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surfimp

Tester
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Everything posted by surfimp

  1. And you probably got nothing from the fight (in terms of gold, XP and marks) while the Reno got everything. IT does get a bit frustrating, to be honest, to get absolutely zero rewards for the PVP contributions I do make... like when I'm dancing around in my 7th rate, baiting the bigger ships to chase me and set them up for an engagement. Or when I tag them to buy time for my square rigged friends to extend away. Or when I rake stern armor off, then kill 112 crew but do not get an assist because I didn't do enough hull damage. It's not going to stop me from participating - because the PVP activity is fun in and of itself - but it's nice to get something in the post battle screen beyond "Participated in Battle. No Rewards." I'd be better off just hunting player traders and leaving my colleagues to their fate.
  2. First of all, when I cap a player's trader, it's absolutely PVP. I am taking that person's stuff by force and making them have to replace their losses. It's possibly even more costly for them than had I sank one of their warships. Secondly, I have been humiliated many times by player traders while trying to capture them. I have gotten better with practice but I never consider a capture guaranteed until after it's done. Especially now that traders can carry a full complement of cannons, they are far from defenseless and many fight quite well. Lastly, this is intended as an age of sail game and it includes the possibility of privateering and actual piracy, two things that were quite common during this historical period. In addition to my hunting activities, like many players I also perform crafting and trading (as a solo player I pretty much have to). Meaning that "the shoe is on the other foot" for me quite often (especially when returning to my outpost with prize ship in fleet). I feel like this is fair and I welcome being put at risk in the same way that I put others at risk. It heightens my appreciation of the game and all that it can offer. So, what is it you want? To have risk free trading? What is the point of that? Just to watch a number increase? To flood the market with huge numbers of ships and drive the economy to ruin? The predators need the prey to survive, but the prey also need the predators to help keep inflation in check... it goes both ways.
  3. Agree with this. If the captain of the trader is in any way a competent shot, they can defend themselves quite well against a typical lightly-built raiding vessel (the kind that can, you know, actually catch a trader). If the captain of the trader is not a competent shot then he / she is better served learning the best points of sail for his / her vessel and just running for it. Trader vessels are still quite fast on their best points of sail; one of the ships I captured last night could have run away from me had he not spent his time lobbing inaccurate broadsides my way. EDIT: and then there's the larger meta of the trader choosing when/where to sail so he/she has the best wind. I feel a little bad when I catch a trader against a lee shore with nowhere to run, but it's not my fault they didn't consider the possibility beforehand. I certainly take such considerations into account when sailing the captured vessel back / running into enemy ports with the smuggler flag / etc.
  4. I really like that the speeds of traders vary now, depending on how much load they're carrying. Whether they're too fast or too slow is something that can (in theory) be tweaked easily via a few variables, but the larger mechanic - which affects all ships, not just traders - is a good one and needs to be kept. Also, note that traders suffer much less from the weight of cannon than warships, in terms of the degradation of their speed. It makes virtually no difference whether you carry 16 guns on your TBrig or not, so might as well do it. Whereas on my Privateer, I need to very carefully balance the decision of what size and caliber of gun to carry to ensure I maximize its hunting prowess.
  5. Congrats you guys, great job! Thanks @admin and the Devs for making the challenge. It used to take forever for me to cap an AI LGV, now it's quick - and they're often quite lucrative.
  6. @Liquicity I hear what you are saying about being frustrated by revenge fleets, but adding in a post battle "teleport to port" option creates its own host of issues: - Gank fleet cruises enemy waters, finds lone ship, enters battle, sinks target ship, uses "teleport to port" to escape risk free with their PVP marks. - A player trader attacks an AI trade ship, ignores it during battle, then uses "teleport to port" to get a risk free transport of their cargo back home. - Two Pirates are far from home and decide they're tired of sailing the OW. One attacks the other, they ignore each other till timer runs out, then get free "teleport to port" to sail home risk free. I'm not a super clever exploiter by any means, but those are three examples of abuses of a "teleport to port" mechanic in the post-battle screen. I want to be clear: I am not against finding a constructive counterplay solutions to the revenge fleet issue - and especially, the revenge fleet doing multiple re-tags - it's just that we need to come up with a solution that doesn't cause as many if not more problems than it solves. Emphatically, I believe the solution to revenge fleets needs to be something that uses player skill, not a "get out of jail free" card.
