Port battles assault flag rework proposals - moderated

[CeltiberoCaesar]

So if i won the first battle with a decisive result i still can lose it if someone else lost it?

It was just a starting idea. You can compute all battles together and decide who won. There you can implement so many systems to decide who won. The important point is that it's played through a longer period of time, in different timezone (so you avoid impossible hours), a bigger amount of players participate and its realistic (battles hardly never where decided in 1 day).

3 port battles is bad design. Because if i really want this port I will have to fight in 3 port battles instead of 1, especially if my nation has only 25 active captains. Why should I rely on others to get the result I want.

That doesnt change anything, except Pirates and British, all nations has to rely on the same 20-40 players to do the job. As far as i know this is a team game, none can do anything by his own.

Then, if you really want a port, you, indeed, would have to fight but I'm sure you wont fight in the 3 of them, you will fight in 1 or 2 of them. I would bet that the first battle is easier to win by the attacker, then the next battle would be balanced and the last one would be at a time better for the deffenders. The port battle would be a national effort instead of a bunch of friends effort, the whole nation will have to go for it.

The big disadvantage of the the system ia that, again, the nations with players 24/7 will have more chances to rule the world. But I think thats something impossible to avoid but if a nations balance is implemented and working (probably the crew system)

Edited June 14, 2016 by CeltiberoCaesar

[hellshammy]

I agree even with the first proposal admin made,would give my signature and make it so in this update,this is long overdue and gives both meaning for PvE and fixes a lot of problems regarding PBs,griefing and false flags.I am against of the false flag false intel stuff tho,some other way should we made for this.Maybe a secondary project with the main Assault fleet,logistics,dependable on gold bribes,cleaning of smugglers in our waters,random generated misions like intercepting ship A until it gets to point B and you increase the secondary project goal of false intel fleet or decrease the chance enemy smugglers or players can notice it.

It will give a valid option for lower rank players as they will help out while ranking up and help the Pb project,and also for higher rank players that dont have the buildings or means to help out and can support with the secondary security project.

[Lytse Pier]

Visual feedback and assault fleet gameplay.

Sloops and bomb vessels were used in for example the invasion of Trinidad by sir Abercromby; and sir Harvey a few months earlier. It would be nice if the preparation of the fleet would show in the actual Port Battle and be a part of it, to make it perhaps more distinct from a port raid.

 

In my eyes with a port battle you would actually drop militairy forces / troops at shore to capture a town, defenders should prevent the troops from landing by shooting the landing troops (and attacking fleet) with their fortified gun batteries and defending ships

 

It would certainly give more of a feeling that you are actually gathering and building an invasion fleet instead of filling a mechanic with resources just to get access to a port battle. 

 

Size of an assault fleet and not delaying time but size of it.

Building an assault fleet uses resources is a good idea, I like that a lot; It costs money and effort. I think it should be the responsibility of the creator of the assault fleet to say when it's finished and ready for combat when it reaches a certain size. A small sized assault fleet with little troops might be easier for the attackers to build, but also easier for the defenders to fend off; the larger assault fleets costs more resources but will be more effective to capture a port.

 

When the defenders hampers the building of the assault fleet during the preparations phase it should not delay time, but it should for example not increase the size the assault fleet or even decrease it, destroying the efforts of the attackers to assemble the assault troops and sloops. Your suggested mechanics for PvP tokens would be great for that.

 

Where to assemble the assault fleets.

Assembling and assault fleet should be done from a staging point. I don't know what you devs have in mind, but it would be sensible to only be able to assemble so many troops from a larger settlement in order to sustain a standing group of people. I would use the regional capitals for that. If you have a regional capital that is where you can assemble you assault fleets for the region just to make sure people don't assemble the assault fleets from a safer point far behind the enemy lines and to create more focused points of finding PvP also. Limiting the range of the assault fleets by this all makes sense due to keeping the men provisioned and battle ready would mean a limit to their time at sea.

 

How to sail the assault fleets to their destinations.

