Well I've given up

[admin]

All points well taken (and thanks for not raking me for my post.) I'll just simply and respectfully agree to disagree. I do love the game, and hope you're correct, that every one of my points stated above are simply and purely gameplay skills issues (notwithstanding almost a year of casual gameplay.) 

 

See you at sea.

 

Regards and thanks for the thoughtful replies.

 

If you are referring to sometimes uneven bot distribution or gangs of bots that are too big this will be fine-tuned. 

But regarding their gunnery i don't know. I definitely cannot say they shoot extremely well. I create a player every month to level up and it has never been easier especially with orders. 

[ulysse77]

i realised that this feels almost like a simulator more than an a game... And i love it....

 

I tought the bot were getting better when i restarted last week... and i hard time in situation where i once reigned... until it all made sense... a Mercury should not beat 3 navy brig... but a light group can take on a single Cerb... and seeing that cerb sinking after a few days of frustration was pure joy... I love that you have to make decision... should i let the runner go and get the rest.... should i keep my escort around... do i keep pounding the hull or should i destroy the sail to have more option later,... i love the open endness of it all

 

That being said i also like that ships take less water now, but some battle drag on a bit too much, im my opinion.... I can`t wait for AI to surrender when it`s pretty clear all hope is gone...

 

Also last nite i`ve played with someone else and i keep forgetting how that is so much better than solo, once in a while...

[admin]

 

 

That being said i also like that ships take less water now, but some battle drag on a bit too much, im my opinion.... I can`t wait for AI to surrender when it`s pretty clear all hope is gone...

 

 

we do believe that 1v2 2v2 battles drag for too long right now. 30 mins to sink 2 brigs in a brig is too much

[akd]

Then stop worrying about sinking as the determinant of victory and let the AI surrender when their ship is crippled (no masts, taking on water), or when they have lost more than 50-75% of crew instead of current absurd 100%. Setting mechanics of sinking (and combat in general) based on play against AI will mess up PVP. 30 minutes sounds like too short a time for a player in a brig to beat two other players in Brigs. That should rightly be a hard, long fight.

[Prater]

I haven't made a new character since before alts were locked down, but the AI do miss a lot, especially if you narrow your frontage.  And even when you do go broadside to broadside at 400-600m, I've had ai waste half their shots on missed ranging shots.  And then, like players, they like to use rolling broadsides, and don't time it well, so you get hit 2-4 times and then the rest of the broadside misses.

[Saulz]

I just started playing again after a long break and I am not having any problems. I killed 4 or 5 cutters last night...maybe it's because I had a few hundred ST battles under my belt...I don't know. I can say that the AI is much better and can be pretty fun to fight. Something I started doing last night is angling my ship when the AI is returning fire in order to bounce some of their shots, it helps a lot! I do miss having 3 repair kits though...you should also upgrade to 6lb guns ASAP on the yacht. 

[Teralitha]

Been looking forward to this game for some time, given the lack of decent age of sail games. Sadly the time requirements will simply to much. With maybe 2 hours a day to play I don't see how it's possible to make progress.

Long travel times, battles that last over an hour I just don't see how this fits into the schedule of an average working person raising a family. I get that it makes me a filthy casual who only deserves to play Tetris at best in the eyes of the community, but that's the way it is. Bouncing back between 2 ports or taking a week to get somewhere is simply not worth it.

Take it easy guys, enjoy the game.

 

You must have been spoiled.  I really hope this game sticks to realism. 

[SeamanStaines]

I read the post and downgraded to a yacht to try for myself. Killed a cutter after a lengthy and hugely difficult battle in which I nearly sunk. Then after chasing and alternately graping, shooting, and chaining a brig until it only had 7 crew and 25% armor I could not slow it down enough to board and eventually  it exited on the battle timer. Third battle was another trader but this time I managed to kill it after about 40 minutes. So after 4  hours I got about 150 xp. Going to be hugely difficult for new players in my opinion.

[DeRuyter]

I am also a causal player with little time to play, however, I created a Neutral alt and started sailing around in my yacht looking for traders carrying contraband or pirates. I am not the best at long range gunnery however I managed to position correctly to chain down a Trader Lynx using 4lbr guns and run alongside eventually grade it down to 1 crew to cap it. I saw this AI maybe within 10 minutes of sailing from Pitts Town. I sailed awhile and then found another with a cutter escort. Trader got away but I did sink the cutter with my yacht with not much trouble using 12lb nades this time.

 

I agree with akd and Seamen - you shouldn't have to shoot a ship down to almost no armor and 1 crew for a capture on an AI. However I wouldn't want to see the game changed because some new players find it hard. Rather than making the game play easier to entice and keep new players, I think a tutorial would help. Maybe like a player mission against a trader to learn the controls. Also include links to the forum guides, etc.

[Red Jack Walker]

Absolutely +1 about the tutorial idea. It would be a precious help.

[planktonette]

Then stop worrying about sinking as the determinant of victory and let the AI surrender when their ship is crippled (no masts, taking on water), or when they have lost more than 50-75% of crew instead of current absurd 100%. Setting mechanics of sinking (and combat in general) based on play against AI will mess up PVP. 30 minutes sounds like too short a time for a player in a brig to beat two other players in Brigs. That should rightly be a hard, long fight.

This. There absolutely needs to be a method to strike the colors for the AI. Preying on unarmed traders, and spending 20-30 minutes catching, pounding their sails, then raking their stern to zero armor and murdering the entire crew with grape is incredibly unrealistic. Not least of which, often you accidentally sink them before the crew are all dead and so don't get to capture the vessel.

 

In the real world, the outcome of this would probably be 4 or 5 holes through his sails, or maybe a shot across the bows, and the trader striking his colors and surrendering his ship. Running should still be an option, but when you've shown them it's futile, it shouldn't continue.

Edited December 8, 2015 by planktonette