Jack Lowe

Well although I disagree with one counter claim for not wiping the PvE server, and I'll explain in s moment. I do think that a full wipe, as the devs have laid it out, specifically on release day is not the best idea for the overall health of the game moving foward from that day. First why wipe anything from the PvE server. The PvE server is a unique beast from a testing and data stand point. It is essentially like a sanitized laboratory environment. Which provides alot of good "uncorrupted" base data. This is because of the lack of the more complex interactions that occur due to PvP and RvR on the war server. Each server provides it's own unique set of data that taken together helps determine areas of deficiency. This along with feedback from players is what determines many of the adjustments and priorities for future development. In the case of a major patch which will fundamentally change mechanics and there interactions such as this upcoming econ patch having a clean slate to start from can be necessary for both servers. This is because they provide two different unique types of data. Now when I say wipe that should not be interrupted to mean toss out everything. Only those things that will possibly corrupt the testing data needs to be reduced or removed. Its not a matter of the devs hating on us and cruelly taking away our toys it's an unfortunate necessity in order to get the best possible game they can produce. Now as for the release wipe. I think in the first place a wipe on release day itself is probably a bad move. When the game is released new players should come into a vibrant living world with a community in game willing and , more importantly, able to help them along there grind. However we dont want to drag in things from old ideas or exploits that will start us out on a bad foot from day 1. I like the idea of allowing us to keep 3 to 5 ships as well as all experience and knowledge. I just dont think allowing each player to pick is practical. The game has sold over 100,000 copies. Even if only 10,000 place their desired choices that could be an overwhelming task for such a small team draining all resources from other endeavors for days or even a couple weeks. Also what of those who didn't get the message and thus didn't get to put in their request. Thus here is what I think provides the best compromise. The player base will vote on a number of ships they would most like to keep as a community. This should equate to the overall most popular models. They may get to choose 1 SOL, 1 Frigate, 1 shallow or any other combination as determined by the devs to be fair. Those ships will be given as redeemables after wipe. They may not be gold and all might not be each players favorite but there should be something there for everyone. Second wipe should occur 2 to 4 weeks prior to release. During this time RvR is suspended so we have a fresh start on release day. All other OW ROE is in affect. This short period allows us all time to get things prepared so we will on be ready for war and second ready to help the influx of new blood we expect to receive. I believe that provides the most seamless transition from test to launch. We get some starting ships, which is all any enterprising captain should need to make his fortune. We have time to get ready for each other as well as our new and returning mates, and on launch day players coming in should find what they expect a world that's already prepared for them to jump into and immerse themselves in. They will also find a community ready and able to do what they can to get them off to a good start and having fun as quickly as their skill level will allow.

I have a possible counter proposal. Let's leave aside the join timer issue for the moment although there are some good ideas germinating on that I think. Let's look at the endless revenge gank issue which seems to cause a rather large problem by forcing people to stay in game much longer than some would like or can afford to spend. Now it's my understanding that when you exit a battle instance you appear on OW at the point and with the heading you had when the battle started. If this is not so then just ignore the rest. Assuming this is so then with invisibility and speed buff there is still a fairly finite area to search which is what makes serial ganks possible. We go into battle instance at a point and heading that corresponds to our OW position. Seems logical to me that we should return to OW from battle the same way. We should be at the point and heading from which we exit. Now the thought just occured to me reading this thread so there maybe some obvious exploits I'm not considering, however it would help mitigate revenge and serial ganks by creating a much larger area to cover looking for the target also the escaping ship gets the right by having evaded his opponent to have more choice over where and with what heading to make his OW escape. After a battle ends he has 15 minutes to run of course that might need to be shortened. On the other hand if his opponent wishes to chase him the full hr. thirty that is the aggressors choice knowing he can't catch him. The defender still can pop at anytime he feels he has the advantage. There are still I imagine some issues to be had but I do think that most gankers have something better to do than a hopeless chase for over an hr. Thoughts?

Old navy guy as well. I just decided to make learning some programming and development a hobby in my spare time. Curiosity really, still enjoyable hobby. Unity is a nice platform. No insult intended just to say any idea can be made digital reality. o7 mate.

Is it codable yes of course it is. Practically anything is codable. In the scenario you mention MacDuff it's fairly simple. The crossed swords is a unity game object. We won't go into all that that means just to say it is an object we can attach code to directly to send or receive information like your mouse over it or a left click. In this case we would need the swords to do a range check to a certain distance the moment they are created. Anything within that range gets flagged as insight. The swords will be active for those players or visable. Meaning also those players that can see the swords can interact with them, click and enter battle. Anyone outside that range the swords are inactive or masked and player interaction disabled. Those players can't see them can't click them they shall not pass. Nothing terribly crazy.

