Inkompetent

Thank you! Have now restructured the Basic Combat chapters, splitting it into three (ranged, boarding, and PBs), have added a first description of the basic workings of the new penetration system, finally added stuff to the Port Battle chapter, and have added new sub-chapters to the Line Battle one for target selection and for breaking a line. Especially the latter will need some pictures to describe it, but haven't got around to those yet.

Thank you for your informative and constructive post. It shall be added to the Naval Action wiki to inform the masses about the details of this upgrade item.

It actually seems like the hit/damage models are more accurately represented than before, and as such your Privateer is simply too small to be able to aim at any meaningful angle. Either your shots simply hit the stern planking and don't get through, or they are aimed high enough and shoot into the ship's ceiling since you need to aim so high that you can't fire into the ship with any depth. Better or worse for gameplay? I dunno. But it certainly is more realistic to be unable to use grape shot the way it has been used.

Thank you And please everyone, mention errors and recommend changes! Although a lot of stuff in the game is relatively similar to real life, there are also major differences. For example tacking takes A LOT longer in real life than in-game, and that difference may very well invalidate things in the guide. I'm not one to min-max/optimize my playing style in games, so I am unlikely to find many of these things myself.

http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/14021-patch-98-damage-model-50-server-merges-bird-is-a-word-19th-may/

Have expanded the navigation chapter with explanation of "quarters" (as in the bearing), added a chase/pursuit chapter to advanced sailing, a boarding chapter for leeward/windward boarding techniques to advanced combat, and greatly expanded the chapter for line battle.

Thank you, poytwq! Still not quite getting to the tactics of Doran's guide, but at least it should provide enough understanding to actually be able to understand the aforementioned. Couldn't stop myself either, a I have now started fleshing out the line battle chapter, and started describing basic manoeuvres (with pictures!!!!) like tacking, wearing ship, hauling the wind, bearing away, and veering.

Thank you! And no, at least at this point editing for the changes isn't too bad. There hasn't happened too much in the game that actually affects the existing content of the guide. However I expect the currently 12 000 word guide to end up at 30 000 words or so, so in the end it might actually become more of a hassle. Depends on how well I manage to structure it I suppose.

I finally got my thumb out and put some more work into the guide. Added an introductory chapter to explain the guide's layout, finally did the chapter on points of sail (only a picture for square rigs though), added a part about the game's 24-point compass, added additional information about ball shot and about the game's leaking, and tried to eliminate all talk about sailing/gunnery/survival/boarding mode in light of the new crew mechanics.

Thanks for telling us!

According to the 9.65 patch notes read like this: I interpret that as that mast sections that are not broken (shot off) can get their hitpoints back, but mast sections that are broken (shot off) can not get their hitpoints back. That way a ship can't regain a mast section that has been shot off, but it can increase the health on mast sections that still stand. Please correct me if I am wrong. Currently in the game however broken masts can be repaired. Last night I was in a battle against among others a Belle Poule which I shot off the whole main mast on (broke the bottom section). A few minutes later he had his main mast back.

Right! Thanks. 8 for Survival and 9 for Boarding.

Some cross-linking for those who haven't seen. Information about the new crew system: http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/11499-new-crew-mechanics-proposed-crew-compositions-discussion/

However the existing mechanic should not be the same as for toggling what deck is crewed. Right now you might toggle decks on and off simply because the guns have different ballistics and you need to change your aim for each deck fired.

I really hope that we can crew specific broadsides as you say, and even specific decks. If I start losing crew (or if I'm short on crew to start with) I certainly want to focus on using my biggest and strongest guns instead of wasting crew on loading the small guns on the weather deck. Speaking of different decks I also hope that we'll soon be able to load different shot into different decks, so that I for example can change to grape or chain on the top deck and keep ball in the gun deck.

I can add that I've taken the step to order the 1807 book The Elements and Practice of Rigging, Seamanship, and Naval Tactics - Volume 4: Theory and Practice of Seamanship and Naval Tactics by David Steele. Not sure how much of it will be applicable for in-game help, but I certainly aim to expand the "information boxes" with more fluff through it. I'm still reluctant to play the game even though Sweden has been given back a lot of territory, since there's nothing stopping it (one-night conquest of an entire nation) from happening again to either us or to someone else, but I still do feel like working on the guide. Thank you!

Due to Sweden getting wiped off the map on PvP1 tonight I don't know if I'll have any motivation to finish this. Since there is no game mechanic even on the distant horizon (that I am aware of) to make the OW playable and reasonably fair and fun and last in the long run I don't know how long it will take before there's any reason for me to return. Maybe I'll find incentive to finish the guide, but for now I think I will take a 12 month break and come back when there actually are some OW mechanics in place.

Thank you! Thanks! Thought I had remembered the default binds right, but apparently not!

Making a little format test in chapter 1.2, extracting the "fluff" into separation information boxes to separate needed knowledge from trivia. Please tell me what you think. (Lots of other stuff added too. Will see about structuring all the information later)

Against Defend, you mean? Fire Grenades vs Attack is suicide, since Attack is the hard counter against Fire Grenades. The only times when Fire Grenades is worth using are against Brace and against Defend, and against Brace it is only moderately useful.

I know that they eventually will disappear, some time during spring (probably end of Q2). What I'm meaning is that removing or at least nerfing this HORRIBLE reinforcement system can't wait, because it destroys PvP. It punishes people for being smart and attacking with numerical advantage, and it rewards people for being caught off-guard.

The reinforcements REALLY need to be nerfed. I have lost count of the number of attempted battles where the enemy simply summons AI out of thin air and runs away, meaning what should be PvP battles turning into PvE. Just tonight I had three battles in a row that ended up being against AI as it simply wasn't worth the trouble to chase after the lone player(s) among the shit-swarm of AI that teleported in out of nowhere. The reinforcement system needs to be removed/nerfed by A LOT, because right now it makes PvP pointless if the enemy has any town nearby (like currently with Denmark owning Baai and Oranjestad, covering a lot of Swedish home water with their reinforcement zones). Similarily a town where Port Battle takes place shouldn't be able to offer reinforcements AT ALL. Its reinforcement circle should be completely disabled for the duration of the PB. I actually don't even know why I'd play on a PvP server if all I get to fight is AI.

I agree that the concept of "fleet" for the AI ships one can bring can easily be changed. But it doesn't change the fact that the whole concept of the word "fleet" will be tricky to use for clans. Take for example "What fleet are you in?" when someone is in one of several groupings of ships about to take part in a series of port battles. Does the person asking the question ask about what clan the person is in, or does he ask about what group of ships he's with? Since it would be very, very easy to avoid such confusion by naming clans something else than words that already have other meanings in a naval game, that would be the smart way to do it, rather than forcing people to start using some other word (and the wrong word) to describe a large group of warships.

Very much this. It will simply cause confusion to use the same term for yet another thing, and would be a terrible decision from a design and accessibility point of view. Unfortunately the votes in this thread feel like a typical case of "Don't listen to the voters because they don't know what's best for them."

That is the plan. All the graphics will be done either in pure black and white, grey-scale, or with colours that translate well into grey-scale when printed without colour. The front page is the only advanced colour picture I intend for the guide to have.