JJWolf

I optimally would like to see it limited to One nation with 3x character slots and the option to have a neutral character or two in there as well. Locking it to one character can limit one's ability, particularly if we bring in professions, ranks and crafting skills etc.

Oh no, I feel the flu coming on, I guess I won't be able to go to work for a week.....

Ranks are an important aspect to keep newbies out of rated ships, as the current system stands I am happy with it to fill in place of a long term solution. People can still sail any vessel undermanned but woe is to them who try to use a ship they lack experience and/or reputation for. Introducing upkeep and provisions will require income, does that mean I can work my way up the ranks to be an Admiral and will be paid by the crown to upkeep a large rated vessel based on my rank in the Royal Navy? Or will I need to set up my global powerhouse economy first before I can afford to run anything worth taking into a PB?

In response to your thoughts, 1-6 would remove the ability for a player to just hire the 'biggest and best available' at any time - e.g. Snowgate. The initial redesign of interface would take a small bit of work to change and then the coding to add the extra function for AI captains to gain XP can be replicated off the back of player XP that is already being calculated after battle. It wouldn't be anymore complicated than it is now to add several new trackers/flags/variables to a player for AI captains experience replicating the tracking of a players rank. 7 – This is a missing feature that really needs to be looked at. 8 – I concede the point, very small AI fleets might work for pirates 9 – Within their territorial waters would be easy to implement to prevent kiting an enemy into an ambush unless they program the aggressiveness of NPCs to assess when a player is trying to kite them into a much larger overwhelming fleet and for the NPC to disengage. Using a set distance from port would use a definitive distance and simplify it if they chase a player, alternatively it could be simply based on distance from player if we want them to chase a player down across the map.

This is only slightly later than the time frame of the game but here's the Aussie one of the time: Australian Federation Flag (1832-1883) http://www.flagsaustralia.com.au/HistoricalFlags.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Federation_Flag

As much of a controversial topic it may be for the hardcore PvP fans and gank-lovers, this topic is not for the PvP server, this is a suggestion for improving the PvE experience. What would improve the fleet experience particularly for solo players is to limit access to employ more powerful ships as you get higher in the ranks to support you in missions and on the OW. I propose the following: Change the 'Hire' section from just buying a ship for your fleet, into hiring 'Captains' at the base rank of Midshipman Fleet captains earn experience just as your character gains it to rank up Fleet captains must meet the appropriate rank to crew specific vessels up to a max of 3rd or 4th rates (balance depending) Fleet captains are equipped with ships that you must build or buy and once lost must be replaced if the durability runs out Fleet captain spots start at 1 and can only be increased by ranking up with every 5th rank (or whatever works to balance this to prevent too large of a fleet too early on) adding another spot for hiring an additional captain with a scaling cost to balance it and a limit to say 5 captains at the highest ranks. Missions at higher levels when entered are calculated based on the BR of the entire player fleet or group of players (no AI when in a player group) that enter Add basic formation commands of Line Abreast, Line Astern, and Roam Mode rather than just 'follow me' (Caribbean: Blood & Gold does it with more primitive AI) and form them up with player taking lead role and AI playing follow the leader in order of largest to smallest Fleet captains made unavailable for Pirates (let's face it, pirates may have worked together from time to time, but in general they weren't in fleets generally) Adversary NPC fleets chase/attack players within their territorial waters surrounding their ports up to a certain distance from the port *Edit: AI Captains can never be higher than the rank below the player I don't feel there is a need to tweak the battle AI at this time aside from formations, I believe the AI is actually quite intelligent in this game. I have seen them actively avoiding me when I purposely have swerved into their path as a test, they also actively try to turn their damaged sides away from their opponents and protect their rear, and the enemy AI even tried to board when it has superior crew numbers when you get in close brawling. (was going to strike this out but the Devs have fixed the AI problem of not slowing down) What this change would most importantly provide is focus for PvE battle focused players, provide another aspect for captains to manage and drive the economy further for ship building. (And before I get pointed to the 'Official thread', is it not a slap in the face of the AI Fleet supporters for the original/1st post in that thread to be all about how fleets shouldn't be in the game. The first post should be a collection of differing ideas and suggestions, not a biased anti-Fleet speech.) Thoughts? EDIT: Updated to latest patch and opinion.

