Scaling

[ston5883]

Granted I'm still new to this and don't have all the knowledge of the game yet so it might just be me. So I get scaling to a degree so we don't just walk all over the AI but can we keep it from getting to the point UGCW got. I did quite a bit of reorganizing to be able to afford and crew a 5th rate. I ran the mission on the British side where you had to withdraw the transport and I was surprised to see I was facing three 5th rates. I would have been fine with facing one 5th rate and then a couple of 6th rates but it's like the AI ignored the battle rating all together. I would have still faced three enemy ships and even a ship that was the same rate though better overall. Like I said it might just be me but it would be nice if the AI followed some form of BR instead of just trying to throw overkill at you.

[WilliamTheIII]

Scaling has changed a lot since the initial release of BB4 and will probably continue to change. As of this post, scaling only takes into account the ships you are bringing into the battle and this change does seem to make it harsher (hard is now normal in regards to scaling on several battles). For the mission you are describing (Priority), scaling is only part of the reason why you are seeing three 5th's. This battle is not meant to be won easily or really at all (definitely doable though)  as the objective is to retreat the Walpole to the other side of the map. Otherwise saying, the mission is coded to always have 3 (4 on hard) of the same ship (unless you mass downscale to 7th rates). By sending a 5th rate, the game is scaling to match you which is why you are seeing 5th rates while the coding for the battle is forcing there to be three...if that makes sense. Unless you want to capture the 5th rates, the easiest way to beat the mission is to send the HMS Alert which will minscale the battle. By doing this, you can use the recently buffed Walpole to capture their ships if you want. In fact, if you capture the Libra, you can use it to get unlimited weapons and cash in the game. On other missions, like Second Wave, the ai will have a noticeably weaker force than you. While on others, like Fireworks, there is no scaling the ai ships are hard coded.

Also, I'll provide a quick guide on how to win Priority incredibly easily:

The ai is programmed to track and hunt down the nearest ship which allows you to essentially chase them in circles while you retreat the Walpole. Make sure to give her a wide margin so the ai doesn't switch focus and once you are near the end zone, just run the Walpole straight to it and you'll be fine. If you are unable to get all of the enemy ships to follow you and one attempts to board the Walpole, press the 'disengage' button and sharply point the Walpole perpendicular to the enemy ship and the lines will break. You don't need to worry much about the ai trying to sink the Walpole as their objective is to capture it. Also, if you minscale the battle, it is more or less impossible for the ai to ever win a boarding action against the Walpole and you can even use it to capture extra ships or just casually run away.

[ston5883]

I did part of what you are talking about. I ran the walpole out and up and placed my 5th rate between it and the enemies. I ran a fighting retreat by s turning and working their sails. I'm curious about what you mean about the libra though.

Edited December 31, 2019 by ston5883

[SweatyPenguin]

15 hours ago, ston5883 said:

Granted I'm still new to this and don't have all the knowledge of the game yet so it might just be me. So I get scaling to a degree so we don't just walk all over the AI but can we keep it from getting to the point UGCW got. I did quite a bit of reorganizing to be able to afford and crew a 5th rate. I ran the mission on the British side where you had to withdraw the transport and I was surprised to see I was facing three 5th rates. I would have been fine with facing one 5th rate and then a couple of 6th rates but it's like the AI ignored the battle rating all together. I would have still faced three enemy ships and even a ship that was the same rate though better overall. Like I said it might just be me but it would be nice if the AI followed some form of BR instead of just trying to throw overkill at you.

That's really not the right mission to discuss the issue around. The goal is to get Walpole to safety, not defeat the enemy fleet. You are specifically meant to be mounting a desperate defence to keep the enemy to your leeward and allow Walpole to get out of dodge before they can cross her path.

I did the same thing you did on one of my playthroughs. Bought a 5th rate, could just about afford to equip it and suddenly I was facing 3. A problem further exacerbated by the fact that to save weight I only mounted 9pds on her gundeck, meaning she was left more or less toothless against ships with that kind of planking. Despite that, I enjoyed the mission a great deal. It forces you to think, to sacrifice, to salvage the best out of a terrible situation. Anyone can get through the first or second naval missions where you are anything but handed the victory... But Priority felt like the first time my skill of commanding a ship was actually challenged, and I enjoyed that very much. 

I would definitely like to see more of this type of gameplay, for example having to retreat your land forces back onto ships and sailing them out fending off enemy attacks.

