Unless they specifically called for help.

That was originally due to how xp & loot was rewarded for killing mobs.  In the past, it was often the person who got the final killing blow, so whomever had been whittling down the mob could get all his efforts nullified by someone who just jumped in out of nowhere and killed it later on. 

Some games have adjusted how the rewards are handled to ease this problem, such as splitting rewards or awarding the first player to hit the mob an exclusive right to awards for a specified time if they continue to fight it.  But none of that really changed the expected MMO etiquette.

I'm not sure how xp & such is reward in Naval Action.  I think it's split by some kind of percentage.  Whether that's directly related to damage done or shares.. dunno.  It's quite likely that the original attacker is losing rewards if you join in, though.


TL;DR :

It's fairly likely that you're reducing the original attacking player's rewards when joining their ongoing battle and attacking their target.  So keep that in mind.  That's the reason it's considered rude to attack other peoples' AI targets in MMOs when they're already engaged (unless they ask for help in chat).

You are slightly reducing the original attacker's extra rewards, especially if the attacker wants a capture.

However, you do not reduce the reward the Admiralty offers for the mission, which is typically much in excess of whatever extra you might gain from a long one on one running battle, with the exception of a capture. 

The AI is decent enough in Naval action to actually make some one on one, or later two on one confrontations more than a near run thing.  Even with solid gunnery, just the wrong swell hitting or the right volley by an AI enemy can turn a winning fight into a losing one. 

I'd rather share some of my combat XP and money with a helpful friend than lose a fight because I got holed randomly by a ship half my size that had a good raking shot.

I figure most of the time, I'm doing a favor for the people whose fights I join.  For one thing, I check to see if they are in good shape.  If they are okay and the target is a mess, then I just leave.  Quite often I win the fight for them since I:

1) don't ram anything or anyone
2) don't shoot anyone but the enemy
3) can shoot and hit hard from at least twice the range of most players so I'm staying well out of everyone's way

So, nobody seems to mind at all when i join their fights

So a couple questions about capturing a ship I didn't see on the NA forum.

I've captured a few trader brigs with my brig.  They have had more cargo than my ship can carry, so I end up losing it.

What does send to Admiralty do?  I assume they give you some money.

There is an option for take command.  Does that let me keep the trader brig and all the cargo and sail it back to a port, while my capturing ship goes to an outpost?

I'm apprehensive to try some things, because I don't know if I'll get a warning before something bad happens.  Like maybe take command gives me control of the trader brig, but then my brig just disappears?

Thanks.

Quote from: MengJiao on February 03, 2016, 09:38:31 AM

Quote from: SirAndrewD on February 03, 2016, 12:38:41 AM

Quote from: Nefaro on February 02, 2016, 02:28:42 PM
As Glen mentioned, it's considered bad manners in MMOs to jump in on someone else's fight.  Unless they specifically called for help.

That was originally due to how xp & loot was rewarded for killing mobs.  In the past, it was often the person who got the final killing blow, so whomever had been whittling down the mob could get all his efforts nullified by someone who just jumped in out of nowhere and killed it later on. 

Some games have adjusted how the rewards are handled to ease this problem, such as splitting rewards or awarding the first player to hit the mob an exclusive right to awards for a specified time if they continue to fight it.  But none of that really changed the expected MMO etiquette.

I'm not sure how xp & such is reward in Naval Action.  I think it's split by some kind of percentage.  Whether that's directly related to damage done or shares.. dunno.  It's quite likely that the original attacker is losing rewards if you join in, though.


TL;DR :

It's fairly likely that you're reducing the original attacking player's rewards when joining their ongoing battle and attacking their target.  So keep that in mind.  That's the reason it's considered rude to attack other peoples' AI targets in MMOs when they're already engaged (unless they ask for help in chat).

You are slightly reducing the original attacker's extra rewards, especially if the attacker wants a capture.

However, you do not reduce the reward the Admiralty offers for the mission, which is typically much in excess of whatever extra you might gain from a long one on one running battle, with the exception of a capture. 

The AI is decent enough in Naval action to actually make some one on one, or later two on one confrontations more than a near run thing.  Even with solid gunnery, just the wrong swell hitting or the right volley by an AI enemy can turn a winning fight into a losing one. 

I'd rather share some of my combat XP and money with a helpful friend than lose a fight because I got holed randomly by a ship half my size that had a good raking shot.

I figure most of the time, I'm doing a favor for the people whose fights I join.  For one thing, I check to see if they are in good shape.  If they are okay and the target is a mess, then I just leave.  Quite often I win the fight for them since I:

1) don't ram anything or anyone
2) don't shoot anyone but the enemy
3) can shoot and hit hard from at least twice the range of most players so I'm staying well out of everyone's way

So, nobody seems to mind at all when i join their fights

I think the "check to see if they are in good shape" part is key.  Nobody minds you jumping in when they're getting wasted by the AI!

Quote from: SirAndrewD on February 03, 2016, 12:38:41 AM


You are slightly reducing the original attacker's extra rewards, especially if the attacker wants a capture.

However, you do not reduce the reward the Admiralty offers for the mission, which is typically much in excess of whatever extra you might gain from a long one on one running battle, with the exception of a capture. 

The AI is decent enough in Naval action to actually make some one on one, or later two on one confrontations more than a near run thing.  Even with solid gunnery, just the wrong swell hitting or the right volley by an AI enemy can turn a winning fight into a losing one. 

I'd rather share some of my combat XP and money with a helpful friend than lose a fight because I got holed randomly by a ship half my size that had a good raking shot.

Good info to know.   O0


It may not be quite as bad as other MMOs.  Other than the cases where one person is trying to board & capture while the others are just destroying it.  Which could be solved by some communication.

Quote from: Nefaro on February 03, 2016, 02:36:08 PM

Quote from: SirAndrewD on February 03, 2016, 12:38:41 AM


You are slightly reducing the original attacker's extra rewards, especially if the attacker wants a capture.

However, you do not reduce the reward the Admiralty offers for the mission, which is typically much in excess of whatever extra you might gain from a long one on one running battle, with the exception of a capture. 

The AI is decent enough in Naval action to actually make some one on one, or later two on one confrontations more than a near run thing.  Even with solid gunnery, just the wrong swell hitting or the right volley by an AI enemy can turn a winning fight into a losing one. 

I'd rather share some of my combat XP and money with a helpful friend than lose a fight because I got holed randomly by a ship half my size that had a good raking shot.

Good info to know.   O0


It may not be quite as bad as other MMOs.  Other than the cases where one person is trying to board & capture while the others are just destroying it.  Which could be solved by some communication.

Patch 9.63 just removed the option of entering a mission if you aren't grouped with its owner.  Enemies can still enter, but you can't get any help once you are in your mission except from your group.  Group bonuses are up so maybe people will group?  I'll group.  It was fun when it was relatively common last week.

I still haven't even started since the open beta launch.  Spread too thin.  :buck2:

Quote from: MengJiao on February 03, 2016, 03:26:39 PM

Quote from: Nefaro on February 03, 2016, 02:36:08 PM

Quote from: SirAndrewD on February 03, 2016, 12:38:41 AM


You are slightly reducing the original attacker's extra rewards, especially if the attacker wants a capture.

However, you do not reduce the reward the Admiralty offers for the mission, which is typically much in excess of whatever extra you might gain from a long one on one running battle, with the exception of a capture. 

The AI is decent enough in Naval action to actually make some one on one, or later two on one confrontations more than a near run thing.  Even with solid gunnery, just the wrong swell hitting or the right volley by an AI enemy can turn a winning fight into a losing one. 

I'd rather share some of my combat XP and money with a helpful friend than lose a fight because I got holed randomly by a ship half my size that had a good raking shot.

Good info to know.   O0


It may not be quite as bad as other MMOs.  Other than the cases where one person is trying to board & capture while the others are just destroying it.  Which could be solved by some communication.

Patch 9.63 just removed the option of entering a mission if you aren't grouped with its owner.  Enemies can still enter, but you can't get any help once you are in your mission except from your group.  Group bonuses are up so maybe people will group?  I'll group.  It was fun when it was relatively common last week.

Yeah, the argument is moot now I guess. 

It seems a bit of an overreaction to me, but I actually liked people freely joining my fights.  Made a couple of friends that way since I'm pretty communicative. 

I think the better solution would be to allow players to open or close their own fights or even put a requesting help flag up.  Game's still in the process of growing into its skin, so maybe they'll consider it.

Agreed. I think being able to toggle your battle as Open for the first five minutes would be the best solution.  Make a proper Reinforce button, huh?

Quote from: Nefaro on February 03, 2016, 05:42:07 PM
Agreed. I think being able to toggle your battle as Open for the first five minutes would be the best solution.  Make a proper Reinforce button, huh?

Indeed. 

To be fair, the reinforcement button works, but only for Nation vs. Enemy combat.  I wasn't aware of it until this blow up apparently hit the steam forums, but apparently you can warp people into your battle only when it's something like a British commander attacking French.

I've only been in three battles against the French, so that was something I hadn't really experienced. 

Apparently, the devs said that having open participation in missions led to griefing.  Not something I experienced, but they said very directly on Steam that the griefing was "out of control" so they just removed the ability right off. 

It also seems though that most people are requesting an ability to close battles, so that's positive.  Since I never got griefed I really felt like it was a positive and interesting feature.  I'm not one that spams "LFG" requests in chat in an MMO, and just enjoyed being surprised by a friendly popping up for a battle.  I had an unfortunate collision or two with human players, rarely caused by myself, but it was essentially just a "oh well, it happens" kind of thing. 

If anyone had ever chatted to me and asked me to leave a fight I would've.  Never had one single, solitary instance of that happening.

I'd say 18 times out of 20, allies who showed up in a battle were genuinely helpful.  One time out of 20, they were trying to be helpful but they were new to the game and would end up shooting you or ramming you due to their inexperience.  That final time out of 20 is the problem.  I have had two people deliberately ram me a couple of times to bump me out of the way and stop my boarding attempts so they could slip in and try.  I've also had three people purposely rake my stern with a full broadside just as a battle ends just to be jackasses.

What I'd like to see is the option for people who start a battle to open it up to allies if they want to.

It's really kind of killed the PvE server as there's not a lot to do now other than admiralty missions or trading.

Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on February 03, 2016, 07:50:28 PM
I'd say 18 times out of 20, allies who showed up in a battle were genuinely helpful.  One time out of 20, they were trying to be helpful but they were new to the game and would end up shooting you or ramming you due to their inexperience.  That final time out of 20 is the problem.  I have had two people deliberately ram me a couple of times to bump me out of the way and stop my boarding attempts so they could slip in and try.  I've also had three people purposely rake my stern with a full broadside just as a battle ends just to be jackasses.

What I'd like to see is the option for people who start a battle to open it up to allies if they want to.

It's really kind of killed the PvE server as there's not a lot to do now other than admiralty missions or trading.

I'm on the PvP server, but yeah, I can see this being a problem.  I am guessing that a lot of these problems might have happened on PvE as I never really saw them or even heard them complained about on the PvP. 

This is a bit of cutting off your nose to spite your face by the devs though.  I mean, yeah, it solved a griefing problem that I suppose existed, but it's dropped a bomb on the open world and community aspect and has appeased only what seemed to be a vocal minority. 

As for stealing captures, I think the value of capturing has been a bit overrated, especially at the lower levels.  I'd rather have player participation in my Admiralty missions and zero captures than no player participation and captures. 

I captured another traders brig and went ahead and tried to answer my questions.

