Remus

You need to use all your labour on PvP1 create a character on PvP2 log in and fight something After the wipe, you get one pair of redeemables (combat xp and craft xp). If you don't use them and change nations, you'll still have them in your new nation. If you do use them, tough.

Crafting XP from Trade missions?

At the moment (ignoring mods which I have never looked at as I knew they were vanishing: Farming resources gives nothing Making most intermediate items gives between 0.25 and 1 XP per labour hour Making ships gives 2.4 XP/LH Since only making ships requres XP it shouldn't matter too much if XP is only gained from making ships, but I'll reserve final judgement till we've seen it in action.

Me too. Blueprints. LH times (and for that matter LH per RL hour) and what refits will look like. Headline change looks good too (not that I had many problems with old system - except the non-craft drop BPs such as rattlesnake heavy)

Okay, here's a couple of suggestions. For server wipe, retain current system of XP synchronisation across all servers. If this is not possible then run a query to get the highest xp for each account off all three servers and give redeemables for this value on all servers after wipe. For a period of time after wipe - say 1 month - keep xp synchronisation up and running so players can change nations even after using thier redeemables while they settle down to the new changes (whatever these may be) If you really do need to stop players from keeping xp when nation changing: Separate this from server wipe Provide a reasoned argument to get player support Give a couple of weeks notification so players make sure they end up where they want to be.

Doesn't worry me; I'm Master & Commander and 25 craft; and I'm currently logged onto testbed looking at econ with 0 craft xp since you only provided a combat xp redeemable (I can live with that). But you have stated many times, 'No xp wipe', so it's probably not a good idea to change your mind now.

Not so, according to your earlier announcement. Currently PvP1 is the main server. It looks very much like PvP-Global will be the place to be after the wipe (unless you're French, for some reason). Former players on PvP1 who never bothered setting up a char on PvP2 or only did so when they were a midshipman won't get a Rear Admiral redeeemable on PvP-Global.

I cannot help feeling this is the wrong time for this. We know you can synchronise XP across servers, becasue you do that already. Quite possibly you need to disable this for gameplay / RvR purposes in the future (though I haven't seen a good rationale for this in recent announcements),. But to do so now, when many other changes are taking place, as part of a server wipe / PvP-Global server 'creation' which has been generally well received, made the forums here sound hopeful rather than dejected and can reasonably be expected to bring some old players back to the game, doesn't make any sense to me. Gosh! the players are sounding too cheerful. Let's see what we can do to piss them off again.

Personally I reckon some investment in UI and a Tutorial or two could make this game a lot more attractive to potential buyers,

After reading AngryPanCake's post above I thought I'd share a little experience of my own. I recently posted a review of NA on Steam. Well I've now got a few posts under by belt on this forum and those of you who remember me from PotBS will know my style. Longwinded, perhaps, but ... Anyway within an hour of my post going up I got two 'Not Helpfuls'. By the following morning it was up to 6 out of 6. That's pretty impressive given Steam's ranking system for which reviews get prominence - this game clearly has a handful of followers on Steam who diligantly mark down every review of the opposite opinion to their own. I won't tell you my Steam moniker but if you go looking I dare say you'll easily find my review. And I think perhaps I'll take a look through some other Steam reviews in due course and add Helpfuls where warranted.

Nope, new players will do okay out of it as they should be able to farm resources and make simple parts and sell them at a profit. New players aren't the ones needing labour contracts. And you don't need many materials to make simple ships for craft levelling. Established econ players will spend a lot of time running around, gathering new material stockpiles, working out what they need to harvest in this new world, what to buy and what to capture from trade ships (NPCs, and other players too I don't doubt, for some of them), spending a small fortune on new outposts and buildings and generally getting on doing things they probably enjoy (thought I dare say some will complain). Right now the losers look like being established players with little interest in crafting, for the way things currently look it will take so long to make ships there'll be fierce competition to buy the few that are made. But there's no need to panic. The wipe is still a few weeks away, plenty of time to make some small tweaks that could make all the difference. Sir Texas Sir is actively testing on Testbed; I'll be there myself in the next couple of days trying out econ, we and several others will provide feedback and the devs have been quite good at listening to feedback of late, so I have high hopes of something pretty good on 20th April.

