Kanay

This is where i looked after Bart Smith reply as usually alpha's/beta's in steam are listed there, but saw nothing available for me, simply thinking it was due to the delay announced in the initial post so not worried about not seeing any test available. Now the question is : is this key private and nominative or the same for all testers , if it is not private then is it safe to post it here ( or to use it myself without having received it ) , if it's private and nominative can i get one ?

Never tried testbed before ,this was introduced when i was on long break, all good if no key is needed then. Thanks.

Is it possible to get a key please ? might be more interesting there than on current game that i barely touched last days. Thanks.

It ain't about one ship being better for pvp and the other for pve or support, not that it matters since pirate frigate is better in absolutely all domains anyways, including PVE, frigate due to his superior maneuverability is a lot more efficient in pve too, you deal with your targets faster and easier than with the essex, it ain't about the possibility for Nationals to also have the BP & permit, and thanks for confirming that this isn't a problem, either for pirates or Nationals, just another masquerade from the Dev's so no need to bring this point when you speak about pirates disadvantages, what it is about the difference of treatment the dev's do when it comes to pirates and things related to them. Both ships were extremely similar before in terms of sailing performances or firepower, the pirate frigate getting chasers and better hp and only one less gun per side, but one was nerfed hard, turning it into a complete turd if it have to go or turn against the wind, yet this one ends up with a way superior battle rating and requires way more xp for slots, 45300xp vs 30150xp while being turned into a pile of crap... Same thickness on both ships, getting a bit more HP, way better flat turn rate and on top of this able to tack against the wind perfectly and keeping high speed doing this when the other almost stops and become a sitting duck, boarding bonus vs "get boarded bonus" for the other if it tries to turn against the wind, better speed, one less gun per side but having chasers, 300 crew vs 315 but one needing 110 on sails vs 130 for the other ....how does that compute for you ? Why the pirate ship is so advantaged ?... Especially when Dev's love the balance things out nerfing/buffing some ships stats... Green on green is currently an advantage, and while i would love to have it possible to put a few obvious spies on my Nation in battles, even if i don't win them but just make them loose them time and blind for a while, it will turn quickly into a mess for Nations, in the end it's not up to the Nations to play by the same rules as Pirates, it's at Pirates to play by the same rules as Nations since they are nothing more than another Nation in game for now. Unless 2 full fleets meet each other at or almost the same time the outlaw battle is a great advantage, if a full fleet start an outlaw battle there is no way you can catch them once they start to sail away the time to reunite a fleet able to fight them, jumping in quick enough to catch them if you have only 10-15 ships is doing a collective suicide nothing else, you need to first reunite a fleet that will stand a chance against a full enemies fleet... Not to say that this can also be planned and launched just a few minutes before the server maintenance and give a free ticket to hide for hours, even if a full fleet jumps in at the same time, once server stops for a restart all is over and you can hide there unti lyou decide to log back in all at the same time... Nobody else can do this that easy. If Nationals want to do it easy as pirates do it, where they want, when they want, they need to use an alt ... and if they do the alt will get banned for this unfair use of game mechanics, again how do this compute for you ?? I don't know why you even start to speak of wars or loosing a war and such... I am not referring to wars or Nations current or past situations, it's a global statement, i didn't participated in PB's since wipe anyways ( beside once buying quickly a NPC frigate to be able to try help in screening since i had no ships at all stored nearby or could sail or tp a ship in time ), I'm not involved in politics or decisions or councils or whatever, and not sailing Sol's anymore anyways, limiting myself to 5th's that i enjoy the most and probably won't craft me any SOL in the long term even if i can make me one in a blink having all necessary things to do it. Seriously what war there is when many players disgusted just leave/left the game or don't show up anyways ? The pop numbers dropped down to ridiculous levels, many left disgusted by many aspects of the game or difference of treatments made by the dev's, what war there is when i go to the server, see barely 100 players on-line and personally know 2 of them having numerous alts that account for 13% of the online players ? Or when a guy at the same time on global chat claims " I am 8 of the 98" ( 98 players online ). I don't see a war there, just an empty world with very low players numbers and a large percentage of those being alts... You can call me idiot if it pleases you i don't mind, i might also return you that you are just an hypocrite defending your advantages, like i said earlier pirates are only one Nation in the middle of others, nothing more, same rights and possibilities as others (since BP's and permits are easier and less risky to get than just a few logs of rare wood for a low class ship), so they need to play by the exact same rules as others or preferably and like announced and promised many times become something totally different than the Nations, pirates able to do conquests makes no sense anyways. In the end the server is empty, just a few players and them numerous alts, many guys left disgusted by the allowed mechanics for some that will be banned for others if they use an alto to get the same exact possibilities, many don't bother anymore with the game as they lost faith in it and his development path, lost faith in the possibility to see it end up in something decent, enjoyable & entertaining to play, from trading, crafting, conquests, pvp aspects...Myself i logged in probably less than 30mn in the last 3 days to finish a few trading trips and check a couple of running contracts only, friends list remain almost empty each time i go in game since a few weeks when those guys used to be hardcore players spending them days in game... I will wait a bit, probably try the conquests changes patch ( if it happens) and then take another year break from this game after 2855 hours spent waiting for something different than it is now, I'll check back when dev's will finally have made them mind about the direction this game have to take and be released, for now it's ping pong, do - undo- do again, not release promised things, go further away from the historical and hardcore game they claimed so many times ... Took years and dozen of posts in the forums but at least maybe this time they realized that they need to at least seriously protect capitals areas ... It's something i guess even if AI will not prevent anything, exactly like in the past ... Anyways i will just stop to bother with this game and loose my time with something that have not progressed in more than one year, came back since barely 2 months and in the end it seems that at contrary it had gone backwards in some aspects, like conquests that were going too fast for the Dev's and many players and changed so they go even faster now with up to 7 cities able to flip with a little pve grind and one single PB won, that's the kind of "fixes" that leaves me extremely perplex about this game future... Now if you allow me i will go download something more interesting to spend my free time until some changes are done, if something change, will do like many others done before me and were smart enough to not pursue until hitting a wall head first, I'll probably come back check forums once a week or so, there is a lot of things more entertaining to do than play something broken or play in unfair conditions when some get advantages/features other don't get.

