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Captains.. 

 

There were several proposals on the Navy officer role and we would like to discuss it in depth here.  Just to keep expectations clear.  We are of course not saying or promising this will be done. It is just a discussion.

 

Proposed Navy roles

 

Naval officer

  • Works for the Admiralty of their respective country.
  • Receives salary - does not make money by selling ships. 
  • Does not pick ships - ships are assigned by the Admiralty randomly according to rank and achievements. 
  • Cannot capture ships - ships are sent to Admiralty for admiralty points.
  • Does not hire crew - crews are supplied by the Admiralty with ships
  • Repairs are provided by Admiralty
  • Has to fulfill duties  - must fight, must accept battles
  • Top rated ships are assigned based on leaderboards
  • Upgrades/officers and unique content can be bought from the Admiralty store for points. Ships for the admiralty stores are supplied by crafters.
  • Can buy ships for himself if he has money (but those will be limited due to low salaries)

Basically a combat class that does not think about the cash and is always supplied for combat. Ideal for the player who is not interested

 

Privateer/Pirate

  • Works for himself buying a patent.
  • Patent costs money per month
  • Can capture ships for himself
  • Have to hire crew and pay salaries for the crew and officers
  • Have to repair ships
  • Can sail any ship if he can hire and support the crew

Crafter (support role but both officers and privateers can be crafters too)

  • Makes ships for the admiralty and privateers
  • The guy with money

 

Admiralty

  • Buys ships and upgrades from crafters
  • Supplies ships and upgrades to naval officers according to fame ratings

The drawback of this system is the lack of freedom.

Right now you can sail any ship you want and see and can buy or capture. In the defined roles scenarios most players won't be able 

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I like this idea over all. However it must be remembered that accepting battle was something that depended entirely on the navies orders.
When you are sent to raid you are not expected to attack enemy navies. Also no naval officer was shamed by NOT accepting battle with superior fleets. It was only equal or lesser battles that could get you demoted. If you are escorting a convoy you should be able to play delaying actions etc or avoid battle all together.

I am in two minds about ships being assigned randomly. Once a ship is assigned does the naval officer then get to keep it in his inventory when another ship is assigned? i.e. have a few ships to take out and play with?

Salaries should be able to be supplemented by PRIZE MONEY separate from admiralty points. A share of any ship captured historically belonged to the Officer in charge of the capture.

It must also be remembered that significant fees were often paid to dockyards to speed repairs or get supply priority.... naval dockyards could be corrupt.

Also there should be some freedom when it comes to crew. Captains often formed their own press gangs and also chose who was put on the crew payroll for a voyage when manning the ship. I would surmise a good captain would attract his old crew back where ever he went.

Basically I think naval captains should have more flexibility than first thought.

I think a few things should perhaps be changed:

(i) Once enough admiralty points are earned the naval officer is offered a choice by the admiralty of ship command.

 

(ii) Officers can then keep any ships given by the admiralty in their inventory to take out and play with at any time.

 

(iii) At least part of the crew can be chosen by the player especially as a reward by the admiralty...
TBC - dinner has arrived here... :)

(iv) Navies have standing orders to attack enemy merchants and warships where possible and missions are ONLY given if the player touches base at home port or with there nations ships that have come from those ports with despatches. This should ensure the player has some freedom and is historical.

 

(v) If you are in a group the whole group gets the mission. If you join a group you get one mission cancelled and the group leaders mission assigned. However it may be wiser just to let groups do what they want? How are clans or large battles going to be fought if nobody can get together without penalty.... Unless missions have no time limits or penalties?

 

(vi) If a players sees real things such as there hone port being attacked and reacts to help this should be in standing orders?

 

(vii) Naval Officers should be able to act on advisory admiralty councils to design the ships they sail. I would like to modify or craft any new vessel the admiralty wants to build for me and am happy to sit on the admiralty board when I am of sufficient rank or be interviewed as a serving captain to get that done. Remember the navy also had officers testing and accepting new equipment and designs. Almost EVERY other profession is less likely to have a hand in ship design at all.... especially pirates which would only be modifying existing designs.

 

P.S. If I need to log off for dinner or real life how can I accept battle even when the odds are in my favour? Do I get penalised? Sometimes you just want to get to port to do a few things and then log off.

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I like the idea of naval officer, but as Dastraex said, you shouldn't be penalized for not engaging a superior force, and also while the admarality assigns ships i think whether you take the ship or not should be entirely your choice, just my two cents.

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It looks pretty good.

 

Naval Officer route

 

I would suggest that as you go up in rank you are given the option of ships within your status and below to choose from. eg. If you are a Master and Commander equivalent you would be offered any ship up to a sloop/ brig of war of around 20ish guns. You could choose to man a smaller ship - but obviously you would get less rewards for doing so. Within that rank if your kill/ death ratio is very good you may be offered nicer rank ships like fine or mastercraft if one is available. 

 

This route should probably be recommended for people new to the game before going it alone.

