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Yet another map which uses the in-game map and live data: na-map. I hope this map is useful and I am happy to receive any feedback (bugs, feature requests). Source on github. Changelog

Explain how works Port Battle on PvE Server? For example: Port 5700BR. How will the hostility points be counted and how much need?

Purpose of this suggestion: No restrictions on side of clan who organizes hostility mission or port battle, regarding who is participating in their conquest activities. After all, players of different nations are not seen as enemies here. That should reflect in the choices we have in teaming up. We should find agreements with them and enter them in our list of allowed participants of hostility missions and port battles (right now it is still possible to join into hostility missions but we have a thread in support section which talks about ending this by decision of admin, due to exploits on both servers). That means: - clan can invite ANYONE who is asking to a group which does hostility mission or enters port battle against Neutrals. Also foreign captains, who adapt his flag, just like in OW battles. This way large instruments of help are opened, or contract options, mercenary services, whatever people invent. The power of a few major clans will get shattered, who are now dividing up most of the map among themselves. That ends: - restrictions of admission to clan, clan friendlist, fellow nationals. Which is the reason small clans have no chance to get a port as long as they don't agree to terms of a big clan, in exchange of help. A great way to dictate conditions to small clans or abuse them anytime as big clan sees fit. That also prevents: - abuse by alts of hostile factions, because they still stay outside. YOU will be personally responsible WHOM you invite into the event. When you have been fooled, next time don't allow him to join. It's pretty much the same responsibilty which is on you when inviting people into clan and giving them rights over the inventory. -- With access for small clans to other human resources than what major clans and their "alliance system" may have to offer, competition for same major clans will increase. The field of conquest will less likely given to them exclusively. Effect is more diversity on the map, less power to major clans, more freedom to small clans. Or just a better negotiation standpoint for them, as they may anytime call cooperation with the big ones off and seek assistance somewhere else, if this suggestion of opening up their teaming options would come true. Offenders will be singled out individually, as they will get known by name. It will be micromanagement on a personal level and not much room left for foul play. But then you would have to ask yourself how you could be duped to invite them in your group list, in the first place. No blame on game mechanism possible.

So as the server has some issues today, I wrote with @Reverse about the Port au Prince Port Battle. Both sides spend time in it's organization and wanted to do it. We had 12 people ingame at some point and could've gone for it but with not being sure it works to jump into one battle. Reverse and basicly none of BF were ingame so I called it off to make it fair. We wanted a nice fight there and not just taking the port. I wrote with Reverse and he would like it as well as me, and the BF clan and the british PB fleet, so I'm asking you @admin@Ink if there is any possibility of putting the Port Battle on Monday or Tuesday about 18 ST to 19 ST. Or the next weekend about this time. We only want to enjoy the game and If we wanted to do the pb and were hyped for it, on both sides, I think there should be a possibility to place it on Monday or Tuesday on 18-19ST. Waiting for your answer BW Shocktrooper

First of all I must say that I respect the french Captains who fought in the Carriacau PB and the battle took place in fairness and mutual respect, this is the battle chat that ends with greetings and compliments each other, and even some joke (that is always welcome) Instead, here is the message I received by a great French admiral (I hid the name because it is a private message) that the day before evidently he did not find anything better to do than try to provoke me (actually he did better , both he and other 15/20 French have had the good taste of being sunk or captured in the attempt to flip Carriacau, which in the end they managed to do even if at a high price). Their success in flipping the port has allowed us to make the great admiral happy (who has not had the good taste of being in the PB and not even in the screen) and this is the result of the PB for his happiness! I also thank @rediii that allowed me (I had to insist a lot though) to lead the fleet, but for this pleasure I had to personally pay him 50k doubloons! So great French admiral, to defend your good name, I am sure you will want to pay me the 50k doubloons, considering that they were payed for your personal pleasure. I thank all the British captains for the good fight! See you at the next PB French friends! MassimoSud

I would love to suggest some Co-op options for the PvE server, as there are currently no port battles. These co-op activities would be optional, so the peaceful, relaxing nature of the PvE server would not be changed. Port raids. Essentially just port battles against an AI fleet, raids will allow players to group up and fight for a port. Once captured, doubloons will be handed out based on battle performance. Duals. Players are able to challenge each other in the OW, and with mutual agreement a PvP battle is started. NPC Blockades. A group of 5 - 10 NPC's will blockade a random port. This will initiate a 6 hours long lasting battle, which all players can join. When a port is blockaded, you cannot enter this port directly. You'll have to join the blockade instance and sail your way through the enemy lines into safety of the coastal defenses, if you want to move into the port. A coordinated player fleet however can also kill all NPC's, after which the port is free to enter again. Can be BR limited to create a challenge. I don't know how this would work out on the PvP server (option 1 and 2 would be redundant), but I think option 3 could also be fun on the PvP server.

