Hotfix 9.95 - Social perk and other important changes

[Isink A Lot]

Experimental hot fix deployed today

 

1) Instance loading systems rework. Players will experience a lot less crashes on instance start.

2) Special event changes deployed - more information here: http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/16206-test-event-changes/

3) Regional changes implemented for vessels as an experiment that will spread to other high ranked vessels

• Victory - requires british national good to construct
• Santisima - requires spanish national goods to construct
• Ocean - requires french national goods to construct
• When introduced - Christian first rate will require Danish/Swedish national goods to construct
• When introduced - Dutch first rate will require Dutch national resources
• Second rates are under consideration

 

 

Noticed there is no US ship listed here. When and, not if, this happens what ship are we going to use? Now I do like the idea, if and only if every nations has there own ship to produce, but until that time this had to be the dumbest idea you all have come up with, really? I would also say do this with 2nd rates as well or even 3rd's, but what are you going to do with the Pavel and the generic 3rd? Add a Russian region? Hey maybe that not so hidden Island should be all Russian! haha. <--- See I can act like I am drunk on vodka also!

 

So to me it looks like you need 4 new 1st rates (US, Sweden, Dutch, Danes) and 6 new 2nd rates (US, Sweden, Dutch, Danes, Brits, Spain, a Pavel for everyone!) and 6 new 3rd rates (US, Sweden, Dutch, Danes, French, Spain, a 3rd rate for everyone!) molded asap! Get to working 3D dudes, I expect them in a month or two with this new "feature" HAHAHAHA! How about a vote for these ships like the players ship polls you have already done?

 

Pro tip, if you make a change with only half the needed stuff in it that change will fail, period. Don't do this ever, makes it look like you all have no idea what your doing. 

[Sven Silberbart]

Social Perk .. RIP. I hope this will never come back

Edited September 1, 2016 by Sven Silberbart

[Rabid_Infidel]

Its because these so called " friends" are all just sitting in port doing nothing while they wait for the call of an enemy attack so they can all gangbang someone actually playing.

These players will never admit thats what they do and instead hide behind stolen Valor and false claims if wanting to aid thier friends.

It is funny how it's your way or no way at all. So full of yourself aren't you?

 

In your warped mind ALL are just waiting in their ports (playing "farmville) waiting to ruin a honest gankers day! 

Get a hold of yourself! There is not plenty to do in this game but ppl are doing something, sailing to and from somewhere for whatever reason. 

Being able to help a ganked nation player close in your home turf that is riddled with friendly shiping is a good and realistic mechanic. 

Sure 30 mins may be over the top and should have been nerfed but outright removed it's a big flop on dev's account. 

 

Oh and that cool but fictional stories about "honest gankers" only about finding a balanced PVP.... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAH, MUHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA

BWAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHA. LOL. What game are you playing buddy (it sure ain't the same i am)? 

 

So you poor soul had to suffer two whole weeks of risky ganking...OH DEAR. 

 

Look, i'm not against ganking. This is OW pvp game and one should accept you can't be 100% secure when sailing along. What i am against is this foolish and stupid mechanic where one can be ganked in front of a town and nobody can come to his aid even in very densely populated waters. What i seek is a balance, a compromise! A mechanic that seeks to leverage our different playstyles 

and wants out of this game. You love ganking ppl i get that but your fun comes at a cost of somebody's misfortune and in your arrogant stance you are unable or unwilling to accept that this game is not only your's playing ground but OUR's! 

 

Many of pro social perk have presented good arguments why it's a good perk and why in some form should have a place in this game. Only side that has failed in presenting coherent and logical argument is ganker side as most of their argument is: NOW THEY HAVE A CHANCE! NERF REMOVE NERF REMOVE!! 

[Mrdoomed]

It is funny how it's your way or no way at all. So full of yourself aren't you?

In your warped mind ALL are just waiting in their ports (playing "farmville) waiting to ruin a honest gankers day!

Get a hold of yourself! There is not plenty to do in this game but ppl are doing something, sailing to and from somewhere for whatever reason.

