William Death

Or just get in a hunting group and go where you think the enemy is. Maybe you find one player, maybe you find 10. Thats the way 90% of us "gank." Then the counter-gank: one guy gets sunk, he tell his friend where the battle is and they go there to try to sink the person who sunk their friend. Thats the way 90% of us "counter-gank." All this extra work and logging in alts to do all this is funny really. I've got a couple alts and I can't be bothered to do anything other than run trade missions with them. I promise we're not really super spies monitoring every port waiting for some poor guy to sail out so we can warp in a fleet of death-ships to sink him. Thats entirely too much work and not worth the effort. Oh, and a final note: I control what ship I sail in, and whether or not I'm in a group. You control what ship you sail in, and whether or not you're in a group. Very very few players are going to leave you alone because they're not in the right ship to give you a fair fight. There's like 120-400 people online...PvPers are taking whatever targets they can get. Remember that always. Which is why I find it hilarious when I'm in a Connie, for example, and sink a Mercury or something. The guy goes off in chat "oh it took you in a big ship to sink me bet you feel mighty powerful", etc. Uhh...no. I was sailing in my ship, I saw a target, I sank the target. Forgive me if I don't run back to port, craft a Mercury or similar, and come back out to give you a "fair" fight. See how silly that is? The Mercury should have been smart and I'd have never had a chance to sink him (by him being in the shallows, for example). Its an OW game, ganks happen. Learn how to sail your ship, learn what ship to use and when, and you'll die a lot less in ganks.

Yep^ I had the same old speed-built Endymion for many many months in the old PvP mark days. It earned me I'd guess 2/3 of whatever Loodsman cost back then. It was fast and I never got caught by something I couldn't handle (and that was before I put Loodsman on it). I had to limp away sometimes when I bit off more than I could chew, but thanks to light and fast build, I could do so. Sounds like the OP was in something slow and unsuitable for solo hunting, thats why the revenge gank fleet caught them. If you want to solo hunt successfully in a slow ship, you either need to be very very good, or your opponents need to be very very bad. Look back over the past year or so in the great battles and small battles threads to see some examples of this. Otherwise, sail something fast and light, and just accept that you'll run across stuff you can't beat in combat, but can at least run away from. Use a tack hammer to drive tacks, and a sledge hammer to drive spikes; the other way around isn't very efficient .

Congratulations on nearing the end of the development journey. I'm happy to have been a part of it these past 3 years. I'd like to suggest whatever final wipes you do occur on a Saturday, if possible. That way everyone has a chance for the rush of port grabs, not just EU players or US timezone players who can log on in the middle of the day. Also, I hope you consider allowing players to at least keep ship knowledge slots and books, that would truly be an appreciated 'thank you for testing' from the developers.

No. Read Ink's post again: Caps for Upgrades: Turning Speed - 25% Sail HP - 30% Armor HP - 30% Hull thickness - 30% Gun Reload - 30% Gun dispersion (both horizontal and vertical) - 40% I, too, would like to know the new stats. I think Privateer is right though, and perhaps the port bonuses are counting separately from the upgrades. Yet I think the 15.5 speed cap still works so who knows? Might need to try stacking hull HP or turn rate mods and see if the caps are still accurate for those.

Port Battle: Turtle Cay Attackers: Pirates Defenders: United States of America Outcome: Pirate victory Commanders: Pirates: Coraline Vodka/William Death US: LionShaft/Richbeard?? The dreaded pirate fleet of 3 first rates flipped 3 ports Saturday night, not realizing that on Sunday night at that time, many captains would be engrossed in some popular television show.... Despite smaller numbers, we managed to get a decent fleet together and make the first battle at Turtle Cay. The second battle at Crown Haven, unfortunately, was set too close to the first and we couldn't fill both (again, because of a popular television show's finale occupying some players' time). As a result, USA kept that one. The final battle at La Desconocida consisted of a small fleet of US YOLO'ing the Pirate fleet. Thanks for the fight US.

Hear him! I, The Most Dread Pirate William Death, VCO Officer, Captain of the BLACK Flag, Admiral of the Fleet, Piratical Tactician, Master Duelist, Feared Hunter, Flipper of Ports at Very Late Times, loser of Surprises to LGVs, etc., also being accused of cheating without evidence outside of the Tribunal for the 2nd time (at least), do hereby request and require an apology from the accuser. I would also like to request they be warned about continuing to make accusations that ruin the reputation of good captains. Truly though, get over it. We used legitimate mechanics to take the port. We recognized that maybe those mechanics shouldn't be available to use in the future. Especially post-release. We reported those mechanics and put it in hands of developers. Developers again confirmed it is a legitimate mechanic and they even patched it right away. You don't like this. You're entitled to an opinion. Your opinion that it is cheating is wrong, devs have said it is wrong, and you refuse to accept it. Seems like a "you" problem, not my problem .

