CrustyJohnson

As a fairly new player, I am putting together a tips and tricks guide called 'All The "Hello Kitty" They Don't Teach You The First Time Around'. So far it is very limited, as I am trying to remember all the things I've learned along the way and compile things I find in this forum into it. I am imagining it to not really be a beginner's guide, but more-so a list of aspects of the game that are not obvious or explained. I want a new or novice player to read through it and at least once say "Oh dang i didn't realize that". I will continue to add to it as I play and learn and will also add as much info from this thread and the Q&A thread as possible.The link is below and it is open fully to edits and comments, so please fact-check it and add things that you wished you would've known when you were a new player. No tip is too obvious! https://docs.google.com/document/d/1s8aYJEQ8ZwCOaoJaH-u0SVh4Ttmsobept9STIWP7Bf8/edit?usp=sharing

Hey guys, I tried searching for this question anddidn't find it; if it was already answered I'm sorry! I was hoping y'all could drop some knowledge on the meta behind when to choose to mount carronades over normal longs on a specific deck or whether to not mount them at all. You don't have to give a hard and fast rule, but just maybe some guidelines on how to choose. I'll provide two examples that I've seen on Youtube. A captain sailing a Wasa had longs on his two lower decks and carronades on his top in lieu of the 9lb longs. he kept the carronades locked most of the fight and only used them in certain instances, such as when close enough to ensure penetration or when having a good shot on the sails. In another fight, a captain in a Wasa did not even have any cannons on his top deck. Are 32lbs carros pretty much always the way to go over 9lb longs due to the 9lbs not penning well when fired in a broadside alongside the other longs (32s and 24s) and the faster reload time? Is there any rough rule about when to choose the carros over the longs or maybe just to not use the deck at all (Pandora's top deck comes to mind), such as "always use carros when they at least triple the weight of the normal cannons"? Another situation: a Constitution has a top deck of either 12 lb cannons or 42 lb carros...are the carros always the better option or are 12 lb cannons good enough to use and 9 lb cannons are just trash? I know a lot of the answers are going to prob. say something like "depends on what strategy you are using", but I would like to know more of what you all usually do and why. Thanks!

That makes sense, but that nation's players do have the luxury of building a workshop in the port where those items spawn and run very little risk of losing them at sea. I It is possible to build a workshop at a freeport though, right? I guess moving them via tlynx or something that way and then building them there to teleport them away isn't that much of a hassel.

An example: I want to stern rake a ship with grape but don't want to be completely screwed if I miss my angle and come around broadside. Is it possible to load only grape on one deck and ball on the others? Another instance of use, maybe I would like to chip away at sails while still damaging armor and lock one deck while aiming at sails and then unlock it to fire another broadside into armor. Or maybe my carronades are too far to pen a ships armor but could still hit the sails, while I have longs loaded on other decks that could pen armor.

Thanks, ya that makes sense. I think I'm just surprised that some nations get such an obvious advantage. I feel like each nation should have a resource like that for a top-tier mod that only spawns in their area.

So recipe ingredients like Copper Ingots, Spanish Square Sails, and Royal Naval College Graduates only are available from certain ports as drops? Is it possible for clans to invest and make them available in ports they own? Also, this seems unfair in some regards, as according to na-map, Royal Naval College Graduate only drops at Britain's uncapturable homeport...So is blockade running with a trader the only viable option for everyone else to get this powerful module?

I have been thinking about building a workshop but can't really find any info on it and don't want to waste money on it. My question is, can I craft basic modules on it like Basic Quadrant, Basic Light Rudder, Basic Grenades, etc.? And if so, what are the costs (I can't find any list of costs for these modules on https://na-map.netlify.com)

Well I think it would help in regards to PBs (quality vs quantity) and ganks (RoE)

I think I may be confused...Greasy and OP aren't even in the same damn nation how would any of this be close to Green on Green?

For sure, I'll try and contribute as much as I can. Wish we could take down the other two and make that one at least show up on a google search.

Ya that's probably true, but maybe there is a less complicated way. Mods and books are kind of convoluted with their bonuses and would be hard to translate into an equivalent BR. But Port Bonus and trim could be easy, seeing as how they only give buffs and take nothing away.

This game needs some hello kittying balance. This is one step toward that. There is no way a Oak/Crew Space-Medium Gun-No Mods-No Books-No Port Bonus-Blue ship navigated by a Captain should have the same 'Battle Rating" as a fully decked out ship with the rarest mods, all encyclopedias, maxed port bonus gold ship sailed by an Admiral.

Lmao ya I realize now my idea was not unique at all but don't blame me for thinking that searching for info on naval action is a waste of time. We have 3 wikis and none of them are close to being accurate.

But here's the thing....if you are willing to pay NPCs to protect you while moving goods...why not just put buy orders up for those same damn goods in the port you want them at? If trading is too harrowing an experience for you, then pay someone else to do it.