Sailing an assault fleet should be done in game, in the open world. I understand it could be grieved to hell and back, but so it is with flags now also. The goal could be to hamper the size of the assault fleet before it arrived, hence increasing the odds of a good defense. Just make the sloops and smaller ships harder to hit due to size. A defenders screening fleet consisting just out of Pavels and Santisima's wouldn't even get close to the sloops.

 

More then one staging point

It could be considered that in the open world the smaller ports (so not the regional ports) could be used as smaller staging points and in the open world the assault forces could be combined, like would have been done in the Age of Sail. a Commander would pick up his forces at different ports before sailing towards his goal. This could make things interesting in a more strategic way.

 

Allright, sofar my ideas on it. Most important to stress out for me again is that you should not just build a mechanic, but also make it tangible, visible and usable ingame. There is nothing more frustrating for a lot of players to put a lot of effort into building something and not see it return visually in the game back again. Adding the actual sloops and troops to the port battle and see it succeed (or destroyed for that matter) would be extremely rewarding.

 

Good luck and I am looking forward to the implementations you suggested.

Edited June 14, 2016 by Lytse Pier

[Konali89]

I like what i see.

Like the guy above me pointed out, i have some concerns about the well known screening  fleets.

I think this pb system will work or fail depending on how the role of the screening fleets will be.

Because at first it will be fun , but if it is known that in 48 hours there will be a port battle, i would expect a massive screening fleet. 

 

this can be good and bad, i am just concerned and worried about it's role.

I fully believe that port battles should be unique and maybe it will work out fine in the end:)

 

Some questions/small ideas:

- When an assault fleet is ready/ finished and ready to be launched, will it be known for every nation?  Is it maybe an idea that it will sail on the OW but cannot be attacked but only spotted.

The sooner it gets spotted the more time defenders have to organise stuff. If the assault fleet does not gets spotted by a player on the open sea and it reaches its destination, maybe the defenders will get the intel 12 hours in advance of the PB.  I just like the idea we can spot the assault fleets and depending on that matter influence the announcement of an upcomming PB.

[Quineloe]

First of all, this reads as if defending in stage 1 cannot prevent the PB, just delay it. Sounds like a waste of time that way and people won't bother defending. Even if they can delay it "indefinitely as long as they active" that reads to me like an infinite grind treadmill, so you'd rather just have it complete and be done with it.

 

 

r

 

least populated nations will join alliances with strong nations

I'm not sure many players will be sailing to a distant port in alliance territory, especially when you actually have to sail your ship there due to no teleport to outpost anymore, to defend a port they don't even own. This is a happy theory, but in reality I think nations that can't field a full PB fleet will lose non-stop to nations that can.

No fake sport game alright, but what about a game where one nation holds all ports because it can field 20 at a time where every other nation can only field 5-10?

 

All the new stuff you've laid out can be good and I'll happily test it when it's there. I think the by far most important thing about a PB rework should be this:

Port battles should happen when the players are online to fight them. Port battles should be a means to PVP, not a means to paint the map your color. It should be a tool to bring large groups of players together to fight each other.This game is about ships shooting each other, after all. Not about painting a circle red or black or green. At the same time they should be a bit special. No more 10 port battles a day between just two nations, with 9 of them not even being battles but fake flags and undefended conquests.

 

I honestly think that timers + 1 day advance warning would be enough at this point, and remove the flag thing. Limit port battles in some way so the zerg doesn't win outright. I think that's all that is needed at this point.

Edited June 14, 2016 by Quineloe

[The Spud]

I like the proposed system, I have a suggestion for a nice addition in the PB mechanic.

 

I suppose this will be put in place when the diplomacy is in please, so also when each nation has a governement chosen by the biggest land owners of each nation.

Interesting would be that this governement would have a treasury, it be from a weekly tax, or a tax on combat gold, or only the tax created from sales. Maybe the % could be changed by the governement.

 

Each PB attack, the governement will have to dedicate a set amount of gold towards the creation of the assault fleet, this money will be used to pay the people who "sell" (instead of give) their goods for the good cause. Could be prices at a set % higher then the NPC prices, or even give the option to make them considerably higher to attract more players in selling goods to the fleet, and getting the fleet constructed faster.

