Macjimm

Thanks for trying to answer my question. Why would players be more likely to attack a nameless foe? If anonymity is the prime consideration. Perhaps we could chat without knowing the name of the other player. Players could then choose to share their names and PM each other.

First Lieutenant. Hundreds of hours. I fish and trade, mostly locally. Players get more XP from combat than trading. I don't play every day and sessions are rarely more than a couple hours. I'm not in a hurry and enjoy sailing. Sailing doesn't yield much XP. I really like the slow pace .

What is the logic behind restricting chat between players? Seems that ships should be able to send a hail to each other, and if they agree to, communicate. Perhaps optional chat in response to a hail. I would prefer be able to talk to anyone/everyone, regardless of their nationality.

Good point. I would like to be able to talk to all players, even if I can't see their name. We have an ignore button for those who don't want to see unwanted messages.

I've been sailing for years and recently became a Lt. The way I see it, I can enjoy lots more of NA and look forward to promotions for many years to come.

We used to have auto deliveries, without OW NPC travel. Stuff was magically teleported from one outpost to another. The mechanic was much different that sending a player's ship out into OW under AI control. There was no risk for the player of losing a ship or cargo.

Would be great if I could send any of my ships, with the crew from my alotment of men, on a journey in OW. It should be allowed. I would like to be able to risk my ships, out in OW travel, with AI captains. Basic cutters could be excluded. Waypoints and fleets should be allowed. It would be even better if I could, teleport between ships and outposts, with an option to watch the AI captain sail or take control of the ship at anytime.

I agree. I've been keeping notes on the numbers of player's for a couple years. We have about 100 (avg) more now than we used to have on both PvP servers combined.

Respectfully, we can not sail from the deck currently. We can sail from a point a couple meters above the deck, nailed to the mast, or in a 3rd person view above the ship. There is a limited 180-degree deck view, when in aim view, in a battle instance. People have asked for various views from the ship. both in open world and the battle instance. I would be happy if I could control the ship from "free view" or "camera view".

Also need a first person view from the deck in Open World. Not quite done. Can't control the ship.

I have never had someone hold me in a battle for hours. For me this issue just isn't a problem. How often is this happening? Daily? Weekly? Monthly? The frequency is important because delay/harrassment is an effective tactic in warfare. It could be used constructively on a strategic level. I suggest that delaying/harrassing would have to be systematic, chronic and targeted at a specific player, to be addressed as abuse.

This is interesting. I had always envisioned small fleet age of sail engagements to be like what you described. I hope that the potential for this type of interaction is never prohibited in this game. As a trader it is the hound and fox portion of the game that is trilling, the battle portion is a little like being a chicken and watching my own death from a low velocity pellet gun. I sympathize that some players will never want to participate in a four hour battle, and other players do not even consider the chase to be part of the fight. I prefer a game that allows conflict between players that involves the tactics of fleeing and evading for extended periods. After all, it is a game. Ending the chase is relatively easy to do so. Surrender, giving up, quitting or suicide won't hurt too much. It is a game after all. Although we could should add some features that would make losing a little easier to take. Previously I was able to talk to enemy players in Open World, and the communication made ending the fight easier. I imagined that I was signalling my opponent and he/she was responding. The conversations were sporting and enhanced the experience. I have even had hunters let me go on a couple occasions. I've had to "Ignore" a few toxic players but the list is very short. Removal of the communication, between ships of different nations, has degraded the game. Adding trade mechanics, between all players both in Open World and in the Battle Instance, allows players to create solutions to end the fight and enrich the story line.

Not sure how much text to use sometimes, so the whole idea is often not conveyed well. I think that ships should never spawn right beside a ship inside an instance. I would prefer if the required time to escape an instance was longer, but the distance between the spawn point and a ship inside is increased.

Terrific idea. In so many ways. For traders, we could travel in an instance. Hunters, could reposition themselves to intercept. Teamwork could be used by players inside and outside. This would allow for more strategy. The time in the instance could be extended. All players joining an instance should be an at increasing distance from the original ship, that was attacked, or at the initiation point of the instance, which ever is greater.

