Saintduiex Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Those of you that may know me know or have read my posts know that, while I am always focused on ways to build and improve TDA - The Decatur Armada, I am just as focused on promoting Naval Action, supporting Game-Labs and doing whatever I can to help this game achieve its potential as the very best 18th-19th century naval warfare game ever conceived. Therefore, while this post will have aspects of TDA recruiting, it’s main focus is on trying to help the newer players who may just be joining Naval Acton. Some will feel that joining a fleet may not be right for everyone and some want to just do their own thing by themselves, no help or assistance. Is there any specific advantage at all of NOT being in a fleet? Actually, there is no advantage that I can see. What??? No way you say! I must have my independence to do my own thing!! Great, that is not an advantage. But, the game should embrace and support all types of players and does need the independent guy, a crafter or merchant. I won’t change your mind and really don’t want to so it’s not worth your time to read any further. Why should I join a fleet? Perhaps shared resources, friends to help you out of a tough fight, ability to specialize in econ, or PvP, or exploration and still reap the benefits of all of those other areas as they are shared with you. Not all fleets are right for all players. For the most part they are not interchangeable, so you should take some time and figure out which is the best fit for you. And, depending upon the fleet (like TDA) you can join a fleet and still have your independence. What are the basic types of fleets(clans)that are playing Naval Action that we have seen or may see from here on out? And for the sake of argument, there may be others Nation Specific Fleets Multiple-Game Gaming Fleets Former PotBS Fleets Pirate Focused Fleets Independent Captain Buddy Fleets Fleets can have one of more of these attributes. For example, a Fleet could be a subgroup of a larger gaming clan that has decided to participate in NA, they may previously have played PotBS, and they may be a Nation specific fleet. Nation Specific Fleet: Some Nation Specific examples are the Sea Lords (British), The United Polish Navy (Polish), and The Real Armada Espanola (Spanish). While TDA will sail under the American Flag when available, we truly are a fleet built across worldwide membership: US, Sweden, South Africa, France, Malta, Brazil, and Asia. Which means typically you will find a TDA player online no matter what time of day it is. Multi-gaming Fleet: Some advantages of being with Fleets that are part of a Multi-Gaming clan are that typically multi-gaming clan members have all played together for years and are pretty close, have established processes and, as the name states they play games other than Naval Action. Some disadvantages are that new members can sometimes find it hard to break into the “clique”, can feel isolated or unable to participate in fleet management and being spread across multiple games they may not have the expertise that NA only focused fleets have. So, if you are an outgoing multi-game player this may be the best option for you. With TDA (The Decatur Armada) we are only focused on Naval Action. Since we are a new group there are no cliques and new members are encouraged to participate in all areas of fleet management or just be a player and leverage the advantages of being part of a fleet. Former PotBS Fleets: Advantages are that these guys may have some good experience in naval warfare. Also, some of these fleets have very large resources and member bases. However, NA is not PotBS so some of these groups may have some lessons that were learned in PotBS that need to be unlearn... perhaps again and again till they let go of the PotBS mindset. NA is not PotBS. TDA has members that played PotBS but that is not even a minor consideration for us. We are aligning ourselves with the NA developers changes and their focus, and not hindered by any PotBS baggage. Pirate Focused Fleets: Typically independence and PvP skills are the primary focus of these groups. They typically have the support features of other fleets (forums and TS) but sail together, independently. Based upon the threads and discussions in the NA forums, pirates will be factors but they may be more challenged to overcome issues that other groups will not, such as bounties on their heads and national fleets that may not tolerate much interference from them. As an America fleet, TDA will freely associate, support, or hire freebooters and “pirates” who’s interests align with our own but by no means are we a Pirate fleet. And, if it is adversarial, they will be quickly dealt with should they come between us and our goals or those of our friends and associates. Independent Captain Buddy Fleets: Typically within a time zone or two of each other, these fleets can range from almost professional ninja PvP killers to just guys clowning around and just looking to BS on TeamSpeak, have a beer or two and play a game to unwind. They are typically much smaller than others and may not have more than a few TS channels on their servers and not forums or interaction beyond TS. TDA has aspects of these as well As I noted above, most fleets will have more that one of these backgrounds. The Decatur Armada: The Decatur Armada is a one of several fleets that began building and active recruiting in late October 2014, around the time that the Alpha Sea Trials were kicking off. Since November 2014 we have