DeRuyter

I think the BR limit ideas in the other PB threads are similar to yours. Frankly if they could code in varying port depths and ship draft that would take care of it. Can't sail a 1st rate right up to a fort on shore then - so you need motor brigs and smaller ships, etc. Treating a PB like a mission has drawbacks - like no OW strategy, limiting RvR. It would also limit the use of TS to organize the PB. The new mechanics will emphasize collective operations on the OW so there is that as well.

+1 ^^ We need ship drafts! Even if the bathymetry was simplified in some way. I like your perks ideas - but first perks should be toned down to avoid "gear check" fight. Some modules as well. Marines as crew to be purchased. Pirates acting as well pirates not a nation - Hethwill I think your ironman mode is too much we want to have some pirates to fight after all

Regions and their capitols are supposed to play a bigger role in the new conquest mechanics. Your outposts won't change with the September port reset. If you have an OP in another nations region then you may want to move it prior to the end of September. Keep in mind that the map posted here is only a draft with the exception of the regional boundaries and Freetowns which stay the same for this patch. Hope this helps.

+1 nice suggestion adds depth for the shipbuilders.

Look at it this way - the PVE server was not initially considered in the design of the game and enough players expressed interest in playing without worrying about PVP so the devs added the PVE server. So maybe just consider the fact that there is a PVE server at all and be happy. That way when a feature is added specifically targeted at PVP you won't feel left out. Something will come along for you - AI treasure fleets maybe....

Admin stated in post #7 that free town will stay where they are until the October patch. So the only ports affected by the September patch are National ports and Pittstown, Therefore you can stay in freetowns. The risk is that they will be on the edges of national territory so risky to use - kind of like now.

Gunboat duel anyone?

Hmm - storms in battle. Weather damage effects maybe?

Well has anyone sailed in a small boat (little freeboard - low to the water)? Sailing with full sails in the ocean with even 4 foot swells and you can certainly capsize!! Been there. This type of ship was designed to stay close to the coast or sail in lakes and didn't have much draft to help with stability. They were designed to be a stable gun platform in calm waters. Having said that seems that it will need testing and tuning. How about some oars?

I have read a lot about the term "gank" since playing this game and a 1v1 fight is not one of the definitions of a gank. What if you were sailing in a Snow or Cerb and he hit you with a Surprise or Frigate - gank? What if you had an AI fleet to fight him - gank? In fact it is one of the basic features of the game - the lone privateer or pirate out hunting for enemy traders a common historical occurrence in the age of sail. You didn't get ganked the Surprise did. I get the compromises for gameplay but having a player go into port and come back out to join a battle 20 minutes later rips a huge hole in the space time continuum!

As admin noted already big discussion and poll on this issue. Just to address your idea specifically. Some good thoughts, but the simplest solution will be best, ie; one without conditions. The first question is really how much of an exploit is it, or how often is it used as an exploit? Just this morning I logged on before work to sail from OW to a port and got tagged in a 3v1 (2 Mercs, Snake v Snake). They got a great tag and I was lucky to get away, then I logged out in the BS. Exploit? I needed to get to work but even so I was outnumbered so should I be forced to fight after successfully getting away once? You can change the numbers, how about 10 ships waiting outside including SoL and your squadron is 4 frigates, etc. The issue really is that the waiting fleet cannot see who remains and the other side can only see if they have a friend outside. So a simple solution should suffice - give both sides notice even if it is just a timer on the screen and notice of what is waiting on the outside. 5-10 minutes to take action for the ships in screen. Log off or TP to national port w/o cargo for example. Of course one can come out and fight with reasonable odds.

Capitols should be very hard to capture. Multiple large forts guarding the harbor entrance leading to the cap zones, etc.

Yes at the opening of the OW last summer there was a lot of discussion about ship speed, time compression and map size. There were also graphics issues with the ships interacting with the water at higher speeds - your Lynx looked more like a speed boat on the water, more so than it does now!

Tried out the Santa Cecilia yesterday and she seemed to tack well. No problems getting through the wind without making sternway (mostly!). But then it looks like she is a maneuverable ship. The new acceleration model may bring benefits for the slower but more maneuverable ships.

