Lannes

I haven't been playing the game for months. All of the members of the clan I belong to have either disappeared from the clan or haven't played for months. Yesterday, between 18.45 and 20.15 Italian time, I entered the game. I realized it's difficult to understand because it's not the game it used to be. I am a Chef de Division, a level 50 crafter in an English speaking clan of the French nation. With no clan members about and only 480 players on in total, there is almost no one to ask in English about the new rules of the game. There are many things that have changed that I do not understand. I spent my hour and a half mining iron ore, sailing it from Fort-Royal to Yaguaraparo and bringing back tobacco. It was BORING, in one word. I made some gold, but it's not worth the time spent sailing. What wargame is sold on the benefits of sailing the seas for an hour doing nothing? A GRIND. During that sail, I met not one single player on the high seas, not one! only bots. I have some suggestions, but they are only a few, because I do not understand many of the things that have changed. If I did, I would have many more criticisms, I am sure. Even in the current core of 500 players (used to be 2,000 from what I remember) there are many who are unhappy. So, DEVS, your client base of approving players is much eroded. 1. MISSIONS: Make it possible once again to earn gold and XP from a battle win or lose. Bring back the 5,000 gold for a win. 2. TELEPORT: Teleport should be to the nation's capital and to any ports where you have a post. It's meant to save sailing time which is the boring part of the game and always was. 3. LONGITUDE/LATITUDE: Bring back the coordinates on the map and the location on the ship. It is historically correct that it be so. This discussion has already been had months ago. Not to have them is an artificial difficulty that is a nonsense and adds to the GRIND. 4. VETERAN PLAYERS: Veteran players like myself (Chef de Division rank and 50 level crafting) should begin with two free fully equipped and crewed frigates and the same number of crew as befits the rank, i.e., 800 in my case--each according to his rank. 5. CANNON & CREWS: They are too expensive by far. Instead of having to make cannon, we should go back to getting them at the shop for free like we used to do. It's just another useless impost on time to manufacture them and adds to the GRIND. 6. MATERIALS/MATERIEL/RESOURCES: Materials/materiel/resources should be a whole lot easier to acquire. Sailing for hours on end to acquire these just adds to the GRIND. (We cannot rely on being in an active clan and to be helped out, because this game has become unpopular with few active clans of one's language.) The shop should have much more materials/materiel/resources to buy. 7. TOW TO PORT: The tow to port should be returned to what it was; i.e., to the nation's capital or any port where one has a post. 8. DEPICTION OF CREW ON SHIP: The crew figures shown in battle are a joke. They are less than useless. They have no colour (wargamers love colour) and no correct dress or uniforms. There should be two guns manned by a full crew, one on each side, in the uniforms of the time (circa 1800) with an officer as gun captain, a quartermaster at the helm, and the captain on the poop deck. 9. NATIONS: We need more of them, e.g., Russia; Italian states = Viceroy of Italy; Naples & Sicily; Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia; German States. POSTSCRIPT 10. DURABILITY: One durability per ship is ridiculous and a very unattractive part of the game. How can you pvp when the loss of a ship means GRIND to get another? Durability should be restored to what it was, i.e., 5 up to 5th rate; then, 4, 3, 2, 1. 11. ECONOMY: I have an iron ore mine at Fort-Royal. To mine costs me 60 gold per 1 unit of iron ore. In the shop I can buy it at 70 gold per unit, but only get 1 gold per unit if I sell it. What kind of reasoning is that? I have to sail across the Caribbean for 1hr and 30 mins over and back, which is an awful GRIND, to make a profit on it. Both these things are absurd. Iron ore is in demand everywhere. It should be able to be sold at higher than mining everywhere. That's a beginning, anyway.

Tell me about it!

Not my game, eh? And when they change back to longitude and latitude because of people like myself, will it stop being your game and shall I ask you to leave and go play with marbles? Look up 'narcissism'.

HODO wrote on another thread: 'I like the protractor, it is still pretty useless, and I am going to straight up say that I use an outside map tracking program like most everyone else, for long sails. But the issue isn't that it is too hard to find your way around, it is just unrealistically vague. Real ships of the time had accurate charts by the 19th century (1800 for you who can't count), and were damned good at navigation, as most captains had a life time at sea, 20+ years of learning and navigation under their belts. They also had several senior people on the ship who would also check the charts and the course to make sure the ship was sailing where it needed to be. I am not saying we need 8 digit grid coordinates or anything like that. I am asking for the lat and long lines on the maps grid lines. It could be every other line so we have the WHOLE number, not the 31.5, 30.5 and so on. This is more for map reading access, it is a simple thing, nothing too stupid or unrealistic. You have to remember by the time this game takes place, and most of these ships are in use, the Caribbean had been sailed for over 300 years! Columbus 1492 -> Napoleonic War 1815 = 323 years!' Historical! Bring back longitude and latitude! Please.

You like it; I don't.

Why all this time-wasting complexity when we could have longitude and latitude as before--(as was historical)?