Being able to help a ganked nation player close in your home turf that is riddled with friendly shiping is a good and realistic mechanic.

Sure 30 mins may be over the top and should have been nerfed but outright removed it's a big flop on dev's account.

Oh and that cool but fictional stories about "honest gankers" only about finding a balanced PVP.... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAH, MUHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA

BWAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAHAHAHA. LOL. What game are you playing buddy (it sure ain't the same i am)?

So you poor soul had to suffer two whole weeks of risky ganking...OH DEAR.

Look, i'm not against ganking. This is OW pvp game and one should accept you can't be 100% secure when sailing along. What i am against is this foolish and stupid mechanic where one can be ganked in front of a town and nobody can come to his aid even in very densely populated waters. What i seek is a balance, a compromise! A mechanic that seeks to leverage our different playstyles

and wants out of this game. You love ganking ppl i get that but your fun comes at a cost of somebody's misfortune and in your arrogant stance you are unable or unwilling to accept that this game is not only your's playing ground but OUR's!

Many of pro social perk have presented good arguments why it's a good perk and why in some form should have a place in this game. Only side that has failed in presenting coherent and logical argument is ganker side as most of their argument is: NOW THEY HAVE A CHANCE! NERF REMOVE NERF REMOVE!!

Shows how little you know. I play alone. Never used the social perk but wad its victom every day since it was introduced. And again show me in your wisdom how all you brave warriors in populated waters cant aid your friends when us pirates do it 24 7 .

Again im calling you out. Sorry if the truth hurts port jocky.

Edited September 1, 2016 by Mrdoomed

[Rabid_Infidel]

Shows how little you know. I play alone. Never used the social perk but wad its victom every day since it was introduced. And again show me in your wisdom how all you brave warriors in populated waters cant aid your friends when us pirates do it 24 7 .

Again im calling you out. Sorry if the truth hurts port jocky.

You are not calling out nobody but only blowing holes in your own argument and reasoning. Only thing you are achieving here is looking stupidly arrogant without a basis in reality. 

 

"And again show me in your wisdom how all you brave warriors in populated waters cant aid your friends when us pirates do it 24 7"

If you were UNAFFECTED by sociable perk then why are you all up in arms against it? Logic right?

 

I will repeat myself (in spite of a saying "don't throw pearls in front of swines") 

I concur that sociable perk 30 mins was way too much! However if it was brought down somewhere in the 5-6-7 minutes span it would provide a chance for a close friendly ship to arrive but it would 

not be enough to pull "port jockeys" (your term not mine) into the battle.  

Edited September 1, 2016 by Rabid_Infidel

[EL LOCO]

well..I just got ganked by 5 vs 1 outside of my capital and lost..no one could help.       Social perk was good.  Only used for defense in friendly waters.  Why get rid of it?   

 

Not we are all getting ganked  and mad.     Stupid. 

[PIerrick de Badas]

Economy has really to be reviewed and have to be deeply remade not with few national ressources

[Kanay]

If you utilize the European Trader mechanic, then the number of ports producing that national resource and the amount that they produce will be irrelevant, so long as the nation has at least one such port.  You could use the European trader functionality to purchase an unlimited supply, albeit it will be at a much higher cost.  And you could still use the smuggler flag to obtain the specific resource at a different nation's port.

Indeed, i posted about it early in the thread here but then look at Admin answer just below, it won't remain like this eternally ^^

 

After the patch my clan took a look at this and did a quick run and we collected well over 10K of Tea and Meat for the 1st rates.  It's not hard to get these items so folks stop complaining.  I mean most of the ports that now produce them produce them in the thousands.  So there won't be some secerate shortage unless we the players make the.  Looks like Pirates won't have an issue making any 1st rates for now.  Though I was expecting something like this and don't mind the change one bit. I kinda think 1st rates are used way to much as is now a days.

 

 

And for the 3rd time tell me how all you brave warriors in these population zones cant help each other in 2 minutes when the pirates do it all day? Funny how you wont answere it. Here ill answer for you. You are a port jocky.

Im not gonna argue with you when im cleary right because i see THE PIRATES DO IT ALL DAY and i know who needs the extra time to like 7 or 8 or 30 minute perk. Port jockies playing Farmville.

