SirSamuelHood

Video of Bridgetown today:

Good fight this morning against the Swedish at Bridgetown o7. Had a blast (and so did everyone who got hit by those fire ships). Video coming soon!

It gets cold out there on the open ocean. They're just shivering to keep warm.

The French around Fort Royal at night can certainly attest to this. TDA wolfpacks operate in strong numbers and the hunting is very bountiful!

That's a fine looking ship. I can't wait to see her in-game.

"HMS Neptune was a 98-gun second rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy. She served on a number of stations during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and was present at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Neptune was built during the early years of the war with Revolutionary France and was launched in 1797. She almost immediately became caught up in the events of the mutiny at the Nore, and was one of a few loyal ships tasked with attacking mutinous vessels if they could not be brought to order. The mutiny died out before this became necessary and Neptune joined the Channel Fleet. She moved to the Mediterranean in 1799, spending the rest of the French Revolutionary Wars in operations with Vice-Admiral Lord Keith's fleet. After refitting, and spending time on blockades, she formed part of Lord Nelson's fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar, and was heavily involved in the fighting." "In the British Royal Navy, a second rate was a ship of the line which by the start of the 18th century mounted 90 to 98 guns on three gun decks; earlier 17th-century second rates had fewer guns and were originally two-deckers or had only partially armed third gun decks. The term in no way implied that they were of inferior quality. They were essentially smaller and hence cheaper versions of the three-decker first rates. Like the first rates, they fought in the line of battle, but unlike the first rates, which were considered too valuable to risk in distant stations, the second rates often served also in major overseas stations as flagships. They had a reputation for poor handling and slow sailing."

That simply denotes the largest vessel that can take part in the battle. A Lineship battle can be 25 first rates against 25 first rates, but doesn't have to be. The attacking team usually brings one or two mortar brigs to kill port defences, and the defending team usually brings a frigate (most commonly a constitution) to tackle said mortar brigs. Thus, a 4th rate port battle is any ship 4th rate or smaller, and is usually going to be a smattering of Agamemnons, Wappens, and Ingermanlands with again, a mortar brig or two. The reason you see so many of the same ship fighting each other is that people generally don't want to bring anything less than the best into a battle. Yes I CAN bring my Bellona into a lineship port battle, but knowing that I'll be facing 20+ First Rates, why would I? People like to bring the best tier ship they can into battles, and at the moment that tends to be first rates for lineship battles, and agamemnons for 4th rate battles.

I agree with the general sentiment of the replies- reputation should not be in the hands of your foes. For every good, honest, decent person playing this game, there is at least one wretch who's going to 'thumbs down' everyone he fights just because he can.

*sigh* I was so looking forward to firing endangered species of venomous giant spiders at the French via carronade pre-boarding to send the enemy to crew shock...

Congratulations on the happy news! For a clan, I have a suggestion. I have a few friends in OCEAN and have had the pleasure to fight against them in pvp on several occasions. As fine a body of sailors as one could hope to find anywhere.

Fun battle with France at Castries yesterday

Proudly crusading into battle this afternoon at Castries against the French

I've had this as well. I've been assuming that it's just different gun crews reloading faster than others in the chaos of battle, but confimration of that would be nice.

What did you learn from this experience?

I can't help myself I like this very much. It's unrealistic especially when you factor in the main recruitment methods of the day (e.g. getting a potential ordinary seaman piss drunk, waiting until he passes out, and then bundling his unconscious body onto the ship before he wakes up) I would like to see a system not unlike that of Age of Pirates, where losing crew is expensive not monetarily (depending on your wealth), but based on their skill. Your crew started out with a skill level, and by experience gained sailing and in combat, would increase their capabilities and level of experience, and thus become more efficient at manning the yards and loading the guns. This, your losses sting not just because of the money you have to sink into replenishing lost crew (which would be reduced), but by time invested training that crew. Like this: http://ageofpirates.wikia.com/wiki/Age_of_Pirates_Wiki#Crew_Parameters

heh heh heh. fine woods.

That's correct, it is modeled after a chapman design.

I'll try to answer your question to the best of my ability, but I'm hopped up on cold meds right now so this may seem a bit disjointed. My knowledge rests with the PVE Challenge Kills and Time. For the former, you must be in a Rattlesnake (not rattlesnake heavy), and you will be facing infinte enemies which spawn in consecutively as the last one is vanquished (I believe they are navy brigs). You get a hull repair for use after each kill. For the latter, you must kill as many enemies as possible (again, navy brigs), but you have a time limit to do so. The prizes for doing well in these events are great. Ships, blueprints, fingerpaints to make your ship look real purty. They can be a bit challenging (I have had several clan mates be reduced to rage), but definitely worth a try. I've no clue at all what tournament is about, someone else will answer that. In so far as I am aware, durability on your ship is not lost when you sink in a PVE challenge event, but IS lost if you sink in a small or large battle. Again, I've no clue what tournaments are about.

This looks interesting. Good luck to you in your new business venture!

I agree. I'm all for more customization of the hull colours (a la PotBS, but perhaps without the ability to paint my ship neon pink) and custom flags and pennants, but designs on sails just doesn't fit.

There are SO many more important things that I'd rather the dev team devote its time to than this (Getting the game to a point where it actually releasing is a tenable and realistic goal, for instance).

Once in my Valiant I got jumped by two pirates in frigates outside of Jamaica. One broadside had my masts down and I was immediately boarded and taken.

I agree with Jean. My least favourite bit about PotBS was being in a ship of the line and being able to be almost one-shotted by a frigate by some prick who was a bit faster at mashing skill buttons like every other MMO. This game should be more about our skills as players, not perks as characters.