I disagree with xp wiping, but if you are going to do it, do it for crafting levels as well. If we don't have to use all our hours crafting notes nor waste hours crafting ships no one wants to get blueprints, then crafters will pretty much level up to make ships as they are needed. Or those that want to can, and others can perhaps set up a lucrative trade in labour contracts in the meantime.

It isn't as challenging as you might think, particularly if you already learnt the basic game mechanics on PvE. There are several approaches for changing over, one of the best is to join a clan that is happy to help inexperienced players learn. If you, like me at the moment, you prefer to play outside of a clan, the main thing to do is every time you set out, assume you may be attacked by an overwhelming force, so you won't be entirely pissed off when you are. But each time you find yourself in PvP pay as close attention to what happens and try to learn from your opponent. Ask questions in Nation and Help chat and you will probably find helpful answers.

Good info from both of you - thank you. And it is the answer I wanted to hear. I only just set up my account on Testbed and am rather daunted by the 0 craft xp and no NPC-sold resources. This will be ... ahem ... interesting to get going. A foretaste of April 20th. Some people will be in for a very great shock - they'd better look after their four starter ships because there won't be any player-made replacements for a couple of days, and crafters will have to learn again what buildings to put up. I wonder if NPC cargo quantities are related to building capacities, so you'll find ships carrying 2000 coal leaving a coal port but never get more than 100 stone from a ship leaving a stone port.

Agree entirely about logging (except in the very specific instrance of PBs where I think screening is a poor game mechanic and logging is a suitable counter - but let's not get involved about that here; it has it's own thread). But what do you mean about battle timers? The 90 minutes thing?? I'm in two minds about that; it's quite handy if I've something else I want to do irl. But the 2 minute exit timer I make full use of. Sure, I could live with it being removed but it could lead to some very long-drawn out chases indeed, and I'd be sorry to lose it.

Hehe, I like both your posts, for you both speak the truth. Yes, Farrago, there are some such players. Not necessarily because they are starved of PvP, but because they think it is their right and duty to take any opportunity going. Harass the enemy I think it may be called. I dare say you've read Master and Commander, the first book in Patrick o'Brian's excellent Aubrey-Maturin series. With one very notable exception, all Aubrey's encounters in that book were very one-sided, mostly warships against traders and definitely fair in war, provided the enemy really was from an enemy nation. But there is an art, if one might call it that, to being a trader in such a world. I think you'll see from my posts here that I very much support PvE players, but I would also encourage you to come over to my side, living (and hauling) in PvP water, running the gauntlet of would-be attackers and working out ways to escape them. The devs don't yet let me hoist a French flag to deceive my enemy, but give me the chance and I will. I'll run and I'll hide. I'll position myself on open water for the most advantageous position in battle, if I am able. I'll tag my would-be attacker if I think it'll give me advantage - even if he is actually a wouldn't-be attacker; sorry, I cannot read your mind, I just watch how you manoeuvre your ship. And I can usually be relied upon to know the best direction to escape. A recent encounter when I happened to have an NPC companion showed me the advantages of taking escorts and I will now add this to my repertoire and see how it pans out. Oh, I am sure there are players who will curse me for running and maybe leaving them to deal with my fleet, but all's fair, isn't it?

Makes you think, doesn't it? Laid down in December 1809 says Wikipedia. My history isn't too good but 1809 was a rather perilous year for Britain, wasn't it? Were we winning in Spain by then? The war with America just over two years later was probably unthought of. Launched 4 July 1814, after Napoleon's abdication. It occurs to me how similar the timeline is for this ship to Trincomalee. Ordered in 1812, completed in 1817 and, like HMS Nelson, laid up in ordinary. Not so long though, as Trincomalee was re-commissioned in 1847. I can't help thinking it must have pained the mid-eighteenth century Royal Navy that the new boats they were given were 30- or 40-year old obsolete ships, even then of a bygone age.