Don't have much time to type and enter in details but LH's are not anymore a thing with how easy it is now to generate 10x Labor contacts of 500hours each in game... and either make millions selling those to who don't know or craft dozen of ships one after the other when it comes to clans able to grind numerous combat marks ... LH's lost the entire purpose they had before when they made the creation of LC's that easy and cheap ...

Pirates since day one were advantaged in game, yes your ships used to sail faster, not anymore indeed, yes you still have a dedicated ship completely outclassing what the Nationals have as equivalent at them disposal, in terms of performances of BR and xp knowledge needed compared to what comes the closest an Essex completely nerfed and getting a stupid BR and XP requirement for slots while butchered by the Dev's to not be able to tack against the wind , yes you are the single faction in game able to grow up when crushing a Nation, Nationals leaving go for the most part to pirates no matter what you try to pretend, yes you have now green on green and this is an advantage, beside making blind by sending him into a battle or simply killing a potential spy like no other Nation can do, ( or a big clan imposing his views on others by making the powder burn inside a faction ) and yes they can use the outlaw battles at will, where they want, when they want, no Nation can do this, there is no way to reunite a fleet and jump into the battle to catch them as they will have just sail away and be uncatchable, and even worse when they start the outlaw barely 30mn before the server shutdown for maintenance getting an immunity ticket allowed by the Dev's and able to log back many hours after the server restart in time for the operations planned... But heh apparently it's fine if pirates do this according to dev's tribunal, yet only pirates can do it that easily in game... You don't have the BP's for SOL's ... yeah but what masquerade is this when the Dev's at the same time don't hard code any restriction in game to enforce this ??? oh yeah ... alt accounts are a nice income i guess ... Bp's just are like any other book or upgrade on the market, a mercantile good that pirates can get either for cash or just from them alt accounts or alt clans ... when it's not entire clans working on other Nations to craft & buy ships of National markets and provide them directly, this is the reality of how things are done... In the end it's easier and less risky to get BP's and permits than getting the best woods to craft a ship... what an impressive restriction ... not. Pirates never acted as anything else than a regular Nation in this game, nor despites the green on green they attack themselves often, do they ?... and this even used to be punished by other pirates if one guy or one clan decided to go against the rule and attack another pirate. Pirates in game are just a Nation with extra advantages over the regular Nations, you can turn it all the way up and down but it's a fact, so why should they get special treatments or special features in game ?? Either they make them the hardcore mode the dev's promised so many times, limiting them for what they can sail and this being hard coded in game with a crew limit restriction and then give them special raiding mechanics dedicated to Pirates only with no possibility of conquests like a regular Nation, but something different as counterpart or they give them the exact same rights and features as other Nations if they continue with pirates being able to do exactly he same as any other Nation in game, no bypass, no special feature, there is nothing that justify extra advantages for them in this last scenario, nothing at all. I find it very funny to see how each time pirates try to minimize things, you are nothing else than a freaking Nation amongst others in game, doing the same exact things as other Nations ( and often doing better as more organized, but this isn't your "fault", props for that ) , you always had and still have advantages others don't have, you don't have any disadvantages as counterpart so stop the hypocrisy already, either play with the same rules as others, no special features or restrictions, or let the dev's turn the tables and make pirates into real pirates... It's the perfect occasion for this with the conquest changes, let them work on special raiding mechanics and maybe privateer ones, after all the Dev himself spoke of raiding in this thread so let's see what they will do for this, it's a problem they are reluctant to touch due to the large playerbase in this "Nation" but it's been years now so it is time to get the things done and tested or they can just say they are fans of Johnny Depp & Disney stuff and give up on promises of hardcore mode and historical claims of this game, if so then they need to make pirates working exactly the same way as other Nations, with the same exact rules as others, no extras for what is only another Nation in game...