Send to Admiralty doesn't work yet.

Take Command does just change the ship you control and allows you send the other ship to an outpost.

That allowed me to keep all the captured cargo.

Is this going to be like Elite Dangerous in the Carribean?

Quote from: jomni on February 03, 2016, 10:39:09 PM
Is this going to be like Elite Dangerous in the Carribean?

Perhaps.  Prior to today's patch it was a bit more open world.  Right now it's a bit of a work in progress. 

I hope it would be like Elite with trading, missions, ship upgrades, and pirate hunting.

Yikes, my first outing as 1st Lt. wasn't so pleasant with the new system.

I got a 2nd Lt Order, that had prior brought Brigs or Snows. 

This time I got a Cerberus. 

I was in my Niagara for the first time, and yowsers, his first volley had me down half armor on my port side.   I angled and his second volley took me more than half my starboard.

I got three solid broadsides on him that cut into his aft and dinged his starbord down to one tick.  And that's with good hits on 32lb carnonades.


I cut and run after that of course.  No one was coming to help so that was a fight lost.  The Niagara foundered in anything less than close or broad reach on the points of sail, so she was essentially worthless to maneuver.   

Yikes.  At least I got away with my ship intact, barely. 

Just made 2nd LT and would take any advice on what ship to get next is, hull strength, cannons, cargo capacity and speed all play into my decision. I've heard a lot about Snows but ive also heard they are glass cannons. Any advice?

Snows are very fine crafts for 2Lt's. I am a first lieutenant, and am running a Niagara. I ran one for the last third of the exp needed while as a 2Lt, and managed just fine, despite only having 77% of the crew needed.

The Niagara has the capability of carrying class 4(!) carronades, the big bastard 32 pounders. Gotta get in close, but I can take a cutter to half health in one volley. They're slow as pigs, and not manueverable, but dayyum! The DAMAGE they can pump out!

I am still running my Niagara, and am close to being promoted to the rank beyond 1Lt. Like you, I am not sure what ship to get.

I have been building brigs left and right, and an upgraded, human-built brig has three upgrade slots. Get one for speed, one for turning, and one for combat and this becomes an exceptional ship for your rank.

Quote from: SirAndrewD on February 03, 2016, 07:42:50 PM

Quote from: Nefaro on February 03, 2016, 05:42:07 PM
Agreed. I think being able to toggle your battle as Open for the first five minutes would be the best solution.  Make a proper Reinforce button, huh?

Indeed. 

To be fair, the reinforcement button works, but only for Nation vs. Enemy combat.  I wasn't aware of it until this blow up apparently hit the steam forums, but apparently you can warp people into your battle only when it's something like a British commander attacking French.

  Yep.  That works.  I once went after some small passing enemy ship when a fleet was assembling for a sortie.  When the battle opened there were 3 cutters including me, several brigs, and some frigates.  The enemy sails were shredded in a minute and then somebody just rammed him and sent him down instantly.

Well, tonight fighting with the Niagara within her weight class was better.  I still had very hard fights against a couple of Brigs.  I'm just going to avoid taking the Lt. Commander orders.  I had no chance one one one with the Cerberus. 

I switched out to Long 9's after having a lot of trouble hitting with the carronades due to the Niagara being an unstable gun platform, especially in rough seas.   The 9's are pretty amazing actually.  They don't do as much damage, but I actually started a Pickle sinking on the first volley with them.  Even though it didn't rip away its armor, its higher penetration apparently made the ship spring a lot of leaks right away, too many for it to deal with. 

I was also horribly mistakenly using Rum Rations as an upgrade.  That was probably why the ship performed like it was in irons, the crew was drunk. 

Swapping to a very good optimized ballast tonight, it might slow down the ridiculous roll on the ship and make it actually able to hit things.

I'm really wary of using a full set of carronades.  Especially on the small ships early in the game.  You gotta get so close, the enemy will have such an easy target.

I preferred shooting at range with Long Guns before they added the open world stuff.  I hope not much has changed regarding aiming.  If they removed Double Shot loads, then it's all the more reason to stay at a distance and hopefully take less damage while wearing them down.

Quote from: Nefaro on February 04, 2016, 08:22:20 PM
I'm really wary of using a full set of carronades.  Especially on the small ships early in the game.  You gotta get so close, the enemy will have such an easy target.

I preferred shooting at range with Long Guns before they added the open world stuff.  I hope not much has changed regarding aiming.  If they removed Double Shot loads, then it's all the more reason to stay at a distance and hopefully take less damage while wearing them down.

Well, the AI doesn't miss much regardless of range.  Even on a small and quick target the AI nails probably 80% or more of its shots, even at very very long engagement ranges. 

But, yes, I do tend to agree after trying it out.  Carronades are more or less like hurling  a spit wad compared to the accuracy and velocity of the long 9's.   Not to mention with the 9's I don't have to completely strip the armor to hole the enemy. 

I'm not sure it's completely superior, but I'm having better results with the Niagara at least. 

Now, if I were in a Navy Brig with its huge hull, I'd probably just go back to carronades and ramming/boarding.

Quote from: Nefaro on February 04, 2016, 08:22:20 PM
I'm really wary of using a full set of carronades.  Especially on the small ships early in the game.  You gotta get so close, the enemy will have such an easy target.

I preferred shooting at range with Long Guns before they added the open world stuff.  I hope not much has changed regarding aiming.  If they removed Double Shot loads, then it's all the more reason to stay at a distance and hopefully take less damage while wearing them down.

I roll with a Niagara, with a full set of 32-lb carronades...and get very good success with them.

The secret is to get in VERY close before you fire. I can strip half the health away from a cutter in one salvo.

Last night, against a Renomonee, I gained 143! extra experience in a group of five, in addition to the 100 base exp for the mission. This was due to four solid, major damage dealing broadsides. I just can't find fault with using Class 4 guns on much lower class ship.

Quote from: SirAndrewD on February 04, 2016, 10:22:42 PM

Quote from: Nefaro on February 04, 2016, 08:22:20 PM
I'm really wary of using a full set of carronades.  Especially on the small ships early in the game.  You gotta get so close, the enemy will have such an easy target.

I preferred shooting at range with Long Guns before they added the open world stuff.  I hope not much has changed regarding aiming.  If they removed Double Shot loads, then it's all the more reason to stay at a distance and hopefully take less damage while wearing them down.

Well, the AI doesn't miss much regardless of range.  Even on a small and quick target the AI nails probably 80% or more of its shots, even at very very long engagement ranges. 

But, yes, I do tend to agree after trying it out.  Carronades are more or less like hurling  a spit wad compared to the accuracy and velocity of the long 9's.   Not to mention with the 9's I don't have to completely strip the armor to hole the enemy. 

I'm not sure it's completely superior, but I'm having better results with the Niagara at least. 

Now, if I were in a Navy Brig with its huge hull, I'd probably just go back to carronades and ramming/boarding.

The biggest ship I've sailed in the game is a Privateer (ie an armed Lynx), but my experience overall is that, after the intial exchange of fire, if you pull out to a good range for long six-pounders, the AI starts to miss pretty often.  I'm pretty sure in low-level missions the AI only has medium six-pounders and they either miss, don't penetrate or don't do much damage a lot of the time.  So I use long six pdrs which have an easier-to-aim trajectory for me and do penetrate more often.  I had 18 pdr carronades on the Privateer, but I saw them bouncing shot off targets at 20 yards and i had a terrible time aiming them at anything other than very close range so I went back to long guns.
On the other hand, I'm thinking of going into a PvP small battle in a live oak cutter with powder monkeys and medium six pounders.  The combination works okay against the AI and for PvP might have a depressing effect due to the rate of fire compared to long guns and relative accuracy compared to carronades.  Plus if I I lose the cutter, then I will have gotten rid of the medium sixes I've captured from the AI.

It seems like the missions vs AI have gotten harder lately.  I'm doing 2nd Lt missions in my brig and out of 3 attempts last night I had to withdraw from 2 of them to not risk losing my ship.  I defeated a pirate brig, but then against a snow and then 2 privateers I was close to sinking and although I might have been able to win I didn't think it was worth the risk.

It seemed like in the past the missions were pretty easy.

I'm getting a lot of 2 vs 1 missions as well. I can take on 2 cutters or 2 lynxes, but 2 privateers or 2 snows is more than I can handle in my brig.

I just got a promotion and jumped up from a brig to a Niagara.  I started out with 24lb carronades.  I like the damage they dish out when they hit but I think I'm going to switch to long nines instead as I can hit much more often with them so I think the damage balances out over time and I can engage at longer range. 

What rank are you SDR?  I just got to 1st Lt and I'm still five short for a full crew on my Niagra.  I don't know if this makes much difference, so I went ahead and equipped it anyway.  Using the long 9s also.

Same as you.  1st Lt.  I think I can deal with a 5 man deficit.  I usually lose about that amount in the first view volleys anyway.

Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on February 06, 2016, 10:31:39 PM
Same as you.  1st Lt.  I think I can deal with a 5 man deficit.  I usually lose about that amount in the first view volleys anyway.

  As a Tenante de Frigatta, I think I have a crew size of 110.  I was sailing in Navy Brigs and Mercuries with Marines and...it was kind of depressing.
So I got a nicely crafted regular Brig and Powder monkeys and Pellew's sights and I'm doing better with fewer guns.  I'm sure the live oak and the
extra planks are helping too!

There will be a nice little content patch in a couple weeks...........

Content patch discussion

New store interface.
We wanted to improve the store information for players making purchase/sale decisions and improve usability a bit.

In the new interface you will be able to see the amount of goods bought and sold at that price level and will be able to purchase everything in one block (no more unnecessary clicks if you wanted to buy 2000 of something - if someone is selling 2000 items you can buy it in one block). In addition to that you will be able to see top contracts and player names placing those contracts in case you want to trade with them in private.

New battle crew management - BIG CHANGE
Crew focuses have been reworked completely and became more realistic. They will now work as toggles – instead of absolute choices. Previously all tasks were fulfilled with penalties starting from zero penalty to 100% penalty in a linear progression, and you could only improve a certain task while reducing the benefits on another independently of your crew size.



In the new system:

All main tasks have a certain allocation of crew depending on ship type.
All main tasks have a minimum and optimal size of crew required.

•   Optimal crew – task will be fulfilled at max speed
•   Minimal crew – task will be fulfilled with penalties
•   Less than minimal crew – task wont be fulfilled at all.

Sailing, Gun reloads, Repairs, Leak fixing is atomized and all of them require a min or optimal squad. The crew requirement is the sum of individual crew requirements. Switches between crew focuses take time and the bigger your crew the more time it takes to reposition the squads from task to task. If you have full crew you can toggle optimal performance for all tasks.

The main differences lie in the changes to gunnery. We will try to explain it in simple English – if we fail please rephrase for us in comments and we will update the text.

Previously all guns were reloaded simultaneously. If you did not have enough crew it affected ALL guns. It was unrealistic and unhistorical. In the new system every gun works separately and has a gun crew allocation. All guns are loaded gun by gun if you have minimal gun crew.

How it will work. Example: You first rate have lost most of the men and has 20 men left

Current old system: Ship suffers enormous penalty depending on a crew focus. All decks are affected. If you have switched on the gunnery crew focus you never reload anyway.

New system: Penalties and reload will depend on the gun composition of cannons for this particular vessel. If you have 20 men left and switched to a gunnery crew focus it will be enough to reload 2 heavy guns per minute allowing you to fire them individually. All guns have a minimum and optimal crew requirements and the gun composition for the vessel will become extremely important in battle.