It would be an improvement if there was a beginner tutorial, that assumed the player was starting with no knowledge. I don't think that rewards are needed for the beginner tutorial, just simple instructions to ease players into the game. I helped a fresh player yesterday, who just wanted to start with sailing and trading. I encourage newbies to learn the basics with help from a fellow player, and to join a clan. The game may not be intuitive for a newbie starting from zero without help. The the current tutorials are best used by players who have some experience with the game.

I can't seem to find a keybinding that will allow me to identify what type of ship my fellow countrymen are sailing. Does anyone know of a ID chart, or quick reference, to determine a Naval Action ship type?

Excellent responses. Wish there were more similar informative threads similar to this. Perhaps we could pin this.

What if we could make ports stronger against defeat in Port Battles, and logistics, (resources, supply, gold etc. ) were required to maintain them. Design the maintenance requirements proportional to the port strength. That way there is a cost for the port protection. Storage fees, or protection rates, would be the price paid for security.

I don't know much about coding, but it seems simple enough to install an on switch in the options and default the light to off. The return is huge, because it is very impractical to hang a homing beacon on a trade ship to attract hunters

I can't think of a better way to improve NA than to have the option for storms. To appease the players who hate storms I suggest that they be confined to areas of the map that can be easily avoided. Players that have no appetite for dealing with weather could sail around the storm areas, instead of through them. We could even have cyclic foul weather seasons, so most of the time players could sail through the storm zones and be certain of fair weather. For everyone else weather is a feature that would improve the game play and provide added excitement. Shortcuts across storm zones, during storm season, could entice the trader who is willing to risk an encounter with nasty weather: The benefit could be an increase in Travel XP and reduced travel time. The risk could be damage to sails, rigging, masts and/or the ship itself. The sailor's greatest enemy has always been the sea. Opponents and cannons would seem puny and insignificant compared to might of a raging gale. There are lots of players who would love to pit themselves against the wind and waves in a storm instance and be forced to sail effectively to avoid damage. It would be thrilling to encounter storms where fighting was just not possible, and a player must make every effort just to keep the ship afloat. In a truly violent event, the mountainous pitching waves would make moving and loading cannons impossible. From previous threads I understand that the Devs have little motivation to create storm instances, and the game engine might be too limited, but the sea should have a huge influence on ships in the age of sail. Respectfully, the sea state has no effect on game play in NA. The briny deep is unimportant. In my dreams I imagine a Naval Action where ships can be damaged by rocks and shorelines, but that is a different topic.

Having the option to turn the light on would be excellent. There is really no reason for a light, it should be off by default. Some may think that it looks pretty.

When many people verbally state the time they say things like "half past eight" or "quarter to nine'. But very few people write those as "1/2 past 8" or "0.25 hours to 9 o'clock"

I always liked d mm yy for casual and dd mm yyyy for formal. Leaves very little room for misinterpretation. I use numerical yyyymmdd for sorting. 5 Jul 18 or 05 Jul 2018. ( and 20180705)

Depending on your taste, the game is not causal. I will leave classifying the game to the expert testers. But depending on the pace it can be enjoyed by a casual player. I only play the game for a few hours per week. I'm a casual player, and I can't afford to spend 7-10 hrs in a session or play every day. Currently the game play is comfortable, and I have built a healthy business of trading. Think of building a model that requires hundred of hours of effort. The crafter could spend only a couple hours per week and create a wonderful ship in a few years. But if the creation has to be completed in a few months; the project becomes hurried. The relaxed pleasure of building a model is reduced to a competition.

Consider the casual player who plays a couple hours, on a few days per week. It takes many months to build up a healthy stock of ships and stuff. How much can a player do in a hundred hours, especially at an unhurried pace and taking time to savour sailing. Wiping has a much different effect on someone who plays casually than on those who play very often. For me, frequent wipes would be annoying, and would reduce the game to sailing without purpose. Currently I can look forward to slowly building wealth. Frequent wipes would create an atmosphere of a race.