 

This addition will make attacks more valuable, a nation will not be able to steamroll a nation if their treasury can not take it. The defenders should only need to show up with ships to defend and have no need to implement gold, although they could dedicate some gold towards possible defence upgrades (more towers, thicker walls, bigger cannon's, more cannons,...) that will also need goods to be brought in and those will have to be payed for in the same way as an assault fleet. But it shouldn't be a necesity for the defenders, 25 skilled captains with good ships should still stand a good chance to succeed in defending even without defence upgrades.

 

This will create situations where after a number of failed attacks that nation won't be able to launch another attack due to lack of money. This might create situations at a "frontline" where in turns one side launches several attacks, but is after several attempts forced to hold off attacking, giving the other side a chance to attack. This will make it hard for nations to launch attacks on several fronts, unless that nation is well prepared and has calculated exactly how much money it will need to be able to sustain an attack on multiple fronts before their money runs out. Bit like in real life

 

This will give the opportunity to smaller but usualy better organised nations, to partialy cripple a nation by fending of attack after attack, leaving them unable to attack for a couple of days.

The goods being used for the fleet will also influence the attacking nation,as less goods will make it to the crafters, maybe making them ask the governement to hold of attacks for a while.

[Enraged Ewok]

Port can be raided any time

Port can be captured only if assault fleet is built 

• To set up a port battle Nation must build an Assault Fleet
• Building an assault fleet requires weapons, troops, transports and supplies (any player can add them to the project)
• Once the project is fully supplied the construction starts
• It takes X days to complete the project
• Once the construction starts it will generate pvp quests for the Nation and Target Nation in the port zone, completing those quests can increase or decrease the speed of construction (or can be a hard requirement to complete)
• Nation can speed up the completion by bringing additional resources and PvP rewards
• Enemy nations can delay the completion by disrupting supplies, raiding by smuggling in the PvP rewards and by other means

 

I had several ideas to help flesh this out:

 

1. Assault Fleet Creation:

 

a) The port where the assault fleet is created is where the invasion force must be assembled and supplied. So for example, if I want to attack Portillo and I pay the gold to start the process at Baracoa, Baracoa is where the supplies for the fleet must be delivered to build the assault force. Since these shipments would have to travel at least partly on the OW, this would give defending players an opportunity for commerce raiding and the attacker the job of defending those shipments, with a clear idea of where the shipments are going to be travelling.

 

b ) In addition to transporting supplies (food, planks, canvas, cordage, cables, carriages, etc.), troops must be delivered from capitals or regional capitals to the launch port. This would require a new kind of crew (call them "Infantry" for example). A ship can carry for example at most 200 or 50% of its maximum crew as infantry, whichever is less, and would replace the marine complement while on board. When the conquest successfully begins, infantry can be embarked from the port for use in the PB (more on that below).

 

2. Port Battle Combat Instance

 

a) Each capture zone in the PB instance is tied to a fort and is close to shore. In order to capture a zone, ships with infantry embarked must sail into the capture zone and come to a stop. As the zone "caps" the infantry is disembarked from the ship and begins building an AI gun battery on the shore to shell the fort. The battery will only attack the fort linked to its zone until the fort itself is neutralized, then will begin firing at the nearest target. The AI battery can be destroyed by defender ships getting close and graping the infantry on shore or destroying the guns with ball. More ships in the zone will mean more guns in the battery to a certain maximum, and each zone will have a maximum number of infantry that can be disembarked. Number of guns can be linked to number of infantry disembarked. 

 

b ) Victory in PB for the attacker requires all defending forts to be destroyed/captured, with no requirement for enemy ship destruction. Victory for the defender requires a large BR ratio plus holding all the capture zones (zones are recaptured by killing all disembarked infantry/guns)

 

 

The aim of these suggestions is to give a designated "hot" zone for PVP through the preparation period and then to give a clear objective for both PB teams that revolves around conducting or preventing an amphibious assault on the port being attacked. 

