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GrubbyZebra

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Posts posted by GrubbyZebra

  1. 6 hours ago, Cetric de Cornusiac said:

    Try to look at the stats logically: if an "reduction" is improved by x percent, the (desirable) reduction of a penalty is increased = better upgrade.

    Right, which is why the Basic Hooks having a larger reduction than Hooks is anachronistic. It should be the other way around, like Basic Ladders and Ladders.

  2. 22 minutes ago, Despe said:

    I have a doubt about ship heigth penalty reduction in some upgrades. Im not sure that how this stat works on boarding but i understand that if the percentage of the value of heigth reduction is higger, the mods are better. In this case i see in some modules some contradictory statistics that you can see in the screenshot:702777077_Sinttulo.thumb.png.676445cc29a3cd1afbb71bd7c2aa6438.png

    Are not the statistics of the hooks and basic hooks on reverse? I mean, a basic hook should have worse statistics than a hook, because it's basic, like basic ladders and ladders. And basic hooks are dropped by misions chest and hooks, with worse stats, by golden ones.

    Thx for answers

    Despe loves you :D

     

    This looks to be a screen grab from the Naval Action assistant site, have you verified these stats in-game (it could be a site error, not a game error)? j/w

  3. 14 hours ago, admin said:

    Captains. We got reports that trading is broken (too much money. Is it true? How is it broken?  Is it really really broken?

    @admin, It is not broken, it is working: 

    • There are many traders out on the water due to the high ROI (1 run can net a few million, which means more time for other in-game activities), which provides more targets for PvP.
    • The high income means ships are more disposable (who cares if you lose a 500k or 1m ship when you can earn twice that without even thinking about it).
    • Not having contracts on trade goods is frustrating for some players, but makes the trading game far more equitable for all.
    • The staggered, psuedo-random, gradual drop times of trade goods means the market is not cornered by those on right after reset. (I am just as likely to get a high-profit item at 10PM as 8AM, and even then, I f I buy out the shop, there may well be more of that item 20 minutes after I leave port).
    • Having all county capitals as consumers of some items means that while I can invest several hours to make long-distance sails for high profits (maximum sale price can require a 4-5 hour sail), I don't have to do so (i can sail for less than an hour and make 1/3 or 1/2 as much profit, which can still be several times higher than I paid for the item). 

    Compared to trading before, I find the current game far more enjoyable.

  4. 4 hours ago, Never said:

    @GrubbyZebra You know there is a 'tips' message/window that pops up when someone gets started as a new player? So saying there's no direction is pretty dramatic. Most of the basic aspects of the game are explained there. Plus this is 2020, so there's this thing called the internet and discord and reddit and youtube, etc. Usually with any game I play I take a look around everywhere and get some tips and ideas of how to get going, it's not just for NA. The game doesn't have to hold you hand and tell you how to do absolutely every little thing. 

    But to please the people that feel the fresh NA noobies are super fragile, a new player experience/system is already announced for this year and it's part of one of the upcoming updates. 

    No, I didn't know that. Must be why I've mentioned in my last 2 or 3 posts.

    As for "the internet and discord and reddit and youtube, etc", well, a) you should not expect or encourage players to leave the game to find information, as this is just a bad model for retention, and b) discord requires you know where on discord to look for information.

    I'm not talking about the game doing "every little thing", I am talking about the game providing a more thorough new player experience.

    And where did I say people are super fragile? I'm simply providing suggestions for how to make improvements to the trading game specifically as it relates to a day-one player. Or are the only ideas allowed ones you agree with?

  5. 16 hours ago, Earl of Grey said:

    Imho a player who gives up playing because he sailed 30 min for nothing is not the kind of player NA needs 😁

    If he dont give up because of this little waste of time because you give him some big tutorial or warning message He will Just quit playing after first ship sink or first sank by loki or what ever ...

