Sang Noir

+1 Yes, please. Make all standard ships capturable.

With port bonuses and woods it's even worse now. Non-capturable ports will not secure a comeback as they are of no benefit if you can't craft competitive PB ships with them.

And that's the great thing about this game, that the Devs have been trying out so many things. I wish Civilization VI had a development team that would have tried out mechanics so thoroughly before release.

Maybe just try to see past what's intuitively logical. I don't know about the place you live in, but in the country I live in right now, if you knock somebody down (might be self-defense) and you see the guy lying on the floor, you are obliged by law to render first aid. If you don't, you will get sued for failure to render assistance. Doesn't seem intuitively logical but that's the way it is (at least in civil society): knock him down, help him. You may go as far and look for examples for warfare in the second half of the 20th century: you win a war, you help the nation you fought against to get back up again. Why should it be helpful in a game to completely dominate your opponent when it will only lead to him not playing with you anymore? True. When playing Sid Meier's Civ IV there always was this one Civ that was going strong against you. Once you dominated that one, the game became essentially boring. I probably played more close or losing games to the end, than the winning ones, because there was no challenge in the latter. But the ones I quit the most, where those where I could see early on that I wouldn't stand a chance. Close to losing games - playing to the end Winning games - boring No chance games - would quit True, but in NA it was mostly changes coming because of the development that dealt out the cards anew and caused the most changes to the dynamics on the map, not? Ultimately it was changes in game mechanics, not solely player decisions that caused shifts in power. Great. And I am not going to crusade for it. Thank you for the valuable input. Yep, me too. It's important that winning means having to carry more costs and responsibility for what you just conquered, so that shifts in power become an inevitability by game mechanics. You too.

You're taking it a bit to the extreme here. Ships won't be for free and I proposed some restrictions to make ship production easy there but not in a production line. There are no DLC ships for RVR. The only thing that is a waste of time right now is The Grind. It's as if I proposed to have one week more of holidays and you said No to it because you love to work your ass off. Well, no. There would still be a lot of benefits from setting up your headquarters: decreased labor hours, upgradable production buildings, no tow restrictions, vicinity to frontlines, income from tax, better defenses, etc. By the way I like that you call them an island paradise, because that's what there are right now for every nation holding them, the ultimate safe zone. Might as well call my proposition The Secret Islands Paradise. But like I said, if you read my proposition, there would be a lot restrictions. So it's more of a hideout to lick your wounds instead of the whole Club Med experience. Well, I wouldn't call it worry, more of an observation about the game mechanic which seems to automatically lead to some nations floating dead in the waters (to use an appropriate wording here) after losing vital assets. Did they? You are very optimistic. Map wipes would be a good thing for sure. Sort of like rounds. Everybody gets a new chance after a while. What makes "nations" powerful in Naval Action are not just forts, port bonuses or rare woods, but the number of players. If you want attract more players, give them a chance to participate. And no, not by throwing them into the water as shark food with DLCs . I understand the reason they have been introduced. RVR basically was just about bragging rights before that. And I am not against the Bonuses. I think they are well implemented and well done. I like how clans can now produce rare woods. Maybe they need to be nerfed. But those bonuses in the end only serve the strong to be even stronger. Right now there is no balance. Once the weak are defeated, they stay dead. They won't never get past the national ports again, unless other nations are willing to grant them capitals for free. But maybe you want to make sure a balance is implemented by game mechanic, not by good will of other players.

Well, the good thing about the situation now is that it reflects the server in a state that it would reach only after a couple of weeks (months) after the wipe.

Viable, but that wouldn't solve the problems about woods. Also, as soon as that nation captures a county capital, it would lose the upgrades again. It would need VMs to upgrade that port and before it would be able to do that, might lose all the ships again defending that port. It will never get past that one county capital. Besides, would Lv2 Upgrades really help against fully upgraded PB ships built with the right woods?

Derailing the topic - check! Ignoring the suggestion - check! Ridiculing the suggestion - check! Talking about the petitioner in third person - check! Trying to use language that makes you seem cool - check!

Well, certainly a lot of people would start building their ships there, but: the ports wouldn't have the labor hours bonuses clan ports now have the buildings couldn't be upgraded so production would be a lot slower Tow restrictions prevent the Secret Islands from delivering an endless amount of ships

With the new port upgrades I wondered how any nation could get out of a corner if they lost all ports or only have the national ports remaining. Because their ships will lack the port upgrades and they won't have woods like White Oak or Teak available. Maybe it would be viable to make The Secret Islands a haven for all nations to replenish: North Inlet, Rum Cove and Kidd's Harbor become Freetowns One of these towns has all the ports bonuses available (or each is specialized in a certain bonus) They have all the resources available to craft ships and cannons White Oak, Teak and Live Oak become available without investment (buildings produce only at 50% of the usual rate) There is a No-Attack zone around these towns (for safe hauling) Tows to Nations capitals only (NO tows to frontlines) NO bonuses to labor hours discount NO possibility to craft purple or golden ships NO upgradable buildings NO drops of any other items NO hostility missions can be taken to any neighboring ports NO passenger or cargo missions can be taken Basically The Secret Islands would be a place that makes sure that every nation no matter how small has access to well built ships for Port Battles. It would be a spot for retreating and replenishing and serves as an Equalizer. It would also make The Secret Islands a special place instead of just another port to capture. + more ships = more chances, more battles, more contest Thanks for your comments.

