We Need More Ships

[Fluffy Fishy]

Now that release is looming over us its time to think about ships, the current crop of ships you are able to sail in the game is fantastic but sadly, not enough. If the game is thinking seriously about a publication in early 2017 there needs to be a dramatic expansion to the stock of warships we are able to get our hands on.

As I see it, the things the game could do with most is an expansion into having an example ship from the various maritime nations of the time. Luckily we have most of these bases covered, but the game really lacks an example ship from various regions like Portugal, Italy and The Netherlands. Its not something that we need hundreds of, but an example ship design showing what a national maritime power could achieve, or showing off an example of the kind of ships they liked to produce. Thankfully there are more than enough resources posted to help the dev team realise this goal.

As a general sum up, it would be great to see at least 8 possibilities for each of the Naval Ratings, which is generally met in the lowest tiers. If the topic "The hopefully Comprehensive List of Ships In Game and Development is to be believed there are currently" (as when writing this):

6 Trading ships, 2 in Development
7 Unrated/7th Rates
7 6th Rates, 2 in Development
11 5th Rates, 3 In Development
4 4th Rates, 1 in Development
2 3nd Rates, 2 in Development
2 2nd Rates, 3 in Development
3 1st Rates.
Leaving us with 42 usable ships and around 13 more ships likely/confirmed in development

As you can see the vast majority of ships are the ones you sail as a low level captain, with by far the best variety available in the 5th rates category, while this does cover quite a few early game ranks it would be great to see some ships that just aren't represented in the game yet, and where there are options it never hurts to have more. The most exciting ship added to the game so far for me was the Rattlesnake, mainly because it played so differently to the brig. I'd love to see more additional options of this kind of ship and the play style it promotes.

For me the Glaring missing parts of the game right now are the ships missing from nations like Portugal, The Netherlands, The Italian States. When it comes to ships themselves we very much need ships spanning 4th to 1st rates allowing more options within the classes. Currently the most glaring choices that are missing are some more 1st rates, a 96-8, 90-94 and an 80 for the second rates, Some more 74's in General as the most typical ship it would be nice to see quite a few designs be it interesting or typical of a national navy of the period, possibly adding a few others say a 70 gun ship along the way too, 4th Rates are probably where this can get a bit interesting, being that its still quite open and in game, seems to mean anything from 52-68ish guns, I'd personally like to see one of the Napoleonic 50 gun 4th rates, and use this as a category to bolster our some fun an interesting choices for the so far unrepresented nations, there are some great resources in the shipyard too but this is possibly the most open class to really experiment and throw in something a bit unusual, perhaps even something from nations not so well represented at sea during this period.

All in all to sum up, I think to properly stand up and stand out over time this game needs to have more ship variety at higher levels, this allows the game to stand up on its strongest mechanics, the combat and looks of each ship. I understand that development is a long process but I have also heard that modelling a ship is the smallest part of the effort, where the majority is programming and testing, but to give the game the right kind of draw I think we need at the very least 8 ships in each class, preferably over 10, especially in 4th rates. So my suggestion is to really ramp up the shipyards, and give us at least a token ship for the major nationalities, similar has been done for the Germans with Wappen Von Hamburg.

Thank you For Reading

[van der Clam]

And from this chart you can see in-game nations that are seriously lacking representation

[BungeeLemming]

@Vanderdecken

our frigate is a chapman design --> swedish ship (here belongs our preorder yacht, too)

the Mercury, Pavel and Ingermanland are russian

Snow is the HMS Ontario which is british

Lynx and privateer are american

There is no pirate shiptype ever. No nation build pirate vessel. they build privateers such as the rattlesnake. I understand what you intend but please get your facts straight when you throw in such charts. please!

 

[SteelSandwich]

Edit, got ninja'd by bungee above.

 

Edit to make my post relevant again;

I fully agree with you Fluffy. I have argued before in favor of diversion before diving deeper into the brits/us/french. I sincerely hope that the introduction of the Wapen von Hamburg, solely to cater to the german playerbase, is a start of catering to other nations. I'm fairly sure that the arrival of the danish Christian VII, the swedish Wasa and other nationalities will please a lot of players.

[Corona Lisa]

I dont need more ships, I need interactive and fun PvP and Open world mechanics and a properly working economy system.

When they fixed all this, they can focus on additional content like more ships.