Of course it will, what do you expect from this ? Traders not escorted, either lone players, or some with smaller players escorts or larger clans who will after a bit get bored to death escorting dedicated traders members to in the end just play the scarecrow as most players in groups won't bother to attack a similar force group, they use them group to attack only if they are assured of a victory at the end, they can be in slightly better hips and superior numbers but they won't risk it if there is a single chance to loose ... only attacking when it's a guaranteed win... not like this have not been seen over and over since the OW release and being a constant ... large escorts will just push them away for a bit playing the scarecrows, the hunters will just search focus on easier preys while staying away from what could hurt them ... and you perfectly know what will be the main targets there, it will be again the poor traders as you always provided them as easy meat... nerfing them each patch so they become the main "pvp" (sig) content in this game... Many so called pvp guys will just avoid most of the other guys in warships and wait for the large traffic of lone or low defended trading ships in the easy meat area of the map you try to create ... Plus it will be like the Vatican during WW2, the place in the world with most spies by square meter, most alts will be in this area doing them work and reporting intel easily ...

It might no please you but it is totally on subject : Do we continue with the stupidity of having pirates acting exactly as any other Nation able to do conquests while profiting of extra advantages the other Nations don't have, even now having the special privilege of getting a fleet totally immune versus enemies in front of a port since no one can reach them in a outlaw battle or they can do the outlaw a few minutes just before a server restart and hide for hours there until they decide to all log into the game at the same time many hours later, one of the many advantages they always received from day one in this game for no reasons at all since they are not pirates, never acted as pirates, always acted as a Nation like the others, or do the Dev's finally put them balls on the table and deliver what they promised : make the pirates a hardcore mode and make them real pirates not able to do conquests and instead create what they also spoke about themselves in this thread, a raiding mechanic that can be used just for this hardcore faction and conquests possible only for Nations. This whole pirates mascarade have lasted long enough, since this is about conquests it's time to know if this supposed historical game will continue with the non sense of pirates acting as a Nation while receiving bypasses and special privileges making them the easiest faction to play in game since the first day of this game or continue to be a Nation exactly like the others and then get them special privileges removed once and for all or if they finally deliver what they promised more than once about pirates... Simple as this.