    Not because he wasted a little bit of time, but because he paid for a game that provided virtually no initial direction to get started, thus the player did not find purpose within the game and moved on. The only reason I tried again was because I paid full price, but had I gotten it on sale, I probably never would have given it a second thought, which is sad, because I have literally played thousands of hours since, sailing to literally every part of the map, and general thoroughly enjoying myself (even the more frustrating parts like getting pwned off Saint Nicolas 3 times in a row, once in my Mercury, then two more times by the same player in my newly acquired basic cutter I was sailing home in). 

    You can condescend all you want, but it is simply a question of perceived value. If I pay $20 or $40 or $1 for a thing, I have a certain expectation as to what I will get from that thing (quality, service, enjoyment, whatever is appropriate). In terms of a game, if a player pays money and spend 30 minutes or an hour in the game without ever getting any sort of clear indication of how to actually play (not the tutorials which teach mechanics of battle, or the tips which give a broad overview of the game itself) like is found with the mission system (I would contend this is a primary reason missions exist to begin with), then the expectation of enjoyment is likely not met and the player is likely to move on to something else, or possibly ask for a refund (which is happening, apparently). The exams are hard (which is fine), which is another source of initial frustration to a new player, because they have no frame of reference for the appropriateness of that difficulty (they likely view it as another part of the tutorial, which it is not) , and there is no mechanism by which to actually accomplish the missions without going out into OW and capturing a ship, then what is there incentive to stick around? As far as they can tell, they have likely bought an unplayable game (an impression which a lot of the steam reviews will unfortunately reinforce).

    That said, there are several possible solutions:

    1. Make the basic cutter a trade ship. With its prohibition on attacking other players, entering player battles, and limited hold capacity, its usefulness is limited in this regard to anybody but new players. If you wanted to ensure this new classification would not be abused by experienced players, code a rank-dependent smuggler flag that would be permanently turned off once reaching rank 2. The advantage to this proposal is it is a quick and dirty solution that would require minimal development resources. The disadvantage to this proposal is that it doesn't address the underlying lack of initial direction. 
       
    2. Make additional in-game tool-tips for new player to give a guided experience during rank 1 play:
      • Direct the player to the tutorials to learn basic battle mechanics (and possible even through the first 3 exams).
      • Upon completion of that task, have them accept a mission to capture an NPC trader in Open World (this would need to be added as a mission type limited to 1 completion only)
      • Then direct them to Open World to capture said trader by highlighting the "leave port" button and the target ship. 
      • Once they capture the trader and return to port with it, direct them to accept a passenger delivery mission.
      • Once they complete that mission, the initial tutorial is over, as the player has now been exposed to the basics of the game (aside from crafting).

        The advantage of this proposal is that it provides a much richer new player experience that will give a basic understanding of combat, Open World, trading, and the mission system. The disadvantage is that it would require significantly more development resources to implement.
         
    3. Do nothing and leave people to fend for themselves
    • Like 1
  6. 55 minutes ago, Durin said:

    not sure what sort of mission you do, but for me, i get new chest and medals every other day by doing pvp on the PVP server ;)

    You don't get much from PVP of 6th and 7th rates, and really not much from 5th rates, either (which is all I can currently crew), just dubloons (I'm not sure if you get medals from 5th rate PvP as I haven't been involved in any since getting enough crew to engage in them). Therefore, in order to get chests, you must take missions from the admiralty or attack open-world NPC fleets. 

    But, since Admin has clarified that Loki won't work in missions, then the argument I initially made is moot, as loki provides materially no different game mechanic than an enemy player jumping into any other OW battle instance. 

  7. 2 hours ago, Sea Archer said:

    I disagree, the basic cutter is a warship somehow and should therefore not be able to enter enemy ports. They are too often used for reconnaissance, if they can escape in enemy towns, it would be too much.

    You could limit the "smuggler flag" on the cutter to rank 1 only if you were worried about spies, although, tbh, a higher ranked player spying won't really care to much if he enters the town on a trader or a basic cutter. A basic cutter being able to enter or leave an enemy town doesn't really change that aspect of the game, so that particular argument against it doesn't really make much sense.

