Missions where you face higher level enemies, or multiple enemies of your same class.

[Henry d'Esterre Darby]

Currently, the code should not make it possible for you to, for example, encounter a Rattlesnake in a first level solo mission. Since ranks are different for each nation, it may be possible that you are choosing a mission of a higher rank than you are expecting.

When choosing a mission, know the rate of the ship you are sailing right now (e.g. a cutter is a 7th rate ship). As you are looking at the mission, pay attention to the recommended rate for that mission - if you're in a cutter, you want a mission that says to bring a 7th Rate.

If you're absolutely sure that you chose the correct rank of mission, that it was a solo mission and not a fleet mission, and you're still seeing a rattlesnake or multiple, higher ranked ships, please press F11 and provide as much detail as possible. I have personally sailed a large number of Midshipman Missions for 7th rates and have never seen an enemy ship other than a single cutter, or a single privateer.

[Ink]

11 minutes ago, Hodo said:

Have you run them for the US lately on the Global Server, because I know for a fact I have drawn a midshipman mission in a Pickle and drew a rattlesnake.  I F11'ed it and still won the fight, but I am good in a pickle.  

Captain, your character name is the same as on the forum? There is no report from this name

[Ink]

16 minutes ago, Hodo said:

Character name is Lou Hodo.

I did the report a day or two ago now.   I avoided Midshipman missions after i discovered that and ran Jr Lt missions. 

Please once you meet this bug again, report it within instance, not in OW after the battle.

[admin]

it seems that missions are mixed up

captains who were doing first rank missions (for example midshipman for britain) should do ensign missions instead.  (second from top in choices)

[Remus]

32 minutes ago, admin said:

it seems that missions are mixed up

captains who were doing first rank missions (for example midshipman for britain) should do ensign missions instead.  (second from top in choices)

Just done Midshipman mission on Global. Me, Ensign in Basic Cutter. Enemy solo Cutter. All good.

Edit: Another Midshipman mission, still in Basic Cutter. Enemy solo Privateer. All good - though please improve AI boarding.

Edited May 31, 2017 by Remus

[Sir Texas Sir]

29 minutes ago, Remus said:

Just done Midshipman mission on Global. Me, Ensign in Basic Cutter. Enemy solo Cutter. All good.

Edit: Another Midshipman mission, still in Basic Cutter. Enemy solo Privateer. All good - though please improve AI boarding.

DO NOT IMPROVE AI BOARDING.   I'm sorry they get marines, Barricades and a bunch of other things.  If your doing it right and taking there crew down before boarding it's going to be easy for any one.  Though if you match them in crew they can put a hurt to you if your a newb and don't know how to board.  Hell I seen a guy loose when he had almost twice as many crew.   It's easy for us that know how to board and what to hit and when.    Also remember they will pull you if they have more crew than you.  99% of the boards I win against players is cause they have no clue what to do in a board.  These same guys prob will get there arse handed to them by AI.

[Remus]

7 minutes ago, Sir Texas Sir said:

DO NOT IMPROVE AI BOARDING.   I'm sorry they get marines, Barricades and a bunch of other things.  If your doing it right and taking there crew down before boarding it's going to be easy for any one.  Though if you match them in crew they can put a hurt to you if your a newb and don't know how to board.  Hell I seen a guy loose when he had almost twice as many crew.   It's easy for us that know how to board and what to hit and when.    Also remember they will pull you if they have more crew than you.  99% of the boards I win against players is cause they have no clue what to do in a board.  These same guys prob will get there arse handed to them by AI.

He boarded me. I was outnumbered with no prep. Still won easily. Brace - counter / change to deck guns - brace - brace - brace - counter / change to deck guns - brace - brace - brace - counter / change to deck guns - brace - brace - brace - counter / change to deck guns - brace - brace  - brace - counter / change to deck guns - die of boredom

Edited May 31, 2017 by Remus

[ironhammer500]

26 minutes ago, Remus said:

He boarded me. I was outnumbered with no prep. Still won easily. Brace - counter / change to deck guns - brace - brace - brace - counter / change to deck guns - brace - brace - brace - counter / change to deck guns - brace - brace - brace - counter / change to deck guns - brace - brace  - brace - counter / change to deck guns - die of boredom

That is because the boarding mechanics are pretty simple. Sure if they added actual character fighting would be fun.

On topic.

Flag captain missions where the other side has waaaaay higher BR then we have.

