Macjimm

Voted no. Would vote Yes for clan, or personallized, pennant or banner. Great idea Hope those that approve of a pennant but are opposed to a sail logo have NOT voted yes.

The reinforcement ships are not effective for traders. Perhaps they could spawn close beside the enemy. One friendly reinforcement ship beside each enemy ganker. At least very close to your own nation's capital, it would be nice to have some protection that is a deterrent

Whaling would be a great addition.

Love to be able to control the ship from the camera view. Problem solved. You could add saved camera positions ... but just being able to control the ship from the camera view would be fantastic.

Effective representatives should be able to listen and clearly convey the preferences of their community. Having thousands of hours of gameplay does not make a player a good listener or a decent communicator. Understanding the game is important to providing valuable input, but knowing the community is essential to providing an honest picture of player's opinions.

Perhaps. But this is what I do in game currently. It makes sailing more interesting.

This is a topic dear to me. Navigating is a huge part of the enjoyment of Naval Action for me. With the lazer accuracy of the ship heading, lack of; currents, wind drift or variation in winds, it is very easy to set a course and arrive when and where we like. There are many very good maps now to assist with creating a course plan. As a trader I often sail out into open water and then stay far away from the shore an ports to avoid hunters. I have to keep track of the time so I know where I am based on my speed. It is very satisfying when I the towers of port are sighted off the bow, exactly where expected, after an hour of sailing. NA Map is very handy for lots of things, and provides some simple navigation. The Travel Map can be used to plot a course with multiple legs, and can be used to determine very accurate timings. The Burning Sail is really handy for quick rough calculations for single legs. Or you can download Shouded Recluse's Map or The Naval Action Game Map and use a easy editor like SnagIt to plot and measure your own course. There are more very good maps. I don't think that drawing on, or marking up the map is needed. There are lots of 3rd party maps that work very well and for detailed plans I use a drawing program. It works very well and allows the Devs to work on other concerns. I would love to have a compass ingame that I could use to take a sighting. A time piece would be nice, but I can use a watch. A chip log to measure speed would be cool but because the speed of ships are dependent only on the wind direction, and ship's performance, it also is unnecessary. A pendant, even a static one, would be helpful to show the wind direction. With these items it would be wonderful to sail without the user interface and immerse oneself in the experience of sailing. Only the compass and pendant are really needed. The other items would just be nice. All of them must be on a toggle, so they could be turned off when not in use. The F11 Co-ords, are very useful after fleeing from a hunter, and becoming disoriented. I like to be able to check the ship's position in some circumstances. A sextant would be nice, or a pilot who could provide the Co-ords. There is lots of room for creativity and added interest. The sextant could be a book, or upgrade, or just an item in the shop. Perhaps it could be crafted and sold. There could be various levels of quality sextants. Weather could affect its accuracy. The speed of the ship could influence the sextant, or the pilot, forcing captains to reduce sail to get a decent reading.

I always thought it was just NA magic. It would be great if sailing in an instance affected the return to OW.

Hurrah! .. for landmarks It is this type of content that would make OW sailing more engaging, and encourage some of us to travel farther and more often.

I can relate to Marcus, I like to be on the PvP server and am okay with some risk. As long as players can't magically appear out of nowhere, and ambush me ... unless there is fog. Here is a repeat of what I posted in a thread about AI lookouts. But it seems more fitting to post it here: Having an AI lookout that could be toggled call out sails, or land, would be the single biggest improvement that could be made to the game. Trading and sailing is appealing but unless scanning is maintained continuously it is very dangerous. Even a brief distraction can result in getting jumped . I would make more long distance sails, but I get weary of continually scanning the horizon. I don't sail AFK, cause I'm in game to make the journey. It is interesting to track the ship's progress on a map, using an editor and some of the Naval Action maps that have been developed. But currently all of the navigation duties and records in the ship's log must be made in hurried quick notes, because a traders attention must never be allowed to wane. The result is a little frantic and it gets tiring. Having an experienced lookout would be the wonderful addition. Even if it was for traders only. Traders who are sailing large slow ships would still be a risk. For the smaller fast traders like myself, the AI lookout would be a huge improvement that would encourage me to sail farther and more often.