I disagree with this. Although the currency changes caused an upheaval for the players it was really only a step in the transition from the old economy to the new. The upcoming update is where a wipe should take place as it puts the final parts of the new base economy in place. Retaining vast resources and cash imo has a larger chance of resulting in bringing old problems into the new system giving deceiving or outright faulty data and feedback. This can result in development choices that harm or worst case wreck the new system. Some will disagree others will argue who cares I just want pvp and the economy doesn't interest me nor does it matter beyond giving me new ships to sink/fight with. They are wrong the economy is in my view at least as important as good combat to this game. A well developed economy provides reasons for players to get out to make money to acquire resources for new toys. Evidence of this exists now the current economy is lackluster, at least we can agree it needs work or is missing something. Posts to this effect are out there from ports lacking enough value to encourage RvR to not being able to find good PvP opportunities. Yes low pop and other arguments that are advanced are factors as well but to deny the importance of the current economy plays in this is a mistake. In this game as in reality the reason we fight is simple money, power and control. People will achieve that thru different avenues and have different ideas on how to achieve those goals, but diluted down the motives are the same. Combat is essential to this game we can have all the reasons to fight but if the combat isn't engaging or hopelessly broken the game fails. Combat still has its problems but it's good enough to keep people engaged. The economy simply is not. It's not doing its job to get people out fighting and helping support and give meaning to RvR. If this new economy similarly fails due to poor development choices this game will do what the doom sayers keep crying everytime something happens they disagree with, die. IMO the best chance to ensure good data and thus good development choices for the new economy going foward is to wipe removing variables that can corrupt data and feedback.

Actually I was right now player count is pretty low across all time zones. If we had even say 800 to 1200 max players I would be more cautious a about backing this horse. However with max 300 ish on at any given time really how many more do we have to lose. Impact is fairly minimal at this time and a fresh start may inject some new blood and actually encourage higher player. Count long term.

Wipe, reset the map and start from scratch. I'm good with that. I think it will allow better quality data and feedback. Sure some are going to get upset. That's bound to happen anyway. Devs already stated another wipe will come before release. If they cry now or cry later what's the difference. The most important thing at this point is making a good quality product. So whatever needs to happen to do that I'm good.

First looking foward to this. Looks like some much needed improvements that should add considerably to the game experience. Second SirTexas got the jump on my question/ suggestion. I'm not sure a full or partial wipe is required, although I'm not against it. I was thinking with the repositioning of resources and effects the other changes will have on port value. Would a map reset be in order. A fresh start would allow us and the team to see how these changes will effect the map much easier/faster allowing identification of needed tweaks to the system quickly and with greater reliability. Also allows us to provide hopefully better feedback.

Thank u for the reply. That would be quite true. However it isn't so much the true damage to the integrity of the ship that gives somewhat of an illusion of devastation. It is all those splinters flying blocks falling and so forth. The actual hole might not be large but the bits flying around make it seem worse. Also it should be noted that most combat injuries or deaths were the results of those deadly buggers. The point in using the reference was it seemed to me to be a good example of how to create drama and hopefully visual immersion perhaps raise the users tension level a notch. It was also to give example to how sound would change given different environmental conditions. I lived in the country in West Virginia. I was well used to hearing gun fire, from hunters or people simply target practicing. We lived in the hills, depending on how far and what direction a shot was fired would change how it was heard. Atmospheric conditions could also distort the sound. Not to mention the hills which would usually but not always cause the expected echoing effect. Other times it would create more of a seeming overlapping rolling effect. Was simply suggesting a simple way to look a bit deeper into the subject if the dev's choose. On that vain, I know where they can go find either on the web or in person if they choose live fired guns of different cal. and perhaps types. Gettysburg would be a good one. We went on the anniversary of the battle they do a reenactment. That year they did a completely live fire mortar exercise using steel balls at targets. There were three teams that year using different sized mortars. I know Williamsburg Va. still live fires a cannon at a certain hr. daily. A few other places do the same. Many would be the I believe 10 or 12 lb. Parriot piece. but sometimes some will use others. There are quite a few Civil War as well as Revolutionary war groups active in the U.S.A. some are reenactors perhaps getting in touch with these groups would be another tool to be of use. They may also be able to put them in contact with their maritime counterparts or possess knowledge of it themselves. Finally the U.S.S. Constitution is still an active ship in the Navy. She still maintains a full time crew as such. It's a skeleton crew compared to her full complement but each is very well versed in not only that ship but the time period in which she sailed. The reason I'm putting this out there is I have noticed, perhaps incorrectly that the dev's seem to have suggested somewhat of a lack of expertise in certain areas regarding the time in question. They seem to be seeking avenues to fill that gap to make the best game possible. Simply trying to dig thru my brain for resources they might not have considered tapping that may be of use in that. The infomation on the magazines is interesting. I'd read that they were experimenting with iron holding tanks for water. Knew they were coppering the lower part of the hulls, but not the magazines. Also have read about ships like the Orion blowing up. I'm not certain of the mechanics needed to get black powder to ignite. I do know it's highly flammable, which was why they laid wet canvas over the hatch to prevent embers from getting down there. I don't know about it's compression properties though. At what point if any it would explode under pressure. Apparently a cannon ball won't do the trick. Good info to have ty.

