Hotfix 9.72

[admin]

 

Based on that experience I am taking the side of those making the noise and am frankly appalled at the response from the Dev's & Moderators

 

Sorry mate but your answer hurts us

Appalled with what? With us bringing at least 5 big features and 4 ships over the last 2 months?

Seriously you should go play star citizen. I am sure they are rolling features and gameplay with the speed you want

[Quarios]

One suggestion for the AI, tune it down in the normal missions players need to pass for leveling. But keep the hard AI, for endgame battles so the more experienced players have a challenge. Ofc adjust the rewards too. You can call those Epic or Uber and color them orange, so the basic mmo player understands ;-)

[Alado]

How i said in other post, since the last update this game change to Simulator Ships to shotter. I try to do epics ships battles like before patch but is imposible, only shot faster without sense, 10 minutes battles, kill, be killed or run. Before patch you can smell the water, powder, balls, blood, explosions,incredibles ships,one hours battles.but now its like a fast shooter, you go, shot and nothing more. Beautiful but nothing more. We dont want stupid la, but actual ia changed the SIM of Batlle ships to shooter.

Before patch when i finish my work run to my pc to try have a big epic battle, now dont run, open game, craft my hours and try to do a epic Batlle, but the same 10 minutes fasters and bored.

Edited April 15, 2016 by Alado

[JimDandy]

There's no denial.  The contents of these posts are being read, considered, and any actions that may be taken regarding the new features and tuning will be undertaken with people's feedback here in mind.  The feedback in this thread has already generated discussion behind the scenes. Do not, however, expect a Developer to come in here, throw themselves prostrate, and beg forgiveness, though.  

 

My posts in this thread have been an attempt to guide the conversation.  I'm sorry if you feel that my pointing out how things work is condescension, I'm simply disagreeing with a number of the assertions that have been made.  I'm also attempting to stem the tide of people who like things to be easy and simply want an AI battle to be a guaranteed "I win" situation.  I'm not entirely sure that's good for the game itself.

 

We're allowed to disagree with each other without calling names or resorting to histrionics to do so.

 

"histrionics" ? 

please read the last sentence in the following post, your right it is totally uncalled for.

 

Come on, Mr. Darby really tries to find a solution. He's far from patronizing. And his reasoning and conclusion merit more consideration.

He analyses the situation correctly, especially about NA being a skill-based game, and proposes something interesting for starting missions : "It's very possible AI will be scaled so that at low levels, they're the old, simple, stupid, inaccurate AI that we've seen so far".

 

It is true I have allowed myself to become somewhat agitated over this affair. I had come into the forum yesterday reporting what I believed to be a serious problem worthy of note by those who monitor such things. I somehow thought I had some standing as well as credibility given my time in this gaming community coupled with the fact that I seldom come into this forum to complain or voice grievances. Nay, I was met by obfuscation and yes, patronizing responses as were all others voicing the same or similar concerns.

 

I stand by my original post in this thread today you are simply trying to convince players that it is they who are at fault due to poor playing skills or their vivid imaginations that it is not the ai buff. No I'm not agitated as much about the game problems as I am about two characters who wrap BS in lace and try to sell it even though it still stinks. This is very offensive to say the least.

 

As I also said in my earlier post "who cares" and now I will take my own advice and let this sort itself out... I suddenly feel the need to bathe after this exchange.

[JimDandy]

Sorry mate but your answer hurts us

Appalled with what? With us bringing at least 5 big features and 4 ships over the last 2 months?

Seriously you should go play star citizen. I am sure they are rolling features and gameplay with the speed you want

 

No in the larger scheme of things your doing a fantastic job, It's a great game and I love it maybe too much. But there is a problem with this ai buff ... I won't go into it you can read my exchanges with your moderators if you like. Its as though a stone wall of denial has been erected around this topic which is far more frustrating than perhaps an acknowledgement that some further tuning may be called for. 

[admin]

Some people want AI to be extremely hard and challenging (prepare to sink)

Some want AI for relaxing times

The rest just goes to pvp

 

We would like to remind everyone the two rules of this forum. 