This would be the single biggest improvement that could be made to the game. Trading and sailing is appealing but unless scanning is maintained continuously it is very dangerous. Even a brief distraction can result in getting jumped . I would make more long distance sails, but I get weary of continually scanning the horizon. I don't sail AFK, cause I'm in game to make the journey. It is interesting to track the ship's progress on a map, using an editor and some of the Naval Action maps that have been developed. But currently all of the navigation duties and records in the ship's log must be made in hurried quick notes, because a traders attention must never be allowed to wane. Having an experienced lookout would be the wonderful addition. Even if it was for traders only. Traders who are sailing large slow ships would still be a risk. For the smaller fast traders like myself, the AI lookout would be a huge improvement that would encourage me to sail farther and more often.

There are so many ways to encourage people to leave the reinforcement zone. Personally I would rather trade and do business with other players than the game mechanics. I would be happy to transport some materials, repairs or goods somewhere to assist in the war effort. Using the text chat is one way to find out what is needed and where, but it might be easier if there was some sort of classified section posted in game. There might be a way to create some sort of Cooperative goal that would run for a week. Example. Deliver certain goods to a certain port, and at the end of the week the participants with the greatest quantity of deliveries would get the highest rewards. Or sink / capture a number of ships in a certain area, and there again the captains with the greatest amount of shipping sunk / captured would receive the greatest rewards at the end of the week. Both of these goals would focus players into a certain area and other nations could congregate in that area, to try to prevent the deliveries or the plunder. Group missions that involved waypoint's on a patrol route, or deliveries to several ports, could encourage people to work together and leave the reinforcement zones. By completing the mission as a group the rewards would be much higher. I disagree with making Traders immune to PVP. It would just make the game less exciting and more gamey. I like Trading and sailing: With only risk from pirates, the game would be less interesting. I do like the idea of friendly Nations being unable to attack each other. Be careful with taxes, because if the game is perceived to punish players for trading or becomes just too hard to trade, players won't just easily start fighting. They will likely just play alot less. Personally anything that could be done to make sailing more engaging would encourage me to play more, and leave the reinforcement zone.

Except this is exactly what traders are forced to do on a long sail. Scan the horizon continuously ... unless they want be captured. I would love to have a look out in my crew.

I like to image creative explanations for the game mechanics. Like pigeons carrying messages. In NA the pigeon flight speed is proportional to open world ship speed ... they fly at about 700Kn. The suggestion for "players themselves posted at these ports dedicated to typing away on nation chat" sounds like a good option while we wait for the Devs to implement this idea. Good idea.

Very good idea

This is the most awesome news ever !!!

Or how about this example Players co-ordinate a player trader fleet that will sail from one port to another. Perhaps to provide goods for shipbuilding or repairs for an upcoming battle. Other players provide escort to improve the success of the convey. Enemy players that are stationed nearby are tasked to look for enemy convoys and then send a message, to other enemy players, that a trade convey has left port, with a heading. Perhaps the enemy scouts will shadow the convoy. Enemy players have to guess at the destination. If the convoy reaches the destination, all involved players that defended it, will get a game play satisfaction as reward, and the same for the enemies if they manage to destroy the protection fleet. Successful conveys will also have an opportunity to provide support for shipbuilding and/or war efforts. Successful enemies may be able to keep the goods that they plunder, if they can stop the convoy, plus the enemy will increase their own success in the war effort.

