ADVICES FOR NEW CAPTAINS

[Celtiberofrog]

Dear all,

Here could be posted any relevant advices to give to new players,

in order to help them progessing faster or avoiding loosing interest.

Cheers 

[Poryv]

Join a clan!

[Thonys]

32 minutes ago, Poryv said:

Join a clan!

and after that 

get in contact with your fellow members by joining the Discord channel or TS channel

communication is the most important aspect to learn faster.

 

 

Edited July 15, 2019 by Thonys

[Celtiberofrog]

If you do not want to buy DLC ships:

If you do not want to join a clan first but learn on your own:

if the TUTORIAL is too hard to finish:

 

==> You may focus on "deliveries" first, you must start with passengers deliveries which can be done with the simplest ship. check in each visited ports the "mission list" and chose some passenger missions depending on the intinary sailing you may prefer.

These deliveries will allow you to raise some Reals & Dublons quite easy, then with some cash you may be able to buy a good ship in regional capitals "ships auction list". The only restriction will be to sail on ships with your maximum allowed crew. But with a better new ship you may be able to hunt AI's ships and get XP's for upper ranking.

Once you have cash and can capture a small trader, like Trader Brig, you may carry on with deliveries but with "Cargo" this time, which will grow your cash faster.

In any cases you may be able very soon to complete the first Tutorial levels, you may get a free "Rattlesnake" with "repairs" (very important repair stock) which will help you a lot to start hunting AI's.

 

Once you own a trader ship.

If you are patient, you better study the map area where you are, investigate every nearby ports to know their ressources and check different cost of goods. You will find that some expensive goods can be bought in one port and sold in another port with substential benefits. 

Bear in mind that when you sail a trader (only trader) you can visit any enemy port as well.

 

Edited July 15, 2019 by Celtiberofrog

[Raekur]

28 minutes ago, Celtiberofrog said:

Once you own a trader ship.

If you are patient, you better study the map area where you are, investigate every nearby ports to know their ressources and check different cost of goods. You will find that some expensive goods can be bought in one port and sold in another port with substential benefits. 

Bear in mind that when you sail a trader (only trader) you can visit any enemy port as well.

 

In regards to this, to aid in locating a specific port, hit M to bring up the map, on the left side you will see "More". Clicking on this will bring up some useful tools. Among these you will find a port locator. This will help you understand where some ports are to help you decide if a particular delivery mission is too far.

Another very useful tool can be found at https://na-map.netlify.com/ look over all the options at this site as it contains information on not only the ports but all the different ships in the game as well.

[Liq]

Only ever sail what you can afford to lose

Im sick of reading "this is my only good ship" etc

Go practise in cheaper more replacable ships. Our clan went out in oak oak Surprises with very basic upgrades in the first week(s) at the nasau patrol zone and was pretty successful

[Hennessy]

New players don't know about this forum.

[mikawa]

At first: stay cool. Do the turorials, once, twice, maybe more often, just to gain practice. Collect reward for endurance exam.

Never take more repairs with you than needed for 1-2 repair cycles. I mostly sail out without repairs when fighting AI.
Collect money by doing trade missions (passengers & cargo) passengers are more easy because you can sail out in traders lynx which can easily escape any enemy warship by sailing upwind. Cargo missions give slighty more rewards, but you have a much slower trader brig.

Don't waste money for forge because you can get very far with the standard medium cannons availiable in every port. Buy workshop first so you can make repairs. Sail to free ports nearby the PVP hotspots (maybe aves, la tortue, la mona, shroud cay) and sell your repairs there for good profit.

Gain XP, attack AI in OW. If you have Hercules DLC try to stern rake a single Essex until the masts break (you must shoot his stern armour down to appr. 15%). Keep firing ball shots at stern. Once the first mast breaks it's easy to finish him. Takes a bit to master (turn masts parallel to wind & depower to slow down without lowering sails), but you get good rewards.

Battles are very difficult when AI ship is just one or two ranks higher in hierarchy, so don't fight Essex in a Belle Poule, for example. If you are out for plenty of XP try to fight Ocean in a Belle Poule (but then equip carronades and choose carronade perk).

Try to fire arhythmic at the enemy ship; point your ship bow ahead at enemy when he fires then turn to hit him fully with your broadside, then point bow to enemy again. It helps to have turning upgrade (like navy sails for a few doubloons).

Don't worry. Eberybody else is struggling with the new difficult level the same as yourself. 😉

 

[Celtiberofrog]

10 minutes ago, Norden said:

New players don't know about this forum.

Not very kind to them !! they're not closer cousins of Neanderthal

[Teutonic]

4 hours ago, Liq said:

Only ever sail what you can afford to lose

Im sick of reading "this is my only good ship" etc

Go practise in cheaper more replacable ships. Our clan went out in oak oak Surprises with very basic upgrades in the first week(s) at the nasau patrol zone and was pretty successful

in my experience, any patrol zone is great for folks to try any type of build or any crazy thing and still get rewarded through damage. I second your choice in the nassau patrol zone, it is incredibly easy to build shallow ships. They use very little repairs, they are still enjoyable to fight in because no deep water ship can come and ruin your day. 

It further reinforces my thought that we should have Real rewards come back for damage in all battles though.