With the current RvR rules after a successful port defense the there is only a 24 hour break before the attackers can build hostility again, this leads to a couple of issues. Firstly if you are a new defender of a port you do not get any reward for defending the port and have to wait till the end of the week to get your victory mark. But in this time there could potentially be two more port battles and if you are not present at them or are unlucky enough not to get a place in the port battle defense group you lose out on your victory mark because either the port is lost or you were not on the latest defense group if the port was retained. Secondly with only a 24 hour cooldown before hostility can be gained again it just leads to a repetitive grind to keep a port till either the attacking side or the defending side give up because people are burned out and cannot be bothered showing up anymore. It becomes similar to the days of port battle flags where a single port could be attacked night after night which led to burnout and people getting tired of the game. In reality after failing to capture a port it would take some time before a new attack could be mounted, so I would suggest that there be a maximum of 1 port battle per week per port (there are enough ports on the map that RvR would still be active), that way after a successful attack or defense the winners get a break to enjoy the port and receive their rewards and have time to rebuild their forces. It also stops people getting burnt out attacking or defending the same port over and over every couple of days. If it is felt that a week is too long then at least award the winners of the port battle a reward of victory mark immediately, but still increase the cooldown time after a successful defense to the same as after a successful attack.

We are recruiting, We operate mainly from Kingston Port Royale. We do Fleet missions, OW PvE and PvP, Port Battles, Trade Runs, Craft Ships. We have many experienced players willing to share knowledge, helping you to level up. If you have mature nature, looking to have some fun in a respectful manner and without pressure, you can knock our door, You are welcome. Now please read below; BCC POLICY: Dear Captains, There is only one rule in BCC: Teamspeak. We ask you to join our Teamspeak and be polite. We are mostly adults and we treat all of you same way and we expect you to treat other players with respect. We have a few thing to offer: We will build all ships for clan mates. You have to deliver only the ship permit. We deliver all consumables: rum, hull and rig repairs. We will help you to level up. We are willing to help you as much as possible with all other issues if you may need it. What you may offer us if you like: Join us on teamspeak on voice378.ismett.de and talk to us. Help improving our clan. Supplying resources. Help to craft by supplying hours and craft components. Join port battles and do PvP. You can Contact us in game: Felix Victor, Pompeyck, Captain Woodpecker, AeRoTR, Yellow Allien, Bandy. nation teamspeak: 62.104.20.137:10073 website: https://bccnavalaction.wordpress.com/ forum: http://bccnavalaction.freeforums.net/ application: http://bccnavalaction.freeforums.net/board/7/application bcc discord: BCC (British Captain's Club) https://discord.gg/EkKgPMF BONUS Training Tutorials and Guides: https://bccnavalaction.freeforums.net/board/20/naval-action-guides

