Bach

This has me concerned as well. Not so much that we don't see new players at the moment as the game is not advertised as live. I would never have thought the alpha was this advanced had I not seen it first. However, there is going to be a big negative to new players. The grind in this game is either to easy or the end game ships should never have been reachable by grinding. We're barely a month old and players without third rates are already being told to stay out of port battles. When the game goes live we're either going to need to convert a lot more ports to shallow water or somehow restrict rate ships or new players will find themselves barely able to rvr.

I have to agree.Human nature is what it is and that may be what Vllad us not taking into account. I watched POTBS degrade from a real actively healthy pvp game out of beta into an extreme PVE game with the few hardcore pvp rs cross teaming out of shear effort to get pvp. Now as Vllad said, there will always be nation hopping. This will be by bored pvp rs looking for some action and panicked PVE/crafters following their nation getting crushed. That is how POTBS was running mid stream. In the end human nature found its way. The crafters responded by simply crafting in all four nations so the no longer cared what rvr shifts the map had. The PVE players all gravitated to the high population nations which allowed them to hide in the masses grinding out NPCs at cat island and SC like there was no tomorrow. The PVE players and gladiatorial pvp players did so much forum whining that so many restrictions were placed on pvp that the hard core rvr were forced to nation hop regularly to maintain enough players fir port battles. I believe we should see the same human nature driven paths in Naval Action though at an accelerated rate in the Alpha due to increased player freedom. So yes, I don't believe Spain will be attractive to any but the most hard core pvp player. More so I can't see any reason to join Spain unless it is an entire clan defecting from another nation to do it. Certainly PVE or crafter minded players will fair much better in a high pop nation since markets in this game are mostly closed to own nations and resource driven. As to NA alpha? Crafters in small pop nations are probably already running accounts in multiple nations. Pvp players bored in Zerg nations are already hopping nations. PVE players are already seeking out secluded or Zerg protected spots to grind endlessly fir 1st rates so they can grind in first rates some more. In one month, we seem to have followed the POTBS path of the first three years. But that makes sense as we're dealing with the same human nature issues. So the question is now, what would NA change to avoid this when the game goes live? I believe an official alliance or political system that allows allies to help without having to nation hop is one good one. Second the game needs a way to avoid stagnation. Ports should naturally revert back to the original owners if not being used by the conquering nation somehow.

It's nice and all but in the end it's more micro managing than its probably worth. I don't see it as a big plus and probably not a big selling point to new players. Less hassle the old way.

I've played for a month now and I am ranked enough for a Tricom but not 3rd rate yet. I've done nearly nothing but PVP. Between ow pvp, port battles and the arena pvp there really isn't a reason to grind. Now PVE grinding is faster xp than pvp and perhaps that needs to be looked into.That said, the non-stop grinders are doing this to themselves. The game masters aren't going to reprogram human natures. Many of us are like mice of treadmill. Grind grind grind...get max level..get max ship....grind grind grind. It's not the game making you do that. A level 10 captain is no better sailing a Brig than a level 4. The level ONLY matters if you must have the biggest floating castle in the game. So if anything is the game masters fault it's for putting rate ship carrots on strings at the front of the treadmills. If those Victories and Santis weren't there these guys might release themselves from their self created grind tortues and figure out ways to play the game. Consider this, all that population endlessnessly grinding is actually population that isn't available to pvp. Sort of a self fulfilling prophecy for reducing pvp by over grinding levels to win pvp. The easiest way to get what the OP wants would actually be to remove rate ships from the game or only make them assessable through pvp. But as long as you can "win" the game by having the biggest ships out there those mice are going to stay on that treadmill.