•   Equip lighter guns – you will have more flexibility in choices when you start losing crew.
•   Equip heavier guns – you will have to manage the crew.

Certain ships will become impossible to sail without extra crew management.

Repairs/Survival changes
Survival will also start working differently. If you have only 1 leak it will take only 5 men to repair and will not affect other sailor/gunner crew composition. If you have 90 leaking holes you will have to find 450 men to plug them in.
Repairs also will be affected. If you are repairing Victory you might need up to 30% of crew to repair 15% of the integrity (number is arbitrary at this stage).

These changes will also allow for interesting options in improving repairs in a realistic way.

Sailing
Sailing is simple and works similar to guns. You have a % of crew required to work sails and if you don't do any other tasks you will not suffer any penalties to speeds of raising sails or turning yards. If you have enough crew you can work sails and man guns at the same time.

Boarding
Boarding crew has to be allocated before the boarding. And the main difference with the old system is this: if you have enough men you can shoot guns and have boarders ready at the same time. Some ships with low number of guns will shine as a result – lynx is the best example. And it will allow you to board when you are sinking (sending some men to repairs and the rest to boarding party).

We also would like to discuss the following potential changes to the boarding – but they wont get in next patch.

•   Only prepared boarding crew will fight in boarding for both sides
•   Fire deck guns will be moved out of the boarding interface and you will be shooting actual guns with their real reloads and performance. If you don't have crew allocated to guns you will not be able to fire during boarding.
•   Disengage duration will be affected by several commands and factors. Players wont be able to disengage in certain situations unless they are pulled away from the vessel by friendly ramming.

Production buildings
Production buildings are still tentative and might not get in next patch. Please leave your feedback on how you want production buildings to work in the following topic http://forum.game-la...gs-discussions/. We will of course try hard to make them happen in Feb but not sure about it.

New ships
2-3 new ships will be delivered after the patch – as they need more time to be tested and fine tuned. Most likely candidates are improved Niagara that will be boosted in certain areas based on the player feedback and Essex Frigate.

Not much in the way of improving the PvE server.  It's getting pretty grindy.  Been working towards Master and Commander rank for ages now.

You must feel like that rank is on the far side of the world.

:D

Sorry if this has been asked before, but I'm curious about the time it takes to reload and fire.

How much time do you need to reload, aim, and fire a 12 pounder in minutes per round?

Handling a naval gun probably won't be as fast as its land-based equivalent because of the need to work in a confined space with poor ventilation.

From Wikipedia -

QuoteA typical broadside of a Royal Navy ship of the late 18th century could be fired 2-3 times in approximately 5 minutes, depending on the training of the crew, a well trained one being essential to the simple yet detailed process of preparing to fire

In the Aubrey-Maturin novels (O'Brian's research is pretty faultless), Jack Aubrey, who prizes gunnery practice above all things, is satisfied with three in 5 minutes. I think Naval Action's reload times are even quicker than that.

There's a good description of the evolutions here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_artillery_in_the_Age_of_Sail

Let me ask that question again a bit more clearly.

Does Naval Action use realistic rates of fire?

Three rounds in five minutes sounds a bit on the fast side.  Two minutes per round used to be a pretty good rule of thumb, but the reality would have been a sliding scale, with reload times as well as aiming times both degrading as the lower decks filled with smoke. 

Given the twitchy nature of online players, I would imagine that most of the gaming community would be allergic to reality.

Of course, if the ships are moving twice as fast as they should be it will all come out in the wash if the guns are firing twice as often as they should.

So what I'm really asking is how convincing are the fire and maneuver tactics in Naval Action ?

Quote from: smithcorp on February 18, 2016, 02:21:52 AM


In the Aubrey-Maturin novels (O'Brian's research is pretty faultless), Jack Aubrey, who prizes gunnery practice above all things, is satisfied with three in 5 minutes. I think Naval Action's reload times are even quicker than that.

Didn't he base those numbers on the literal practice of some ship captain from the period?

I'm not as concerned with what reload times are in an historical novel as I am with what they are in the game.

Does anyone know the reload times ?  And are they fixed or do they vary ?

Firing an eighteenth century cannon is a far cry from sliding a shell into the back of an artillery tube.

Quote from: Philippe on February 18, 2016, 11:20:31 AM
I'm not as concerned with what reload times are in an historical novel as I am with what they are in the game.

Does anyone know the reload times ?  And are they fixed or do they vary ?

Firing an eighteenth century cannon is a far cry from sliding a shell into the back of an artillery tube.

It takes about a minute or so to reload round shot on the long 9's I'm running on my current ship.  The carronades I was using on the Niagara took a bit longer, around a minute twenty or so.  I timed a few quick videos off youtube and it seems that's about right.  The smaller cannons take less time, on my old cutter my medium sixes could load in about 30 or 45 seconds.

It varies dependent on crew size and battle stance.  If you have your crew focusing on gunnery it'll shave a few seconds off.   Different shot types also take a lot longer to load. 

Reload time also can be altered by the amount of shock the crew has sustained in either casualties, concussion from point blank volleys and sudden loss of rigging.

I'm probably reloading a bit faster than normal because I have a few crew upgrades to tick up my time to 3% faster.

It's faster than historical rates of fire, but it feels right and it does simulate naval combat a lot more realistically than anything I've ever played.   

Quote from: SirAndrewD on February 18, 2016, 12:05:33 PM

It's faster than historical rates of fire, but it feels right and it does simulate naval combat a lot more realistically than anything I've ever played.

This is my feeling as well.  The tempo of these battles does seem to have a much closer relation to what the real sea-fights might have been like.
There are long periods, even with 3-4 ships on each side when no one is firing and you usually have time to watch most of the cannon fire even when there are a lot of ships around.  On the Brig with 8 guns and a full crew and powder monkeys, even when shooting individual shots, there are long pauses while the guns reload and yells of joy when a series of shots blows chunks off the enemy ship.  It's pretty convincing as an experience if nothing else.

Had a new one tonight, in my Niagara fighting an AI pirate Snow.  Had him on the ropes and I was moderately damaged.  We passed close by each other, each firing broadsides.  He caught fire, then a few seconds later, exploded, killing us both.  I lost the mission and a durability on my Niagara.  Wish I could have gotten a screen shot though.

I've yet to see an explosion.  I've started 4-5 fires on ships but their crews always manage to put them out.

The Snow apparently has an exposed powder magazine.  I've read a thread or two on the GL forums that have mentioned this particular ship has a slightly higher tendency to blow up, though I have also not witnessed this.

I guess best policy is that when a fire is set, get some distance just in case.   

I didn't know that.  I was probably a ships length or a little more away when it blew up, moving away to practice some long range gunnery.  Too slow I guess.

Quote from: SirAndrewD on February 18, 2016, 10:44:39 PM
The Snow apparently has an exposed powder magazine.  I've read a thread or two on the GL forums that have mentioned this particular ship has a slightly higher tendency to blow up, though I have also not witnessed this.

I guess best policy is that when a fire is set, get some distance just in case.

Yep it does, a friend and I were in battle and his snow just exploded to bits after taking a volley. It was actually pretty glorious to watch.

Did anyone here put their Exceptional Niagara on the open market?  If so, how much were you able to get for it?

I've finally upgraded to an Exceptional Cerberus and I have no intention of ever going back to that wobbly little lake ship, but I never see one on the ships market.  I'm not sure how much of a demand there'd be for a redeemable that most people should have already.

I never see them up for sale.  I think most people just break them up for parts.  I'm still using mine most of the time.  I like it better than my Mercury.

Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on February 21, 2016, 01:08:42 PM
I never see them up for sale.  I think most people just break them up for parts.  I'm still using mine most of the time.  I like it better than my Mercury.

The cost of putting something up for sale is pretty prohibitory, can't really afford to have it end up not selling, so I can see how that might be the case. 

The Niagara is actually not bad at all, and I agree it's stronger than the Snow/Mercury/Navy Brig.  It's just seriously outclassed by the frames you can get access to at Lt. Commander and above, and it should be, that's where you're moving from brigs to frigates.   I was lucky to keep mine at full durability, just can't see any use for her going forward.

I went with a Cerberus once I made it to Lt. Cmdr but I went back to my Niagara fairly quickly.  I found I could do better using cannonades on the Niagara than I could using long cannons on the Cerberus.  I don't remember what the max weight was for the Cerberus but I think it was like 6 or 9 lbers on the sides and piddly little 4-lbers as stern chasers.  I just didn't think it could dish out enough damage and was kind of ungainly.  I'm still a hell of a long way away from my next rank but once I finally do hit it, I think I'll go with the Renommee.

You are all making me want to buy this game. sigh.

O0

Yuck, the Cerberus does not look like much of an improvement, if any, over the Niagara.  I've still got 2000xp to get to Lt Cmdr, then another 10k for the next rank to get into the frigates.  Kind a takes the excitement away of advancing.  At the rate I go of about 150 xp per battle against the AI, that's about 80 battles, so a minimum of 40 hours.

I guess PVP would go faster, but I don't really see a lot of those at the time I play.  I got over 300 xp for participating, not doing much, in a battle of 6 US frigates and 2 smaller ships against one British 3rd rate.

Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on February 22, 2016, 01:47:22 AM
I went with a Cerberus once I made it to Lt. Cmdr but I went back to my Niagara fairly quickly.  I found I could do better using cannonades on the Niagara than I could using long cannons on the Cerberus.  I don't remember what the max weight was for the Cerberus but I think it was like 6 or 9 lbers on the sides and piddly little 4-lbers as stern chasers.  I just didn't think it could dish out enough damage and was kind of ungainly.  I'm still a hell of a long way away from my next rank but once I finally do hit it, I think I'll go with the Renommee.

Quote from: RedArgo on February 22, 2016, 12:11:21 PM
Yuck, the Cerberus does not look like much of an improvement, if any, over the Niagara.  I've still got 2000xp to get to Lt Cmdr, then another 10k for the next rank to get into the frigates.  Kind a takes the excitement away of advancing.  At the rate I go of about 150 xp per battle against the AI, that's about 80 battles, so a minimum of 40 hours.

I guess PVP would go faster, but I don't really see a lot of those at the time I play.  I got over 300 xp for participating, not doing much, in a battle of 6 US frigates and 2 smaller ships against one British 3rd rate.

Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on February 22, 2016, 01:47:22 AM
I went with a Cerberus once I made it to Lt. Cmdr but I went back to my Niagara fairly quickly.  I found I could do better using cannonades on the Niagara than I could using long cannons on the Cerberus.  I don't remember what the max weight was for the Cerberus but I think it was like 6 or 9 lbers on the sides and piddly little 4-lbers as stern chasers.  I just didn't think it could dish out enough damage and was kind of ungainly.  I'm still a hell of a long way away from my next rank but once I finally do hit it, I think I'll go with the Renommee.

At least in my opinion so far, the Cerberus is a big improvement over the Niagara. 

It's a much more stable gun platform, has better firepower and it has significantly more armor and hitpoints while only being slightly slower and less maneuverable. 

Both the Cerberus and Niagara can mount either Long 9's or 32lb carronades, but the Cerberus can mount more of them, and because it doesn't roll as badly in rough seas, it can hit more accurately.  With an optimized ballast it's even better.

The Niagara is a good ship at its level and the ability to mount 32lb Cannonades is nice at 1st Lt.  but it can't take a pounding.   The Niagara actually has less hitpoints than a Mercury.  This was giving me big problems when I was trying to take the Niagara up against heavier ships.  The carronades, while they absolutely wrecked brig class vessels, were sometimes bouncing off the hulls of Renomee's and Cerberus' with their thicker armor.   So while I was dishing some damage, it ended up not being enough compared to what I was taking and I had to run away.

