RvR Retreat Circle - Idea to save Time

[Tenet]

Problem outline: This is a summary of a typical RvR session from the Aggressor:

1. Sail out of a port around 30-45 minutes away from where you want to attack. Spend 60 minutes or more because there is no way to match speeds, so Half-Sail juggling is maximum.

2. Fight in a port battle, up to 90 minutes.

3. Lose, and be unable to logoff - now have to spend 60 minutes or likely longer, while being harassed by enemies trying to catch someone sleeping.

Considering the battle timers, that often means late night for most people, and it becomes a real pain to execute a strike. 

Design Goals:

1. Keep the opportunity to engage and sink enemies "after the PB" (whether this is good for the game should be evaluated). 

2. Eliminate as much of the boring sailing, especially on the return trip. 

Solution:

Port Battle creates an even larger "RvR Retreat Circle" after it concludes. This circle is large enough to allow one opportunity to get tagged once outside of battle. 

When every ship in the Battle Group manages to sail outside of this "Retreat Circle", each player gets a "Retreat to Home Port?" prompt button. 

If they Accept - their ship has to wait 60 seconds while stationary. When the timer is up, the ship disappears, and the player gets ported to their closest outpost. 

The ship in question cannot be used for twice the sailing time calculated by the game. It appears in port, but is disabled for that duration (grayed out, no access to cargo). 

Bonus rule: The only acceptable cargo are Doubloons, Repairs and Upgrades. A ship with any other cargo (books, goods, etc) cannot use the Retreat circle. 

Interception: Enemies can still intercept ships regularly on their way to RvR, or sink them in the Port Battle, or tag them right outside of port, or while they wait on the retreat timer once outside range (this new circle). Whether this applies to offensive anti-screeners (in  clans on the PB list) could be an extra feature.

Edited October 23, 2019 by Tenet

[Mouth of Sauron]

I like it. 

[Tenet]

4 hours ago, Wraith said:

Wait wait wait, @Dread Pirate West liked this post after all his moaning about "realism?!"  Instant teleport from the OW after crossing some magical line is fine by him but variable wind boosts aren't?  Sigh, how can we deal with such hypocrisy?

Back on topic, I'd be fine with some kind of system like this but it feels like it kind of flies in the face and the intention of front lines. You could argue, if this is acceptable, that you should be able to have the same kind of mechanic after any battle?  Which, again, we can debate the merits of, but it does remove opportunities for PvP and counter-screening, strategic fleet positioning etc.  I don't know, I'm pretty ambivalent about it to be honest.

I don't think this implies "any battle".

RvR specifically implies 1st Rates, and the requirement to move around in big groups. That last leg of the sail back almost never includes PvP (once you are out of sight of land, and with enough numbers to prevent further tags earlier anyway). Such unnecessary corners of "unfun" need to be shaved off, to leave as much of the actual PvP-time intact.

Would you rather spend those 45 minutes sailing a slow group of PB ships safely back to port, or get back, get into a faster PvP ship, and actually show up elsewhere in the OW? Isn't that an actual increase in OW PvP, not a decrease?

The time that you spend sailing the 1st Rate back is "Seen", what is "Unseen" is the missed opportunities for other more PvP-friendly activity. 

Note that his will only work for the PB, not for the Hostility.

Edited October 23, 2019 by Tenet