Shut down port battles.

[Kloothommel]

This it seems is the only way of avoiding troll timers. 

 

Turn it off till the new iteration is in. 

This one has been tested to the brim. And its flaws and exploits discovered.

 

 

That's why I move to close down PB's till the august patch. No time zones will be hurt or excluded in this manner.

And we can have a good nights sleep and actually enjoy the summer instead of being stuck watching your ports.

[praefect]

Imho PB´s and the open world action around this are some of the few popular game modes naval action offers. A lot of people would be very disappointed if that would be canceled and we would lose server activity again. Instead we should try to keep up fair sportsmanship or just avoid own participation in that. Few more weeks and problems will be (hopefully) solved.

[Kloothommel]

Imho PB´s and the open world action around this are some of the few popular game modes naval action offers. A lot of people would be very disappointed if that would be canceled and we would lose server activity again. Instead we should try to keep up fair sportsmanship or just avoid own participation in that. Few more weeks and problems will be (hopefully) solved.

 

With multiple nations quitting PB's and doing fishing because the current mechanic and its flaws are diminishing enjoyment of the game? 

 

If it's only for a few weeks, then just turn it off. That way I don't feel compuled to log in every night to check if there isn't any exploit or flag abuse going on.

[Powderhorn]

If you're losing sleep and not enjoying the weather over what happens in Naval Action, you should consider taking a break until that patch comes.

[Kloothommel]

If you're losing sleep and not enjoying the weather over what happens in Naval Action, you should consider taking a break until that patch comes.

 

With the timers at 6 in the morning I lose sleep yes.

[Prater]

Spanish Timers on the Florida Coast are 6am Central Time.  I haven't lost sleep over them.

[dumpert]

Spanish Timers on the Florida Coast are 6am Central Time.  I haven't lost sleep over them.

 

thats basically cause ports dont matter at all. ports matter less with every new patch, actually.

[Kloothommel]

thats basically cause ports dont matter at all. ports matter less with every new patch, actually.

 

Then you wouldn't have any objections? Great

[dumpert]

Then you wouldn't have any objections? Great

 

not really.

 

and i used to think that pb is the best content in this game btw.

[Fastidius]

I still think people are missing the core issue that once you get to top rank there is nothing to do.  No reason to log in.   Ports have basically no value outside of the 6 you need to make your buildings.  There is no penis measuring system so it comes down to how to get good battles fast......Port battles don't work because people dontcare enough to sail the distances..  You cant queue for battles with any confidence and really only sailing to peoples capitals where you get short access to battles before there is a counter PVP fleet sitting around and you end up having to run away.

 

Turning on or off port battles wont help anything.  The reason we are having trouble in the game is because of open world design and lack of carrots.....i play less than ever now  as I have all the gear all the ships all the crafting.  once people max out there is no content.

 

The general masses need content to fill their time and then events like port battles can be a nice interruption to their grinds.   There is a reason why daily missions exist in other games......the problem is that the daily grinds need to have carrots and NA has no carrots.

 

Promote battles,  create fame,  create goals for top ranks and create difficulty that you can defeat through skill and ticking boxes.

 

I personally think that the last thing they should be doing is creating content like fishing, perks that are OP etc etc etc.    The boosts you get from gold mods is stupid.   Boarding is auto win on AI and the only concern is crew which is rebuild throughnon PVP methods vs detracting from the core of the game.

 

The idea is to have 75% of people logged in fighting each other and 25% supporting them via trade & crafting at all times.   you cant do that when the map is basically populated at capital cities and a couple of free ports.  Teleport to capital is a bad thing it should be teleport to nearest outpost as a quick end of night exit.   TP to capital merely makes people feel that the capital is home.  Currently the numbers are far closer to 800 logged in at a good time and less than 100 in battle.  This is not action and not healthy

 

The list of things that are in the game that make getting a battle harder is growing.  The direction the devs have taken with fishing, officers & such is probably not a bad thing but it is not implemented in any way that make it encouraging to do stuff.

 

Fishing in WOW for instance took you to different places to catch different things for different reasons.....ship wrecks were sort of meant to do that but at the moment its just another broken thing that they have to rework.

Edited July 19, 2016 by Fastidius

[Jeheil]

I think its you missing the point.

 

We fight for ports because we can...and we enjoy setting up...getting in and winning.

 

No sport/entertainment/past time survives total analysis. Football (any code) is just a bunch of folks running round a field. It is a social pastime. It offers nothing beyond entertainment (and the business that grows around it).