I thought of this and I kind of like it. The sticking point for me was even as Nuetral the handful of players trying to rebuild the nation would still have to collect the gold and fight the NPC towers. If this effort were reduced on Nuetral ports then they might be able to rebuild. But again it will only happen if players dont actively rebuild it.Let's say Sweden gets into awar with the Danes and wipes them all out. Now the Swedes fir one reason or another quit the game or simply conquer their way to living in the Gulf of Mexico. The Danes are no longer a viable nation to play and won't recover unless somehow at dozen or more players, able to play on the last set port timers, able to amass a few million gold and best the npc towers in the battles do it. Until then it's just not attractive to new players that might have liked the idea of playing a Zdanish Captain. But if the ports naturally reverted on their own the nation would heal itself and be attractive again to new players after the Swedes were done using it. I don't think Nuetral solves this issue.

There needs to be a way that neglected or unused captured ports revert back to the original owners. When a nation get conquered down to last port its members usually move on. Then the attacker moves on and we're left with a difficult time rebuilding a one port nation. Even undefended to recapture even some of its original ports will require the few players interested to generate millions of gold and at least 8-10 heavy frigates. Until which time they do all this and succeed no new players will likely be attracted to former conquered nations. I suggest the following: Conquered ports will have partisans. The plantation workers, merchant warehousemen and just plain people's that will want to rejoin their old nation. Keeping them either pacified or under thumb will require troops garrisoned, supplies and new fortresses maintained. Home ports are free. A captured port should require some sort of maintenance fee by the Lord Protector to keep the partisans in check and the new garrison manned. If this falls into neglect the port reverts back to the original owning nation. It should be just the same with Nuetral ports. This will keep the game from stagnating in a region due to inactivity, reduce the number of "one man controls everything" lord protectors and allow conquered nations a way to come back into the game once forgotten. It may even help curb the "take every dot on the map" mentality currently dominant in the Alpha test.

Actually he is a carbon copy of us. He just doesn't have his whole clan playing yet. In the meantime the few DCA should go French. They won't regret the time with us before they eventually move on to other things.

Seriously? What is stopping you from contacting 1-2 other British guilds and going at the USA on three different fronts? One front alone won't do it. You gents have been NPC grinding till your eyes bleed to get big rate ships. So if you only do one front only the 25 biggest ships really get to play. You need to attack at least x3 locations nearly simultaneously to spark a world war. You also spent way way to much time trying to secure borders instead of making allies. I don't think there is one nation the British or the USA could call an ally. You need some diplomacy to rock the stalemate. This game needs diplomacy functions. It also needs huge tax costs or deterant a for taking every plot of land in the map and leaving behind a fortress and thousands of soldiers defending it. It's to easy to own everything you see and have free NPC forts and soldiers defending it against anyone who can't muster 10 hvy frigates. Neglected towns never revert to neutral and conquered nations have no hope of recovery short of a mass exodus of players from a major power. The mentality of the players and human nature is always the problem. We grind for the top. Though all that means is that in a month only 3rd rate captains will be allowed in deep water PB's. We all captured every free dot around us to "secure" borders and only succeeded in squelching world wide combat. Truth is collectively we're all too stupid, paranoid and short sighted to be trusted with nice things. But it's an Alpha and the designers need to know this so they can make the needed adjustments. Mr. Roberts, assemble your fleets, squadrons and allies to take back those American colonies for King And country!

It does seem so and since Brits are essentially the whole center of the map I guess we may as well fight them too. That's just me thinking out loud and not representing anyone. I think a lot of us came from POTBS where we got +10 points per port and when you hit 300 you WIN. There is also the human nature distrust thing of ever letting anyone else have a port near you. Had the British left the French colonies alone in western Haiti or even some Nuetral ports things would be less pre-determined. I'm not blaming them. We had a similar thing happen in France when some of us suggested leaving the pirates some ports near France. The USA also has it as there was clearly no need to capture all those French ports in the Gulf. The end result is that if we ever wanted to team with the USA over there we had an extremely long relocation and flag carries. It's a deterant. Hopefully, when the map does reset we all leave POTBS thinking behind us and leave potential allies some ports to move around the map. As it stands if France were to ally with Britain now we would just be sealing ourselves off from the rest of the game. Now it's not impossible to walk across Britain with their assistance in giving us ports. But there is no other way to do it. So nobody goes anywhere in PVP2 without a majority British player consensus on letting them do it. This is why I say we might as well fight them now. But if the map resets we should all rethink how this one went.