[ston5883]

2 hours ago, SweatyPenguin said:

That's really not the right mission to discuss the issue around. The goal is to get Walpole to safety, not defeat the enemy fleet. You are specifically meant to be mounting a desperate defence to keep the enemy to your leeward and allow Walpole to get out of dodge before they can cross her path.

I did the same thing you did on one of my playthroughs. Bought a 5th rate, could just about afford to equip it and suddenly I was facing 3. A problem further exacerbated by the fact that to save weight I only mounted 9pds on her gundeck, meaning she was left more or less toothless against ships with that kind of planking. Despite that, I enjoyed the mission a great deal. It forces you to think, to sacrifice, to salvage the best out of a terrible situation. Anyone can get through the first or second naval missions where you are anything but handed the victory... But Priority felt like the first time my skill of commanding a ship was actually challenged, and I enjoyed that very much. 

I would definitely like to see more of this type of gameplay, for example having to retreat your land forces back onto ships and sailing them out fending off enemy attacks.

Ok granted I was in a very tight situation and I adapted. But I have not went very far into the game and was more worried about later down the road in development. Like I said I get scaling to a point but I also don't think the best way to add depth and challenge is simply give the AI more and better stuff than what you as a player can ever produce. 

[Sir Texas Sir]

17 hours ago, SweatyPenguin said:

That's really not the right mission to discuss the issue around. The goal is to get Walpole to safety, not defeat the enemy fleet. You are specifically meant to be mounting a desperate defence to keep the enemy to your leeward and allow Walpole to get out of dodge before they can cross her path.

I did the same thing you did on one of my playthroughs. Bought a 5th rate, could just about afford to equip it and suddenly I was facing 3. A problem further exacerbated by the fact that to save weight I only mounted 9pds on her gundeck, meaning she was left more or less toothless against ships with that kind of planking. Despite that, I enjoyed the mission a great deal. It forces you to think, to sacrifice, to salvage the best out of a terrible situation. Anyone can get through the first or second naval missions where you are anything but handed the victory... But Priority felt like the first time my skill of commanding a ship was actually challenged, and I enjoyed that very much. 

I would definitely like to see more of this type of gameplay, for example having to retreat your land forces back onto ships and sailing them out fending off enemy attacks.

How the hell are you getting a 5th rate for that mission?  I traded every thing in to get the best ship in the Admiralty and it was a 6th rate sloop of war.   Though I did capture a 5th rate, I think I get every time I do that mission no matter what I bring the 5th rate (HMS Unity), a 6th Rate porcupine and a 7th rate sloop.   I done it three times and got the same ships.  Last time I was able to capture all three with my 6th rate Sloop of War and a bit of help from the Walpole (it took out the 7th rate for me).

I played on both easy and normal and seem to get the same ships on that mission.  To be honest the GB play through seems way easy on both setting cause your being thrown money and ships.  I'm struggling on the US play.  I think they should be giving you more prestige to capture ships each missions if they aren't getting you the money and supplies like the British missions do.

[Salty Sails]

On 12/31/2019 at 8:16 PM, ston5883 said:

Granted I'm still new to this and don't have all the knowledge of the game yet so it might just be me. So I get scaling to a degree so we don't just walk all over the AI but can we keep it from getting to the point UGCW got. I did quite a bit of reorganizing to be able to afford and crew a 5th rate. I ran the mission on the British side where you had to withdraw the transport and I was surprised to see I was facing three 5th rates. I would have been fine with facing one 5th rate and then a couple of 6th rates but it's like the AI ignored the battle rating all together. I would have still faced three enemy ships and even a ship that was the same rate though better overall. Like I said it might just be me but it would be nice if the AI followed some form of BR instead of just trying to throw overkill at you.

I played the mission few min ago. I had a Hermione vs. 3 Suprises. I demasted almost every ship to 1 Mast left. So they couldn’t do anything agsinst my transportship, I managed to capture two of the surprises before transport reached the escape zone! 

[ston5883]

1 hour ago, Salty Sails said:

I played the mission few min ago. I had a Hermione vs. 3 Suprises. I demasted almost every ship to 1 Mast left. So they couldn’t do anything agsinst my transportship, I managed to capture two of the surprises before transport reached the escape zone! 

Better luck than I. My round shot was bouncing off the mast and hulls. If I remember correctly I had some 12lb guns too.

[Salty Sails]

Sounds like you were too far away from them or you had a bad angle! Try to use the hold fire buttons, till you reached a good position! 

[ston5883]

I was crossing the T on them so I understand bouncing on the hull but the mast ones kinda confused me.