edwardseamans

Teleport is not realistic but reality is reality. People get lost. The elephant in the room is that ships during the period were not triremes that needed to be in sight of coastlines to navigate. They had advanced and sophisticated navigational techniques that could give a pretty reliable indication (not GPS level, people, but surprisingly accurate) of where they were on the map. From the captain's perspective, this was generally transparent as he has a trained crew that would periodically measure speed, 'turn the glass' (i.e. hourglass) to keep track of time, measure noon azimuths to ascertain latitude, and record sunrise and sunset times which were used, in conjunction with copious charts and maps, to reckon position on the earth reliably. The captain wasn't involved in this very much at all (although there were captains that were also excellent navigators.) That said, the fix is easy and could add a lot of content. Consider a system where you could see where your crew thinks you are on the map. The crew could be aware of some level of uncertainty (e.g. you have been sailing for two days under overcast skies) and could present you with an enlarged circle instead of a pip to show probable location. Or, your crew might think they have a perfect reckoning (showing a small circle or pip on the map) but really be off due to lack of crew quality or other factors. Consider the following possibilities: 1. Situational variables that reduce accuracy like overcast skies or the presence of grog rations on the ship (What? The scallawag got drunk, fell asleep, and didn't to turn the glass? He doesn't know how long he was asleep? I'll have him flogged...) 2. Maps of varying quality (and completeness) that you can buy or even craft (using Precision Instruments.) The accuracy of the maps could be based on your own navigation ability or on the quality of a potential navigation officer upgrade once officers are implemented. 3. General crew quality or even more granular crew quality metrics (which likely ties closely with officer upgrades for gunnery, navigation, supply, etc.) 4. Storms that really throw things off 5. Instrument upgrades that could reduce uncertainty, like precise hourglasses or exceptional sextants Still, at the end of the day, with clear skies and routine crew navigational duties, a captain of the time would have some idea of where his ship was. More in-game features are needed to do this in such a way that it's not 'GPS' style, navigation should be part of the game. But navigation was definitely NOT sight-of-land only; people that are clamoring for historical accuracy by saying you should have no idea where you are on the map are flat out wrong. Captains of the era could anywhere in the world in open ocean with a clear day's noon and a sunrise or sunset could get a pretty good reckoning of their location within a miles, and they were limited only by the quality of their maps, instruments, officers, and crew, all of which should be in the game as these factors were just as critical as the size of your guns or speed of your ship. Until more of these features roll out, here is a suggestion: Get rid of teleport altogether and replace it with "Get bearing to nearest friendly port" It could then appear as a blip on your compass and let you find your way back at least toward civilization. Keep it at a four hour cooldown and let the "power" expire in one hour. You could never get hopelessly lost using this, and there would still be a bit of a penalty for getting lost, but then players couldn't load up on cheap gold in Bermuda or somewhere far-flung and just appear at the capital minutes later. This idea would also mitigate the artificial population concentrations at capitals and encourage more re-basing to different map regions. Everything would be all game-time sailing, which is as close to real-time as we will ever get.

I am not sure if this has been brought up before, but here goes: If each ship had a record (invisible, under the hood) of the prices of all available items at the last several ports, "dated" by age in days. Then, each time they come into port, the port would have a "trade report" interface, and the latest buy/sell prices of all items would be available to docked captains. For example, Redwood Logs at Port Morant, buying for 67 and selling for 40 three days ago. I think it would really help with trading and would simulate making reports when in port. The reporting could be automatic but each captain could "opt out" of submitting trading reports when docked (to protect "secret" trading routes) via a one time "Do you wish to submit trading reports?" at each docking. You could get a small amount of XPs (like 2 or 5 per town for submitting the reports. It would encourage trading and exploration, you could visit ten ports and come back and get 20-50 xps which seems fair. Just my two cents

Hello. I hope I am posting this in the right spot. I am not sure if I am doing something wrong or am bugged. I just unlocked the beta from Steam and am able to get into the game. I had two ship options: Basic Cutter and Yacht. I upgraded immediately to the Yacht and can set sail. All I can do is navigate around. I see no crew on my ship and I cannot "Enter Targeting Mode" and can't fire my guns in any way. Other ships just pass through me. What do I need to do to even be able to fire my guns? Are other ships supposed to go right through me? It's like I am a ghost that can't interact with anything. Thanks!