I know I will start here an unpopular suggestion. Many guys just love the feeling of sitting in fat ducks blowing up everything up in range of their multiple max cannon decks. Nothing wrong with the feel of invincibility and power. But how often and how easy? And at the expense of what other game content? -- Let's face it: the enormous costs of building and maintaining a first rate ship-of-the-line is not portrayed in the game properly. Anyone with a dockyard large enough and sufficient warehouse stock can build one or several SOL a day, especially when he has the support of his clan. We see in the hand of some major clans more First Rates than whole nations had in 18th century, and this is just one theater of operations (the Caribbean), while those nations had to distribute their naval power over several theaters, mainly Europe. So what we get in the game is inflation of First Rates - determining always the same maxed out composition of battle fleets in port battles. And as the SOL are so cheap, we even see ganking groups consisting of SOLs, which is absolutely ridiculous nonsense in naval authenticity. Why? Because SOL are for navy battles only and they were extremely expensive. Their lacking speed did not make them suitable for economy war. The inflation of this overuse of fat ducks has undesirable side effects: other ship ranks become less significant. Almost nobody cares to build 2nd, 3rd rates - not to speak of 4th rate and lower, because fat ducks are so cheap and give the maximum fire power. So versatility suffers from the overuse. Tactics melt down to just brute force and nothing else matters. Who brings in more First Rates will win, who produces more a day keeps the upper hand. Short glimpse back into history: First Rates were so expensive that just for being able to add one to the royal fleet, all merchants and businesses of a city would collect their money and sponsor a single ship, which would then gratefully bear the name of that city, for example "Ville de Paris". Navy reformer Duke de Choiseul went around France to encourage cities and regions to follow the example so the King would have enough ships. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ship_Ville_de_Paris_(1764) If historically correct, a reduction of number of SOLs in Naval Action would altogether prove to be profitable for gameplay. We would see more options for setting up fleets for various purposes and other rates than the First would see a renaissance. How could this be implemented? An idea would be to give each nation a maximum number of First Rates, distributed as slots between all clans of that nation. So, if there would be a max number of 25 First Rates for one nation and six clans with, say, more than ten active members in the last month, each clan would get the Royal allowance to contribute four First Rates and the rest (1) by one of the smaller clans. Maybe this would lead to less port battles or just another composition of battle fleets participating there. A single port battle would gain importance. That's fine, because so often they really did not take place in real life. Another idea, could be parallel with the first idea mentioned, has been touched already in this forum and I am all for it: having to pay maintenance for the largest ships, no matter if they are moored in docks or 'parked' in ship market. So you think twice before building them en masse. First Rates must cost daily money, and Second and Third Rates also, but to a lesser degree. Third idea in that context is to introduce a cost inflicting each time to the owning clan when their First Rate gets sunk. They were highly prestigious symbols of power. A loss of a First Rate ship-of-the-line was felt as national tragedy. Not like in this game, where you shrug your shoulders and simply build another one. This 'prestige loss' could be expressed by deduction of marks, victory or PvP, to all clan members whose clan had that national slot for a First Rate which got sunk. A malus for the clan comparison ladder. Effect: eagerness to keep the First Rate alive at all costs. Smaller ships would be commissioned to protect the valuable First Rate - that's absolutely historic. Second Effect: enemy is even more keen on sinking First Rates, because then it would have consequences for the losing side beyond just another ship gone.

We are recruiting, We operate mainly from Kingston Port Royale. We do PVE/PVP, Patrol Zone Missions, Port Battles, Trade Runs, Craft Ships. We have many experienced players willing to share knowledge, helping you to level up. If you have mature nature, looking to have some fun in a respectful manner and without pressure, you can knock our door, You are welcome. Now please read below; BCC POLICY: Dear Captains, There is only one rule in BCC: Teamspeak. We ask you to join our Teamspeak and be polite. We are mostly adults and we treat all of you same way and we expect you to treat other players with respect. We have a few thing to offer: We will build all ships for clan mates. You have to deliver only the ship permit and required dubloons for crafting. We deliver all consumables: rum, hull and rig repairs. We will help you to level up. We try to find skillbooks etc. for your level. We are willing to help you as much as possible with all other issues if you may need it. What you may offer us if you like: Join us on teamspeak on voice378.ismett.de and talk to us. Help improving our clan. Supplying resources so we can craft. Help to craft by supplying hours and craft components. You can join port battles, patrol zones or pve/pvp actions. You can Contact us in game: Felix Victor, Pompeyck, AeRoTR, Yellow Allien, Bandy, Aleksander, 45thN Saltpetre nation teamspeak: 62.104.20.137:10073 website: https://bccnavalaction.wordpress.com/ forum: http://bccnavalaction.freeforums.net/ application: http://bccnavalaction.freeforums.net/board/7/application bcc discord: BCC (British Captain's Club) https://discord.gg/EkKgPMF

Is there a recent post by some helpful soul that can explain how port battles work nowadays. I say nowadays because I know dynamics somewhat recently changed when (most) everyone switched to faster ships and focus switched away from Live oak. But in saying that i don't really understand how any of it works, circles, timers etc. Links to a good post would be most appreciated. Thanks in advance