  7. Fair points. On the flipside, forums are repositories of complaints and issues that may, in fact, be edge cases are often blown into huge proportion by a vocal minority. I'm not saying that this is the case here. Your anecdotes and those of others are duly noted. Only the devs can say for sure how big a situation this is, assuming it can be defined sufficiently that it can be identified in the logs (I assume it can). I'm not saying it is an edge case, I'm saying it could be, when considered against all the servers and all the players and all the timezones. Meaning what happens in your server, in your timezone, in your part of the map, may be unique to that particular situation, and may not be occurring with anywhere near the frequency you experience it in other parts of the map, in other timezones, on the other server. That's not spin, is it? I'm just saying none of us truly has access to the data, we have access to Global, national and clan chat, and we have access to these forums, and Discord and elsewhere. Squeaky wheels demanding grease may or may not mean there's a problem in the drivetrain, and the solutions proposed need to be carefully balanced to ensure they don't create knock-on impacts elsewhere. Eg. by introducing more teleports there WILL be additional impacts, perhaps some positive for the few captains - amongst all captains on all PVP servers in all timezones - who get revenged ganked and get stuck in this re-tag loop, but also many negatives, of which I've tried to outline a few that come to mind So, I'm trying to have a reasonable discussion here, and I get that you feel by not falling in step with your request, I'm opposing you. But I'm just not convinced that the solutions proposed are good ones, based on the evidence and arguments proposed. I've explained why. You can accept or not, and we can agree to disagree. No need to bring alternative facts and their implications into the discussion.
  8. Right off the bat, Pirat I read what you wrote, I simply don't share your opinion that what you proposed would be a good solution to this revenge fleet problem. I think I've explained my thinking on the subject, too. Regarding making this tow-to-port teleport available only after PVP battles... this would mean that only Pirates would be able to easily exploit it (without the use of alts) via the Outlaw Battles mechanic. And when that happens - when the Pirates, due to their unique faction rules, get access to something that Nationals do not - then the forums will be full of complaints about Pirates exploiting mechanics. Which, as testers, it is their job to do - to demonstrate the gaps in the mechanics. For my part, I don't agree that a single escape means you get a free pass. I've many times been tagged more than once and had to escape more than once. But, because I sail in enemy waters using ships designed to be good at escaping (i.e. Privateer, Rattlesnake, etc.), I am eventually able to get away. Usually In my opinion, if someone has run up against real life commitments while in the middle of a battle, then they should surrender and deal with real life. You have been outplayed, or your time for playing is up, either way now you need to go. In any type of real life game (cards, boardgame, etc.) you would concede and that would be that. If my suggestion around adjusting costs (especially for lower level raiding ships) were implemented, then one of these losses wouldn't be that big of a deal. And if my other suggestion, around removing captain teleports between national outposts, was implemented, then it would be harder to assemble "magic revenge fleets" out of thin air. I think those two things would fix 80%+ of this issue. That is my opinion, and I recognize it is different than yours, but I did listen to you and provide feedback on your idea, as you requested.
  9. But... that's a HUGE exploit. It's quite a bit harder to intercept a ship on the open sea, across all the many potential bearings it may be taking into a given port, than intercepting it when it's just a few minutes outside of port. So, that 10-15 minutes is already leading to many players taking advantage of a risk-free return to port. Heck, you can even use it to TP into an enemy national capital with your smuggler flag enabled, if you position yourself properly. It's not "saving sailing time" that I'm against - that is an consequence of the huge OW we have available to us, and part of the vision for this game. It's the "removing ships from the OW" that is the problem. One of the biggest gold sinks in this MMO is supposed to be the capture and destruction of ships. Right now, replacing those ships feels too hard to most players - but that can be adjusted easily by making items less expensive (in terms of gold cost) to produce and acquire. What cannot be fixed by cost adjustments, and what has severe negative impacts for the overall health of the game's intended OW / sandbox economy, PVP and RVR mechanics, is if player ships can move through the OW instantly and invisibly. The more I play this game, the more I am absolutely convinced that all teleports have to be removed. Costs for replacing ships (especially low level ships) should be adjust so loss is less painful, but... loss MUST happen for this game's overall ecosystem to function. With that said... long OW sailing is not for everyone. I do believe that the arena game will be the risk-free, fun PVP that many people are looking for (including me!!). So I am hopeful that, once Naval Action Legends is launched, this OW product can be refocused onto realizing its true promise. Which requires the lack of instant teleporting, in my view, for the larger health of the game.
  10. It's OK, I understand. Naval Action Legends is coming soon, you won't have to deal with the OW at all. But the OW doesn't work when ships and captains can be teleported around the map. Every teleport that takes a player ship out of the OW make the OW that much less interesting and hence sailing through it that much more boring. So, to @elite92 sorry but I think your suggestion of a TP to port will lead to exploits and be worse for the game than the current mechanics. To the extent that time and speed compression between OW and battle instance is the problem - trying to solve it with even more time and speed compression (via teleports) is just going to make the OW worse overall, because it will be exploited with severe negative consequences to PVP, the economy, and RVR.