1. Respect

The goal is to support open exchange of ideas, and a venue for the discussion. We understand that there could be conflicts that happen when people voice opinions.  Users are expected to be courteous when disagreeing with others.

 

2. Ranting and trolling

A rant is a post that is filled with angry and counterproductive comments. Rants are disruptive, and incite flaming and trolling. Trolling is when you structure your posts to anger and insult other players to achieve an emotional response. Please post your thoughts clearly and avoid trolling.

 

 

Now. Players who disagree with something MUST do it in a respectful constructive manner 

If someone disagrees with you this is not appaling. If you do'nt like people disagreeing there is no place for you in any forum.

Game is unfinished and will change multiple times. AI changed multiple times and WILL change again. 

 

We are going to enforce rules on rules 1 and 2 more and more starting now. 

[Trevish]

The aiming zone is broken now, my longs are aiming at carronade range when my top deck is disabled, this was not the case before today.

[Enraged Ewok]

The aiming zone is broken now, my longs are aiming at carronade range when my top deck is disabled, this was not the case before today.

 

I've noticed both long guns and carronades hitting far lower for a certain aim point than pre-patch. The wierd thing is, for carronades the new aim point feels more natural than the previous patch, while what felt natural for longs the previous patch deposits shot into the water well short of the target.

[Pigafetta]

So if your level mission is too tough do a lower level mission, I love how they added the ability to do lower level missions.

 

Absolutely true... it was a request made some time ago and now it is reality. I think devs are doing a good job overall.

[LeBoiteux]

Some people want AI to be extremely hard and challenging (prepare to sink)

Some want AI for relaxing times

 

Could it  be possible to have two kinds of AI :

- a challenging AI in OW and for missions,

- an easier AI for relaxing (maybe the AI previous to the current patch) for missions only ?

 

if the easier AI caused problems on PvP servers (related to gold, XP and assets...), it could be available only on the PvE server :

- on the PvE server : challenging AI + easier AI

- on the PvP server : challenging AI only

[Alado]

 

Seriously you should go play star citizen. I am sure they are rolling features and gameplay with the speed you want

bad anwser, whos care SC??

 

remember:

 

1. Respect

[Fizzer]

The aiming zone is broken now, my longs are aiming at carronade range when my top deck is disabled, this was not the case before today.

 

This is exactly what I experienced yesterday, today's patch should have fixed that - haven't tested yet though.  Odd that you didn't have an issue before today, but I had serious problems with a carro/long Constitution setup yesterday.

[Henry d'Esterre Darby]

The aiming zone is broken now, my longs are aiming at carronade range when my top deck is disabled, this was not the case before today.

 

 

This is exactly what I experienced yesterday, today's patch should have fixed that - haven't tested yet though.  Odd that you didn't have an issue before today, but I had serious problems with a carro/long Constitution setup yesterday.

 

It's a known bug that hasn't been rectified just yet.  Hang in there.

[Ted Nougat]

And the AI, you did not fix the AI the 80 percent of the community is complaining? For gods shake lower the AI accuracy for once. You said it was a "bug" in the AI, it wasnt, you read it wrong, it said artificial difficulty---off and you sir turned it on

 

The AI isn't hard to defeat, and bit of a challenge is nice.

 

They should leave the AI where it is.

[Jan van Santen]

 

 

Now, when we hear people talk about "Cheating AI", and crap like that, our ears turn off, because we know for a fact that the AI has the same abilities that you as a player do.  

 

Lets ignore for the moment that you call observations of experienced players "crap". 

 

Now back to the game facts:

 

Before 9.7 i capped a 3rd rate. I used "x" right in battle and found to my great surprise that the AI had loaded grape on 1 broadside and ball on the other.

 

Now pray  tell me how I as player could do that ? 

 

Next cheat: Whenever I capped a 3rd rate, the max it had was 4 regular slots and no perma. So pls explain how a player could sail at the speed of a golden copper plate w/o even having a slot for it. ?

 

Next example: How comes that an ai ship which after I capped it had medium cannons hit me in battle from distances far above the range of those ??

