John Page

He did mention a timer for this effect: "two weeks pass." So alts would need to be recreated every two weeks.

Good ideas!

Um... Or you could just have nations with individual crafters choosing their bonuses at their shipyards. I'd rather not be a part of one big clan, maybe that's why I'm not...

Are you going to actually discuss the solutions I presented? If you want, you could go make your suggestion in it's own thread instead of as a reply here.

A good idea. What about nations that don't have capitals though?

This is part of the reason I suggested changing how port bonus investments work here: https://forum.game-labs.net/topic/31540-observations-on-the-state-of-the-game-and-possible-solutions/

Probably somewhere in between.

If you cannot craft ships with port bonuses, it's going to be a really tough road to hoe. Hard to adapt when you don't have any ports left... You can use your DLC ships, but then, who takes them out for port battles? You can capture 3rd, 2nd, and 1st rates now, except their wood types suck and they have not port bonuses. I did not say it was impossible, what I was getting at was, the majority of players would probably not find that fun. I really like the last idea. Having a series of battles is an excellent idea. RvR mechanics would not allow for zerg nation to do that. Russia already controls more than half of the 55 ports already... Santiago is not an oddity, as Santo Domingo, San Jaun, and Nassau can all be attacked from a free port, and, funnily enough, only the ones in the gulf that Russia owns cannot be. You missed my suggestion on the shipyards and port bonuses entirely. They would not be able to dismantle port developments for your shipyard once it's built so, if they were to take over, the only thing they could do is tax you more. I think that's a fair trade off. Please explain the issues of a rogue clan and how clans friends list solves that. It seems to me that it is causing way more issues than it solves.