Постараюсь кратко и лаконично, ибо сам не люблю читать стены текста. Тезисно: 1) Убираем таймера с городов. Возможность набивать хостилити открыто 24 часа в сутки. 2) Кардинально меняем и усложняем процесс набивки хостилити 3) ПБ назначается через 24 часа, после набивки 100% 4) Делаем заход в Портовую Битву в назначенное время из любой точки карты на выбранном корабле, по серверному приглашению. Далее расскажу про всю механику более подробно: Набивка Что бы набить хостилити на город 100% и назначить Портовую Битву - нужно выполнить ряд обязательных условий: (цифры и наименования условны, для примера) 1. Привезти в желаемый город 20т "провизии" для диверсантов - 20% хостилити 2. Устроить блокаду города боевыми кораблями на протяжении 20-30 минут, БР баттл группы должен быть не менее допустимого БРа самого города - 20% хостилити. - Флот становится возле города, вешается определенный "бафф" который вещает о начале накачки города. - Можно комбинировать с пунктом "3" и делать одновременно, при наявности необходимого кол-ва участников. - Блокада устанавливается в радиусе 3-5 км от города. 3. Выполнить хостилити миссии или потопить флоты соответсвующей нации в радиусе 5-10 км, либо живих игроков конкретной нации (пвп) - Количество потопленных кораблей или общее сумарное Бр, должно зависить от самого города. (ну допустим город с 2400 БР - должно утонуть 60 аггамемнонов или равное им по БР кол-во кораблей и т.д.) - Либо же живые игроки (пвп) 2х от БРа города. 4. В радиусе 10 км от города, увеличивается доходность Комбат марок, Пвп марок, Голды. При набивке 100% Хостилити, зона с радиусом 10км активна до начала Портовой Битвы. (Дополнительная мотивация пвп, много экшена возле города 24 часа + читаем "заход на портовую битву") Заход на Портовую Битву В назначенное время Портовой Битвы, находящиеся в городе капитаны получают приглашение принять участие в Портовой Битве. Естественно приглашения приходят по приоритету. У каждого капитана есть "очки напряжённости" на каждом конкретном городе. - Вначале приглашения приходят игрокам сообщества которое обороняет\атакует порт. - Если таких не имеется в онлайне или их мало, приглашения рассылаются далее по нации, в зависимости от кол-ва "очков напряжённости". - "Очки напряжённости" можно получить при накачке города, либо же в любое другое время - посредством фарма НПЦ кораблей, участие в ПВП в радиусе города или выполнение хостилити миссий. - Лидеры обороняющиеся\атакующие стороны - в момент назначения Портовой Битвы и до момента начала портовой битвы выбирают желаемый сэтап кораблей (аля 2400 БРа: 2х Буцика, 5х Ваза, 1х Эндимион). Приглашения приходят всем, но зайти можно только на данном конкретном корабле. Какие проблемы мы решаем и какие преимущества: 1) В любое время суток, в большинстве случаев, Портовые Битвы будут наполнены игроками. Если БФам набили город на 3 часа ночи, а мы все спим, то не исключено что ДНП с их праймом не откажутся от боя, тем более при равных условиях. Нету необходимого колва игроков в конкретных кланах, будет собиратся солянка из всего онлайна в нации. А там уже будет выбор просто ливнуть из боя, если очевидно что будет проигрыш. Опять же повторюс, скорее всего, при равных БР - все ПБ будут наполнены желающими. особенно, если не нуно будет выходить из Порта и плыть в новоебунево. 2) Накачка города становится более длительной, что увиличивает шансы массовых боев вокруг города. При чем это будет вещаться в комбат ньюс и все желающие смогут прийти и поучаствовать в действиях. 3) Не нужно сутками искать пвп. Видишь что Картахена накачана - плывешь туда и ПВПшишь. Ибо в 100% случаях, там будут такие же ганкеры, люди которые набивают "очки напряжённости" и т.д. 4) Не нужны отцепы и т.д. Не сумел защитить город при его накачки - будь любезен прими участие в последней инстанции - Портовой Битве. Не нужны контр отцепы и сидения в мисках за 3 часа до начала ПБ. Не нужны телепорты. Все это экономит время и повышает общий эммоциональный тон Вобщем мужики, мою речь аля мастер Йода, думаю, все поймут и смогут что то добавить\подправить. Но в целом мне кажется это решит много вопросов и вдохнет новую жизнь в Портовые Битвы. Если я где то бред написал или с ошибками - сорян, мне впадлу перечитывать и исправлять.... много букафак..

Did a ship limit get enacted on to port battles? it seems that even with a br limit of 2400 we could not add a ship of 50points when we had atleast 50 points of space, it has been awhile since iv played so i may have missed it

All video reports in Naval Action! 1. name 2. youtube link 3. little battle report

Simple question - right now only the Clan Leader ("Creator") is able to promote players into the rank of diplomat. This causes trouble for clans whos leader has not been online for quite some time because they can be locked out of rvr. So should officers be able to promote other players/officers into diplomat rank or not? Thoughts, ideas, opinions?