 

If the game is thinking seriously about a publication in early 2017

Its planned for the end of this year AFAIK

Edited January 8, 2017 by JonSnowLetsGo

[van der Clam]

54 minutes ago, BungeeLemming said:

@Vanderdecken

our frigate is a chapman design --> swedish ship (here belongs our preorder yacht, too)

the Mercury, Pavel and Ingermanland are russian

Snow is the HMS Ontario which is british

Lynx and privateer are american

There is no pirate shiptype ever. No nation build pirate vessel. they build privateers such as the rattlesnake. I understand what you intend but please get your facts straight when you throw in such charts. please!

 

Here ya go! It does not change the fact that in-game nations are lacking. If nothing else, devs need to give us national paint schemes that are integrated into the build. Then if we want to repaint, we can. I'd just like some sort of visual difference between nation ships. Ideally though, we need all nations represented in each rate.

Edited January 8, 2017 by van der Decken

[OlavDeng2]

1 hour ago, JonSnowLetsGo said:

I dont need more ships, I need interactive and fun PvP and Open world mechanics and a properly working economy system.

When they fixed all this, they can focus on additional content like more ships.

 

 

 

Its planned for the end of this year AFAIK

Source? because preperation for release on the "roadmap" was initially set for around december 2016IIRC. so personally id imagine release in like q2 of this year. q1 if being optimistic.

[Corona Lisa]

7 minutes ago, OlavDeng2 said:

Source? because preperation for release on the "roadmap" was initially set for around december 2016IIRC. so personally id imagine release in like q2 of this year. q1 if being optimistic.

Jeah maybe you are right, all he said was that they plan the release in 2017. But to me statements like these sound like they are happy when they are able to release it at the end of the year.

On 29.12.2016 at 11:52 PM, admin said:

We as Game-Labs have launched 4 games since 2014. 2 fully released (Gettysburg PC and Gettysburg IOS edition) and 2 are currently in early access (Naval Action and Civil War). Our titles are always a priority. There is a slight difference you missed when commenting. All Game Labs products are a priority for Game Labs. Naval Action is a main and the only priority for Naval Action team. Naval Action will be released in 2017. We were very modest with promises thus we will always be able to over deliver.

 

[JollyRoger1516]

4 hours ago, BungeeLemming said:

@Vanderdecken

our frigate is a chapman design --> swedish ship (here belongs our preorder yacht, too)

the Mercury, Pavel and Ingermanland are russian

Snow is the HMS Ontario which is british

Lynx and privateer are american

There is no pirate shiptype ever. No nation build pirate vessel. they build privateers such as the rattlesnake. I understand what you intend but please get your facts straight when you throw in such charts. please!

 

The frigate is a russian ship?!?! At least it is called Cherubim.

Lynx is American yeah but the Privateer is the British refit after it got captured.

[Fluffy Fishy]

2 hours ago, JonSnowLetsGo said:

I dont need more ships, I need interactive and fun PvP and Open world mechanics and a properly working economy system.

When they fixed all this, they can focus on additional content like more ships.

Its planned for the end of this year AFAIK

While I do agree with you, things need to be fixed there is this large need for additional content,

Breaking things down again using "The Hopefully Comprehensive List of Ships In Game And Development" we currently have confirmed:

11 British Ships
6 American, with 1 in Development
6 French, 1 in Development
3 Russian, 1 in Development
2 Swedish, 1 in Development
1 Spanish, 1 in Development
1 German
0 Danish, 1 in development

While this doesn't answer all questions, and sidesteps the chart very nicely presented to us by @van der Decken (sorry) it does give an easy overview, we are currently missing some various but important nations, for example like earlier the Dutch, Portugal, Venice (or other Italian states, such as Tuscany but Venice has the best examples of an Italian maritime power) and possibly some examples from the less maritime nations like Austria or The Ottomans.

I know that there are plenty of resources for the other nations, I have personally provided a lot of the Venetian information, and when you consider that the 2nd Battle of Cape Matapan was both larger and just as decisive as Trafalgar its a shame that this kind of maritime impact can't be tributed with a ship or two in the game, especially as its a battle fought between the Ottomans, and the combined forces of Venice and Portugal, 3 nations that firmly have no ships at this time. I also know that community members such as Steel Sandwich has provided some fantastic information for the Dutch and others have done the same for their Nations of interest. I'd personally like to see a higher focus on more interesting ships from other nations.

I'd even be prepared to suggest that the Devs delay release for a month to up the ship count significantly, because while we all want well rounded complimentary features, I think the game needs to make the most of the best part of it, which is the combat, which is made best by the variety and flavour of having as many diverse ships as possible be it from new nations, expanding small national rosters or allow for a different styles of play.