I've stopped playing on the Testbed because there were too few people <50. I've stopped playing a few weeks ago on OW, except for a momentary look-in, because there are too few players and no one from my Clan for months. At this moment, there are 87 people in OW. Only the wipe will revive play. I play Naval Action NOT to test it, that's not why I bought it, but to play. Surprise! Also, the few people who read my post on reporting a foul-mouthed individual missed the point. That sort of language would not be tolerated face-to-face, why should it be tolerated from the shelter of anonymity on the forum? It is both cowardly and inappropriate. Many people cannot put up with this, I am not the only one who cares for decency. The Devs should enforce this. It won't lose them any sales, but only increase them.

I have reported this post as abusive. There is no reason why someone should resort to foul language on the forum, apart fom the fact that it is uncalled for.

In the future, it would be less aggravating and less stressful for all of us if you Devs say what you mean and mean what you say. I cannot write that in Russian, unfortunately. When you say the 15th May, stick to that date, even if it means other things won't be included in the game; you can make improvements after. When you say, you will give us these four ships, stick to those four ships. I assure you it will be a great relief for all of us, including yourselves.

Chop and change, change and chop. What would have happened to the David if Michelangelo started with that huge block of stone and ended up with a hand-size marble figurine?

I am not one of those players. I just thought what Uberman 22 said was true. Thus, my comment

The game definitely needs a tutorial or a manual. I've started playing in the Testbed and with so few players online, 40-60, very few French players and no one from my Clan, I am finding it is trial-and-error. First, there aren't enough players to have PvP battles. I've been looking for Great Britain players outside their ports and found no one. (a) I don't know what Ship Permit is. (b) I didn't know one has to sink an NPC after boarding in order to receive rewards in gold etc. Otherwise one gets nothing. (c) I didn't know one has to put crew on board the NPC in order to do (b). (d) I didn't know PvE Marks (money) can get converted to PvP Marks that you need to get Ship Permits. And so on. My first impressions are that, all in all, I find it an inferior game to the Naval Action of a year ago; it seems too restricted in action and crafting and supply of materials. I am not sure how to manage the materials that were given to me free initially. It is shrouded in mystery because of its trial-and-error mode. What I like about the old Naval Action was the number of ships I can have, (I have 15); having ships with from 5 to 1 durability; the possibility to craft ships, upgrades, materials; having resources easily available; having crew at reasonable cost; having ships for sale at reasonable prices; having the possibility to acquire gold; etc. Perhaps, my view will change by the time the wipe comes. We'll see.

I would add: Keep everything that works and has worked to make it a worthwhile game. In three years, the Devs must have a list, on paper or on computer or in their minds, of things that have been successful in making Naval Action a great game. To constantly chop and change cannot be a good idea.

Sir Texas Sir, thanks for clearing that up and also your reply to my post. I am definitely not carebear! How does one get onto the testbed server?

Crazy!!!

Apologies to Sir Texas Sir for using his recent post as an example of indecipherable English which exasperates me. There are many others much more problematic I've seen over my time here. English is my first language, although Italian is my mother tongue. (I won't bore you with how this has occurred.) Those esoteric eight phrases I quoted, above, make no sense. I beg people to spend the time to unravel their cryptic posts and spend time communicating in clear English if it is their mother tongue. I can forgive multi-lingual speakers whose English is a second language, but not people who have gone to English (or Australian, etc.) primary and secondary schools. Some of the short-hand as used in SMS messages is also nerve-wracking, as is some of the PC gamers' short-hand and the acronyms used. How could the developers in Kiev possibly understand these missives?

You are running three characters? How do you do that? Have you bought the game three times? Do you have three Steam accounts?

There is nearly no one playing the game at the moment. I cannot find anyone from my Clan of over 35 who has done more than just taken a quick look in, since before Christmas. I hope this game gets out of Alpha into Beta and then very quickly into release.

What is the use of a testbed server when there is hardly anyone on there? Isn't it time that after three years this game be released? They're not building the Sydney Harbour Bridge, you know.

Does that mean that the wipe won't happen on time, that is, within 1-2 weeks from 19 April (the first week having already passed)?

It's been one week, now. How is the WIPE timetable going?

The Red Duke was referring to the Simon Cadete post, not yours Victor. It was The Red Duke's mistake to put it under your post and not refer it properly.

Ooops!!! I think the Devs are from Kiev in Ukraine are they not?

Vice-Admiral Nelson hoisted his flag in Victory on 18 May 1803, with Samuel Sutton as his flag captain. Thus, Nelson was not the Captain, the 'Victory' was his flagship and under his command only because she was part of his squadron. Captain Sutton was in command of his ship. A modern instance of the difference between being an Admiral commanding and a Captain's command, was the 'Bismarck' in its encounter with the 'Hood' and 'Prince of Wales'. When Admiral Lutjens was hesitating to order the division made up of 'Bismarck' and 'Prinz Eugen' to open fire, Captain Lindemann took command and ordered 'Bismarck's gunnery officer to open fire, because he did not want 'to have his ship shot from under him', as it was reported he said.