Port Battle Night Flips Gone… Just read… Table of UTC times and PB times are at the bottom of this POST Merging the Servers is truly needed, but trying to solve the Night Flip issue seems to be a problem for most. FIRST open your mind and think about this. The table shows different locals around the world including the UTC Timer. At whatever time, a PB happens someone somewhere it’s going to be a night flip. Flip the Problem instead… Having a 3am Port Battle on a School night is no fun. Mrs. nChances’ comment of “you’re a dick Norf…” am truly starting to believe crawling out of bed at some un-Godly hour. However, at weekends its quite a different story and one will Snort, Smoke and drink just as much as you do. We play NA for longer and at either ends of our normal play times than done in the week. So, you know how to suck eggs? Now before you stop reading or rolling your eyes make sure you read to the end. ALL PORT BATTLES will happen between UTC Saturday and UTC Sunday. PB will not be a weekly event anymore. I shouldn’t need to point out WHY this is needed for both commercial and population numbers. It’s ideal for the present community size. When we are at 5,000 a day then re-open the Weekly. The attacker has TWO decisions to now make. Attackers Decisions… The first is what day UTC Saturday or UTC Sunday he wants the Port Battle. This is decided on what day he pops the Hostility Mechanic. Popping on a Saturday, Sunday or a Monday will result in a NEXT Saturday Port Battle. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday will result in the NEXT Sunday Port Battle. So, shortest prep time is Popping on a Friday to Battle that same Sunday. The Longest is popping on a Saturday resulting in the PB the following Saturday. You get the idea, right? The second decision the attacker will need to make is a Start Time of the Battle. This by far the cause of 75% of the bull shit posted on the main forum, “…but its middle of the night for me…” Unfortunately the Dev’s need to listen, unlike me and the Mrs. Who don’t give a fcuk… really, I don’t care. However, I do care about the games survival so this is the chance element that comes into play. The Attacker will be given three choices Early, Mid or Late day session time only. Look at the UTC timer at the bottom of this POST again. Shouldn’t need to explain it to a bright well-meaning bunch as you lot but E_PB_1 to E_PB_6 are the six early session time slots. The attacker picking the early start, the GAME will randomly pick one of the six times. In this case E_PB_4 or UTC 13:00. The window is SIX hours in size so NOT exact like before 46hours and you’re done… You can see how this element is just wide enough in time scale to cause problems on either side. That chance is a key element… A bit of Give N Take is needed now… The PvP EU guys will be really happy with this obviously. The weekend so NOT at that un-Godly hour that a couple of lines and a French red wouldn’t solve. The strategic forced element of PvP Global pushing the night flip strategy can still sort of work. But it’s a six-hour gamble… it works… it’s a chance element… I wanted this to be the front end start of my BLOCKADE Port Battle Idea 1.02 which is in the suggestions thread somewhere. This extending out across three days instead of just two days. The two ideas work well together now to bring All players of any Nation Clan or solo into every Port Battle event into a single focus… If you think the idea is rubbish let me know, if you have a better one likewise… Norfolk

The victory battle point was not awarded to the British yesterday for the Cartegena defense. Also the -2 was not taken away from the dutch for losing the Port Battle.

hey, are Niagara + Rattlesnake Heavy allowed in shallow PB now that a permit costs 1 VM ?

After the PB began in roseau we were all greeted with this nice message before being kicked out and given some random amount of gold. The PB had 24 people in it on France and 0 for the Danes at the time of the message

First of all i want to apologise to @Jorgefor the basic cutter fire ship last night! It was a low blow, our behaviour came out of sheer frustration with the state of the British Nation! Seeing your L'Ocean fleet did not help. Now let me present my suggestion: First of all i don't see the need for any player to own a Ship of the Line! or even craft one! Ship of the Line should only exist in the Admirality store, and a player can get the oportunity to borrow a Ship of the Line, providing his/her Nation has scheduled a Port Battle with another Nation and the player earned enough hostility points. example: A group of players in the British Nation decided to flip an enemy region, they gather a big fleet and start to raise hostility in that region. Players earn hostility points, both the attackers and defenders do their best. Now lets assume that the region got flipped. A port Battle is scheduled. According to my suggestion the players with hostility points will be able to borrow from the Admirality shop a Ship of the Line. Like so: <2000 hostility points will let you borrow a 1th Rate, 1500>2000 will give a 2th Rate,1000>1500 gives 3th Rate and so on. This ships can only be used a couple of hours before a Port Battle and dissapear at the end of it. This is just a sugestion wich in my opinion will even the odds, making both PB open to everyone interested along with sailing a SoL. We can evek keep the dreadful CM system with the abylity to purchase nice mods. Thanks!