All of that said, it's a matter of preference of course.  I just wouldn't write the Cerberus off, or long 9's for that matter. 

I agree it's a matter of personal preference. The Cerberus is by no means a bad ship.  I just found it to be a disappointment after the long bring to reach Lt. Cmdr. rank.  I was really hoping for a step up to 12 lbers.  I find that the Niagara is a much more nimble ship when I use manual sails so I'm better able to get on a big ship's stern and pound away while minimizing return fire.  With the Cerberus it's much more of a slug fest.  I kept running into Renommees and it would take me an hour or more to sink one and my ship would little more than splinters by the end of the engagement.

I completely agree, the Niagara is much better for staying on the stern of a larger ship.

My style is more to force running battles and get into a slugfest, so the Cerberus seems to be more my style.

Both the Cerberus and Niagara have the ability to mount the same kind of weapons though.   I've run the Cerberus with 32lb carronades and it performs better, firepower wise than the Niagara, which uses the equivalent weaponry.

I've gone away from carronades with the Cerberus though, because the ship is not as good closing to point blank range with smaller ships the way the Niagara could.  Also, other players are really good at keeping out of carronade range, so the long guns keep me in the fight with them.

I will say, one thing that is vital to make the Cerberus properly effective is to use manual sails.   With the auto-skipper on, she turns like a freight train.  With sails set to manual I've had her pulling almost as tight as the Niagara, enough that I've kept pace and on target with more nimble prey like Snows and Pickles. 

I'm absolutely looking forward to getting to Master and Commander though.  From what I've seen the Frigate and Surprise are much more suited to how I like to sail.

From reading the NA forum, sounds like the big patch could be any day now, although the main dev is sick, so that's slowed things down a bit.  Looking forward to see what they were able to include.  I wonder if this will bring another server wipe?  As long as they don't touch my xp!

I have noticed at the main time I play on the PVP1 server, evenings US central time, the player count is down.  Last night there were only a little over 400 people on line.  Hopefully that will increase with new content.

I really hope they do something to make PvE more engaging as it's rather a one-note affair as of now.  Trading is still not fully working so apart from mission-based combat there isn't much on offer.   I see a lot of complaining about travel times and lack of variety between locations hurting long term play.  I can see that POV.  I'm currently based out of Grand Turk (lots of French Mercuries sailing around there) and I've not seen a single human player there in almost a week.

I agree there needs to be more to do and more immersiveness than there is now.  The style I play now is basically like World of Tanks, except it takes 10 minutes of travel each way to get to a fight.  I still do it, so I must like it. :)

I read in a future update, I'm assuming not the next one, they are going to change battles so the land masses near you will pull into the battle instance.  This will allow trapping ships up against the land so they can't escape so easily.  I'm looking forward to that.

I'm not sure what they have in store for the economy.  So far, I've only been a consumer anyway.

Quote from: RedArgo on March 02, 2016, 03:59:22 PM
I agree there needs to be more to do and more immersiveness than there is now.  The style I play now is basically like World of Tanks, except it takes 10 minutes of travel each way to get to a fight.  I still do it, so I must like it. :)

Ummm..

I'm pretty sure you can queue up for PvP battles at any time, just like WoT.  Without going anywhere..?

It was like that when I played a year ago.  Plus I read a dev mention that as currently being the fastest way to level up, too.

Not from PvE, you can't.  You can request to join a battle if you're in a port but they almost always end up timing out with no participants.

Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on March 02, 2016, 05:40:14 PM
Not from PvE, you can't.  You can request to join a battle if you're in a port but they almost always end up timing out with no participants.

What are you doing only playing PvE server?!  :smiley6600:

The PvP queues are the reason I originally bought this thing.  The Open World stuff is just extra variety fluff.

Quote
Ummm..

I'm pretty sure you can queue up for PvP battles at any time, just like WoT.  Without going anywhere..?

It was like that when I played a year ago.  Plus I read a dev mention that as currently being the fastest way to level up, too.

I did that the other day for the first time, it was 2 vs 2.  I found the xp to be similar to what I'd get doing a regular mission except without the mission bonus.  I don't think you can escape either and since, except for the entry level ships, you only get 5 lives total, I'm apprehensive about risking the ships I care about.  It'd be better if you didn't risk that durability, like the way it was before open world started. 

Quote from: RedArgo on March 02, 2016, 08:14:15 PM

Quote
Ummm..

I'm pretty sure you can queue up for PvP battles at any time, just like WoT.  Without going anywhere..?

It was like that when I played a year ago.  Plus I read a dev mention that as currently being the fastest way to level up, too.

I did that the other day for the first time, it was 2 vs 2.  I found the xp to be similar to what I'd get doing a regular mission except without the mission bonus.  I don't think you can escape either and since, except for the entry level ships, you only get 5 lives total, I'm apprehensive about risking the ships I care about.  It'd be better if you didn't risk that durability, like the way it was before open world started.

Do you actually lose Durability in those PvP queued matches?  :o

Yup, and it's a real crap shoot because people join the queue and then jump out at the last second if the odds don't look good and you end up with a team of mouth-breathers.

Some info about the upcoming update relating to crew management

http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/11499-new-crew-mechanics-proposed-crew-compositions-discussion (http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/11499-new-crew-mechanics-proposed-crew-compositions-discussion)

I am a little concerned about being overwhelmed when you're in pistol range having to manage course, manual sails, gun loading, aiming, firing, fixing leaks, ect.  Sometimes I get fouled up now with just sails and firing when the pressure is on.

I finally made Master and Commander rank.  I decided to use my free Renommee at first but I found that I really didn't care for that ship.  It seemed like it was a mix of all the negative of the Niagara and the Cerberus rolled into one.  I ended up dumping it after three days (and kicked myself hard for throwing on the exceptional rudder, copper plating, and trim on as permanent upgrades) and switching over to a Surprise.  Now this is a ship I like!  Packs a hell of a punch and can take a real beating.  It doesn't turn so well but with long cannons, you don't really need to.  You can just stand off and blast away.  It does seem to roll a fair bit though, especially when turning so it can be a bit frustrating trying to line up your guns when you're downwind of the target and at full sails because your guns will almost never drop low enough for you to get a shot off.  I think I'm going to toss some ballast in her to cut down on the roll.

 

Nice job on the promotion, that's a long slog.  I'm about 40% to M&C.

I found an exceptional Suprise for sale at Cabo a while ago and bought it since I had plenty of money.  It is sitting in Charleston waiting for me to get promoted.

Where'd you find the exceptional upgrades?  I never see anything above common anymore and I hardly ever pillage anything off defeated ships.

I read a couple days ago the new update could drop today or tomorrow, hope so, looking forward to it.

I found all the upgrades during boarding actions.  I've been hunting the French around Grand Turk.  The place is lousy with them.

New patch is up , have to try it out this weekend...

http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/11791-patch-965-crew-and-resource-production/ (http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/11791-patch-965-crew-and-resource-production/)

Trading and crafting
•Niagara Blueprint added to the game
•Crafting notes were renamed to High Grade Notes
•New crafting note types added to the game: low grade notes, mid grade notes. New notes are made by paying copper or silver coins to the researchers (imaginary scientists)
•BP is renamed to Blueprint
•Resource store interface reworked
•Resource production buildings added – buildings can be built only in national towns
•Ship construction building added – shipyard – shipyards can be built in all towns which you can enter
•NPC production will stay on its current level and will be gradually decreased over time to fully player dependent economy
•Blueprint learning chance now depends on the quality of the ship you are making
•Better upgrades now can be made by using mid grade crafting notes
•Compass wood requirements  in ship construction are changed (more wood needed)

ROE and attack mechanics
•Battle over timer now lets you stay in battle for only 5 minutes (to solve the pre maintenance port battle bugs that did not transfer the port to the winner if someone stayed in the battle)
•Battle entry timers reduced to 2 minutes. This is a very important change - you will be able to pick the place of attack better and if you don't see enemy sails on the horizon you will be safer
•Invulnerability timer does not let you enter battles anymore

XP rewards and statistics
•Additional trackers are added in battle UI for better debug
•PVP XP for kill and assist are increased 50%
•Reward manager was reworked completely and now allows better slicing and dicing of damage and crits allowing better and more detailed rewards and achievements in battles.
•Kill and Assists now grant monetary rewards which are doubled in PVP
•Traders now give full loot if they carried any – previously because of the bug if you captured a trader it did not award full loot.
•NPC Traders now can carry national resources

Port battles
•Shallow water port towers now carry 12lb guns
•Assault flag now weights 100 to not allow yachts and cutters to be a flag carrier

Combat
•Niagara is now a better ship
•Crew management completely reworked – remember that it is an early version and it will be improved based on the community feedback.
•Sail repairs now repairs masts (if you did not have broken masts before). Previously, if you repaired sails it did not recover masts HP (if you had them damaged but not destroyed).
•Camera bugs are fixed on Snow, Pavel, Pickle and Renommee.
•Friendly derelicts now cannot catch fire from friendly damage
•Exit timer now resets if the ship is on fire
•Fast explosions on snow – fixed
•In battle physics completely reworked and we now have better integration of Physx in game. It solved the collisions issues (and flipping) almost completely
•Ship heel from damage eliminated – it was unhistorical and extremely annoying.
•Sail furling and yard turning speed curves updated and should be more realistic now – falling first gradually then suddenly.
•Crucial bug with cannon influence on speeds fixed (some ships UI speed indicated previously did not take the cannon weight into account).
•Ships now cannot turn with 0 speed – this is extremely important and potentially game changing
•Frigates are now less comfortable sailers in very narrow angles to wind
•Bots stopped shooting chain temporarily
•Fires now do more damage
•Fires now are extinguished 10% slower

Boarding changes
•Marines now work differently. They are not part of the crew anymore and affect your performance depending on their number. Marine upgrade now determines which % of your crew is allocated to marines. This is done in preparation for crew and officer hiring. Please check which Marines upgrade you have before going out of to sailing - exceptional marines replace 50% of your crew with Marines.
•Fixed bug with incorrect musket counts in certain rare cases
•Brace now costs 5 preparation
•Preparation per round growth is increased by 5
•Certain formulas are reworked for boarding and if you have decisive advantange it will be easier to win during assaults.
•Boarding now requires 50 preparation to initiate
•Boarding pulling is improved and will suffer less random interruptions.
•Expect other significant changes to boarding in the next 1-2 patches

Other fixes
•Maintenance time moved 2 hours earlier required some heroic sacrifices from our QA  :) 
•Some graphical assets were improved for the open world. Some players might not like them but changes were needed in preparation for land in battles. To enable better variety of trees enable Render Decorators function in options
•Family sharing is now impossible
•Ship report letter is taken out from loot
•Battle sail mistakes fixed for Niagara
•Victory model upgraded
•More than 100 other minor bugs and problems fixed thanks to your report
•Several rare exploits were fixed and closed thanks to qw569 research

Potential problems
•With better physx integration possible bugs could happen – including visual problems with turning and heel to bow on certain ship models.
•Some NPC bots became dumber – we are working on it
•Several other marvelous bugs are probably introduced

Discuss

Anybody still playing this?  I haven't been too much lately, but I may more now.  On PVP1 the pirates have taken over most of the former US ports, so there are now lots of targets for US ships if you can avoid the gank squads.

