Richard VonKleek

Perhaps not so deep as this, but perhaps one who captures gets a little less bounty. Or the loot onboard is rolled for, with higher chances to those who've contributed more (think WoW group loot mechanics). But I do agree that boarding a ship can screw the other players in certain circumstances.

AS someone who teaches open water navigation and coastal navigation, I agree that the term precision is an overstatement when concerned with open water, but when near known coasts or landmarks you could get relatively precision (enough to get the job done.) That said, a map had to be implemented for game-play reasons. Otherwise, I'd either go look one up that someone painstakingly made or be forever lost, without ever really knowing where to go for anything. As for a sextant, how it'd be implemented without being overbearing is the key. As someone who's done SAR, a map without a compass or a reference point of some kind (whether that be landmarks, the sun, sky, or prevailing wind) is not particularly useful. While we do have a compass in travel mode (assuming it's adjusted to true north rather than magnetic north), and we can assume map orientation is always adjusted north as well, it's still a bit of a risk to sail directly across the Caribbean as is with the expectation that you'll arrive where you intend to arrive, instead of another random island, city, or (if you're rather unlucky/inattentive) way out pass the island chain that leads into the Atlantic. With our current tools within game, we're put back much further chronologically in ship navigation technology and precision (for what it is) than what would be expected. Now, I firmly believe we need tools of some sort. A sextant? Possibly, but possibly (and probably) not the best of solutions. Do I want a precise mark on the map wherever I'm at with GPS like precision? Hell no. But I feel there definitely needs to be some sort of middle ground.

This is a consistent issue in many games. And they're all kept it open during all times. Why? Because we deal with an international community which spreads through different time zones. What may be work and low hours for you may be the evening and peak hours for them. It is a part of a game style like this. The other issue at hand is that a nation in this game doesn't mean that everyone who plays it is part of that nation. Example> I'm American, but play Dutch. Now that's something I can agree with, and believe it will help with this problem. The only other this I can think of is a rolling attack timer, so that the attack window is a bit different every time it opens. Hypothetical example: 23 hour rolling timer. Day one it's 11am, day two it's 10am, next it's 9am, and so on. But this will slow down port captures quite dramatically, and as such I'm not a fan of this idea.

I can see this as a mechanic to build into future updates and mechanics, but it lacks a few bits of important information that would have been logged in real life. 1- direction of travel 2- speed of observed ship ...just to name some.

I haven't gone into much detail as to what I feel may or may not work on that line of thought because I'm both A.) fairly sure it's not the best idea to implement and B.) I'm not entirely sure how it'd be implemented yet in my mind. It's something I'm still thinking over, and will definitely post again when I think of something more supplemental.

I've seen several games offer incentives to join under popped factions in order to balance things out a little, and I'd be okay with that. Though they do need to be careful not to have too much of an incentive or too little. It's a balancing act. Hey, even if it's just a "join this faction and for a period of time you get a +50% increase to xp gain." I do agree that something does need to happen to somehow balance pop, especially on the pvp servers. I play Dutch and I feel I see more British ships than Dutch in the middle of Dutch waters, so to speak, than other Dutch ships at any time except peak hours...and even then it's a bit iffy.

We had an extended conversation about this in game the other day. And opinions vary between having to use a sextant (and knowing how to use one on a simulator level) to just being told where you're at. That said, I'm a passionate sea kayaker and we normally navigate through coastal triangulation. This could be done simply by using a compass and ruler and a more detailed terrain map so we could point out land features. Now, there is a balance between being too easy and too hard. You can't go overly simulator mode or it'll never be used and/or people will complain that nobody knows how to use it (which would be true. Most people don't know how to triangulate, though it's one of the easier things to do in navigation). So, just having a compass with a straight edge on one side (think ARMA III [game] compass on their map) that you can move and rotate around a map would be very beneficial in tandem with a more detailed map. Even old sea charts tended to note important land marks for navigation sake. On one of the routes I've decided to use for trade runs recently there's a rather tall mountain that I've noted is approx. my half way point. Just having that extra bit of information would be useful to a majority for coastal navigation. Now as for the open water, there comes the bigger problem. I do like the idea of having some sort of crew/crew skill to help with navigation. Even if it just puts a circle on your map that gives you a rough approximation and the size of it varies on weather conditions and the like. Just a few cents of thought...

-In interpretation (education, not linguistics) and visual displays, we have something called the rule of 3rds. 1/3rd should be imagery. 1/3rd should be text. 1/3rd should be blank. Now, obviously when talking about games and HUD's (for what it is) this changes a good bit, but you can use this to practical advantage to avoid going too minimal or too excessive. And to explain these thirds, research shows this is roughly the most optimal for providing the most information without overloading the user or boring them/intimidating them away. -As a side note, I'd still like to see the bearings on the compass. Being able to say to a group "ship at 20 degrees far" is extremely handy in a large fight where one ship tries to slink away and they're just a faint outline on the horizon.