Commodore Sixty Four

I’d like to request a paint scheme for Pandora to reflect this painting I found of her sister-ship Eurydice: https://hazelhurst.co.za/eurydice/ NOTE: I will find a better quality image, which I’ve seen before, but it’s evading my Google Fu right now. The Eurydice had the most interesting combat record of the Porcupine class ships, including being present at Saumarez’s action off Guernsey on 8 June, 1794 and commanded by Nelson protege William Hoste from November 1804: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Eurydice_(1781) I would love to have a ‘Eurydice’ paint scheme for Pandora, to honour its veteran sister-ship, like you have (HMS) ‘Concorde’ for L’Hermione for example (it made my day when I saw that BTW). Thanks in advance for your consideration.

Thanks @admin. I’ll no doubt give it a go if/when I obtain a Loki Rune. The mechanic is interesting, based on the premise that everything on PvP server is dangerous and has the double benefit of upskilling PvE players to PvP standard more quickly (albeit with a few hard lessons and tears along the way) and giving those in possession of Loki Rune the ability to enhance their PvP skills at little cost (the opportunity cost of time spent only). I may regret it if I lose my primary ship to a Loki but, as has been mentioned, that should still be difficult if you’re choosing a PvE target(s) of an appropriate BR. In the meantime I’m a fan of the “nasty surprise” element of this feature, unlike some others.

Thanks, this is also helpful. I didn’t even think to look for an announcement in Combat News but will do so in future if I suspect I’ve fought and won against a Loki. Surrender is indicated by a white flag right (my detailed understanding of game mechanics is not deep enough here)? Because there was definitely that, but I just can’t remember how a PvE victory ends (presumably no white flag?) to confirm it was a Loki I defeated. If so, it was my first — if unwitting — PvP win.

Thanks for this and @Macjimm’s previous answer. Based on this, I’m 90% certain I went up against a Loki Russian Traders Snow last night. I picked the juicy target for my Niagara but found myself in a full-on, twisting knife fight I wasn’t expecting, with repeated missed attempts at boarding from me. The Traders Snow eventually surrendered with zero crew, but my Niagara was badly shot up and I remember thinking “Wow, that was more aggressive AI than I remember encountering before. Either that, or I’m even more incompetent than I thought!”. I wasn’t looking for, and didn’t notice, the rank change but will keep an eye out for that in future. That’s the reason I was so interested when I started reading this thread this morning and your replies may have helped me put two and two together. Thanks.

Streamline Port Bonuses proposal Reduce the number of Port Bonuses to 1-2 per port to force a decision on the qualities of ships built in that port and encourage port specialisation within nations. Currently ports have the ability to develop Port Bonuses along five axes: Crew; Gunnery; Hull; Mast and Rig and; Sailing. Ports are encouraged to progress as quickly as possible along all axes to produce the most powerful ships possible in that port. This encourages nations to develop ports with maximum bonuses (1-4) along all possible axes, ultimately reducing diversity among ports and becoming the de facto baseline for port-built ships. It also reduces diversity among ships, with the best ships having Level 4 bonuses across the maximum axes. It would be interesting to only allow specialisation along 1-2 axes per port to force port owners to make choices with trade-offs about the qualities of ships they want to produce in that port, e.g. Gunnery and Hull bonuses OR Mast and Rig and Sailing bonuses? There would be many permutations depending on the needs and preferences of the port owner and nation. It will also mean more diversity among ships engaging in PvP, depending on the port they were built in. It could lead to ships built in one port developing reputations for excellence in port battles and from another as open world commerce raiders, much like French ships had reputations as fair sailers and British ships as sturdy (deserved or not). It’s also reflective of real life where businesses and manufacturers develop competitive advantage and reputations in specialisation, Toyota (high volume, mass market) versus Ferrari (low volume, high performance) in cars, for example. I’m sure this was also the case for shipyards during the Age of Sail and could be reflected through this mechanic.

Reading this thread about the Loki Rune has been interesting but I’m keen to understand from the ambushed player’s perspective, how do you know when your AI opponent has been “possessed” by a human captain, turning your PvE engagement into a PvP one? Is there any indication in-game, via UI for example, other than a potentially hard to identify change in opponent behaviour? I couldn’t find this mentioned in the thread and am intrigued to know, as I’m currently building up to PvP ability through a focus on PvE targets, so am more likely to encounter someone using Loki Rune. Thanks in advance.

Rule Britannia!

Gun ports closed in Open World sailing. Ships' gun ports are closed, rather than open, in Open World sailing. Currently, ships' gun ports are open when sailing in the Open World. Normally, while cruising, a ship of this period would have its gun ports closed to prevent ingress of water (which could ultimately cause sinking, e.g. Vasa, 1628). Default ships' models to closed gun ports during Open World sailing. There could potentially be an animation to open them (i.e. running out the guns) when you enter the range circle for the battle instance, but this would be a bonus rather than necessary. Gun ports should, of course, be open in the battle instance.

Coastline artwork customisation. Introduce customised coastline artwork that better reflects the geography and vegetation of the real world areas and regions reflected on the map. In the current implementation, coastline geography and vegetation is monolithic and lacking diversity across the map and therefore relatively bland and uninteresting; integral to the game as a feature (you can’t sail on land) but not adding value from an immersion point of view. Develop differing coastline geography and vegetation that better reflects real-world locations. This would add immersion and appeal while sailing within visual distance of coastline as well as providing broad visual navigational cues from region to region and as you transition between regions. It’s not integral to the playing of the game (other than the minor navigational benefit above) so is a pure artwork request in that sense.

Working now after a second restart of my PC.

Yes, same for me.

The weather conditions in port reflecting those outside port in the Open World.

The 3D model of the Pandora displays the swivel guns even if they're not fitted. I like how Naval Action shows 3D models of longs, mediums or carronandes on the gun deck(s) depending on your selection. It's pedantic but it would be nice if the swivels on the Pandora were shown or not shown depending on fitment.

I agree. I was going to add this in "Little things you'd like to see" but I think the architecture, layout and (possibly) prosperity of ports could be better represented, with more customisation based on national styles and using drawings and paintings of the period as a reference (e.g. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Picturesque_Tour_of_the_Island_of_Jamaica#28). This could include a main road / track running down to the wharf and town and waterfronts that are spread out a bit more horizontally. Perhaps also some variation in terrain, vegetation and rock types across the Carribbean based on historical geography so that different regions look and feel different too. It would require research, art and development resource but result in a map and game that was more immersive and encouraged travel across the map for more than just resource collection.

Yes, I noticed the price of a Shipyard skyrocketed after last night's update. I now need to do some hard grafting as a delivery boy to amass the required Reals and Doubloons despite having, what would have been previously, a modestly healthy bank balance. PvE or PvP just ain't going to be efficient enough!