Growl

After having the reload shock in every fight, multiple times in a fight.. whole ships crew unable to man the cannons. I finally realized the reference the devs are using and realized their genious, kudos to you! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-9my0tsutw

With one character per account limitation, wouldn't that just create business opportunities and actual real economy for those resources? Kind of what Trader players would want, don't you think? On a PvP server (tbh, the game in its current state does not really fit PvE) the Neutrals are very valuable faction for both Trade (creating economy for resources for all Nations) as well as targets for Pirates, and finally as Pirate Hunters (they have no other factions to fight, creates pretty clear focus) Don't get me wrong, NA can survive fine without the Neutral faction, but why limit the factions when the real problem is the characters per account? Finally, I could be wrong, but I would reckon spies were invented before the Age of Sail. So Some parts of the "problem" are overblown due to inconvenience to players.

Removing Neutrals seems like a bad idea to me. There were cool neutral parties like the Hanseanic League, privateers, pirate hunters, and merchants. Not everyone has a country they are interested in the current nations, and rather would either work for the highest bidder(once implemented?) or just stay in their own business.. and Pirates can be offputting both due to challenge and the inevitable playerbase.* I know the most pressing reasons why its being considered, and what problems it has. But in effect the problems already go away if you limit the characters to one per account, I don't see any reason why you would remove the faction completely. Sure it generates more revenue when the exploitative players to create spies, but as far as I know this isn't about the revenue, and rather its about the gameplay. In effect it feels like Tyranny of Majority. With your arguments against Neutrals, keep in mind the only real enemy they can fight (right now) is the Pirates. Which is great because Pirates will most likely be the largest faction in the live game**, and every other Faction has to fight both Pirates and their other enemies, while Neutrals could stem the tide with a steely focus. *(Sorry Pirate Players, you might be ok.. but you too must realize what crowd will be the most attracted to the Pirate faction once the game goes live) **(Pirate faction will most likely be the largest faction if NA gets more players when its goes live, it's pretty simple.. the single most known word from the age of sail, most media coverage, most movies, rule of cool etc.)

Ok Sir, If that happens, I will modify my suggestion. We will see Tomorrow I suppose.

Good to hear, good job. Lets hope Valve gets it sorted.

I did some research on the subject matter and It appears the "Neutral" faction of Hanseanic League did build formidable warships, such as: Leopoldus Primus And as such I adjusted the text in my OP. (Also I wish some of the Hanseanic League ships end in the game) As for the Pirates, some warships were built specifically for Privateering, such as: Adventure Galley However I have not found (with a reasonably fast searching) any records of warships being built by Pirates themselves. Rather they were built or modified for Privateering in Nations such as the ones in the game. As such I stand by what I put on the text about Pirates and their ships. BR, Growl

Greetings, After reading a bunch of threads about the economy and the place of factions in it (especially pirates), in threads like these: http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/7958-important-statement-for-new-players-choosing-pirates/ http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/8168-pirates-should-only-gain-xp-from-pvp-kills/ I think I have a solution that would be satisfying to the players and differentiate the factions quite a bit. I believe this system would even be somewhat historically accurate. Summary: In general all faction types have different ways of gaining currency, while gaining ships has a very similar system to all factions. The idea is to give all factions their own Economy that fits their specific faction and empowers the feeling of belonging to this unique faction. CURRENCY: General: All factions gain experience by combat. (Both destroying opponents as well as escaping) Nations(Spain, Sweden, France etc.): Players gain Currency by (In order of Quantity vs. Effort) 1. Completing their admiralty's orders (missions) 2. Participating in battles of their nation 3. Defeating Pirates 4. Trading Neutral: Players gain Currency by (In order of Quantity vs. Effort) 1. Trading / Fishing / Crafting 2. Doing Mercenary work (joining battles on Nation's side) 3. Privateering (missions) 4. Defeating Pirates Pirates: Players gain Currency by (In order of Quantity vs. Effort) 1. Privateering (missions) 2. Plundering (open world random target piracy) 3. Trading SHIPS: Ship Purchasing (ALL FACTIONS): 1. Smaller ships, classified as "Civilian" (Ships up to a point where its unlikely a civilian could own it) - All players can purchase them - Faction Reputation can limit Port slots 2. Larger ships, classified as "Warships" (Ships that only navies would own, very unlikely for individuals to be able to purchase or build) - To purchase, player needs a Nations Reputation points/level (either any nation or specific) - Nation players gain these by doing their Nations missions and battles, Neutrals and Pirates gain it by Privateering for a Nation Ship Crafting (Nations; Sweden, Spain, France etc.): - Players gain Dry Dock licenses by gaining Reputation in their Nation, players gain the right to craft a single ship per license using their Nations docks. Players may not craft ships outside of this, they may upgrade their current ships and craft upgrades. Ship Crafting (Neutrals, Pirates) - Neutrals may craft any ships classified as "civilian" without limitation. - Neutrals may craft ships classified as "Warships" only with sufficient reputation from Neutral or the required Nation Reputation (see Ship Crafting Nations) and possibly on some ships, not at all. - Pirates may not craft any ships, only upgrade their ships and craft upgrades Ship Capture (Nations & Neutrals): - Nations and Neutrals must choose whether to hand over the captured vessel to their Nations Admiralty or in the case of Neutrals, to their Trading Guild - Or to exchange the ship ownership to their Faction reputation. - If the player does not have sufficient port slots (if they are implemented) the player can choose to sell one their current ships to make room or cancel the exchange - Capturing the ship and handing it over to the Nation Admiralty or to the Traders Guild will reward the player with the ships value of Reputation points and Currency Ship Capture (Pirates): - Pirates can capture and hold any ship they wish and cannot trade in ships for their Faction Reputation, Pirates can however sell the ship normally - Pirates too can(should) have port slot limitations based on their Faction Reputation PRIVATEERING Important part of my proposal is the Privateering and as such it deserves an explanation. Neutral and Pirate factions do not have access to bigger/better warships on their own, the factions simply do not have/need facilities to construct them. As a general rule these factions did not have the need for such ships either. However players no doubt do not want to be completely limited to their faction ships either, where Nation players naturally should have access to them if they have sufficient credentials. In essence Privateering are missions. To start Privateering, the player needs to check the Nation factions if any of them are offering contracts (randomly open) and once they enter a Privateering contract they get a mission to sink or capture X amount of ships belonging to their current enemy Nation faction within the timelimit. If the player fails to sink or capture the desired amount of ships, the mission fails and they are blocked from that nations missions for a period of time. (they can still do other nations!) While Privateering the player is considered the faction they are Privateering for and cannot be attacked by allied and/or neutral factions. (e.g. Pirate Privateering for Sweden is considered Sweden faction and can only be attacked by Sweden's enemy, France and Pirates) While Privateering the player may only attack Pirates and the Factions enemies that the player is Privateering for. (e.g. Pirate Privateering for Sweden is considered Sweden faction and can only be attack Sweden's enemy, France and Pirates) Player can end the Privateering contract at any time, failing the mission and returning the player to their own original faction and its rules of engagement. Ships sunk while Privateering will yield the usual rewards but the player gains the Nation's reputation they are privateering for, rather than their own. Completing the mission yields significant reputation and currency rewards. This is my take on the economy, thank you for reading. Please leave a comment! BR, Growl