Pagan Pete

SO I set out in me surprise, the Harpy, to go on the account. I sails up toward Charleston, and on me way I find a feller on his trade brig. So we pulls up and attacks her. At the start O battle, I says to him; "Surrender is a viable option, here." His reply, "So is ramming!" Well, id already made preparations to load chain shot, and so as he steered towards me, i let lose a broadside down the length of his rigging! He crew were shocked by the intensity of the barrage! I let loose another shot with me stern guns and I turned through for the second broadside. I replied, "Its not an option any more! =oD" He struck his colours, and i set him and his crew ashore… minus the handsome little platinum blonde cabin boy of his. But wait! Theres more! I get to Charleston and there I spy a trade cutter and an Indiaman trawling the waters. I close in and begin the attack. The cutter set sail and fled straight away, with a few shots in his canvas as a going away present. The Indiaman and her crew were so stupefied at this, that they were totally unprepared for the onslaught!!! Just then, however, a US Navy Belle Poule shows up to render his assistance. It takes a good look at the wind, and I reckon we can capture this here ship before the Belle is in range. We close and board her… The crew was leaderless, as their captain was in a drunken stupor below!!! They took a bit of subduing, but as we got her under control, the Belle is almost upon us!!! "He got here quick!" I says. I give orders for the Quartermaster, Mr. Grimoire, to take 60 men and get the prize ship the hell out of here! I fires off a broadside of chain at the Belle, wot to both keep him occupied, and slow him down. Mr Grimoire makes good his escape. I follows suit in the harpy soon after. No damage! Onboard the india, in addition to another cute cabin boy, are TWO treasure maps! Along with tons and tons of quality fish! We sails back to port, sell the fish… which took some time, and then readied the Sybil to go quest after the treasure! Arrr har har!!!

Pagan Pete says let the dev take all the time they need to get the patch right. Quality over deadlines any day!

Strongly agree...

Hethwill gets it.

Tis common in US captains.

Arrr, I think we can all agree that… We could have told them that a 20% reload bonus was not going to work... =o)

Yarrr, I thinks it would a be a capitol idea if the developers gave us details on the upcoming patches (Im looking you YOU perks) so that us learned men can think it through and give our feedback BEFORE they are implemented. That way we won't need to hot fix balance issues as often. (Im looking at YOU again, perks)

So I done took a lil break from the game, wot as that last patch gave me indigestion. I come back from a long walk on the beach with the cabin boy, and decide to go fer a little cruise with the 30 minutes i had before life got in the way. I sail out in The Banshee just looking to catch one o them AI traders real quick, as I had a hankering to get sea spray in me face. Loe an Behold there is an unescorted trade brig by some feller! I set course to intercept, all sneaky like, and I maneuvers in behind him so he don't see me comin'. Battle commences and I be right beside the hapless victim! I throws her into the bow o me prey, and jumps over the gunwales screaming "Got ye now, ye bastards!" The brig's crew were in no mood fer a fight and laid down there arms as fast as gravity would pull em down! The ships were ours! This here GOLD trade brig were all kinds of nice, so we decided on keeping her and her cargo, and her cabin boy. We set sail with her precious booty o ferrous ore and oaken logs, and no sooner than that we are beset by 5 angry US captains out fer vengeance and looking to hang ole Pete and his crew! Pagan Pete baint so easily hanged however, and I stole me a right good ship! left em eatin my wake as swift as a California Southwester! Now in the fog and the dar after some chase, I turns fer home. Loe and Behold, after some time, we comes right too it! Now that were an excellent use o me half hour! Bwhahahahaha! Pagan Pete [_]P

Good healthy feed discussion were having here. And even some funny quips that almost made me laugh food all over me keyboard!

