The naval action guys seem to be playing around with another title. A Battleship title. They are calling for knowledgeable people it seems.
"This is a topic for work in progress shots and stories about the game we have been tinkering with for the last 3-4 months
These are very very early WIP on the images that are generated for the ship recognition books from the 3d ship designer, that will give players full control over the ship design and visualize it all in 3d.
Player will be able to place main turrets, secondary turrets, casemate turrets, superstructures, masts, funnels, and decide on the shape of the hull, armor, barbette placement... All having historical constraints naturally limiting the players from creating strange and impossible monsters. All affecting ship performance in combat and movement.
If we are able to achieve even 50% of what we want this will be a revolution in battleship games.
Hope you enjoy it. Sorry for lower quality of the recognition book drafts but we can't show the rest. "
(https://i.imgur.com/RLA2ZJd.jpg)
http://forum.game-labs.net/forum/94-general-discussions/
Well, as the USN showed, it all comes down to radar and stable elements.
http://www.combinedfleet.com/baddest.htm
Quote from: Destraex on October 03, 2017, 05:33:41 PM
The naval action guys seem to be playing around with another title. A Battleship title. They are calling for knowledgeable people it seems.
Well it would be nice if they made a game that used their beautiful oceans and nice ships in some interesting way. I hope I don't have to trade and craft my way up from a trawler to a dreadnought.
Relatively early battleships would be pretty interesting to simulate. Lots of poorly understood system interactions (for example, flooding via electrical cable glands and whatnot. Casemates that channel ammunition explosions. Fires all over the place. Hits on one end of the ship jarring things out of place at the other. And rangefinding -- oh boy -- there's a whole heap of possible crafting efforts. Radio and radar would be cool too. As would AA and evading Zepplins by turning faster (with a steam ship at 30 knots) than they can (up in the air at 40 knots, but not turning as fast as a ship at least into the wind).
It could be a lot of fun, but really naval action could have been fun too -- with much less effort than they are wasting on a persitant world of crafting and piracy. The fishing is fun of course. Don't get me wrong. The early trawler game in Dreadnought Wonder may be the best part of the game.
Quote from: Destraex on October 03, 2017, 05:33:41 PM
These are very very early WIP on the images that are generated for the ship recognition books from the 3d ship designer, that will give players full control over the ship design and visualize it all in 3d.
Player will be able to place main turrets, secondary turrets, casemate turrets, superstructures, masts, funnels, and decide on the shape of the hull, armor, barbette placement... All having historical constraints naturally limiting the players from creating strange and impossible monsters. All affecting ship performance in combat and movement.
Oh oh oh oh...Wait a second. Why not go back to say 1860 and do the whole evolution of armored steamships? Technical innovations could come into the game as costly early on and slowly get cheaper and cheaper. So you'd put turbines in your torpedo boats in 1888 and small tube boilers into ships gradually from say 1895. Compact boilers would be surprisingly late...geared turbines by 1907 etc. etc.
With guns, the coarse powder revolution would be potentially murderous since suddenly muzzle velocities would jump and shells would get smaller and much deadlier...even before the non gunpowder propellants arrived. Boom!
Quote from: Destraex on October 03, 2017, 05:33:41 PM
Hope you enjoy it. Sorry for lower quality of the recognition book drafts but we can't show the rest. "
They give the time frame as 1880 to 1939, so it would be reasonable to start all the guns with some kind of slow-burning powder, though replacing muzzle-loading guns and lengthening guns out to 25-30 calibers could still be optional improvements.
We know how fantastically ineffective naval firepower was in that period, so that gives good baseline (the bombardment of Alexandria in 1882) BUT ships could rely on their steampower and sailing rigs were fast disappearing from ships that were not designed for
distant stations. Compound armor and breech-loaders were becoming the norm and there were torpedos and machine guns and the proto-turret via the barbette arrangement. So 1880 makes a lot of sense as a starting point.
I have four or five books that haven't shown up in the BB discussions: Oscar Parkes: British Battleships (1956 -- covers 1860 to 1950)
And David K. Brown's two books (Warrior to Dreadnought (1860-1906) and the Grand Fleet (1906-1920))
Also one on the French fast battleships (Dunkerque, Strassbourg, Jean Bart and Richelieu)
And one on Jackie Fisher.
I am pretty excited. Would stop playing world of warships if they did a good job.