Another big patch.  Looks like the big items are change in the way shell penetration works, open world spyglass, and unlimited port teleporting (so just your character, not your ship)

They are also shutting down PVP3 due to low population.  I heard PVP2 may be next.  They said they will be compensating players for whatever is lost.

Quote
Patch will be deployed tomorrow 19th May



What's new:     



Closing server PVP 3 EU mirror
•PvP 3 EU Mirror will be closed down during patch deployment.
•Player assets will be moved to accounts on PVP EU 1
•Most assets and currency will be given to players as redeemables.
•More information and details on the process are posted here http://forum.game-la...osing-and-merge

Damage model 5.0
•Penetration models were completely overhauled
•All last remains of random factors and probabilities were cleared out of the code base to make damage purely skill based.
•Cannons have penetration numbers based on historical data (very close to admiralty test tables)
•Armor width is added to ship parameters and effective armor based on angle of hit is added as well.
•Masts have received thickness (in addition to hp) - no more 1km demasting
•Modifiers of wood types have changed
• •Fir = -10cm
•Oak = standard
•Teak = +5cm
•Live oak = +10cm

•Detailed description is in this topic http://forum.game-la...amage-model-50/

New damage system was extensively tested by our QA and us, but of course it still requires final tuning based on player feedback and results. Expect potential problems and unbalanced ships or gun types.



New ships added
•Player voted ship: Rattlesnake - sloop of war
•Player voted ship: Chapman's Indiaman - combat trader

Changes in port battles
•There are 3 types of port battles now. To give frigates more intensive testing of the damage model and to give more options for frigate captains.
•Shallow water ports - no changes
•Medium depth port battles - Cerberus to Ingermanland/Constitution
•Regional port battles - Cerberus to Santisima
•Defense timers cannot be changed by defenders after they were picked the first time. Choose them wisely.

Changes in battle entry, reinforcements, and capital waters
•Captains wont be able to enter battles immediately after log in, port exit or sitting in battle result screens. To do that the system of invis/invul has beend changed. After login or port exit or battle exit you will not be able attack or be attacked for 30 seconds. 120 sec invulnerability timer wont let you enter battles. This will completely solve hiding in battles issues.
•Positional reinforcements system has changed closer to the old method. Captains wont be able to position themselves ahead of the enemy. Captains can only reinforce battles from defined zones that will be visualized on the map.
•Capital water protection system changed. You can attack enemy ships in your capital waters. Not only that. That battle will be opened for 1.5 hours and reinforcements will be fully positional during the whole battle time.

Other changes
•Spyglass added to open world
•Clan warehouse added to the game
•Clan tag is now showing on the open world
•Ports will sometimes purchase ships from players on the auctions
•
•Fleet orders will now scale based on your group size
•All orders after their start will be open for your nation for 2 mins to allow bigger engagements
•We are doing certain experiments for xp for travel for future exploration and other features
•System allowing a much stronger side to exit battle has been reworked. We now take into account only starting battle rating difference situation at the start of the battle (previously it was dynamic). The rest works as before. If you were attacked by a weaker force - stronger side could deny battle and exit during first 2 mins (this is a legacy feature somewhat reducing the effect of trolling by light ships).
•Exit timer is now going to reset if you are taking water. This will help in group battles where you always had to keep destroyed enemy tagged.
•Mortar brig hits will now generate leaks under waterline if it penetrates
•Teleport between outposts(docks) is now without cooldown
•Teleport to capital (unstuck) is now possible only with the empty cargo hold

Fixed bugs:
•Certain CPU load optimization was implemented.
•Fixed camera bugs on Essex
•Fixed bug with time bonus on Steel Toolbox
•Fixed main camera bugs on the Mortar Brig
•Fixed reload bugs on Mortar brig
•Fixed several lightning issues on Mortar brig
•Fixed bugs causing distance problems on mixed decks
•Several sound bugs fixed

Tunings:
•Ingermanland и Constitution are now built on 2nd level shipyards (because they are 4th rates)
•Ports will stop buying resources if NPC stock exceeds 25000 - further changes to economy will be done in the next patch
•Broken rudder bug fixed (it was not giving enough penalties)
•Repair kits are removed from loot
•Minor changes in pricing of blueprints and ships were done to allow faster tuning and design changes
•Num Enter on keyboards can also send messages now
•2 important exploits were fixed thanks to the Captain qw569
•Multiple headspinning bugs were introduced

Next content patch will be deployed in a month. Before that we plan to issue 1-2 hot fixed to finalize damage model and several other things.

They should use the engine to allow players to fight custom battles without the need to go through the long (and grinding) campaign.

I agree, while I probably wouldn't do it, there are probably a lot of historical gamers who'd like to recreate real battles without regard to the open world part of the game.  Doesn't seem like it would be much more than a custom setup UI for ships and map location, so they should be able to whip that out in no time at all, but what do I know.

Just bought the alpha. Man this game is cool. I hate MMOs because I don't like multiplayer. Elite allows you to play in the MMO world but "solo". The PVE server in naval action isn't the same but it's close enough. Unlike the solo play of elite, PvE has multiple human players...but they cannot attack you. Only NPCs can be attacked or can attack.

The graphics are unbelievable...especially the cannon fire. Yellow flames blast out with a ton of smoke. It actually LOOKS LIKE a 24lb cannon firing instead of a little smoke puff. When a ship does a rolling fire, you can see the flames "lighting" up the smoke that shrouds it...very cool

You can see in the attacked pics...

1. Swedish frigate takes a "rolling broadside" - which has just started - from so close that the smoke from the shot envelopes it. You can also see the second cannon firing and illuminating the smoke.

2. The Swedes return fire off the opposite side.

3. The amount of smoke generated by just 1 cannon is amazing..and REAL! FINALLY!

I never understood why no one could make sailing ship cannon look like cannon fire

It's a great & beautiful MMO.

I suspect it will be in Alpha/Beta for quite awhile yet.  So I've not played much of it... since early last year IIRC.  Will get back once it's at a release version.


One of the guys we played World Of Warships with has been avidly playing it for a long time, now, on PvP.  His faction warfare stories very much remind me of the early days of Pirates of the Burning Sea, although I'm sure the devs for this one are doing a better job of listening to their players concerns and adjusting things appropriately.

Quote from: Nefaro on August 25, 2016, 03:21:27 PM
It's a great & beautiful MMO.

I suspect it will be in Alpha/Beta for quite awhile yet.  So I've not played much of it... since early last year IIRC.  Will get back once it's at a release version.


One of the guys we played World Of Warships with has been avidly playing it for a long time, now, on PvP.  His faction warfare stories very much remind me of the early days of Pirates of the Burning Sea, although I'm sure the devs for this one are doing a better job of listening to their players concerns and adjusting things appropriately.

I just started so i can't speak to whether it's coming along nicely or not. I will say that overall the more groggy community seems to enjoy it a lot. It has a high degree of realism and complexity if you turn "auto skipper" off and sale square rigged ships. Adjusting sails properly and timely is important not only for speed and maneuver, but to keep your ship from leaning to leeward in a fight and causing your guns to over or undershoot. Ballistics and wind are highly modeled also.

It's definitely an Alpha though. A lot of place-holder graphics in the menus. Trading and the economy needs to be fleshed out, etc. I will say this though, if they don't improve the ship handling, sailing, ocean physics, battle graphics and ballistics one bit, it will still be an unbelievable simulation and definitely the most authentic.

This is my #2 game on steam in hours played, out of 190. Behind only Civ V. The game has undergone some pretty significant changes in the last month or two. The biggest one was where you had to replace your crew, using gold. Gold is hard to come by, and many players were unable to re-setup their large ships.

In my mind, this was a World of Tanks mechanism, to try to set up the ground for micro transactions. Buy gold directly for real money sort of thing. This won't fly, did not fly, and they have already made adjustments. Personally, I stopped playing. If I cannot play my biggest ship, all the time, without spending real money, then it becomes pay to play, and fuck that.

Quote from: Nefaro on August 25, 2016, 03:21:27 PM
It's a great & beautiful MMO.

I suspect it will be in Alpha/Beta for quite awhile yet.  So I've not played much of it... since early last year IIRC.  Will get back once it's at a release version.


One of the guys we played World Of Warships with has been avidly playing it for a long time, now, on PvP.  His faction warfare stories very much remind me of the early days of Pirates of the Burning Sea, although I'm sure the devs for this one are doing a better job of listening to their players concerns and adjusting things appropriately.

I played PotBS extensively, and I have never seen a game wrecked by the developers anywhere near as bad as this one. Imagine a team of six developers, on the main US server (Rackham), who then proceed to gift themselves the biggest, best ships in the game, 100 maxed out.

...and then proceed to terrorize the server, making it their own personal bitch. When a bunch of us players finally figured this out (after several months), we all quit immediately. I bitterly complained on their server forum, and was essentially told...It's our game, tough. OK...the $15 a month I was paying was MY money, so back at you. I was so pleased when they went out of business!

Quote from: DennisS on August 26, 2016, 10:56:07 AM

Quote from: Nefaro on August 25, 2016, 03:21:27 PM
It's a great & beautiful MMO.

I suspect it will be in Alpha/Beta for quite awhile yet.  So I've not played much of it... since early last year IIRC.  Will get back once it's at a release version.


One of the guys we played World Of Warships with has been avidly playing it for a long time, now, on PvP.  His faction warfare stories very much remind me of the early days of Pirates of the Burning Sea, although I'm sure the devs for this one are doing a better job of listening to their players concerns and adjusting things appropriately.

I played PotBS extensively, and I have never seen a game wrecked by the developers anywhere near as bad as this one. Imagine a team of six developers, on the main US server (Rackham), who then proceed to gift themselves the biggest, best ships in the game, 100 maxed out.

...and then proceed to terrorize the server, making it their own personal bitch. When a bunch of us players finally figured this out (after several months), we all quit immediately. I bitterly complained on their server forum, and was essentially told...It's our game, tough. OK...the $15 a month I was paying was MY money, so back at you. I was so pleased when they went out of business!

Yeah, those guys were dolts.

Our Guild's Leader/Mistress was always in contact with other guild & national leaders, doing some politicking but also a bunch of socializing with all sorts. 

Evidently someone in another another Nation complained about her dropping in and bullshitting with peeps outsider her own.  To the PotBS devs.  I don't know the details of what went down, but I guess they suspended her.  Then reinstated her account, after some back-and-forth, but by that point she was sick of dealing with their bullshit after they refused to apologize for jumping the banhammer. 

Myself and some others had already left a short time before that, due to various issues, and weren't surprised the devs handled such things so poorly.  I feel like we can at least get some enjoyment out of ridiculing them, whenever the subject gets brought up.   ;D

Was this happening with PotBS or Naval Action? Either way, THAT is why I hate playing against humans in an MMO. When I last tried elite in "open mode", within 30 minutes, I flew into a station to land and was intentionally rammed by a guy in an anaconda who was just flying around ramming people to death. In alpha, before station security, players would camp out in the corner inside a station and shoot you as you came in. So, I chalked that up as "douchery" and bought my ship back with insurance. 15 minutes later I was interdicted by a Python. He started shooting me and types a message about "give me you stuff man". So I dropped my cargo. He proceeded to blow me up anyway. As I was telling him repeatedly that I and dropped everything he just typed back "hahahahah".

So yeah, open world MMOs have been a lot of fun for me. Back to solo mode

^ lol sounds like the dark zone in The Division, another mmo.

