PvP or Prey?

[Vernon Merrill]

There is no such thing as a "gank" in a war-game....  There is "concentration of forces" leading to "asymetrical warfare".  

"Asymetrical Warfare" reduces casualties.

God-Damn this incessant forum whining grows tiresome.  So much so that it appears its time for my favorite "ganking meme"....

[Licinio Chiavari]

3 minutes ago, Vernon Merrill said:

There is no such thing as a "gank" in a war-game....  There is "concentration of forces" leading to "asymetrical warfare".  

"Asymetrical Warfare" reduces casualties.

God-Damn this incessant forum whining grows tiresome.  So much so that it appears its time for my favorite "ganking meme"....

Great Sir!

Wasnt Clausewitz calling for concentrated forces to get local superiority? Defining these "gravity center" of an offensive?

[William Death]

I didn't vote, because the options aren't defined properly (IMO), and there's no choice for both. 

 

But here's my style of fighting. I rambled a lot typing this, but most of it is relevant, if poorly worded.

 

I like duels: I spent a solid 1/4 of my NA time (well, maybe not quite that much, but it seemed like a lot, LOL) dueling some of the best and watching and learning from them. So I consider myself a duelist. I'm far from being the best, but I'm also far from being a noob at it. Give me a 1v1 in proper dueling ships and I'll guarantee a fun fight. I might win, and I might lose, but it'll be fun. Catch me 1v1 when I'm in a fast PvP boat (we'll get to that) and the enemy is skilled and sailing a dueling build, and I might get sunk easily (or just run away). More specifically: though I enjoy frigate dueling, I much prefer lineship dueling.

Sadly, the duel room was removed, so now if I want to duel someone in a proper dueling ship, we have to carefully arrange it (and both trust each other not to arrange a gank for the other) or otherwise jump through all kinds of hoops just to get the battle set up. And because a proper dueling ship is so expensive to fit out, and often purple or gold, people don't want to risk them where they can get sunk (I've got a couple dueling builds that will never leave port. They sit in a freeport quietly waiting till I need them to duel someone). So the amount of proper duels dramatically dropped off since the duel room was removed. 

 

Secondly, I like to solo hunt, or hunt in a small group. Not as you describe it though. I sail in a purpose fitted hunting ship. Maybe its my preferred teak/teak or teak/wo fifth rates, or maybe its a fir/fir failfit speed ship. Might be an Ingermanland with Elite Spanish Rig...you never know. But whatever ship I choose, its one that is meant to be fast enough to outrun what I can't outfight, and outfight what I can't outrun. That is the ultimate goal of the majority of PvPers in NA: to be fast enough to be able to choose their fights, but tough enough to stand and fight, not have to run from every enemy that fights back

When I'm out hunting alone, I'll tag almost anything if its 1v1. I do try to avoid the Requins, Princes, Privateers, and other "troll" boats since they're a waste of time to try to chase in a fifth rate, and they can't do much to me in battle unless I do something dumb (I should be able to escape downwind, should everything go horribly wrong). Whatever I tag, if the battle goes well for me, I've netted some marks and hopefully had some fun too. If the battle goes sour, I can rely on my speed to run away (though I recently noobed it up and got unnecessarily sunk in a most embarrassing fashion).

I'll tag almost anything 1v1: yes, even a trader's brig or other small prey. When they complain, I must remind them: No sir, I didn't need to be in an Endymion to sink your Trader Brig. No, I did not sail out with the intention of only sinking small ships. No, I don't think I'm pro because I sank your trader's brig. No, I'm not running from your 7 man coast guard fleet because I'm a coward, I'm running because I don't want to lose this ship to a gank. Luckily for me, I have the option of running away from your slow ships, so I will!      

 

Sometimes I choose to fight outnumbered or outgunned. When I do, I do so because I feel I have a chance to win. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. Scroll through the battle results thread sometime and look at the battles people post where its 1v5 or 4v12, etc. See if you find a common theme: vast majority of those times the winning side chose to fight the larger (but poorly commanded) enemy fleet: they were not forced to fight by a superior enemy.

Occasionally--rarely--I'll be up against a faster, stronger enemy and be forced to fight outnumbered and outgunned. In that case, good job on the enemy for finding the chink in my armor and taking advantage of it.

 

The same thing applies to group hunting: we might sink a lone player in a frigate. It is what it is. He was there, he got sunk. If he was more clever, he maybe wouldn't have gotten sunk. Only one way to learn. By the same token, my group might run across a similarly sized group and engage. Chances are we'll either win or decide to run away. If we sink, its our fault. If we'd been more clever, or not so greedy for PvP, we'd have likely survived. The road goes both ways, as they say.

