New PB Mechanics Still Favor 1st/4th Rates; Tweak Kill Credit by BR, or Crew Kills

[Wesreidau]

From the Admin:

Points distribution

Kills/Sinkings

Sinking enemy ships or losing your ships grants points according the following scheme. 

1. Lineships 40 pts
2. All other ships 25 points. 

Simple, yes. A good start, certainly. Unfortunately, if a Bellona and a Victory square off, and by some miracle both sink the other, its a draw on the scoreboard. Likewise, if a Lynx and an Ingermanland square off, and both sink one another, its also a draw. Of course its a silly thought that a Lynx could beat an Ingermanland, so why then are they worth the same kill credit? If three Gunboats attack a L'Ocean, and by the grace of God sink the L'Ocean while losing only two of their number, the team that lost 80 men will be 10 points behind the team that lost a thousand.

Accordingly, all players will be urged to only take the strongest possible 4th rate, and the strongest possible 1st rate, into the port battle. The hope the Devs had of creating a diverse field of ships is being counteracted by their own scoring systems. Much like how 25v25 led to a race to exceptional first rates, assigning the same value to two very different ship ratings (3rd and 1st or 7th and 4th rates) will drive everyone to the best SOL or the best non-SOL. Why bring a gunboat when you can bring an Agamemnon for the same kill credit? Why target a Victory when sinking this Belonna is worth the same?

 

To resolve this, I propose either of two solutions.

1. The points earned for a ship kill is 10% of the BR. My Bellona is worth 40 points. A privateer is worth 3 points. Individual ships will still need to be maximized for their battle rating, but even such a gimmick as a boarding-fit crew-space gold-mods Indiaman tackling enemy SOL's will be welcome. I'd really love to see newbies in light ships dash for the capture points at the start of the battle while the professionals form up their battle lines and cruise toward the gunsmoke. Imagine being in your first port battle thinking your Rattlesnake was hot stuff when you see a L'Ocean run out the guns and make driftwood of a whole forest of unrated masts. Another advantage is that the BR is very granular and can be tweaked ship-by-ship; if the meta for whatever reason favors one specific ship for a great power-for-BR ratio, its BR can rise. If certain ships are considered useless in PBs, its BR can fall.

Problems; the battle goes one way or another on the basis of total ship kills, and with survival mods and enough strong hull/live oak/extra planking, 1st rates handled smartly are very hard to sink. We still see a meta toward these behaviors. Also with points based on ship kills, crippling an entire enemy fleet but not sinking one isn't going to be a victory against being completely unscathed, save for losing one. All-or-nothing scoring emphasizes team coordination against selected targets. A great majority of shots fired and damage done ultimately does not register in the final score.

Alternatively,

2. The points are earned by crew kills/captures. Every cannonball can influence the final score. Every individual dead man is worth one point. Every crewman brought into the battle is one more point for the enemy to earn, so the meta becomes efficiently using your manpower. It also creates a sense of "fleet morale"; if two sides fight to a stalemate and no ships sink, but the French are awash in blood and the British just have some rigging to fix, the French will be slipping away in the night and the British will take the port. Consider that a Lynx cannot be expected to kill a Victory, yet, getting grape and ball careening down the Victory's gun-deck by some extreme heroism could easily kill more than the forty men the lynx would lose. The meta becomes less about focusing fire on individuals and sinking them (although the tactically savvy will realize this is still viable), and more about blood, blood, blood. Get in, rake, sink, board or blast. Die at a price the enemy can't afford. This makes for a real melee. It also makes low rated ships viable against higher ratings, since one or two good rakes and running away is reflected on the scoreboard as your gain.

Problems; combat effectiveness versus crew capacity has not been a point of focus for balancing. It is presumable that some ships have too many or too few men for their combat power. Captains may focus on getting kills and wind up dis-masted, mostly a problem for them. Players will doubtlessly game things by sailing at reduced or skeleton crews for certain roles like fireshipping, which is fine, or "prepared perk carronade SOL with a bare minimum crew", which is silly.

It may also be possible to make a hybrid system with sinking bonuses on top of crew kills, but again, it needs to tie to the BR and not the line ship / other split.

[Ned Loe]

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