Solution: don't engage near land. You're not in a flat bottomed scow or junk, you're sailing long-legged ships with a lot of hull under the water. Maybe....avoid land? Put to sea, and you'll have fewer issues with tag circles . Furthermore, if you spend 10 minutes practicing tagging, predicting where the join circle will be isn't too hard. You can put it (almost) anywhere you want it if one of the parties involved doesn't 'fight' your attempts to position during the tag. My opinion on it is this: if a player is acting like a landlubber, hugging shore or playing the port hopping game, they deserve whatever kind of bad join circle that gets them. In fact, unless they recently changed it, if you truly play the port hopping game where neither party leaves the docks at all, you get one large join circle like capital battles get. But if either party is off the docks slightly, normal ROE applies. Here, see Admin's answer another time this was reported:

I've got a few: This one was on the old PvP2/Global server. I was escorting one of our first rates from La Mona to Aves to position for a PB. An Endy kept shadowing us, but he didn't see our first rate (he was too scared to approach the scary pirate Endy [me]). I took advantage of this and slowly changed course over the next few minutes so that I was going further south. Eventually I dropped sails in the hopes he'd fight me, only to discover he had friends just behind him. I ended up leading them on a chase all the way to Coquibacoa. I escaped from battle at least 3 times. Eventually they figured out how to setup a net and got me. RIP Endymion. I replaced that Endymion with this one, which served me faithfully from June 2017 until the server merge to PvP Caribbean: (shoutout to Aster who was the only US skipper I ever feared could catch me): Ganking is the name of the game, and I've found myself on both sides of it more times than I can remember. These just stood out to me as some of the most memorable.

Actually, if you look on the map, we were busy flipping a port during that time. You'll note that the nationality of the port we flipped was not USA, so we don't just club seals. We're equal opportunity farmers. It ain't much, but its honest work . Anyways, this might be a good test for how fast the US can recover from such a hard loss. *munches popcorn*

Did anyone ever test this when it was mentioned a while back? : If AI kills count for that leaderboard (and IIRC, they do), then it wouldn't be terribly hard: You in 6th rate with carros, friend in first rate with marines. Tag solo L'Ocean AI, friend pulls it for boarding while you damage it enough with your carronades so you get the kill. Repeat. Again, I haven't tested that, but it seems like I saw this mentioned on the forums somewhere a while back?

Had a few nice little battles the past couple nights. Nothing spectacular, but fun nonetheless. Christendom and I were bored, thought we'd take a couple fir Rattvisan's through the PvP zone and down to KPR to see if we could lose them. The zone was empty, but KPR was not: Then tonight we took a couple more light 4th rates back to KPR: More action; we joined up with BGrey to stand a chance against their tougher fourth rates. They were stronger builds than us and posed quite a challenge to fight since our ships could lose literally half a side in one broadside. Very very punishing of mistakes when you sail lighter builds these days. Unfortunately BGrey got focused and sunk before we could block sufficiently for him. Anyways, thanks to the Brits for coming out and fighting us. PaladinFX and Atreides especially were polite and friendly o7 captains.

No. Balance bonuses and woodtypes so that speed balance comes naturally. The way it used to be in 2016. The way it should be. When maximum difference between LO/WO and fir/fir is +/- 10%, and when maximum mod bonus is +/-10%, balance is possible. Furthermore, what about my historical realism? Victory doing 12kn+? Connie doing 13.5+? Tthe fast third rates doing 14kn+? And, a final point that I seem to have to repeat every time somebody makes another topic about this: Elite Spanish Rig ships can't catch any skilled captain. If you got caught by one, you made a mistake. You were either a tanky ship and should have fought the brawl, or you were running downwind when you should have run upwind. I've spent a lot of time hunting with Elite Spanish ships. I never recall catching a captain who knew to run upwind. I've had people in my fleet catch him for me, and slow him down so I could catch up, but then he would have been sunk regardless of my Elite Spanish Rig. ARTIFICIAL HARD CAPS ARE NOT BALANCING FEATURES. They are band-aid fixes for problems that wouldn't exist with a properly balanced bonus system.