First you want to define your adventure. A one off summer booking on a sailing vessel or a more permanent volunteer situation? For the former you can pretty much go anywhere but most of the options are likely to be steel hulled sail training/cruising vessels well after the NA period. Having said that you are still sailing on a square rigged tall ship and the seamanship has not changed much. Also as you noted these can be quite expensive! I can think of 1/2 a dozen based in Europe: Europa, Stad Amsterdam, Oostschilde are examples: https://www.stadamsterdam.com/en/index.xml Here is a page from a sail training booking site: http://www.atseasailtraining.com/177/ships/12/oosterschelde.html AFAIK there are not as many tall ships carrying passengers for extended sails in the US. Some offer day sails, or are used for youth sail training. Lynx and Pride of Baltimore II are examples of this. You can book day sails and help the crew haul on lines etc. I sailed on Lynx for an event in Baltimore as a passenger. The tops'l schooner Sultana is a replica of an 18th century ship, but is mostly used as a youth training/education ship. There are a number of schooners on the East coast, in Maine, for example where you can book a week for a sail, but more as a passenger. I did have the opportunity to do the latter, volunteer as crew on a tall ship. Mostly this is down to time and location. IMO the best would be to volunteer on Niagara , but you need to live near Lake Erie. In the Northwest there is the Lady Washington, Hawaiian Chieftain and Californian among others. I am not sure if HMS Surprise uses volunteers or offers sail training. I volunteered on Kalmar Nyckel which is a replica of a Dutch ship built in 1625 and used by the Swedes to bring colonists to the East coast. The initial training class was six weekends after which you have to put in 40 hours maintenance prior to each sailing season in order to voyage. http://kalmarnyckel.org/ It was an awesome experience but I still have an Atlantic crossing on my bucket list! Here is a link to the Tall Ships website which has a lot of information on sail training: http://www.tallshipsamerica.org/ Good luck!

Striking = Surrendering No reason to have two different features - Striking [the colors] is essentially a term for surrendering a ship at sea. Now there was historical precedent of ships that had struck attempting to escape in fleet actions, however, I would just keep it simple rather than add option that potentially gives the player his ship back during the battle. Just like the ransom idea that has griefing potential. Players are just too used to getting xp/rewards for the kill, surrendering is seen as a deliberate denial of rewards. Despite getting the value of the ship you just captured. Ironically surrendering or striking the colors is much more historical, however; for game play just give the xp to the player putting in the most damage as usual and the surrendering crew will auto patch leaks and pump out water to prevent the ship sinking.

We should not have a blanket restriction on surrendering if you are taking on water. That was always a consideration for surrendering - the ship has 9 feet of water in the bilge and can't keep up with it - so the option was to surrender and keep the ship afloat and the many sailors who couldn't swim from drowning. Just have a mechanism once the surrender takes effect and the crew is saved, then the ship stops sinking. Alternatively maybe a point of not return like 75% full or something like that.

Reread the OP again and you may be surprised Thanks to the devs for this ship and the hard work on this outside problem - and I got some Ultimate General: Gettysburg play time yesterday while the server was down!

Lots of discussion on this subject posted on the Poll topic just above this thread: http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/11383-should-ships-have-durability/

Here is what admin wrote in the patch notes: "Every rank has its limit of free crew provided by the admiralty. For example a first ranked newbie has 40 free crew, so he does not have to pay for crew if he loses the ship." Works for me and my clan. I might suggest that your clan test the crew functions out over multiple RL days. Try using different ships, putting into port with outpost, then TP and sailing out on different ship from different op. Lose boarding combat and then wait to log in to next day and see what happens - just suggestion to test it out. If your whole clan is unable to get crew to regen back to rank level I would suggest sending a pm to dev at that point.

Excellent topic. John Adams would be interesting to have in game. When looking at these ships we need to make sure they were cut down pre-1820 to be in the time line though.

+1 Excellent post and suggestions! I like following the historical ships officers and warrants as the starting point for in game officers. I had posted a list like this, abet not nearly as detailed or fleshed out, when the admin called for officer suggestions. Glad to see this in such detail. I also like that the perk bonuses are not OP - and you have to rank them up.

Actually on your third point it does not have to be - you can manage crew in the battle results screen. So if you sail out with less than your max available crew you can replenish crew in the screen. You can also use the medikits to regenerate crew.

Sigh - must wait until after work - can't even look at Steam as it is considered social media and blocked content on our servers.

Just as an FYI you can get a reprint of Chapman's plans and Treatise on Amazon very inexpensively (9.99 USD kindle/15.99 USD print): https://www.amazon.com/Architectura-Navalis-Mercatoria-Eighteenth-Century-Architecture-ebook/dp/B008TVDJNC/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1467138955&sr=1-1&keywords=af+chapman