Macjimm

I wonder why if there are so many people who want to get into an even match, such a high number of players who desire to fight one on one, a massive amount of people who wish to go head to head and fight until one ship is sunk ... why can't you find each other. Is the world too big? Perhaps if you posted up a notice to eager players who are itching to get into a slug fest and beat the crap out of each other. Describe a location on the map and a date and time and who knows perhaps a whole bunch of willing combatants will meet there and take turns kicking each other in the teeth, one on one. If no one shows up then maybe it's an indication that there may not very many people who like that style of gameplay. Or maybe the timing is poor. Try it. Post up a date, time and location. If no one shows then try it again. Who knows, just might work.

LOL. Did I just hear "Ouch ... Doh! .... Ouch. Doh! .... Ouch. Doh! ..." Etc. Edit - supplementary: perhaps our friend is testing, as we all should. No offence intended. Just sounded funny for a minute.

I've never tried the small or large battles because I've heard that it is good etiquette when agreeing to a small or large battle to fight to destruction of one side's forces. The game mechanics and rules allow for some measure of avoiding the deathmatch ending but it is considered unsportsmanlike. There is an unwritten expectation that you have agreed to come together to punch it out to the bitter end. This all sounds just a little to gamey to me so I have avoided it. Mostly because I don't understand the motivation behind it and thus would be at risk of offending or annoying my opponents (and teammates). I think it is great to have this style of PVP combat for those who enjoy it. Seriously. No sarcasm ... I think it is great for the players who like it. Players who wish to use fleeing as a valid tactic of naval warfare can do so in OW battle instances. Running away is not just acceptable,it enhances the gameplay because it adds more complexity to the competition and does not rely solely on the slugfest style. I like this type of combat because am fairly comfortable that I won't piss anyone off if I choose to run or flee or kite. I think I understand the game well enough that I know if someone is upset when I flee it is because they don't understand the game. I'm glad there is an alternative to small/large battles. I'm not sure that everyone understands the unspoken politics of the small and large battles. Until there are some mechanics to allow another type of ending in small and large battles, perhaps the game could include a notice at the start of the battle that players are encouraged to close and engage rather than flee. That is of course if the devs truly do expect players to use the small/large battles for staying within range and exchanging cannon balls. Alternatively, perhaps Devs are prepared to let players decide the outcome of the small/large battles. There is a game called "checkers" where a superior player can be thwarted of a victory if he/she fails to destroy the opponent. A stalemate is not a win. A clever opponent will seek to create a stalemate ending rather than give in to self destruction. The final stages can be tiresome and tedious while waiting for an almost defeated player to make a final mistake. But most checker players would prefer their opponents to try as hard as possible to stay in the game and avoid defeat. Until the Devs provide a way to call a draw it may be up to the superior force to out manuvere the weaker ship(s). But that thought might infuriate the players who want to fight often and detest fleeing. It may be more agreeable if those who choose to enter into the small and large battles to bite on something hard, move toward the enemy and die relatively quickly while inflicting as much damage as they can.

Senore Capitino, Compliments for identifying the server. It seems that some players don't notice that posting an after action report or political brief is sigificant to the related server. We have parallel universes here at UO.

There seems to be some concern that players could use "trade XP" to gain a fully crewed and armed ship of the line. But perhaps if "trade XP" was specific to the opportunities for trading only. Check out previous ideas: http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/8795-trading-xp/ http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/8735-exp-gain-by-trading/ For players who do not wish to fight a great many battles it seems like a penalty to have little or no opportunity to progress. . Why do we need more XP? Larger ships ? Sounds like we can easily sail a larger sized vessel with an undersized crew. And it seems somewhat silly (if that's not too strong a word) for traders to be sailing SOLs, especially a fully crewed and gunned SOL. Prestige? Perhaps players could be issued some type of award, ribbon or flag that they can display (hope there is an option to hide it in the captains cabin.) Opportunity? It may someday be possible for trading XP to grant special privileges like; limited access to restricted ports - (imagine the risk), or a discount on purchases linked to volume. It may be possible to develop the trading aspect so that nations with skilled traders have a slight productive advantage. Trading XP could be distinctly different from Combat XP but just as valuable. Personally I may be content to trade just for the fun but surely we can figure out a way to allow traders a little reward. There should be a way without destroying the battle gameplay for the rest. As an enhancement to this idea ... perhaps we could earn a specific type of Trader XP that will allow opportunity to trade outside of your own nation's ports. It could be incremental, limited by time or number of nations and increase with the level of "Trader XP" obtained.

I found the Lynx to be very fast close hauled. The zoomed in view seems very close to the deck. And aesthetically it is very attractive. My favourite

Wow. The opportunity for cooperation presents itself. If you could find a couple mates to help you could go pick a fight and have the helpers distract the target ship. Be sure to spawn into the instance with the weather gauge. I would choose help that have very fast ships that can out run the enemy. If you choose a trader ship (as the target), that way you may not even need the help from some mates. I'm not sure if this would work entirely but it would be exciting to try.