Spend moretime sailing in your waters and less time on theforums begging for ganking help.

Cheers mate !

Are you both guys playing on pvp1 or pvp2 ? Because it matters ... i don't know how you pulled out 10K of Iberian meat in PVP1 where Spain have currently only 4 regional capitals and got away easily from there as smugglers, as for the pirates impossible to be ganked the question is the same ... The situations from one server to another aren't exactly the same ...

 

Edit : 

Ganking impossible in pirate waters ... Apparently not for all 

http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/16225-gunboat-captures-indiaman/

It's a fun gunboat fleet, had been the same with a full speedy 5th or 4th rates...

 

 

@Admin could we have a setting in our forum profile where we could select the server we play on that will be displayed somewhere under our avatars please ? 

 

 

well..I just got ganked by 5 vs 1 outside of my capital and lost..no one could help.       Social perk was good.  Only used for defense in friendly waters.  Why get rid of it?   

 

Not we are all getting ganked  and mad.     Stupid. 

I remember our screening fleet coming some days ago to Baja, fight started with the odds a bit in your favor, we had a little chance as Spain had bigger ships but a good fight was possible and maybe we had a chance if lucky, and we were quickly outnumbered 9vs18 because of social perk, it was expected in this area of the map, nobody complaining about it, i still think it was a great thing for the defending team, something that should be the norm in the game to reflect territorial domination.

[Saint George]

Too bad that they got rid of the Social Perk. It was good solution to the ganking problem like that experienced by new US players around Cton, from cowardly pirates preying on them from Sunbury. Some of the usual Pirate suspects were beginning to get their butt's kicked by groups lower ranked players, because the Social Perk allowed them to come to each others aid in larger numbers.

 

Perhaps to prevent the ganking of "noobs" by the PVP bully types, the Social Perk could only be employed by those who have not yet attained a certain rank. Perhaps, anyone who is the equivalent of Lt Commandant and below.

[Saint George]

"In the future exceptional ships will be rare. First rate ships will be rare and hard to build"

 

Sounds like the beginnings of a move toward "micro-transactions" to get "gold" or "notes" or something like it, in exchange for real money, so you can make them.

 

I agree there are far more First Rates than is historically realistic, and thus therefore should be limited in number in game by some means. But warships in general were considered "exceptional" builds, as considerably more attention was given to their quality than the average trader of the time.

[Rabid_Infidel]

Too bad that they got rid of the Social Perk. It was good solution to the ganking problem like that experienced by new US players around Cton, from cowardly pirates preying on them from Sunbury. Some of the usual Pirate suspects were beginning to get their butt's kicked by groups lower ranked players, because the Social Perk allowed them to come to each others aid in larger numbers.

 

Perhaps to prevent the ganking of "noobs" by the PVP bully types, the Social Perk could only be employed by those who have not yet attained a certain rank. Perhaps, anyone who is the equivalent of Lt Commandant and below.

I am interested to see what will be that new BR battle mechanic that should equalize the ganking issue mentioned by some players. 

God knows when it will be implemented and until then sociable perk was a good stop-gap solution. With little tweaking and modifying said perk i believe it could make all players 

at least content in not happy with it. Outright removal shortly after implementation was a wrong call. I don't really understand this "black or white" attitude in this game. 

Is it so hard to achieve some sort of a balance between game mechanics that it does not heavily favour only one part of players?

 

I would not be all that surprised that fleets were to be taken out soon as well seen as how the ganker comunity has reacted to it in outright rage and anger coupled with their reaction to sociable. 

Myself i do not use fleet in other than a extra garage slot for my ships (and i see little player usage outside traders) but i understand why somebody would be prone to keep it and do not 

see a good argument as to why should be taken out. 

 

Popular ganker argument against it is:    1. AI is bad and it will not save you if ganked anyway.. Yeah, well then where's the problem?

                                                                 2.AI is bad in a pvp fight. It is yes. That's why very little fighting captains use it (myself included) So where's the problem?