Have to agree with britishvulgarian on that one. It might be a good idea and indeed more cost effective to look to the players for content. Encourage and use the popular story lines they create and weave it into the MP experience. It might not be good for that to be the only source however the ones that become most popular over time might well help flesh out a eventual single player game. It would follow that if a large portion of players enjoy the content in MP that it will at least loosely translate to an enjoyable single player game. I would love to have an offline capability, getting more on topic. I would have to admit that the dev's response has very sound reasoning why single player would need to be put on the back burner for now. Haven't seen the game in action yet however going from what's written here and the community that seems to be gathering around this game. I would have to say that if the above mentioned thought were put in practice at an appropriate time, perhaps as a forum thread of it's own. I wouldn't hesitate to put my money down for said mythical single player title.

I was listening to the sound track for the game when this idea came to my mind actually. The topic was closed but still the idea seemed to have use on other levels than simply trying to improve sound quality. Anyone remember the movie Master and Commander Far SIde of the World? The vast majority of the movie took place on the open ocean on the recreation of the deck of the very HMS Suprise we have in game. I was and still am very fond of the sounds and visuals for certain aspects of the movie. Such as the opening broadside seen thru Aubrey's glass. The muzzle flashes in the fog.. later the distant reports. Also the recreation of the devastation caused by those heavy balls on deck. The ships bell being shattered, lines being split and what not. Perhaps some of this is a bit dramatized, though having watched some recreations of how cannon work and having read accounts of different engagements it may not be to far fetched. Also some were mentioning the fact that the sounds and sights should really get ones adrenaline pumping. A good portion of the work done in that movie was CGI, perhaps some of it could be used as a base visually, toned down as necessary for optimization and performance. Also the sounds, as was mentioned in that tread it really depended on what environment one was in as to how a shot would sound and at what distance it was heard. I think the important thing here is that from a distance u should see the discharge before hearing the report. One would have to check the math on for the velocity of the ball vs. the speed of sound but it is possible the ball would strike home before hearing the sound of it having been fired. In any case I thought this might give the deveopment team another frame of reference to assist them. If it is not already in use.

Now I hadn't considered that part. Must of slipped by me when I read the dev's question. Yes your quite right some one will undoubtedly name their 44 gun frigate FPS FUZZBALL or some other ridiculous name. I quite agree although it may at times bring some humor to the game ultimately that well would run dry. Unless the name required an approval of some sort player, or dev sponsored I don't see much of a way to have one without the other. Can't always have our cake and eat it too I'm afraid. Still even with that potential problem I must remain in favor of the idea of individually named ships.

Well let's look at the USS Constitution. It's the best known frigate of the type but it wasn't the only ship built along those lines just the most famous. Therefore allowing unique ship names shouldn't be a problem IMO. Perhaps including the rate or class if it is preferred would be a good idea to prevent confusion. My understanding is that most ships went by rate not class but perhaps a exception for the famous ones could be made. If this is acceptable then a similar treatment could be given to the others even if only one of that hull design was historically built, there will be many of that design in game. It will be a necessary and inevitable departure from history but only a small one. Individual ship names would also be useful as a means of identifying certain players on the OS. Which should be a consideration. Meaning if it is decided to go with individual ship names and displaying them at what point should that information become available to an observer. Potentially having an influence on strategy and tactics and overall combat.

Well I certainly do hope they allow a reasonable degree of customization to the ships. However how far it will go and to what degree it will affect the physical appearance of the ship will depend on the amount of resources required to do so I would imagine. Now they've already got what might be considered a classic 38 gun frigate and they have the HMS Surprise. So theoretically it should be possible to take the main mast of the 38 and place it on Surprise and have the mod. mentioned in Patrick's books. Doing so and having it look proper from an art and design standpoint may not prove to be so simple. Same thing with switching out say 12 lb long guns for 24 lb cannonades. The visual changes and the number of different ways a ship can be modified may prove to time consuming to render. This leads to the other topic mentioned, how we receive information about a ship at sea. I'm not fond of the POTBS method either, not in the least for the same reasons already stated. Therefore we could do it visually if the necessary rendering doesn't prove to difficult, or we could use a range triggered component. At a certain range your able to tell certain things about a ship, not absolute numbers but estimates, part of a captains skill might involve the accuracy of those estimates in some fashion or another, and still need not include hard numbers. Something like a damaged hull sitting low in the water, or seeing a top mast shot away might be available. Perhaps estimates on the number and type of guns, whether she's cleared for action, different things that would be noticeable at a given range and useful to the captain to know. The last topic I noticed had to do with information about individual ships, including who's the captain, and finding said vessel. Well I I tend to think that utilizing the ports in some fashion or another is a good way to do this. If a captain spends enough time in an area and is active he's certain to be noticed. In fact using such information was how a captain would get the lay of the land so to speak. He might know a certain ship or ships was in a certain broad area. He would then go to that area and acquire local news. He might also find out specifics about a ship from knowledgeable observers, check into any activities such as upgrades, how long ago it sailed and to where it was heading. Utilizing ports in such a way might well be a way to give a captain something to do on an otherwise long voyage, even if his intent is simply to avoid trouble. Other things would have to be included of course but it's a thought directed toward another topic in another thread. That being how long travel time should take and how to keep long voyages interesting. Of course a captain could forgo this... sail into the unknown and hope for the best. If something unfortunate should befall him such as meeting a squadron of enemy 74's well........