Yep, looks like Russia and Prussia are becoming the best nations to do PVE on the War server (aside from Britain).

Sorry for saying it so bluntly, but the new map development on the war server is boring for anyone not into RVR. If Russia and Prussia get their alliance, the gulf is going to be the new safe zone for those 'harcore' nations and Britain will rule half the map while France and Sweden will be doomed to clash forever around Dominica. *Yawn* The map was a lot more interesting with its many clusters. I mean there was something going with the RVR as it was and it would have been due time to do some development for PVE but that seems on the far end of priorities with everything you have to fix on War server right now. Please.

Great idea! Though shouldn‘t the capitals of a region be endgame and the smaller ports be taken first to disrupt and weaken the capital, making it ripe for the final attack? Battles for small ports first, capital taken last?

I think the admin mentioned somewhere they are going to implement an historic map for PVE for the release. So the ugly neutral map as of now should be solved. Like I've written, players might be raiding a port someone else has chosen for their outpost. That would create unnecessary conflict and disappointment. Also, people grinding the hostility would demand their rightful spot in the port battle and would be annoyed by randoms jumping in (that's why port battles on the War Server are for clan and allied members only). Some people might also want to play the defending side of a port battle and not just attack AI (that might not be even good at defending). Creating a fixed, safe, informal space for port battling with the option for the player to either attack and defend and the AI providing balanced teams with no effects on the map, would keep conflict off the Peace Server, keep it a hassle-free zone and provide a fun event for casual players.

I remain positive as well. Game Labs has some other great games (Gettysburg, Ultimate General) that have some great AI solo-player content, so I remain optimistic about them being able to do that kind of game too.

You would re-introduce ambition to the Peace Server which might bring unwanted competition along for those seeking a break from that kind of behavior. As a side-effect I'd say an informal jump-in-and-get-your-feets-wet event would be a good way to promote port battles in general. I have a couple of hundreds hours in this game but never came an inch close to being inside a port battle. Maybe some people would be more willing to invest time again on the War server if they only ever experienced a port battle for themselves?

Yep, but there are people in this game who literally want to do nothing else but trading, not even PVE. Maybe they want to do some long distance trade without having to worry about any sort of attack. Make AI attack you when you draw a certain mission, but keep the waters safe.

It would be a very good idea. Could still be abused by groups (organised on TS vs randoms) , so I would propose a random matchmaking. Might as well have a lobby in port though.

Because so far no proper way has been found to prevent ganking in the patrol zone? Ganking = No Peace

I don't know, but every time I see someone writing this, it sounds like sarcasm to me, don't know why, like some pun against the people who like to play on PVE ... 😉

No, do not let it be player driven, nor let anyone choose which port to attack. Keep player decisions a 100% out of it. Who knows, maybe someone has their outpost and assets in a certain port there so their peace would be ruined. Make it so that there are 3-5 designated ports, spread out in the Caribbean so everyone can reach it from their capital, and there's always going to be a port battle event at certain times (one event for each major time zone). Those ports don't switch faction after the battle, nobody decides on them, the only goal is to have a port battle event there without any consequences for the map. No factions fight against each other there, you simply choose if you want to defend or attack and the AI will balance out the battle. No matter which faction you belong to, port battle fun for everyone without any changes to the map and no player driven events. I think the PVP flag is a good idea, but then we all have to go search for each other again. Just bring on SOLO (No GROUP) patrol zones, so everybody knows where to go to for a proper duel. No. AI aggression could be annoying like hell. No general AI aggression, BUT ... in Sid Meier's Pirates you had two hunter ships spawn once you had a mission which tried to attack the ship you had to escort. Similarly I could imagine that hunter ships would try to engage you, once you pull a certain mission, a a passenger delivery or escort mission. Those AI ships may engage. Also in Sid Meier's Pirates you occasionally had an extra powerful Pirate Hunter spawn, if you attacked too many ships of a faction. An extra mission like this would be fun and rewarding, defeating a Pirate Hunter giving extra bonus or a special ship if you manage to board him. But you would need to have some reputation system with the AI on PVE.

I would say camouflage wasn't much of a concern at a time when soldiers marched into battle with the largest hat possible? Maybe they tried to make the ships look more like their uniforms so their officers wouldn't have to worry about matching clothes in the morning 😉?

I admit those flags for the Irish campaign are a bit preposterous by Napoleon I but maybe your artists could make something good out of it ... 😉😉

Some more suggestions for France, I would love to see the flag of Napoleons regiment fighting for Ireland's freedom during the Irish Rebellion of 1798:

You are missing the DLC, please buy them to advance in the game.