 

EDIT: Removed smilies

Edited June 14, 2016 by Enraged Ewok

[CaptVonGunn]

Please make port defenses player controlled as an option. This could let more people get into the battles. 1 player for each set of up to 10 guns.. 1 per set of mortars ect.....

[Nalyd]

What I consider to be good ideas from the OP :

• To set up a port battle Nation must build an Assault Fleet
• Building an assault fleet requires weapons, troops, transports and supplies (any player can add them to the project)
• Once the project is fully supplied the construction starts
• It takes X days to complete the project
• Once the construction starts it will generate pvp quests for the Nation and Target Nation in the port zone
• Once the project is completed the port battle will start exactly 48 hours (2 days) after completion

Here are my suggestions/alternatives : 

 

Before the port battle

 

• The port battle will happen no matter what if the project is fully supplied and the construction starts.
• Accomplishing PVP quests as the attacker will earn you "Conquest points" that will fill an "Invasion bar".
• Accomplishing PVP quests as the defender will earn you "Defense points" that will drain the "Invasion bar".
• This "Invasion bar" will have an impact on the Port battle itself depending on how much the attackers/defenders managed to fill/drain it when the project is completed.

 

During the port battle

 

I'm going to consider that the port battles will work as followed in this thread : http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/13784-minor-port-battle-changes-next-patch/

 

• The "invasion bar" will have an impact on the defenses of the port and will determine the conditions of the towers/forts in presence. If the "invasion bar" is full, then the forts/towers will be extremely damaged ( or even destroyed) right at the start of the port battle lessening the advantage of the defenders. However, if the "invasion bar" is at 0, the defenses will be in top condition giving the defenders extra protections.

 

• The "invasion bar" will also have an impact on the victory conditions. If we consider that reaching 1000 victory points first is required to win the port battle for both side under normal conditions, this requirement might change and tilt in favor of the defenders or the attackers depending on how much the "invasion bar" got filled. If the bar is full, then the attackers might only need 500 victory points in order to capture the port while the defenders still need to reach 1000 to snatch a win. If the bar is at 0, then it's the opposite.

[Cecil Selous]

 

 

Port can be raided any time

Port can be captured only if assault fleet is built 

• To set up a port battle Nation must build an Assault Fleet
• Building an assault fleet requires weapons, troops, transports and supplies (any player can add them to the project)
• Once the project is fully supplied the construction starts
• It takes X days to complete the project
• Once the construction starts it will generate pvp quests for the Nation and Target Nation in the port zone, completing those quests can increase or decrease the speed of construction (or can be a hard requirement to complete)
• Nation can speed up the completion by bringing additional resources and PvP rewards
• Enemy nations can delay the completion by disrupting supplies, raiding by smuggling in the PvP rewards and by other means

Once the project is completed the port battle will start exactly 48 hours (2 days) after completion. 

 

Discuss and ask questions

 

At what time does the defending nation get the notification of an incoming port battle? At the start of collecting the materials or at the start of the construction? Like i read and understand it now, the defending nation can only interrupt the construction but not the gathering of materials.

 

I think that at the very begining, the defender should be notified about the port in which the fleet is about to be build but not about the intended target (spies will negate that but maybe the attacker could choose the final port at the beginning of the construction phase). From then there will be one pvp mission for the defender to disrupt enemy gathering of materials (or maybe more at other ports in the near vicinity). Everybody who engages enemy traders or ships in these zones get additional gold/xp. Maybe these zones could also count for the ttackers, so that everybody who protects a trader or sinks an enemy ship in these zones gets rewards (you need an incentive ).

 

After the material collection is done, the final target is determined. Now the defending nation knows the exact port to defend and can start to gather their defence fleet. New PVP missions for the attackers are created to try to prevent a good defense. I would call them simply blockades. Now this is maybe a bit far-fetched , but is it possible to let the game check in which ports in the greater vicinity (maybe 100 ingame miles) of the target, the defending nation has the most big ships, which could reinforce the defense? Around these ports the blockade PVP missions will spawn and hopefully encourage players to help their nation in the preparation of the port battle to prevent enemy reinforcements from sailing to the target port. Since we can't teleport our ships anymore, we must sail in the open world. ALso a port raid pvp mission at the main target could be added.