                                                                 3.AI fleet can create BR rating invunrability bubble. Ok, remove BR ratings from players fleet ships. Problem solved. 

[Rabid_Infidel]

"In the future exceptional ships will be rare. First rate ships will be rare and hard to build"

 

Sounds like the beginnings of a move toward "micro-transactions" to get "gold" or "notes" or something like it, in exchange for real money, so you can make them.

 

I agree there are far more First Rates than is historically realistic, and thus therefore should be limited in number in game by some means. But warships in general were considered "exceptional" builds, as considerably more attention was given to their quality than the average trader of the time.

Nah, this would be straight pay to win so i strongly believe this is not the plan.

Further future monetization mentioned by devs was in form if customization (paints, non combat stuff) or in prem ships that would not be better then crafted but special in looks i guess. 

Probably somewhat similar to WOT or WOWS with prem vehicles. They are not better then researched ones but bring a extra profit and xp.. Who know's...

 

1st rated to be scarce is probs a good idea and i see some merits of it. it's realistic as they only were involved in major naval battles and campaigns, and it's boring to look at only 1st rate fleet with little to none diversity. It could be a double edged sword as a scarcity means a great loss if sunk therefore a certain reluctance, anger and rage when ship is lost. Clans may die because this. 

On the other hand it can bring more excitement, material and warfare capability loss if one nation would suffer a major 1st rate defeat making a noticeable dent in OW conquest making the whole

ordeal more meaningful and strategic/tactical in the end. It could work very well with the conquest patch.

 

This will be tested mechanics and if it brings more bad than good we may stand a chance to petition for a better mechanics later down the line.  

[Enraged Ewok]

1. AI is bad and it will not save you if ganked anyway.. Yeah, well then where's the problem?                                                                 

 

Because it also kills historical piracy and trader raiding, which funny enough is what nationals have been saying pirates should have been doing all along.

 

 

2.AI is bad in a pvp fight. It is yes. That's why very little fighting captains use it (myself included) So where's the problem?

 

Because few PVP fights have willing combatants on both sides. Most players only want PVP when they think they have a very good chance of winning. Hence AI being used as a buffer for lack of player skill.

 

 

 3.AI fleet can create BR rating invunrability bubble. Ok, remove BR ratings from players fleet ships. Problem solved. 

 

This would go a long way towards solving problems with the more absurd fleets people have seen.

 

 

And unrelated to the above quotes, but I feel like ranting and its relevant to the thread. The urge builds up every time I see nonsense like "national waters" and "how can I help a friend in distress" used to justify the existence of the Social perk.

 

National waters mean exactly nothing in the age of sail. Privateers and navy vessels alike raided shipping in the Irish Sea, the English Channel, the coast of Europe and the United States, throughout the timeframe the game is set in. This was a lucrative venture where the raiders would often take 5-20 ships each cruise. Few of these were ever caught in the act. Privateers and raiders were almost exclusively captured or sunk only when they had the misfortune to run across a navy vessel at sea, or were taken in a cutting out expedition. Calling for help in national chat did not exist, and neither did OW time and speed compression. For those reasons, and because it killed commerce raiding, the Social perk was terrible and its a good thing its gone.

 

Helping a friend in distress in the age of sail required you to be sailing in company with him. Teleporting from across the map and sailing 1/2 of the way around Hispaniola and still making it to the battle in order to play the hero and save your friend from the evil raider is wrong from a historical perspective, and wrong from a gameplay perspective.

 

"Fight what you see" should be the rule in OW engagements, because unless somebody was within visual range of you in the age of sail (and even if they could see you, unless they could see more than your mast tops they'd have no idea you were in trouble) the battle would be over before they reached you anyways. You want to make sure a friend reaches a place safely in waters known to have raiders or hostile fleets? Sail with him. Don't diddle your thumbs extracting your tobacco while waiting for the call. The Social perk promoted incredible laziness in this aspect, because it removed any need for friends or even your hated gank fleets to sail together. It's OK, you can get to him in time even if he got jumped at Plymouth and you're at Ile-a-Vache. For gank fleets, one man tags a guy and keeps him tagged for the rest of the fleet sailing outside visual range to pile in and sink him.