Admin & Ink, Continuing Problem. Selam, Merida prior to server restart 85%. Crew went in to pop. I go in one mission them in another. Port pops 06/09/2017 10:22. My mates saw it triggered immediately, It turned for me 12:00 UTC or 25minutes later… This is a recurring problem and have reported. The main issue is when I’m arranging a Port Battle with [Koltes]. I look like an idiot if I can’t tell the time. How else will [ELITE] and [BLACK] swap marks…? With cannon, I don’t think so… Kind regards Norfolk nChance (did F11)

Dear captains! If you participated in port battles previously or if you have port battles today please make sure that you use your conquest marks before tomorrow's maintenance. A significant change is coming in a tomorrow patch. Prices for blueprints will remain the same, but prices for permits will go up due to changes in how conquest marks are going to be distributed. TLDR If you have conquest marks - or will earn them today in port battles until maintenance tomorrow (2nd of June) - spend these marks on permits! spread the information in the nation or/and in global chat.

At the battle for Bermuda there were no less than 2 alts attempting to grief the PB fleets. One succeeded. Please investigate and punish these two accounts for alt abuse: brightlight [NAP]MorgotHola With our scouts we managed to pick up the first one and then screen him out of the port battle ourselves. The second one we were unaware of and he managed to join the Port Battle from far away only to sail into the fort fire and get killed. Both accounts are low level. One is French, the other Spanish. Both were in Mortar brigs. Both pretended like noobs but are clearly players with some experience with the game. We contacted devs with our suspicions about the French account prior to the PB. The case against brightlight: The player was 1 day old at the time of the PB. It was created after the Port Battle for Bermuda was even generated… No player sails all the way to Bermuda on his second day - in a mortar brig. Please also look into who traded him the Mortar Brig or any gold he spent to buy it. The player was spotted sailing up earlier in the day. The player sailed to the south of the port and logged off near the edge of the circle, showing forethought and malice, by indicating knowledge of the PB system, PB entry and PB layout that no 1 day old player would have. The player was told not to enter the port battle, and answered in the affirmative. Since we obviously didn’t trust his word, we dispatched a screener of our own to keep brightlight from sabotaging the PB. Just as the PB started he entered open world. This screenshot is from ca. 1:30 minute after the PB started when he was caught into battle, right before he would have been able to enter the PB. (original picture with timestamp can be submitted to devs if necessary) The case against MargotHola: MargotHola is another low level player who decided to make the sail all the way from La Habana to Bermuda to sabotage a PB. He was one of the first players to join the PB, despite us joining immediately when the 2 minute timer was up. I use a stop watch to time our entry to Port Battles, so the alt must have been sitting in OW, ready to enter the PB as soon as it was open to anyone without hostility, and intent on clicking fast to be able to get into the PB. The alt joined really far away from the port, in an illogical spot, and he sailed into the fort fire to get killed by it later in the battle. The alt ignored requests to come on Teamspeak, but answered some messages in game-chat. He told that there had been a request in chat for a mortar brig to Bermuda - an obvious lie. He also makes basic grammar mistakes in his answers indicating that he is probably using Google Translate in order to answer only in Spanish. Video of the battle: (comments about the alts on teamspeak during battle should be ignored as made in affect, I take it for granted that the enemy port battle fleet was unaware and unconnected to the sabotage)

Assuming we go back to port battle timers, I would like to propose we have timers for each day of the week. The issue today, you play on a weekend in the morning or during the day, you can end up scheduling a port battle during the week when many people cannot attend. A 10am PB on a weekend is OK for me, but 10am on a weekday, I'm working. I would propose each region have timers by day of the week, rather than a single time slot for all days. With a total number of hours allowed for attackers being assigned to different days. In the example below - having 8 x 2 hour time slots that have to be assigned by the lord protector - one for each weekday, three over the weekends - with the weekend day time slots spread a minimum of 6 hours apart. For example - using eastern USA time Monday - 8pm-10pm Tuesday- 8pm-10pm Wednesday- 8pm-10pm Thursday- 8pm-10pm Friday- 8pm-10pm Saturday - 8am-10am, 6pm-8pm Sunday - 10am-12noon Then when the attacker buys the flag from the admiralty, the flag is purchased for 2-3 days into the future. When you convert these times to Australian or Chinese times, there is always at least 1 day of the week were each port can be attacked in a players primetime. The reason for only one extra slot on the weekend, Sunday night in the USA, is Monday morning in Australia or China. Thoughts?