 

Hunting locations:

Wouldn't it be nice if there was a zone on the map where I could go and find players who want to PvP? Wouldn't that be fun!?  Too bad all we have is broken ROE Patrol (gank) Zones. 

Since I don't enjoy the Gank Patrol Zones too much, I mostly sail around in OW, looking for targets. I play in a US timezone, so population is pretty low. Most targets are in their reinforcement zones, or hunting enemy in reinforcement zones. So thats where I usually end up. Its not for lack of trying other places either: I've sailed from La Tortue, around the south side of Hispaniola, to the Danish Capital and back in one night: almost nothing to tag. I've sailed from Tumbado to Havana then counter-clockwise through the entire gulf and back to Tumbado in one night. Sank 1 Indiaman. I've sailed from Aves through the SE corner and to Coquibacoa and back, seeing only a TSnow in the reinforcment zone and a few French in their reinforcement zone. There is little to no reason for the average Rear Admiral to leave his reinforcement zone, so he doesn't. There was a time, a long time ago, when it was not that way.

Compare those experiences to when I sail to Charleston or KPR: I get some PvP. Or when someone sails to Mortimer Town: they get PvP. I don't like it that consistent PvP is now almost only had in/around reinforcement zones (or around PBs), but thats the state of the game at the moment. Blame mechanics for that.

 

Some parting words after a rambling post:

Ultimately: I don't control what ship you sail in: but if you don't want to fight a bigger ship, then you should sail a L'Ocean all the time. Or if you didn't want to fight a faster ship, you should sail a 15.5kn ship all the time. This relates to an important part of NA: 1v1 is NEVER a gank. Even with broken sail force mods on some ships (*coughs* Requin *coughs*), and crazy speed stacking; almost every ship has some unique sail angle they can run away at. If the ship can't run away, it can probably stand a chance to out-fight the enemy. 

Edited September 4, 2018 by William Death

[Licinio Chiavari]

1 hour ago, William Death said:

...

Standing ovation.

[Bluetooth]

I'm a dirty low life pirate ganker.

[Capn Rocko]

I voted neither. I spend most of my time solo looking to get attacked. If it is 1v2 or 1v3 so be it. I leave it up to the other team to decide what is fair. At least this way I cant be called a seal clubber 

Edited September 5, 2018 by Capn Rocko

[Old Crusty]

I really do appreciate everyone’s feedback on this subject. It was a poorly worded poll.

[Christendom]

Change #1 to  "A Hunter looking for content".  If you're on the water, you're content.

[Slim McSauce]

I picked looking for PVP. I'm not a fan of solo hunting or privateering/corsairing. I consider myself a member of my nation's Navy, I enjoy fighting in groups with other nationals whom I come across on the battlefield. Clan affiliation means nothing to me, you're on my team so I'll fight with you to destroy the opposition.

My favorite battles are coming across a gank and evening the odds, or happening across a random group of enemies while with a random group of friends who are in the same area. I work mostly locally and on OW. Patrol Arenas are not my thing, PBs could be my thing if they were more expansive and less restrictive, more like campaign and not so much another Arena, but I digress.

I'd categorize this as NvN (nation v nation), including but not limited to RVR, with no interest in prowling for marks, or dueling for honor.

Edited September 5, 2018 by Slim McSauce

[Iroquois Confederacy]

I am the prey 😢

[Sureshot]

Good question. :.p

I always viewed gankers as people who go want to go into battle knowing they will win 100%, anything else they wouldn't even try. Kind of like the same people who turn their difficulty settings in single player games to the easiest setting, so they will always win. 

Real PvPers on the other hand like challenging fights that actually test your skills & tactics as a group to win a battle. These fights are the best, and they never get boring. ;.p Unfortunately not many NA players see it that way, they like insta win. 

#BringBackLegends 😜

[Werewolf]

Solo hunter. I'm not afraid of a fair fight, but I prefer quick kills, since I am solo and don't want to face the entire enemy navy every time I fight. I like to dart in, snatch a nice fat juicy lamb from the edge of the herd, and retreat into the darkness from whence i came to have my meal. My excitement comes from the chase, the kill, and the resulting rush of trying to clear the scene before the inevitable gank squad shows up to hose me down.

Edited September 12, 2018 by Werewolf

[Barbancourt]

I like battles between fleets, which have been exceedingly rare for more than a year.