TheStarSlayer

Thanks for the heads up.

Not sure I follow, do you mean just the gundeck strakes will be varnished wood or the entire ship? While I like the idea of some scheme customization I'm not sure I like the idea of ships having to look like an unfinished model kit unless you RNG'd a paint job.

Seems like it has a shallow draft from the plans, was it meant to operate close to home?

It certainly would not be remiss if the guns were stored inboard and lids closed during Open World travel then run out when battle commences.

It is my understanding that port lids were not closed during reloads, once the guns were run out they were kept open for the duration of engagement. When not in combat the guns were kept housed inboard and the lids closed for sea-keeping purposes not as additional armor. If you look at two deckers they often did not even bother adding them on the upper decks.

Looks like Health and Safety got a hold of the plans and demanded hand rails be added to the whole thing when they went to build it.

Will there be an option to vote "no alliance" and/or a minimum percentage of votes required to ratify one? For example if the majority of a faction's players were not available for a voting cycle or perhaps were disinclined towards any alliance without either of the above foreign policy could be changed or created by a very small minority.

Will there be an "alliance" chat to facilitate communications between partner nations? EDIT>> Will there also been an option to vote for "no alliance" during these polls and/or a minimum vote percentage to ratify an alliance?

I think having a method to enter the "battle interface" in order to practice ship handling and exercise the great guns would be a useful feature for folks that are transitioning to manual sails or simply getting the feel for a new ship. Learning the ropes in square rigged vessels is arguably one of the most demanding lessons in the game and having to do so against active hostiles can be a bit unwieldy at times. Being able to simply practice the manual sails with some raft targets available to engage would soften that learning curve. Depending on how crew and XP mechanics eventually shake out a small crew XP gain for gunnery practice might be a nice touch as well from a historical fluff perspective. Restricting it to only the protected waters of the faction capital maybe a method of keeping this from being exploited, either avoid action or setup ambushes in the open world. Cheers, JB

Sorry that wasn't meant to be a complaint, I want to make sure I understand the mechanic.

Just to clarify, does this mean that all "hits" now guarantee a minimum of one casualty or just that specific shot strikes that would have caused a crew casualty are guaranteed to do so.

The 1743 Le Tonnant of 80 guns has nice lines as well.

I think that Renommée is going to test positive for doping. Also that's going to need a lot of Furnishings to craft...

"Killick, Killick there! Extra grog rations for this man." The sample crew noises sound very good and certainly add to the immersion. As others have mentioned if the new sounds are dynamic and contextual it will be a great addition to the game. Though I will probably keep my custom playlist of baroque and historical chanties as background music.

Much obliged. Cheers, JB

Realistically naval officers didn't need to go around purchasing everything themselves either, ships were assigned, crewed and provisioned by the navy. A captain might augment the ship's provisions, powder and shot out of their own pocket but that was about it. That's not a complaint about the game mechanics but to illustrate that we are not operating historically to begin with. Realism has its place but at the end of the day the game needs to be fun and engaging, if you want to maintain a healthy population turning mechanics into a chore is not the way to go about it. After all when it says Naval Action on the tin, not all users are looking to play at being a one person East India Company. Not to mention a captain could certainly go to their banker and request a letter of credit instead of carrying around chests full of their life savings from port to port.

Let Dutch 74s beware.

Does this mean if you strike your colours you can retain your crew?

Since a forum search did not yield a similar thread I'd like to suggest the addition of some form of Bulletin Board for the Port UI or National Chat. Basically it would provide a place in game where players can post communications that we would like disseminated to the national community for a couple days. I believe this would be a useful feature, allowing players to better organize commerce, crafting and naval operations without being limited to whoever is available in chat at the time. For example with a bulletin board players could post build requests for ships while crafters could see what vessels are in demand and tailor their construction to meet it. This would also facilitate communications between clans and solo pubs as far as diplomacy and military operations. For smaller nations that cannot depend on large clans this would be especially useful for organizing and responding to threats. In any case I have often found myself wishing this feature was available and felt I should share it in the suggestions section. Cheers, JB