This thread sparks some interesting thoughts. I have agree with with Sir Texas Sir, he is well informed. The game is not a simulator. It is meant to be fun for players who think "fun" is fighting. Naval Action is focused on combat, fast action, with limited waiting. The realism, in the description of the game, must refer to graphics and a limited amount of physics for sailing and ballistics. Realism is not a favorable word if it detracts from access to lots of battles Fighting is key with only a little delay between combat. Suggestions get more traction if they are focused on improving fighting. But ... I like sailing and these ideas could make sailing more interesting. In OW, it would be fascinating to see sails only at a distance, and wait to identify the nation by the paint scheme or a static flag from a closer distance, and details of the ship's name or captain's name would be limited. These type of details would make OW sailing much more interesting than the instant display of text in the magic UI. But because none of this realism would increase the number or frequency of fights, it is highly unlikely that any of them will be considered. From a realism point of view, how feasible is it that ships can be recognized on sight? Consider the number and differences of ships that were historically in the Caribbean compared to the number of ships and their cloned similarity in Naval Action. I image that there were less ships back in the day, but perhaps there were more. In the age of sail it took much longer to build ships, and they were destroyed much less often. It seems that large ships might become well known and many sailors could tell you where she was from at a glance. But so many vessels might be unknown. I imagine that there were lots of ships that sailors had no idea where they were from and absolutely no clue who was in command until they were within shouting distance. I digress. These ideas are moot. They have nothing to do with the Action in Naval Action. These ideas would provide more content, and more to do, while sailing, but sailing is not a key focus in the open world of Naval Action. Sailing is a distraction between opportunities for other interests.

Reviews do not determine if a game is good, content does. Likewise a few negative votes won't sway most intelligent people, especially if the reasons for the vote are not important. Be careful what you wish for, wiping the reviews on release may not be favorable, the recent reviews are not. I would focus on the big picture. Overall most reviews for this game are positive ... 65%.

That's good to know. When I was trying an hour ago, it said there were almost 200 players on.

I have the same problem. Sounds like others do also. No solution or explanation offered. Hopefully it will just go away.

I am able to get the Shard selection screen and can select Caribbean or PvE but am unable to connect because I get an error Authentication error: Steam Authentication server error. How can I solve this?

I did a trade run last night. I prepared a course far away from the shoreline to avoid hunters. I sailed for about 1 hr and 20 min, as fast as my ship would go. I often sail slowly, but I had a limited time to dedicate to NA last night. It all felt a little frantic, trying to keep track of the time, plotting my position on a map, adjusting for course correction, destroying salt and fish so I could still pick up a bottle if one floated by and all the time scanning for hunters. I came across one US 5th rate about 15 minutes into the trip. She crossed my bow and as I cruised by she turned, and for a moment I thought she might pursue. It was a tense moment. I saw one other ship that appeared to approach but my ship was faster and I slowly left her behind. I miss being able to hail ships from other nations. The interaction between captains has been very satisfying and I've had great conversations with other traders and hunters, even some who have defeated me. They have always been respectful and the communication enriched the experience. My destination was a county capital: One where I have been jumped previously, before there were reinforcement zones. An escort sacrificed his ship there, to save mine, once before. As I neared the capital it was reassuring to know that I was in a reinforcement zone. I was able to reduce sail and dock without being in a blind rush. This time I made it into port and made $150k plus. Without an escort. Other times I have not been so lucky. I didn't find the trip boring because for almost all of the journey I was at risk, and I was always busy. Sailing full speed was a challenge. There was no time to make notes about the various shiping activity, in my log. If at the end every journey I will have to run a gantlet in the high speed motor sailboat, the enjoyment will be diminished. It would be a shame to reduce such a rich game to simple fast reaction hand eye co-ordination, at the end of every run, rather than strategy and timing. I hope this new change means that I can approach a capital with confidence. Looking forward to testing it.

So much hate directed at PvE players. I like trading and fishing, but I enjoy a certain amount of risk. I used to play on the PvE server but now use the Caribbean server all the time. Trading with players is interesting and having danger areas of conflict adds excitement. Ridiculing and insulting traders, because they prefer not to fight, won't increase the number of combatants for PvP. I just don't understand how the presence of some players who want to avoid battles destroys the game. Just pretend that the carebear is not there, ... in a little safezone. Or perhaps make a very small safezone very close to the capital.

The point in having someone on the crew call out sightings is it would add to the enjoyment of sailing. I don't sail while AFK. Currently I have to continually scan 360 degrees looking for enemy that can approach like a thundering speedboat very quickly. I would enjoy sailing much more if I could navigate or write in the ship's log. But because everyone on the crew is mute or sworn to silence I have to maintain vigilance 100% of the time. Sailing would be more interesting if there was an option to have the crew help with lookout duties. Emphasis on option. The feature must have an off position.