Bramborough

It's just not that difficult, overly expensive, or time-consuming, to round up medkit ingredients.

Am having same problem. And not new to the use of Manual either. What I'm seeing is that approaching and getting the bow through the wind is working largely as it did pre-patch...but about 10-20 degrees past the wind on new tack, the speed (along with sail/rudder authority) plummets. Occurring across a variety of square-rigged vessels both small/fast and big/slow.

This has been the state of affairs for many ships. Snow/Rattlenake over Brig. Mercury over NavyBrig. Surprise over Renommee. Trincomalee over Essex. Bellona over 3rd Rate. In each case, same or similar Battle Rating in same rate. One ship emerges as the darling of its particular rate/battle-rating bracket, while its nearest peer remains a bit of an ugly duckling, It should be no surprise that Bucentaure-Pavel will similarly be a superior-inferior relationship. Such would be the rule, not the exception.

All the info above is true. Just one thing to add. When you create a new character, your Labor Hour balance will reset to zero (across all servers). Not a big deal; just time your new character creation such that your LH balance is low.

Sounds like what you're looking for is something like a Rattlesnake or Privateer type vessel but with several hundred cargo capacity? or alternatively a Trader Lynx/Cutter with its guns? Not implying a value judgment, just trying to clarify what you're advocating.

In this and other threads (as well as in-game chat), I've seen repeated references to high crew costs. For all the folks bemoaning such, I have to wonder if they've taken a close look at the $$$-per-LH return of the revised-lower-cost production buildings, particularly the new hotfixed Tobacco & Sugar Plantations. It's true that there has been a significant money sink added to the game, immediately apparent to all of us. What fewer seem to realize is that there has also been added (alongside the more apparent fish & shipwrecks) an "easy-button" income-generation opportunity which outright dwarfs that of Patch 9.7/9.8 compass-farming. Whether such is a good idea or not, I don't know. Just saying that it's easier than ever to generate a lot of cash with minimal effort....at least as far as I can tell, way more than enough to compensate for crew costs.

Regarding the relative effects of side thickness and penetration, which of the following two cases is more accurate? 1. A binary outcome: Either the ball penetrates (for full damage), or it does not (for zero damage). 2. A scaled outcome: The ball may penetrate, but the side thickness has an attenuating effect...the more wood the shot must go through, the less damage it does, having expended more kinetic energy getting through the wood. I've wondered this ever since 9.7 was introduced. I'm pretty sure the first description is closest to (or exactly) what's happening, but have occasionally seen ambiguous statements which imply at least some presence of an "attenuation" or "absorption" effect.

I have yet to see my crew-pool auto-regenerate. I have a clan mate whose crew-pool auto-regenerates daily. We play the same levels of ships, roughly same numbers & levels of battles per day. Our battle crew losses are comparable. We keep our ships in and log off in the same ports. Yet he's seeing this regeneration, while I am not. Apparently one of us is doing something differently to facilitate (or prevent) the auto-regeneration over time. Neither of us can figure out what it is.

I understand the basic idea of the new Crew system, but am repeatedly perplexed by how it actually works out in practice. Sometimes I need to replace crew losses after a battle. Sometimes not. Sometimes Hammocks covers part of the crew losses and I don't need to pay for those. Sometimes not. Today, three separate battles with distinctly different outcomes regarding crew losses/replacements. The first two were Rank 7 (Brit Post-captain) Fleet Orders, entered solo in a Connie (equipped with Exc Hammocks, which provided an extra 56 crew on top of the base 450, thereby starting battle with 506 onboard). In Battle # 1, I lost exactly 100 men, finishing with 406. After the 56 "free" from Hammocks, I expected to have to hire/medkit 44 crew. Instead, none. Not one crew replacement required; crewpool untouched. In Battle # 2, I lost 95 men, finishing with 411. After first battle, didn't really know what to expect. Turns out, I had to replace 82 crew...which is very close to the "after Hammocks" losses for the two battles combined. At this point, I thought maybe crewpool updates once per hour, somewhat like the hourly LH uptick? Regardless, over the two battles, I had lost a total of 195 men, and had been required to replace only 82 of them, so it appeared to me that the Hammocks were indeed providing "free extras" for crew management purposes. Battle # 3. Then later in the evening, participated in a group for Rank 6 fleet order in Belle Poule. 280 base + 35 extra provided by Hammocks. Lost only 25 crew, so expected no replacements necessary. Nope, my crewpool depleted by the full 25, as if the Hammocks had had no effect. Ultimately, I don't have a strong opinion on what the specific mechanics should be, or whether Hammocks should or should not have an economic bonus through saving crew replacement costs (although as a player, I'd rather enjoy it if they did). I do, however, want consistently predictable results which are easily understandable. I'm not seeing that right now.