. Edit : typed and sent before seeing last proposed changes a few posts above Since there is entire high levels alt clans working for obscure forces under other Nations flags i don't see how you can prevent anything... It's well know and seen regularly with the biggest more populated Nations in game... One of the reasons we keep hearing things like Brits are the most populated Nation in game, but then take out all the more or less small clans being there just to work for other factions in the shadows, providing resources, ships, intel + all individuals eco alts or spies being there for easy pvp hunting mode or easy access to resources, for sure you won't put an alt at work on a very low populated Nation, you put it at work on a Nation offering the most preys, same for trading , either for the one having the biggest markets or the rarest resources available regularly and easily ... So whatever the real numbers are they won't take this aspect of the game in account. Then i hear Pirates saying Nationals don't have the right to express them view on how pirates should work ... but wait... did pirates even once acted as anything else than a Nation in this game, a Nation with extra advantages among others to have the right to say more than Nationals about this subject ? All they done is the same exact thing Nations done, while having extra advantages to do it compared to others, why should the Devs continue to listen to pirates demands seriously ? -At the very start of the game pirates were the ones able to level up way easier and faster than any others while attacking each other, took ages to be limited. - Pirates was the Nation able to grow up constantly due to the inability of players to switch faction other than going pirates, Dev's refused to fix this for years, so Nations loosing players were alway at the benefit of the pirates. Still is the case now in some proportions as many leaving a Nation won't go for another Nation that either used to be an enemy of his Nation or simply to not repeat the Nations overall politics problems, in the end pirates keep growing when Nations fall apart. - Pirates received some extra benefits like the speed perk ( with no downsides like less armor or else ) , or now are limited for BP's ( in theory only since nothing prevents them to get BP's using alts accounts or clan , no limitation at all was hard coded for this, just an illusion added to the game) but get things like a ship outclassing by a large margin what the Nation have as counterpart. - I keep hearing some Nations do too much pve , while it's true and some enjoy more the trading or relaxed content for different reasons of personal preferences or time available to play, remains that the Pirates are the ones who usually benefited from the easiest, most secure and advantageous pve areas in the entire map, the hidden island and the islands at the top corner of the map, mostly used as fishing and pve areas, with no free town anywhere close to them, areas far away to reach in terms of sailing distances or for escape possibilities vs revenge fleets, unlike any other place for any other Nations in the map. They get the easiest and most secure ground for pve , and it's largely used. - Now we got the statement that hiding in a outlow battle is a legit tactic... so an entire fleet can start a battle 15-20mn before the server maintenance, enter and sail away to never be able to be caught even if by miracle the enemies manage to reunite quickly a fleet and enter in battle and in the best cases just have to wait for the server maintenance to happen to get an unfair advantage or for the the battle to end while sailing AFK for 1H30 being sure to never been caught . Pirates were supposed to be the hardcore mode, in the facts they always were and still are the easiest faction in game, Dev's are too afraid to change it, they get the same benefits and possibilities as others and get some extra advantages on the top of this, in this thread when the question rises up we see again some requests for extra advantages for pirates and pirates only, putting pressure again on the Dev's to receive a nice counterpart, this have to change, make pirates pirates, don't give them silly unjustified extra advantages, limit the max crew and bring some special raiding mechanics for them and that's all, if pirates want to continue to do conquests they can switch to a nation and create a war company there, make them real pirates damnit, it's a long time due problem that needs to be fixed, stop favoring them like it was done since the release of this game for various reasons and by different mechanics or gameplay. You can't pretend to have a hardcore and historical based game with such non sense running. I'm fed up of the constant BS over pirates absurdity we have in this game, why is there such double standards in this game when it comes to this faction like for the outlaw battles allowed, battles where they can easily avoid any fight either by sailing away to never been caught or doing it just before the server maintenance and stay hidden until they decide to login in game again, why they receive a ship outclassing completely what the Nation have at them disposal as counterpart?? What are you so afraid of when it comes to really make them pirates ? Why such advantages again and again ??? They are nothing else than a Nation, having the same exact possibilities as others in game but with extra advantages compared to others, never were pirates in game, never were the hardcore mode Dev's so often spoke about, just the easiest faction to play in game, so what is done for this ? Where are the raiding mechanics evoked in this thread that could stay an exclusive pirate thing too ?