 

I call these and a few other "strange" abilities of the AI cheats.

[Bloody 9]

accuracy fix simple solution... Use the average accuracy of the players for ai.

[Enraged Ewok]

Before 9.7 i capped a 3rd rate. I used "x" right in battle and found to my great surprise that the AI had loaded grape on 1 broadside and ball on the other.

 

Now pray  tell me how I as player could do that ? 

 

By using the 1-4 keys.

 

 

Next cheat: Whenever I capped a 3rd rate, the max it had was 4 regular slots and no perma. So pls explain how a player could sail at the speed of a golden copper plate w/o even having a slot for it. ?

 

I've never seen a bot sail faster than a player ship. The player will always catch up, unless they're in a live oak third rate chasing a trader lynx close hauled or some other sillyness. You will eventually overtake an NPC combat ship sailing away from you without any need for chain.

 

 

Next example: How comes that an ai ship which after I capped it had medium cannons hit me in battle from distances far above the range of those ??

 

I call these and a few other "strange" abilities of the AI cheats.

 

Without having seen the engagement first hand, the most likely scenario is that he was downwind of you, meaning the heel of his ship lets him fire farther than he otherwise could, and you shorter than you otherwise could. Other possibilities are a chase engagement, where it seems like he's shoot farther because he is shooting in the opposite direction that he's moving.

 

I'd love to see proof of these cheats rather than just reading the claims on the forums.

[Mr. Starbuck]

accuracy fix simple solution... Use the average accuracy of the players for ai.

I don't know if 25% would be very challenging.

 

Joking aside, I still think that 6 or 9 pounders should not be able to penetrate hulls like they do now - AI is now very professional in doing this because of their buffed accuracy/bug fixes.

 

Maybe I'm spoiled by Patrick O'brian but I always see Mr. Aubrey crying about the fact that his 6 or 9 pounders won't be able to compete with the enemies 12 or 24 pounders in terms of penetration for a reason.

 

(Remember how he tried to install a 12 pounder on his Sophie? )

 

I liked the lower penetration values. It gave a feeling of prolonged battles and provided the time to tank some shots to do silly maneuvres that looked cool or waste time with demasting the enemy.

 

Can't afford to do that anymore, AI will punish me brutally. Makes me a sad sailor

[Jan van Santen]

Could it  be possible to have two kinds of AI :

- a challenging AI in OW and for missions,

- an easier AI for relaxing (maybe the AI previous to the current patch) for missions only ?

 

if the easier AI caused problems on PvP servers (related to gold, XP and assets...), it could be available only on the PvE server :

- on the PvE server : challenging AI + easier AI

- on the PvP server : challenging AI only

 

This goes into the right direction. 

The difference is: PvE server has but 200 players, spread over the same amount of nations, the same ranks and  the same size of map as PvP with it's 1400 players. 

Which boils down to: on PvE server you are basically playing solo. You are lucky to even find someone to group up with.

 

Yet, we get the same size of fleets (an AI fleet of 6 Santi, 12 Vickies, and a dozen Bellona's, Pavel's etc I recently encountered on PvE server has more firepower than all the players on the server together...)

And we get the same difficulty of AI, while we don't get the possibility to group up.

 

What this game needs is a per server balance. If that isn't possible: we are not at war with other players on PvE. So give us the possibility to team up with other nations. That would at least be a hotfix for the problem

[Henry d'Esterre Darby]

Full disclosure:

 

There is one special thing the AI can do:  Load different ammunition by deck, or even by cannon (everyone can load different ammunition by side).  That is an admitted advantage that they have. 

They do have built in buffs, but they are in line with the same modules players can equip.  These were there originally due to their stupidity.  

 

A good bit of feedback might be to keep their new skills but remove the extra buffs.

[Radar 105]

This is my first post however I have been playing for 4 months now. I would like to say that I have been enjoying this new AI immensely. Before the patch I 1v1'd countless 3rd Rates in my 3rd, with out breaking a sweat. They predictably turn the same way, sputter and languish into the wind whilst I whittled away. Easily sinking or capping them with over 3/4's of my armor remaining. Never thrilling. Always predictable. I love the new challange and I still beat them but I feel I am earning my prize now. Thanks Devs!