You guys did good last night. We told you such at the battles.We had to test the flag transfers. Rumors said that it could be done. It is not true. A flag can not be traded directly or result from a ship capture. Their is a place for an ally to transfer flags in the game. If they ever come out with a solid alliance system I would like to see a version of it come back. If you have an ally fighting a war across the map you can't actually go to them to help with port battles without a flag. As PVP2 goes the British have taken the whole center of the map. To fight anything on the other side of them you have to go through them. FYI- that wasn't a screening attack. That was most if our port battle fleet running into most of yours. When we realized you had x10 third rates in the area to the several we had we decided to attempt to keep as many of your third rates in the sea engagement as we could manage. Your heavy rates escaped and since the battles were so close they couldnt get retagged by the Swedes before the timers ran out to get them into the PB. You enjoy a huge advantage in BR and by default ship technology whenever we can't get the Swedes into the same fight. Not to belittle the action last night, you gents did a great job.

What are you trying to be the angry DCA guy? Tell Pelleas to get his butt into the game. This one is far superior to POTBS and it was tailor made for groups like DCA. I don't think Brit is really going to be where you will like it most. It's got a lot of the same issues as Tiggy Brit had. If you can swell your ranks up Spain could really use some help and we could certainly show you some pvp fun if you join France. If it's just going to be the 4 or so of you living out of Free Cities then Pirate has some good options for you too and in this game there is absolutely no one a pirate cannot engage. Good Luck!

I think you mean to be answering OJ DieAntwoord. He was the one calling you a green monster and he is Dutch. The French aren't calling you a monster. LOL

You caught the part where he said he was DUTCH right? There are not many French upset about Louisianna or we would already be up there.

Well give Pelleas a big hello from me. If you gents are looking for a pvp crowd your style I would recommend rolling France. All like minded guys and you'll have a lot if fun.

It was never the plan to out number you.A little over week ago the Swedes showed up saying they were getting Zerged by Brits. Just after that representatives of a couple British clans showed up saying the we're trying to help the Danes rebuild but that WIS wouldn't allow the captured ports to be returned to the Danes. Now this all painted the WIS in a bad light. Having been up there a few days on my own my personal observations are as follows: Swedes are not really being Zerged. WIS and TCF combined are probably a nice match for the Swedes. We're not seeing any other Brits in the area. I have only seen two Dane captains at all. So maybe they don't even have enough players to recapture the ports even if the Brits offered. We did find one rather ornery American MOB clan fellow off Fredericksted threatening to bring a hundred US players into the area. Not sure why he was there or the validity of the threat. Situation is not as we were led to believe so it requires some re-evaluation. But for the moment I don't think we're going anywhere.

* captain Bach gazes on his ship at anchor, steps into the sea side cottage for some well earned r&r. Hangs his sword above the mantle. Takes off his captains coat tapping is Antilles pirate campaign ribbon. Sits in his chair before the fire with a pint of ale and reads the local gazette headlines.... "Commodore Eulogy declares unrestricted war of Britain". Downs the ale, grabs the sword, the coat and with a snap to his step heads back to the docks.*

Yes. frenchmen have manly hairy armpits. We love the ladies and they love us. The snails is more if an initiation hazing thing but you'll get through it.

You want pvp go to Puerto Rico. There is nothing for you at FR but new players learning to sail.

DCA = Drunken Carebear Association or are you a different group?