[Corona Lisa]

1 minute ago, Fluffy Fishy said:

While I do agree with you, things need to be fixed there is this large need for additional content,

Breaking things down again using "The Hopefully Comprehensive List of Ships In Game And Development" we currently have confirmed:

11 British Ships
6 American, with 1 in Development
6 French, 1 in Development
3 Russian, 1 in Development
2 Swedish, 1 in Development
1 Spanish, 1 in Development
1 German
0 Danish, 1 in development

Who cares from which nation the ships are? Its just a minor thing in my eyes and doesnt significantly improve the gameplay.

I think the game needs to make the most of the best part of it, which is the combat, which is made best by the variety and flavour of having as many diverse ships as possible be it from new nations, expanding small national rosters or allow for a different styles of play.

Exactly. Combat is the core of this game and thats why the focus should be on making it as fun and rewarding as possible. But thats not done through new ships.

Or do you think adding the Endymion, Indefatigable or Wappen changed something? Does it make a difference that now I can sail a German ship?

[OlavDeng2]

1 minute ago, JonSnowLetsGo said:

Who cares from which nation the ships are? Its just a minor thing in my eyes and doesnt significantly improve the gameplay.

 

 

Exactly. Combat is the core of this game and thats why the focus should be on making it as fun and rewarding as possible. But thats not done through new ships.

Or do you think adding the Endymion, Indefatigable or Wappen changed something? Does it make a difference that now I can sail a German ship?

Obviously this is not the case for you, but i know for a fact that many people(including me) are severely dissepointed in the fact that there are for example no dutch ships in the game yet. Personally, if there was a dutch ship in the game i am sure id spend a lot of time sailing her.

[SteelSandwich]

Balancing is a different story, the point being that if they are going to continue to introduce ships (which they stil are!), why not add diversity in the nations?

It a very,very small thing to do which pleases a lot of people.

 

It's literally a win for everyone.

[BungeeLemming]

Well I wouldnt say its a minor thing but your point stands, Steel.

Shipmodeling and more important modeling the physics for each vessel is the most time consuming thing. Nothing you cann "just" add. However I fully agree that the lineup and the order in which the lineup is presented is lets say - suboptimal. We have tons of british vessels. Thats to be expected. We have a huge ammount of american vessels - which is not the most important navy until long time. hmm.. Then we get more ships - british.

At one point when they decided on  the queue they didnt get the memo of diverse nations. We desperately lack dutch vessels. The only reason we dont have dutch vessels is that they werent as known as others. However! If you start digging certain nations' vessels you will be impressed about the actions that any given navy fought out. There is a dutch corvet which was in the crossfire of a dozen fortifications/batteries etc. And she helped fighting them down in a key position. How badass is that? A lot more than many vessels ever experienced from a distance..

The issue is finding such vessels. The devs want to have ships you recognize at best. Since that is only the case with the more known nations (brits, murica, france) its hard to get such impressive data about other nations' ships. The information is out there. But you have to dig it up.

@Fluffy you do have an impressive thread about the fama. Make sure the next ship poll includes her!

About the frigate: Its a chapman design on which the devs put the name cherubim:

check those carriages out! A very interesting design by chapman.

 

[VirtuallyIdiotic]

Maybe after release. Gradually add a ship here and there creating new elements into PvP. As of right now focus on other issues that deserve their attention.

[Prater]

You can't count ship reskins.  The 3rd rate is an old reskin of the Bellona.  The Privateer is a reskin of the Lynx.  The Navy Brig is a reskin of the Brig.  The Heavy Rattle is a reskin of the Rattle.  The reskins are made only to flesh out the amount of ship types.  There are several ships in development that you aren't counting.

 

P.s.  Look here:

 

 

Edited January 8, 2017 by Prater

[welly]

Please release Hermione and Santa Cecilia.

 

[Sir Texas Sir]

7 hours ago, Fluffy Fishy said:

Now that release is looming over us its time to think about ships, the current crop of ships you are able to sail in the game is fantastic but sadly, not enough. If the game is thinking seriously about a publication in early 2017 there needs to be a dramatic expansion to the stock of warships we are able to get our hands on.

Thank you For Reading

Just cause they /HAD/ planned for a Jan/Feb 2017 release doens't mean it's going to happen any time soon.  We aren't even in a beta stage yet and things need to be finisehd.  RvR needs to be tweeked more and they stilll haven't even came out with any Pirate Mechanics.   I still don't even see us making a summer release at the rate the Devs are moving so don't have a clue why folks keep thinking we are looming any where near a release.

