Beat to quarters: Port battles return to War Server

[DonH]

I have just had a blast chasing a basic cutter with a flag on my prince, timer was only 17 mins, sadly my other compatriots were unable to communicate the position of the flag for me to join and have an easy kill... he managed to escape he was almost sunk 

The circle of death felt like this was PZ, cutter player just needed to sail away from the port (main joining point i guess) and from the towers which where at the edges far away, with 17 mins i could not deny him enough sail area to corner him.

PB did not triggered... we still have the flags from the test event, is this why those flags do not trigger a PB?? if we get a flag from a HDF do they trigger a PB, the only way to differenciate is if the battle last more than 17 mins???

 

Edited June 24, 2020 by DonH

[Despe]

8 minutes ago, DonH said:

PB did not triggered... we still have the flags from the test event, is this why those flags do not trigger a PB??

admin says that PB will return tomorrow, not today... And use the test flags for crating a real PB, when their mission is only testing... seems a little bit like an exploit imho.

[Hethwill]

3 hours ago, admin said:

Port battles are ready to return to War Server tomorrow Thursday 25th of June!

@DonH

[z4ys]

19 minutes ago, Sea Archer said:

The problem I see is that small nations will have a very hard time to get those flags. [...]

You need at least a pb fleet for the final conquest battle so there should be enough players for doing HDFs. Even not so skilled players can do that with 5 ships and that is way less than a portbattle requires. I dont see that the small nation argument fits here (ofc  big nations do have easier times and the single player can hide behind the willing ones).

In my opinion the mechanic as whole (with teleport to battle) will help the small nations more than bigger ones. The downside here is that small nations mostly dont have experienced pb players and cant rely on the help of other big nations anymore (no more hiding behind other nations screeningfleets).

Edited June 24, 2020 by z4ys

[Audacious]

How do I get teleport to PB clicky?

Edited June 24, 2020 by Audacious

[Admiral Howe of Gibraltar]

3 hours ago, admin said:

Captains

Port battles are ready to return to War Server tomorrow Thursday 25th of June!

Circle of death (2500m) has been added to flag battle.
Flag will drop from Home defense fleets, there will be no other way to get the flag.

Let us know in comments if you want them 1 day later on Friday.

Might I ask if you have considered changing the weight of the flag?

Basic cutters planting a flag is how we played four years ago. I honestly expect less trolling now.

[Vibrio Cholerae]

41 minutes ago, Sea Archer said:

For a nation like Poland it might be impossible, so loosing their only port might be impossible to counter.

 

Ask clan Seki to help you in PVE and it will be possible

@Lt Sekiro

[erelkivtuadrater]

5 hours ago, Robert Lance said:

Wow if that isn’t a f***you to the small nations and solo players from the Devs. I do not know what else is. Good luck with this plan guys.

 

Im curious how you plan to do a port battle as solo player. Some things i disagree with, but this is a mmo which required teamwork and cooperation. In any other game where you want to do end game content which is a mmo, you would never be able to do it solo. 

@admin one thing i still cant connect to logic here is why would u want people to kill these hdfs, since they were introduced to keep hostile players away from capitals so it contradicts their meaning, why not use the epic events? 

Edited June 24, 2020 by erelkivtuadrater

[Robert Lance]

16 minutes ago, erelkivtuadrater said:

Im curious how you plan to do a port battle as solo player. Some things i disagree with, but this is a mmo which required teamwork and cooperation. In any other game where you want to do end game content which is a mmo, you would never be able to do it solo. 

@admin one thing i still cant connect to logic here is why would u want people to kill these hdfs, since they were introduced to keep hostile players away from capitals so it contradicts their meaning, why not use the epic events? 

Well your right, in that we most likely not solo in the port battle. Although I seemed to recall a lot of empty port battles with one clan taking over the port from another. But I’m using our current state in which some nation are lucky enough to even have 12 players on at all. This only benefits  the big nations that have the players to actively hit the hdf’s. Care to guess which nations are going to be hit.
So most players are solo not by choice. But because their is not enough in the nation to do a damn thing about it. So in doing this change which I understand the Devs idea behind it. They are not fixing the larger issue at hand. The large nations will take what they want, if they haven’t already and set there doing nothing more. Anyone nation or nations trying to work together they threaten to single them out. It is painfully obvious that if a nation does not have numbers to attack the hdf’s. They do not have the numbers for a port battle in the first place. Remember you are not just attacking the hdf’s by themselves. Now comes the hdf griefing, where you only need a few to join the battle against the attackers. Unless of course you send a big enough force that it would not matter. The Devs just traded one problem for another. So again good luck with this plan.

