IndianaGeoff

I am inclined to agree with no timer. Anyone can sail to it and if the time is not up, fight. Want a nice, quiet gank, do it in a quiet corner of the map. Gank someone inside Charleston harbour, expect company. If you join in the open seas, 20 minutes into the battle, it will take a while to get in combat and it is unlikely to sink a smart player in the time left. No invis or speed coming out, but let the battle end timer run a bit longer. Defense forces camping the exit have to invest time. The person inside can sail if time is left and it has some relationship to the exit. That gives the aggressor some chances when out. Especially if the area is cluttered with islands.

Many of the changed are not even on test yet. Maybe next week. You can probably skip checking until October.

This game is feeling more and more like going to the dentist. A couple hours of poking, prodding and a sore jaw. No lollypop at the end, just a toothbrush.

It is a cost problem, not a reward issue.

No, I have not killed a first rate. PvP is it's own reward. It does not need further incentives.

PvP is a zero sum game. Actually a loss for marks. For you to get your 43 marks, someone had to grind 50 of them, plus the mats. You need a big PvE base to support the PvP life. Even if PvP were on it's face profitable, for the vast majority of players it would be a loss. PvP rewards do not need to be raised. Clearly, the rewards are good enough as is given the state of the game.

I disagree with small team alliances. Small teams should Duke it out with other small teams. The ability to coordinate and go after a big squad is doubtful. I often wonder if there should be "order if the king" that force an alliance. It would be mod generated and could be used to end a toxic situation between two nations and/or get them to stop doing the same thing and go fo something else. Of course it is temporary and most useful in this alpha period. Even random peace could be interesting.

When I quit, the Pirates were one ported, only a handful got on some nights and there was literally nothing to do. I understand they came back, but I am sure a big part of that was a crash in the care bear population.

Alliances and RvR did not work the last time. Control was consolidated and population crashed.

Wow. And now less than 100 playing for most of a Saturday night is crystal clear.

National tactics are a different topic from individual fights. Just like ship to ship balancing provides the context of how we fight skirmishes. I have been pointing out that certain actions at the national level are having a negative impact on player retention given the state of the game right now. Actions that are unnecessary. But if you want to continue, please repeat what you have done in the past and we will see where the game ends up in a month or so. How was the player count this weekend?

Yes, that is why one takes a surprise, it is supreme at getting away. Not so good at other things. You don't get every fight you want. And running is a much a part of naval warfare as fighting. Just look at your post. You are OK with ganking largely helpless traders but mad when a ship has superior disengage.

I never saw this as a game of fair fights. I see it as a strategic game of getting into a fight in your favor. Not unlike a lot of war games, you win by bringing more power to one point than the other side. As far as unfair fights... then why do people take traders in war ships? That is the essence of unfair.

Because it is a sandbox game and many (me included) like to accomplish goals with the risk of pvp. I also participate in group pvp at times. But as I said, the balance has to be there. I don't go out and hunt traders or easy kills. That has little appeal for me.

Because there is a balance between risk and frustration.

I disagree. You can move PvE newbs to PvP over time. But they need to taste it first. My first taste was running with other nationals in a flag run. I was in a cheap snow and got sunk after the battle. But I learned and did something useful and got better.

Not seeing this solve the new player problem. The New Player problem is progression. Yes, reducing hunting of newbs will help. But the problem is the lack of intermediate steps before RVR. Now they have to guess the right clan if they want to progress. There needs to be national activities that are very hard (RvR), medium (old flag system) and easy (random pvp pack hunting). Not saying any of those are easy per se, but the barrier to entry is lower. Get rid of the grind. Almost all of it except levels for fighting and crafting and grinding for mats to build ships. Better captains will beat people on a equal ship. The new guy does not stand a chance when he is under experienced, lower fleeted (if he has one) and is facing a fully maxed ship with vastly better upgrades. Make a workable trade mission system that actually encourages people to go out and smuggle. That will encourage exploration. Stop the sail all the way across the world with 3 trips in a traders brig to double your money after investing 200k in the trade goods. One trip in a lynx from one corner to the other should be worth 300k and minimal investment. Do the same in a LGV and it should be worth a million or more. If I am willing to sail a LGV for 3 or 4 hours through hostile waters, make it worth it. Granted a player should only get those a couple times a week. Also create missions for the goods you have in hand. If I cap a 100 units of Norwegian Beaver Musk, let me go into a port, find a mission for that and encourage met so sail to an enemy port for healthy bonus. Again, not a that often, maybe once or twice a day, but make it worth. BTW, It happened again. A new guy I helped out a couple weeks ago is not logging in anymore. 4th or 5th one in a row. Do something.

Not really. I'd rather have them in front instead of stabbing from the back.

Yes and both of them took their new clan on a March on the Brits as they have been pushing. Just kidding, they attacked the US out of Savannah the first night.

Yup southern rebel and redneck went rat.

And the OP has gone Rat. He lost an Aggy last night.

In one post BLACK demands that one nation fight another. In the next post they tell them to band together. Later they tell clans to quit or be hunted down over some petty, old grievance. It just never ends. 140 last night. Tonight, 130? Or maybe Monday.

Let me know how this works for you a couple weeks out.

You don't play out of free ports as a new player. That is only an option for an experienced player who has alts to generate resources.

We ran good defensive fleets for a month. Believe it or not, running defense night after night sucks after a while. Most nights you sail back and forth and do nothing. Other nights you chase a small Pirate group back to a safe port. The night you decide to do something else, the Pirates figure it out and show it up in force. People got sick of it and are not logging in. Stop telling people how to play the game and making life miserable for them. I saw all this once before, prepatch. A group of US and Brit players decided to destroy the rats with a lot of personal venom towards specific Pirate players. (many of those active hunters are now Black). The end result, one porting the Pirates, a US/Brit server and 80 players a night. This has all happened once before and mostly by players who are doing it again under a different flag. It was a mistake then, it is a mistake now.