So, I were haven a fireside chat with some respected captains n admirals (Don't ask me how I broke into the gentleman's club) We talked at length, point n counter point, about what we (as players) want in our naval action. Here be our wish list. Bear with me here, as a lot of these points are interactive with one another, to a grand and glorious result we hopes. For the goal of making naval Action more immersive (without becoming a simulator) The distinguished gentlemen (and me) would like to get rid of the Perks. Perks were put in to help the boardin mini-game. But the mini-game has to go too! Two problems solved at once. Why? Perks reduce the immersion in the game. There be no magical forcefields that prevented a smaller crew from grappling and boarding a ship. Ai fleet ships are also a problem for the new captains or historical reenactor captains. Not even all the Spanish treasure galleons got escort ships! And even if the presence of AI fleets don't encourage players to group up into "Gank" fleets, they CERTAINLY don't discourage them as they can no longer take a trade ship solo. Aslo, to increase immersion, Deadly storms! These would be relatively simple to survive, when ye do the right thing… Shorten sail and turn yer bow into the waves. Player ships that wreck in a storm.. become shipwrecks for others to salvage! =oD Also… If we divide the loot from a prize ship amongst the captains AND the crewmen involved in taking a ship… we will motivate captains to sail smaller boats with smaller crews, and also to avoid huge Gank fleets. This also helps new players by giving them a nice high yield on their prize ships, getting them started in the game. And finally, we come to the Pyrate problem and the national "hemorrhaging to the Black". We discussed, at great length, how these are really aspects of the same problem. If the game controls War footing, smaller nations will be able to survive without getting crushed into oblivion (like Spain and Sweden did on PVP-1.When certain nations were crushed, many of them turned into pyrates, or even quit the game!) For example if France and Spain are not at war, you cannot attack their ports. You can still attack their ships, to keep the game action packed! To help reverse the current deluge of pyrates, brought about as above, It is necessary to offer Amnesty to all captains, so that they may rejoin their nations once more, and see their families again. The amnesty will return ALL of their goods to them probably as redeemable, or give them the equivalent in currency. As for pyrates themselves, we want to encourage historical pyrate behaviors! (beyond drinking and debauchery). Pyrates should not get ports. But can access ports of a particular nation as smugglers. There they can sell their ill gotten gains, purchase supplies, repair vessels etc. Pyrates cannot take ports, but can take place in port battles as a privateer (Invited by the nations involved) to gain loot and fame! Pyrates cannot craft ships above 7th rate. They must STEAL their way up the food chain. And accordingly, pyrates must pay out portions of the prize ship much more so than other nations (because the did!) this will reside the number of pyrates who can afford to sail ships of the line. Wed like to see and end to the boarding mini-game, AND the perks. We want to force groups to share their loot amongst all captains AND CREW in a group. We want to see the END of pyrates as a nation. No ports or port battles We want Amnesty offered for pyrates, so men who joined because their nations got crushed, can go back home. We want pyrates to have to capture their ships, above 7th rate. We want deadly storms. simple to get out of, but makes it more immersive. We want to END ai fleets. Make Declarations of War controlled by the game, not individuals. Now, that there be a whole lot to discuss, and Im sure I forgot a thing or two. Pull up a chair, have a rum, and lets work to "Make Naval Action Great Again!" PP

Its a legitimate post in an on-topic discussion. Don't you repress me! Help! Help! I;m bein repressed!!!

Le Probleme with this her tactical beaching is… currently you can still turn when beached! Even with your sails filly furled!!! Its an exploit used by some captains to try and save their precious cargo and, adorable cabin boys, from theft. Cheap bast…er… illegitimate children.

Ginger Cabin boy perk… Make you ship 10% more evil.

^^^ Now I know what ye may say; "But Pagan, that isn't a Gank fleet. Seamanship won't stop a Gank fleet!" Two examples of Seamaship (of my many, many tales of it) 1) Pagan Pete were in his surprise, the Harpy, and I were beset by eighteen, EIGHTEEN, US player ships of all classes… In good position. Me immediate thoughts were, "By Flying Pig Cloud! Ifn I don't play this exactly perfect, I'm dead!" So… I played it exactly perfect, and though a series of advanced maneuvers and tactics, I were able to escape from ALL of them with minimal damage to me ship, and their egos in tatters! Yarr har har! 2) Just yesterday, I Ploughed through 7 Ai ships to make a prize O one player on a rattlesnake. I took the ship and sailed off with me prize and ,self intact… because Seamanship! Knowing what to do, when to do it, and most importantly WHY to do it… That be seamanship! Seamanship will solve more o yer problems than any amount of AI, and can overcome any number of Gankers (18 is a BIG friggin number! Ifn yeve been hit by more, id like to hear that tale!) #NoFleets! #SeamashipIsKey

