IronClaw

We already let him go Now I have that song stuck in my head. Damn you

However, at that time, we didn't have 4 fleets to defend with. We had 2. So we got hit by double the amount of fleets, just like you. Pretty much the same thing, with the same result. So we retreated, regrouped, rethought, licked our wounds (lost a whiner or two in the process) and fought back. You want advice for a strategy? There ya go And within a few weeks, I'm sure the roles will be reversed again. The French have proved tough adversaries, so I'm sure you'll bounce back. There will be glorious nights for the French, there will be glorious nights for the Dutch. And that's what this game is about, isn't it?

Agreed. Well, what Francis said.

Aye, your solid humour truly bests mine! Butthurt? You mistake emotions. You leaving was the best thing that came out of losing trinidad! Things are a whole lot more pleasant without a psycho (which you call me, but you should hear yourself on TS...) raging and whining after a lost battle. The only way it could have been even better was if you'd join the French instead, although I'm not sure I'd wish that on any adversary. ANd with that, I'll leave our little RP-battle for today. 'till next time!

Who is salty? I didn't complain when we lost Trinidad, it's just the way things go. I just don't think it's such a bad mechanic. Ports can change quickly yes. I can also sail quickly from Willemstad to Trinidad. That would take several days in real life. It's a game, not everything is 100% realistic. The french didn't complain when they won all of trinidad in 2 days, so they shouldn't complain now. Just take it graciously, regroup, and take it all back. Less QQ, more battles.

And yet, as soon as I mention your name, you hop on the bandwagon like a groupie Of course it was all luck mate. We just got lucky to stumble all together into 16 port battles. Pure, unplanned luck! And bad mechanics of course. Lets not forget that. o7 to you, my favorite turncloak!

I don't have a strong opinion on it tbh. Its not "realistic" for sure, but this is a game after all. Everything is sped up from how it was in real life, so why not wars and captures? My main point is that we didn't hear this complaint from french players when they capped the entire Trinidad region in 2 days.

Here is how unfair the French felt the mechanics were a few weeks ago: http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/10109-a-french-flag-is-flown-in-trinidad-tobago/

Funny, I never heard you cry about this "pb mechanic" while you were taking Trinidad when our forces were split over the east and west fronts. You had two nights in a row where we basically couldn't defend. You fought vs 14 ships in El Toco, yet you didn't come here to post about how that was not a "war", but just a "PB mechanic". In fact; french made boasting topics here on their awesome conquests...

Seems the US was also hit hard. Has Piet Hein been spotted near british harbors yet? He's probably looking for a new home again.

This coin has two sides for me. On the one hand, I fully understand that it is bad for the game, bad for the playerbase, and bad for "fun" (of all nations) when one nation gets wiped out. I do think that the speed at which Spain is losing ports is not something that should be considered "fine". However, Spain did start out with a number of ports that is completely unrealistic considering its playerbase, so you can only expect that it would lose quite a lot of ports. On the other hand, the spanish players are partly to blame themselves. It seems to me that not much thought went into their choices on fleet placement (fleets fighting in the SW, while their capital is getting surrounded), and perhaps their diplomatic choices. If the spanish had stuck to the area's around their capital and accepted that they are too small a group to hold a huge size of the map, they'd probably be of a similar size like the danes and swedes now, securely based around their capital. Also, a nation that complains about timezones, port timers and number of players available, but refuses to speak anything but spanish in their nation chat seems a little hypocritical to me. If you worry about timezones so much, who don't you try a bit harder to be an inviting place for non-spanish people? Invest in an atmosphere that is nice for people from all over the world to join, instead of stubbornly speak spanish all day and thus be stuck with a small group of players from a single timezone. Why should all of thát be rewarded with dev's intervening and "regulating" a war that is partly being lost by a nation's own mistakes? One of the in-game loading screens even sais: "Never interrupt your enemy while he is making a mistake". If the spanish regroup and come up with a coordinated plan, I'm sure they can slowly regain the ports around the capital. Yes, it might take a few weekend-night-raids and yes, it might require almost every player you have to help out. But that's a whole lot better than fighting petty battles far in the SW (in a region you know you couldn't ever hold with your numbers anyway), while watching your capital get surrounded and complaining about it. That's kinda what I'm saying: You *created* the problem of having 90% of your people in the same timezone. Why would any non-spanish ever want to join your faction when no one ever speaks english? Have a look in danish, swedish and dutch chats... all mainly english and all have a lot of international players. Also, the timezones isn't even such a big deal. If US sets the timezone of a port to their time, make a night-raid out of it. All you need is 25 players, more wont fit in the battle anyway. It's mere minutes sail from your capital to the next town (try playing the dutch faction, see how it is to always have to sail 15-60 minutes for each port), so you'll be there before they can even react. And when you win: Set the timer to your prime time. Rinse and repeat until you have a decent amount of ports again, but for the love of god, forget about taking or defending ports on the other side of the map. You're not big enough and never will be, unless you try harder to recruit foreign people.

The only reason the US will even send a fleet down to the south is to sink me personally. Or at least that is what Piet Hein sais. So no worries Frenchies, if you see a US fleet sailing south, your undercrewed 3rd rates are safe, it is only my impending doom sailing along!

Hello, didn't see this post earlier or I would have responded. Did you find the help you need, or are you still looking for help? I'd be willing to help you out, assuming this is not considered to be against the game's rules and regulations?