I may be a little behind the curve on this due to the time from the announcement of implementing raids and now, but I figured I'd share my two cents on the matter. Hopefully the community and developers like this concept enough to support and adopt it as future gameplay. Conquest: Taking Control of Counties. Conquest should happen by port battles as it does now, though how we get to port battles will be a little different - through raiding non-capital towns. A captain would be able to purchase a Raid token from the Admiralty (or Brethren Council). Once acquired, the captain would sail to the port they wish to raid and plant their Raid flag within ship-sight of the port docks. This functions much like the old assault flag system did with a few differences: 1) Purchasing a Raid Token does not send a notification to the entire server on which port it is intended for. In fact, Raid tokens are not assigned to a specific port at all*. Any non-capital can be raided at any time*. 2) Sailing through waters controlled by non-allied nations will highlight their territorial waters in red on the map if that port is able to be raided by the token the ship is carrying (see below). Doing so will send a chat notification to the nation that owns that particular port as well (e.g. "Admiralty Notification: Salina Point has spotted a Raid Fleet!"). 2a) Any town that is actively being raided or having a raid token planted will have its territory flash red (as contested ports do) on the map. 3) Raid tokens are differentiated between Shallow and Deep, with restrictions to prevent their being carried by under-rated fast ships. For instance Shallow raid tokens would only able to be held by 6th-rates, and Deep raid tokens could only be able to be held by 4th-rates and up. This fits with the theme of having a literal Flag Ship - the biggest and scariest ship in your fleet. Even if you intend on conducting a raid using, say, Privateers and Cutters, that Heavy Rattlesnake bringing up the rear should be the one with the flag. Raids tokens would also have enough weight that carrying one would preclude carrying more than one additional on board. 4) If a Raid is successful, the individual town in question will become Contested by the raiding nation for 48 hours. If the Raid fails, the port will instead be on High Alert and invulnerable to further raids for the next 72 hours. Upon exiting a Contested state, a town will enter a High Alert status for 24 hours, and Reconstruction for 48 hours during which its defenses will be lessened, but the Raid treasury will also be reduced. Reconstruction can be lessened by delivering War Supplies (or some other similar good) to the town in question to reduce its Reconstruction state by 6-8 hours. 4a) Once a Raid commences, all other non-capital towns enter High Alert for 6 hours and cannot be raided, whether the triggering Raid is successful or not. 5) If, at any point, the majority of non-capital towns (>50%, not =50%) are Contested by the same nation, a Port Battle is scheduled for the following day (or so) around the time that the last town became Contested. This could be done similar to the present means, 22 or 46 hours afterward, or a randomized time +/- 2-3 hours around the time the last port became Contested. 5a) Once a port battle is scheduled, as above, any non-capitals that are Contested will remain Contested until the port battle. If the aggressors in this conflict successfully raid the remaining uncontested ports (if any), the defenses of the capital will be reduced by a certain percentage for each town (minimum half normal strength). 6) If the attackers in a Port Battle are successful, all towns immediately become Contested and change to the victors following maintenance and follow the same pattern as Raided towns (High Alert for 24 hours, Reconstruction for 48). If the defenders of a Port Battle are successful, all towns in the county immediately enter High Alert for 72 hours. Raids: Sacking and Looting Once a Raid begins using the above flag-planting method, attackers will then have 90 minutes to sail in and take the town. Joining a Raid is similar to joining a Port Battle now - an inner Defender circle, and an outer Attacker circle. Attackers usually have the advantage in the element of surprise, but Raiding a town is a tough sell in any case; the objective in a Raid is to sail up to the town and defeat all of its Militia, either by bombarding with cannons or "boarding" the town - there are no capture circles or zones, though sailing too far from the port (5+ km?) will force an attacker to immediately exit (if they are otherwise normally able to) in order to prevent "holding the battle". If the Raid is successful, the town becomes Contested and all attacking participants are distributed a share of gold (and/or other rewards, including admiralty/council vouchers) from the town's coffers (Shallow towns as small as 2 million, perhaps - 80k each for a full 25-ship battle). This sounds easy, but it is complicated by the fact that the forts and towers are still present and will prioritize any ship closest to the town. The towns are also tough nuts to crack - Shallow ports could have up to 500 militia with up to 10% of those as Marines, while Lineship Capitals could have as