Archaos

I guess having a mechanic that allows different War Companies to be allied would solve this that way PURGE and BORK could be different War Companies but allied, but then you have the issue of who controls the port and gets the taxes. I think having membership of a clan and a War Company could cause confusion especially if some members of the clan were not members of the War Company. As I said before the way I see things developing a lot of people will run alt clans alongside their War Companies especially for the clan warehouse that cannot be raided. I think the War Company warehouses will mostly be empty apart from the most recent tax take especially if there is notice of port battle.

1) from the OP I doubt you can be in both as there is different access to ports for clan players and War Companies, but the Devs have yet to confirm this. 2) I am not too sure I would like different nations in the same War Company as it would raise such questions as what flag do they sail under (lets keep at least some national identity) and it would start getting very confusing. But I would like a politics system where War Companies of different nations could become allies or form pacts.

But the difference now will be the War Company can set the time to suit themselves so if you have mainly an EU based War Company you set the 3 hour window same as you have now on the EU server. The only difficulty is attacking ports not in your time zone, but I am sure if you really wanted to attack your War Company could arrange a late night every now and again to take a port. Remember as it is not on a national level you have better control of your port battle setup.

I dont think they have made it clear yet if you can belong to a clan and a War Company at the same time. So this question is still up in the air.

But they have suggested that they will bring back port battle timers that the owning War Company can set, so the issue of nightflips/dayflips will be gone, War Companies can set their times to suit their members.

Please highlight the exploits that you see so maybe they can be eliminated before it goes live. I think there will be many but that is the whole point of them opening it up to discussion, gives us time to think about it and highlight where it works and where it does not.

It will be money generation for the clan who own the region. I guess the 5% contract cost may go and become the tax rate (at least thats how I see it). If a clan start taxing too much then it gives more incentive for people to force them out. High taxes has always been one of the biggest motives for change.

The Devs have put up an idea for discussion. Sure a lot of stuff needs to be fleshed out properly, but hopefully this way we will get something that is workable and has most of the problems ironed out before it goes live. If you dont like something then say why and propose something else or at the very least say why you think it will not work. I would rather they did it this way rather than just work it out themselves and post it to live servers.

As I understand it the tax will be on goods traded at the port so it will be a tax for everyone using the port not just the nationals of the base nation.

So you are happy that the Devs fixed a problem that you used to whine about, yet you have no interest in them fixing an issue that other people see as a problem. I dont care about what battles are going on at the moment, I havent even been able to play for the last 4 weeks due to being stuck out at sea with work and a limited internet connection, but I do care about broken mechanics getting fixed. I am glad they fixed the tag mechanic, but I wish they would also fix the possibility to use outlaw/AI/alt battles to circumvent the screen and enter port battles. And before you jump on me for saying it, NO I am not accusing you of using that tactic, but the possibility exists that it can be used and thus it requires fixing same as the tagging issue.

There are still a lot of issues that need to be clarified and more detail of how it will work in practice, for example how is hostility going to be raised? there was mention of bringing back the flag mechanic, if so more details of how that would work are needed. Is there a limit on the number of regions a clan can control, and if there is no limit then how many outposts can clan members have as they will need to be able to move quickly between outposts to defend regions. The same will apply to their dock spaces, will ships for the defense be able to be stored in the War Company warehouse in each port? How many attacks can be scheduled at a single War Company at the same time? Do War companies of the same nation have to declare war on each other in order to fight or can they sneak attack? Can other clans that are not War Companies intercept and fight War Company port battle fleets, i.e. can a clan screen a port battle? If a War Company loses a region, will the same time limit apply to get their ships out of port before they are denied access? I am sure there are many more questions still to be raised, but I do like the idea of clan war.

Maybe, but where do you think all the big clans will be heading to first? The regions with important resources will be hot zones with big clans fighting to control them, maybe being far away from those hot zones might be a good thing to start with especially if you are not into RvR.

But with the new mechanics you will be able to enter any port as long as you are not a member of a War Company, and I am not sure but I think you will be able to open outposts in any port so it does not matter what the historical map looks like or which nation owns what, it will only affect where you start and from there you can sail anywhere and open an outpost.

They have done similar before when they changed round the freeports and changed the dockyards, they gave people redemables and I dont believe there were many complaints.

This plan will solve the problem of alts taking port battle places and also the question of who enters the port battles, but I do think this plan will also create many more alts as War Companies will most likely run an alt clan to carry out their trade and crafting, so expect many more alts in game.

Even though this will be a huge change I do not see how it affects ships and crafting and the economy which were the reasons for a wipe last time round. If the idea develops and they do decide they need a wipe, then I hope they keep it secret till they are ready to deploy it, if not you can expect dead servers again.

I dont think the question of whether you can be in a clan and war company at the same time has been answered. From the OP I do not believe it would be possible as the rules for which ports you can enter are different. Some clarification on this would be nice.

I know it seems unfair, but I guess the reality of it would be that they boarded you before their ship sank. There was another thread regarding this a while back. I guess if your ship is sinking you have more motivation to board another vessel. I guess the only way to avoid it is to stay clear till you get the kill message. I usually slow down and keep off the vessels quarter till I get the message that they have sunk, that should still give you enough time to loot him.

I like the fact that you have decided to put this topic out for discussion first so that potential flaws can be raised early. I hope that this idea is developed more and that the final solution is deployed on the test server first to try it out, rather than on the main servers.

I can just imagine it now, you sail from a port in a nice juicy Indiaman, closely followed by a French player from the same port, who is in turn followed by a Dane and then a Spaniard etc. It will be utter confusion, who can tag who? will the all end up in one battle or will different battles happen?

From a traders point of view I am a bit concerned that people not in a war clan can use any port in any ship. So now as you go about your trading a raider can appear out from any port. This will totally kill trading.

It does not seem to be a huge problem for the Pirates at the moment with outlaw battles.

I like the general sound of the proposals but one big issue I can see is with regards to the warehouse. As another clan even from the same nation can take over the region and get what is in the warehouse, it means there will be a lot of "night flipping". Its bad enough now trying to protect a port round the clock with a whole nation let alone when you only have your clan to do it.

As if traders don't already have it tough, with slow speeds and poor economy to deal with, you now want to broadcast their positions. Bad idea.

The problem with the suggestion in the OP is that it requires a steady stream on new players or enough players willing not to increase rank. Look at the servers prior to wipe with almost everyone at maximum rank. A few replies have suggested that some people would be happy halting their progression but would it be enough to have sufficient players in each category.