Crafting and economy when another nation takes over. https://forum.game-labs.net/topic/31150-port-bonus-for-all-for-a-clan-set-crafting-tax-on-crafting-materials-pls-read/ What happens when an enemy nation captures your nation's ship building and crafting ports? Short answer, that economy ceases to exist. Long answer, your outposts remain, you cannot teleport to them, you cannot produce resources in them, all of your crafting materials are still in the warehouse (1000s of goods, possibly more than 4 Indiamen full), and you cannot use your level 3 shipyard to produce ships, which took many hours to collect the capital investment of 4.25 million reals and 85000 doubloons total. If this is your nation's only shipyard port with bonuses, now what? You cannot craft to even the RvR odds, hell you cannot even craft because you like to. Part of the game is now closed to you until you either relocate all your buildings somewhere or retake the port. For example, the pirates recently took Santiago from Great Britain. Before I go any further, I want to make clear this part is not about me, but about the potential fallout caused when something like this happens. Many players, including myself, lost all production capability overnight. For a casual player like myself, crafting is an enjoyable part of the game, but it took me 2 months from launch to get a level 3 shipyard, just 2 weeks before Santiago was taken. I honestly do not look forward to that grinding process again. Some have joined the pirate nation to keep their buildings to avoid this and I think some have even quit the game altogether. What I want to point out is: what happens if this was a smaller nation that does not have other shipyard ports like Great Britain? Will this cause more players to quit the game? Will they switch sides to be on the 'winning' side? Both effectively kill a nation's population and how can you be an effective RvR nation without anyone to fight? Another example is the current clan port ownership system where only those on the friends list are able to produce ships with port bonuses. I believe this system was introduced to eliminate enemy alts from accessing a ports bonuses. In reality, it punishes those that aren't part of the friends list for whatever reason (whether there isn't enough room for them like happened in GB, or like the Pirates have done at Baracoa where clans have to pay tribute or have been blocked if they are part of certain clans). I don't think it has actually solved the alt problem. Possible solution Allow other nations to craft when enemy controls the port. These national crafters would be taxed and controlling nation (clan) would be able to set taxes differently for different nations. In order to prevent abuse, only allow warships to be towed out like currently (i.e. trade vessels only in/out of enemy ports). The port bonus content will need to be tweaked somewhat. My suggestion: Instead of Port Bonuses being tied to port bonus investments, allow the shipbuilder options based on the level of port development. Higher development levels allow a crafter access to use better port bonuses. In essence, make them economic bonuses and allow Crafters regardless of nation or clan access to use that port's infrastructure. Clans/nations can invest in the infrastructure and players can invest in their shipyard to produce certain builds. Only certain combinations of port bonuses can be used as they are currently (port point system remains, but shifted slightly). For example, it would only be possible to have Hull 4, Gun 4, Sail 3, Crew 3, and Mast & Rig 1 at a 45 point port (15 + 15 + 7+ 7 + 1 = 45), but someone else could build a different shipyard with Hull 4, Gun 3, Sail 4, Crew 3, and Mast & Rig 1 in the same port. This still requires the port to be developed, but it doesn’t punish individual crafters too much if the port is lost (e.g. the tax may rise, but they can still produce ships with bonuses they need to stay relevant in the RvR scene). Clans can set the tax levels for each individual nation. (GB, France, US, etc.). Setting a higher tax rate for a nation discourages them from using the port. All tax revenue goes to the controlling clan to help pay for the port costs (timers, development, defenses, etc). I do not believe tax should be in materials like Sir Max Magic suggests, but clan should get the tax income. Front line mechanics https://forum.game-labs.net/topic/31347-frontline-system-success-or-not/ Another issue is the front lines mechanics. If a nation wants to attack another but there is another nation in between they must first attack the in-between nation if they cannot get the mission from a freetown or a port they own. This is a major problem if a small nation like Sweden or the United States wants to attack a big nation like Russia or the Dutch, they are limited to, at maximum, the 3 closest enemy capitals, not always owned by the same nation. Possible solutions The more ports a nation owns the more the hostility missions available against its ports, based on certain thresholds, up until all capitals are available. Or Make all hostility missions against capital ports available. Or Make all county ports available to unlock the capital. For example, a certain percentage of the ports (51%?) must be taken before capital is unlocked for hostility. Like several have mentioned already (not my idea, but it has merit). Screening Being screened out of a port battle, with no chance of ever getting in, I believe, is a real problem. Although I enjoy screening battles, there needs to be a limit to how many screeners one can employ. I have heard of as many as 75 players show up on one side to screen people out and the port battle never took place. The current mechanic makes it near impossible to have a port battle for smaller nations or clans that want to participate in RvR. Possible solutions Limit the number of screeners. For example, one battle group of 25 players. Or Allow players from clan and friends list to join their scheduled port battles from port, eliminating the need for screening entirely (probably unpopular). Sincerely,

Yeah, Santiago was painful to watch. Especially since all my crafting was setup there.

Or you could just block them in chat...

Not necessarily... Bigger nations could screen out smaller ones or take the treasure first like what happens with the fleet wrecks currently. I like the idea though.

That's true, but it doesn't have to be over bonuses or resources. It could be something like nation X has an admiralty mission to take xyz port and gets rewarded (rewards could be anything, like doubloons, reals, resources, books, chests, etc.), OR there could be a way to 'win' the game where X nation gets a certain number of points for port captures and number of ports held, if they get to a certain number of points first for most ports held or captured they get some truly special reward before the map resets and the round starts over.

Appreciate your work! In the ship compare, White Oak - White Oak builds with Hull 4 the fire resistance jumps from 0 to 20%. On Caguarian - White Oak it only goes from 9 to 11%. Is that accurate? Doesn't seem to matter which ship is selected. Also, Hull HP doesn't update at all from the wood frame data.

And now they patched it so rum and repairs don't give XP anymore. I think a rebalance of crafting XP earned is in due order. Sincerely,

Yes! I've advocated for this already:

I think boarding needs more overhaul than just this idea, but it's a good start.

