2 New Items: Loki Rune, And Ship Logbook

[Stormandfire]

Can you limit only 1 Loki player per battle? I attack 1 fleet of 3 AI and all of them turn into player. That is sure lose situation, there are no way to win again 3 player.

[GrubbyZebra]

On 2/9/2020 at 11:04 PM, Stormandfire said:

Can you limit only 1 Loki player per battle? I attack 1 fleet of 3 AI and all of them turn into player. That is sure lose situation, there are no way to win again 3 player.

yes please. 

Hit a wasa + 10 fleet yesterday, and had 2 loki's in there.

[Quiet Assassin]

Loki in your home capital waters is wrong. 

2 days in a row, I've been trying to open slots on a new ship by fighting AI at my capital port, only to find myself in a battle with some admiral enemy player. I also had doubs in the hold from my previous fight, which I would have stored in port had I known. I never got sunk, but the 2nd player escaped from the fight, leaving me with very little XP...the very reason I was playing.

Can you please not allow Loki in capital ports? That's where many of us get our ships ready before OW.

Actually, I would like to see Loki go away entirely.

[Commodore Sixty Four]

Reading this thread about the Loki Rune has been interesting but I’m keen to understand from the ambushed player’s perspective, how do you know when your AI opponent has been “possessed” by a human captain, turning your PvE engagement into a PvP one? Is there any indication in-game, via UI for example, other than a potentially hard to identify change in opponent behaviour? I couldn’t find this mentioned in the thread and am intrigued to know, as I’m currently building up to PvP ability through a focus on PvE targets, so am more likely to encounter someone using Loki Rune.

Thanks in advance.

[Macjimm]

5 hours ago, Commodore Sixty Four said:

how do you know when your AI opponent has been “possessed” by a human captain, turning your PvE engagement into a PvP one?

If the human captain is a gentleman he may PM you.  But other than that, you can only watch the behavior of the ship.  NPCs are unlikely to be as tricky as a player.

[Malcolm3]

6 hours ago, Commodore Sixty Four said:

Reading this thread about the Loki Rune has been interesting but I’m keen to understand from the ambushed player’s perspective, how do you know when your AI opponent has been “possessed” by a human captain, turning your PvE engagement into a PvP one? Is there any indication in-game, via UI for example, other than a potentially hard to identify change in opponent behaviour? I couldn’t find this mentioned in the thread and am intrigued to know, as I’m currently building up to PvP ability through a focus on PvE targets, so am more likely to encounter someone using Loki Rune.

Thanks in advance.

Besides strange behavior of the enemy (e.g. AI Trader attacking you, or warship escaping the battle) there are some clear indicators of Loki in your battle:

1. Loki can use chain and grape while AI only uses roundshot
2. Loki gets "Control" on you, while AI doesn't have it
3. Loki changes initial rank on his AI ship to the lowest rank of his nation flag (e.g. you tagged Prussian AI of Captain rank and it suddenly is commanded by Kadett)

 

[admin]

7 hours ago, Commodore Sixty Four said:

Reading this thread about the Loki Rune has been interesting but I’m keen to understand from the ambushed player’s perspective, how do you know when your AI opponent has been “possessed” by a human captain, turning your PvE engagement into a PvP one? Is there any indication in-game, via UI for example, other than a potentially hard to identify change in opponent behaviour? I couldn’t find this mentioned in the thread and am intrigued to know, as I’m currently building up to PvP ability through a focus on PvE targets, so am more likely to encounter someone using Loki Rune.

Thanks in advance.

The best feature to learn PVP is actually Loki rune itself. Invade others!

[Commodore Sixty Four]

1 hour ago, Malcolm3 said:

Besides strange behavior of the enemy (e.g. AI Trader attacking you, or warship escaping the battle) there are some clear indicators of Loki in your battle:

1. Loki can use chain and grape while AI only uses roundshot
2. Loki gets "Control" on you, while AI doesn't have it
3. Loki changes initial rank on his AI ship to the lowest rank of his nation flag (e.g. you tagged Prussian AI of Captain rank and it suddenly is commanded by Kadett)

 

Thanks for this and @Macjimm’s previous answer. Based on this, I’m 90% certain I went up against a Loki Russian Traders Snow last night. I picked the juicy target for my Niagara but found myself in a full-on, twisting knife fight I wasn’t expecting, with repeated missed attempts at boarding from me. The Traders Snow eventually surrendered with zero crew, but my Niagara was badly shot up and I remember thinking “Wow, that was more aggressive AI than I remember encountering before. Either that, or I’m even more incompetent than I thought!”. I wasn’t looking for, and didn’t notice, the rank change but will keep an eye out for that in future. That’s the reason I was so interested when I started reading this thread this morning and your replies may have helped me put two and two together. Thanks.

[Audacious]

5 hours ago, admin said:

The best feature to learn PVP is actually Loki rune itself. Invade others!

only if they fight, half just waste time and run

[Cornelis Evertsen de Oude]

12 hours ago, admin said:

The best feature to learn PVP is actually Loki rune itself. Invade others!

The best feature to learn PvP is in screening fights, soon to be lost for all.................

[Cornelis Evertsen de Oude]

13 hours ago, Malcolm3 said:

Besides strange behavior of the enemy (e.g. AI Trader attacking you, or warship escaping the battle) there are some clear indicators of Loki in your battle:

1. Loki can use chain and grape while AI only uses roundshot
2. Loki gets "Control" on you, while AI doesn't have it
3. Loki changes initial rank on his AI ship to the lowest rank of his nation flag (e.g. you tagged Prussian AI of Captain rank and it suddenly is commanded by Kadett)

 

Addition to these.

If you sunk it, it will be shown in combat news aswell and surrendering is also a feature only can be done by players..normal or as loki.

[Commodore Sixty Four]

2 hours ago, Cornelis Evertsen de Oude said:

Addition to these.

If you sunk it, it will be shown in combat news aswell and surrendering is also a feature only can be done by players..normal or as loki.

Thanks, this is also helpful. I didn’t even think to look for an announcement in Combat News but will do so in future if I suspect I’ve fought and won against a Loki. Surrender is indicated by a white flag right (my detailed understanding of game mechanics is not deep enough here)? Because there was definitely that, but I just can’t remember how a PvE victory ends (presumably no white flag?) to confirm it was a Loki I defeated. If so, it was my first — if unwitting — PvP win.

[Commodore Sixty Four]

15 hours ago, admin said:

The best feature to learn PVP is actually Loki rune itself. Invade others!

Thanks @admin. I’ll no doubt give it a go if/when I obtain a Loki Rune.

The mechanic is interesting, based on the premise that everything on PvP server is dangerous and has the double benefit of upskilling PvE players to PvP standard more quickly (albeit with a few hard lessons and tears along the way) and giving those in possession of Loki Rune the ability to enhance their PvP skills at little cost (the opportunity cost of time spent only). I may regret it if I lose my primary ship to a Loki but, as has been mentioned, that should still be difficult if you’re choosing a PvE target(s) of an appropriate BR. In the meantime I’m a fan of the “nasty surprise” element of this feature, unlike some others.

[Aquillas]

On 5/20/2020 at 1:46 AM, Commodore Sixty Four said:

Is there any indication in-game, via UI for example, other than a potentially hard to identify change in opponent behaviour?

Thanks in advance.

You will find some indicators here.