I'm low level and don't have much gold or XP. I'm not looking for a way to exploit the game. Can an Admin please clearly explain what specific ingame actions I should be avoiding so I don't get my account removed or have my gold/XP reset? I don't understand "Damage Farming" or "Exploiting Damage Mechanics". Sounds somewhat political, because general statements like "play fair" or "don't cheat" really don't clarify the matter. Not trying to be difficult. There may be other players who do not have much of an understanding of MMOs or competitive online games. I'm learning a lot though, and the detailed answers help.

I had a AI trader brig disengage last night. But it was at the beginning of the boarding process and I had not prepped. I didn't get into the boarding screen, was pulling. Don't know if that counts as a disengage.

Scan the horizon for ships or land. Make entries in the ship's log (mostly to track changes in speed as it helps to determine an accurate ETA). Calculate the estimated verses actual plot. Enjoy the ride.

Did you have enough boarding preparation?

Perhaps there could be areas where storm frequency is greater (or lesser). Storm Areas But storms that can damage/sink a vessel need an instance. Speedboating through very large waves would not improve the game. also: http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/7056-should-the-weather-cause-open-world-damage/?hl=storms [/indent]

Would love to see a toggled compass that can be used to take a sighting with the UI turned off. And also a watch than can be toggled off or on. If we do have a navigator he could call out his findings and not type the location into the text. We should be able to toggle this on or off or just summon a response on a keybinding. Will get pretty annoying if he keeps yelling out "Land due west Sir!" over and over. The idea of error in the results that the navigator calls out is interesting. Perhaps very poor directions from the low rank navigator and just unreliable direction from the highest rank navigator. Personally ... there are other ways to plot a course outside of the game and perhaps the developers have better things to build. There are simple tools to create a decent plot within http://map.openseamap.org/ Or you can use a more accurate map and take your own measurements. http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/8451-shrouded-recluses-map-with-accurate-coords/ I would really love to see a compass and watch. That should be reasonably easy to develop.

Darn. Hope this doesn't sound obtuse. I think that the above defines NPC disengage. In other words the AI will no longer disengage when boarding is in progress, regardless of who initiated the boarding. But players may still disengage. Although I'm still confused about breaking boarding. It seems I am allowed to ram an enemy player during a PvP to disrupt a boarding to save a friendly ship BUT I can be banned for ramming a friendly/AI boarding. Is that about right?

Breaking boarding? Sounds like this is to prevent a friendly player from boarding. It would include "stealing boarding" when someone other than the player initiating the battle instance completes the boarding. Have I got that right? Can the Admin or Mr Darby please explain what "NPC Disengage" means? I may not be the only one who doesn't understand this clearly.

As an enhancement to this idea ... perhaps we could earn a specific type of Trader XP that will allow opportunity to trade outside of your own nation's ports. It could be incremental, limited by time or number of nations and increase with the level of "Trader XP" obtained. Additionally players can blockade any port to anyone.

I think the storms need to convert into an instance so we have more control at mitigating the damage. Sails, yards, repair, survival etc. Would vote yes on all of the above if you remove the term "in OW."

How do I download a high rez copy of your map?

When we were able to teleport to an outpost, it was easy to teleport to the outpost and then sail back to the port to sell the goods. One way trip without teleporting with goods.

Thanks Prater

I've become fairly comfortable with the direction. But still working on a reasonable estimation of time based on the distance. Can anyone else provide a factor for the arithmetic when determining the time it will take for a distance in game? I think that the actual distance is about 3 times the real world distance. Anyone else find the same thing?

I detest trolling. The post was was meant as a sincere compliment. Your response to Jodgi was outstanding.

Hats off to the Game Labs. Got my support. What a great attitude. Extending compassion and reasonable administration . Also rewards honesty and promotes the bond between uncles and nephews. You guys are awesome.

This is a great discussion. Thanks to everyone for the input. Some of us might think that it is unfair to not receive experience for trading. After all, for players who do not wish to fight a great many battles it seems like a penalty to have little or no opportunity to progress. But after reading the responses one might ask ... Why do we need more XP? Larger ships ? Sounds like we can easily sail a larger sized vessel with an undersized crew. And it seems somewhat silly (if that's not too strong a word) for traders to be sailing SOLs, especially a fully crewed and gunned SOL. Prestige? Perhaps players could be issued some type of award, ribbon or flag that they can display (hope there is an option to hide it in the captains cabin.) Opportunity? It may someday be possible for trading XP to grant special privileges like; limited access to restricted ports - (imagine the risk), or a discount on purchases linked to volume. It may be possible to develop the trading aspect so that nations with skilled traders have a slight productive advantage. Trading XP could be distinctly different from Combat XP but just as valuable. Personally I may be content to trade just for the fun but surely we can figure out a way to allow traders a little reward. There should be a way without destroying the battle gameplay for the rest.

I'm doing this right now. Stay in touch.