Quote from: mikeck on August 26, 2016, 03:24:40 PM
Was this happening with PotBS or Naval Action? Either way, THAT is why I hate playing against humans in an MMO. When I last tried elite in "open mode", within 30 minutes, I flew into a station to land and was intentionally rammed by a guy in an anaconda who was just flying around ramming people to death. In alpha, before station security, players would camp out in the corner inside a station and shoot you as you came in. So, I chalked that up as "douchery" and bought my ship back with insurance. 15 minutes later I was interdicted by a Python. He started shooting me and types a message about "give me you stuff man". So I dropped my cargo. He proceeded to blow me up anyway. As I was telling him repeatedly that I and dropped everything he just typed back "hahahahah".

So yeah, open world MMOs have been a lot of fun for me. Back to solo mode

I work with a guy who claims that all he does is grief others in Eve Online. It is the reason he plays. He just wants to piss people off. No..he isn't a good guy, or a good worker, and I will eventually be able to fire him. Will I fire him for being a ganker, and a griefer? Ummmm....no, not directly, but it is certainly a part of his character and personality. The exact opposite of a team player.

I'm no fan of PvP either but I think that's where the focus is on development in Naval Action.  They really haven't done much to improve depth of play for the PvE server in quite some time.  I had a lot of fun with the game for about a month and a half but it started to feel pretty monotonous as there wasn't really much you could do besides shoot up a couple of bad guys in a mission (and there was no variety to these), buy low and sell high, or chase random encounters and try to snag a prize.

Quote from: mikeck on August 26, 2016, 03:24:40 PM
Was this happening with PotBS or Naval Action?

The horror stories were from PotBS years ago.

Thus far, the Naval Action people aren't so hard-headed and listen to their player base as far as I know.  Many old PotBS players have been participating, so they probably have some good insight & suggestions to input.  Will probably take a long time, yet, before Naval Action reaches it's potential though.

There are always issues with MMOs that need constant adjustment, tweaking, and additions.  The best you can hope for is developers who can take all the suggestions and implement them in some sort of balanced way.  Not an easy thing to do, but the first step is actually listening to them.

Quote from: Silent Disapproval Robot on August 26, 2016, 10:23:16 PM
I'm no fan of PvP either but I think that's where the focus is on development in Naval Action.  They really haven't done much to improve depth of play for the PvE server in quite some time.  I had a lot of fun with the game for about a month and a half but it started to feel pretty monotonous as there wasn't really much you could do besides shoot up a couple of bad guys in a mission (and there was no variety to these), buy low and sell high, or chase random encounters and try to snag a prize.

It's absolutely PvP focused.


More specifically, it's focused on large PvP conglomerates fighting it out with each other, or allying to do so against other such groups.  A mini-war with multiple different "nations" involved, each having their own changing priorities and goals. 

Pretty much just like the wars in Eve Online, but with less harsh punishment for losses.  Quick and permanent losses being something that inspires Harassing Troll types in Eve.  Exactly like it inspired the "PKs" in Ultima Online, to kill newer players and take all their stuff, almost twenty years ago.

I haven't been playing enough to say whether there is an adequate PVE game thee or not. The thing is though that in PVE there are still humans...they just can't attack eachother. Same trade, same crafting, same combat. The lack of human combat may turn off some but entice others. So I guess what I'm saying is that I don't understand HOW they could/would improve one over the other (PvP vs PvE). Like Elite, it's the same "world"...just different rules. Or am I wrong?

By the way, I think "Elite" found the magic balance. Players play in the same universe whether they are in "open" or "solo" mode. In the latter, you simply don't see any human players and the human players don't see you. But the prices and economy and wars are the same. If Human players is "open" have done something to drop the price of "harvesters", then players on "solo" will see the same drop. In other words, there is only one universe, but in solo you are in a different dimension almost

The difference between PvE and PvP servers, in MMOs, is that players on PvE servers can only do plaver vs player stuff by mutual choice.  Often in some kind of arena queue, or specifically designated zone.

Quote from: mikeck on August 27, 2016, 03:49:20 PM

By the way, I think "Elite" found the magic balance. Players play in the same universe whether they are in "open" or "solo" mode. In the latter, you simply don't see any human players and the human players don't see you. But the prices and economy and wars are the same. If Human players is "open" have done something to drop the price of "harvesters", then players on "solo" will see the same drop. In other words, there is only one universe, but in solo you are in a different dimension almost

This is interesting, and has me thinking something I considered before.  I remember there being a dragon 3d file that could be substituted into RB3D for an aircraft.  It got me thinking that it would be an interesting development for wargaming if one group of players could be seeing the flying dragons of say Avatar on their screen while the wargamer playing against them sees Albatross DIIIs  and  Sopwith Pups on  their screen.  You hear and see machine gun fire, they see you breathing fire on them.  It would be a way for wargamers to have unlimited numbers of opponents.  How skilled the player is at the game he's playing in his reality determines the skill level of the opponent you're seeing in your reality.

I don't know. I LIKE that I have to "run like smoke n' oakem" if an enemy frigate is bearing down on me. I also like learning naval tactics that allow me to carry a larger ship in combat....and feel like I accomplished something. BUT, for arena purpose I could see that as an option

Mostly been trading and crafting recently to build up some gold, so I can afford to crew my ships.  I haven't joined a clan, but it has been a friendly environment, even from the hated pirates and swedes who sometimes raid the US coast.  I'm really looking forward to the next round of changes.

Couple screen shots I taken recently...

my 3rd rate taking on an AI 3rd rate

(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1377.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fah70%2Fwawalter70%2F20160918084543_1_zps4i5xmkei.jpg&hash=fa10d7735f0025885118cd32755f5e5a9779ee40)

view from the cannons

(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1377.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fah70%2Fwawalter70%2F20160918084652_1_zpstxoq5feu.jpg&hash=2d4fe9d9b47a8ab145238b7169a0e45d7774d213)

in a storm with a group of US ships looking for some pirate raiders
(https://www.grogheads.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1377.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fah70%2Fwawalter70%2F20160918093834_1_zpswqaeuzyp.jpg&hash=4f1e5c792a2b1a371dc63507888926d36d84cbc8)

I'm glad we get to (apparently) keep our experience after the next wipe and final release. Gold is fairly easy to get compared to experience.

I'm at level 20 crafting but I'm not sure how much it's worth? I use an"exceptional" Renomme and and "exceptiona" Belle Poule...both I purchased. It's more expensive to craft enough to get to the level needed to build them.

The naval battles are top notch and I can't think of anything needing improvement there. I do think they need to rework/fix the relationship between open world and the battle screen. Two issues: the first is that players in PvP will get in a battle, and then after it's over, just hang out in the battle screen. If you are in the Open World sailing around you can't see their ships. Get too close you get "sucked into" the battle and they can attack you. If you are in battle screen, you should not be able to interact with open world at all.

The second is that if you outrun and escape an attacker in the battle screen, the battle ends. Unfortunately for the guy running, when it drops everyone back into open world, it puts you in the same positions everyone was in when the battle started. Basically resets and pretends like nothing happened. This leads to "chain" attacks. Needs to be fixed

Only other thing besides finish on the UI, is the trade/economy. Outside of Sugar, tobacco and Compass wood, almost everything is more expensive to buy than to sell.

Those are first rate 3rd. Rate pics Redargo.

Thanks Sir Slash :)

Mikeck, I agree the biggest issue right now is the transition between open world and battle.  Looking through the NA forums, there are a lot of seemingly good ideas to help address this. Hopefully, the devs are still looking at this part.  I guess ideally all battles would take place in the open world, but I think the scale and speed of the game wouldn't allow that.  Not many players would be willing to spend days of real life just to go up and down the coast.

I've never crafted a ship, I'm only level 10 crafting, lately I either make live oak frame parts and sell them or sell my hours to a guy who gives me 200 gold per hour to make stuff for him.  I've also found running coal up from Florida to Charleston may be very profitable, if I can continue to avoid pirates.  I just go down to Cabo Canaveral (sp?) capture an AI trader of some sort, load it up, get away from the coast and sail north.  Takes awhile, but I just do other real life stuff while I make the trip.

Really enjoying the game, hope they finish up and get the player population back up.  I usually play pm US central time during the week and there are usually less than 300 players.  Weekend days will approach a thousand.

I'm on PvE and it's usually between 65-140 people. Tougher to make money crafting since there aren't as many contracts for that stuff and you can't sell it to the market. Anyway, I just remind myself that the game, like Total War games, is about the combat. The rest is just background

Huge patch dropping, seems to touch all parts of the game.  Haven't dug in yet to see exactly what's there.

http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/16932-patch-996-new-conquest-new-trading-new-ships-and-other-things/ (http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/16932-patch-996-new-conquest-new-trading-new-ships-and-other-things/)

What's new:



Rookie regions
•Bahamas has become a rookie region.
•Additional uncapturable capitals are added in the Bahamas.
•Rookie region has special ROE (identified by the message rookie battles area). All battles start 1v1 and other players can only reinforce it using reinforcement zones for 30 minutes. Limit of reinforcements is set at 300 BR.

Map changed

The map is split into regions. All information on the regions and their composition can be seen on the in game map. List of changes here



Combat tuning

Starting from this patch we will actively work on ship rebalancing. These works were delayed because of the tournament, but the tournament helped to uncover more balancing issues that require attention.

Currently the main goal is to increase ship importance and reduce upgrade importance for combat performance.
•All men are created equal and all crew colliders were standardized. Previously some ships had men with 180cm height (on cutter) and some had 150cm height. This is no longer the case. Although cutter captains still have the biggest hands.
•Many upgrades were rebalanced and mostly nerfed
•Several perks were rebalanced and mostly nerfed
•Lower calibers that were often used on 5th and 4th rates had their penetrations improved. The change affected 4lb 6lb 9lb guns mostly. But these guns penetration drop from distance was slightly increased
•Carronades penetration drop from distance significantly increased making them effectively a short range weapon. Don't expect any penetrations above 500m.
•We also changed how penetration shot retain energy depending on the wood type. Fir hulls allow to pass more penetrating energy to the opposite side, live oak less. Previously all wood types had same penetration retention.
•Splinter damage: When a cannonball hits a broadside it affects crew differently when it flies above the deck creating casualties by shockwave or hitting men directly. Nelson's assistant was killed by a shockwave from a high flying cannonball. We have separated cannonball damage to crew into two parts. Cannonball hitting an unprotected crew will generally have less casualties on the ship than cannoball penetrating the broadside, generating splinters. If you aim at broadside areas with crew behind it you might inflict good damage on the crew.

Shipbuilding, Trading and Resources

Trading was completely overhauled. We are very excited about it because we have coded in a very flexible system allowing us to easy add or remove resources by group, nation, region, island and large area, control prices and margins, demand and supply and multiple other elements helping us to make trading and resource generation to feel more alive.

