Development plans update - Second Half of 2019

[mikawa]

41 minutes ago, Johny Reb said:

I don't like the aggressive npc's on the OS. We had that before years ago and it was annoying. The exception would be if you create legendary npc's that are more rare. You know, famous pirates and such.

I can't imagine that turning all NPCs to agressive would do any good in this game. But I like the idea of elite NPCs which are agressive and which you have to fear :-). And I would love to have elite NPC traders in Indiaman carrying a good amount of rare woods.

[LIONOFWALES]

I think traders that fight back would be a good addition... not all... but to develop a few different NPC personalities for the traders... I have also heard some good ideas regarding making the NPCs react according to battle rating... if your battle rating is higher... they run... if lower they try to kill you.

Also another idea I heard is as follows... to make the NPC traders react in flight when you kill their crew to 50% or below... or below the number of crew you command could be an option as well.

This would make trader NPC killing more dynamic and engaging for trader hunters... instead of a quick farm... the trader would put up a fight... I should also mention that they have marines on board and would like to kill the pirate scum that is trying to take the East India Trade Companies stuff. Perhaps they would try to force boarding?

Any way... just a few ideas from a guy that has played this game since almost day one... 

P.S. Aggressive NPCs are a good move in my opinion... as it will deter AFK game play... I cant count how many players I have killed only to have their ship sit their and die to stern raking... I think something should be done to limit the AFK sailing in the game... and maybe the answer is in aggressive NPCs. In my opinion if it makes the game more dynamic... then great... lets do it. After all... this is called Naval Action! I feel that having the risk of being attacked by NPCs while making trade runs is very interesting... The risk would probably only be closer to land though... as most NPCs are generally within the silhouette of land... And on the PVE server having this I think is a must, mostly because... no danger to making trade runs. This being said, I would recommend limiting aggressive NPCs on the PVP server... only because it is full of aggressive players. But hey, either way... I will continue to play... I am on nearly every day.

[LIONOFWALES]

On 7/22/2019 at 8:02 AM, Yehoodi said:

Yes the goods trading has basically become extincted.   There is very little profit and a risk of loss (purchased goods) as compared to cargo missions.  

Also, there is a loss of some depth in the game as all those goods that added flavor to the game are basically staying in port. 

Not to mention the reduction in port taxes.  

Hopefully, the goods are staying in the game till the Devs figure out a way to balance things.   Although we have been waiting a while. 

In the end cargo/passenger missions do provide a good base for reals and dubs, but would be nice to see the goods back in the game. 

 

 

Perhaps the cargo missions could actually be set up to transport a specific cargo to a port? Instead of just a place holder item in the hold... maybe it could be to move X amount of logs, or coal, or other resource and pay you for delivery? Don't keep the goods though as you will be branded a thief, and not be able to trade goods for missions between ports for a while...say 4 days or something. This would make moving goods profitable for any trader and would bring back what you want as well regarding the added flavor in trading missions... Then we can say... damn I hope I can deliver these Greenheart Logs  instead of, damn I hope I can deliver this random cargo...  I see your point.

[Horatiou]

11 minutes ago, LIONOFWALES said:

I think traders that fight back would be a good addition... not all... but to develop a few different NPC personalities for the traders... I have also heard some good ideas regarding making the NPCs react according to battle rating... if your battle rating is higher... they run... if lower they try to kill you.

Also another idea I heard is as follows... to make the NPC traders react in flight when you kill their crew to 50% or below... or below the number of crew you command could be an option as well.

This would make trader NPC killing more dynamic and engaging for trader hunters... instead of a quick farm... the trader would put up a fight... I should also mention that they have marines on board and would like to kill the pirate scum that is trying to take the East India Trade Companies stuff. Perhaps they would try to force boarding?

Any way... just a few ideas from a guy that has played this game since almost day one... 

P.S. Aggressive NPCs are a good move in my opinion... as it will deter AFK game play... I cant count how many players I have killed only to have their ship sit their and die to stern raking... I think something should be done to limit the AFK sailing in the game... and maybe the answer is in aggressive NPCs. In my opinion if it makes the game more dynamic... then great... lets do it. After all... this is called Naval Action! I feel that having the risk of being attacked by NPCs while making trade runs is very interesting... The risk would probably only be closer to land though... as most NPCs are generally within the silhouette of land... And on the PVE server having this I think is a must, mostly because... no danger to making trade runs. This being said, I would recommend limiting aggressive NPCs on the PVP server... only because it is full of aggressive players. But hey, either way... I will continue to play... I am on nearly every day.

It makes a great deal of sense for the A.I to react to Battle rating according to its own.

