Maxer der Grosse

Hi Developers, I was wondering when we would get other regions in the world, besides just the caribbean to sea and battle in? Teleporting between regions could work similar to teleporting to your home capital. - Channel waters between UK and EU - Mediterranean - South Africa /Cape of Good Hope ? - India ? - Australia / NZ ? Regards,

Yesterday, in the team speak this topic was brought up again as our fleet was chasing down a pirate, who was running from Jamaica to Cuba. Everyone of the 6 members in our small fleet endorsed the use of naming your own ship. The conversation continued to include the colors you choose to paint your ship, placing symbols on the sails, such as the red cross some Spanish ships carried, and decorations like gold trim. The higher the crafted quality level of the ship, the more elaborate the outward appearance that the ship could have. Ships should continue to have black hulls, but colored stripes around the hull were varied throughout history. Clans could be given the option to include their abbreviation, such as the SLRN placed before the name of the ship, for example, "(SLRN) Endeavor" with a RED stripe, instead of the white stripe covering the gun ports. I was definitely proud of my gold quality constitution and was sad the first time she sunk. Imagine how much more players would be attached to their ships, if they were able to name and customize them. P.S. we caught the pirate close to Cuba and only allowed one ship out of the fleet to fight against him out of fairness. We are gentlemen . . .

Here we are on the 17th of January and the servers have stopped, or we are not able to play. I can't wait to play again, targeting the 19th for my registration. (Question - Will it ever be possible to name our ships?)

Fantastic images Boden!! Looks like we could improve the weather greatly. OK, I agree having no wind would be counter productive for a sailing game, but maybe once a month the wind could disappear for 2 minutes. More sunny days would be great!

A couple updates ago there were major improvements made to the weather within the game. Besides the occational storm and periodical fog, there is mist that raises above the sea and visibility has been reduced due to humidity in the air. Very nice touches. To make the game even more realistic, how about considering some of the following ideas? - Completely clear sunny days with no humidity providing perfect vision until the horizon. It does happen in real life. Those are the days we dream about. - Days (or a few minutes, at least) with no wind. Add a feature to send the long boats out and pull your ship forward. It would be great during a battle to see if officers would react fast enough to row their ship into position to fire? - Storms that actually sink ships. That also happens in real life. - High wind days. Only ships that reduce sail to the appropriate surface area would be able to maintain a course or even move forward. Any other ideas?

First Lieutenant Grosse in his Majesties Vessel the Navy Brig with 22 guns Unfortunately, the success of the British fleet of ridding the Caribbean of pirates has not advanced as quickly as we have planned. There have been too many distractions caused by battles with vessels from other nations that we were sadly lacking behind our promise to the King of England. In this respect, the incident that has happened today to all British Officers in the Caribbean waters was to be expected. We were all demoted. I, myself was at the rank of Master and Commander, close to becoming Captain, when the news arrived in our home port. I was demoted to First Lieutenant and approximately 100 of my men were ordered to another ship. Reducing down from a full crew of 240 men on my Surprise, to 145 men on a Navy Brig was a rude awaking for me. With new orders from the Admiralty, I am now to engage pirate ships as often as possible, purposely targeting ships of the Navy Brig class and higher. On top of that, I have been ordered to sink at least 10 enemy vessels before my promotion to Master and Commander can be reinstated, even though I have more then amble battle experience exceeding the required (XP) by far. Knowing that every officer has been hit just as hard as myself, I know that every British gentlemen will do their best to fulfill their new orders and immediately make way to achieving our King’s objective of making the Caribbean a safe place for commerce for our King and God above. In Route to the Port of Bani in the Dominican Republic I ran into another British officer. He was also under new orders and had explained his situation during the journey. I mentioned my need of a new Navy Brig and he was able to inform me about the availability of a solid Navy Brig for sale in Jamaica. He and his crew had just recently been in battle and they were looking for a neutral port to lay up in and service the damages done. Along the way, we saw many merchant vessels, but nothing big enough to draw our attention. We parted ways after reaching our destination without incident. A good fellow he was; informed and willing to discuss the latest orders with a level head. After traveling to Port Royal, I was able to purchase a Navy Brig for a price of 27 k gold coin. It was a well built version of the Navy Brig and was well worth the price. Returning to my home port, I engaged two French cutters and sank both. During the engagement, I was able to test the agility of the new vessel and although easier to handle then a Surprise tacking through the wind, the importance of bracing the rear mast became evident. So, now I continue on with my new orders to hunt down and sink 10 navy brig sized vessels in the name of the King.

