RyebreadMike

First of all I don't believe any raid system should be a part of the RVR. The defending port should not lose a large amount (if any) of its investments, and there should be a limit to how often a port can be raided. Secondly, the raiders should be compensated for a successful raid regardless of whether or not they make it back to home port. Like one or two ships with the port's bonuses to share amongst the raiding group, or some other prize. This would get more smaller groups/clans/nations involved in the raiding system. Like others here, I believe that unless this new mechanic is handled very carefully, it will end very badly. Too many players seem to enjoy ruining the game for others so ANY way a new system/mechanic can be exploited to grief others WILL be put into use.

In the 1700's the main players in the Caribbean were Spain, England, Netherlands, France and Denmark with Sweden entering sometime in the 1780's I believe and the US presence along the east coast and some of the Gulf of Mexico. I don't see why we need so many nations to begin with. So primarily I would vote for fewer nations. This doesn't seem to be something with a snowball's chance in hell of happening though. As for a static, hard-coded set of coalitions .. well, it could work; and I'm honestly torn between player-driven alliances and what you propose. With the static coalitions players will be forced to 'make it work' and would still have the ability to have other alliances (without the benefits).

I'm just getting my server back on line after being down for months. I'm noticing no DLC ships, and the battle ratings are way off. Is this something new? --thanks lol -- wrong API file .... argh

Actually I've played against, and conversed with Texas over the years and wouldn't mind him having my back .. or in my sights for that matter :). I can't speak to what you two are sniping about, but I've been around long enough to know the US has had internal and external issues for a long-ass time and it wears on the player-base. That is showing now. Texas, I can't remember, but was that you in that REALLY fast Belona outside Aves about a million moons ago when the Dutch or French were defending it? I 'think' you may have been with the Pirates back then.

yep, I've been borked ... I may never be the same again.

I live in the US (west coast) and am looking for a player base that is operational during PST evenings and weekends and utilizes VOIP most of the time. I'm currently sailing in Sweden but am afraid that because I work during the day I'll be out of many large actions during the week due to time zone conflicts. Any thoughts and/or advice are much appreciated.

It's been fairly obvious that we are all testers in this PRE_RELEASE version of the game. Just add me to the list of people who have enjoyed all aspects of the game, have had some issues with the mechanics but never even considered rage-quitting (lol), and look forward to whatever comes along full wipe or not. This is a gorgeous game with enough ego buffs to compensate for the moments like my first Bellona getting ganked by a pack of Danes .. can't wait for the release-candidate!

Unless I missed it, we don't know how high the BR limit will/can get or under what circumstances the limit is determined. It would also be nice to have more information about just how WHO gets into the battle is determined because planning the fleet is so important with this change. Basically, it would be GREAT to have another vote when we have a bit more information about just what we are voting for. Thanks.

I really don't agree with this. Earning crafting XP has NOTHING to do with getting paid for your ships. Only with crafting the ships. When I maxed out my crafting a LONG time before the wipe, I determined which ship gave me the most (xp / required mats) .. and then I obtained enough to build 10 at a time until I maxed out. The ships I created that others didn't want got recycled for parts and were considered part of the cost of leveling up. The new building requirements ARE expensive and they should be. Too many people want things to come easily; all that does is diminish the act of actually getting what you have been striving for.

I better check my scripts then .. I'm supposed to be downloading once per day and my data is incorrect. Thanks -- Well I'll be .. just checked and sure enough the Traders Brig can have 12 cannon now :). Nice to know my program is working hehe.

I there a medium for posting data errors to the devs? The Traders Brig "GunsPerDeck" data array from the "ShipTemplate" json data object is identical to the Brig, meaning it also is listed with 16 cannon on deck 0 (zero).

Are the wood-type characteristics (i.e. Max. Speed, Thickness, Fire Resistnace, etc.) available from these database files? I did a search on the item templates file and did not see them. Thanks

This is true. It's a dynamic that, while frustrating-while-new, might be advantageous to the flow of the game. After I posted I did a search for the new Caguairan wood and find that it's located all over the map. So, if that holds up, then guarding 'your' ports that may have it (or any other wood type) will be a priority to keep the availability as high as possible. That might still leave the problem of a minority of people hording the supply.

I am not liking where the wood availability is headed. -- If ship-building wood is only available through NPCs, their availability will be EXTREMELY limited. -- If 'imported resources' includes ship-building woods then they, once again, will only be available to the regions that grow them. Unless there are enough regions producing a wood-type that can build a competitive ship it's going to get pretty lop-sided for somebody.