Barbancourt

Make it a cage match. With folding chairs. On Pay Per View!

At the very least, on release remove 5th Rates from Shallows again. Let the Pickles play!

Several hours later Pandora now appears in my DLC list for both accounts. (due to server restart?)

Similar for me. My December 2015 "Yacht" account doesn't have Pandora, but my 2018-purchased alt account does.

It's amazing how much software includes useless after-the-fact acknowledgement boxes, with the additional annoyance of it coming in a pop-up window that interrupts the rest of what you're doing. "Ship Successfully Deleted [OK]"

Share the wealth, I say. I may be Sir Yachts-A-Lot, but I'm not a snob - I'd be happy to see other players enjoy Yachts and Pandoras for a few dollars. The only content that should be reserved for lucky early adopters is cosmetic vanity stuff.

Trading doesn't make enough money to justify protection that isn't free.

the ship has sailed, and now we know better

people need to stop using the word "promise". clearly there is a disconnect about that, and it's just sending people into a pointless tizzy

Yachts Yachts EVERYWHERE!

The problem isn't whether the AI is easy or hard, but rather that they are a predictable opponent, and you eventually see how the battles tend to develop in the same way because of that. Player opponents just provide a more varied battle experience, have the ability to work in coordinated fleet actions, and are much better at friendly banter than the bots are. It would be nice to have the option of arranged battles (or voluntary vulnerability I guess) against other friendly enemy player fleets on the PVE server.

The AI is a boring opponent which always does the same thing, and can always be beaten in the same way, and you're stuck with the composition of the AI fleets. An arranged battle between player fleets is usually going to be more dynamic and fun.

That would be really good if it's implemented as challenges between battle groups, to create large fun fleet battles.

Instead of armor you get extra free crew

AI doesn't sail DLC ships to harvest, and you can't capture them anyhow.

Why are you taking my L'Hermione away 😥

The game needs a lot less "buffing"

Might as well reduce Bermuda to a single free port that consumes and produces.

Sailing to the Pacific is easy, but it takes a while even in a Trader Lynx.

It would be far closer if the AI simply repaired at sensible times, didn't have predictable boarding actions, switched shot better, and either pressed the attack or escaped at the appropriate times. The AI would be better than a lot of players with some simple changes.

Depends on your ping a bit. Sometimes I whiff an entire stern rake on a frigate size ship because the packets decide to route through Mongolia and Botswana before getting to the server. I rarely ever attempt shooting at masts.

Unfortunately most encounters with the AI in this game turn into exploiting the inadequacies programmed into them. They are unrealistic opponents. They have superships with laser cannons and upgrades, so we have to use exploits in an even strength battle. They run when they should fight. They fight when they should run. They can't repair. They don't switch shot properly. They are fatally predictable in boarding. (aided by the nature of the boarding minigame) They allow you to kite them to death for as long as the battle instance is open. Fighting the AI almost always devolves into exploiting one of their simple weaknesses so you don't waste repairs on the battle. That's all the final exam is - showing that you've identified one of the many ways the AI commits suicide which no player would do, and trying to exploit it within 90 minutes.

People keep asking for that one in global chat. How many Reals is it worth?

Last time I did the final exam it took the full 90 minutes to wear the AI down, and I had to cheat by boarding the second one to beat the timer. I haven't tried kiting in the new damage model, so it will be interesting to see how it works.....after the Wipe.

Prepare for Yacht Domination