Would be nice if they'd do a single player version & some historic scenarios or backdrops, I suspect this would engage war gamers a great deal more. Seems a shame to have such good graphics & accurate sailing engine wasted on hypothetical multiplayer "start with a rowing boat" shoot ups.
Quote from: Phantom on October 04, 2017, 01:18:08 PM
Would be nice if they'd do a single player version & some historic scenarios or backdrops, I suspect this would engage war gamers a great deal more. Seems a shame to have such good graphics & accurate sailing engine wasted on hypothetical multiplayer "start with a rowing boat" shoot ups.
I totally agree. Naval Action could have been a fantastic game if they had just let it be about sailing and fighting. Why on earth they grafted on an archaic mass of tediioius, role-playing, "You just have to join a guild" stuff is beyond me. So much work for nothing but massive tedium so that you have to join a guild as if we were all entranced and petrified by the MORPGs of two decades ago.
So they are thinking of doing something that "Rule the Waves" has already done better? Good luck with that.
Quote from: Slick Wilhelm on October 04, 2017, 06:46:26 PM
So they are thinking of doing something that "Rule the Waves" has already done better? Good luck with that.
Agreed. The shipbuilding alone makes Rule the Waves a very, very special game.
Quote from: DennisS on October 04, 2017, 06:56:05 PM
Quote from: Slick Wilhelm on October 04, 2017, 06:46:26 PM
So they are thinking of doing something that "Rule the Waves" has already done better? Good luck with that.
Agreed. The shipbuilding alone makes Rule the Waves a very, very special game.
It's funny how I just know I should just forget about the whole naval-action as a pre-dreadnought post-ironclad thing that might be interesting. It's getting so that when people announce they are going to make something interesting all I can really think is "I can't look" because of course its going to be something awful with pirates or zombies or vampires or assassins or giant robots or crafting or guilds or something. Somehow the idea of just making a game where you can blow things up (such as pre-dreadnoughts) is just too simple -- ARMAIII or GRAVITEAM or airplane simulations are about the only computer games I can face these days.
Well, for heaven's sake, they screwed up both "Man o' War" and "Battlefleet Gothic" because they didn't trust the source material and that had griffons, orks, and space marines.
What fate do you think awaits dreadnoughts?
Quote from: Cyrano on October 04, 2017, 10:19:26 PM
What fate do you think awaits dreadnoughts?
I will probably never know. I'll have to join a virtual guild, virtually learn to virtually craft virtual steel plates, get virtual smart talk (TM?) online and ask a virtual giant robot to find out. I virtually can't even start down that virtual route.
Ummm....
Are they ever going to finish Naval Action?
???
^ this was my first reaction.
At the moment it remains a promising pile of pieces, parts, and cat hair.
Quote from: Nefaro on October 06, 2017, 01:10:10 PM
Ummm....
Are they ever going to finish Naval Action?
???
Good question. I went to see what it was like these days and it has changed yet again. Since I never quite knew what was going on before all I can say is that some things look better from my point of view:
1) vast numbers of ports are no longer controlled by "pirates"
2) there are a lot of "neutral" ports
3) almost no "free" ports (supposedly one problem with free ports was that since pirates and Great Britian controlled nearly every port, other players would get picked off and "ganked" or "sealclubed" trying to do the "trading" thing...this seems mythological to me and suggests a peculairly fossilized MMORPG of the 1990s approach to the game)
I still cannot fathom the fantastic wasted effort it took to turn a promising naval game into an extremely dull rehash of all possible out-of-date MMORPG cliches.
They are spending too much effort on trading, economy and other
mMo stuff. Combat. It's about combat. Stay in your lane
Quote from: MengJiao on October 06, 2017, 08:50:34 PM
Quote from: Nefaro on October 06, 2017, 01:10:10 PM
Ummm....
Are they ever going to finish Naval Action?
???
Good question. I went to see what it was like these days and it has changed yet again. Since I never quite knew what was going on before all I can say is that some things look better from my point of view:
1) vast numbers of ports are no longer controlled by "pirates"
2) there are a lot of "neutral" ports
3) almost no "free" ports (supposedly one problem with free ports was that since pirates and Great Britian controlled nearly every port, other players would get picked off and "ganked" or "sealclubed" trying to do the "trading" thing...this seems mythological to me and suggests a peculairly fossilized MMORPG of the 1990s approach to the game)
I still cannot fathom the fantastic wasted effort it took to turn a promising naval game into an extremely dull rehash of all possible out-of-date MMORPG cliches.
Checked back again. It's sort of like visiting a weird dystopian universe. This time, I've been demoted (but I have huge amounts of experince that I could spend on something -- not sure what) and of course no longer have my ships or money or whathaveyou. There are some tutorials and as tutorials go they are pretty good! I will do them all and the exams for some perks. And I took a picture:
It does look very good, graphics wise!
Let us know if its a good time to take another peek!
Quote from: Yskonyn on May 31, 2018, 01:46:14 AM
It does look very good, graphics wise!
Let us know if its a good time to take another peek!
In terms of graphics and the sailing model and the ships and the gunnery and damage and boarding and so on it has always been a fun and intriguing game and all that has been improving slowly even. The boarding and tutorials are a big improvement. BUT, for me, getting anything else to work (well, except fishing which has always been fun), has not been much fun EXCEPT back in 2016 when I was in some big battles and built up the XP that has sort of propelled me through the later visits to the game. At this point I'm not playing it with much expectation of getting very far into it (it is still ALPHA after all). For an occasional few hours of sailing and shooting at the AI ships it might be fine. At this point I would not expect much more than that.
Quote from: MengJiao on May 31, 2018, 07:16:20 AM
Quote from: Yskonyn on May 31, 2018, 01:46:14 AM
It does look very good, graphics wise!
Let us know if its a good time to take another peek!
In terms of graphics and the sailing model and the ships and the gunnery and damage and boarding and so on it has always been a fun and intriguing game and all that has been improving slowly even.
The Privateer seems improved. AS I remember it, it was like a Lynx. This one seems like the Pickle I used to have:
It still just seems to me that they still don't know what they want the game to be. They add stuff and 3 versions later, remove it. I play it when I'm in the mood for a fight. Lasts about an hour and I'm done. Shame
Quote from: mikeck on June 01, 2018, 09:39:54 PM
It still just seems to me that they still don't know what they want the game to be. They add stuff and 3 versions later, remove it. I play it when I'm in the mood for a fight. Lasts about an hour and I'm done. Shame
It's been pretty different each time I've put in some hours on it. The first time (when it was first on Steam in 2016), it was easy to get into big battles and make lots of XP even in the despised Basic Cutter. Then I came back and it was very hard to survive at all sailing for Spain. Pirates had taken over the world etc. Then I came back and I had lots of ships to redeem and so on and sailed the REnomee for a while. There were fewer pirates but the British were everywhere. And just recently i came back to find I had none of my old ships or money BUT some things seemed to be working better such as getting stuff off sinking ships and there were even Tutorials. The PvP enthusiasts were lamenting that there were safe areas BUT there are some battles that resemble some of the old free-for-alls, so yet again a significantly different game.
I have to say, I've always been wary and haven't ever gotten sunk or captured in PvP, but the current game world seems unusually dangerous...sailing for Spain has always been rough but today seemed extreme as my privateer fled from an Imperial Russian frigate force, ducked into Havana and hit the wrong button (I hit Sail because I thought I had activated the tutorials and that button is in the same spot). I popped out for a moment right next to a Russian Frigate, experienced horror and re-entered Havana without getting engaged. PHew!
I love naval action but just cannot bring myself to play it (like star citizen) until they commit to no more wipes. Which should be on release.
I have not seen much progress recently with features I expected like boarding systems. but the sailing model has been greatly improved.
I hope they announce a release soon so I can get back to it.
Quote from: Destraex on June 02, 2018, 09:20:02 AM
I love naval action but just cannot bring myself to play it (like star citizen) until they commit to no more wipes. Which should be on release.
I have not seen much progress recently with features I expected like boarding systems. but the sailing model has been greatly improved.
I hope they announce a release soon so I can get back to it.
All my stuff except XP has been wiped two or three times now. The basic mechanics of the game (sailing and shooting and lately boarding and/or looting) have been improving. One way to look at it is that each wipe is a new game -- so that's two or three new games. At least with the alpha wipes so far, i have at least gotten to keep XP and perks. The production release may never happen so I'm playing while I can. And this iteration seems to be the best so far at least for a semi-casual player like me.
Quote from: MengJiao on May 31, 2018, 11:09:47 PM
The Privateer seems improved.
And the Cerberus. Not a very popular ship in the game and it looks like a slightly generic older model...not like the Renomee or the Hercules or the Privateer. But it is a Frigate and I made the Rank of Frigate Captain so here's a frigate (Cerberus at 13.1 knots):
Hmmm. Perhaps I will have another look at their forums. Because it really is the best combat sailing game going. I mean I do not even think we will see such a good sailing model perhaps ever again in a combat game like this.
Quote from: Destraex on June 05, 2018, 08:23:16 AM
Hmmm. Perhaps I will have another look at their forums. Because it really is the best combat sailing game going. I mean I do not even think we will see such a good sailing model perhaps ever again in a combat game like this.
Its a strange world. The forums are deranged and depressing and there are a million weird ways to get killed. BUT if you do the tutorials and keep your risks low and look around and only fight the AI in relatively safe areas, you can play a good sail and shoot game and even some boarding without suffering too much. I have no idea why you would build a game like this that has a very good combat system and then load on strange grinding and "Clans" and "crafting" and whatnot to satisfy a tiny population (under 200) and make life absolutely totally and completely miserable unsatisfying and utterly frustrating for new players.
I think the best thing they can do for a new naval game is purchase the rights to the Storm eagle series Jutland and Distant Guns. The game has been in limbo for years now and could get some polish and updates to give it a more modern feel. Would be a great base to start with.
Quote from: Wburn on June 05, 2018, 08:48:49 AM
I think the best thing they can do for a new naval game is purchase the rights to the Storm eagle series Jutland and Distant Guns. The game has been in limbo for years now and could get some polish and updates to give it a more modern feel. Would be a great base to start with.
That would be cool, BUT, a big part of the fascination with naval games after the age of sail is the interactions of different technologies. Rule the Waves covers that BUT there is a lot of potential there still. For example, most Space games have a tech tree derived from aspects of the naval developments from say 1850 to 1950 (Dreadnoughts, Corvettes, cruisers, stealth, missiles, carriers, detectors etc. etc.
The problem (as with Naval Action) is the persistent world and the massive grind that implies. It seems like it would be better to set games at say 3-4 months and let development of systems (and battles) run from 1850 to 1950 (steam frigates to primitive missile cruisers) with fixed REd/Blue/Yellow teams on a big archipelago with some kind of land, air and submarine modules. A big groggy game, but it could develop iteratively with each new game run having new features.
If you are only looking for combat, they are working on Naval Action Legends which will be an arena style (like World of Tanks) combat only game. No crafting or open world, but grindy going up the ship size tree, again like WoT. It was open for a while on Steam, but it is now closed while they revamp it. Not sure when it will return.
Quote from: DennisS on October 04, 2017, 06:56:05 PM
Quote from: Slick Wilhelm on October 04, 2017, 06:46:26 PM
So they are thinking of doing something that "Rule the Waves" has already done better? Good luck with that.
Agreed. The shipbuilding alone makes Rule the Waves a very, very special game.
+1
Got RTW out and played last night. Every time I play, I wonder "How the hell did I forget about this game?" I guess I keep getting distracted by all of the shiny lights in other, usually inferior, games.
Quote from: solops on June 05, 2018, 02:09:07 PM
Quote from: DennisS on October 04, 2017, 06:56:05 PM
Quote from: Slick Wilhelm on October 04, 2017, 06:46:26 PM
So they are thinking of doing something that "Rule the Waves" has already done better? Good luck with that.
Agreed. The shipbuilding alone makes Rule the Waves a very, very special game.
+1
Got RTW out and played last night. Every time I play, I wonder "How the hell did I forget about this game?" I guess I keep getting distracted by all of the shiny lights in other, usually inferior, games.
Does RTW have a tutorial or is it pretty much read the rule book and figure it out as you go? I've watched some AAR videos on YouTube and the game looks interesting.
New patch out incorporating the new Open World UI as well as a bunch of new stuff. Couldn't find a link to the notes
Here are the notes. Huge patch. UI looks great. Also some additional DLC for sale
MAIN Feature : Open world UI updated to a new version.
Open world UI will update to a more traditional MMO window based system.
Port UI remains on the old version. We decided to deploy OW UI first to help to uncover missed bugs and problems faster. Also your initial feedback on the visuals will allow us to deliver better port UI based on your comments. Apologies for the inconvinience that might be caused by the 2 versions of UI
Expect bugs and glitches.