  11. I proposed this elsewhere, but under the banner of "trying to solve the revenge fleet problem": 1) Remove captain teleport between outposts. This prevents flash mobs of players TPing their captains in from all around the map, preventing the creation of at least some revenge fleets. 2) If there were already tons of ships in just nearby and if large fleets of them can be rallied to the cause of hunting you - by sitting sails down camping a battle exit - sorry but you shouldn't get a free pass. 3) If you can't get away from multiple retags and/or real life duties call, why not surrender? No one is actually holding you hostage to your computer. A "get out of jail free card" (TP to friendly port) is going to do far worse to the game as a whole than whatever these edge case revenge fleets are doing. Hunting solo in enemy territory is supposed to be dangerous.
  12. Or, you know, sail to the capital to meet your friend, do some missions with him to teach him the ropes, and then (maybe in the next play session) sail to this hypothetical free port that is 3 hrs away. I mean, that's what I'd do, if it was an actual friend who was getting into the game.
  13. And, in fairness, in a post-teleport world, you risk loss even if you sail it yourself - which is good, too! I have been advocating for some form of hiring NPC ships to deliver player-owned trade goods through the open world for a long time. Mainly as a way of mollifying those who lament the loss of teleports, while also still keeping the cargoes themselves in the OW and subject to risk. Because otherwise, we have a completely contrived player-driven economy, one where risk is minimal... leading to hyper inflation. TLDR: We have to take the leap if we really want this system to work, I think NPC cargo fleets would be a good solution to the "trade runs are boring" complaint, much better than teleports, which break the system.
  14. Sailing back captured, undercrewed ships is often tremendously stressful (if you're hunting in enemy waters) and, to be honest, one of my FAVORITE things about the game. I'd love having the option to do the same thing with AI ships, with the proviso that they would (if they were AI and not player owned) HAVE to be sold to NPC shop/admiralty upon return to port. But I want to have to return it to port to get this reward, and the reward should be compelling (like, comparable to selling a player-owned ship in the store).
  15. If you're looking for action, there's plenty around Mortimer / La Tortue every evening in the US time zone. I too spend a lot of time trying to figure out "where the action is," and sometimes I get really frustrated when I realize I've sailed for hours somewhere that's proven to be a bust. On the flipside, I usually wind up seeing a new part of the map that I've never seen before, and I still find that to be really cool. And when you finally find a "happy hunting ground"? It's that much sweeter.
  16. When you make landfall after a long voyage at sea and have no idea where you are...
  17. I like this suggestion quite a bit. It doesn't seem like it would require too much additional effort to support.
  18. I'm way more at risk of RSI from holding down the right mouse button while sailing the OW to keep my lookout up. And frantically clicking on every sail that appears on the horizon. The port interface is way more chill by comparison, ATMO.
  19. There is so much time and so few buttons to press in this game versus many others... I am not even particularly good but I don't mind having to pay a modicum of attention. With that said I am 99.999% of the time in rolling front due to the type of ships I sail and engagements I typical find myself in... these posts from admin are giving me ideas
  20. I'm glad you mentioned it because now I learned it can be done!
  21. I'm honestly not sure why that isn't the case, but that'd be the only type of teleport I'd support in the game, and on a 60 second cooldown, too, to prevent its abuse.
  22. In my view, all teleports of ships in the open world must be removed. They have terrible negative impacts on the player population in the open world and are ALWAYS exploited by those looking to play Naval Action risk-free. I understand that "ships get stuck sometimes" (though I've NEVER experienced this in nearly 500 hours of gameplay all over the map) and that's why the current "Tow to Port" mechanic exists, but if I had my way, I'd have teleport move the ship 200m directly opposite the last direction of travel and call it a day. That would be a true "unstuck" fix, and you can bet I'd put a cooldown on it, too, so that it couldn't be used to dodge tag circles. Teleport of captains between outposts has the potential for negative effects, too, but I'm less concerned / opinionated on that subject as I don't feel it negatively effects the population of player-controlled ships in the OW. I understand also that some people feel there's "too much sailing in their sailing game" and they get bored to tears by long voyages in the OW. I think a huge part of that is because of the large size of the map, which spreads players out, and also - significantly - because of ship teleport exploits that pull people out of the OW. I do not feel the map should be made smaller (and in fact I'm sure some people like having quiet areas where they can have an essentially PVE experience on the PVP server), but I do feel that more players in the OW will always result in a more exciting / interesting / immersive OW. So, TLDR all teleports of ships must go. No exceptions.
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