Van Valkenburg

The Dev Team has said that land on instance maps will eventually come, but they want to work out the kinks in the game first to get it more stable. Land, trees, buildings, etc. will take a lot of juice to run smoothly when there are multiple ships hurling iron at each other in a battle. Keep the ideas in mind, talk about them, and use the search function to see if there's already a topic around where this is being discussed. I don't know off the top of my head if there's already a "mission variety" discussion going on, but I know that land in battles has been discussed before. Those are some great sounding missions! Catching someone trying to run the blockade could be a very easy mission to implement right away. All you need to do is have a ship sprinting across a map during limited visibility. Maybe instead of these missions being random, you'd have a higher chance of encountering someone trying to run the blockade if the battle is near a port when night is falling or there's a lot of fog?

I feel like an excellent way to get around the varied rank structures between nations is to maintain the historical ranks and ball several XP levels under one rank if need be. If the USN has fewer ranks in their hierarchy than the RN, then perhaps there should be two levels of XP under the title of Lieutenant and two under Lieutenant-Commanding, Master Commandant, Captain, and Commodore (though that is technically a title and not a rank). I know a player's "progress" is built on XP progression and the Dev Team tried to keep it even across the board, but seeing "Second Lieutenant" as a rank in the USN is funky to me. Technically, they were all Lieutenants and the first, second, third stuff was applied to an individual based on their seniority in the Wardroom. Putting several levels of XP under one rank would also simulate the idea of a Master Commandant making Captain, but being a junior one on the seniority list and thus only being able to command a smaller frigate with a smaller crew. As he becomes more skilled and well-known as a Captain, he is able to recruit more men (advance an XP level) and thus earn command of larger ships. This is a totally tangent idea that should probably get copied and pasted elsewhere... but if the whole XP thing is built around working to bigger ships with bigger crews, why don't we just do away with a "visible" XP system? You fight battles and earn points, which slowly adds numbers to your maximum number of crew. Instead of it being something like 523/2500 XP it could be simply 127 souls. Ranks could be applied to ranges of crew which correspond to the sizes of ships one can command with those crew sizes.

Also a very good point. A bonus is that for those with large or multiple screens, everything would be right there for them... except for the compass. If you wanted to get really slick with this, you could actually put the wind direction, yards, and compass bearing into the center too. The wind direction could easily be overlaid onto the ship outline (perhaps only visible on the outside so it isn't cluttering what's already inside). The yards/boom could be arranged to neatly overlay the armor in a subtly contrasting color or shade that's not too overbearing (and this is where removing the little cannons would de-clutter the interior). As for the compass bearing, that could literally be an arc above the ship that sort of frames the whole display, showing the 100-120 degrees off the bow. It could be slightly disorienting for some who might see it as the degrees off the port side, but I'd like to think that most looking at it would understand that the center of the arc us where the bow is pointed.

I really like the "packed up" look you suggested, Count Maurice Benyovszky. The only thing I might change about it would be to put the crew/sails and damage stats down on either end, so they're flush against the bottom of the screen and it makes the whole panel a bit more low-profile. The cannons are a nice artistic touch, so I am fine seeing those. If you really wanted to be minimalist, putting the cannon reload discs inside the outline of the deck would condense it even more. I know some want to see a UI that's more antique or period looking, but the sleek and minimal (if not modern) UI is pleasing to the eye and blends in well with the sea and sky. You can both quickly grab information from it and subconsciously forget it's there when you get focused on ships. It's a way of going into cinematic mode without having to disable the UI!

I apologize for any confusion this may be causing, but I am not sure I follow what you're saying? The "Betsy Ross" flag you originally referenced, which is comprised of the iconic thirteen stripes and circular constellation of stars, appeared in 1776 and was purportedly made by Betsy Ross upon commission by Washington. A variety of flags shown in the image below were flown throughout the course of the War for Independence between 1775 and 1783. As the cutoff for this game is 1820, it could be argued that any of the colors prior to that year are eligible to stand as the American faction's flag. However, with the number of ships present in-game leaning more towards the last decade of the 18th century and the first two of the 19th century, the "Star Spangled Banner" was likely chosen by the development team as the most suitable to break from the gaff of Constitution, Lynx, and Niagara. Maybe the eventual addition of user-submitted (and admin-approved) flags will allow folks to fly other colors more appropriate for ships like Rattlesnake and hopefully Bonhomme Richard. Until then, the current colors are what Americans in the game get, whether we like them or not.

I just had two client crashes in the span of ten minutes during a battle. Bug report sent! I'm glad that I'm not the only one seeing this. All was fine until today and suddenly I lost what should have been a very easy and quick battle. Tougher AI and multiple opponents I can deal with as I rise higher in XP...but game crashes during a battle? That's a different story!

The flag with fifteen stars and stripes, which would eventually earn the name "Star Spangled Banner," came into being in 1795 when Vermont and Kentucky joined the Union. The current American ensign is entirely appropriate for the setting of this game.

That's a good point on the XP breakdown and crew allocation. Your suggestion to allow your current maximum plus what you've earned towards the next is interesting. Boardings would be easier when approaching the next level due to a surplus of crew. The only thing I'll throw into this mix, which is not as related or even important, is blanketing XP level ranges under a rank title. This could better address the differences between nations in ranks (the most obvious being the lack of Admirals in the US Navy until the 1860s). A British player could make Post-Captain, then a few XP levels later he makes "three years seniority." It might seem odd for some to see an American commodore in command of what would be given to a British Vice-Admiral, but the XP breakdown within each faction needs to be aligned with ship and crew sizes, not personnel hierarchy.

That's kinda what I was getting at.

This is actually a good question. I wonder if it has to do with the gameplay setup involving speed? Maybe they felt there was a conflict between the square-rigged mainsail and a main "spanker?"

The United States of America - "supersizing" it since 1794!

It's currently checked out (by you?), so I hope someone is making good use of all those scanned drafts!

I know most prefer something more ornate and "European," but I prefer the simple elegance of American-built ships. The motto of USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) comes to mind... "Built to fight." I can only imagine how frustrating it was for John Paul Jones to watch his new ship get built than immediately given away to France...

I'm not an opponent of manually navigating on charts, but I'm also wary of the implementation of a "minigame" that allows it. It needs to be something quick to help you get your general bearings, otherwise you'll get tunnel vision in calculating things and either hit an island or get surprised by foes. The speed of open world travel in this game is much faster too; mariners in their day had plenty of time to use their instruments and apply their skills because they weren't zinging along like we do in-game. By the way, we use electronic charts on my ship and computers do most of the algebra for us, but I've met and learned from folks who still know the art of celestial navigation. It's pretty fun to walk out to the bridge-wing with a sextant. You get a feel from it that you simply cannot obtain from clicking about a screen!