Patch 27 - Port Interface, New missions, Streamlined economy, Insurance, New currencies.

[Archaos]

8 hours ago, Lovec1990 said:

Eh if you guys used real naval tactic aka boarding cripled enemy ship there will not be this issues with stealing

The problem with this is that a ship that is crippled and almost sinking can still defeat you in a boarding if they have boarding mods and enough crew, plus while you are boarding you could be taking serious damage from his teammates.

[Styles]

7 minutes ago, admin said:

Two port battles results did not register due to a new tracking mechanic (related to fort damage) and broke. Our problem. And a big bug was found and fixed as a result
We will discuss compensation internally and will give it to all failed port battle participants for this big inconvenience. I think a special chest for all battles participants will make them less unhappy. 

 

Well, same thing happened to Gibraltar, but we didn´t provide screenshots of the battle in the related support-topic. If this means the participants of Gibraltar-PB won´t get a compensation, so be it. Glad you fixed it, but if i understand correctly we will have to do these port battles again? Thats a bummer

[Manbot]

18 minutes ago, admin said:

Two port battles results did not register due to a new tracking mechanic (related to fort damage) and broke. Our problem. And a big bug was found and fixed as a result
We will discuss compensation internally and will give it to all failed port battle participants for this big inconvenience. I think a special chest for all battles participants will make them less unhappy. 

 

will you guys be able to take them off the PB list in map? or are they stuck on there indefinably? 

Edited November 2, 2018 by Manbot

[Ireson]

14 minutes ago, admin said:

Two port battles results did not register due to a new tracking mechanic (related to fort damage) and broke. Our problem. And a big bug was found and fixed as a result
We will discuss compensation internally and will give it to all failed port battle participants for this big inconvenience. I think a special chest for all battles participants will make them less unhappy. 

 

I imagine most participants will be concerned about the lord protector points since victory marks are now spent at a greater rate.

[admin]

4 minutes ago, Styles said:

Well, same thing happened to Gibraltar, but we didn´t provide screenshots of the battle in the related support-topic. If this means the participants of Gibraltar-PB won´t get a compensation, so be it. Glad you fixed it, but if i understand correctly we will have to do these port battles again? Thats a bummer

all failed port battles will be counted in compensations even if screens are not provided - we have logs))

[Archaos]

7 hours ago, Sovereign said:

You should definitely be allowed to sink people stealing your loot, no matter the nation - everything else would simply open the door to plain griefing and even justify it with the game rules.

Problem is how do you prove it was your loot? In a battle say I am in a small fast ship that cannot do much damage but do enough damage to enemy sails to slow him down so you in a bigger ship can catch him and sink him. The kill is yours because you did most damage and you would get most dubloons for that, but who has the right to what is in the ships hold?

Being able to do green on green for this reason would end up causing more issues as people would just claim someone stole their loot just so they could sink them.

[Teutonic]

10 minutes ago, Ireson said:

I imagine most participants will be concerned about the lord protector points since victory marks are now spent at a greater rate.

What are victory marks used for now? Only thing I see is 1st rate crafting.

You can't convert them to doubloons. Personally I feel victory marks are more useless than before.

[Sir Lancelot Holland]

3 minutes ago, Archaos said:

The problem with this is that a ship that is crippled and almost sinking can still defeat you in a boarding if they have boarding mods and enough crew, plus while you are boarding you could be taking serious damage from his teammates.

The capping of ships while still in combat was considered to be a justifiable risk by all Navy's of the day, every seaman was entitled to a share of the proceeds of the value of the ship and cargo, wherever possible boarding and capturing was preferable to outright sinking. 

In game however there is little value in doing so, as, most ships now are un-cappable for sale or reuse by their new owners.  Indeed from the capture and re-usage of HMS Serapis at Flamborough Head to Trafalgar the capping of ships for reuse or sale was part and parcel of naval warfare, it made the names of many distinguished Officers in every navy and every Pirate worthy of the name as well.

[admin]

Hotfix was deployed today on 2nd November

• Fixed the bug that did not let access the looted cargo from NPC trader ships if certain resource was present in hold
• Fixed the bug in the assist formula (assists now give proper reals - not inflated reals)
• Search and destroy and Hunt missions in shallow water ports are now only for 7th and 6th rates (no longer they give hunts for 1st rates)
• Fixed the server exception bug that did not sometimes failed to track hunt missions kills and did not register port battle results
  • participants of 5 port battles that failed to register will receive compensation into redeemables
• Fixed the doubloon icon in shops
• Increased doubloon rewards for patrols 

[Guest]

5 hours ago, Fra Diavolo said:

Dear developers,

English is not my native language, so this letter was written using Google Translator.

I am 62 years old and have been a player since 1982. In addition to many other games, I enthusiastically played Sid Meyer's "Pirates", "Port Royale" and the like. I've been playing "Naval Action" for almost a year and have spent over 1000 hours, mostly on PVE.

You've started a game with "Naval Action" like I've never seen or played, it has the potential to become a really big game.