[Sir Texas Sir]

33 minutes ago, ironhammer500 said:

That is because the boarding mechanics are pretty simple. Sure if they added actual character fighting would be fun.

On topic.

Flag captain missions where the other side has waaaaay higher BR then we have.

Dangit I keep forgetting your PvE.  Was like dang you all ready in Bellona's and where the hell did you get those Ingernmanlands?  Since we can't craft them currently.  UH it's a flag missions so yah they will have a bigger fleet.  I found that the missions tend to be geared for the most part for 4-5 chars and more.  Though that is a bit heavy handed there on the balance, It's normally all ways one or two ships more.

1 hour ago, Remus said:

He boarded me. I was outnumbered with no prep. Still won easily. Brace - counter / change to deck guns - brace - brace - brace - counter / change to deck guns - brace - brace - brace - counter / change to deck guns - brace - brace - brace - counter / change to deck guns - brace - brace  - brace - counter / change to deck guns - die of boredom

Wow that is taking way to longer try this next time.   Make sure you keep your prep up above 60.  Attack.  When they go to defend you hit them at the last moment with Grenade or Muskets.   Brace to get your prep up above 60 or Attack if it still is and repeat above.  You get there Moral down fast this way.  Moral breaks the fight no matter what.  Than you can do an attack if they do deck cannons and it hurts (only do if you have more crew them them).  Or if they grenade you use deck guns and it will normally do more damage than they do.   The main thing is get that moral down.  Normally by the third time you will be able to attack on it popping the Deck guns and beat it.  It will cut you boarding in half pretty much.

[ironhammer500]

Well people some how managed to make 2nd rates on PvE so while crafting for some clans is possible most of the time the LH is the major bottle neck, that and the insane cost of setting up a level 3 shipyard.

 

On topic those missions only seem to be insane when you get to Post captain and above, Master and commander seem more like the old fleet missions.

 

P.S Capping ships is the only thing keeping our eco alive tbh.

Edited May 31, 2017 by ironhammer500

[Destraex]

I can confirm I tried last night in a cutter and in two midshipman missions, first got a snow, then in the second one a brig vs my basic cutter. This was on eu1 pvp.

[brighteye23s]

I had and Indie in a fleet master and commander rank and had 6 ships against me 5th and 6th rank.   I can't take that on alone.

I can't do solo missions either because it only will allow me to do a lieutenant which is too low for for a Indie, even though I am a rear admiral.

Why can't I do a master commander solo mission? DO I have to lvl up my solo missions in smaller boats to be able to use my indie in a solo?

 

captnblackie is NA name

 

[AngryPanCake]

I've been posting lately about my struggles since I have been back into the game post-wipe.

I have been able to win half to three quarters of my Midshipman combat missions prior to the wipe, but since then, I've been struggling to win even a single battle against the AI since I've been back into the game.

I've played 4 battles so far, lost badly all of them in my basic cutter. The first two were against schooner type vessels, the last two against cutters. The AI gunnery is amazingly accurate and terribly damaging. In most encounters, I lost half my sides before I even started damaging AI opponents. Reducing their sails to 60-70% did not seem to reduce their maneuverability either. This was my old tactics prior to the wipe, reducing enemy sails as much as possible then try to outmaneuver them and hit their hulls.

As I have posted elsewhere, I feel the AI buff has overshot its target which was supposed to become challenging, has become just plain too hard.

[AngryPanCake]

By the way, can someone post a video of a Midshipman combat mission using a basic cutter fighting an AI cutter?

As stated above, I've been struggling quite a bit and would really like to see other players deal with these basic missions and see what I've been doing wrong or what others are doing right. I'm always in for learning new tricks. What they say about old dogs, you can't teach them new tricks, well that's not true. I can still learn...a bit slow, but I learn.

Thanks.

[Toggman]

I have been playing NA since Dec. 2013 and think this last patch is going to make me stop playing, one thing is I play alone a lot, so I play missions. I wish you did not change them, Now I have to fight with a ship of my class way?  If I am in a ship of the line let me fight a brig if I want or fleet of brigs.  No I have to fight a 3rd rate.   also way take the longitude and latitude off the game map, all captains had a sexton to find there position on the map.   I was in a mission and was boarded and lost my Surprise so now I am back to a basic cutter and now I will have fight for a couple weeks to try and get gold to buy a new ship.  I know one durability is realistic but this is a game, 2 durability would be nice. I have to agree with fox2run.  I did get my money worth from the game.  You people at NA did a great job on the game but now I think you are going in the wrong direction. One patch to many.