Leaving my favorite harbor, I was messaged by Captain Charles Maxwell that he had ended up in an unexplored portion of the Caribbean. He sent through a few port names and the officers in our port were able to quickly identify where he was. With his vessel just north of Haiti and mine just south of Haiti, we decided to round up a pair of fellow officers and form a fleet. The fleet would meet up on the Eastern side of the Dominican Republic. With about seven interested British officers, we coordinated our courses, deciding where we could meet up with individuals in route. My ship was to wait near the French port of Tiburon for two renown officers from Jamaica. Captains Blackjack and Blackmourn, more well known as the Black Brothers had built quite a reputation of beating the American and Danish ships out of our waters. In Tiburon, Captain Wesely Adams, a solid Englishmen with a good head on his shoulders waited with me in the French waters. With time on our hands we used it properly by harassing the local trade merchants attempting to enter the harbor. We scored well with a few lynx and cutters before the Blacks made the cross from Jamaica to us. Heading East towards El Cabo we continued our journey to meet up with the rest of our future fleet. Just after passing a pirate port (ile a Vache) we sighted three French Cerberus and engaged them. It was an evenly matched fight with each of us in his own Cerberus. We worked well together and scored highly on the returns of our endeavor with rum and gold as the benefits to share amongst our crews. Unfortunately, the detours had robbed us of the time we needed to meet up with our fleet. The result being, anchoring in the port to spend the night and continue our journey on the following day.

Having slept in a little longer than usual, my good servant Diener woke me to the smell of smoked ham, toast with jelly and a good English tea. After a refreshing breakfast, I read through the morning reports to realize the Danes and the Pirates were back in front of the entrance of our harbor. Sending a few officers to check the status of other British ships in port, they returned with a disappointing low number of ready and able vessels. Among the ready, Captain Charles Maxwell was there and willing to attempt a break with me. Leaving port, we saw a closed battle just next to the entrance, with additional ships waiting for prey. Maxwell and I were immediately targeted by two Pirate frigates and forced into an unequal fight. Within range of our foes, I started firing as Captain Maxwell sent me a flag signal to run. Unfortunately, I didn’t take his advice and right before our homeport my Surprise was boarded and taken by a pirate vessel loaded to the gills with men. We had no chance with within the shortest of boarding scrimmages we had lost. Luckily, most of my crew followed me over the side of the ship and swam to shore. Within the harbor, we took another Surprise and send messengers (fishing vessels) to communicate with Captain Maxwell. He had confirmed that he escaped the Pirates and was heading on a Northwesterly course. Asking around the harbor for other officers to join me in another breakout attempt, I was left alone. Heading out of the port, I was confronted with the worst storm, which I had experienced in my life. Visibility was down to roughly two boats length. If the Danes and Pirate ships were there, I couldn’t see them. They on the other hand couldn’t see me. With full sail and on our optimum course to the wind, we normally reached 19-20 knots. In this storm we were lucky to achieve 10 knots due to the size of the waves. Within 5 minutes we were out of the storm and on our way to meet up with Captain Maxwell. Captain Trina was also on his way to our rendezvous and was ahead of me, sailing on my horizon. In Jamaica, Trina, Maxwell and myself formed a small fleet and headed North to Cuba in search of riches. Close to the coast of Southern Cuba, we found a fleet of Spanish trade Cerbs and Brigs. We immediately decided to target them and engaged. We all fought brilliantly, except for the fact that Captain Trina and I both lost our frigates. I was the first to sink, followed by Trina’s. Before going down ourselves, we gave the Spanish as much lead in the form of cannon balls as we had carried with us. Trina fought gallantly and Captain Maxwell, in his Constitution revenged both of our ships by sinking or capturing every one of the 8 cerbs or brigs in the Spanish fleet. Swimming ashore once again today, my crew and I were extremely tired. Coming ashore near a neutral port in Cuba, we bought some bread from a local bakery and read the name of the port. It was Guama Sevilla. Nice place. Wouldn’t want to live there, though. Eating our bread, I thought about the future of my crew. The last life of my second Surprise was now history and checking the local market for ships, I could not afford another Surprise. Taking the next best ship I bought my first Cerb. It only had room for 195 crew, so I paid of 45 of my men, and had to leave them to find their own way on the next trader homeward. The rest of the crew and I headed back out to sea after buying a haul full of Teak logs for 28 gold per log, which I thought was an extremely low price. Setting sail for Jamaica we had land fall at St. Ann’s to find out the local price for teak logs was 22 gold per log. Losing 6 gold per log hurt. Thereafter, we hit the waves again and rounded the most eastern point of Jamaica to reach an invitation to join a generic battle with 7 other British ships. They were only looking for Frigate sized or larger ships, but they allowed me to participate anyways. It was a war game organized by White House itself and we took the chance to show our fellow officers what we were truly made of. Having the smallest vessel and the least amount of experience, I was quite anxious at the beginning of the battle. We had divided the 8 vessels up into two teams (the Red and Blue Fleets) and commenced in eliminating one another as quickly as possible. There were two constitutions, my Cerb and the rest Frigates. I must have had luck on my side during the battle, or the other team was targeting the larger vessels and ignoring me, because I ended up the last ship on our team. Unfortunately, we did not sink or capture a single ship from the other fleet, which will not look good on our records at White Hall, but through the experience we learned more how to never give up the ship and it was a hell of a lot of fun! Lt. Maxer der Grosse Master & Commander in His Majesty’s Royal Navy On Patrol in the Caribbean

