Starting Over

[VonBarb]

So today, with the impending release of the Vapen Von Hamburg, I thought I'd start a PvE character on *cough* another account *cough* that I have, so I'd get an extra one on that server too, seeing as I have a nasty habit of losing 4th rates easily for some reason

As I created my new character, I was prompted to choose between national Capital and newb zone Capital as my starting port. Because I'm so used to sailing from there, I chose main nation Capital instead of the Newb one.

Now, my experience as a lowly Midshipman starting from KPM wasn't exactly as thrilling as I remembered it from before. First, with the hostility map system I couldn't generate missions in County Surrey that KPM is attached to, which means I had to sail to either the North of Jamaica or far South in the Southern Cays for my first brawl. First missions I generated were near Bugle Cay, that is about 20 to 30mn sailing in a basic cutter (!!). Then, when I did find a closer one, my very first opponent was an AI Snow (!!). Now, I have a few notions of how not to sink too quickly, and so I didn't, but that was still an interesting fight with the starting basic 4pds.

If this had been my very first contact with the game, I probably wouldn't have stuck around for as long as I did. I think there should be a much clearer warning when selecting starting port, that it is very highly recommended to start in the newb zone, lest newcomers select the main one and end up having a much less fun time of it.

Edited December 26, 2016 by VonBarb
Note to self : post stuff on the internet AFTER morning coffee, not DURING...

[William Death]

I did the same thing with an alt (well, actually just on PVP1 and PVP2, I'll never play a PVE server in this game). I also decided to level him up on my main server (PVP2) and on one of my first missions (I did find an oak basic cutter and put 12 pound carronades on her [big thanks to my main account for providing me with a few million startup gold ]) I was faced with two Privateers, the game provided an AI Pickle to help me. I managed to sink one Privateer, and nearly sunk the other, but I was unable to complete the mission and had to run (I almost had it, but that Pickle did almost nothing the whole fight, even blocked a few of my shots and did not fire his broadsides when he could/should have, if he had helped, it would have been much easier... instead he was just like any other AI ship: a drunken sailor in a one-oared rowboat shooting a musket ).

I think that mission was definitely too hard for most newbs to do (unless they get smarter friendly AI). Here is my suggestion for the low level missions: Midshipman missions should be limited to only providing 1 or 2 Lynxs to kill, and you should always have 1 or 2 AI Lynxs thrown in there to help you. Also, what happened to the old fleet system where you could "hire" an AI ship (Lynx or Cutter) for a few thousand to come with you (he had 5 duras and didn't take your crew)? I thought that little system would have stayed as a way to help newbs who don't have crew for AI ships at their rank. Anyways, after one or two missions like that, I decided to build myself an exceptional live oak strong hull Privateer  for grinding rank a bit. I started in the rookie region (only because I was headed to Bernal to make labor contracts, and starting there was a lot closer than Charleston (plus I had a TP there to use later on), but all the missions I did were in a non-rookie region, so maybe that has something to do with the difficulty of the mission? 

I totally agree with you that it is ridiculous to have to sail twenty minutes or more to even find a place to run missions around your capital, maybe they could implement a feature that allows you to pull missions for there, but it will not work to lower hostility (if hostility is being generated there).

Lastly, if this had been my first experience with the game, I would have stuck around (I love sailing warships, and this game is really beautiful), but the lowest levels DEFINITELY need a bit of a break in terms of how hard fighting the AI is.

I'm glad I stumbled across this thread, I was getting ready to make a similar one myself about "starting as a newb, but not a newb." I think people should maybe hop in a basic cutter and go try a mission to see if they think its maybe too difficult for a new player.

[Stilgar]

I have carried out a similar experiment. Being poor and low rank again was rather refreshing. I could level up to 3rd rank (120 men crew) in no time, but I must admit that prior knowledge of the game was essential. The grind isn't that bad, but beginners do need to check out guides and need support from the community. Manual sailing skills give an edge when sailing 7th rate as well. Importantly, both ship and crew is free up to 40 men. This allows to learn and make mistakes. Finally, I made 1.5 mln in half an hour after selling 2 lab contracts found in a wreck. This eliminated the survival element in the game. Therefore, global assets reset would be best way to judge over the current state of the game. Intuitively, wipe should occur sooner rather than later.

[Sir Texas Sir]

I went over to PvP1 with a basic cutter and did a midship level mission and I got Rattlersnakes agaisnt my guys.   Did some more with a friend and we keep getting way out classed ships for a Rank 1 missions.  I think there is something wrong with the balance system cause we should not be fighting ships with 120+ crew in a basic cutter.  If poor new players got these missions they would be killed every time.

[Stilgar]

56 minutes ago, Sir Texas Sir said:

I went over to PvP1 with a basic cutter and did a midship level mission and I got Rattlersnakes agaisnt my guys.   Did some more with a friend and we keep getting way out classed ships for a Rank 1 missions.  I think there is something wrong with the balance system cause we should not be fighting ships with 120+ crew in a basic cutter.  If poor new players got these missions they would be killed every time.

I found it makes more sense to start with missions w/o support. Most fights are 2v2 or even 2v1 (2 7th rates on your side vs 1 brig) and are more manageable, with better chance to score high XP. If you take mission with support, you'll fight 3v4 or 4v4 and in basic cutter you'll be singled out by AI. Needless to say that AI supporting you is dumb.