I do find it odd that people here generally are against extra content. A player escort would be better but why force people to wait around and reach out to random players? Many of which are probably alts scouting for an easy kill. "Oh yes second lieutenant sealcub, come! I'll escort you! Right into this nifty little 15 pirate gankfest"

Honestly this thread is nearly pointless. You can have an NPC escort FOR FREE if you just find an NPC fleet sailing the direction you want to go and tag along with it. If someone tags you, those NPCs get pulled in and will fight for you.

True, but providing a reason for players to go to enemy ports might be nice. Pvp when pvp is wanted or expected is always nice.

Also, you don't want bugs fixed? Lmao stop being such a crotchety old salty bastard and please don't flex in the suggestions section of the forum. If they don't want them, they should take the section down.

Ah well I meant providing that info to the whole nation

There's always room for more features. None of the suggestions I gave would impact current mechanics in a way that would need a wipe. It would simply give traders something more to work for. If we stop showing interest in the game developing than so will the devs. Also, look at all the MMOs in the world, like Eve, they all get huge changes fairly often.

It's a boring day at work so I'm entertaining myself with ideas to improve the game, sorry y'all. I think adding features for new and solo players to contribute to the game is awesome and i think allowing players to scout and/or spy on enemy ports could be cool. Entering an enemy port is a dangerous affair and is not very well rewarded, even after delivering a mission item you cannot pick up a new delivery mission. I think if there were a way for players to grab a "scouting report" or something from an enemy port while docked in there in a trader ship and delivery to their nation's capital for a reward it would make for an interesting RvR enhancement + more PvP opportunities and a way for traders to bring the fight back to the enemy nations that keep ganking them. The scouting report could provide valuable information to a nation, such as: - in-depth details on who and what ships were docked there. - which port bonuses it provides - buy/sell contracts - ??? -enhanced readiness for PB (maybe a nerf to taggers or something?) It could also work alongside the proposed "raid" battle mechanic. Perhaps each scouting report on a port provides 1% toward the port being "scouted" and thus would open up the ability to raid it; or maybe make a raid easier. Or maybe it could make hostility missions contribute more to hostility if a port is fully scouted. Scouting reports could also poss. be collected and sold to other nations to help facilitate their wars. Scouted ports should probably be reduced to 0% after each server reset or maybe at the cost of port owner.

lmao you are literally describing many clans in the game right now

Fair points I think, but a lot of it is fixable which is good. However crafting and economy is an important part of the game that needs to be in or else what is the point of PBs. I agree these should be clan-focused or at least slight higher level player things to do, as it does require a lot of commitment, and newer players should be coddled a bit more. The first like...10 hours of game play you should never have to sail in the OW for more than 30 min and you should be informed of the progress you are making (rewards for ranking up). I also hope they bring back the fleet combat missions where it was you and a large group of AI vs another large group of AI. It was an early and awesome taste of what is achievable in the game eventually (and provides ample opportunity to rank up quickly).

I posted this suggestion earlier in a different thread but wanted to repost as its own for visibility and so I could flush out the idea more, because the more I think about it; the better an idea I think it actually is. Sorry this post also has some of my other ideas and suggestions stuffed into it. Crafting has its own level and xp gain, so why not make sailing level be separate from rank? What increasing "Sailing Level" could affect: - Ability to more accurately determine location on the map (because the longer you sail, the more logs you keep and the better you are at knowing where in the world you are) - Ability to weather storms more effectively (Maybe storms could do damage over time and would be lessened with increased sailing rank - Ability to predict where storms are forming (could be used as a way to lose a ganker or avoid a damaging storm) - Ability to predict wind changes (I think wind should change in a more random way instead of boring counter-clockwise motion) - Increased fishing skill (more efficient, better fish, more bottles, fish preserved longer) ((Also fish should go bad after a while to prevent AFKers)) - Increased crew morale - Increased cargo and hold capacity (better at distributing cargo) - Ability to navigate shallows better (decrease amount ships are slowed when passing near them) - OW repair times reduced (I think OW repairs should be time-based) - Tag timer increase - Increased shop knowledge (maybe at a certain level you can see all the buy/sell orders in a county and the area of visibility increases with rank) - Ability to call NPC fleets to help over a larger distance (but they would have to be in the area and sail to you and join; not just spawn them and would mess with RoE so allied players may not be able to help) - Better prices for trade goods - Trade ship knowledge slots - Lower docking fees (I think clan-controlled ports should be able to charge a fee just for docking like a pilot's fee that all real-life ports have) How "Sailing Level" XP could be gained - distance traveled/time at sea (basically gives more xp for more efficient sailing and punishes AFKers who may just sail in irons until wind shifts. - visiting new ports - discovery missions - tracking down bottles, deadman's chests - trading goods to ports that consume (further distance increases xp) - blockade running and entering enemy ports: increased xp and rewards from delivering to enemy ports and sailing in enemy controlled county waters.

Also, since this is apparently a fantasy game with a Pirate nation with holdings in the Caribbean big than France and fake islands; let's have epic PvE events against hello kittying krakens and Moby Dicks. Blasting the shit out of a kraken could be fun as hell.