As Master and Commander, t is so much more satisfying to sail a Surprise with a full compliment of men (240) , than as a Lieutenant (only 150). Since, being promoted and receiving a full crew I have mastered the art of turning a ship through the wind (tacking) without much problems. That alone makes me very happy. The success on the seas has been even greater. With a full crew, I no longer worry about brigs. I can lay next to them and board. They have half the crew as my surprise and are an easy prize. Still, with all the advantages of having more men, I have managed to be sunk twice in various battles today. The first started out with a strange group of bed partners. A fleet consisting of 2 Danish Constitutions, 2 Danish Frigates, four Pirate Frigates and two French Frigates was sitting outside of our port, when I went to sea yesterday. Within a moment, I knew I was outgunned and started sending massagers out to find other British officers and their ships. Within a very short while, our number grew to three British ships, with more signaling that they were in route. Taking my small yacht out of the port far enough to see the enemy, I noticed that they were simply waiting on prey to either enter or leave the port. The British fleet we needed was nowhere close to assembling. The enemy fleet had taken enough ships within the hour since they visited our port that they decided to move on. Heading Southwest from Haiti, they were aiming at our ports on Jamaica. Since, half of the British ships were sending messages from Jamaica, we decided to meet there and put an end to the dastardly deeds that the peculiar foreign fleet was making in our waters. Going back into the port I traded my yacht for my Surprise and headed out to sea. With the wind blowing directly from my course, sailing to Jamaica was slow going. The closer I came, the more numerous grew the reports of enemy sightings. Near to one of our harbors I saw the main battle under way. The majority of the Danes and Pirates were engaged with the British ships. To join in as soon as possible I headed towards the battle, almost ether my Surprise was intercepted by two French Frigates. Seeing their size and knowing that our fellow officers were in need of more ships, I sailed directly away from the French and left the battle within a few minutes. Alas, it was too late to join the main battle (it was already closed). Looking to the north, I saw two British ships coming and we formed a small Fleet to engage the enemy. At this point in time, there were three battles under way just outside one of our ports. As a group, we then proceeded to target the French vessels, having to sail again, directly into the wind to join the battle. The first two of our fleet made it into the battle, before it closed and I was left outside with another officer from the Royal Navy. Officer Zoglot, (spelling?) in his yacht and I in my Surprise then took on a Spanish Fleet of trade Brigs, who happen to be passing by at the precisely the wrong moment. Entering into the battle, we quickly realized that we were greatly out-numbered. One Spanish Constitution along with six brigs and three trade lynx were waiting for us. Knowing that if we engaged the Spanish, we could expect help from other British ships when their battles were finished, the two of us dove into action. Zoglot fought brilliantly, darting in and ranking the rear of the constitution, as I got off a broadside to the constitution on one side and the rest of the ships on the other side. They were so tightly packed together that I could barely miss a shot. Firing too high at one ship, simply meant hitting another ship or two behind it. It was an absolutely brilliant battle. As the battle progressed we had luck on our side. I was able to sink a brig and take half of the armor off the constitution. Every time he tried to hit me, half of his shots hit his own Spanish fleet. The chaos of the battle actually worked to our advantage. Just as I was about to sink another brig, British ships starting joining in on the battle. The newcomers started targeting the constitution and within a few minutes actually sunk her. Left among the brigs, I started hammering them as hard as I could, but the state of my ship by that time was poor. My armor was gone on both sides; I had 6 leaks and my crew needed to cool down after the continuous fighting. That’s when it happened. My Surprise sank out from under my feet and we had to take the long boats to the nearest port. Even with the lost of my beloved Surprise the results of the battle were great. Lt. Maxer der Grosse Master & Commander in His Majesty’s Royal Navy On Patrol in the Caribbean