So, if we were to put this into perspective:

A.I = 100BR

Player = 340BR 

The resulting action of the A.I would be to run away, however. If it were the opposite the A.I would attempt to intercept the player. Understandably, this does come off to me as a bit of a double-edged sword. We can only tell whether or not the implementation of aggressive NPCs will add dynamic to Naval Action and in-general be widely accepted.

Edited August 14, 2019 by George Burton

[LIONOFWALES]

Yes.... we must have it and try it then... in the name of science. Of course the players that just want to enjoy the beauty of the game will be opposed as they just want to sail and trade unmolested, understandable, but so did the traders historically, they got attacked from time to time though and the results many times were very bad for those that carried their cargo unprotected.

[LIONOFWALES]

19 minutes ago, George Burton said:

The resulting action of the A.I would be to run away, however. If it were the opposite the A.I would attempt to intercept the player. Understandably, this does come off to me as a bit of a double-edged sword. We can only tell whether or not the implementation of aggressive NPCs will add dynamic to Naval Action and in-general be widely accepted.

Yes it is a double edged sword... combat goes two ways and is dangerous by nature... The Trader with a will to fight feature would bring some good content for players wanting to hunt them... maybe even have Indiaman NPCs that have escorts... this also would be cool and be a fun activity for smaller clans... well and maybe larger clans alike. Especially if they have a chance at carrying rare materials.

[LIONOFWALES]

I cant wait for the rest of the plans to be implemented.

[Horatiou]

57 minutes ago, LIONOFWALES said:

Yes it is a double edged sword... combat goes two ways and is dangerous by nature... The Trader with a will to fight feature would bring some good content for players wanting to hunt them... maybe even have Indiaman NPCs that have escorts... this also would be cool and be a fun activity for smaller clans... well and maybe larger clans alike. Especially if they have a chance at carrying rare materials.

I actually like the idea of seeing convoys transporting cargo from one port to the other, perhaps escorted by higher or similar rated ships. I'd definitely say that would add a lot of life to Naval Action. It would give people the opportunity to get more active with a high-risk, high-reward attitude again.

[Sir Max Magic]

On 7/17/2019 at 1:51 PM, admin said:

 

• NPC Aggression (both in the world and in RVR)

 

On 7/17/2019 at 1:58 PM, rediii said:

All nice except this. Depends a lot how it will be implemented...

 

...agree on the second part of your statement ! The size of the NPC Fleets has to get drastically reduced then

On the other hand, noone who comes new to the game, understands that all those enemy ships sailing just past you without taking any notice !! This looks just plain wrong

[LIONOFWALES]

9 hours ago, Sir Max Magic said:

On the other hand, noone who comes new to the game, understands that all those enemy ships sailing just past you without taking any notice !! This looks just plain wrong

This is true... there will be a lot of new players learning this one the hard way... at the beginning when they first enter the game... they should get warning spam... ...

[LIONOFWALES]

On 8/14/2019 at 1:14 PM, George Burton said:

I actually like the idea of seeing convoys transporting cargo from one port to the other, perhaps escorted by higher or similar rated ships. I'd definitely say that would add a lot of life to Naval Action. It would give people the opportunity to get more active with a high-risk, high-reward attitude again.

Yep... that's the idea I think... glad to se another with an adventurous attitude like this...

 

[Karvala]

On 8/14/2019 at 7:53 PM, George Burton said:

It makes a great deal of sense for the A.I to react to Battle rating according to its own.

So, if we were to put this into perspective:

A.I = 100BR

Player = 340BR 

The resulting action of the A.I would be to run away, however. If it were the opposite the A.I would attempt to intercept the player. Understandably, this does come off to me as a bit of a double-edged sword. We can only tell whether or not the implementation of aggressive NPCs will add dynamic to Naval Action and in-general be widely accepted.

One of the key trade-offs in game design is realism vs playability.  Players understandably ask for increased realism in behaviour to make the game more immersive, right up until it's implemented and they realise it's not fun anymore and they didn't really want it at all.

AI that acts more like a human sounds great, until you ask yourself why there is a PvE server as well as a PvP server.  If people want to play against human-like opponents, they already can; they can just login to the PvP server and there are the most realistic human-like opponents you could ever hope to find just waiting for them.  The reason many people play on PvE is precisely because they don't want to chase someone all over the map while that person runs, and they don't want to have to run themselves when a fleet of L'Oceans has them in its sights.  Most people want to fight, they don't just want to sail chasing or running.  The present mechanism (slower AI that doesn't run or chase) is designed to facilitate that and it works well.  Lose it at your peril.

 

[Slim McSauce]

deadline for the first wave? the men are growing increasingly eager in their restlessness. 