averaged a new member every 2 days. Of those members, more than 70% of the membership is active in the game and on our forums on a regular to daily basis. Our members remain in the top of the NA leaderboards. Average age is 33 although the age of our membership ranges from 15 to 62. We have a very active forum covering humor, awards, open world planning and ship capabilities analysis. We have an active TS and a website that is just about fully fleshed out with chatrooms, forums, player info, fleet membership info, 4 active squadrons with more planned as we grow and by far the best graphics in NA. We are governed by an Admiralty of 5 members that lead multiple Divisions focused on different aspects of play, and many additional staff positions ranging as TS Administrators to Econ and Exploration Analysts. We have an awards system to recognize those members who have helped develop the fleet as well as for in-game achievements. We have training videos to help the newest NA players to quickly get on their feet and playing well. Our members are among the most involved players in the Naval Action forums. Look across all the threads and note the signature blocks of those of our members who post on a very regular basis. Is TDA for everyone? Nahh… And that is just fine. We need many fleets. We just happen to be the best, by our definition as least All kidding aside, TDA is a “Zero Trama Drama” mature group of players who speak with respect to each other but are also not afraid to drop the occasional “F” bomb in TeamSpeak when we get our stern handed to us by a Santi raking us into a million splinters. We are “team support” focused with players who’s skills range from the noob to the best of the best in NA today. If you are not a team player, no matter how good you are, we prefer that you move along and look elsewhere for a fleet. We will all be happier Join a fleet today, regardless of which one. Build the relationships now in Alpha Sea Trials and don’t wait for open World or you may feel like you are behind the curve. There are some very good groups lead by some very excellent Naval Action players with strong leadership skills. And you may actually be one of them as well, so why not start your own today!! -Saint- Join TDA: www.decaturarmada.enjin.com 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flip Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Good post, I hope all clans are run as well as TDA from what I've seen. There is one common link between NA and POTBS that you missed. Free marks will still be free marks 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Caldwell Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 Nice post Sir.... well done. ------------------------------- If I may, I'd like to add some small details to clarify our set up and roll in NA. We are a Guild built on a fine Naval tradition. We formed way back playing the old 'Age of Sail II' game by Akella back in 2001. We are a very focused group of players, but culturally diverse hailing members from the US, UK, Europe and Russia. We tend to attract the mature naval enthusiast (both in age and attitude) and strangely enough many ex service men. The Sea Lords Virtual Fleet is a catch all guild, covering many games over the years however we are now concentrating fully on Naval Action, exclusively! We have 2 active Fleets. The Royal Navy comprising of 3 Squadrons, White (EU based) Blue (US based) and Red, held in reserve for future plans... possibly a Merchant Navy. We also have an exclusively USN. We play regularly in all time zones and utilize TS often. When the Alpha allows we are hoping to organise training evenings and team events but currently the server setup doesn't allow it. We are currently growing steadily and attracting quality players who wish to take their Naval Action experience to the next level. If you enjoy the Best of British and its Glorious Naval History then perhaps we at the SLVF RN may be for you...... To Apply to join merely register on our forum and post an introductory post about yourself and experience. Thank you and God Save the King! Apply Here: http://forum.sealordsvf.org/index.php?/topic/6184-apply-to-join-sea-lords-vf-royal-navy-here/ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William the Drake Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 Arr, I'll eat buckshot 'fore I let ye Navy toms have all the recruitin' space! The Messengers of Death was one of the largest societies in Pirates of the Burning Sea on the Roberts Server (EU). Fer over two years these folks have been sailin' with each other. We were heavily active in all aspect, including PvP, RvR and economy. We were mighty organized, and were driven and lucky enough to secure one of the most recent Pirate map victories in PotBS, no small feat for the Pirate faction: for it hadn't been done in over three years! Alas, PotBS is on its last legs now, and most MoD has moved on to other games, Such as ArcheAge and Warthunder (And now Naval Action)The MoD Leadership be structured as such: there be 3 Triumvirs. The first being Lydia Fry, the harbinger of MoD, and leader in the ArcheAge MoD. Second be Morgan McKinnon, one of the original founders of MoD, and co leader at Archeage. And finally there be me, William Drummond, leader of the WarThunder Squadron and (now) Naval Action Flotilla. In Naval Action, we intend to sail as free captains, able to pillage, plunder, and be merry as we see fit. And If'n the makers decide that Piratin' be not a proper way to go about business, then we be prepared to sign