[Hethwill]

5 minutes ago, Robert Lance said:

It is painfully obvious that if a nation does not have numbers to attack the hdf’s. They do not have the numbers for a port battle in the first place.

Takes 4 players for a HDF. Most clans do with 6.

All nations with 5 players can HDF for flags and try plant it in a 3k port battle.

When small, think small.

Edited June 24, 2020 by Hethwill

[Baptiste Gallouédec]

Anyone enjoy farming HDF ? It's a serious questions. I don't ask if you enjoy the loot or that it give access to PB, but if any player tell himself "i launch naval action, hope we will do HDF tonight."

Too bad the good stuff in this game is locked behind boring stuff. 

[Lt Sekiro]

2 hours ago, Vibrio Cholerae said:

Ask clan Seki to help you in PVE and it will be possible

@Lt Sekiro

Sekiro alone vs hdf , Sekiro Win

Already did 2 time ,)

[van stiermarken]

23 minutes ago, Hethwill said:

Takes 4 players for a HDF. Most clans do with 6.

All nations with 5 players can HDF for flags and try plant it in a 3k port battle.

When small, think small.

PLEASE name those clans who can do it with 4 ships against a home fleet.
PLEASE, I really wanna know them.

We can do it with minimum 8 ships (if you want the loot too). less is more a suicide mission.

[Redman29]

34 minutes ago, Hethwill said:

Takes 4 players for a HDF. Most clans do with 6.

 

4 is pushing it. 5 I don't like, 6 is fine, more is optimal

8 minutes ago, van stiermarken said:

PLEASE name those clans who can do it with 4 ships against a home fleet.
PLEASE, I really wanna know them.

We can do it with minimum 8 ships (if you want the loot too). less is more a suicide mission.

It can be done with 6 guys fairly ok. Not saying it is not challenging but doing it with 6 guys is quite common.

Edited June 24, 2020 by Redman29

[PG Monkey]

we did it with 5 we got all the chests except one..and I lost my ship cos I let myself get boarded

[Hethwill]

8 minutes ago, van stiermarken said:

PLEASE name those clans who can do it with 4 ships against a home fleet.
PLEASE, I really wanna know them.

We can do it with minimum 8 ships (if you want the loot too). less is more a suicide mission.

Can be done. Didn't say it is a cakewalk. I advise you to do it how you can.

And a nation with 8 players CAN do flags and PBs. Clan of 8 plans for Conquest with 8.

With so many argumentation against an obvious acceptable system ( not saying perfect by all means! ) and you guys using a crowbar to open a precision clock. I don't get it... i wonder if there's more to your words...that you'd like to share ? Like being cold and bloody honest about what you really want to say instead of just quoting others.

[Robert Lance]

22 minutes ago, Hethwill said:

Takes 4 players for a HDF. Most clans do with 6.

All nations with 5 players can HDF for flags and try plant it in a 3k port battle.

When small, think small.

Yes you right to a point. Those 4 players can sail up to 2nd rates at least. But only need a player with the hdf to disrupt the battle.

Most players that are on now, are not that leveled up. So they will feel left out of helping their nation. We need a way for them to be included in helping the nation. Right now with the changes they are setup to not be apart of rvr in the game. Plus by the time they level up the nation will most likely be dead by then as well.

[Hethwill]

Just now, Robert Lance said:

Yes you right to a point. Those 4 players can sail up to 2nd rates at least. But only need a player with the hdf to disrupt the battle.

Most players that are on now, are not that leveled up. So they will feel left out of helping their nation. We need a way for them to be included in helping the nation. Right now with the changes they are setup to not be apart of rvr in the game. Plus by the time they level up the nation will most likely be dead by then as well.

Think Clan first. Nation second. My 2 cents.

[ChineseBatman]

Okay so hostility will be back tomorrow. Great and all, what we all want. Except there’s more than a few issues.

So:

Flag conquest

It was broken and undefendable When we tested it out. To address this all you have done that I can see is add 2500m ring to help in stopping the flag carrier run away the whole mission and plant the flag the other side of the map whilst supposedly planting it at a specific port. They will still be able to kite and run.