 

Question - is there going to be guiding control to react to the going ons in the game? eg. your nations ports in the gulf are being taken or blockaded - so players are sent on missions to those areas.

 

Privateer / Pirate

 

For the more experienced players or hardy souls.

 

I would be interested in testing the crew management and patent buying ideas before cementing my opinion here - but i really like this direction.

 

Pretty much this route is what we have been playing in game so far so im keen to follow through here.

 

Crafter / Trader

 

For the grind gurus. We shall see what tweaks are required when the upcoming patch (7) is out.

 

Clan Mechanics - (had to throw this out there)

 

This area will be an interesting and awesome development goal (i hope). It will ideally be a mixture of both the Naval officer AND privateer route. so you could have an independent group with a picked admiralty giving orders and taking letters of marque for nations or going freelance if desired.

 

collaboratively gathering resources, ships, officers, modules, etc and allocating them to players within the clan structure. plz plz plz plz....

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I like this and I wiil add some ideas.

 

If you earn enough admiralty points you can choose of a range of ships.

 

Maintain the option for choose a inferior ship anytime.

 

Prize gold of captures add to base salary.

 

When you capture a ship, you have the option for Admiralty gives you the command that ship. More rank, more probability and add bribe modifiers to it.

 

Bribe with your own gold dockyards for a little better equipment ship. Bribe recruitment office for a little better crew members and bribe admiralty for a little better command or missions given.

 

For a pirate or privateer, maintain mainly the actual system and add the option for privateers can join in some Navy battles changing admiralty point with gold if you want.

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I like most of this, but as you're fond of pointing out, this is a game. So there needs to be a balance. Perhaps as suggested, while the admiralty issues the ship, we can fudge a little reality and choose from a list.

 

Also, I would point that captains did make money selling and capturing ships. Prize money was how captains and crews really made money, their salaries were rather pitiful. They wouldn't get the FULL amount, obviously, but they'd get a percentage based on their rank. That would allow them to spend money on things like replaceable upgrades (extra gunnery training, say, because the Captain could afford extra powder to train with).

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I would like to suggest this ship/role system:

 

Suggestion:

 

Create same ship progression table for all Classes.

 

Rank1-->Rank2-->Rank3...etc (Each rank will unlock a different ship for each class as player progress. Ships should have something unique for each class).

 

Now, to get those ships each Class needs to do achievements! BF4 type. 

 

Naval Officer - Kill 1 player and capture 5 Npc will reward player in a 1 free new ship or a writ. If ship looses all durabilities, player will need to accumulate battle xp(points) or buy from traders (shops). Once achievement for that ship is complete it will remain unlocked permanently. The more player uses the ship the more upgrades and unlocks he can get and make it better (superior/legendary). Players could have access to ships anytime, but in different manner. Naval Officer will need to earn battle xp while trader can build one. Privateers should have battle xp(points) as well, but not admiralty. 

 

This way with each rank players can get ships after they complete an achievement. If ship is lost, fight and earn xp to get another one, buy one, build one or go to premium game shop for instant battle xp packs. Xp packs could provide all battle xp(points) needed, but player still will need to pay actual ship cost. Let's call it a shortcut

 

 Privateers should have battle xp(points) and achievements as well for some ships. They should be able to capture and authorize ships as their own or bring them to admiralty for a reward. 

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The admiralty and the other roles open up the possibilities for an incredible mission system. Officers get Pirate/Privateer/Trader capture missions. Crafters get building missions (where some of the ships being produced get sold to the admiralty) . Privateers get escort missions. I think missions (in some form) would add so much to the game in the future.

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So basically the naval officer gets everything for free and has to accept fights. It doesnt matter if you loose, you got everything for free anyways!

 

And the privateer has to work for all of it.

 

I love it! (but only if this combination for the naval officer will really happen.)

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So basically the naval officer gets everything for free and has to accept fights. It doesnt matter if you loose, you got everything for free anyways!

 

And the privateer has to work for all of it.

 

I love it! (but only if this combination for the naval officer will really happen.)

 

Also privateer can go after shipping, which officers could not without orders to hassle trade. 

  

Also privateer gets a better prize share. 

 

I think it would matter if you lose, even as an officer, because you will never get any better ships or promotion. 

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How do the pirates fit into all this? (I mean what is the incentive to be a pirate?) it seems Privateer will fill this role? I would love to have an incentive to be a pirate. that cool flag alone just might not get it. Are their roles fairly equivalent?

Edited by Tinman
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The Naval Officer role as it is detailed there is obviously aimed at people who want to just dive in and fight without worrying about economy etc.

That is a great thing as it is likely to widen the audience and also help people get started by limiting complexity but ultimately may end up limiting people when they want to branch out elsewhere. Rather than "buff" the role in terms of money or whatever as most of the suggestions here are implying such that they can be more freeform and still fill that role take a slightly different approach.

 

Would it not be sensible to instead of classifying everyone as one of 2-3 (or however many) "roles" for the entirety of the game you make them optional and possible to leave at a later time if you do pick them. That would allow you to start fresh to the game, not worry about losing ships etc as you learn the mechanics. You get all the benefits and negatives of your selected class whilst you are associated to it.