 

Port Battles are our entertainment. You don't like it (you used to...) then don't do it. If there is nothing to do in game then go play something else (there is a Zubat needing you somewhere).

 

I don't like fishing. I don't 'suggest' it be turned off.

 

The game is a work in progress, Port Battles and their timers are the current WIP implementation. It is on the roadmap for a total revamp.

 

Yesterday ~ 400 players took part in port battles. Why turn them off ?!?!?!

[Fastidius]

I think its you missing the point.

 

We fight for ports because we can...and we enjoy setting up...getting in and winning.

 

No sport/entertainment/past time survives total analysis. Football (any code) is just a bunch of folks running round a field. It is a social pastime. It offers nothing beyond entertainment (and the business that grows around it).

 

Port Battles are our entertainment. You don't like it (you used to...) then don't do it. If there is nothing to do in game then go play something else (there is a Zubat needing you somewhere).

 

I don't like fishing. I don't 'suggest' it be turned off.

 

The game is a work in progress, Port Battles and their timers are the current WIP implementation. It is on the roadmap for a total revamp.

 

Yesterday ~ 400 players took part in port battles. Why turn them off ?!?!?!

 

But the issue is you can't fight port battles.....the timers are being set against you.  you take ports and we dont fight back.  we pull flags you cant defend.

 

 

I still like port battles i just find it hard to get a population to do anything that is contested.  If there was a way to keep my players logging in then we would contest but when you are faced with the inability to do PVP and AI until a flag is pulled then it is a problem.

 

If we do an AI fleet while waiting in our defence timers we cant get out to get to the PBs fast enough.  If we try to PVP people hide in port because theyare not ready.  I cannot hold the interest of players to have them sail around doing nothing in case a flag is pulled.    You didn't pull any flags last night we took a port uncontested.   That isn't fun.

 

Port battles dont work in the current format because there are no players to play them.   pre 3rd rate cap nerfing there were players because the grind was longer and people felt they had to go chase AI fleets in the local vicinity.   Population is low because there is nothing to do other than wait for a PB in their eyes and they don't get the combat when they do it themselves.

 

I enjoy a battle, I enjoy slowly achieving a goal......i have none atm as last night showed me again.  I'll log in again tonight and i expect there will be a port battle or two to get to but will i have the players to fight it.....based on the enjoyment last night gave them....unlikely.  this is the issue not the PB being on or off.    how many of those port battles were even remotely contested fights.

 

I fear if you actually got a poll of those people who actually played the PB how many of them felt it was a contest you would find very little of them.   It isnt resources it is manpower available to make the current mechanics work.  the recent changes make it harder to get to a battle not easier.  

 

The current meta is take a port set it to somewhere your neighbors cant fight .... that sucks, devs can stop it by making timers locked which would help.....turning them off is not addressing anything

 

I am pretty much on the same page as you but i blame the devs for bad decisions and lack of focus on enabling battles and enjoyable play and focusing on features that are detrimental to the game at this stage.  You seem to be looking at the glass half full side of things which is admirable but when something is a work in progress i expect work to be done on things that need to progress to create active play not features detracting from it.

 

Surely there are people who see a test server before it goes to PVP1......if so they are very bad at it.

Edited July 19, 2016 by Fastidius

[Chimera]

I just checked it out to understand what the fuss is about. You guys are seriously still bitching about two (in numbers 2) British ports on Haiti set to 4-6?

At least one of them captured bro KIN (a British clan with a large US player base) that was defended yesterday when attacked.

Yesterday night Spain, France and the Pirates where able to buy flags for misteriosa, st.nicholas, and tiburon at the same time with st anne and jermie open as well. And you want to tell me you can't play because les cause and saint Louis are set to 4-6?

Are you sure that's your position on Haiti?

[Prater]

No reason to log in once you get top rank?  What is different from being top rank from the 1st rank?  If there's no reason to log in at the top rank when every ship is available to you, there's no reason to log in from the first rank.  What's the game about?  Ranks?  Level?  The developers aren't making a game to hold people's hands while they go through some phony progression.  If all you are doing is playing to get to the max level, you are playing for the wrong reasons.  Save yourself the time and find a different game instead of sinking a thousand or two hours into Naval Action just to get to "top rank."

 

 

 

TP to capital merely makes people feel that the capital is home. 