 

And now I wait for angry replies from those that think Social did anything other help gankers simply because they got to play the hero after arriving 20 minutes late in a friend's battle once in the past 2 weeks.

[Random]

Because it also kills historical piracy and trader raiding, which funny enough is what nationals have been saying pirates should have been doing all along.

 

 

Because few PVP fights have willing combatants on both sides. Most players only want PVP when they think they have a very good chance of winning. Hence AI being used as a buffer for lack of player skill.

 

 

This would go a long way towards solving problems with the more absurd fleets people have seen.

 

 

And now I wait for angry replies from those that think Social did anything other help gankers simply because they got to play the hero after arriving 20 minutes late in a friend's battle once in the past 2 weeks.

I doubt that historical piracy completely excluded traders protected by a couple of ships. I am talking about smaller vessels here and I fully support your argument against some of the craziest fleets out there. I like to take a Rattle and occasionally a Surprise to escort my LGV on my supply runs. I do so simply for the sake of convenience as I might not have a lot of time to spend chasing off an occasional Rattle that might tag my solo LGV. This little fleet creates a certain deterrence while I assume the risk of losing all 3 ships and crew if I am attacked by a group of hunters. I do not believe it to be unrealistic or detrimental to gameplay of anyone. A lone hunter should keep looking for other targets and a group of hunters can now have more fun a bit more of a fight when they attack. I do not support escorts for war ships smaller than a 3rd rate and I do believe that fleet ships have to be of a lesser rank than the main one.

 

Social perk did need reworking, but it is needed in some form of a compromise. The battles that we have in game are not happening in the open world, so the case where I already had a friend coming to meet me and I get attacked do not fully reflect the situation that you've described. If such battles happened in the OW, I could keep my course towards my friend and eventually lead the attacker to him. In a closed battle instance it is not possible and I simply disappear from the sea for a period of time. That in itself is already a compromise of gameplay and realism and some form of similar compromise is needed with the "social perk/battle timers" issue.

[Kanay]

It's funny to see that something useful like social perk was disabled while something completely broken like the coward perk allowing those same guys picking easy targets to escape in a blink if chased is not removed already ... 

 

Like i said earlier attackers get all advantages, they pick fights they want vs targets they are sure to win against, meanwhile those same attackers can do a def tag, use coward perk and escape a battle in a blink without even being in guns range most of the times and avoid a fight when they want then hide in end result screen, defenders get a middle finger ... 

 

@Enraged Ewok: arriving 20 minutes after that battle started had no effect at all, players will be so far away that you will be useless, it was good if you made it into the first minutes , entering even 10 minutes later you had been a spectator all the time, unless it was a turning fight which is rarely what happens when few guys jump on a lone player ...

[cmdrbobcito]

Because it also kills historical piracy and trader raiding, which funny enough is what nationals have been saying pirates should have been doing all along.

 

 

 

Because few PVP fights have willing combatants on both sides. Most players only want PVP when they think they have a very good chance of winning. Hence AI being used as a buffer for lack of player skill.

 

 

 

This would go a long way towards solving problems with the more absurd fleets people have seen.

 

 

And unrelated to the above quotes, but I feel like ranting and its relevant to the thread. The urge builds up every time I see nonsense like "national waters" and "how can I help a friend in distress" used to justify the existence of the Social perk.

 

National waters mean exactly nothing in the age of sail. Privateers and navy vessels alike raided shipping in the Irish Sea, the English Channel, the coast of Europe and the United States, throughout the timeframe the game is set in. This was a lucrative venture where the raiders would often take 5-20 ships each cruise. Few of these were ever caught in the act. Privateers and raiders were almost exclusively captured or sunk only when they had the misfortune to run across a navy vessel at sea, or were taken in a cutting out expedition. Calling for help in national chat did not exist, and neither did OW time and speed compression. For those reasons, and because it killed commerce raiding, the Social perk was terrible and its a good thing its gone.