Lieutenant Grosse in His Majesties Vessel the Surprise, 38 guns. Receiving orders from the Admiralty, I was sent on a mission to explore the regions north of Cuba. From the Bahamas out, I was to head for the shores of Spanish Florida and wreak havoc along the coastline while mapping the ports. Setting out from Haiti, I took my Surprise and dear crew north to the Inagua Islands. In sight of Motimer Town, a small costal village invested with the lowest of life forms, i. e. pirates, we caught glimpse of a French Navy Brig and set her to the bottom. Which was not what I intended to do. Initially, we hammered her hard, until her crew had been cut in half and we boarded her. Just as boarding was finished and we took the day, she sank from beneath our feet. We were lucky to have not lost members of our own crew in the event. Damn disappointing for the crew and myself. I was looking forward to selling the trader for hard earned gold to refit my surprise with yet larger guns. Making course North-North-West we ran into a British fleet of 6 74’s. It was very reassuring to have her in the vicinity as we made our way between Cuba and the outer reefs. Two days out from port we encountered another French Brig. This time she was a trader loaded with hemp, because we limited the ball shot used against her, setting grape in for care of the crew. We boarded and took her soundly, sending her with a small crew back to a port in Jamaica. Having lost contact with the British Fleet, we were on our own again. But, even there I was receiving messages from my good friend Captain Maxwell. How he was able to send messages along the fishermen’s villages along my route, I will never imagine.. Unfortunately, I was on a mission for God and King, and could not join him in ridding the Caribbean of Pirates and Spanish gold transports. Day four at sea, we ran into literally a wall of shallows / reefs, which would not allow us to past more to the North-East, even though we could see shipping lanes on the other side. Frustrating to the “T”, it was when we saw small Lynx sized vessels sailing through the shallows as if them weren’t here. Sighting a Spanish trading lynx we followed her almost to the cost of Cuba before we were close enough to fire upon her. Near the Port of Puerto del Padre we almost boarded the trader, when three Spanish Brigs appeared from the port. So far from our homeport and without any back up, I cautiously kept my distance from the Spanish. Within a few moments, two Spanish Frigates joined in on our fun and I ordered my crew to make haste. Following Cuba’s coast to the Northwest we saw many trade vessels. Putting a day’s worth of sailing between the Spanish fleet, and us, we targeted another Spanish trade brig. We almost had her when more Spanish frigates appeared. They must have some sort of signally towers along the coastline, because they were extremely proficient at protecting their trade vessels near to shore. Day six we discovered a pirates town half way up the Northern coast of Cuba, at Cayo Romano. Anchoring in front of their port, we waited to engage one of their ships, but I fear they were all too drunk to even come to sea. Not one of them dared engage us. Turning north, we had favorable winds and we set course for The Bahamas. What we reckoned to be half the sea distance to the main island appeared full of shallows again. This time we spotted a trade brig sailing through a small opening between the reefs and followed her north. We ran into an Island with a harbor on it. Unfortunately, it was surrounded by shallows not deep enough that even my Surprise could make it close enough to identify the port. Sailing further north, we pasted Small Island after island without any chance of coming close to them due to the depth of the water. On the North end of the chain of Islands was another port. We could see a British flag flying over the harbor, but were damned, due to the shallows, to not make it to her. Not being able to identify the ports certainly, I can only assume that we had made land fall in the Bahamas. Sighting yet another Spanish Trade brig, we sank her on the spot and turned our vessel around and headed for home. With the numerous battles we had had at sea, our lovely ship was in dire straits. The trip homeward was fairly uneventful, until I had reached the first British port and found out that I had been promoted to Master and Commander and would be receiving a full crew of 240 men for my Surprise. That news compensated by far for the quiet return journey we had.