When we first introduced trading into game in 2015 it required several months of balancing based on mass use by large number of players. Thus - expect resource shortages, abnormal profits, and strange things in the first two weeks. Report them in the respective feedback topics and they will be fixed.
•All buildings were removed from player accounts and funds used to build them were compensated
•Shipyards removed from game for rebalancing, to allow players to build ships in multiple regions with regional bonuses. So building ships no longer requires a shipyard. All allied ports will provide shipbuilding capacity for the player. Funds used to build shipyards were compensated.
•Delivery orders will allow players to receive trading xp and crafting xp by helping the in game economy. All ports with the unfulfilled NPC demand and large player contracts will generate delivery quests that players can take and fulfill. This will allow traders to exert more influence on the market and see what is needed.
•Pricing systems were upgraded, new goods introduced, new NPC demand was created for some crafted materials (initially in the several areas only).
•Weights, prices, stacks and volumes will change. New buildings for new resources were added.
•Trader tools are integrated into the client. They will help adventurous traders to find good deals in the Caribbean. They might also help privateers to see where people might be going for good deals. Trader tools are accessible from the in game map (M).
•New resources will be required to craft quality ships depending on ship weight.
•Ship quality importance increased. Increasing ship quality will improve its characteristics starting from ship HP, speed, turning and other parameters. All ships stats and colors were recalculated as a result - stats are the same but because there are better ships their color of tooltip has changed.
•Speed and stiffness added to selectable characteristics, all RNG removed from crafting.
•Regional bonuses for ships introduced. Controlling certain regions will become more important if you want that particular bonus for the vessel. Capital regions will not give bonuses.
•2 new wood types added: Mahogany (ligher live oak basically), Bermuda Cedar (fir without negatives)
•Contracts will be allowed for upgrades
•Upgrades can be broken down for parts and resources
•You can no longer sell a ship if it has something in hold or has upgrades installed (many players were losing items when not reading warnings)
•Wood production slightly changed. Compass wood is no longer a separate resource. Compass wood (curved trees) can drop from any forest during wood production. Fine logs (e.g. fine oak) will drop some times when growing trees in forests.
•European traders removed (experimental feature)
•Salt can now drop when fishing
•Contract number increased from 5 to 10

ROE (experimental feature)

We will be testing several options for Rules of Engagement – ROE this patch. This might upset some users but it have to be done before release (will be impossible after).
•Open world battles: 2 circles system is being tested. 1 tag circle for attack and 1 large circle for pull. Battles will close instantly on start (except for rookie zones)
•Rookie zones battles. Battles always start 1v1. Battle will be opened until BR evens out. BR limit is set at 300. Players wont be able to enter if their ship will exceed the BR limit.
•Hostility missions: Battle will be opened for 30 mins.
•OW NPC fleets will no longer count for 5X anti griefing protection. Only players will affect that rating
•Crew size will lower battle rating of your fleet. Example (numbers are for illustration only): If sail a cutter with 2 Bucentaures in your fleet with 40 crew on each - you will fleet will be valued as 3 cutters for ROE.

Mission changes.
•Missions can be taken for every region from any port.
•Missions will generate or reduce hostility - thus enemy should be able to influence the flow of events. Because of that missions will always be open for entry for all sides for 30 minutes.

Bot distribution changes
•With new hostility system bot distribution changed. Regions will have national NPC fleets. For example you will mostly see british NPCs near Jamaica and only occasionally will see other nations fleets who sailed there from the nearby region.
•Pirate fleets added.
•Captured NPC ships will be good sometimes. And because of randomization of the hidden upgrades they might come up to be uniquely interesting (experimental feature).

Port battles and conquest

Port battle set up system changed significantly.
•Port battles will automatically arrange 46 (previously 48) hours after hostility level reaches 100%. Hostility will be generated by PVP (major impact), PVE (minor impact), Missions (minor impact), and War effort supplies deliveries (minor impact). Port battles will be a national effort and will require coordinated work of several fleets.
•Assault flag is be removed.
•Timers are removed (for testing) as we believe that in new system port battles will arrange themselves when there is max presence of players for both size (due to pvp impact). Also we expect that all timezones will need to participate to bring hostility to the port battle levels. If this assumption proves to be inaccurate we will bring back lord protectors (but with wider time limits). In addition to this we will reduce the speed of hostility generation if necessary to bring more timezones into action.
•New port system will immediately show players where the action is because the number of port battles and hostility zones is limited and nation can have a limited number of port battles set up.
•Port battles themselves will still be done on the open water with towers (but this wont last long).
•Alliances will continue for 3 weeks, voting period is set at 1 week.

Port and coastline defenses
•Large forts and towers will be added around ports. The number will depend on the island and coast line size. They are placed randomly at appropriate places. Please report weird looking coastlines in F11 or in the forums.
•Forts will fire at enemies of the state and can provide good protection for traders and small groups.

New ships
•Endymion
•Indefatigable
•Both ships are only available for capture from NPC fleets (experimental feature).
•Ship hulls were made by one of the community member Ragnar Hairy Trousers (sails for Britain)

Other tunings
•More slots for loot added in the battle result screen.
•You can enter allied contested ports
•You now can capture lineships if they belong to AI fleet of a player.
•You cannot add the ship to fleet if it has something in the hold
•Upgrades and paints will be saved if you add a ship to fleet. You can freely add precious upgraded ships to the fleets.
•NPC trader loot improvements - Bigger traders carry more goods
•You can surrender during boarding now. Press escape and surrender if you don't want to lose crew during boarding.
•Minimal crew requirements increased for higher level vessels. Players wont be able to sail 1st rates with 10 men. 1st rates will require 100 men at least to operate.

Fixed bugs:
•Fixed several particle bugs with demasting and mast collisions with water
•Several bugs with contracts fixed
•Fixed bugs with small/large repair kits when applied to fleet ships.
•Prepared perk fixed. It now works on all types of ammunition and charges.
•Fixed bugs with wrong rank of fleet ships when joining the instance
•Instance loading times increased
•Server technology improved.
•Hundreds of other bugs and technical issues fixed

Conclusion.

When new features are introduced they always play out differently with large number of players. Expect problems, report them and they will be fixed. Keep an open mind because the game is still in development and is not released.



Plans for next patch
•Raids
•Land in port battles
•Improvement of server events
•And probably a weekly pvp tournament
•Several things that were promised to be addressed did not get in and will be added next patch. Things like mast damage, gun loss/repairs and other combat issues.



edit
1.ship colors have changed for some vessels, due to recalculation of the color of the tooltip. Stats and parameters are the same. Color indicated that there could be better ships now.
2.All contracts for ship sales were fulfilled and ships bought out for system.

Ugh....I was dreading this. I have a Renomme, Frigate, Belle Poule, Essex and Constitution and sail them all (except the Connie as I don't have the crew yet). I am afraid to fire up the patch and see that somehow they have been wiped!

After a month, I still LOVE this game and play every day. Nothing like a fleet battle...swinging behind an enemy brig and raking the &@$! Out of him with a rolling "as she bears" broadside of 14 Double-shotted 18lb cannons and 6 32lb carronades on my Essex. Well that and watching 9lb cannon balls bounce off her Live Oak hull.

This type of detail is what makes this game so good. There aren't "hit points" or some mechanic where "cannonball hit = 10 points damage. It's very intricate and models actual naval warfare:

•We also changed how penetration shot retain energy depending on the wood type. Fir hulls allow to pass more penetrating energy to the opposite side, live oak less. Previously all wood types had same penetration retention.
•Splinter damage: When a cannonball hits a broadside it affects crew differently when it flies above the deck creating casualties by shockwave or hitting men directly. Nelson's assistant was killed by a shockwave from a high flying cannonball. We have separated cannonball damage to crew into two parts. Cannonball hitting an unprotected crew will generally have less casualties on the ship than cannoball penetrating the broadside, generating splinters. If you aim at broadside areas with crew behind it you might inflict good damage on the crew.

Quote from: mikeck on October 20, 2016, 11:56:32 AM
Ugh....I was dreading this. I have a Renomme, Frigate, Belle Poule, Essex and Constitution and sail them all (except the Connie as I don't have the crew yet). I am afraid to fire up the patch and see that somehow they have been wiped!

Supposedly, all your ships should be safe, maybe moved if the port they are in changed hands.  I guess I'll see tonight.  Currently, my active ship is in the bahamas on a coal/stone run and that area is being turned into the "rookie" region, so I don't know what will happen to me.

Looking forward to trying out all the changes though.

 Apparently the patch increased the amount of items and created new items that are required to make "exceptional" ships. Therefore, some ships you may already own and purchased/crafted that were "exceptional" will be reduced to "Mastercraft" while others remain "exceptional" and no one is really sure why or what determines it

I wonder if you guys can summarize your feelings on this game right now.

The reviews are all mixed up due to the recent patch.

I'm not looking for a crafting game.  I just want to fight.  I'm not sure if this is the game for me.

There is plenty of combat if you're okay fighting the AI, you can pick missions, sail for 5 minutes, and then fight or find random AI just sailing around.  If you're interested in PVP in the open world, it takes longer to find a battle and then finding a relatively even battle can be tough too.  There is a section for non-open world battles where it balanaces the sides, but I don't know how many people use it, my guess is not many, considering the population of the whole game is pretty low right now.  There are more europeans, but in the evenings US time, there are frequently less than 250 people in the whole world.

So, I guess if you're looking for a World of Tanks type jump in and fight a balanced fight, this probably isn't for you, right now anyway.  It's still a ways from release, so that may change.  Plus, before release there will be a complete wipe of everything except experience, so if that would bother you, I'd also wait.

All that said, I really like the game, but I also like the crafting and trading part, in addition to the fighting, so that may not appeal to you.  And, I'm okay with the changes and wipes, some people don't seem to realize the game is still in development, so they complain a lot whenever anything changes.

Quote from: Toonces on November 11, 2016, 02:36:36 PM
I wonder if you guys can summarize your feelings on this game right now.

The reviews are all mixed up due to the recent patch.

I'm not looking for a crafting game.  I just want to fight.  I'm not sure if this is the game for me.

You have to be really cautious believing the forum "reviews". Many don't understand that the game is in Alpha, and although very good as is, has things changed here and there. People lost their minds because they readjusted ship quality. Others went nuts because crafting exceptional ships got a lot harder. Apparently back in 1790, every ship captain could whip together - not a good...not a fine...not a Mastercraft...but an EXCEPTIONAL line ship.

Anyway, you don't have to craft and you don't have to trade. If you want to just fight, you can do that. In PvE, you can attack enemy NPC ships in the open world OR you can request "missions" from a friendly port. These may be search and destroy where you fight 1 or 2 ships or it could be a "fleet" mission where you and 4-6 NPC allies fight 6-8 enemy ships (or more). As you advance in experience and gold, you can buy bigger and better ships from your country's main port. So you DONT have to craft ships.

In fact, I only craft upgrades for my ships. I just buy my actual ships. I have:

1. exceptional Constitution made of live oak with Build strength and speed upgrades
2. Exceptional Essex (my favorite) live oak with build strength and speed
3. Exceptional Renommee made of Mahagony with speed upgrade

So I've done pretty well and I don't craft much or trade much.

I also privateer...I attack enemy trade ships, take the cargo, send the ship back as a prize and sell the cargo.
So there is PLENTY of combat if that's what you want. Exclusively if you want.

The combat is very detailed and graphically awesome. Individual cannon balls are modeled for penetration and what they do once they penetrate (did they bounce around inside, penetrate the other side, etc). Each also creates splinters which are modeled. This means that taking a ship REALLY HAS the effect it had in real life. Each ball is damage modeled as it flies down the length of the ship taking out guns, crew or whatever. So it's NOT a hitpoint system

If you want to fight ships of sail, then definitely get this. If your looking for a trade game like Elite:dangerous on the high-seas then it's not there yet.

Edit: I would add that I think the game is as easy or hard as your level. On PvE  you don't have to worry about anyone attacking you the only flights are if you decide to attack an NPC.  You decide which ships to attack and you decide the level of your missions. So if you are in your beginning cutter then you might only attack trader brigs and snows and as you level up you can start attacking bigger ships.

