Grim DeGrim Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 (edited) Topic: Naval Engagements during the Age of Sail generally abided by a set of "rules" for engaging enemy ships. The primary rule was that line ships only fired at other line ship (unless there was nothing else to shoot at. Assumption as to behavior: it was honorable, and brought little prestige to bowl over a smaller ship in a battle. Concern: with dmg model 4.0 coming, I envision the damage performance gap between large & small ships increasing further (due to crew disparity, multideck disparity, and ability to pentration with heavier ball at angles). Recommendation: with every cannonball tracked on the upcoming 4.0 dmg model, it should be feasible to tell what classes of ships are shooting each other. Create an incentive to shoot at like classed ship. Honor / Reward / Standing (whatever that mechanism will look like) is higher for you if you shoot at any appropriate classed vessel. The relationship of reward to Ships should be proportionate to the ships left in play: since all ships must eventually shot at, the rewards go down as ships are removed. This way, it you remove all the frigates first with your SOL and THEN shoot the opposing SOL, you get less reputation. The same would be true for small ships shooting above their weight class... Less reputation. Conclusion: Incentives to shoot at class appropriate vessels will help simulate historical rules of engagement, discourage the use of obscene firepower against smaller vessels, and promote via game mechanics what an appropriate target is (for both small and large vessels). Food for thought. GRIM Edited March 11, 2015 by Grim DeGrim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
admin Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 just to clarify.. every cannonball was and is tracked already it is just collider system was not as deep as planned in the new model. On your suggestion.. If you are fighting in a tournament or for an important port with rare iron resource you will not care about rules of engagement. Fleets will fight to destroy or capture. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grim DeGrim Posted March 11, 2015 Author Share Posted March 11, 2015 Fair comment. Would those be the exceptions, or the general standard of play. Personally, probably the general standard of play However, I'm aware of many players that would enjoy such a mechanic that rewards historical play. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunde Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 Honestly no, people that want to shoot below or above their weightclass are loosing the game for their team and themselves, I would not vote for a system like this, people that dont want to play correctly, should just learn it the hard way, by loosing over and over again. my 5 cents. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mouse of war Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 (edited) I think that there's a danger that we will homogenise captain behaviour will this sort of micro management. Can we criticise a captain for shooting at any enemy vessel? A captain shooting at a ship above his own ship's rate then will either be lucky and get away with it - or unlucky and face the music. And shooting at a ship below his own rate is still damaging and possibly sinking an enemy unit - which is a captain's duty. I would like to make my own mind up as to what is 'honourable' under different circumstances. In fact all commanders will develop their own in-game character and we should do nothing to enforce any conformity. If I get a reputation as a 'black hearted dog' then so be it - it's all part of the fun! Edited March 11, 2015 by mouse of war 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grim DeGrim Posted March 11, 2015 Author Share Posted March 11, 2015 Good comments all. Put the pitch forks away it was my intent to put forth an idea that promotes historical behaviour in a historically based Age of Sail title. *wink* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prater Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 I don't know that smaller ships should get less reputation for firing on a larger ship. If you defeat a larger ship, I would think you get more reputation, like Cochrane vs El Gamo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeRuyter Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 ^^ I agree with Prater on this one - capturing a larger ship could be a ticket to a better command. Also it was expected that a British frigate captain would fight and beat a larger French frigate! This may work itself out in the OW as a SOL may not want to fire on a privateer schooner with bigger targets nearby or even not want to waste the powder, especially if a captain has to buy it himself! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grim DeGrim Posted March 11, 2015 Author Share Posted March 11, 2015 With discussion this far, it makes sense to discount the recommendation... Yes, if David beats Goliath one assumes more points to be awarded. If it us a 1v1, then 100% of the recognition goes to the ships for their role. It is more about large scale engagements and target selection *that emulates historical engagement*. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5KnuckleChuckle Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 (edited) While I have commented on poor play in other threads I would be very hesitant to incorporate steadfast rules to encourage a specific behaviour. Ultimately from my experience you start putting in lots of rules for this or that and when all is said and done the community has found a way to twist those rules in a way that was never foreseen. Not saying this is the case with this suggestion but something to keep in mind. You would also possibly change the way people play in regards to say how much they respect a larger vessel etc. Honestly no, people that want to shoot below or above their weightclass are loosing the game for their team and themselves, I would not vote for a system like this, people that dont want to play correctly, should just learn it the hard way, by loosing over and over again. my 5 cents. I would have to disagree with this as it has been something I have been keeping an eye out for. From my experience I find there are two main general strategies followed. Either the team decides to take out the largest ships on the other team or to take out support first. To be honest, I have found both strategies to work equally well and would submit that victory is achieved more through sailing/fighting ability than a blanket strategy, ie. probably the most important factor is a teams ability to concentrate fire on a target. I would also say that in a 1 v 1 something like a surprise has a damn good chance against a solo victory or santi if the smaller ship is sailed properly...it also helps if the victory captain isn't the best. A small ship stern camping a much larger ship can start to do a lot of damage after a few volleys and has the potential to never fall in the line of fire of the larger vessel. I'm not saying you are wrong just that my experience has differed from yours if you have experienced as you have stated. Edited March 11, 2015 by 5KnuckleChuckle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunde Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 While I have commented on poor play in other threads I would be very hesitant to incorporate steadfast rules to encourage a specific behaviour. Ultimately from my experience you start putting in lots of rules for this or that and when all is said and done the community has found a way to twist those rules in a way that was never foreseen. Not saying this is the case with this suggestion but something to keep in mind. You would also possibly change the way people play in regards to say how much they respect a larger vessel etc. I would have to disagree with this as it has been something I have been keeping an eye out for. From my experience I find there are two main general strategies followed. Either the team decides to take out the largest ships on the other team or to take out support first. To be honest, I have found both strategies to work equally well and would submit that victory is achieved more through sailing/fighting ability than a blanket strategy, ie. probably the most important factor is a teams ability to concentrate fire on a target. I would also say that in a 1 v 1 something like a surprise has a damn good chance against a solo victory or santi if the smaller ship is sailed properly...it also helps if the victory captain isn't the best. A small ship stern camping a much larger ship can start to do a lot of damage after a few volleys and has the potential to never fall in the line of fire of the larger vessel. I'm not saying you are wrong just that my experience has differed from yours if you have experienced as you have stated. Totally agree! What i mean is i dont want a system in place that punishes a captain for his choice of target! And the fact that in a line battle, if the 1st rates decides that shooting those damn brigs is a good plan, well they will face the consequences. As i have seen before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chustler Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 Ya if I enter a battle and one of their smaller ships separates himself and makes himself by far the best target, I would not want to be essentially punished for doing the right thing, and sinking him down early. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grim DeGrim Posted March 11, 2015 Author Share Posted March 11, 2015 I retire the idea. Perhaps I should delete it out...? Playerbase has spoken. Lock topic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chustler Posted March 11, 2015 Share Posted March 11, 2015 I locked it for you Grim 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts