Damage Control instead of Survival

[SyberSmoke]

This is a suggestion from the perspective of a completely new player.  Keep that in mind please.

 

If you have been hanging around the faction or help chat any, you may see this post "CRAP...I have a leak and repair isn't fixing it." or may be "%#$@ $%#$@%^ #$@% I just sank to a leak I could not fix $@#!$##!!"  Why, why is this so prevalent in new players?

 

Simply put when your new in the game and you get a leak you think "repair".  You have a leak, you want to repair it.  The term "survival" means something different in many minds, it means to stay alive and is not directly related to repair.  Sure repairing something could mean your surviving...but that is not the first thought that enters into the mind.  I mean, when you replace a tire on your car do you think "I am going to survival my car!!"  No...probably not.

 

So to combat this ambiguity, I suggest a simple change to the wording of button eight.  From Survival to Damage Control.  Fire, leaks, and what may come all fall under the umbrella of Damage Control.  And while Survival does work and may work in the context of the time period.  This is a game and new players should understand that if you press eight, bad things will be fixed.

 

Remember a new players first impressions will, for now, be made in combat.  To feel helpless and to sink causing anger and frustration in your first fight because you do not know what button to press because it is not obvious leaves a bad impression.  It is part of learning, but that curve can be lessened by a degree with just a small text change.

Edited February 4, 2016 by SyberSmoke

[SyberSmoke]

No one has any thoughts on this...

[AKPyrate]

I think survival mode is a good enough description.  Additionally, for the second question I answered "Yes, I knew about it from research (Video, Live Stream, Wiki)", but it wasn't from any research.  Really, it was just intuitive.  Survival on a boat means fixing leaks and pumping out water at the expense of effectively fighting the ship.

[Tremor]

survival is fine.

 

if you don't know what buttons do maybe a TUTORIAL is missing.

[Hethwill]

Back in this timeframe everyone would do everything to... Survive.

 

Centuries later...

Damage control is a pretty recent systems setup with assigned teams for crisis, most obvious being world war 2 USN CVs damage control. Even back in WW1 the idea was still so-so with ship parts being assigned to locals instead of a centralized system.

[SyberSmoke]

Back in this timeframe everyone would do everything to... Survive.

 

Centuries later...

Damage control is a pretty recent systems setup with assigned teams for crisis, most obvious being world war 2 USN CVs damage control. Even back in WW1 the idea was still so-so with ship parts being assigned to locals instead of a centralized system.

 

That is true, but the point is that even though survival is an appropriate term for that period.  Times change, society changes and the view of a word can change in it's use.  Society is more familiar with damage control and what happens with it then with survival in that context.  It is all still Survival to be sure, a fire raging out of control on a wooden ship is just as dangerous to a modern frigate or cruiser.  But the term was coined for its descriptive nature, to control further damage.

 

To me, after seeing post after post in the help and faction chat, I figure changing a couple words with out having to rework placement or function is the easiest change that can ever be done to make the function more transparent.

[Hethwill]

I can agree with the presented logic regarding the nature of the mechanic, although I think Survival is quite spot on. I remembre the first fights back in the day and the very first things I did was to test the UI thoroughly to know what was what. Only after that was accomplished did I try to do more complicated things.

 

Still cannot thing in any other words other than Survival and Pump given the sole action triggered is to pump the water out to keep her afloat and survive, unlike Repairs which have some more focused sub actions.

[GrapeShot]

Seems like a very trivial issue.

[SyberSmoke]

Seems like a very trivial issue.

 

Yes, it is.  it is a text change in a UI...something that would take at most a couple minutes.  But in the end it is something that would help new players that may see this on steam and buy it cause sailing ships are cool.  They may not have read anything, seen anything, then get frustrated as they sink.  I know many people that post here are less casual, more experimental.  But what about the future?  This game will grow and get more complex...so why not change a trivial thing that is causing some issues now, huh?

[AKPyrate]

Yes, it is.  it is a text change in a UI...something that would take at most a couple minutes.  But in the end it is something that would help new players that may see this on steam and buy it cause sailing ships are cool.  They may not have read anything, seen anything, then get frustrated as they sink.  I know many people that post here are less casual, more experimental.  But what about the future?  This game will grow and get more complex...so why not change a trivial thing that is causing some issues now, huh?

 I would echo Tremor's statement.  A tutorial is sorely needed and has been needed for some time.  It doesn't have to be all encompassing, but at least enough to understand how to navigate (might prevent some of the complaining), how to tack a square rigger, how repairs work, how to buy, sell and equip, how to tell what cannons can be put on a boat, and what different modes achieve would help.  Plus a couple of things that doubtless I have failed to mention.

[shifty]

While at it, some explanation that "Sailing" doesn't actually improve your sailing. Only speed of raising and lowering sails and turning masts.

[Azzak]

I agree, those names aren't very usefuf at explaining what they do.

 

 

Sailing => Sails Management

 

Survival => Damage Control

Edited February 15, 2016 by Azzak