But what is it really like: about 100-150 players on the PVE and about 300 maybe 400 players on the PVP servers. Many of the players I met on PVE turned away from PVP in frustration, while others who started at PVE stopped playing "NA" after a week, a month, or two months. There are 47 players in my clan. Of these, only 4-6 are really active. The game is now a niche product and the Port UI update did not make it any better.

A game can only become big when it is accessible and players are not frustrated.

For PVP, I would suggest that all players not be vulnerable as on PVE. This would make it easier for newbies to get started and avoid unnecessary frustration.

I know the slaughterers of PVP will cry up now. But it continues: similar to the old smuggler flag, each player can hoist a flag through which he is vulnerable. So that everyone can have the fun of sinking each other.

The advantage: you could summarize the whole player community on a server. That basically.

Porten must not cost doubloons and the fight against NPC fleets must bring some. Newcomers have the chance to earn doubloons.

I did not meet an NPC frigate at 2 hours sailing between Saint Nicolaus, Nippes, Saint Marc, Saint Nicolaus and Cap Francaise, only fleets of 1, 2 and 3 rate ships and a few traders. The NPC fleets should spawn more balanced and the ships should be mixed again.

If the game does not become more accessible and less frustrating, the developers will eventually earn too little money and the project "NA" is dead.

Think about it.

It would be impossible because of rvr then scouts could sail without fear of getting tagged the same AS with traders could turn on NON PvP and gain juge profit. The only thing i could think of that could work is if the port owners could pay the country to protest their zones (pay for extra reinforcement zone) at a quite expensive price.

[Hethwill]

Regarding monetary compensation for activities in the OW

- with a brand new character

- 2 gameplay sessions ( total of 6 hours combined ) I managed to:

> buy all outpost slots but one and open 4 outposts ( all of this costs Reals )

> expand docks once (Reals)

> Admiralty books costing about 1200 dubloons combined

This was made with 3 PvP battles ( were ganks ); 1 kill mission using a 6th rate to kill a 5th rate and half a dozen attacks on AI traders in the Bahamas.

While I cannot simulate the lack of combat dynamics knowledge of a newcomer I did gimp myself by not using any repairs except the ones i'd loot from enemies. The three PvP encounters did help much.

Not sure how it feels overall as I don't have yet the sense of worth of everything and I do not correlate anymore to "old gold" but it kind of feels nice that everyone, without exception, can and will have access to everything if they participate in the OW actions, whatever they are.

The access to 5th rates via Admiralty seems very easy, with the 4th rates and more powerful ships to have a distinct value versus lethality. But, being built by Admiralty they aren't covered by insurance, so will have to test ( for my own good perspective ) what is worth more - to go the lengths build a ship and have the insurance return in the case of failure, or to just use the admiralty exchange and forfeit the Insurance.

All in all still learning the new system.

Suggestion - One thing that would tremendously help everyone - in port screen add OW compass with wind indicator.

[Angus MacDuff]

I made a nice big profit in a TBrig on a 20 minute run.  100K Reals is a good lump sum in this economy.  The one thing I found is that there is only the ability to double your money (that I've found so far), whereas before, you could triple it.  In addition, there are no really big ticket items.  In the past, traders who had the ability, would carry very expensive items which generated much more profit for their time.  On the plus side, with everything weighing 100tons, A TBrig can carry 17 of any item.  The Indiaman can carry 39 (40?), so almost 200k reals on a 5k Real item (at the right port).  This is where the professional trader will have a problem.  They will want some items that cost 30k to buy, so that they can clear millions. @admin, will any big ticket items start appearing?  Will we find ports that can triple our investment?   

[rippold]

On ‎11‎/‎1‎/‎2018 at 4:43 PM, admin said:

NPC ships do not require to be sank to get full loot. You can board and take all hold with you (switching to their vessel). 
For player ships its different. Ship must be sank to get extra rewards. 

Gentlemen,

 

today I sat here for hours, cracking 17 (!!!) AI-Traders in a row, without a single Doubloon in the loot.

Is that really necessary?

Edit: 24 (!!!)

Traders inbound or outbound, it Shows no difference, today. 

Edited November 2, 2018 by rippold

[Angus MacDuff]

7 minutes ago, Wraith said:

Actually I kind of appreciate the new economy. Basically it means if you want to make more money at trading per unit of time spent you have to make some compromises around sailing with bigger more vulnerable ships, and it evens out the playing field for newer players while lowering inflation.  It also places the "big ticket" items much more firmly in the realm of the player-produced items, ala mods, etc.

Yeah, I didn't say I hated it.  Just wondering if there will be options for bigger paydays.  Highly lucrative trade routes make for higher risk trading and of course, well paid hunting.

[Angus MacDuff]

Just now, rippold said:

Gentlemen,

 

today I sat here for hours, cracking 17 (!!!) AI-Traders in a row, without a single Doubloon in the loot.

Is that really necessary?

Really bad luck!  I've killed about ten and scored twice with big Doubloon payoffs.

[Hethwill]

5 minutes ago, rippold said:

Gentlemen,

 

today I sat here for hours, cracking 17 (!!!) AI-Traders in a row, without a single Doubloon in the loot.

Is that really necessary?