up with either (first option) the United States Continental Navy or (second option) the English Royal Navy. Arr, we be not the sort fer the navy, but ye need pay to buy grog! We strive to be a close knit group o' respectable players that any gaming community can look up to. Griefing, flaming, and trolling simply not be our way. We invite English speaking players from pretty much anywhere to join up with us if they wish, and lay to it, we'll treat ye as our own. We follow the code, and follow in the footsteps o' gentlemen o' fortune before us. So if'n ye be interested, sign on! -William Drummond Lord of the Messengers of Death Captain of the Naval Action MoD Flotilla 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thomas Blackwell Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 A good post, say for one part. So long as freedom exists there will be those who fight for it. Threaten the freedom of men with nothing to lose and they will humour your 'navy' no longer. Take heed that the AoC is built by such men and you would do well to remember that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johny Reb Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 Nice post Saint.... I would add another way of classifying the formation of fleets. I submit we will find that fleets will focus on one of the three. They may participate in all but will be known for one over the rest. PvE - PvE fleets are generally concerned with numbers and a group of low drama good natured bunch of players. Their recruitment style is, "anyone and everyone" is welcome as long as your not a tool. I ran a very successful Potbs society of this type. The positives of this type of group is that it is very active and you are always likely to find people on. If the people in the fleet are good people this can be a very fun group to be a part of. The downside of this group is that no matter what attitude players join with, the majority will run from fights. Now this could be different in NA if the ships are much easier to get into as the admins predict. We will see. PvP takes an attitude that most people don't have. Only in no loss environments will the majority of this group come out to play. Usually these groups will have a small group of players that are true pvp'ers. PvP - This type of fleet will most likely be smaller in size due to its more focused players. It requires pvp activity to join and remain a part of the group. Competition is the highlight of game play followed by reputation. They want to be know as a group that makes a difference. They generally don't recruit openly and often. Players generally find them. The positives of this group is experience and competence, a close knit community of people that are really good at working together. Usually within these societies you will not only find competent willing players but experienced gifted leaders who can multitask big fights. The negatives of this type of society is that they are sometimes formed randomly and often, meaning that a well known pvp'er starts their own fleet and all the other pvp'ers from other groups rush to join the next best thing. These types of pvp fleets are generally not formed out of loyalty but simply for communication and can be cliquish. If formed in this way they can be unstable. So, if your looking for a fleet that will hunt down fights and not just wait for the fight to come to them then this may be the type of fleet you want to join. I would just add that you should do it cautiously if you are interested in a stable fleet. Econ - These societies are built for one purpose. To get rich. Often they are formed by one person with many toons to facilitate transfer of goods to their main character. We don't know yet if these type of societies will be allowed in NA. They are often connected in some loose way to another society where their main often a part of but this is not always the case. Many are not interested in joining a society so they make one for themselves and their many toons. Tattered Flags We are a Pvp/Econ fleet that plans on going the distance as a stable, mature, influential, and talented group of friends. We've tried the PvE route in past games and find it wanting. We are looking for people, who when asked to fight do not give answers like "I'm fleeting right now," or "I need to finish a couple of missions first." There now is a rush to join up with a fleet which is good and healthy but eventually the dust will settle, and it will settle,and when it does you will find members of Tattered Flags charging out of the fog down on the enemy, you will see them leading fights on enemy ports and you will see them protecting our merchantmen. To arms or to Hell. Take your pick. We also want to take time to invite econ oriented players as well. No pvp group can exist for long without the support of professional and talented merchants. In fact, its importance is so great that we consider them pvp'ers even when they don't fight their ships. Without our shipbuilders we would have no ships to fight with! We are looking to expand our talented economy oriented group with new players from the NA forums. We have some coming over from Potbs as soon as they bring an economy to the game. They are very talented, organized and are well known by all the nations on the tiggy server, potbs. You will be joining a group of econ magnates that have proved themselves for years. Down with hereditary aristocracy. Long live liberty! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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