What hasn’t been addressed or confirmed is:

Giving defenders more time to organise a defence fleet from point of flag bearer taking the conquest mission. Was 30 mins, and only 15 mins there after for a single defender to open the battle up for a further 20mins if a defender jumped in. This could give defenders a matter of 20 mins in extreme cases to rustle up a defence fleet If the flag conquest is taken from a port very close by. It is extremely attacker sided, especially since they would if wise already have a prepared fleet and screeners to get the flag in. Or be doing it when server population is low. Once the flag conquest mission has been started the defenders need longer to organise and jump in a defence fleet otherwise it’s just easy street for multi flips. The flag bearer should have to go to a specific point on the map to hold that position and plant the flag. If you are giving only 45 mins from start to finish for defenders to organise a fleet, sail to port while likely being screened out, then catch the attackers and kill the flag carrier. It’s absurd. It should be an hour 30mins long or until the flag bearer captured a position to plant flag. 
 

Taking the flag conquest mission is only possible from ports very close to the intended port being attacked? Say 1-2 ports away. So it telegraphs intended target. Please explain what you have done around this.

Weight and cargo space of flag? What has it been changed to? Was 10tonnes, broken lol needs to be very heavy and take up a lot of space to stop fast ships like a Connie, Bellona,  Endymion and anything small from just running and kiting whole time. What has been done about this?

And then you have the constantly changing woods making it impossible to build PB fleets since we just don’t know final stats on woods. Woods keep changing, impossible for the community to be certain on anything. It’s not on.
 

It would make logical sense to have a test server to sort this mess out first before you implement a likely broken and pre alpha level quality mechanic into the game. Saying it how it is, we aren’t happy with the way it’s been handled. At all! An apology won’t cut it!

Edited June 24, 2020 by ChineseBatman

[Captain TShirt]

Love the circle (and was surprised during testing that it wasn't present). Thanks for adding it in -- this would've been messy without that.

As for the "make it heavier!" thing, I don't mind having the chase-ey option for fast ships. More chances for little guys to contribute to national defense that way.

The initial flag plant for the attack is a scouting mission -- some guy(s) on a quick ship (in a quick fleet) surveying the defenses for tomorrow's battle -- if he (they) return alive with their report, the attack is on. If they fail to report back, then the admirals of the attacking nation delay to gather better intel before committing. Makes sense to me -- get in there with fast chase ships and drag that little guy down so he can't report back!

Outside of that immersion bit -- a high-weight item would force two line ship fights per port attack. Too much (if forced) -- and steals thunder from the PB itself. Although you can also always opt to bring a bunch of line ships on your scouting mission and brawl your way through. Might even be a good idea in some cases to intimidate your target the day before a fight.

I like having the option to do either.

Edited June 24, 2020 by Captain TShirt

[Ferdinand de LaSalle]

The end of the game will now starts. The victorious nation is well known.

At the end not the flags, the position of them, the possibilities to join and all other mechanics do not count. I promise you, all walls are down now and the russians will conquer the most vital ports of all other nations, who are not allied with them and that´s it.

The really vital things to win the game is the stock of ressources, the stock of upgrades, the capacitiy to rebuildt deadly ships and the organisation/ numbers of the best player in the clans and nations.

This process to favour certain groups (starting point was nearly 2 years ago) comes now to the end. How sad, beside all problems i loved the very good ground structure of the game.

I hope not, that i must laugh about the forum comunity, if they  afterwards wondering about the result.The forecast was very easy.

[Never]

Flag carriers should not be able to use windboosts. 

If they grabbed a windboost on the way to their target and the defenders only have 30min to try and stop them; then how would the defenders be able to use a wind boost themselves? They would have to sail out find a WB, and then sail back. By then they catch back up, it would make the flag carrier impossible to catch in most situations. 

[Hethwill]

29 minutes ago, ChineseBatman said:

Taking the flag conquest mission is only possible from ports very close to the intended port being attacked? Say 1-2 ports away.

That's the limit. 30 minutes, max 2 ports away as per Admin post the other day. During flag tests it was increased to 10 (?) or something like that.

[ChineseBatman]

54 minutes ago, Hethwill said:

That's the limit. 30 minutes, max 2 ports away as per Admin post the other day. During flag tests it was increased to 10 (?) or something like that.

Sure glad you are doing their job. Any idea about the other points I raised that make the flag mechanics currently broken. 

Edited June 24, 2020 by ChineseBatman

[Hethwill]

1 minute ago, ChineseBatman said:

Sure glad you are doing there job. Any idea about the other points I raised that make the flag mechanics currently broken. 

You and several others already asked those. I'm curious about the weight myself. 

30 minutes advance warning might be enough ?! I'm sure every important port for your Clan is a naval base, right ? So good fighting ships at hand there. Also the clan owner sets the timer according to when they can defend any aggression ?! 

I guess developers will gather more data on the follow up days.