[admin]

On 7/17/2019 at 2:58 PM, rediii said:

All nice except this. Depends a lot how it will be implemented...

We had a lot of thoughts about it.
The problem is that static passive NPCs turn the world into static wax figure museum. Yes they interfere with some plans, but also they liven up the world, creating danger zones or changing the balance of forces on the OW. Even most casual games force the pvp player to carefully chose the routes to attack or require them to clear up zones before camping them. 

[admin]

main post updated

[Malcolm3]

14 minutes ago, admin said:

We had a lot of thoughts about it.
The problem is that static passive NPCs turn the world into static wax figure museum. Yes they interfere with some plans, but also they liven up the world, creating danger zones or changing the balance of forces on the OW. Even most casual games force the pvp player to carefully chose the routes to attack or require them to clear up zones before camping them. 

@admin actually it's the part of another problem - the open world is vast empty space filled with NPC and other objects. But they are not compiled into living and functioning system that can be disrupted, used, protected, of supplemented by players.

P.S. Wind patches sound promising, if I got it correctly

Edited September 2, 2019 by Malcolm3

[Sea Archer]

@admin can you give us hint about the schedule? When do you plan to release the updates?

[Bragan Benigaris]

On 7/17/2019 at 1:51 PM, admin said:

Wind patches in OW

I'm curious, what may be this about? Changing winds in OW? 🙂

[Hethwill]

On 7/17/2019 at 12:51 PM, admin said:

Wind patches in OW

So... wind variation at some points in the OW ? Like trade winds and calms ? ...

Is this a precursor test to true wind variation everywhere !?

😮 

[admin]

40 minutes ago, Bragan Benigaris said:

I'm curious, what may be this about? Changing winds in OW? 🙂

Wind patch is a zone with stronger wind allowing the captain to gain a speed boost sailing nearby. Of course because of nature of the OW he will have to sail closer and click something to use this wind - but its a good compromise to bring some variability into sailing in the OW + reduce travel times for captains who pay attention.

[Gregory Rainsborough]

On 7/17/2019 at 12:51 PM, admin said:

Wind patches in OW

Random OW winds? 😮 Woo!

[RubyRose]

On 7/17/2019 at 9:45 AM, van der Clam said:

IMO, NPC Aggression should occur ONLY in Capital and Regional Capital zones for defense only. 

And please make Raids viable for solo and small clans. And make it so when the raid is successful that the loot we steal come directly from the enemy's resource buildings and warehouses and that the loot amount will be selectable. Say we hit a port with a Tree Farm and Iron Mine, give us a slider bar to adjust how much of the loot we wish to take based on our hold size of all ships in our fleet. (Do this for Sunken Treasure too, please.)

Also, the "Massive Painter DLC should be combined with the current Painter DLC. Anyone who bought that already expected a heck of a lot more paints than there currently is; so they deserve to automatically get this DLC included.

And please, let us see your planned ROE update for the Patrol Zone, before you throw it on us.  Same with the Crew Experience you have planned.

GL devs, hope it goes well.

why only capital zones that would defeat the purpose of NPC aggression to only occur near capitals rather then the whole map. raids shouldnt be geared just towards solo types it should clan based or large group based. otherwise u'll have solo players constantly farming ports across the map. i dont mind another dlc to buy in all honest if they add in more ships as dlc i'll likely buy them too. there is no real testing phase anymore they add a feature its likely to stay for a long time.

[Vernon Merrill]

42 minutes ago, admin said:

Wind patch is a zone with stronger wind allowing the captain to gain a speed boost sailing nearby. Of course because of nature of the OW he will have to sail closer and click something to use this wind - but its a good compromise to bring some variability into sailing in the OW + reduce travel times for captains who pay attention.

Could it be something coded like shallows?  Where if you sail over a certain area, you get a different wind strength?  Of course, it would be great if you couldn't actually SEE it like the shallows, but you get a small warning icon like when you near shallow areas?

Anyways, curious to see how its implemented.  I do hope they are not static, however.

Nice improvement potentially!

 

[Teutonic]

58 minutes ago, admin said:

Wind patch is a zone with stronger wind allowing the captain to gain a speed boost sailing nearby. Of course because of nature of the OW he will have to sail closer and click something to use this wind - but its a good compromise to bring some variability into sailing in the OW + reduce travel times for captains who pay attention.

I really like the thought of this.

I must ask though - Will these "zones" be visible on the map?

Is this to increase the spread of travel from lets say, gustavia to great corn (if you were to travel in a straight line)?

Is this a zone in which you gain a speed boost when you are far away from visible land?

[Meraun]

@admin Do we have an ETA on the first update?