 

Helping a friend in distress in the age of sail required you to be sailing in company with him. Teleporting from across the map and sailing 1/2 of the way around Hispaniola and still making it to the battle in order to play the hero and save your friend from the evil raider is wrong from a historical perspective, and wrong from a gameplay perspective.

 

"Fight what you see" should be the rule in OW engagements, because unless somebody was within visual range of you in the age of sail (and even if they could see you, unless they could see more than your mast tops they'd have no idea you were in trouble) the battle would be over before they reached you anyways. You want to make sure a friend reaches a place safely in waters known to have raiders or hostile fleets? Sail with him. Don't diddle your thumbs extracting your tobacco while waiting for the call. The Social perk promoted incredible laziness in this aspect, because it removed any need for friends or even your hated gank fleets to sail together. It's OK, you can get to him in time even if he got jumped at Plymouth and you're at Ile-a-Vache. For gank fleets, one man tags a guy and keeps him tagged for the rest of the fleet sailing outside visual range to pile in and sink him.

 

And now I wait for angry replies from those that think Social did anything other help gankers simply because they got to play the hero after arriving 20 minutes late in a friend's battle once in the past 2 weeks.

 

 

Ewok Dude, I don't disagree with much of what you write, but let me take it a step further...historically.  (I apologize for straying a bit from subject.)

 

Let's do away with TS and chat, directly linked to OW and battle instance.  Use prior planning to coordinate multi-ship actions and use only "insight" messaging for real time communication.   Chat and TS all you like in port in real time.  Once you "sail" all chat/ is delayed (for five minutes, for example) and TS is not available at all.

 

This for me (and I may be alone in this) would be an easy way to reduce ganking, induce more planning and coordination for those who need ganking and allow more people to enjoy the natural beauty of the game.

[Destraex]

I would love to see the social perk back, I think most players both enjoyed it and wanted it in, unfortunately  the forums don't represent the bulk of players. This was the best thing  you did to promote PvP.

 

Please do not balance ships, I suspect the L'Ocean has already been balanced as it was renowned for its speed and handling yet the in game implementation turns like a pig and is relatively slow especially at any angle above 90 degrees to the wind.  It does have a nice broadside though.

 

The regional restrictions are not a great idea as they will cause the gamer types to demand the ships be balanced which is anathema to anyone with the slightest historical interest in the period. I've seen someone suggest that only the US could use liveoak or those who owned the appropriate ports, reality is live oak was grown all over the place.

I actually really like that each nation will have a predominating national 1st rate that is easy to build in their waters but can be built with more effort in other waters.

But I agree if they were to make all the national first rates exactly the same so no nation has an advantage I would be dead dead against it!!! 

The santissima may as well be a victory and the L'Ocean just substituted for a victory model as well. But hopefully that will not happen because of crew limits and running costs etc. 

 

We were actually just about to do some size tests on the L'Ocean model because the victory looks huge next to it. I hope the measurements are correct and it has not been scaled down for this nation balance you suggest Bulwyf..

[Destraex]

I agree with national ships being the property of that nation. E.g., the Victory being British only. That should go all the way down the line from 1st Rates to 7th Rates. (It would mean that one of my favourite vessels, the Constitution, would be unavailable to me as a British Royal Navy captain.)

1. This means that every nation needs to have its own national ships of every Rate available for construction or purchase. For example, a Constitution can only be constructed by the USA, but a similar model of 4th Rate ship needs to be available to each nation. It may not be exactly the same, like the Ingermanland is not, but could be an adequate replacement for certain nations. Other ships might be only copy-and-paste and with a changed name. E.g., There was a French 32-gun frigate Hermione (1779), a British 32-gun frigate Hermione (1782) as well, which became the Spanish Santa Cecilia. Here you have 3 possibilities in one ship model.

2. Historically ships were captured and pressed into service by the capturing nation. So, when you've captured the French L' Ocean or Bucentaure, or any other vessel, you can repair and outfit it by a price in gold, as is now the case, and press it into service for your nation.

Lannes perhaps Hermione was a bad example as they are indeed very different models both in game and in real life.

Personally I think that idea defeats the purpose of having national specific models that you will travel to see or fight against.