[AngryPanCake]

[AlteSocken]

The more danger, the more honor.

[Azincourt]

as a newcomer, the missions are prohibitively hard and it is silly that they have tiered the missions by class.

I found the game pretty much forces you to play with other people, which isn't a bad thing, but you should be able to make progress on your own when none of your friends are online.

No matter how good you get, the missions will always remain hard because of tiering. I can understand how earning credits and XP should be a challenge, but sometimes I just want to relax after a hard day's work and have a battle with the odds heavily in my favour.

I think we should be able to set up our own missions how we want, and then the XP and cash is given on a difficulty basis. The better enemies you face, the more cash you get. But at least give us some choice and customisation as this is probably the most used feature in the game.

Edited July 14, 2017 by Azincourt
added an extra sentence at the end

[mikawa]

I've encoutered several times a mission with an opponent same level or even higher than mine, e.g. I had a Reno and my opponent was a Frigate, or a Cerberus plus a Mercury... These missions are insanely hard to fight and you can only win with lots of repairs, because the AI always has carronades and shoots with an accuracy a human player can only achieve by long cannons. This is silly because we need missions to gain money marks and XP for our ships. No one is so stupid to sail out for PVP if his ship has no upgrade slot unlocked. The ridiculous thing is that though this game is intended to be a PVP game, PVE missions are now after the patch the real core system. It is like that and I will not complain but it is a complete waste of time when you sail into a mission against a higher opponent and you have to flee. I've written this several times into the forum but I got no reply. I find this not very polite, I must say.

[Eyesore]

When you go up against multiple ships as a soloplayer ... Maybe you shouldn't try to take on all these ships at once?

If the ai uses carronades, all you need to do is keep your distance? And the ai is definately not as accurate as a player is (not in my experiene that is anyway).

Sure some missions will be harder (they take longer to win, yes) but they are beatable. Just don't start to brawl like crazy, simply pull them in a line behind you and prevent them from targetting you all at once?

If you approach them because you just want a quick fight to get some easy combatmarks and easy money, expecting it to be easy, then who is to blame?

You can also attack small prey in ow, you don't have to pick a mission, especially traders are easy even with a cutter (and they give the player some loot, too bad no shipexp (i don't really understand why that is)).

[mikawa]

55 minutes ago, Eyesore said:

You can also attack small prey in ow, you don't have to pick a mission, especially traders are easy even with a cutter (and they give the player some loot, too bad no shipexp (i don't really understand why that is)).

As you said: no ship XP that is the reason why I don't do this. I want to get XP to be ready for PVP. And yes, I do fight the ships one after one but this doesn't make any difference. The main point is that the enemy is too strong. Speaking for money & marks I have a workaround. I take a Frigate the *lowest* 5th rate mission and can be almost sure to win. But this is not the way to get XP on a Reno or Cerb for example. And what should a player with a lower rank do who can simply not sail a frigate?

And btw: I've lost several ships to AI. And I'm an experienced player for 1.5 years now and I've spend hundreds of game hours and I am really frustrated by the gameplay atm.

[AlteSocken]

14 minutes ago, mikawa said:

And btw: I've lost several ships to AI. And I'm an experienced player for 1.5 years now and I've spend hundreds of game hours and I am really frustrated by the gameplay atm.

I am an relatively unexpierenced player with round-about 80 in-game hours and only a handfull of PvP expierence. But I never ever lost a single ship to the AI (on my first battle [pre-wipe] I had to make a run to avoid this). Maybe there is still some room to improve your tactics as described by @Eyesore in the posting above.

But I have to admit that the mission-grinding has become very hard for beginners since the introduction of the rookie-ships. I think for a basic-cutter-skipper with no clue a rookie-snow as opponent is a bitter-welcome to the game. I hope the devs check their logs on how well new players perform in missions.

For the expierenced mission-grinders I think it's ok if they pay a price for making mistakes. Sad thing about the mission-grinding is that any expierence you take from it does not benefit you in PvP fights.

[mikawa]

Of course it's my own fault if I lose a ship to AI but I am against time waste. The game consumes very much time even without running away or consuming all repairs. And I think this is intended to be a PvP game so why let players waste so much time on stupid PvE Mission? Why?

[Farrago]

6th rate fleet missions can be awful. There were 3 experienced trying to help a couple of newbies gain some XP. The game gave us over 20 AI opponents!

It was like trying to fight a swarm of bees with a flyswatter.