Rutger Van Hoorn

Voted for the Amsterdam. Part due to bias towards the Dutch, the other part Indiamen I'm relieved to hear the devs will use the Chapman plans if it is selected! Having also visited the Scheepvaartmuseum in Amsterdam, I have to agree with others posters that the way it's built is a shame... In sheer contrast with the gorgeous scale models and oil paintings inside the museum building. If you're in the Netherlands and want to visit a gorgeous replica go visit the Batavia instead: http://www.bataviawerf.nl/the-batavia.html Gorgeous ship but it falls outside the game's time period (1628). Edit: They're currently working on a replica of the Zeven Provincien there but not sure what the progress of that is of late.

I agree that steam ships should not be in the game in the form of ironclads. But I wouldn't mind seeing early paddle ships as in river and shore transports. Some missions showing early development (but not full-fledged implementation) of half-ways towards ironclads could be interesting. I can immediately imagine for example a mission where you have to escort some experimental Frankenstein oversize armored paddle boat, only to have it blow mid-mission, then the rest of the mission is to disable your ally ship that thinks you blew up the ship (you're forced to fight but are forced to render as little damage as possible and only disable)

Using artistic impressions or paintings, however beautiful, don't immediately give off what the game has to offer as compared to submissions that are made out of screenshots. If I were to see beautiful stylized/art cover work for a sail game, I might just pass it by if I am not specifically searching for such type game, thinking "oh, the somanieth". However a cover showing off the gorgeous models would possibly draw my attention. That's my 2 cents on the vote. Besides the above, my compliments to all that have submitted work. They all look great! Personally, I favor Cannonball's so far

I fall in the latter part of the 35-45 category, but I've meanwhile past my expiration date so...

Much appreciated Duelist! I noticed a few of Marion's posts. She definitely knows the ropes, probably litterally. And yes I definitely know ErikRed I hope he pops on again! Hoping to see more familars here! *Tips hat*

Actually Michiel Duijer was our leader/guild master, but Marion was one of our top figures for sure! Ah I miss the SMZS... Personally, I have a bias towards the Van Hoorn snow, for some reason Though it might not end up being called that when it goes into this game...

Implementing religion/faith will be opening up a big can of worms, similar to slavery/race and politics. Yes, religion has to be in-game as it was an integral part of the era, but I would hope not as more than background/art/NPC-element rather than being an actual faction or form of choice that players have to make. Even without all that, I'm not wild about being forced (or even having the choice) to join some kind of special-ops religious team/faction and become a silly Crusader or Jihadist. There's enough political rivalries that can be made up without religion. And going further than political would just add "magic".

Two scenarios I can think of where I would not like being forced to use same type of shot: 2 deck ship taken as example: **Top deck is almost done loading X shot, but I want to switch to Y shot. →If I switch to Y shot now, both decks will be forced to change, and I will lose the loading time used on the top deck for X. →If I wait for the top deck to load before I switch the gun deck to Y, I will lose loading time on that (it will load X, forcedly until the switch) **Firing X, last broadside left only enough to fill one deck: →Game will automatically distribute between the 2 decks? This is inefficient use of an entire broadside. Actually, if different shots are allowed between broadsides this still could be a problem.

A few loose ideas: (disclaimer, might have been proposed by others somewhere...) *Use specially assigned diving bell to salvage items from submerged wreckage. (Diving could be quest-specific item... no one lugs around a diving bell for fun methinks) *Alternate: Protect ship that is recovering items from wreckage with diving bell. →Diving bells would make some lovely but possibly intensive animating... too much extra work for such a small feature? *Investigate and intervene in coastal town that has gone rogue. →Revolt in a town has led to them declaring independence from any existing nation. →Could be a smaller ship mission, depending on town size. (This could also require some "diplomacy", and off-ship action) *Similar scenario could be with natives overrunning a small coastal town or fishery. *Siege assist mission: A city/fort/town is under siege from land. Rescue peeps while being under fire from coastal positions (outside of town), if any. Could elaborate on possibilities on this... Introduce a few enemy ships in port to mix things up, have the town already partially taken over including some coastal batteries (could progress during mission... more fire to endure as mission progresses). *Rumor-based missions: Something along the lines of sighting of a ghost ship. Big difference from other missions would be decreased morale for crew and officers, in fear of the supernatural. →I do NOT advocate supernatural stuff or magic in the game, but am only drawing on the intense superstition that was common in that era. Final target could be smuggler trying to look scary but 'maimable' flesh and blood all the same. Not sure if reputation will be in, but: *Disease control: have a choice of either picking up and transporting quarantined populace, buy and deliver supplies, or outright killing all infected. →In a larger picture, I wouldn't mind having "choices" such as that in missions. *Not really a mission per se, but how about having the choice between hiring at a tavern (higher cost, higher morale) or pressing crew into service (lower cost, lower moral, possible friction with locals) (Could be a mission if ordered by the admiralty to increase crew to a minimum level without the option of "hirable" crew present: choose to ignore the admiralty or rake in some scum via impressment) *Missionary mission: transport a missionary to a coastal area that has few to no modern ports: possible attacks by natives, where you have to weigh safety and diplomacy (killing everything in sight will leave few to convert for the missionary, plus they won't be as easily converted either), with unmapped coastal hazards thrown in. (I can already see chat: "Missionary, anyone?")

A lot of good ideas... Some have touched on crew management. →How I would love to see crew management is to have named officers with skills and skill progression, similar to UFO: Enemy Unknown (or its modern iteration Xenonauts) It doesn't have to show numbers though, but rather titles or reputation based on the numbers crunched in the background. With that, the ability to name new officers once you hire them would be neat as well. Devils in the details: →Creating minute differences in a battle with for example same ship type: Crew level/completion/exhaustion/equipment, same for officers and captain (and the different states the equipment can be in), hull state due to combat/sailing damage as well as erosion/trip time (do barnacles and other "growths" slow down ships, or does lack of "paint/refinish" deteriorate the hull?), canvas state, rudder state, ship armament, support from extraterrestrial aliens.....

I would love to have some land business on the side, but it should be something that is not required for anyone to fully enjoy the naval aspect of the game. The economy in PotBS was fun but in a way felt too naval oriented... like there was no life whatsoever past the few coastal ports. If there is an economy, naval elements should be taken into account as part of the market but not as the main industry. To inter-weave something into the larger game of naval warfare will be tricky though... not a lot of games pull of a mix like that. (Avatar play in PotBS was somewhat interesting at first but grew old fast) I always think of Sword of the Samurai as form of multi-genre game... or whatever correct label it might have. (showing my age with that game...)

Ahoy to all ex-PotBS veterans, especially the ex-Beta crowd! Missing the Beta of PotBS especially, when the community was so... into the game really. Once the game went to market, it never felt like it was finished, or at least it wasn't what I had hoped it would have become. (And many others I think) The game had a good foundation for the ship combat parts, but everything built around it felt too "design by committee". The customization was awesome, which is always a draw in any game. People like to be able to personify as much as possible. Anyone that was in Beta or early game must have seen some of the flags and sails I put together. Especially our guild crest for SMZS I was especially proud of. Good times... Curious to see how Naval Action will develop beyond its ship combat... Have to read the rest of the forums now. ~Rutger Van Hoorn / Phunix Former SMZS - PotBS