Helping new players is just an excuse to flip the tables and do something esle to try stop the hemoragy of players leaving before the patient is out of blood, those players having no more hopes in this company and the constant things done and undone a bit later, but nothing new in the end, this last proposition will turn into another mess and be undone like all the rest or will just put the last nail on the coffin... it won't fix Nations balance as exposed to be a problem in game, will just make players switch for clans instead of Nations, and make it a hell for traders, solo players or smaller clans at the same time... but hopefully for them it will give a few months delay for the dying patient and by this time NA arena will be ready probably ... Admin spoke of new players bla bla ... at the same time in the initial proposition the idea was to basically turn the entire map into free towns for all players not being part of a war company ... Seriously how had this helped new players ? Did they throw out this idea without even thinking at the possible consequences of having all cities basically turned into free towns or are they just trolling us saying one thing and doing the exact opposite of what is needed ?? If it's the first option there is no more hope for this game, development is going nowhere if they can't even think at basic things like th consequences of such decision when doing brainstorming sessions...

We used to have this before, you had the info displayed once you had visited at least once the port : Easy to add what productions possible are done there too ... Was a good thing and favoring a bit the exploration, not sure why they removed it... another good feature changed ... This said i am not in favor of getting those infos displayed in game if you never have visited the port at least once, like it was before was nice

Will you invest a lot in let's say production buildings in areas that will regularly change of owner with taxes going up and down depending who owns them ( and yet we don't even know if the owner have a cooldown to change the tax itself or if he can set a different taxes rating each 2 days ) ? No stability at all for the possible owners and the areas themselves since they refuse to put a long cooldown either on flags raising or a cooldown for the possibility to switch a city once it have fall to one faction, like if a flag is raised against a city and the defenders win the PB the attacking faction cannot raise another flag for 2 or 3 weeks again for this region after failing, if one faction conquest a city it gets a cooldown of 2 weeks before anyone can raise a flag for it etc... We will also probably end up with Nations working together, if one fails to conquer the other raise a flag and try again the next day and end up with some city under constant flag raising ... having a cooldown of 3-4 days or even a week is nothing ... All this on a area that will become mainly a pvp ground making the hauling very risky as this is the primary goal of those changes, makes essential resources in the middle of the map and all Nations constantly fighting for the same grounds in a pvp area right in the center of the map, an area where traders will be the main preys to create a pretend of pvp at traders expense as this game always done patch after patch raising middle fingers to traders... Who will benefit of this is the biggest clans able to conquest, keep the territories and efficiently defend them interests in the area, others will just undergo a massive instability for market and possible investments done there + lot of risks going to the center of the map to get the resources they need to just craft , not even speaking of regular trading to make more or less profit... Can also be used to just make other Nations already weaker suffer more from this, they will be forced to go there anyways as essential resources will be found there and only there apparently ...

Make already weak Nations pay ton of taxes on basic products to make it even more painful for them... making player switch Nations again or leave the game bored by this i guess...

I would consider turning pirate if they simply limited crew to 500-600 max, able to capture ships but not able to crew fully SOL's and give proper raiding mechanics instead of conquests, causing troubles in some areas, stopping all production buildings and trader NPC deliveries for a few weeks, NPC shops not having resources renewed and buildings locked during this delay, and maybe also able to be hired by some Nations for a certain time to cause troubles on them enemies supply lines by raiding them and stopping them production lines, this will be something very interesting from my point of view. Pirates will have capturable Mortimer town as second capital... beside the main capital being shallow nothing seems to change for them tho... If they really wanted to limit SOL's for pirates they had done something to force this, removing BP's only was only a farce... As for pirate frigate there is no valid reasons to have it completely outclassing an essex in game and getting a so low BR and xp requirements, no reasons at all, this is undefendable no matter from which point you take the equation, getting a boarding bonus ok, getting a bit more speed ok, all the rest ? nope

I have one, had no special desire to get one at start, don't particularly love the look or color it have, loved to sail my Essex before, then they turned it into a complete over ranked piece of crap that it is now, more generally love the ships i can equip in full 12pd's so i tried to get a pirate frigate to see and it outclass totally the Essex in all domains and get way lower Br and way lower requirements for slots ... Maybe the day the Dev's will stop to give extra advantages to pirates for the shake of doing it and the day they will stop treating unfairly or nerf some other ships for no logical reasons at all like they did with pirate frigate vs the Essex then this day we could talk about this again ... When then this day will happen they can take out my pirate frigate BP ... Until then ...