Barbancourt

2 hours a week is what I have - maybe 4 or 5 if there's a holiday.

After reading the latest patch notes, these ships might be out of my reach for a very long time.

Yup, I did. Perhaps you can help with that.

What is "casual gamer"? Why do "puzzle games" have anything to do with NA, and why are "shooters" mentioned in the same sentence? What do those even have to do with each other? What are "old school sensibilities"?

I don't really have any idea what that means. It could be code words for a lot of agendas.

I made a different nation on each server to see different parts of the map. Dutch on PVP2 I think, but not on the others. I'm taking advantage of the free money and rank on the test server to try new things.

No...I can imagine how much I"m giong to sink trying to learn that, LOL

I have only dabbled in the regular game, so I can only sail the little boats like the basic cutter, trader brig, and my favorite the privateer. I can only attack the minnows with these, and easily stop and board small prey with the agile cutter and privateer. I got on the test server this week and with free money and full access to ships and I was able to test a Trincomalee - my first large ship. It was harder to use than I expected. I tried attacking some armed NPC brigs for the first time. They outmanouvered me so badly I could not come close to attempting a boarding, and at the same time they were pecking me to death. I couldn't get close enough as we circled each other to effectively use grape to remove crew. Even after partially demasting one I still had to give up boarding and sink it because the thing set me on fire and put leaks in my ship. Next I attacked a bigger ship - I forget which, but still much less than my combat rating. I was not outmanouvered as much and camped its tail for repeated raking, but it was still pecking me to death in return every few passes and especially as I tried to slow it for boarding. Even after taking down a mast I couldn't board in a reasonable amount of time and had to sink it to get out of there. Is capturing ships solo with something like a Trincomalee a reasonable goal? My first attempts I tried my usual combination of chaining sails down to 50%, removing stern armor, and stern raking with grape. The enemy just continued to punish me with ball the whole time, so I had to give that up. I switched to using ball and trying to take down masts, but it took too long.

If you think Elite "lacks depth" then you aren't in a good player group and need to find a new one. It is the player groups and community that provides depth. Elite is my main game. I help our player group spread an conquer new systems and stations, and I have my own pet faction that I help spread and conquer. The more systems and bases your factions take over, the more complicated that becomes. Plus, there are always new ships to buy and outfit and bling up. There are always new landscapes to see.

They missed the boat long ago. You can already play Elite Dangerous for reals, which has an established community.

2-3 hours is about what it takes me to randomly find one or two traders (lynx/brig/whatever) with contraband and capture them.

Sure. I'm just commenting regarding the issue of attracting players. I don't represent everyone, but I doubt I'm that unusual.

I actually built a $$$ "gaming" desktop computer to play Naval Action, after watching the youtubes of big arranged battles ("trafalgars") a couple summers back. I never had such a desktop machine before, since I had not done any "computer gaming" since Ultima V in the 1980's. The youtubes featured fleets of a dozen or more fancy ships - lined up and spewing cannonballs until they started sinking one by one. I ended up getting into some other games before the early access became available. When the early access rolled around I found out this game was not the big battles I saw on the youtubes but instead the sparsely populated "open world", with a lot of time sailing around cursing the wind and waiting for traders with contraband, followed by a half hour battle to try to capture one little ship to get loot and progress to a larger ship. I did jump into one battle in progress that had about 5 player minnows mobbing a lone NPC. I hardly fired a shot in that one because the other players were practically mounting the NPC boat in their lust - there was no clean line of fire. It wasn't really what I expected, and certainly not what I had time for, so after some light experimenting I went back to other games I was already heavily involved in. Anyhow, my comment is that it was those youtubes of big battles that attracted me to this game...which is something I didn't actually find in the early access game itself. I was thinking it would be a computer version of Age of Sail board games like Close Action or Flying Colors, centered around battles. Essentially, World of Warships for the Age of Sail. I imagine that the same kind of events that originally caught my interest would still attract new players (or old players), though not for long if it doesn't deliver what people came for. The "open world" is OK in some ways, and sort of interesting in the rare event that I actually have more than the usual span of free time to sail distances, but it isn't what I actually came for and that's why I've rarely played.