6 hours ago, JonSnowLetsGo said:

I dont need more ships, I need interactive and fun PvP and Open world mechanics and a properly working economy system.

When they fixed all this, they can focus on additional content like more ships.

Its planned for the end of this year AFAIK

Exactly I think we have plenty right now with them dropping say a ship every month would be just fine if not every patch.  I'm sure there are more than just a few ships in the works.   Why do we need all the bells and whistles now?  We need to save some of that stuff for after release.

5 hours ago, OlavDeng2 said:

Source? because preperation for release on the "roadmap" was initially set for around december 2016IIRC. so personally id imagine release in like q2 of this year. q1 if being optimistic.

That road-map needs to be updated. I brought it up all ready they need to do a new year update and let us know the comming plans a bit to help keep interest.  I still want to know where the heck my pirate mechanics are. It's been a year of EA and it was voted to come out after RvR right?  Well that stuff is out and being tweeked, it's time for the Pirates to get some love. Mainly to shut folks up and maybe give them some identity in game.

1 hour ago, PolishMartyr said:

Maybe after release. Gradually add a ship here and there creating new elements into PvP. As of right now focus on other issues that deserve their attention.

Exactly, we don't need all the bells and whistles, we need to work on more inportant things with them dropping a new ship prob every patch or two and then let more ships bleed into the game as it release and after.   I never really see this game as being one that will be FINAL.  Like many other MMO's they will need to release little extra content here and there.

1 hour ago, welly said:

Please release Hermione and Santa Cecilia.

 

That and I would like to see that new US privateer the Something Prince....but than I love me some small ships.  I would like toe see the Hermione cause it's more a ship I would sail.  Any one know why it didn't make it into the patch?  Could of swore the early notes said it was suppose to make it into the game by now.

[Serk]

I dont't know how many ships models are ready but not in game yet, but one could expect that releasing many new ships at the same time as the  ship/server/asset wipe to be a good way to reduce the negative impact it could have on the player base. It could help retain more players and even attract new one.

Edited January 8, 2017 by Serk

[van der Clam]

3 hours ago, Amonacc said:

Even hundreds of new ships doesn't change anything, bc for now there is no motivation to use most of them.

The new PB system has shown a good variety in ship appearances. But to many people, we desire something we can cling to that represents our heritage, or nationality, or simply just to satisfy our dreams.

[Fluffy Fishy]

3 hours ago, BungeeLemming said:

Shipmodeling and more important modeling the physics for each vessel is the most time consuming thing. Nothing you cann "just" add. However I fully agree that the lineup and the order in which the lineup is presented is lets say - suboptimal. We have tons of british vessels. Thats to be expected. We have a huge ammount of american vessels - which is not the most important navy until long time. hmm.. Then we get more ships - british.

At one point when they decided on  the queue they didnt get the memo of diverse nations. We desperately lack dutch vessels. The only reason we dont have dutch vessels is that they werent as known as others. However! If you start digging certain nations' vessels you will be impressed about the actions that any given navy fought out. There is a dutch corvet which was in the crossfire of a dozen fortifications/batteries etc. And she helped fighting them down in a key position. How badass is that? A lot more than many vessels ever experienced from a distance..

The issue is finding such vessels. The devs want to have ships you recognize at best. Since that is only the case with the more known nations (brits, murica, france) its hard to get such impressive data about other nations' ships. The information is out there. But you have to dig it up.

@Fluffy you do have an impressive thread about the fama. Make sure the next ship poll includes her!

About the frigate: Its a chapman design on which the devs put the name cherubim:

check those carriages out! A very interesting design by chapman.

  Reveal hidden contents

I'm fairly sure its more that the most extensive ship plans are the ones at the Greenwich maritime museum, more than ships people recognise, while it does help to have famous ships that are visible today, that only goes so far. Part of what I enjoyed in the game was as a gateway to understanding ships of the time period. I had previously come from an area mostly looking at things like Galleys, Cogs and Early Galleons, mainly through the fact that I enjoy Venetian history as a total amateur. This game inspired me to learn more about Revolutionary and Napoleonic navies, and I am now excited about ships I never knew existed. I then went and tried to apply this new interest back to Venetian ships and shipbuilding and came back to attempt to add more to the game from what I have learnt, I would now be able to come up with a list of ships that would be fantastic in game, larger than the offerings we have from various navies other than Britain.

Interestingly some of the most viewed topics on these forums are, Dutch Ship Collections (14,500), Venetian Ship Collections (13,500), Spanish Ship Collections (10,900) and American Ship Collections (10,800), which proves that there is quite some demand for some of the more curious choices.