I'd like to find the player who contends that no PvP is ganking, and even if just a few are this is enough to ruin the enjoyment for a number of players. Or perhaps I should say potential players, for I suspect that having been ganked once many people decide to be players no longer. I very strongly disagree with your 'not really playing a game' comment. What gives you the right to say how the game should be played? I don't recall a rulebook saying the game has to be played in a certain way, the way you yourself happen to enjoy, The devs clearly think there should be an element of PvE for players who like it. Why else set up an elaborate trade system with - by my count - 86 different trade goods and special trading missions? They set up a PvE server and now are introducing a large PvE area to PvP servers. It seems to me the devs think PvE players are 'really playing the game' and want them to continue. Whether they are going about it the right way is a different matter.

For what it's worth, I've been collecting BPs as I'm levelling up, deliberately building the correct gold ships to get all the blueprints, even useless ones like the Traders Snow. I started off using the navalactioncraft.com guide but since I've been able to parse the json files I've been using these directly (since navalactioncraft.com also parses the json files the numbers are the same, but I've put mine in a format I find easier to read). The only BP I missed first time has been the Niagara off a Mercury, but that was because I didn't have the crafting level to make a level 5 ship so made a level 4 instead (which still came out gold, to my surprise). I got it next time. I've got quite a lot of BPs several levels before I can actually use them. Unfortunately the next ship I want to build is a Surprise, for my own use, so no blueprints off that. But it'll be a Renommee next for the LGV and Belle Poule. Of course with the wipe, it's all a waste of time, but hey!

Hi, Is there a markup guide anywhere? I've not used ipBoards before, and couldn't work out how to put a table in a post earler - I eventually inserted it as an image. Hell, I cannot even work out how you insert links to player profiles. Please excuse me if I'm being blind and there's a big Read Me post I skim past every day. You'll worry about your eyesight too when you're my age.

What is needed is a tutorial. As things stand it doesn't take long for a player to get the money and xp buy and crew a brig or snow (the money side may change of course, particularly as it seems NPCs will stop selling ships), but new players struggle to know how to start. Offering a square-rigged ship tutorial to new players, using a loan ship and crew - it could even be offered as a free demo to get new people buying the game - would help enormously. I also recommend a fore-and-aft-rigged / finding and boarding a trader tutorial as well, as this is how new players need to start their grind. (copied from server wipe thread)

Post moved to

You make it sound like war is a bad thing. In real life, I'd agree with you, but I'd much rather think of this game being set in 1801 or 1812 rather than 1802 or 1816

Sounds good - and I like it being a weekly update so as not to penalise those who cannot play every day - but I think you are using the wrong mechanism. This game uses five types of resource in crafting: Materials Gold Port Resources Labour Hours Building Capacity Materials aren't needed in resource harvesting and I don't think we need worry about gold in this context: Spending twice the gold won't grow you any more Sugar. Port resources are currently binary: A port either has a resource or it doesn't. The Devs tried adding a quantity limit to this (maximum number of buildings), but it was poorly presented, heavily criticised and quickly withdrawn. I think there is still scope for a quantity limit, but your approach sounds better to me. You've targetting labour hours, but I think this is very much like gold; sending twice the number of workers to the fields won't bring in any more sugar, not in the long run. But the Builiding Capacity limit looks ideal for the sort of control you propose. A sugar plantation has a standard capacity of 180 units a day, which with building upgrades you can double this to 360 units. To me, these are the numbers to apply the port resource availibility multiplier. For example, after a period of heavy extraction capacity is reduced by 20%, 50% or whatever. With 20% reduction, a level 1 building will generate 144 Sugar a day instead of 180 and a level 3 building 288 units instead of 360. Gold and labour costs are unchanged at 208 gold and 1 LH per 4 sugar (level 2 and 3 buildings get a small LH reduction as they do now). The same limits apply to everyone, there is no case of first come first served.

Worth looking at, certainly, but what purpose would taxes serve in NA? Players pay for their own ships, and I dare say we'd happily pay for our own crew, gunpowder and ammo as well. The Duke of Wellington can go and forage for his own food as far as I'm concerned.