Thomas Blackwell

The team for Naval Action isn't much bigger. Even so I think POTBS is an old racehorse. I doubt it's going to be winning any more races.

Google+ strikes back!

Hi Chromey. I have merged your topic with another to save these forums from being flooded. Naval Action is in the early testing stages at the moment, and thus the developers have not told us exactly when they plan to release the game, demo or otherwise. Until then, feel free to get involved here on the forums. If you show enough activity, you may be chosen to help test the game! If you want to ask the developers directly, you may ask your question (or any others you have) in the Questions to Developers thread linked below. http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/558-questions-to-developers/

This seems to be quite a regular question. To save it from taking over the Tavern section, I have merged it with another exactly the same thread. Sorry for any inconveniences.

The one universe approach to eve online was what first attracted me to the game... That and space lasers.

^ not for long

Though I completely agree the Mayflower is a beautiful ship, it falls outside of the years set by the Developers for ships that could be added into the game. I believe the dates are 1750-1850 though I will have to find the post again to confirm.

A night sky with stars and constellations. More so, a Polaris that points to North, and constellations mirrored from the real world to aid in night navigation.

You strike some interesting points, and I would be inclined to agree with you one some. - Personally speaking I have no gripe with encountering different languages in chat, and don't really see a benefit to discriminating. There are those who cannot speak English just like I cannot speak Russian or French or Chinese, but by allowing people to communicate in their own languages in a 'World' or 'Nation' chat will help them find others who understand them. And on a realism side, those at sea often encountered different ethnic languages during their travels, and I doubt they understood them all. - Regarding the names, I have to agree for the sake of pronunciation and identification. - Again, I agree. In a perfect world there would be no cross-teaming on multiple characters. Changing your captains allegiance through National reputation should be an option though publicly recorded and non repeatable. How we can stop or at least discourage people from having multiple characters remains the challenge. - On this I have to disagree for the most part. Any captain should be allowed to sail any vessel yes, but obtaining the vessel depends greatly on the nationality of the vessel in question and your captain. For example, the HMS Victory should never be allowed to be built in any shipyard that does not belong to the British. The same goes for the famous vessels of the other respected Nations. If the HMS Victory is captured in battle, the victorious captain should be allowed to sail it no matter his nationality. If the HMS Victory is under the command of a British Naval Officer who then decides to ally himself with the French, he should be allowed to continue sailing his vessel. Line ships in general no matter their nationality should not be allowed to be sold on an open market or Auction House. Those who are in bad standing of the Admiralty should not be allowed to buy the plans to build a line ship. Frigates and below, that is still debatable. In short, a more realistic approach to the acquisition and distribution of vessels.

Explorer 80, killer 53. Avast! I be explorin' your shores and takin' your loots!

I think you and I Brigand are both suggesting the same thing only using different words. There's a few different angles on this I didn't make very clear in my first post. Storms, large waves, and changes in weather will effect the trade routes just like the sea surrounding them. The only difference is that the channels of wind will never double back on themselves or undergo a sudden and violent change. Instead they will always provide a decent wind in one general direction. It may shift a couple points, but it will never double back on itself and will always provide people a route across the map. What is a trade wind in real life? A trade wind is, or rather was a seasonal blow that many sailors used to travel long distances. Sailors knew when the trade winds would start, and they knew generally where to pick the trades up from. In other words, they were as close to a static natural entity as we will find in the real world. We already know that Naval Action will show a date, but not the year. Admin told us this in the Q2D thread. The locations of these in-game trade winds could change depending on the season or date. When I say static, I mean the wind direction, not the location, however there should always be at least one wind going too, and one wind going from. I would also have winds along the coastline blowing either up, or down (+/- a few points) rather than out to sea. I'm coming at this from a simplistic direction for the sake of trying to understand how these will be coded into the game. While trying to make the weather as realistic as possible, a game is still artificial no matter how good it is. Having random trade winds that no one knows where or when they will reappear is not going to be a positive feature, or a realistic one. Trade winds that are measurable and somewhat predictable will help keep the economy flowing in game. And remember, as you are sailing there isn't going to be a big sign saying 'trade winds 500 yards ahead' - you will need maps and charts that tell you where and when these trade winds will reappear. The flocks of traders who use the winds will attract privateers and pirates. Naval Officers will also be drawn to the winds because of the traffic. Between the trade winds the wind is random. Sometimes it is blowing in the direction you want, other times it isn't. If traders wish to risk the more unpredictable winds, then they can and I'm sure a lot of them will. But that is up to them. Perhaps I misunderstood you, but to me, we seem to be hitting upon the same thing.

Perhaps one way to make both parties happy, is to have both static AND random wind. If there is a way to code static 'highways' of wind that only blows in two directions too and from surrounded by sea who's wind changes randomly like POTBS. This way, trade ships will be more inclined to use the coded routes to ship their cargo as it is a surefire way to get from one side of the map to the other. If the random wind is playing in their favour, they can risk it, or choose to fight it in the hopes of avoiding privateers and pirates scouring the trade routes. Consider the 'highways' as coded trade routes. <-- enjoy my very crude picture

I think the reason people are not replying to this topic, is because at such an early stage in the games development, we have very little to go on. We just don't have the information to give a good reply. Corruption in politics could be an interesting feature for pirates, and it could be feasible to elect town governors. This thread is a good place to voice some of the political related content you would like to see in the game, but actually discussing them in detail becomes very difficult. Perhaps later when the game is closer to supporting national and player owned ports, this thread will become more popular.

Welcome to the forums mate!

Voted. Old ways are best.

I would like to see two warring Nations attempt to stifle the others trade not only by hunting that Nations shipping, but neutral shipping bound to and from the opposing Nations ports. How this could be accomplished without it being viewed as piracy, I'm not sure. Perhaps some form of papers each captain must obtain before setting out to sea. A naval captain has orders from his Admiralty, while privateers must have a Letter of Marque. Traders must obtain papers showing which port they intend to travel to and which port they are traveling from. What stops them from falsifying these papers I do not know. In my mind however I envision a form of interaction between the trader who's papers are being checked and the checking captain be much like Papers Please. If a trader does not have these papers, that trader is a smuggler.

Original thread: http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/721-more-on-tacking/ Great idea! I hope the Dev's seriously consider using some of these paintings. PS. Good job starting this topic Mirones,

Fantastic to hear what you are currently working on, and what you have planned! Keep up the amazing work!

I posted this picture once before, but this seems like a better place for it.

Thanks for posting this one Ink! I for one am going to take full advantage of it!

42!

As I said before, I would really enjoy seeing these songs in game. My only concern is that they will most likely be expensive to produce, and will only add some novelty to sailing at sea. Eventually, you are going to get tired of period tunes, turn them off and swap over to playing iTunes in the background.

This topic has been moved to Tavern. Sorry for any inconveniences!