 

My main thought behind this is, that the attacker has the possibility to weaken a defense because I think that the long preparation time makes it very easy for the defenders to always gather a complete fleet plus the additional forts/port upgrades etc. To prevent an always full attack fleet youcould build in some machanics like others already suggested. A certain amount of material per day, a dertemined time to complete the gathering and construction to reach the highest possible BR etc etc.

 

This way every sailor of a nation can take part in the capture of a port and get rewards even if they aren't in the final PB.

My Imagination says that this would be a PVP paradies for both, attackers and defenders need to attack and defend the whole time (attacking nation need to defend own traders but also blockade the enemy, the defenders need to attacker traders and break the blockades) But maybe I am just dreaming

 

too complicated?

Edited June 16, 2016 by Cecil Selous

[randomtaskkk]

So this is my suggestion for port battles / flags.

 

It is grounded on the belief that the further you try to reach into enemy territory the more it should cost you and the more notice should be granted to the defender.

 

Point 1:

 

The further the port you want to capture is from your Nations front lines the more the flag costs.

 

For example, buying a flag to capture an enemy port immediately next to your front line might cost 250,000 gold.

The flag for the next enemy port (further into enemy territory) might cost 500,000.

The flag for the third enemy port might cost 1,000,000, etc.

 

Such a mechanism realistically represents the increasing cost of waging war further from your empire (think supply lines, sail time, crew wages, provisions etc.), and reduces the effectiveness of “steam rolling” through enemy ports, as it will cost you significantly more the further you go.

 

Of course, once you successfully capture the first enemy port, your Nations battle lines have extended, so what was the second port (which would of cost 500,000) is now the first port, and thus costs just 250,000.

 

Point 2:

 

Notification timers should be set to represent a “nation’s intelligence”. Think of all the small ships / fishing boats / outposts etc. dotted around a Nation which would warn of an impending attack by your enemy. Tying in with Point 1, the notification timers should be set depending on the distance from frontlines.

 

For example, the attacking nation buys a flag to capture the defenders most remote port (i.e. the one immediately adjacent to the attacker). The defenders get 30 minutes notice to prepare a defence.

 

If the attackers chose to buy a flag to attack the defenders next port (i.e. the second one from the attacker), the defenders get 60 minutes to prepare a defence. The third port might provide 120 minutes warning, etc.

 

Such a mechanism realistically represents the increased warning a Nation would have, generated by its citizens, of an enemy fleet sailing deeper into their territory. This will concentrate fighting on the front lines, and provide stability to a Nations core ports.

 

This should help with Nations losing huge swathes of their territory due to ninja attacks when the server population is low.

 

Point 3:

 

Sneak attacks should be possible, by decreasing the warning given to the defender. This would be achieved by paying more for the conquest flag.

 

For example, the attacking nation wants to capture the defenders second port. Point 1 and 2 implies this would cost 500,000 and the defender would be given 60 minutes notice.

 

The attacker however buys a “sneak attack flag” which costs double (1,000,000) but reduces the defenders notice to 30 minutes.

 

Such a mechanism realistically represents the additional expense of preparing a sneak attack, such as the planning, bribery, waiting for the opportune moment, chasing down witnesses, etc.

 

Point 4:

 

All of this could of course be supplemented by a "cooldown" on port re-capture. The 7 day suggestion currently circulating seems too long - maybe 2 days, in combination with these other points, would represent a good balance.

 

Example:

 

The attacker wants to capture three ports on their front line.

 

They opt to buy a normal flag for the first port – 250,000 gold and 30 minutes notice.

 

They also buy a “sneak attack” flag for the second port – 1,000,000 gold and 30 minutes notice.

 

They opt to buy a normal flag for the third port – 1,000,000 gold and 120 minutes notice.

