Proposed INITIAL Introduction of Diplomacy

[JJWolf]

While we are waiting for a final decision on how best to implement diplomacy may I propose a suggestion for the Devs that may work in the simplest form: *(Numbers are placeholder only, these are to be adjust to suite based on Devs opinion)

 

The levels of diplomatic relations are set at specific 'diplomacy point' levels:

• Allied (+2000)
• Friendly (+1000)
• Neutral (0)
• Hostile (-1000)
• At war (-2000)

The entire concept is run on increasing and decreasing 'Tension' through naval conflict and time that has past. Pirates would be exempt from this system and be permanently at war with every other nation (hello letters of marque and privateering!)

 

To 'increase tension' one only has to initiate combat with a specific nation (e.g. British vessels attack Spanish vessels and lower diplomatic relations)

To 'decrease tension' one must either:

• Attack a nation that is viewed as Hostile or At war of the nation they wish to improve relations with (e.g. British vessels attack Spain's enemy France which improves relations with Spain)
• or Tension will ease over time so to keep nations hostile or at war would require consistent aggression on behalf of either or both beligerants (e.g. Britain refrains from attacking Spain to ease tension)

Diplomacy points are applied per vessel attacked as follows:

• Attack a neutral/hostile/at war nation's vessel is -2* diplomacy (+1* diplomacy to all nations who are hostile or at war with the nation of the vessel that is attacked)
• Attacking a friendly nation's vessel results in -2* diplomacy with ALL nations
• Attacking Pirate vessels is +2* diplomacy to ALL nations

When you 'Attack' a ship(s) on the OW, it creates the instance and the vessel/fleet that you have initiated the instance with is initially placed into a stance that reflects your diplomacy attitude.

Once a certain small % of damage has been done to a neutral or friendly vessel it changes it's stance and becomes hostile to you and anyone on your side and the diplomacy impact is then applied. This will also resolve the 'accidental' player nation attacks resulting in unintentional pirates.

 

 

Pros/Cons of each diplomatic relation with a nation: (You refers to anyone in your nation)

Allied

• You may group with allied nation Captains
• You may join battles to support Allies (Only against nations neutral or below to you)
• Allied nation NPC vessels will enter combat to support you (Only against nations neutral or below to them)
• Allied Captains may join any battle to support you (Only against nations neutral or below to them)
• Initiating combat against an Ally is considered an act of Piracy

Friendly

• You may group with friendly nation Captains
• You may join battles to support friendly nations (Only against nations neutral or below to you)
• Friendly Captains may join your battle (Only against nations neutral or below to them)
• Initiating combat against a friendly nation will apply -2* diplomacy to ALL nations
• You cannot initiate port conquests

Neutral

• You may group with Neutral captains
• You may join battles in support of neutral nations against nations with neutral or lower diplomacy
• You may attack Neutral nation vessels or below
• You cannot attack neutral nation captains you are grouped with
• You cannot initiate port conquests

Hostile

• You cannot group together
• You cannot join battles in support of hostile nation
• You may initiate port conquest (-1000* points)
• You may be attacked by hostile nation NPC ships

At War

• You will be attacked by hostile nation NPC ships
• You may initiate port conquest (-500* points)
• At war NPC vessels will join combat against you
• You will be attacked by At war NPC vessels

 

Anything else I've missed? Any suggestions to improve/change this?

 

REMEMBER: This is as a proposal just to introduce diplomacy so we have working relationships with other nations. This is purely so that it can be built on from here to whatever the Developers decide on with help from the community.

 

Cheers

JJ

 

 

EDIT: Formatting

EDIT: Added idea on resolving unintentionally turning pirate

Edited February 2, 2016 by JJWolf

[thomas aagaard]

The basic idea is good.
But would change it from  "attacking" to some system that require serious damage done and factor in the BR of the attacked ship.

 

So attacking a basic ship and just firing a few shot should not have the same effect as sinking a SOL.
So attacking new players if rather ineffective compared to hitting the enemy SOLS sailing around.

And attacking players should be more effective than hitting AI.

 

And factor in the BR of the attacker so fair fights are more effective than unfair fights..

This also makes it harder to exploit the system with secondary accounts.

Edited February 2, 2016 by thomas aagaard

[JJWolf]

The basic idea is good.

But would change it from  "attacking" to some system that require serious damage done and factor in the BR of the attacked ship.

 

So attacking a basic ship and just firing a few shot should not have the same effect as sinking a SOL.

So attacking new players if rather ineffective compared to hitting the enemy SOLS sailing around.

And attacking players should be more effective than hitting AI.

 

And factor in the BR of the attacker so fair fights are more effective than unfair fights..

This also makes it harder to exploit the system with secondary accounts.

 

Some excellent ideas, I have a proposal to fix what you have described:

 

When you 'Attack' a ship(s) on the OW, it creates the instance and the vessel/fleet that you have initiated the instance with is initially placed into a stance that reflects your diplomacy attitude.

Once a certain small % of damage has been done to a neutral or friendly vessel it changes it's stance and becomes hostile to you and anyone on your side and the diplomacy impact is then applied. This will also resolve the 'accidental' player nation attacks resulting in unintentional pirates.

[Tremor]

Diplomacy should be not auto calculated based on attacks.

It should be voted.

 

Give every Player above a certain rank the possibility to choose 2 factions he loves and 2 he hates.

The sum of those choices makes the alliance.

 

Pirates should always be at war anyway.

[Leto]

Am I the only one who doesn't want to see this being democratic?

I think there needs to be a firmer player leadership structure. Taking ports should make your Company (clan) their custodian (eg giving you tax revenue), and the most important companies, holding the most ports and players, should get to make diplomatic decisions.

I would really like entering the game and reading "Message from the Lord-Governor of the British Colonies" - where an actual player leader explains his decisions and where we can appreciate some order to what's going on around the whole place. Other clans could hold a veto too, to ensure the candidate is actually competent. I'm not a clan player but a faction v faction game needs real player leaders facilitated by the system.

[Tremor]

Am I the only one who doesn't want to see this being democratic?

I think there needs to be a firmer player leadership structure. Taking ports should make your Company (clan) their custodian (eg giving you tax revenue), and the most important companies, holding the most ports and players, should get to make diplomatic decisions.

I would really like entering the game and reading "Message from the Lord-Governor of the British Colonies" - where an actual player leader explains his decisions and where we can appreciate some order to what's going on around the whole place. Other clans could hold a veto too, to ensure the candidate is actually competent. I'm not a clan player but a faction v faction game needs real player leaders facilitated by the system.

 

Nice idea too

[JJWolf]

We seriously just need SOME diplomacy in this game first, the idea of port control / taxes etc are great ideas and definitely worth pursuing but as it stands there is NO diplomacy, it's just complete war.

[RedTeamSpy]

Diplomacy needs to be something that every player of a nation votes on (with at least 1 weeks play time in that nation to stop nation switchers). It should be something that is not done by automatic switches, but also something that should have the active involvement of the whole nation(s).

 

Its a long way off though, need a lot of other things first notably the Port UI being able to handle the info screens etc, which might be coming next patch.

[Grim DeGrim]

Decent idea. Attacks are based on player's only and ports I assume. Npc's would not factor into the calculations.

This meter, if anything, it's a good reflection of actual in game player activity against each other. I would suggest there is some decay in both status... EG, if no ports attacked or players pvp'd, then the status approaches neutral again.

These status wouldn't bind anyone, they are just reflection major player group decisions.

[Aetrion]

Don't think much of this system. This is a game about captains who serve great European powers that give them orders, not people who vote with cannonballs.

Edited February 25, 2016 by Aetrion