Do a try out to test if anything changes. Hit inboud NPC traders ( same as port nation ) instead of the outbound ones.

( keep your lookout on station due to enemy players though, there's enemy player everywhere now ).

[admin]

33 minutes ago, rippold said:

Gentlemen,

 

today I sat here for hours, cracking 17 (!!!) AI-Traders in a row, without a single Doubloon in the loot.

Is that really necessary?

Edit: 19 (!!!)

What about other loot? Or you are only interested in doubloons? Other loot can be 10x more valuable than any amount of doubloons

 

ps
 

Quote

By friction gold loses every year a fourteen hundredth part of its bulk. This is what is called the Wear. Hence it follows that on fourteen hundred millions of gold in circulation throughout the world, one million is lost annually. This million dissolves into dust, flies away, floats about, is reduced to atoms, charges, drugs, weighs down consciences, amalgamates with the souls of the rich whom it renders proud, and with those of the poor whom it renders brutish

Victor Hugo. The man who laughs

 

[TheHaney]

7 minutes ago, admin said:

What about other loot? Or you are only interested in doubloons? Other loot can be 10x more valuable than any amount of doubloons

ps
 

 

I'm not sure if you realize how frustrating it is for players when, instead of just explaining a mechanic (that it's random and he's had a string of bad luck), you drift off to some slightly accusatory or unnecessary flavor text, complete with historical reference, which totally fails to address what he said.

 

I know it's frustrating dealing with this specific playerbase, but those types of responses aren't helping.

 

@rippold, the first day of the patch I killed a dozen LGV's with zero doubloon drops, yesterday I was getting doubloons nearly every kill. It's totally random and I'm pretty sure you just had a shitty day for luck.

Edited November 2, 2018 by TheHaney

[Hethwill]

12 minutes ago, Wraith said:

Why would it matter whether you hit inbound or outbound traders? 

No idea, i'm testing that theory. But i'd imagine a trader going out with wares to sell, and coming back with money in its purse.

[jodgi]

1 hour ago, rippold said:

Gentlemen,

 

today I sat here for hours, cracking 17 (!!!) AI-Traders in a row, without a single Doubloon in the loot.

Is that really necessary?

Edit: 19 (!!!)

Traders inbound or outbound, it Shows no difference, today. 

Hmm... I hit two traders yesterday in the hope of looting doubloons to pay for my teleport decadence. Two traders without even as much as a rat onboard. I lose patience with bots quickly, so I've settled on a different source of doubloons.

Anyway...

I've seen people write that you need to clicksink a ship in order for the doubloons to appear in hold; I dunno if this relates to warships, traders or both, or if it even is true. Admin wrote somewhere you have to switch to the captured ship to access the (hidden) loot. I may have misunderstood.

I'm sure many here have tested this thoroughly and could advice us how to loot and which bits are misunderstood.

[Angus MacDuff]

1 minute ago, jodgi said:

Hmm... I hit two traders yesterday in the hope of looting doubloons to pay for my teleport decadence. Two traders without even as much as a rat onboard. I lose patience with bots quickly, so I've settled on a different source of doubloons.

Anyway...

I've seen people write that you need to clicksink a ship in order for the doubloons to appear in hold; I dunno if this relates to warships, traders or both, or if it even is true. Admin wrote somewhere you have to switch to the captured ship to access the (hidden) loot. I may have misunderstood.

I'm sure many here have tested this thoroughly and could advice us how to loot and which bits are misunderstood.

Nope.  I boarded a AI TBrig and there was 1221 Doubloons in his hold.  Before I sank him (I took the doubloons first of course).

[rippold]

20 minutes ago, admin said:

What about other loot? Or you are only interested in doubloons? Other loot can be 10x more valuable than any amount of doubloons

 

ps
"By friction gold loses every year….blabla….Victor Hugo. Th man who laughs"

 

Dear Sir,

do I have to remind You that we are here as some sort of testplayers?

Testplayers who shall help the developers to find bugs and mistakes.

Furthermore You said yesterday that we should do some PVE to establish a viable financial base with the new currency.

And if a testplayer like me delivers You the evidence that here might something be wrong, then I do not expect You to play a joke on it!

Could You help us with a little more substantial answer?

What is the ratio of Doubloons in the loot of AI-Tradres? 1 in 20 ?? Is it even less? Does it "wear out" in a location ? Have they simply forgotten it, today?

Thank You in advance

[jodgi]

23 minutes ago, Hethwill the Red Duke said:

No idea, i'm testing that theory. But i'd imagine a trader going out with wares to sell, and coming back with money in its purse.

Well, a given trader could be inbound or outbound no matter it's direction, right?

I guess those few mass consuming ports mainly have inbound traffic?

[Lovec1990]

@admin whats wrong that you need too issue emergency  mission hotfixes?

[Hethwill]

Also a good lead and my be tied to ports consuming, makes sense.

Just tagged a US trader that left a US port, followed it to St. Augustin, still at large, seems he was going more south bound though, and tagged it.

Had no dubloons but 572 mahogany logs.

( captured the ship, sold it for 1300 reals or so, and kept the logs for crafting )