 

Assuming they are successful at capturing ports 1, 2 and 3 then the following day, what would have been the defenders ports 4, 5, 6 are now reclassified as 1, 2, 3 and the process can begin again.

 

Of course the attacker could opt to also try and capture ports 4, 5, 6 on the first day, but the (exponentially?) increasing cost would bankrupt most players and the (exponentially?) increasing warning notice would give the defending nation time to mobilise their defence.

 

Conclusion:

 

I hope the point I am making is clear enough – the further you try to reach into enemy territory the more it will cost you and the more notice is granted to the defender. Of course the numbers are just suggestions and open to discussion.

 

Cpt. Ed - Great Britain.

[Paulus de Boskabouter]

I posted this last night in the other PB thread but this appears a better place for it.

 

 

   Port Battles...

 

          Should be a combination of BR and ship type limits...

              ie... Capitals    High BR to be determined BUT

                      no more then 3 1st Rates and 2 2nd rates total per side...   These ships should be RARE...  At Trafalgar when the 3 most power fleets in a world met there were only 7 1st rates and 4 2nd rates out of the total of 74 ships involved.

 

                      Normal Deep ports only 1 and 2 of each the rest 4th and 3rds

 

    Add in a Medium port(say the Shallows that all ships can actually dock at now) Where it is 2-3 4th rates and the rest are Frigate sized ships...

   Shallows as they were before you locked the ships smaller then a Brig out

 

 

       All Battles Open Water and Port also need some setup love...  in Port battles the 3 sections would be marked in battle at least to friendlies by a different flag so you can more easily track who is Squadron and who is not... Open world should have the same thing..  Allow Groups to sub divide in OW into Squadrons so that when battle starts they can move together... Remember in a naval battle you had lookouts and officers keeping track of these things.. the captain wasn't doing it all by himself.

 

       Just a few ideas... Thanks 

 

  

   Port Battles...

 

          Should be a combination of BR and ship type limits...

              ie... Capitals    High BR to be determined BUT

                      no more then 3 1st Rates and 2 2nd rates total per side...   These ships should be RARE...  At Trafalgar when the 3 most power fleets in a world met there were only 7 1st rates and 4 2nd rates out of the total of 74 ships involved.

 

                      Normal Deep ports only 1 and 2 of each the rest 4th and 3rds

 

    Add in a Medium port(say the Shallows that all ships can actually dock at now) Where it is 2-3 4th rates and the rest are Frigate sized ships...

   Shallows as they were before you locked the ships smaller then a Brig out

 

 

       All Battles Open Water and Port also need some setup love...  in Port battles the 3 sections would be marked in battle at least to friendlies by a different flag so you can more easily track who is Squadron and who is not... Open world should have the same thing..  Allow Groups to sub divide in OW into Squadrons so that when battle starts they can move together... Remember in a naval battle you had lookouts and officers keeping track of these things.. the captain wasn't doing it all by himself.

 

       Just a few ideas... Thanks 

I like this alot. for normal ports maximum of 25 ships: 2 - 1st rates, 3 - 2nd rates, 5 - 3rd rates, 7 - 4 rates and 8 - 5,6,7 rates (I dont really care much about these numbers could be change ofc.) But this concept I like alot! Really hope more people love to see this. Seeing port battles with only 2 types of ships all of the same rate is just a sad picture. 

[Bartas11]

Please check this, maybe its a part of an solution : http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/14754-proposal-for-regional-conquest-in-naval-action/

[Mrdoomed]

If this will get players to acually go into the open sea im for it. If if its just to collect points for assult. I mentioned this very thing months ago.

[KrakkenSmacken]

 

• Enemy nations can delay the completion by disrupting supplies, raiding by smuggling in the PvP rewards and by other means

 

 

Discuss and ask questions

 

A ) Will all nations be able to see the current progress?

 

(Would like to see a Yes answer)

 

B ) If so, will that take "smuggling" into the port that is producing the assault fleet to spy it out?

 

(Also would like to see a Yes)

 

C ) Will disruption potentially force the cancellation of an assault fleet, rather than simply delay it?