Well, good to see that the French realise that their earlier statements were all boasting and now rely on outside help.

I share these concerns, I hope they are taken into consideration. Also, I hope that the ports will be balanced. The OP states that some ports will be very easy to take, others near impossibruh. I hope this is balanced around the nation's starting locations.

And imagine the years of waiting in between wars. "Ok, last battle is over... now we enter a 21 year truce. So see you back in game in.... 2037!"

Oh lord... that would mean the end of all alliances, since at some time in the past any one of the nations was probably historically at war

Oh noes! Is that RP-warned or RL-warned? I think the US nation's players are intelligent enough to understand that what I say to you personally (well, your forum-RP-personality of course) has no reflection on the relation between the US and the VP. They will understand that a turncloak (especially one that sticks around in happy times and runs when the going gets tough) will receive little respect from his former team. I am a little puzzeled by your comment about "childish insults" though. Since you introduced the whole idea of it being ok to insult people as long as you were roleplaying, how could you ever be insulted by me? You *do* understand that this is all forum RP, right? I fully respect you as a real life person. I don't actually think you're a coward, a turncloak or have a quitter's mentality. That's just how you play your in-game character. So take it easy, it's just a game, no need to threaten anyone. Lots of love, rainbows and pots of gold to you Piet! May your cannonfire strike ever true, and the winds be always in your favor!

Uhm, no. For weeks there were several fleets active, attacking and defending wherever they could. Then we had two nights in a row where we happened to have lesser numbers available for those battles. No one can *force* players to do PB's, we had less people online and others were busy trying to level up. And after two defeats, you QQ-ed in chat and on forums for two days and then ran away. That's what it is; running away. I totally understand that you justify it to yourself by blaming it on other people, clan leadership and captains alike, but that doesn't change what really happened. You stayed with us when things were easy, then ran as *soon* as it got tough. Not sure how it would properly translate to english, but in dutch we'd call you a "good weather soldier". Hope there's a lot of sunshine in your new nation and that your allies realize they will see you run as soon as it rains. Oh. RP-on and off of course. This was all said by my RP character. On-topic: Not sure if this is a broken game mechanic. It might be that, due to the lack of a proper diplomacy system. Since there's no real mechanism for diplomacy, other than trust and words, there is no way to prevent that one nation gets ganked. That could happen to any nation, when all others decide to gang up on them. But if there wére a good diplomacy system, then this mechanic would be fine. Then we'd simply tell the ganked nation not to be at war with everyone, or choose their allies more strategically.

Indeed, it wouldn't add much new (although it could if it were combined with new features of course). It's meant to give people more incentives to take up stuff they might otherwise be reluctant to. To stay with the World of Tanks example; once they implemented the missions, suddenly there were a lot of scouts (light tanks) again, because people had a (better) reason to play them. So that is a great effect the missions had. Sadly they also implemented silly missions (kill 3 SPG's as a light tank in one battle) that made some of the scouts play like absolute idiots, but that can be prevented by carefully considering the mission objectives.

At the moment, the mission system is mainly aimed at solo play, or at the maximum with a small group of friends. There's already many topics about the (lack of) variety in those missions and I assume this is already on the dev's radar. What I'd like to propose is a set of missions that is aimed at other in-game goals, with a main aim to give more incentive for people to join PVP battles, port battles and other activities aimed at fighting nations, instead of just AI pirates in missions. Now, I know World of Tanks is a bad example for a lot of things and their mission system has some major flaws. But sóme of the missions actually achieve what they were designed for; give an incentive for people to crawl out from behind cover and do the role their tank was actually made for. I'd like to see missions that reward for you for taking part in port battles, seeking out PVP players of opposing nations, etc. Some of these missions would be a "one time thing", and not be repeatable. Those would be aimed at helping new players find their way toward such targets. For example: - Sink or capture a player's ship of any opposing nation or pirate - Participate in the defense of a port by joining a port battle - Participate in the assault on a port of any opposing nation Of course you'd get gold and XP from the battle itself, but on top you'd get some additional for completing the mission. Other missions could be repeatable and depend on your rank for their yield in XP and gold and how difficult they are. For example: - Successfully defend a port during a port battle - Successfully defend a port during a port battle, while losing no more than x ships on your side - Sink or capture a player's ship of any opposing nation or pirate, the ship must be a 6th rate or higher (would depend on your rank of course) There are also types of missions that I'd NOT like implemented, because they will create bad player behavior. These kind of missions we see a lot in World of Tanks and they make people behave stupidly. Some BAD examples: (ie: please do NOT implement missions like this!!) - Sink an enemy ship by ramming (you'd see tons of people yolo-ramming in battles, losing you the match for their own mission gain) - Sink x ships during a port battle (you'd see people holding their fire only to try to kill-steal)

After last night's tragic losses in the east:

How is that different from choosing a town (could be a free town if you're affraid of getting ships locked after a lost battle) with your clan and all building an outpost there?

Uhm, isn't that just the way a market works? There's a demand for a resource and limited supply. So the price of the resource goes up, which means the price of the finished product (ships or materials) also goes up, meaning you sell your ship for a higher price to make up for the higher cost of resources.

If you want that, why not ask for a *new* server that is hardcore? I play on PVP one, and I don't want hardcore. The game is perfectly hard as it is.