[surfimp]

A good bit of feedback might be to keep their new skills but remove the extra buffs.

 

Yeah, the "fast reloading" thing and a number of the other "cheat" complaints is probably because they have buffs/mods that grant them the equivalent of Exceptional Powdermonkeys, Pellew's Sights, Marines, etc. etc. etc.

 

Those buffs probably account for much of the complaining about "AI cheats" and whatnot.

 

I personally feel they are a bit too accurate right now, but maybe I'd feel different if they didn't also have the buffs mentioned. It's worth considering, to be sure.

[NoShipSailsForever]

Full disclosure:

 

There is one special thing the AI can do:  Load different ammunition by deck, or even by cannon (everyone can load different ammunition by side).  That is an admitted advantage that they have. 

They do have built in buffs, but they are in line with the same modules players can equip.  These were there originally due to their stupidity.  

 

A good bit of feedback might be to keep their new skills but remove the extra buffs.

 

That explains something really important...

I was always wondering why a 3rd Rate, when i could cap them back then, which has always no upgrades installed, can reload faster than I in my 3rd rate with mastercrafted impr. mag. access, rum rations and powder monkeys...

 

Edit: with medium cannons. AI was shooting mostly deck by deck, but still with faster reload than myself

Edited April 15, 2016 by NoShipSailsForever

[Likedeeler]

Hi devs,

 

first time I saw the op-ai i was shocked. But i like the challenge. I think it's the right way for the game. I am a new player. At the moment I play pve to learn that game and sometimes I want to play solo, whitout someone is talking to me.

 

Has there ever been thought to equate the level of command (AI) with accuracy of shots?

 

Midshipman: 25-35%

Ensign: 30-40%

2nd lt: 35-45%

1st lt: 40-50%

M&C: 45-55%

Post Capt: 50-60%

Flag Capt: 55-65%

Commodore: 60-75%

 

and so forth? And, then alter the penetration values from there.

 

I agree after last night the AI's are a bit OP now.

 

This is a good suggestion. But, they have to do this for all things in the mechanics. If I go in a midshipmann-mission I'll find midshipmanships.
Luckily, midshipman and -crew are aboard. And i know they have less accuracy (they have possibily to try first one single shot and after that the broadside, and the possiblity to make leaks for...whatever... less percent), less frequnecy in shooting and steer worse. If I am unlucky, the cutter is under command of an flag captain. With faster reloading crew, better marksmen and an excelent helmsmen.

 

This, and ships whith more differnt quallities - grey to yellow. differnt modules in it (from none to all in yellow) could make the game surprising. You could meet a weak commander and crew in a ship, made of steal and an rearadmiral in a paper boat. Then it is up to you  to decide how to react, Flee or fight.- Decide which point is esential to you - rank of the opponent ship and/or the skill of the commander. Actually it appears that every powdermonkey can leak me. Feel wrong.

 

One other questen or bug. My fleet, do not accept the demasting order. They fight ever in destroy-mode. Please observe this behaviour.

 

And one suggestion. If I am the highest rank in fleet mission give me command over ai-comanders, like to my ai-fleet, to tell them waht they have to do. They act sometimes like lunatics. Small vessels fight solo against a bigger ship, instead of fighting togheter the big one.

 

Sry for my crap english. it's late and i am not native Speaker.

Edited April 15, 2016 by Likedeeler

[Yutani]

Full disclosure:

 

There is one special thing the AI can do:  Load different ammunition by deck, or even by cannon (everyone can load different ammunition by side).  That is an admitted advantage that they have. 

They do have built in buffs, but they are in line with the same modules players can equip.  These were there originally due to their stupidity.  

 

A good bit of feedback might be to keep their new skills but remove the extra buffs.

Is there a limit on the upgrade modules AI can equip?

 

b/c I am in a basic cutter and it seems like the AI cutter fires 50% faster than I can.  For every 2 salvos I fire, he fires 3.