 

(Would like to see a Yes. It would be a great way to allow a nation back on it's heals to focus all efforts at stopping an invasion, even it that means having to build a counter assault and capture the host port prior to it's completion)

 

D ) Will the current build up of the port (Outposts, resource extraction points, shipyards) increase the cost of assembling an assault fleet against it to begin with.

 

(Would like to see a Yes.  This would also help weaker nations concentrate defensive strength and require hostile nations to spend more to engage them)

 

E ) If the above is yes, will assembling an assault fleet first require a certain amount of spying?

 

Again would like to see a Yes, and if D ) is also a yes I think the more buildings the more spying should be required.

 

F ) Will the assault fleet have a set ship composition, so that these fleets can't be 25 Sant's?

 

G ) Will your place (reservation in battle instance) for the assault fleet be a reflection of your individual contribution to the assault fleet, and not based on what guild/clan you are part of?

 

H ) Will the fleet have a waiting list, so that if for example the 25th guy just does not show up the 26th contributor can take his spot?

 

I think that's enough for now.

 

Cheers

Edited June 20, 2016 by KrakkenSmacken

[KrakkenSmacken]

 

 

Yes. Thats the point. Defenders can sabotage your assault fleet construction and delay the port battle for some time or indefinitely if they are active. 

 

I guess two more.

 

If the defenders are delaying, and the attackers trying to build, will the attackers have the option to SET the attack time AFTER the project is completed?

 

What I am getting at, is that I don't think it would be very good game play for there to be a mini "when will they launch" game that revolves around the exact moment the project completes.

 

 I think it would be much better for the team that builds the project to be given the ability to change the attack time by vote (contribution determining vote weight), during the first 24 hours after it is built, and then the attack launch wherever the vote put the attack between 24-48 from that time.

 

That would mean that the attack could happen anywhere from 48-72 hours after project completion, at the discretion of the building country.

 

Two

 

I would really like it if the construction phase also included labor hour requirements, of a suitable level, to actually BUILD the assault fleet and possibly defense fleet at the origin (defending) port.

 

So the assault fleet was in fact a major construction project, that included the construction of the ships destined for the battle.

 

So the "recipe" for crafting the fleet would include for example.

 

1 Santisima, 2 Victories, 5 St Pavels, 5 Bellonas, etc.

 

This would require the building of at least one outpost and shipyard of suitable size.

 

Players would be rated on contribution based on labor hours provided, not currency.  (Use the extraction cost in labor hours of raw source material.) 

 

In this way the offensive and defensive forces would be both interesting, of varied composition, and would be obligated to make room for all types of crafts.  No ships build for OW sand box play allowed, just those purpose built for the invasion, which could then be taken out into OW after the battle was over.

 

In my head I am seeing a fleet selection screen during the building process, where players are identifying which ship in the constructed fleet they will be captaining. With a way to different players to assume command should one of the assigned captains not be available.

 

If you have ever played League or Legends or other DoTA games, it would look a bit like the champion select phase of the game. 

 

Now if you don't want to go so far as to require defenders to build a new fleet, allow them to "donate" competed ships to the defense and assign them in the same kind of "champion select" window, subject to the same ship class/count limitations as the attackers.

Edited June 20, 2016 by KrakkenSmacken

[Diodo]

The Conquest meter system:

 

Each port has it's own conquest meter, showing in percentage the control over the port by navies divided per diplomatic alliances.

 

If you have a certain score on the meter you can initiate a classic port battle, but if you have it full you can take the port without resistance by means of land assault (as controlling the meter means controlling the sea region and thus land forces movements.

 

How do you gain score on the meter? You gain score by controlling the nearby waters, witch simply means doing things within a certain radius of the port (possibly gaining score for multiple ports at once).

• Naval presence: you can slowly gain score by simply being in the area, score is based on the ship BR.
• Winning battles: winning any battle gives a reasonably big chunk of score, based on the total BR of it. (from capturing a trader to a SOLs Trafalgarish fleet battle)

Defenders gain score in the same way, plus they have a small passive bonus (based on port's wealth if it will never be a thing).