So, I see the patch notes, downloaded the update, fire up the game...and already all servers are in "Hotfix" right now?

Thanks Olav for the new site. I much prefer it to the previous.

I thought the Indiaman *is* the Amsterdam? Kinda like how "Frigate" was apparently once called the Cherubim (and still has that name emblazoned on its transom)? Or are Indiaman and Amsterdam two completely different ships?

PvE1, playername Bramborough, Britain Am interested in paying/trading for Labor Hours to craft gun carriages (Small/Medium for now, hopefully Large in relatively near future). I will provide resources. Ballpark rate 100 per LH, negotiable within reasonable range. Also have some surplus Exceptional 6th-rate ships (2/5 Brig, 3/5 Mercury) would be willing to trade for crafting a batch of carriages. If you are not British player, I also have outposts in Nassau & Plymouth, operating regularly in the Bahama & Lesser Antilles areas, if those spots better facilitate meeting up. pm ingame if interested in further discussion.

Nothing wrong with Marines the way they are. The different quality levels offer a range of capability to suit a player's intended target and battle plan. It's not a simple "Gold always better than Green" choice, as it is with other upgrades. I would agree that sailing around with Exceptional Marines all the time (regardless of mission, expected opponent, and a tactical plan optimized for such configuration) is probably a bad idea.

I don't want a constant real-time position on the map. I like navigating by DR. That said, I think it would be reasonable to implement two position updates per 24 game hours. First, a noon sun line (i.e., a line along ship's latitude, not an actual ship's position). Second, a midnight position determined by star sightings. Clear weather should be a prerequisite for both. In addition, the night-time position update shouldn't necessarily be pin-point accurate. A noon sun-line is relatively easy, but getting a tight 3-way fix off 3+ star shots shouldn't be automatic. Perhaps when ship's officers are implemented, one could be a Navigator, whose competence might improve the accuracy of these positions, particularly the night star-shot. Separate but related, I also think there should be some elementary drawing capability on the in-game map. At least an ability to plot a desired course, some method of calculating time/distance, and a moveable compass rose to fine-tune course headings. Don't get me wrong; I don't want navigation to be automatic, or much easier than it is now. And I'm getting around okay as it is. But I do want some basic approximation of the navigational methods available to late-18th-century mariners. Rather than simplify, I think such measures would actually add a little complexity to long open-ocean transits (would give us a bit more to do than "point & hope"). Would also add more fun; it's pretty gratifying to make landfall at exactly the desired location, particularly in a sail-driven vessel which had to tack a few times due to shifting winds.

PR = Kingston/Port Royal. British Capital PM = Port Morant. British deepwater port very close to PR. PA = Port Antonio. British deepwater port on northeast coast of Jamaica. I see these acronyms used all the time in Brit/Help chats. Might also want to delete the reference to English Harbor (EH) being the Brit capital; no longer the case.

Yes, much of the info there is specifically about crafting. But the Shop Prices and Harbour Map (which includes pop-ups for each port showing their production/consumption pattern) I've found quite helpful. True, it doesn't have info about contracts. I saw your contract questions in the OP, but I guess didn't realize that you were asking only about that specific topic. I was thinking some info to help sailing around buying low and selling high would be relevant. In any case, Arsilon seems to have covered the contract bit nicely.

Nice info from Federico. I think I'm getting the hang of basic trading, but am still trying to figure out best places to set up outposts. Specifically, what types of towns. I think I'd like to use Free Ports, so that I can use the delivery mechanic to move goods long distance. The thing is, I know there's some fees for moving goods port-to-port like that, and I have absolutely no idea how much it'll cut into the profit margin. Is this a viable practice in setting up a trade network? For context: PvE server, British (and one of the other problems with my idea is that there aren't any Free Ports very close to the Port Royal capital).

I'm also brand new, and feeling my way through the same process. I've found the site navalactioncraft.com quite helpful. It's only updated once per day and prices can fluctuate...so don't try to determine exact buy/sell prices, or try to identify temporary "get rich quick" trading opportunities which normally wouldn't exist. Heh, I've already been burned trying to do that. But it does help a lot in identifying basic supply/demand patterns and getting a general idea where one should usually be able to find good prices for both buying & selling.