Fletch

Just buy a cheap old NPC ship from a random port go out and have some fun. t They are cheap as chips you can get a conni for 150k.

So we got a magical ship repair, sail repair, and mast repair, but crew repair is a no no ? I mean come on ships can replace an entire mast in mid battle

There is nothing wrong with crew damage but you should have the ability to defend against it if your willing to sacrifice something else.

I think your missing the point. I am not asking how to play the game. I was in the surprise with a another surprise. We capped a ballona simply by stern camping. Yes you can shoot the masts of the smaller ship, but the whole point of my post was that you can fix the masts! You can repair sails, hull, leaks, rudder, you can fix anything but you cannot fix or replace or heal the crew in anyway. There is not even a mod to reduce crew loss to cannon fire. So my point is should there not be a mod or repair for crew like a doctor on board or as others have said help from barricades?

I am not talking ships of the line. A 3rd rate or Ballona can be stern camped by a surprise, it may take a long time but he can just keep chipping away at the crew and it seems unbalanced that you can repair and protect almost everything else but crew.

Seems to me there are repairs for everything in a fight other than the crew. Bigger ships are often brought to there knees by smaller ones simply by chipping away at the crew. There is no repair for this or no mods to add further protection or no on board doctor patching people up and sending them back. Should there not be some kind of defensive mod to help with this?

Has anyone actually thought a few smaller faster ships might be useful in a ship of the line port battle when comes to capturing circles. Seems people still think of the 25 of the biggest ship meta is the way to go. I was hoping we could get away from 25 of the same ship battles.

I played both to the end and always found a way to flank so far.

I played through both sides on easy the only battle I had to restart was the crossroads. Playing on normal now, and again the same battle was very hard. I am not complaining I enjoyed it and it was touch and go if I could hold those buildings exciting stuff. It cost me a lot of lives though. Anyone else find this little encounter tricky?

thanks sorry saw it later

So far I have been using mostly 5 guns and they been working well enough. What do you guys go for?

I finished the Confederate campaign. Most battles can be won by flanking the enemy. Malvern hill I kept them busy at the front without wasting too many men. the weak spot in their line is the right flank (their right flank your left ) that area by the river bank. Put some men and arty on the other bank. When your reinforcements arrive march them completely around the back of their right flank, use the last river crossing. Once your behind them its only a matter of time as you start rolling them up form right to left. Gaines mill is another flanking one, take your troops and go around the right hand flank of the Union lines. Then attack them from their right. never climb a hill into direct musket fire. Get all your troops across the river and up on to the higher ground before you attack, you can roll them up one after another after that. they will counter attack and charge ect but nothing that cant be handled. I forgot to mention, if you keep some arty on the other side of the ravine this will be very useful when you attack them from the side, your arty will now be able to shoot flanking shots as they turn to face your infantry.

Just finished Antietam playing CSA. 65,000 against 90,000 Federals, what an amazing experience. The battle was huge but the pace of the game is just right, edge of the seat stuff slightly chaotic at times but somehow under control. I held 2 of the points but was defeated, everyone was running out of ammo. Everything seems so well balanced. Looking forward to new content. Thanks for a great game.

There was a very old civil war game, a bit like total war, you raised armies and moved them around on theworld map. When armies came into proximity of each other it switched to a real time battle like this game. It was amazing for its time and on the world map you would loose soldiers if you marched them long distances due to stragglers ect.Im sure you had rail and ship transport also. I sunk endless hours into that game. I cant remember the name but it was donkeys years ago might of even been on my amiga 500

You can repel cavalry in this game fairly easy with infantry. One decent volley into them from a brigade makes them think twice, they are best used for running down already broken units or units with poor moral.

I strongly disagree. It is very useful to know how strong the enemy is. I use it to dictate my tactics early on. If out numbered its important not to throw troops away early on and fight on the defensive. If you have a big advantage in numbers you can afford to press home attacks at bayonet point

I agree with what your saying, but the defenders might well do the same if they did not have the magical ability to teleport to the port being defended. I would like to see the ability to teleport to a contested port removed, as an attacker how can you screen a port battle when the defender can port in and simply undock and join? Under the current system both the port defenders and attackers use methods to avoid interdiction before joining. The result is you cant stop either. So yes I also agree the flag was a better system, people might hate me for saying it but there was some strategic importance of ports that were within an hours sail of more important ports. If you wanted to cross the map you needed a stop off point.

I don't know weather your a fool, or your just trying to be funny. My point remains the same, for me it was more fun when the battles stayed open a while. I don't care if the battle went my way or I lost, it was the simple fact it could turn either way. At the moment when you enter a battle and its closed that's it, who ever has the upper hand is going to win its just a matter of time. The social perk changed all that, a battle could swing one way or the other you simply did not know what was going to happen. Was it realistic? no not really but it sure was fun. I think reinforcements turning up in battle should be possible they should of course appear quite away off from the action.

Just seems a bit daft that people who were just the wrong side of a white line cannot join a battle that is raging right in front them. Instead they simply sit outside waiting.

17 people had fun 5 didn't? Seriously, I know it was not perfect but there was some huge open world battles went down during that time. I think its too far now in the other extreme, just my opinion.

So at the moment the gank fleet simply sits outside the battle waiting for the occupants to come out rather than joining in. I see little difference. People are now using trade ships as bait to get a people into battle, then travel and wait on the crossed swords. It all depends weather you like small battles or big battles I guess.

Some of the biggest and most fun battles I have taken part in was during that period of the social perk, it was that feeling you never who or what was going to turn up next. I thought the 2 min timer worked well also. I don't like the current system it restricts combat too much in my opinion, its great if you like solo hunting though..

But your concentrating all the new players in one area and separating them from anyone who can help them. At least at the old capitals veteran players would be around to try and help.

I enjoy green ships when good value for money as well as blue and purple. In fact I like all the ships. The devs created the meta game by only allowing a certain type of ship to a port battle hence the need for 25 yellow ships. Its unrealistic and I dont like it. Why change the quality of NPC ships again? Its nice hunting NPCs and finding the odd gem or the odd weird mix set up. Just because the big clans will not use other color ships for the meta game dont ruin the fun for other not so well off people. A big step backwards if you ask me.

Remove the ability to teleport to a contested region and half the problem will be solved. At the moment the defender has ships ready and safe in the harbour and simply teleports to the port, undocks and enters the port battle without any danger at all. If it was not possible to teleport to a region with 100% hostility the defenders would have to sail there. Also make it impossible to respawn in an area with 100% hostility. So anyone who dies outside the port has to spawn in the nearest uncontested region.