Then when you are confident enough to go it alone break away from that role and take on the other aspects of the game like trade & privateer/pirating etc but throw away the previous benefits you had at the same time.

 

E.g

"Naval Officer" as above.

"Trader" gets you preferable trade rates across the factions ports and access to reduced cost trade vessels but prevents you going above X in combat vessels.

(Edit: These are just examples of the KIND of thing, not actual suggestions before someone gets upset)

 

Then on the side of all those you have a free form mode where you get none of the benefits and none of the weaknesses for those who want to dabble in a bit of everything. It would also end up giving you a system where you could bolt on more "roles" at a later time in updates without breaking the whole system as you roll out new features.

 

So you either specialise and get benefits to your specific doctrine at the expense of all others, or go jack of all trades and have to foot the bill of everything yourself but the upside is freedom of choice.

 

Edit: Obviously fine details like how you carry forward ships (or don't) and stuff between the change would need to be ironed out but this is just general suggested theme as opposed to hard locking people in a role which ultimately leads to multi-boxing / multiple characters.

Edited by MalakithSkadi
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I just came.

 

I have been clamouring for this since I learned about OW.

 

Any class outside the naval carrier should not have much restrictions, only consquences I think.

 

As privateer you can do crafting, you just have to earn enough to pay for your monthly letter of marque. If you don't want to pay for it just craft, you can, but you can only fight pirates. If you want to do all the hell you want and don't want to pay for anything go for a pirate. If you like a more structured gameplay and don't want to worry about eco aspects of the game, like crafting and trading go naval. I totally LOVE it.

 

It's actually more freedom.

 

WOW!

Edited by marecek05
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I like the overall idea.

 

To me, the naval officer career should also give the opportunity for everybody to sail top rated ships. Sometimes and for a certain amount of time.

Maybe a small part of those top rated ships shouldn't be assigned based on leaderboards but randomly given for a while (a week ?) by the Admiralty, without being committed to results. Then after this period, assignments in order to keep your top rated ship could begin. 

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How do the pirates fit into all this? (I mean what is the incentive to be a pirate?) it seems Privateer will fill this role? I would love to have an incentive to be a pirate. that cool flag alone just might not get it. Are their roles fairly equivalent?

privateers and pirates are almost identical except for one thing, pirates sail for their selves and privateers are employed by a nation, as a result of this you dont see privateers attacking their own nation or its allies, however its enemies and enemy shipping is free for all while for pirates they hunt all and are hunted by all

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Sounds pretty great to me. I can see lots of people starting navy, then branching out later, which should be allowed. The nice thing I see in this is that you can build in limits to the acquiring of line ships. I would like to see only the most dedicated naval officers able to get into them (unless other player can capture one of course). I see myself being drawn to privateer, but all of the rolls could be made pretty great I think. Exciting news.

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As exciting as I am about this proposal, I have one little reservation.

 

Although I really cannot see the harm by implementing this, it should be done only, when the structure of national government within the game is designed.

 

Implementing missions, it must be first determined, how will the orders for naval be assigned. Will it be AI, devs, council of players governing the nation? Will it be combination of all with council selecting general area and type, with AI selecting specific missions from pool created by devs?

 

But overall, I am very happy with the proposal.

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I like the ideas, however yes like it was said it lacks the freedom a bit for Naval Officers. They should be able to capture ships and keep it OR send it to Admiralty or even sell it for + money. I'm fine with obviously the Admiralty gives you the ship as you enlist in the Navy. But I think we would need more ships for each nation then, so for example every nations would have all kind of ships so that the Admiralty only would give you a ship which is actually belongs to that certain nation or was built in that nation.

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I like the ideas, however yes like it was said it lacks the freedom a bit for Naval Officers. They should be able to capture ships and keep it OR send it to Admiralty or even sell it for + money. I'm fine with obviously the Admiralty gives you the ship as you enlist in the Navy. But I think we would need more ships for each nation then, so for example every nations would have all kind of ships so that the Admiralty only would give you a ship which is actually belongs to that certain nation or was built in that nation.

i disagree, naval officers should give the ships to admerality as that is the price of getting a ship for free(everyone else has to buy them/craft them). Nation specific ships i disagree with again as it is well known through out history that enemy equipment has been captured and used, everything from swords and shields to rockets and war ships... so again i disagree with the last statement.

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A thought on Letters of Marque:

A Letter of Marque should be purchasable from any nation that is selling them. It is when no Letter of Marque is aboard that one shifts into the Neutral/Pirate Spectrum.

How might this be reflected? If your monthly fees aren't kept up, and you've sunk or captured ships of a nation, that nation may well view you as a pirate.

You could, to discourage constant side-switching, require people to pay reparations to a nation depending on how many vessels of theirs they have sunk (or by tonnage) before that nation would be willing to sell you a Letter of Marque.

It makes the Privateer much more "loosey goosey," but also truer to the mark, I think.

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