Also on the side note, thank you the compliment about Fama, hopefully a community would select her, we are in some desperate need for 4th rates, especially considered that they are now the most important class of ship when it comes port battles.

 

3 hours ago, Intrepido said:

I consider ship variety esential. Im personally bored of seeing mono fleets in PB. 

A good amount and variety of ships, with a proper balance between them, and battles are going to be more fun and enjoyable.

About national ships and its importance. Lots of players choose their nation because of a reason, national pride. So having iconic ships of their history is a smart move to attract history nerds, naval model makers...

This is perhaps the most concise way of the point I was trying to make originally, I have been trying to put some suggestions here and there showing proper balance between the ships, one of the most frustrating parts of the game for me is there are so many ships that are objectively better than others, and the fact all 3 1st rates all have an armour thickness of 75cm. I want to see more variety in ships, so you can really experiment and dive into the different ships

 

1 hour ago, Sir Texas Sir said:

Just cause they /HAD/ planned for a Jan/Feb 2017 release doens't mean it's going to happen any time soon.  We aren't even in a beta stage yet and things need to be finisehd.  RvR needs to be tweeked more and they stilll haven't even came out with any Pirate Mechanics.   I still don't even see us making a summer release at the rate the Devs are moving so don't have a clue why folks keep thinking we are looming any where near a release.

Exactly I think we have plenty right now with them dropping say a ship every month would be just fine if not every patch.  I'm sure there are more than just a few ships in the works.   Why do we need all the bells and whistles now?  We need to save some of that stuff for after release.

That road-map needs to be updated. I brought it up all ready they need to do a new year update and let us know the comming plans a bit to help keep interest.  I still want to know where the heck my pirate mechanics are. It's been a year of EA and it was voted to come out after RvR right?  Well that stuff is out and being tweeked, it's time for the Pirates to get some love. Mainly to shut folks up and maybe give them some identity in game.

Exactly, we don't need all the bells and whistles, we need to work on more inportant things with them dropping a new ship prob every patch or two and then let more ships bleed into the game as it release and after.   I never really see this game as being one that will be FINAL.  Like many other MMO's they will need to release little extra content here and there.

That and I would like to see that new US privateer the Something Prince....but than I love me some small ships.  I would like toe see the Hermione cause it's more a ship I would sail.  Any one know why it didn't make it into the patch?  Could of swore the early notes said it was suppose to make it into the game by now.

I would happily see release delayed slightly, my issue isn't with the release time, its with the lack of variety the game has in its ship collection which don't really feel much different once you get out of frigates. I don't feel like I particularly need a new ship every patch but it will get to a point where actually suddenly throwing out a nice batch of various ships would keep things interesting and spiced up, its still a good thought to put it in the heads of those that have the power to actually consider that churning out some great ships in the month or two before full release would be something that needs doing, I also wish for a solid game first but like Intrepido says seeing a massive fleet composed of 1 or 2 ship designs is kind of sad to watch.

[Sir Texas Sir]

1 hour ago, Fluffy Fishy said:

....but like Intrepido says seeing a massive fleet composed of 1 or 2 ship designs is kind of sad to watch.

I think one thing would help is I'll take for example the recent meta of every one bringing say the Aggy to port battles.  Well folks are saying they need to nerf it.  It's all ready been nerfed.  Instead why don't we give some of the other 4th rates back there old stats.   This can be said about some of the other ships.   That and BP's like it's and the H.  Rattler need to just given to players since they are now the Meta needed to fight Port Battles.  Well if any one fights in them any more as it's more a race to capture zones.

[Taranis]

On 1/8/2017 at 10:17 AM, van der Decken said:

Here ya go! It does not change the fact that in-game nations are lacking. If nothing else, devs need to give us national paint schemes that are integrated into the build. Then if we want to repaint, we can. I'd just like some sort of visual difference between nation ships. Ideally though, we need all nations represented in each rate.

Ah non Monsieur!  Ze Surprise waz a French ship originally named "Unité".  The Endymion was a Birtish carbon copy of the French ship "Pomone". 

[van der Clam]

1 hour ago, TaranisPrime said:

Ah non Monsieur!  Ze Surprise waz a French ship originally named "Unité".  The Endymion was a Birtish carbon copy of the French ship "Pomone". 

Indeed, but the devs/admins said the game models are modeled after these nation ships. The Mercury was HMS, according to my research.

[Prater]

Your research is wrong.  Mercury is Russian.  Surprise is French.  And the Frigate is not Swedish.

Edited January 10, 2017 by Prater