I understood it to mean things like resources (forests, farms, etc.) not ship bonuses. Are port bonuses available after being taken off the friends list? That's not the point of this discussion, but our thanks to you, Gregory, and SNOW. I think you missed the point of this. With proper game mechanics there should not be any ability to "leech" at all. It should be player based investments, yes, but not locked behind clan friend list. This is what taxes are for. Clan that owns the port collects taxes (or should if they don't anymore). This points to the fundamental flaw of the current game mechanic. Big clans immediately take all ports and then expect other small clans and individuals to help, even though they might not be able to as much as yourself, especially if they play casually. If mechanic allowed players to pay for their own crafting developments / port bonuses individually, this problem wouldn't exist. Bonuses should be available to all who invest in it, not solely to those the owning clan picks and chooses. Here are my thoughts on how to fix this: 1. Port owners receive taxes from development costs and trades made on shop (this includes doubloons and reals). Clans that own the port can invest in defenses however they see fit. They should be able to set the tax rate between 5% and 50%. The lower tax rate incentivizes economic activity and the higher rate deters it. 2. Individuals and clans can invest in ports which generates revenue for port owner to use in defense. Individuals and clans that have invested heavily will naturally want to protect the port. 3. Implement the changes Anolytic mentions: Sincerely,

What about small clans? We are trying to ally with bigger clans but seems there is a limit to how many clans can reap the rewards at a port. This is extremely limiting to smaller, more casual clans. Some of my clan mates don't think it's worth going out to PvP now as they get destroyed by bigger clans that have access to ship bonuses.

Nothing is more unreasonably expensive than buying ships from crafters. Reals and doubloons is what I lack the most due to my PvE aversion. My crafting setup allows me to make ships for almost nothing and I occasionally help out fellow PvPers by giving them ships just as I have been given ships by other PVPers for free. It's unreasonably expensive because econ has never been great and the model keeps shifting. Certainly it will always be cheaper** to craft your own, otherwise no one would sell anything. **(in money/reals whatever we're using these days, but not time. It always takes time to craft, that's the trade off). However, with enough people to compete, the prices should generally become lower (i.e. be more competitive), but the market has to be fair and free in order for that to work. Fair and free meaning resources can be reasonably obtained, with some being more rare but not as difficult as they are now, i.e. less restrictions. Also, I think @TheLoneWolf mentioned earlier in this thread some suggestions that would work or help alleviate current issues, in my opinion. Yes, here they are: I think there are many reasons why economy has never been the greatest, but the leading reason has to be @admin just never really intended for this game to be economy based, and I believe it was originally brought in to satisfy the many requests for it. The economy/crafting system delivered for a time, but was never really quite there yet, and now, like LoneWolf, I am not sure where it will go. Sincerely,

Just to add this to the relevant topic. Yes, 'fire as she bears' would be a nice option. The game engine would have to know which ship to target, either expecting you to aim the first shot and the rest 'fire as she bears' at the target or having a soft lock, could both be simple solutions. Having to aim each swivel would be extremely difficult and would often times be tedious, it should be automatic (once you assign crew) with the option to aim, in my opinion. Scratch that, keep it automatic. As far as I know, swivel cannon were used for close range and were very effective against boarders or crew on the other ship using round or grape shot. Pretty much useless against ship's armor. I think in addition to this, muskets (served out to crew) and marines should act as sharp shooters doing damage to crew within range of the ship (they are already in game, but they only count as boarding mods currently). Since marines are already assigned just have small arms fire start doing damage to crew within 300 yards getting more accurate as it gets closer, like so: 300 yards (extreme range very inaccurate) 100 yards (much better accuracy, 65%) 50 yards (accuracy, 75% or 80%) 10 yards (almost point blank, max accuracy, not necessarily 100% more like 90% or 95%) Should not be able to kill all the crew this way though, as some aren't visible, below decks, etc.

I agree, but a smaller ship should definitely out maneuver a first rate. This sounds way too complicated. Personally, I think something like small arms and swivels are a better solution. You could effectively kill off his crew (potentially) without boarding if he is too close. I never liked determined defender in it's current state either; too much like magic.

This sounds very similar to the PvP flag system that Pirates of the Burning Sea has. It did work. Getting it to work in Naval Action will take some tuning for sure. I think in combination with @van Veen's idea on War and Peace would set RvR and PvP up better than what the game currently is.

Great suggestions @William Death, hear him!

I like the ideas here. Especially the repairs. Swivels will have to be carefully implemented though.