Lieutenant Grosse in His Majesties Vessel the Surprise, 38 guns. Together with Captain Maxwell and Commodore Magnum we waited outside a neutral port for other British vessels in route. It was magnificent when the other officers Woodes Rogers, Trina, Sir Sinkalot, and Palo Esteehause joined up with us to create the Fleet. All were in frigates, or surprise except for the Commodore in his 74. We headed north as a group and quickly had to change course due to the wind in order to make way. Adjusting the number of sail each vessel carried we matched our speeds to curse roughly at 10 knots per hour. Along our journey, the flag signals were constantly spelling out the size and nationality of the ships we sighted on the horizons around us. Near Port St. Nic, we caught sight of a French fleet of 6 ships of the line. All of them were carrying 74 guns. Captain Maxwell gave the command to engage and we closed up our ranks. The battle was glorious. The French lined up North of us and with the wind on this side. We, the British Fleet, dove directly into their line cutting it apart. There was no hesitation at all, except that lower officers in my Surprise over reacted, as I requested to drop speed and sail behind the British vessels. My ship stopped moving until I realized the misunderstanding and set the ship in motion again. By now the others had engaged the French and two were already preparing to board the enemy. Sailing right between three main groups of ships I fired a broadside into at 74 at close range while he was engaged with Captain Maxwell. Sailing past him, I saw a yacht join the battle and start crossing my path to the next 74. The 74 had just starting jibing towards another British vessel and I wanted to rank his stern. The yacht that I had just glanced had singled my Surprise out as the most likely to not sink him and engaged me. Turning into him, I wanted to push him out of the way and rank the 74 before it was too late. Instead of pushing, my Surprise hit the yacht full in the middle and climbed up on her. My ship should have simply cut the yacht in two, but somehow she survived my assault and lie side by side off my starboard side. Enraged, that I had lost so my timing with this small ship, I fired my broadside into her. Not staying to finish her off I moved towards the 74 to attempt my rake. Looking down towards the water, I noticed we were taking on water. It appeared that in the heat of battle, one or more of the 74’s had targeted us and ramming the yacht had also done more damage that expected. Within a minute my Surprise sank without us getting another shot off. It was a freak accident that happens in war. We took our long boats to the Port of St Nic and observed the continuation of the battle along our long row in. It was a sad chain of events that lead up to the lost of my second Surprise, but the feeling of being in my first fleet action surpassed by far any remorse I might have felt. It was simply grand to be fighting side by side with such British officers as Maxwell, Magnum, Rogers, Trina, Sinkalot and Esteehause. Lt. Maxer der Grosse Lieutenant in His Majesties Royal Navy Home port of Jeremie, Haiti

Yes, I am in agreement. The various views mentioned above would be fantastic to have, especially the main masthead. Still, a solution needs to be found for quickly shifting between firing modes of the 4 sides. Providing us with the possibility to reassign key functions could be a short-term solution. In the long-run, a permanent assignment of key functions including firing your guns should be made. It will make the process of learning the game for beginners, easier. cheers!

I know what I saw in the window when I agreed to sell the first lynx. The value of > 17 K gold appeared when I sold the second lynx also. Otherwise, I would not have sold them. There must be a bug in the value shown for the sale of the trade lynx.