I sometimes ponder on the difficulty to get people to join shallow water activity. 

[James Thomson]

My advice, find another game that is newbie friendly. 

"NA is made for hardcore gamers only." 

Thats what admin has written. 

[Oli Garchy]

41 minutes ago, James Thomson said:

My advice, find another game that is newbie friendly. 

"NA is made for hardcore gamers only." 

Thats what admin has written. 

Cowards way out

[Bart Smith]

My advice: don`t join zerg nations😉

[Angus MacDuff]

Spend a few days on the peace server and ask questions there.  Learn to kill AI and make money there, first.

[Slim McSauce]

My advice? If you're PVEing keep an eye on AI fleets around you, they offer cover in case you get chased.
If your pvping, learn in a corvette. Surprise, or Renomee. Fast build, learn to dictate the terms of combat.
Economy has gotten easier, combat has gotten harder. Good luck.

[Aquillas]

My Golden Rules for new players:

• NEVER sail in under-crewed ship. It is better to sail in a fully crewed Snow than in an under crewed Mercury. An under-crew ship is just a sitting duck if some enemy enters in your fight.
• Initially, for PVE, use cheap admiralty built ships, and prefer strong built (live oak, white oak, caguairan or sabicu), crew space. In PVE, you don't have to be fast.
• Make some trading and passenger missions to earn money easily.
• Focus in learning manual sailing and, when a fight is finished, use the 15 remaining minutes to practice it. Manual sailing is worth even in a basic cutter!
• Try and learn using carronades when you are in tiny ships (from Privateer to Cerberus). This will open you some valuable choices later. Properly used, carronades are way more powerful than medium guns.
• With a oak plantation, a coal mine, an iron mine and a forge, all level 1, you can do your guns yourself: long guns and carronades at will!

Edited July 16, 2019 by Aquillas

[Hethwill]

With a basic cutter try to capture a Trader Brig. Use it for Trade missions and make some open world sailing. This will give you a sense of time and distance of travels in the open world. Explore the map as much as possible. Set objectives - for example, do a circumnavigation of the entire map. See different parts.

With a basic cutter try to capture a lynx/pickle. With a lynx/pickle try to capture a privateer. With a privateer try to capture a Brig. With the Brig try to capture a Navy Brig/Snow. With the Navy Brig/Snow try to capture a Mercury.

While doing this exercises you will be practising manual control of rigging, discipline of fire, wind control, distances, boarding and most other combat mechanics. Additionally it will provide whatever those ships have in the hold with the benefit of already being equipped with guns and ready to use.

Specific for war server, in addition to the mentioned ----- be social. Try to mingle with a group. See if you fit in. If not, try another. All groups are different and there's no right way to play the game. Always sail with guns ( don't listen to the vets that tell you nothing can catch your trader lynx ). Always have a bit of repairs. Do not fear loss. Loss is just a mechanic. Rinse and repeat. Once over the fence you will be winning more than losing. There are no shortcuts to the game, other than staying in port and never sailing.

Have fun playing with other people. Even a quick trade run can transform into a battle instance, so why not ask a friend to sail with you in a warship ? If enemies appear, you won't be fighting alone.

[CrustyJohnson]

As a fairly new player, I am putting together a tips and tricks guide called 'All The "Hello Kitty" They Don't Teach You The First Time Around'. So far it is very limited, as I am trying to remember all the things I've learned along the way and compile things I find in this forum into it. I am imagining it to not really be a beginner's guide, but more-so a list of aspects of the game that are not obvious or explained. I want a new or novice player to read through it and at least once say "Oh dang i didn't realize that". I will continue to add to it as I play and learn and will also add as much info from this thread and the Q&A thread as possible.The link is below and it is open fully to edits and comments, so please fact-check it and add things that you wished you would've known when you were a new player. No tip is too obvious!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1s8aYJEQ8ZwCOaoJaH-u0SVh4Ttmsobept9STIWP7Bf8/edit?usp=sharing

[Genevieve Malfleurs]

Very nice approach! What I´d suggest to every new player is: Stick with the little ships longer, free all their bookslots. Don´t underestimate Lynxes, Cutters and the like,

and learn to sail them manually. They are fine vessels to harass bigger ships and you can escape the square rigged seal clubbers who hang around your port being so proud of their miserable deeds :).  After that you might sail for a longer time with the Snow. She is capable, cheap and can be very dangerous. Check her sailing profiles and her possibilities to escape! Same with the Prince de Neufchatel. Forget about sailing a frigate as fast as possible please, because it most likely won´t do you good! Invest in book knowledge. The ones available in admirality are fairly good and cheap. Mix with your Snow/Prince in fleet battles (get Teamspeak!) and you will feel very satisfied once you´ve blown away a Trincomalees stern and crew of a loathed seal clubber. Always have the pvp missions activated. Assists count too! Best wishes, Gene

[Angus MacDuff]

I encountered a player yesterday who believed that since the Pickle is faster than the Herc, it would have no effect on his OW speed with him in fleet.   This is incorrect.  When ships are in fleet, you take on the speed of the slowest ship and if you are fleeting a fore-and-aft rig with a square rig, you take on the disadvantages of their various points of sail.  What this means with a Herc and a Pickle in fleet, is that the Herc's best point of sail is removed because it is not a good course for the Pickle.