I originally made a USA captain because I was uncertain about hitting a "language barrier" if I started as a captain of another country. The Carolina Coast was fairly boring to sail, so the next time I started playing the game I made a Denmark-Norway captain on the PVE server, because I like being one of the "little guys", and because their home port is nicely situated for exploring and variety. Most recently I made a Netherlands captain, though the Venezualan coast rarely has players on the US PVP server when I'm playing. I'm still learning/testing how to play, so I'm not committed to any nation yet.

Fortunately quality rum is much cheaper than some other quality spirits (tequila, scotch, etc). My favorite rums are just $30, whereas my favorite tequila and mezcal are about $70-80.

Heh, there is life beyond the keyboard. On longer hauls I'm gonna go feed the pets, vacuum, make a mai tai...something. Watching the waves go by 10-15 minutes at a stretch over and over is a bit much. That cutter grounded against the coastline at full sail is me...I'll be back in 5, no worries.

Heh, in about my 4th or 5th session playing on the USA "PVP" server I finally saw a player sailing today. (PVE had lots of players) Fortunately they were flying the same flag so I didn't have to worry about getting blasted. I just zoomed on through... Saw another player later on. Nobody seems to like Venezuela on the USA server. Finally made it to level 2 and ditched the cutters for a privateer and a captured traders' brig.

The basic 750ml Pussers is a $30 bottle in Hawaii, or $27 in Colorado, but they also seem to have overproof and aged rums I haven't encountered that would be more expensive. Appleton is one of the largest and most well known rum producers (lots of marketing), and have several styles/price points.

To me Pussers is very similar to Appleton in flavor. Many people like them, but the flavor doesn't work for me. Pussers is on the cheap side - mostly used for mixing, I think. Grog, swizzles, punches and such.

While I sail tonight I'm drinking one of these - 2oz White Grapefruit, 3oz Rhum Barbancourt, 1/2oz agave nectar, 1/2oz Kahlua, 1/2oz Cinnamon syrup and some lime peel:

Yeah, color in rum is manipulated for aesthetic appeal. There isn't a code controlling rum, and many styles to enjoy. Flavorings are also common. (I'm not talking about obviously flavored rums like "spiced" or bizarre fruit flavored rums, but flavorings added to basic rums that aren't marketed as flavored) For instance, they dump a ton of some kind of vanilla flavor in Zaya. I like Zaya in a Mai Tai, but it's kind of expensive as rums go. (which means only half the price of cognac, scotch or tequila/mezcal)

Stole a couple more trader's cutters north of Caracas, from the Brits this time. I was something like 0-for-8 chasing lynxes last night and this morning, and now captured 3 larger traders in a row. Trying to capture lynxes was my error - the first lynx I captured so easily I guess I had a terrific initial positioning in the battle to shred its sails before it could get up to speed.

That would be low quality mad dog frat party rum.

A fun thing about these ship games is the appearance of rum....because I like good rums and love quality rum cocktails, and often sip them while playing. My favorite rums are Pampero Aniversario from Venezuela (dark) and 8 year old Barbancourt from Haiti (light), and it tickles me that I can visit those areas in Naval Action. I think I'll soon pay a visit to one of the free ports in Haiti to see if they stock any Barbancourt in-game. Much easier than finding a bottle in my area. Right now I'm drinking Barbancourt with some lime peel and agave nectar. If I can find a quality lime in town I'll make a Mai Tai - I mix quality 8yo Barbancourt with basic Coruba or Myers's dark, or if I'm feeling spendy the dark rum will be Zaya. Plus Caffo Solara orange liquor, standing in for the locally elusive orange curacao. (lime is the ONLY juice in a traditional Mai Tai) I've attempted a few other rum cocktails, but none of them satisfy my craving for a traditional Mai Tai.

Is it normal to get solidly stuck pointed into the wind in battle with 100% sail and crew assigned to sailing? The last two battles I entered I got stuck pointed into the wind and nothing I did would make the ship turn for an extremely long period. Once the battle ended with me still stuck into the wind, and the other time it did eventually start turning far too late to matter. It feels like a bug, but I'm not experienced enough to say. YARRRR! Got my first capture in 2 days. (yeah, just a trader) 30 XP away from level 2 and being able to man the trading brig I just stole from France. Speaking of which, I was interdicting multiple french traders near the same french ports, and it's kind of silly how the french warships sailing around there just didn't care.