Name change added to Prolific Forger DLC
Separate item will appear in your redeemables
You will be able to change name once in every 30 days
Admiralty connection added as DLC
Will permanently increase dock space, warehouse slots and economy buildings.
Two imported ships will be added as DLC (time of appearance subject to Valve's approval)
Le Requin
Hercules
Ability to trade in the open world added to game.
Trade is possible with your nation
Trade is possible in the radius of attack
If one of the parties to a trade exits this radius trade will stop
Trade is only possible from hold of the ship
Patrol battle exit (escape) option added (to remove trolling and griefing)
After a certain time exit will be possible if there are no enemy players in your radius
Damage stops the ability to exit (just like the normal exit timer)
Being outside of the circle stops ability to exit
Experimental feature: Open world attack button now has a coold down (60 seconds).
This was done to remove constant re-click to get better positioning
You have to be careful how and when you attack.
Exams now show the following information in pop ups for motivational purposes
Best time and name of the player
Your time
Average time for all players
Rules of Engagement (ROE) changes
For reinforcement zones
Battle is always open for the nation of the reinforcement zone
Battle closes in 10 minutes for all other nations (not owners of the reinforcement zones)
For Capital waters
Nation of the capital water cannot be attacked as before
All other nations can be attacked (removing unnecessary protection for enemies). This means that other nations will not be protected by your capital waters.
Battles of other nations in capital waters will be open to all
Smuggler flag removed
Trader ships now have automatic smuggler flag and will be able to enter any port in the Caribbean
Player in the combat ship wont be able to enter enemy ports
You will now be able to switch ships in enemy ports if you have an outposts and docked ships there (to remove weird lockouts caused by legacy rules
Military ships can now sail out of enemy ports to remove lockouts if your port was captured or changed state from open to all.
Exit from enemy and contested ports gives you a 30 min port battle lockdown
Free for all ports do not give the port battle timer.
Battle sails now give bonuses to
Ship turning
Yard turning
Sail resistance
Fire changes
Fire now affects structure and planking differently. Planking will burn faster than structure. This is done to bring back more epic explosions as fast fires burn the structure too fast (ship sinks faster than it can explode).
Structural leaks and penetrating leaks water intake speed dependence increased. Changes are as follows
50% speed – standard leaks (current)
100% speed – leakage is increased 2x
0 speed – leakage is reduced 2x
Control perk changes
Perk control can be switched off in the beginning of the battle, if you do not want to use it.
There will be a button for the first 5 mins that will let you decide if you want to control on or not.
Tuning
All blueprints were removed from the admiralty and added to player shipyards for simplification (some of them of course will require permits to build)
NPC can rarely sail a 4/5 or 5/5 vessel
Capturable ports now give better chance to build a exceptional vessel.
Fixed bugs:
Quote from: mikeck on June 22, 2018, 08:38:06 AM
Here are the notes. Huge patch. UI looks great. Also some additional DLC for sale
MAIN Feature : Open world UI updated to a new version.
Open world UI will update to a more traditional MMO window based system.
Port UI remains on the old version. We decided to deploy OW UI first to help to uncover missed bugs and problems faster. Also your initial feedback on the visuals will allow us to deliver better port UI based on your comments. Apologies for the inconvinience that might be caused by the 2 versions of UI
Expect bugs and glitches.
Name change added to Prolific Forger DLC
Separate item will appear in your redeemables
You will be able to change name once in every 30 days
Admiralty connection added as DLC
Will permanently increase dock space, warehouse slots and economy buildings.
Two imported ships will be added as DLC (time of appearance subject to Valve's approval)
Le Requin
Hercules
Ability to trade in the open world added to game.
Trade is possible with your nation
Trade is possible in the radius of attack
If one of the parties to a trade exits this radius trade will stop
Trade is only possible from hold of the ship
Patrol battle exit (escape) option added (to remove trolling and griefing)
After a certain time exit will be possible if there are no enemy players in your radius
Damage stops the ability to exit (just like the normal exit timer)
Being outside of the circle stops ability to exit
Experimental feature: Open world attack button now has a coold down (60 seconds).
This was done to remove constant re-click to get better positioning
You have to be careful how and when you attack.