Quote from: Toonces on November 11, 2016, 02:36:36 PM


I'm not looking for a crafting game.  I just want to fight.  I'm not sure if this is the game for me.

It used to have a battle matchmaker, kinda like WoT/WoWS, where you could queue up and get straight into team PvP matches.

Not sure if they still have that option.  It was long ago, before they added the open world stuff.

Quote from: Nefaro on November 12, 2016, 12:54:38 PM

Quote from: Toonces on November 11, 2016, 02:36:36 PM


I'm not looking for a crafting game.  I just want to fight.  I'm not sure if this is the game for me.

It used to have a battle matchmaker, kinda like WoT/WoWS, where you could queue up and get straight into team PvP matches.

Not sure if they still have that option.  It was long ago, before they added the open world stuff.

They do. On both PvE and PvP servers.

What are the current thoughts about this game? 

It's part of the Steam Halloween sale, but I'm detecting an odd under-current.

I really miss what POtBS could have been, and have fond memories from the few times I played it and it (mostly) did what it was supposed to (apart from the ahistorical claptrap).

I understand that Naval Action's latest in-game event includes an English, Prussian, and Russian fleet invading the Caribbean.  That sounds a tad immersion-killing, because I can't imagine something like that being possible (especially as I wasn't aware that Prussia had much of a navy), and makes me more than a tad reluctant to pull the trigger.

Quote from: Philippe on October 27, 2017, 03:25:27 PM
What are the current thoughts about this game? 

It's part of the Steam Halloween sale, but I'm detecting an odd under-current.

I really miss what POtBS could have been, and have fond memories from the few times I played it and it (mostly) did what it was supposed to (apart from the ahistorical claptrap).

I understand that Naval Action's latest in-game event includes an English, Prussian, and Russian fleet invading the Caribbean.  That sounds a tad immersion-killing, because I can't imagine something like that being possible (especially as I wasn't aware that Prussia had much of a navy), and makes me more than a tad reluctant to pull the trigger.

It's quite lovely and the ship-to-ship fights are very good.  Other than that it seems to have become more-or-less a huge waste of time.  I play it for a couple of hours a month.

I play it whenever I feel like enjoying some beautiful age of sail
Combat. But that's it. I load it up, find a few missions, go out and fight and move on. I don't trade or anything like that. I think the Devs have really lost their way. They can't decide what they want the game robe.

Been months since I've tried this one out.  Impression I was getting from the most recent info was that the game had pretty much lost its way. 

Still an amazing game visually, and the sail combat is just second to none.   I've just seen very little evidence that it's ever going to progress beyond that thin veneer. 

Quote from: mikeck on October 27, 2017, 10:33:53 PM
They can't decide what they want the game robe.

A game robe, eh? Does that mean you game Commando style?

Quote from: Philippe on October 27, 2017, 03:25:27 PM
What are the current thoughts about this game? 

It's part of the Steam Halloween sale, but I'm detecting an odd under-current.

I really miss what POtBS could have been, and have fond memories from the few times I played it and it (mostly) did what it was supposed to (apart from the ahistorical claptrap).

I understand that Naval Action's latest in-game event includes an English, Prussian, and Russian fleet invading the Caribbean.  That sounds a tad immersion-killing, because I can't imagine something like that being possible (especially as I wasn't aware that Prussia had much of a navy), and makes me more than a tad reluctant to pull the trigger.

Prussia? Really. Source.

Quote from: Destraex on October 28, 2017, 05:22:50 AM

Quote from: Philippe on October 27, 2017, 03:25:27 PM
What are the current thoughts about this game? 

It's part of the Steam Halloween sale, but I'm detecting an odd under-current.

I really miss what POtBS could have been, and have fond memories from the few times I played it and it (mostly) did what it was supposed to (apart from the ahistorical claptrap).

I understand that Naval Action's latest in-game event includes an English, Prussian, and Russian fleet invading the Caribbean.  That sounds a tad immersion-killing, because I can't imagine something like that being possible (especially as I wasn't aware that Prussia had much of a navy), and makes me more than a tad reluctant to pull the trigger.

Prussia? Really. Source.

Could not find the actual patch notes for the introduction of Prussia but found this from one of the hot fixes recently  so yeah prussia is in there

"Fixed mistakes in ranks for Prussia"

http://steamcommunity.com/app/311310/discussions/15/1484358860952920058/

The source for the Prussian navy reference:

http://steamcommunity.com/app/311310/discussions/15/1484358860952920058/

My heart sank when I read this.

Quote from: Philippe on October 28, 2017, 12:52:03 PM
The source for the Prussian navy reference:

http://steamcommunity.com/app/311310/discussions/15/1484358860952920058/

My heart sank when I read this.

There was some guy on the steam forums I had assumed to be a troll....he was advocating for a Prussian Navy. We were making fun of him since Prussia had nothing but a coastal force. Certainly NO presence in the Caribbean. Now whose laughing right?

Not sure why they needed to dilute the already sparse player base with more nations.  I'd think contraction would be in order.

Or how about limit it to actual reality. Must have missed all those pivotal 18th century naval battles while the Prussians attempted to secure their foothold in the Caribbean

Quote from: SirAndrewD on October 27, 2017, 10:39:45 PM
Been months since I've tried this one out.  Impression I was getting from the most recent info was that the game had pretty much lost its way. 

Still an amazing game visually, and the sail combat is just second to none.   I've just seen very little evidence that it's ever going to progress beyond that thin veneer.

I have about 500 hours in the game, and it seems like a ghostland. Very few players for each server, certainly not enough to make it viable.

Prussians.

Awesome.

Proof where none was needed that technical competence in modelling ships or anything else does not equate to excellence in game design.

Game design is hard.

Quote from: Philippe on October 28, 2017, 12:52:03 PM
The source for the Prussian navy reference:

http://steamcommunity.com/app/311310/discussions/15/1484358860952920058/

My heart sank when I read this.

Interesting.
Poland/Russia and Prussia. "Goes to check books to see if they had any ships in this era"

IIRC the Prussians had some sort of large merchant organisation.

The only historic fleet here is Russia?
The Prussians had no interest in a navy but did have armed merchants.
THe Polish\Lithuanian Commonwealth had Courlands navy? Which is probably way out of timeframe?
http://3decks.pbworks.com/w/page/913374/Courland

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prussian_Navy#The_19th_century

When are we going to get a large and strong faction for the Grand Duchy of Fenwick?  I won't play again until we do.

Quote from: SirAndrewD on October 28, 2017, 11:13:50 PM
When are we going to get a large and strong faction for the Grand Duchy of Fenwick?  I won't play again until we do.

  You could all join me in fighting for Spain and we could take over the world.

They need to figure out what this game is. The Devs keep changing things back and forth. Ships are easy to craft. No...now they are hard to craft. No, now they are easy. They can't figure out if the world is a backdrop for individual naval combat or a fleshed out world with an economy. It's been in development since 2014 and I've been plying since early 2016. I can tell you that with the exception of more ship types, VERY little has changed at all. Still using a placeholder UI for god's sake.

I think they should get rid of the economy and trade. You should be able to sell goods you pirate or receive prize money if your a captain but that's it. Trading and the economy seem to be worse. Ow than before and it's taking away from the rest

I love the battles and it's hard to find any of my 1000's of posts ANY complaints about ANY games..so I'm not picky. But damn...this game is going backwards and they have no idea what it is supposed to be

Devs posted some information about Naval Action Legends, the arena fighting version of the game.  Currently in closed beta, and I'm not in, so I don't have more information than this.

http://forum.game-labs.net/topic/22264-some-information-on-na-legends-roadmap-and-qa/ (http://forum.game-labs.net/topic/22264-some-information-on-na-legends-roadmap-and-qa/)

NEW PATCH"
this sailing model sounds bloody amazeballs! I wonder if it will be what differentiates the open world from legends. The model has lee way and all of the other things we have wanted. Even has wind blocking.

"realism due to implementation of Leeway, Turning acceleration, Effects of speed on sail power and other minor tunings. Ship block coefficients, form of hull, length to width, amount of individual sails on individual masts (including jibs, spankers, square sails and staysails percentages) all affect ships even better now."

PVP servers have also been merged which will help the population.

http://forum.game-labs.net/topic/24200-patch-14-part-3-experimental-patch-increasing-realism-in-ship-behavior/

Naval Action just had an update and the port interface looks to be in. A very surprising and innovative interface actually. But one that offers a similar view to what we already have in the open world as a backdrop. The actual interface though, I think has the makings of a star. All the windows are movable just like windows95. Drag them around and create your own little desktop with what you want. Kinda cool really.

However it would be good if the ports buildings did not look so oversized  and out of place compared to the ship from an immersion standpoint. The buildings are ok at a distance in the open world but very strange when you are zoomed right next to it. The wooden jetty is the same. Huge and not in scale with the ship. A wharf would be better. Would love to see some actual human elements to the port as well. Like men running around visualising your ship. Maintaining the paint and fixing the ship in general. You know. Something to indicate that you are not actually at sea anymore. But docked in a port.

In general though I really love the concept for the port UI. In general though I really love the concept for the port UI. The art work is top notch and really immersive on the card based interface parts. Lovely. A really great job in that respect!!

Also I think smaller ships like frigates would be docked along the peer rather than at the end. Larger ships would commonly not come close at all unless they were refitting. They would send boats:

I've been playing a little bit tonight, in addition to the nice UI changes, they've also removed the middle materials (like iron fittings) that you used to have to build from raw materials in order to build final materials.  They've also split the money in Reals (silver) and Doubloons (gold).  Looks like maybe Doubloons only come from fighting right now?  I could be wrong though.  There are more mission types that earn Doubloons too.  Have to spend more time to see if I like the changes.

Also, at least as of tonight, the server population (on pvp) is still low.  Too bad.

We just got open world wind gust accelleration mechanics. I am doing 40kts in my Bellona :)
This will save so much game time.

Also the peace server has port battles.

EDIT: Sorry looks like I just necroed :(

:D Wow, time flies. Has it really been almost a year since we discussed Naval Action last... ouch.

Not at all. There was another thread. I just missed it in my search.
Today the loki rune is enabled on thr peace server. An oversight I think.

Quote from: Destraex on October 29, 2019, 12:41:47 AM
Not at all. There was another thread. I just missed it in my search.
Today the loki rune is enabled on thr peace server. An oversight I think.

  There seems to be an update coming up (or that has already happened)...I might take a peek for a few minutes

Apparently ships were flipping so some sort of update was reversed.

Quote from: Destraex on February 11, 2020, 05:30:49 PM
Apparently ships were flipping so some sort of update was reversed.

Whatever it was I missed it.  I'm just fishing and doing the tutorials for the 3rd time since whenever they put in tutorials.  Havana looks better.  That's about all I know.

What server and nation are you meng?

Quote from: Destraex on February 11, 2020, 08:08:22 PM
What server and nation are you meng?

  I'm Spanish on the PvE server.  Fishing for tuna out of Havana.  Pretty relaxing so far.  I have to say, medium 3-pounders are not very inspiring compared to the long 4 pdrs I used on the cutter about 4 years ago when I made the tons of PvP points that propelled me clear to last year with lots of booty.  Now, I just have the Pandora to show for all that and no way to get crews or guns for even a frigate yet (if I ever bother).  :arr:

If you logon right now you might get a free Implacable in the gifts and rewards area.

Quote from: Destraex on February 12, 2020, 05:26:45 PM
If you logon right now you might get a free Implacable in the gifts and rewards area.

I'll give it a shot...yep...I got it!  Thanks!