    Quote

    A better explanation how economy missions work, that only traders can enter enemy ports would be a nice thing. It should be written in the mission text.

    we already have this more or less in the little "tips" box that is on by default for new players in port, it doesn't solve the problem of the player not having a trader or the means to obtain one from the start of the game. Personally, I remember hitting "leave dock" and "enter port", with a bit of sailing around KPR harbour, for the first 15 minutes or so when I just purchased the game. I wanted to sail, and I wanted a purpose to start me off in the sandbox. The delivery missions did just that, but I couldn't figure out how to get a ship to do them on for a time (I actually logged off that first day after about 30 minutes of aimless fiddling, I took to google to find out I had to capture and NPC trader, and that was frustratingly difficult).

    So why not make the ship the player does have able to function like a trader (a very limited one, they can't attack other players, and can't join battles)? This way, should the player so desire, they can sign up, log in, grab a mission, and complete it without having to do any additional reading or training. Beats spending 2 hours with the tutorial and first exam just to fail and be in the exact same starting position as your first experience with the game. 

    The point is this: the game is slow and has a steep learning curve, so giving new players an actual taste of being involved in the OW, at least, from the start can go a long way towards helping retention and enjoyment. If that means changing some of the functionality of the basic cutter, so be it (it still won't hold the cargo for a delivery mission, all you could do is take a passenger somewhere).

  8. 11 hours ago, Liq said:

    Didn't exactly know where to put it so posting it here.

    Keep seeing lots of new players asking in help chat whether or not they could enter enemy ports (to deliver passengers / cargo). After telling them they need to be in a trader vessel to do so, they often complain and go "Oh my god, all the way from *KPR* to *Baracoa* for nothing.

    I do think this really discourages new players. And I keep seeing it happen in Help Chat. There should be some sort of a warning message when taking passenger / cargo missions. I bet there are a few captains which left the game straight after realizing they had sailed all the way for nothing (and perhaps left a negative review?)

    For the cargo runs, they should reaslise this fairly easily as the cargo weighs 800t (which won't fit on low rank non-trader ships, or even a tlynx)

    but generally, the basic cutter should also be able to enter enemy ports, at least for low ranked players. 

  9. 13 hours ago, Angus MacDuff said:

    There is another solution that has been proposed before.  That is that you must get permission from the battle participants to join a battle on their side. This would solve many problems with unwanted allies.

    Why? The enemy of my enemy and what not. Just keep the flag the actual nation flag of the player, so everyone can decide who to shoot at first.

  10. On 11/17/2019 at 1:51 PM, Kubrat said:

    Nice to know I was not imagining things, thanks for posting.

    is there any chance people can Loki into an exam battle? You would think 'no', but it might explain demasting activity.

    According to @admin on the loki rune thread, loki doesn't work in missions, so I would presume it also doesn't work in the exams. (has to be an OW battle).

  11. 6 hours ago, Callaghan92 said:

    The Yacht is a bonus for players who played before the game was available on steam (sea trials)   So i highly doubt it will ever be a DLC and tbh, if it was it may be unfair to some of those who got it due to paying for the game before steam, some who potentially bought in because of the extra 'bonus ship' As for the gunboat its just a fun ship really, Easily obtainable out of gold chests 

    I know how the yacht was given, it just seems that since the devs are intent on not having ships in game that are not available to everyone, I wouldn't mind them including the yacht in this (so I don't have to beg it off folks that have it). 

    As for the gunboat, it is a fun ship, but I have never gotten a gold chest in this game in almost 3k hours of playing. Mission chests, silver chests, epic chests, deadmans chests, sure, but never a gold chest, and never a gunboat. I'd pay a couple bucks for a gunboat DLC.