So you mean to tell me the 3hrs it says I have to wait for my goods to be delivered isn't true? I personally prefer to purchase and deliver my own goods as it means I keep the costs down and profits high.

Like how you enter a mission for 2nd Lt and face off against a Mercury and Naval Brig while in command of a Snow with two Cutters for support? AI fleets should scale based on rank and only be on the PvE server, let the PvP playerbase have their gankathon and when the economy goes downhill they might begin to understand why traders migrated to the PvE server.

Let's just be clear, what needs to happen for a surrendered ship is they need to strike their colours so it is plainly visible they are no longer a combatant (white flag atop mast) and their team and marker turned into a neutral party. I don't think a penalty should be applied for shooting it as even though it may have been captured, if the capturing team lose the battle will they still get to keep it? There needs to be two options for capture and scuttle in battle particularly If limited ammo comes into play. You may want to scuttle a smaller vessel instead of keeping it if you need to beat a hasty retreat but want to deny your opposition the ability to re-capture it.

This bug is still present and frustrating, I can confirm it occurs when you bind the Single shot to Mouse 0.

Cheers Henry but I already did that yesterday with no response.

I'm still waiting for support here. I've sent an email with all requested info to the support email addy with no response, no email with a key has been received, not even admin acknowledgement on here.

+1 This is the case with the game Elite Dangerous as a decent money spinner except it has become more expensive for even the average avid gamer, they're getting a bit greedy with their prices but that's for another topic. A well balanced and decently priced offering of 'skins', 'flags', 'pennants', 'mastheads', etc. would draw in a lot of extra funds to help the Devs without making it a pay 2 win. Caution needs to be made to keep flags within bounds of the nations they originate from or relate with. E.g. I would gladly buy the Australian Federation Flag/Ensign or National Colonial Flag for Australia to fly as a Brit player.

Why not just leave A/D as they are and implement Shift + A/D as increments that can be unlocked by tapping either A or D without shift? I use a similar method in flight sims depending on how many blip and coolio switches I need to map.

An excellent post Bram, I really like how you broke down some of the more decisive pieces of action such as the isolation of ships that affected the balance of power. Might I suggest two things: Small legend on the graphics to indicate colours to nation Possibility of broadly sweeping arrows on the graphics to indicate general movement of ships or battle Also, how was the victory achieved? Submission, routed/retreated, total destruction, etc.

I really like the idea of crew management as it's definitely something that has to be implemented if you want a more robust experience. While experience is one thing, I would suggest adding an overall cohesion rating such as a percentage that determines how effective your crew is at working together. This would mean that you can easily replace losses with inexperienced crew and survivors can be promoted if enough experience has been gained, but the overall effectiveness would be reduced initially until the crew has had time and/or experience to build up again. A word of caution though is that treating each crew member as an individual would be difficult to implement and track on a large scale for the developers considering how large some ship complements are and how many ships one might have in their shipyard.

I purchased on the 28th and there hasn't been anything sent yet to the email addy and yes it is the same. *(I validiated it before purchase and received the receipt to that email)

As the title asks, will there be another batch of keys going out tonight? I purchased a few days ago now (payment was taken that day) and have been waiting for a key, I'm sure I'm not the only one waiting to get stuck into this awesome game. Cheers JJ

My apologies Bart if it does extend earlier than 1795, I was under the impression with some of the ship classes that it was based in the early years of 1800's when the age of sail was at it's highest prior to the introduction of steam.

I mean no disrespect for the Polish as you guys had a very rough time during this period, but Poland didn't exactly have a country in this time period much less a navy in the Caribbean, asking for your nation to be included is like us Aussies asking for Terra Australis to be included as a nation... I can appreciate your patriotic fire but I may have another suggestion for the Devs that may placate us all – Why not have a captains nationality/origin separated from the nation they sail under? I would much rather be known to be from Terra Australis serving the British crown than to be of purely Britain, after-all they did send one of my British ancestors here for stealing a blanket... On the point of what nation to serve, what better than to assist the British or one of the other major powers in destroying Bonaparte's forces as repayment for (if I recall correctly) suppressing and liberating your nation at the same time? Just saying... Cheers JJ

I purchased yesterday and am wondering if there's a new batch going out tonight (Kiev time / tomorrow morning AEDT)? Cheers JJ