 

I haven't been to my capital in 7 months.  Heck, I can't remember the last time that I was actually on the historical US coast of this time period (Georgia and up).  There's no reason to go there and people who actually buy from the store there are paying way too much for their resources.

 

And yes, ports do mean something.  Yes, not like they should, but try doing economy when you have access to only 1-2 ports.

[Jeheil]

"But the issue is you can't fight port battles.....the timers are being set against you.  you take ports and we dont fight back.  we pull flags you cant defend"

 

Last night the Spanish pulled flags against us and rocked up with 6 or so 3rds n 2nds, we ran out with equal numbers of 4ths (and a Pavel), had an absolute ball. Our guys co-ordinated, we capped 2 sank one, the other 3 ran....we then caught them and capped them too. It was brilliant (now on another day, those same Spanish players would give us a good shellacking).

 

Now its 6-12 versus 6-12 players over there in our timeslot. But it has been great fun. I am almost friends with the likes of Skully, GreenT etc who come over every night for a bit of biff.

 

It is FUN. I have FUN. The other guys I sail with have FUN. I am assuming Skully n co. have fun (or at least feed their sado-masachistic tendencies !!).

 

In 6-10 weeks, we will have a whole set of new mechanics to play with, until then WHY shut it down.

 

Almost all you talk about is on a roadmap. There is a future implementation coming. If you can't wait...go play something else.

 

I regret more the fact I can't play in the Euro timezone because of LIFE !! (kids, wife, job, mortgage) I don't blame the game for that.....I know its a placeholder, lets see where she goes....and stop all the QQ about current placeholder mechanics.

Edited July 19, 2016 by Jeheil

[Kloothommel]

I just checked it out to understand what the fuss is about. You guys are seriously still bitching about two (in numbers 2) British ports on Haiti set to 4-6?

At least one of them captured bro KIN (a British clan with a large US player base) that was defended yesterday when attacked.

Yesterday night Spain, France and the Pirates where able to buy flags for misteriosa, st.nicholas, and tiburon at the same time with st anne and jermie open as well. And you want to tell me you can't play because les cause and saint Louis are set to 4-6?

Are you sure that's your position on Haiti?

I've always only seen these timers on Haiti. It's just very demotivating that it happens every single time. And that the Dutch joined them this time is even worse.

 

And Jeheil: If there were actual battles I would agree. But they are emty every time.

 

And why whine about those ports: Wouldn't you want to make a sort of front?

[ajffighter86]

In the USA our employers are getting suspicious of us developing a 2PM "stomach ache" every day to leave work early and racing home participate in port battles. We had to set at least a few port timers to our time zones.

Edited July 19, 2016 by ajffighter86

[Powderhorn]

A true player would go the extra mile and lick a bathroom floor to make sure they ARE able to get off work for a port battle...

[Jeheil]

I've always only seen these timers on Haiti. It's just very demotivating that it happens every single time. And that the Dutch joined them this time is even worse.

 

And Jeheil: If there were actual battles I would agree. But they are emty every time.

 

And why whine about those ports: Wouldn't you want to make a sort of front?

 

We defended Ruatan 6 consecutive nights.

 

We held Belize 2 nights on the boink.

 

We took Tulum (defended)

 

2 nights ago we defended Tulum.

 

There is almost NEVER an empty port...sometimes you can't get in coz them pesky pirates screen (their own ports) to let the Spanish in....but I have not had a night in 3 weeks over in the west without sinking a baddy or being sunk.

 

So I have no idea what you are talking about TBH.

 

Now our numbers are low, it tends to be 10-15 brits versus 8-12 spanish + 4-6 Pirates.

 

It is heading for mutually assured stalemate however, as the pirates are pulling out, the main clan AUSFC have told us they don't care for ports anymore (despite pulling 6 flags last night) and the Spanish set all the timers to 6am for us. If we win them back we set them back to Aussie Prime Time (which is undoubtadly some horrid hour for them).

 

However, it is enormous fun. I will be up again this weekend or next at daft o'clock trying to winkle another port off the Dons.

 

And in only a few weeks from now we have all the changes in port battles, no flags...no timers...

 

I am very interested to see however, when you 'agitate' a port into hostility...how/when does it open for taking ?!?!

[Kloothommel]

The ports I am talking about were and are the ports on southern haiti. 4-6 server time.

Brit diplos have been swearing up and down they are defended by aussies for months. And still we have had a defense on maybe 4 occasions since we started to continue retake them since februari/march.

Edited July 20, 2016 by Kloothommel