VonVolks

Great job. I love sailing the frigates and my Bel Poule is my favourite ship in game so far, so I'm looking for something different to sail with a similar flavour. What would you say would be the differences between the Bel and Cecilia in game?

This would really add to the flavour. By the way, congrats, sounds are great so far...

We need an e-fishent solution, pronto!

After months of happily playing NA afk sailing while working (boo!), I was sad to find my ship already in battle with 2 pirates. After a good little scrap they sank me. It was only then I realised I could have just teleported home instead of trying to sail back.... (I had previously been called away by work issues so I had sailed AFK for 30 minutes leaving me totally unaware as to where i was.... I was sailing to land to try and catch a bearing....) Good work the pirates, although I was a little miffed they refused to tell me where I was while we were fighting..... My watch crew have been given a taste of the cat....

I really think this is a fabulous and needed idea. Instead of ships "teleporting" to an Outpost they should AI sail there, (with a small cost for prize crew) in the Open World. If they get there, then great....

no!

I dont see issues with taking down masts currently.... its doable, but not easy...seems good to me

I agree with inkompetent, SOL battle can and should be often "indecisive slug fests" and that the game should reward and punish accordingly. Sinking something should give a really "woooo!" feeling, survival should be essential, and failure punished by the National navies. Most SOL engagements at fleet level were often indecisive with a lot of damage but not massive ship sinkings, which is what made such victories as Trafalgar and the Nile such shocking "decisive" victories. The players should be lead to expect a similar result and enjoy it, with tension being on "not losing" your ship, and big rewards if you do manage to do some serious damage. SOL Risk / Reward balance should give SOL captains sweaty palms every time they take their beasts into battle, but also allow them to enjoy the superiority they give over non "Warships". This will help prevent what a lot of players (including myself) worried about, which was a preponderance of 1st and 2nd rates sailing everywhere as the default choice of captains. Also regarding boarding etc. The boarding mechanic should be changed if possible to look nicer and be more enjoyable, also Marines should not be hard to get. Hopefully crew mechanics change will change that? Short range engagements encourage boarding so it should be made more appealing and fairer.

It does seem to me that the devs, although they are working on stuff for the future of Piracy can make simple easy changes which would make the game more "piratey" and a bit more like the "hard mode" the devs claimed piracy was meant to be. For example all NPC national war ships will aggro pirates if they have a sufficient BR rating (i.e same or more)?? That just seems like a very simple code switch?

USA guys, you can turn pirate and the attack the other pirates you dont like?? USe the pirate mechanic and blend in with a sea of black....

ouch.

Also a request, can crafting every ship link to a potential BP drop? For example, the Essex doesn't appear to give any chance of BPs? Or am I wrong?

isnt that the idea? Warships getting dismasted by little boats wouldn't make them very good warships...

Ah, I thought that was quite a major thing to have missed!

Have new mechanics for pirates been announced? Where?

Haha, I didn't want to bring that up.... 80

Well a fine clan has betrayed the flag and the King. However as it's a game and only Alpha I look forward to welcoming you back to the RN come games release proper! Good luck on your adventures (you pirate scum, haha!)

from the history it seemed the "fast" Rattlesnake lasted barely 12 days at sea, and was captured in her first encounter by a frigate. So cant run and cant fight, and isn't very comfortable for her crew..... So what's the upside? (aside from super cool front snake figurehead)

Treville gets it right. Forts weren't the target but the tremendous damage they could do made it essential to deal with them...

Nalyd, in that case I agree with you about that. I had a thread much earlier back in the day before Steam release about how to prevent the game becoming 1st rate mania with nothing else being sailed. 1st should be special and terrifying to use, face and more importantly lose and not the default ship to sail. I suggested if you lose a 1st rate you are demoted as the admiralty wouldn't be very happy with you!

Nalyd, Basically you just described Age of Sail fleet tactics. Guess what. The 1st and 2nd rates DIDN'T just go out for pleasure cruises they went out as the core of large battle fleets, and otherwise sat in dock a lot eating up money. Also regarding the new rules. 1sts and SOLS down to 3rds will STILL have a major impact on any PB by being available as a defence fleet blocking access to a port for a PB invasion. Attackers will have to engage and clear out defensive forces before they can bring their port attack fleets into play, so this is a great way of opening more OW Fleet engagements and not just making SOLS for PBs only

Ah but not if those officers can and do die at regular intervals in combat. It will add more risk to battles and illustrate the misery of victory (i.e I won the battle woo, but Lieutenant Digby is dead, nooooooo") as well as defeat. Of course the higher ranks your officers get the more likely they will die as they will have to stand on the quarterdeck with your captain to show their mettle! I would think that "officer death" should be an integral part of the officer function, for one thing to show they are human and not just "upgrades". Its funny how you can grow attached to valuable units in games like this....

You didn't read it correctly, as you only lose crew when the ships final durability is lost, and the ship is fully lost. If as you say it promotes PVP thats good.

I am sure the idea of "officers" were mentioned in the past, and the crew overhaul can open the door to bring them in. As Balckjack Mgee suggested a new row of upgrades "Crew upgrades" could be filled with officers, with ranks unlocking new crew spaces. I.e no officers to start. post captina, 1 slot, flag captain 2 slots etc These officers would be permanently attached to your staff BUT would be critical targets in combat i.E they could be killed at any time in combat. Then its time to hire some more crew. The bonus to morale (and whatever else) these officers gave should slowly increase with battle exp earned with them on board, to show crew bonding and elan building, and is of course reset when they die!

I am fairly against too much "in game votes" business. Its too elitist, too complicated and not very reflective of the society at the time. I have a whole thread about exactly this OW diplomacy here:http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/13016-national-diplomacy-why-should-players-control-it/ But basically I say in game leadership and voting should be reserved for "democratic nations" like the US and Holland. Pirates are just an anarchy and should basically always be at war, and just cobble together what they can agreement wise between themselves. Royalist nations should just get on with it, with overriding "guidance" being issued from above from the thrones back home....