I've always suggested that BR limits shouldn't exist. Every port should default to 25v25. If you (the owning clan) want to have a BR limit, you can pay a daily fee to set your own BR for it (within reason). I had honestly thought that way back when lower BR was announced, along with port timers, that this is how it was going to be implemented. I think it would work well.

Simple fix: Oak and Fir farms available at non-capturable national ports (capitals and surrounding ports). Teak, Live Oak, White Oak, Mahogany, and Bermuda Cedar farms available at all captured ports. Sabicu, Oak, Fir, and Caguarian are provided by freeport shops. RvR incentive is the rare-resources that ports produce that go into upgrades like French rig or Cartagena refit. The original 2016 system was similar to this (all woods available to everyone), and it was much better. Players didn't have to worry about losing a good ship, because the woods were easy to get to rebuild it.

@Teutonic, basically this: GB and Swedes were in the area, we were running a few minutes late, so we decide to forsake the PB in favor of a fight with the screeners (ultimately, we didn't want the port, as much as we wanted a fight). Unfortunately for us, the Brit fleet and US screen fleet, in typical fashion, kited and ran most of the battle, with the only notable action being the Swede fireship attempt. After the big screen battle where nothing really happened, we ganked a ship or two and they did the same to us. Honestly, I can't blame them. After patches 27-30, why bother risking any line ship in a fight you might lose? Because replacing a decent ship is darned near impossible these days (exaggeration, but nobody wants to spend weeks getting stuff for a ship). No point in fighting a "good" battle anymore, unless you're confident you'll win. RIP Naval Action (but that's a topic for another thread). I shudder to think about all the PvE grinding I'll need to do to replace my ships after the wipes. We had planned to flip Ruatan earlier in the evening for a proper primetime fight where we could have a PB fleet + screeners, but stuff came up and the grinding got pushed back till later. Shame we were a few minutes slow in winning the screening fight, as it was, we nearly made it into the PB, missing the join window by mere minutes.

Screening fight for Ruatan. We set a PB for Ruatan at a terribly late hour... Our PB fleet got screened by some US players who decided to stay up late. This was the result: (thanks to random disconnect in the middle that reset numbers of hull hits, sails, etc....making it look like I did nothing in the fight LOL). Anyways, thanks for the fight US.

If they popped out of battle and were in a battle group, they’d get pulled in with the tag, assuming that their cannot attack/be attacked timers were up. At least, that’s how it works with normal OW ROE. I don’t think that ROE is any different for the patrol zone, in that regard. You said you looked around before the tag. Is it possible that they could have been under invisibility while you were looking around? The timer difference between cannot attack and invisibility isn’t very long, it’s quite easy to drag your whole fleet in this way. At any rate, patrol zones are for getting ganked. I avoid them at all cost unless I’m with the fleet that’s doing the ganking and can fill the BR limit.

Decent, but I think I've got one better: ALL wood types accessible via farms that can be built in any capturable port. Capitals and non-capturable ports provide oak/fir only. Free towns provide sabicu, caguarian, and mahogany. Encourages RvR, but doesn't unfairly punish those who don't have alts or are otherwise unable to access the actually-useable woods. (insert comments about how oak/oak or sab/oak or whatever silly combination is useful because "I sank xxx with my sab/oak xxxx git gud noob" also "but you can purchase teak from traders or even loot from AI...blah blah blah.") No thanks. I'm talking about players actually being able to make decent ships to go out and fight in, and hopefully not too expensive either. Hitting AI for a week to afford/find enough live oak or teak or white oak to make a large-ish ship is unacceptable. I remember 'back in the day' when we only had 4 wood types, with a much smaller difference between specs. And all were easily accessible through farms from any port. Believe it or not, people still RvR'd even without the "incentive" provided by rare woods. Also, shockingly, players were more willing to fight when they knew they could afford to sail decent ships and replace their losses. Risk vs Reward is important, but it has gone too far. Let the rare resources that make mods be the "incentive" to RvR. After all, with the new PvP shop mods being as good or better, in most categories, we finally have multiple ways to get good gear for our ships. I think the prices are a bit high considering the reward amounts per ship sunk, but thats a topic for another discussion. Tone down the 'hardcore, full-loot mentality,' make it easy once again for players to stay in ships, and online numbers will increase again. PvP will occur more often and the quality of PvP will be better because players aren't trying to either overwhelm or run from their enemies every battle.