Monsieur, We free men of the Republic of France know all to well how English monarchs and Noblemen cast aside the needs of ordinary citizens that get in the way of their conquest. I remember the days of French nobles starving people to their own ends. But not in the New Democratic Republic do such things happen. Ordinary colonists have inalienable rights. Rights the West Indes Squadron and its Noble born captains simply ignore. Is it not true WIS planted colonists throughout the lower Antilles only to abandon them to Buccaneers when it was too much bother to protect them. It was the Captains of the Republic of France that cast out the Pirates and freed the colonists from slavery and torment. Not the WIS. Many loved ones lost and angered at the English King have decided to swear loyalty to the Republic and who could blame them. Abandoned and cast aside by the WIS whom they had entrusted. Now we see the same fate befalling the Danish and Swedes to WIS imperialism. You plant your flag about with no more thought than that which you stir your tea. Before more colonists suffer such neglect at the hands of ambitious but careless British nobles the French Parliament, First and second consuls have given orders that the Captains of the Garde de Marin Azur police the waters East of Haiti. With the goals to protect the civilians from unnecessary conquest and harm amid the various warring nobles. This action was requested by Pope Pius VII whose nephew was rescued at the former WIS Scarborough colony. A once free Nuetral town of artisans and holy monks, only interested in peace, before being conquered by WIS and abandoned to Pirates. We are on a mission from his Holiness Pius VII and the democratic parliament of France. Keep your WIS ships to the West of the Isle of Les Mona. Hourivour Monsieur Brown, Captain Sebastian Bach Garde de Marin Azur and citizen of the Republic.

I'm trying to follow this thread but a few things just seem so simple I don't understand. If the British want the Danes back in the game why don't you give them their ports back?the nation isn't viable if it doesn't have the minimum resource ports. If there are like 20 players now playing the Dutch they are a perfect match for the 20 Swedes. They could have a lot of fun if the rest of us stayed out of it. So far the only thing that has happened, just from an observers points of view: Swedes declared war on Britain and patrol the coast of Haiti. But do not attempt to capture any ports. Just OW pvp fun. Several British clans ventured East of Haiti possibly for ow pvp fun. the British took several Danish ports from the Danes, PvT? The British took a few ports from the Swedes. The Swedes can't even fill a PB. Some Brits say they want to help the new Danes but they don't give them any ports back. Some British ships are found attacking French noob players off Fort a Royal for OW pvp fun. OMG French go North to help even the odds for the Swedes. They run across a Dane and have some OW pvp fun with him. My Conclusions: Some good natured British players probably really do want to help the new Danes. Some British are acting as colonial expansionist taking a number ports both Dane and Swede. As long as the colonial expansionist Brits kept pushing East without explanation it's going to start provoking a lot French. Which may be their real goal. British clans pushing East and attacking French were WIS and DCA that I have noticed.

Again, what Vllad said. We're not in a uproar. But it would be nice if you could keep your men in line. Sinking a couple French ships is an over site. Capturing a port a social oops. Your boys took nearly the entire French sea board leaving the French builders only two ports they can barely use. So now the rest of us have to hear about it a lot. If they wanted some French ports they thought we were not using what was wrong with just asking first?

Hey Dutch boy, climb down out of that windmill, slap on a pair of wooden combat boots and get to business. You can read the writing on the wall as well as any of us.

I been following the conquests of the past weeks and I would agree that GB appears to have the little higher Zerg potential. Just a suggestion, just throwing this out there, did you ever consider that giving the pirates the Bahamas back would probably result in putting pressure on the Brits more so than yourselves? Seriously think about this. You know your going to have to go head to head with the other map super power. Around you there us French, Spanish, Pirates and British. You started an extermination war with the Pirates. Then you went into the Spanish and now your attacking the French. So NOW that you've alienated your neighbors Britain is making moves. You have to admit, from the third party point of view you appear to be your own worst enemy. I get that you don't like the USA bashing. But your brethren have managed to attack everyone in the game but the Dutch.

Good post Ben. Good to see you other than just through a cannon site. May I ask which of these three types of pirates you would prefer to play if situations were different?