Exams now show the following information in pop ups for motivational purposes
Best time and name of the player
Your time
Average time for all players
Rules of Engagement (ROE) changes
For reinforcement zones
Battle is always open for the nation of the reinforcement zone
Battle closes in 10 minutes for all other nations (not owners of the reinforcement zones)
For Capital waters
Nation of the capital water cannot be attacked as before
All other nations can be attacked (removing unnecessary protection for enemies). This means that other nations will not be protected by your capital waters.
Battles of other nations in capital waters will be open to all
Smuggler flag removed
Trader ships now have automatic smuggler flag and will be able to enter any port in the Caribbean
Player in the combat ship wont be able to enter enemy ports
You will now be able to switch ships in enemy ports if you have an outposts and docked ships there (to remove weird lockouts caused by legacy rules
Military ships can now sail out of enemy ports to remove lockouts if your port was captured or changed state from open to all.
Exit from enemy and contested ports gives you a 30 min port battle lockdown
Free for all ports do not give the port battle timer.
Battle sails now give bonuses to
Ship turning
Yard turning
Sail resistance
Fire changes
Fire now affects structure and planking differently. Planking will burn faster than structure. This is done to bring back more epic explosions as fast fires burn the structure too fast (ship sinks faster than it can explode).
Structural leaks and penetrating leaks water intake speed dependence increased. Changes are as follows
50% speed – standard leaks (current)
100% speed – leakage is increased 2x
0 speed – leakage is reduced 2x
Control perk changes
Perk control can be switched off in the beginning of the battle, if you do not want to use it.
There will be a button for the first 5 mins that will let you decide if you want to control on or not.
Tuning
All blueprints were removed from the admiralty and added to player shipyards for simplification (some of them of course will require permits to build)
NPC can rarely sail a 4/5 or 5/5 vessel
Capturable ports now give better chance to build a exceptional vessel.
Fixed bugs:
Very nice...I'll give it all another go in a few days!
You'll do it now mister!
Quote from: mikeck on June 22, 2018, 10:57:22 AM
You'll do it now mister!
Yes! Sir! Reloading Naval action right now!
And i bought the Hercules DLC (nice ship...I'll be fitting 10 18pders I guess for those lower ports):
Quote from: MengJiao on June 22, 2018, 01:04:53 PM
Quote from: mikeck on June 22, 2018, 10:57:22 AM
You'll do it now mister!
Yes! Sir! Reloading Naval action right now!
And i bought the Hercules DLC (nice ship...I'll be fitting 10 18pders I guess for those lower ports):
Or maybe just 9pdrs since they seem to be underwater a lot:
Might be time to try this one out again.
Quote from: SirAndrewD on June 22, 2018, 08:10:44 PM
Might be time to try this one out again.
Well, it has crashed twice so far tonight, but other than that things seem to have improved some. I visit it occasionally and the actual sea fights are very good.
co-incidentally I tried this again last night with a mate and the UI and map look great although are not finished still from the linux interface look of a lot of things still.
Enjoyed the game immensly as I had not played for a while. Considering the ship DLC just so that I do not have to grind so much.
I haven't had any crashes but then again, I've never had any with NA really. The new ship DLC...hmm. Neither ship is spectacular but if your starting from scratch, both beat rolling around in a cutter or privateer.
The helpful thing is that the ships respwan daily in your "redeemable" list so that even if you lose one, you get it back the next day. Also helps cash flow as everyday, you can make 45k selling the two ships if you want.
The battles are second to none...literally. There is no game, no has there been, that come close to NA in the battles themselves. Smoke, flame, cannons that look like they are shooting 18lbs if cast iron and not a puff of steam, etc. The sailing model is great. So is a great game if that's what you want to do.
What it's missing is background...the NA equivalent of the Total War strategic layer. It just doesn't feel like I am a British Captain at war with France And Spain. French ships sail freely into British ports. More annoyingly, in PvE, AI fleets of enemy ships sail right by me. I get PvE...but I would prefer if Humans couldn't attack me BUT the AI would! I would feel like I'm accomplishing something if I had to run from a Spanish 3rd rate led force in my Essex. I would have to keep my eye on the horizon and occasionally, get into a fight that I know off the bat, I need to get out of. There is just no reason for me to do anything.
Imagine if in Total War, you had an army and all you did was wonder around a map picking enemy armies to attack. No strategy, no reason to do it, no building. You CAN do different things in NA but i don't feel like I need to.