Now available for purchase! Fueled by the salty tears of your opponents who don't buy the DLC, this Ship of the Line Fourth Rate will surely rule the seas! Meanwhile, in the boiler room:

No. Sorry to burst your bubble, but noobs will get wrecked by pros with or without books, with or without fancy woods, with or without slots. Books are only important and possibly “make or break” the fight when two skilled players go at it. @Angus MacDuff mentioned that already. Having been guaranteed our ranks and crafting xp, only to have it be wiped; and being promised a special and unique testers-only ship, only to hear that will be DLC purchaseable by anyone.... I feel keeping books and ship knowledge is the least we can have. Many of us spent thousands and thousands of hours and hundred+ dollars testing the game. On a a final note, if testers keep all books, please tell me what is the difference between a new player the day the game is released and one who buys the game a month later? No matter when a player starts, someone will ALWAYS have superior gear than them. People act like release is some magical time when everything is going to be equal and all players get to level up “together”. Doesn’t work that way. Applying the “I want all new players to have equal footing” logic, there should be a full wipe every server reset lol. Get real.

Patch 30 claims more sailors. Scrap outside Charleston. Some of these fellas were smack talking our frigate squadron. We got wind of it and brought a proper fleet. Two battles happened, this one was relatively even (US even had a higher BR than us). The pale Victory, Captain William Death and company, at the mouth of Charleston Harbor, April 1st 2019, colorized. GG US, thanks for the fight.

You'll get no argument from me, I've long been aboard with the crowd shipping for diverse sea states and variable wind strength. But that is A LOT of work for the development team, I'm sure. (Although the old storm maps look super fun and should come back). Imagine: you're sailing in a storm, trying to catch a fleeing frigate in your 74. You can't use your lower decks due to the heavy seas, but thats OK, the 18pd deck is enough if you can ever manage to catch the frigate. Her skipper is daring (or scared of a court martial) and has set every sail. He is pulling away from you, but then his foretopmast carries away. You've got him now, keep the slow match lit and the powder dry. Or, you're in a frigate in light airs, full sails set and ghosting along. A few daring 6th rates set out to chase you. Can you outrun them? You've got more sails, and royals set higher up, but their ships are much lighter and quicker to respond to the puffs of wind. THAT, is immersion.

You're partially right...a Bellona, well-outfitted, is very fast. Source: I have a couple that do well over 14kn easily and they're not perfect speedbuilds. But you might be ignoring the fact that any frigate of reasonable build (so no super-tanky WO/WO + Spanish Rig monstrosities) can ditch it upwind. Source: have ditched speedbuilt Bellonas upwind. I even ditched a pretty fast Bellona the other day in a 10.5kn Surprise with 80% sails. I went close hauled and tacked a couple times. Every time I tacked I gained massive distance because I could tack without losing speed and he was reversing every time. The only Bellonas that can tack without reversing are the ones without Elite Spanish Rig Refit. Use this to your advantage. It did become harder to do this when the sailing profiles were made "realistic" or whatever happened about a year ago when Devs were changing the sailing profiles and sail forces to make ships behave differently. Hopefully one day we'll go back to the better-for-gameplay sailing profiles that made all frigates useful. Right now, so many ships are redundant because there is effectively little/no difference in sailing profiles between them. Because, aside from BR, why sail a "Frigate" when a Trincomalee or Endymion does everything better? In the old sailing model, Frigate did a little better upwind and turned much better. So it had a use. Why take Surprise for deepwater PvP when Endymion is flat out better? Surprise used to have a significantly better upwind profile, so it had a use. So I agree, speedfit SOLs are a problem when frigates have issues running away from them. But as I posted before, limiting woodtype is not the solution. Neither is fiddling with base speeds (and creating more broken ships in the process). The solution lies in fixing the root of the issue: sailing profiles must be diversified back to the way they used to be, even if that means some ships do unrealistically well upwind or downwind compared to historical logs. On a final note, I wouldn't say that SOLs (especially 3rd rates) couldn't catch frigates IRL. In fact, if I remember correctly there were instances of slow British frigates being caught by the fast French 74s. Not to mention the Spanish third rate Montañés class that were known for their speed. They had perhaps a lighter armament than some other ships, but still enough to destroy any frigate they caught. Even Victory was known as an excellent sailor and quite fast under the right conditions. But for game balance purposes, I agree that speedfit SOLs shouldn't always catch frigates. Only the ones that run away at your best point of sail. We're close to having that, if we diversify sailing profiles again for the good of the game.

Well, this is what happens when reinforcement zones get removed, and capital battles are joinable by all. Thanks for the content. Another group gets sunk by Patch 30. GG. The Pirate ship "Dreadnought," Charleston docks, March 2019, colorized.