    • Like 2
  12. 7 hours ago, Sir Texas Sir said:

    Where you in sea trials and pod by PayPal before steam EA release?  That how you get the yatch DLC.  I miss it by a day cause I was down in Brazil working and got back the day after and it went to steam.

    though I still think pandora should not be a dlc folks can buy.  It should be a special ship for EA testers only.

    Oh, I like the idea of having the yacht and pandora being special ships only available to certain early adopters. My post was more that since they are going to make the Pandora available to everyone, do the same for the yacht. 

    • Like 1
  13. On 1/4/2020 at 2:01 PM, Sir Texas Sir said:

     Another note for the final exams, is the rank changes on the AI.  I noticed that the higher the rank the more smarter the moves the AI do or I'm just imagine things but other clan mates noticed this too.

    I dunno, I've done the final exam a half a dozen times over the past couple of months (don't ask), and the AI seems to always behave in a substantially similar manner.

  14. On 1/7/2020 at 10:40 PM, TheDread said:

    Like most of the limits in the game...  outposts, buildings, dock slots...  it makes it that much more convenient to buy an alt.

    There is a much more mundance and technical reason for limits like these, allocating hardware resources to improve performance.

     

  15. On 1/3/2020 at 4:32 PM, FenrirSombrer said:

    The Napoleonic era Ship rating that I quoted lasted until after the war of 1812 (lasted until about 1815 I believe).
    The constitution is only able to Rival 3rd rates due to her speed, and is outgunned by every (to my knowledge) 3rd rate aside from her sister the USS United States. That said there are many 4th rates that have a heavier broadside than her as well, I believe only the Indefatigable has a smaller broadside than her in the 4th rates.

     

    The Indefatigable started life as a 64-gun Ardent class 3rd rate (e.g. Agamemnon), but the version we have in game is the razeed 44-gun frigate version. 

    I think the United States, Constitution, and Indefatigable should all be the same rank in game (4th rate, tbh), as in the game they are more or less comparable ships. And, since the Agamemnon (which the Indefatigable is a razeed version of essentially) is a 4th rate in game, as opposed to a 3rd rate, then that means the 3 frigates should be 5th rates.

  16. On 10/24/2019 at 3:08 PM, admin said:

    We are not forcing anyone to attack NPC ships. You pick the targets and their quantity. 

    @adminthat's just it, though. The addition of the Loki Rune removes this ability, as a player picking a target no longer means that is target they end up facing. You encourage PVE on the PVP server by chest dropping, missions, etc. So you are, in fact, "forcing" (or at least STRONGLY encouraging) players to attack NPC ships on both servers in order to advance in the game. 

    So, I ask you this:
    How did the addition of the Loki Rune satisfy these three requirements:   

    7 hours ago, admin said:
    1. It must solve a specific problem of the majority or reduce negative outcome for the majority.
    2. It must be beneficial for both new and old players
    3. It must not take anything away that players worked hard to get. 

    I would contend it violates #1 by increasing a negative outcome for a majority of players, that it violates #2 by not providing a benefit to new players (increases the change of new players getting surprised by a veteran appearing in an NPC battle), and violates #3 as now players can potentially lose rewards from NPC battles that they have been working hard to earn over the course of the battle.

    (I presume you will say removing it now will violate #3, but that is simply a convenient "out" at this point that does not address the actual concerns). 

     

  17. 6 hours ago, admin said:
      1. Pandora will become available on Steam for purchase

    Can you add the yacht and gunboat to this list, as well? Always hated that there was no other way to get those vessels (although yachts were transferable during early release, at least).

    Also, and this is a bit more a serious ask @admin, can you allow crafting XP to be gained by other crafting activities (workshop, forge) so that clans don't need to have everyone in the clan build expensive and otherwise pointless shipyards to gain crafting XP. Tie crafting XP to labour hours cost at a ratio of 1 XP per 5 LH spent (basing this off the current XP awarded for crafting Tlynx, Mercury, and Prince). 

    • Like 4
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