many as 5000 milita, up to half of which are Marines. Bombing the town with mortars and ball are the most effective at killing defenders, but they also damage the town and will reduce the gold share from the coffers. Captains that engage in boarding will need to be careful with crew setups and boarding commands to avoid being taken by the town. Defenders will need to sink, capture, or drive off all attackers to be successful, but they will receive Admiralty awards if they are. A Raid, like a Port Battle, remains open indefinitely, but the defensive victory condition will engage after 15 minutes; if there's no live attacking ships after 15 minutes, the defenders win. Additionally, War Supplies will become a purely defensive tool; supplying a town, capital or otherwise, with War Supplies will increase the number of town militia, fort guns and militia, small increases to the range of the forts and towers, and potentially even additional Martello towers. At no point should the forts and towers cover the entirety of the combat zone, however. War Supplies: Reinforcing your Defenses Each War Supply will provide the supplied town with 1% Equipment, 2% Supplies, and 0.5% Defense Fleet. Each town starts with 0% Equipment (base values, existing fort defenses and guns with no bonuses), 0% Supplies (base values, existing fort/tower crews and town militia - 250/10%, 800/20%, and 2000/30% respectively), and 20% Defense Fleet (4 random typical ships, most likely 1 2nd rate and 3 3rd rates for a Lineship port). At 100% Equipment, the number of Martello towers is doubled and all fort guns and towers receive a size buff (up one or two weights), a 20% range bonus, a 20% reload bonus, and a 20% accuracy bonus. At 100% Supply, all fort/tower crews are doubled and have increased marines (doubled, up to 50%), and the town's militia and marine percentages are doubled (max 50% marines). At 100% Defense Fleet, the fleet will total 20 and be weighted such that about half of the ships are the best possible for the fight (Heavy Rattles, Aggies/Connies/Waffles, Vics/Oceans/Santis). Towns with high defenses need to keep them maintained, however. Equipment will decay at 2.5% per day when above 50%, Supplies will decay at 5% per day when above 25%, and Defense Fleet will decay at 2% per day when above 40%. This guarantees that not -all- War Supply contributions will be wasted, but maintaining the best possible values for defense will require continuous effort and Labor Hour usage. A single player could supply enough to keep a town's defenses high, but it'll heavily cut into their other crafting. If a Raid or PB are successful, then the defenses reset to base values. If the town is successfully defended, defenses instead reset to the maximum for non-decay. Port Battles: The End Goal Port Battles would be conducted rather similarly to how they are at present, with a few key exceptions: Instead of three circles, one large capture circle, 2.5-4 km in radius, centered on the port. The goal is to have one large combat zone that is approximately half-way covered by fort guns. Defenders would start in this zone and have the initial advantage. Victory Points would be accrued by the BR difference of ships in the combat zone as well as ship captures/sinks/escapes and fort/tower destruction. VPs would instead be accrued at a rate of 1 VP/second per 100/200/400 (6th/4th/1st rates) points of BR difference, capped at 10 VP/sec. Victory for either side would occur at 10,000 VP. Defenders could also win by driving off all opposing ships, while Attackers would have to destroy all land defenses as well as take control of the town (see Raids above). After 60 minutes of battle, the point rate will double every minute (2 VP/s for 60-61, 4 VP/s for 61-62, 8 VP/s for 62-63, and so on). This way, a fight that is dragging out with one side only having 4,000 VP, having had a steady, but slow advantage, will quickly start to wrap things up as the battle draws to a close, ensuring that a port battle will almost never end without one side being victorious. As with Raids, War Supplies will affect the defenses of the town in question similarly. It should be noted that the BR difference is truncated; with one side only having 350 BR greater for a Lineship battle, no VP would be accrued. If the difference is instead 700 BR, it's still only 1 VP/sec. BR of a ship should be dynamic and based on crew - That big L'Ocean with 1,100 crew that suffers a few solid rakes down to 400 crew will not have nearly as much BR to contribute. This victory method is known as the Show-of-Force victory and is useful if only a few opponents show up to contest the battle or attempt to harass and drag out the battle by skirmishing in and out of the combat zone. On the other side, an unopposed battle will only last under 17 minutes. Since the VP rate is also capped at a base of 10 VP per second, that means that having more than 1000/2000/4000 BR will have no additional effect beyond the maximum rate. The accelerating rate after an hour of fighting is multiplied off of this base amount. Let me know what you think, and as always: numbers presented are for the purpose of illustration - they are details that can be adjusted. The concepts are more important than specific numbers.