Without given away me any o me trade secrets… Pagan Pete stays live primarily by seamanship. And LGV can easily escape a frigate, when proper handled. =o) I feels that anyone who needs a fleet, actually need to lear to sail. Its an LTC issue (learn to captain) (example; I got away from Caroline Vodca's privateer in me trade lynx. He were sure i was in a fully modded ship with the pyrate perk. Neither is true! But as i were puling away, listening to his helpless fury, I were laughing! He simply could not understand how I outmaneuvered him! And when I said "seamanship" he said "bullshit. Sailin takes no skill." ---Not true. Seamsnship is very real in NA.--- #NoFleets! #SeamashipIsKey

I see you have a money problem. Most of us don't. We are rich beyond what we can spend! Perhaps professional Pyrates, like myself, or professional Gankers, like King O Crowns, don't get sunk as often. If i were in need of a crutch, I cold run fleets for months at a time and never be bankrupted by it. Could you imagine a Pete-Fleet? The Horror!!! But, I prefer to steal me ships man to man, like a proper pyrate!

That is because ye be bad at math!

Developmental Priority get rid of AI fleets (yet again). 1) Fleets do not solve the Ganking situation, as the Gankers use their fleet to offset the defender's fleet. (e.g. a 3-1 Gank becomes a 9-3 gank. Noting changed except the victim loses MORE money the he otherwise would) 2) Fleets turn a PVP situation into a predominantly PVE situation. (1-1 100% PVP becomes… 3-3 33% PVP - 66%PVE) 3) Most importantly… New players cannot field a fleet capable of protecting them! A Gank fleeter will have a huge ship/firepower/manpower advantage over a newb! I cannot emphaise this enough! (and it seems many, many people don't get this) (e.g) A newb on a brig gets attacked by a fleet-Ganker on a brig, who has 2 cutters as a fleet. Which is a MUCH worse situation that a newb on a brig, who gets attacked by a Ganker on a brig. End the madness... #NoFleets! Pagan Pete

Counterpoints: The propaganda that I, Pagan Pete spend all day noobhunting is FALSE. The majority of my thefts AND combat is against established players. The motivation for the Anti-Pete talk is… I have absolutely humiliated so many 5th rate captains in my privateer, that they feel the need to sully my infamous name. I EARNEd my infamy! -)----- You see more PVP now due to the spike in online players… who are investigating the new content. There is no predicting (scientifically) how many of them will stay. Now when a 1-1 becomes a 3-3, and 2/3 of the ships are AI… It becomes 66% PVE and 33% PVP… PVP play would require a minimum of 51% PVP to qualify. I Never, ever, said fleets prevent Ganks. Fleets DO NOTHING to prevent ganging. I believe i were very, VERY clear on that. As for it tying up Gankers. No. Gankers just get a fleet of their own and the net result is zero effect on Ganking or Ganking numbers, seeing as ALL sides use them. The effect on port battles (besides being not what the debs intended) is negligible. ADDITIONALLY (As i already stated, FFS) Newbies are at the most vulnerable, as the cannot field a fleet that can protect them. There. Are we clear yet?

That is a terrible reason… just a convenience issue. No, not even then… What happens there is, in my epic experience, you take the trade ship in 5minutes, then have to spend the next 40 battling the freakin AI. Nothing changed, just a pain in the neck and a waste of time. Aye, unfortunately there is no way to prevent that.

That is incorrect... Pagan Pete spends 90% of his time in the Banshee, my privateer, whilst attacking vessels. Ive come to the opinion that most of this so called "pro-fleet" thing is actually an woefully incorrect "anti-Pete" thing.

As fer YOU mr hyperbolic… ill throw this one back in yer face... You want me to do a poll? You want me to fly you out here? Get you a hotel? And treat you to a steak dinner, whilst we go over the results???

Yer perspicacity be a bit underwelming. Pre patch 5-1 gank. Post Patch 15-3 gank. HOW exactly is that better? Also Id like to point out that fleets are the most detrimental wot to new players! Since low ranked members can't crew a ship that is big enough to defend themselves, the new player is at the biggest disadvantage! =oO I thought the devs were trying to make the game newb-friendly? in conclusion: Fleets hurt new players the most. Fleets turn a PVP game into a PVE game. Fleets do nothing to stop ganking. #NoFleets!

Yep, most players agree.. Fleets are CRAP! They ruin so many elements of the game, circumvent too many problems, and create more problems that can't be easily solved. #NoFleets! <---spread it!

As a Hethwill were saying; "Fleets turn a 1-on-1 into a 3-on-3, which is 66% PVE." I that what we want? PVE?