Bis18marck70

I would say that crew loss has to be painful. If you come out of battle, the captain should have to anaylze the damage taken (to his ship and his crew) and weigh his options. Staying out at sea might yield further rewards, but going back home allows him to stock up and replenish. It might be harsh if you would like to sail from one part of the world to the other and two hours into the trip need to seek out the nearest port, but hey, that will be part of the challenge of the game. If you don't wish to get into a fight and have dead crew, plan accordingly and do your best to run away from trouble. I am fine with having little trouble finding crew in ports - pressing, heaving drunks on to ones ship, stealing them from other boats, etc - there are so many sources of manpower that finding a few guys to join the crew is not hard. That being said, it would be nice to place meaning behind crew hiring i.e. a reduction in the crews average experience depending on how many new guys are on board etc. I don't know if you guys plan that, but refilling should be more about a mere press of a button.

I hope to see something along some of these ideas too. However, a 'saving your crew' option only really becomes important if your crew earns experience and is hard to replace. An experience system for the crew would prompt the player to think more about what fights he wants to get himself into and to actually consider them as crucial to his success rather than a mere means to an end. Saving/caring for one's crew should definetly be one of the main concerns a captain has. Considering that the durability system (if it stays implemented [i hope not but we will see] and if the player has spares) already allows players to essentially throw away there ships a couple of times in reckless play, this might at least make such endeavours more costly. That being said, a lot of thought has to go into such a system and I expect it to take some time - and revisions - until a working balance is found. The overall game has to mature alongside it or even be completed before a more detailed crew management. Make a crew loss/experience system without brushing up the gameplay to alleviate ganking and the harrassment of new players/weaker ships and we will see an increase in the latter as such actions bare less risks and still yield rewards. Make it too slack and the system loses its importance.

Thanks for sharing. Good to see that the Daily Mail is at least good for one thing

Many an hour shall be spend here

Would a bot that doesn't safe damage work/ be feasible? That way they would be useless to the players hoping to damage farm. Way to many people give up way to fast and it's no different to disconnecting. Some do it simply because they don't like what team they are on/ map/ because someone didn't do as you told them. I can already see whoel fleets giving up like dominos just because one frigate decided to leave out of spite. Maybe I am reading your idea wrong?

Too many it seems.

The way you aquire ships now is completely different to how you will in the release version. Total and complete whip can (and will) happen at any time during the Alpha/ Beta. o7

This seems pretty good. Maybe also add an option in the graphics menu saying: 'Show enhanced crew' or something. If ticked, we see what you proposed, if not, a less intensive/ detailed/ large crew will be displayed. That would risk ships being crewed by umpa lumpas. I can't visualize the crew as they are right now without playing, but my guess is that if the current models are too large, they will be made smaller eventually. Smaller models will positively impact performance, but more of them and/or more detailed animations will nullify this. Gorgeous pictures, btw

I guess some people watched PotC.

Damn, the OP literally just ran into a wall.

Beautiful new screens. Also answers my question on the cannons; 13 on one deck, instead of the previously seen 11.

We should separate PvP Light from PvP here. I think in PvP Light, tags are a must - both enemy and friendly. New players, often struggling to sail their ship, will get confused more easily than the old searats. In PvP, I could see two options. Either remove them fully so you have to look at the flags (knowing some individuals that have not yet graced this forum, that's going to be a challenge) OR remove the enemy tags to prevent friendly fire but increase the amount of communication each team needs in order to friendly fire. Once open world hits, it is my opinion that tags should go completely making it necessary to look at the flags and customization of the ship.

Thinking about it a bit, never mind the actual ship in real life, I'd say this ship should have a mean punch. 9-pounders in the side, optional carronades (18pds?). Surprises should be faster by a noticeable margin while being a less well maneuverable vessel. As for the planking, a certain resistance to 6-pouders should be there but above that enemy broadsides should become something a captain fears thus utilizing his maneuverability to the best. It should not be an easy ship to sail, but reward excellence in combat. At the same times, while this ship should handle well, the Snow/Brig should be able to out maneuver it but remain slower (difference to Brig less noticeable than difference to Snow). That's pretty much standard balancing imo.

I am not sure, I don't see guns on the Quarter deck. Are they in front out of perspective? Should be two-a-side (If it's the Cerberus). Edit: Maybe just not yet modeled in

Looks good. Definitely in favour of adding an even more smooth transition between Snow and Surprise. On what design is this ship centered upon? That would help us determine the ships role a bit more. What kind of guns do you plan to allowed it to carry? A single deck of 9-pounders would give it quite a lot of punch at the point it sits. Having already more guns than the Snow (by three per side), that might (currently) give it a bit 'too much'.