[Teutonic]

we have reconsidered the position. the change was given too early. 

we will hot fix this tomorrow

Only newly ships (like Le Ocean) will require national resources until the regions are deployed and trade routes change. Before that - this change is sort of unfair to 3 nations and unfortunately due to programming issues we cannot add the the required resource to them easily.

 

But prepare..

In the future (after regions are deployed). Exceptional ships will be rare, first rates will be rare and hard to build. Many vessels will require you to conduct economic warfare to be able to build them. 

 

Good to hear. again. I'M ALL FOR 1st rates being rare and requiring nation specific resources. but until each nation has their own first rate, it's a real disadvantage to those nations who don't have a 1st rate.

[pugtm]

you have not provided any specifics. lets not use Le Ocean then. Lets use victory vs santisima.

They are the same class - first rate ship of the line. What are the specific difference you are talking about. In numbers. 

admin take some historic liberties and make the vic much more maneuvarable, the santissima much more powerful cannons and the ocean much more tanky.At least relative to one another. The 3 frigates are almost perfect in this regard(belle poule,frigate and surprise) you can also make national variance, make small difficult to play countries have better designs or more powerful ships. take a perfect unbalanced approach

Edited September 2, 2016 by pugtm

[PaladinFX]

I note that there was no mention of a USA 1st rate.

 

Actually the Americans did have a first rate that was authorised 1816 and launched 1837; the USS Pennsylvania.

 

(This also along with the three rated "74's": USS Independence/Washington/Franklin in service from 1814/15 open up possibilities for higher rate American ships to be added to Naval Action above the Connie, although in reality i think the Independence carried 90 guns.)

 

Although maybe a bit late in the game age of sail wise post Trafalgar/post War of 1812 etc, the USS Pennsylvania was impressive; 4 decks and 140 guns making her a match for the Santissima.

Edited September 2, 2016 by PaladinFX

[Sir Texas Sir]

Good to hear. again. I'M ALL FOR 1st rates being rare and requiring nation specific resources. but until each nation has their own first rate, it's a real disadvantage to those nations who don't have a 1st rate.

Not really cause it took me, my trader brig, and the smuggler flag to get about 5K Indan Tea and 2K Ibearan Meat smuggled out of ports this morning and other memebers of our clan did the same so we won't have any issue making the Vick or Santi.   There isn't exactly a shortage to prevent you from gettting these things.

[Tonnerre de Brest]

I'm not sure the new crafting schedule on this patch will help the game.

Had you deployed a crafting scheme that gives an advantage to the Swede or the Dutch I don't think anyone would have seen an issue looking at today's map.

But giving a clear advantage in crafting 1st rates to one of the largest and strongest factions of the game raises some questions as far as your motivations and expectations. 

 

Even for testing, I'm not sure anyone wants to play a game they're most likely to loose by design. As much as everyone is conscious of the fact that we're testing an Alpha, we are all actually trying to enjoy the game in the process as well. 

 

I understand that it might be more accurate historically to favor England as far as ease of building 1st rates, however considering that this is actually a game, I'm afraid that certain countries (again Swedes and Dutch for instance) that have been already hit hard by attacks from larger factions and not recovered from loss of players might disappear completely. Most likely, expect an exodus toward who ever has availability to the better ships.

 

It would be thoughtful of you to at least release blueprints of ships that could only be found in special events so some of these out of favor countries can get a little help keeping up against stronger factions.

 

On the winning end of this, it's not a great feeling to destroy a clearly under powered enemy either.

It definitely lessens some of the pride and feeling of accomplishment for the winning side knowing that the enemy didn't have an even chance to start with.

 

Please, for the sake of game-play, reconsider the content of this patch, and try to even out the playing field as much as possible.

When I say even out the playing field please do not even out the individual qualities of the ships. They are more fun and interesting with their original differences.

Edited September 2, 2016 by Tonnerre de Brest

[themule08]

Am I crazy to believe a 1st or 2nd rate is as fast as a fifth rate in a battle? If they go the same speed why sail anything else..

[BadBenny]

Wow the one really good perk now gone OMG, Bring back Social Perk.