Money is easy to come by as are ships. So why craft?
Quote from: mikeck on June 23, 2018, 12:07:00 PM
I haven't had any crashes but then again, I've never had any with NA really. The new ship DLC...hmm. Neither ship is spectacular but if your starting from scratch, both beat rolling around in a cutter or privateer.
The helpful thing is that the ships respwan daily in your "redeemable" list so that even if you lose one, you get it back the next day. Also helps cash flow as everyday, you can make 45k selling the two ships if you want.
The battles are second to none...literally. There is no game, no has there been, that come close to NA in the battles themselves. Smoke, flame, cannons that look like they are shooting 18lbs if cast iron and not a puff of steam, etc. The sailing model is great. So is a great game if that's what you want to do.
What it's missing is background...the NA equivalent of the Total War strategic layer. It just doesn't feel like I am a British Captain at war with France And Spain. French ships sail freely into British ports. More annoyingly, in PvE, AI fleets of enemy ships sail right by me. I get PvE...but I would prefer if Humans couldn't attack me BUT the AI would! I would feel like I'm accomplishing something if I had to run from a Spanish 3rd rate led force in my Essex. I would have to keep my eye on the horizon and occasionally, get into a fight that I know off the bat, I need to get out of. There is just no reason for me to do anything.
Imagine if in Total War, you had an army and all you did was wonder around a map picking enemy armies to attack. No strategy, no reason to do it, no building. You CAN do different things in NA but i don't feel like I need to.
Money is easy to come by as are ships. So why craft?
I think they really tried to stuff too many games into one graphic matrix...you can see why since the graphics and the combat are pretty good...but really ships of the line were working in a whole different range of possibilities than any kind of pirates. The overlaps would have been interesting to simulate, but that would have taken a few moments of sophistication here and there...as it is, a separation of the spheres of national fleets and piracy would have been a good idea. In the pirate world, sneakiness and boarding would be the main methods for victory. In the world of national fleets signals and gunnery would be how to win. I myself wish they had gotten piracy working before doing anything else....so that would be an emphasis on raids and survival over building monster fleets. But really, with anything approaching "realism" ....you have to take what you can get.
I had advocated years ago that a player could "accept a commission" in the navy. The player would be given (not for good) a small sloop as a commander but as rank increased, the admirably would put you in charge of bigger ships. As a commodore, you would be in command of s small force. Maybe a 3rd rate and 2 frigates, etc. The Admiralty would assign you missions like "Patrol here"'or "locate an enemy frigate harassing shipping here", "suppress pirates", etc.
You would receive a monthly salary and would get a percentage of any prizes or contraband captured. If you "retire" at a high enough rank or with enough time in, you can buy one of the ships you captained at a discount. THAT would make me feel like I was part of something.
Alternatively, or when you retire, you can buy your own ship and work as a
Privateer. Get a letter of marque and such. With enough money, you can commission ships to be made for you with a percentage of your prize money won on it going to the builder. THAT would give me a reason to craft ships.
You could be a trader and receive calls for certain goods (which you can do now) but with a more realistic economy.
Just seems to lack immersion for me when I can buy a 2nd rate Ship of the Line and go do whatever I want. If you want to sail a ship of the line, stay in the Navy, do well, and get assigned to one.
Quote from: Destraex on June 22, 2018, 11:59:55 PM
co-incidentally I tried this again last night with a mate and the UI and map look great although are not finished still from the linux interface look of a lot of things still.
Enjoyed the game immensly as I had not played for a while. Considering the ship DLC just so that I do not have to grind so much.
Well, the Hercules is a fine ship:
Quote from: MengJiao on June 23, 2018, 10:18:41 PM
Quote from: Destraex on June 22, 2018, 11:59:55 PM
co-incidentally I tried this again last night with a mate and the UI and map look great although are not finished still from the linux interface look of a lot of things still.
Enjoyed the game immensly as I had not played for a while. Considering the ship DLC just so that I do not have to grind so much.
Well, the Hercules is a fine ship:
Another view of the Hercules:
I have been doing the tutorials and now exams in naval action.
I am finding the endurance exam especially, to be an education.
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/841/29180784048_3f45dc9aa2.jpg)
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1806/29180783658_c82fee06ff.jpg)
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1827/42334302264_6b561e391e.jpg)
(https://farm1.staticflickr.com/919/42334302054_035712b845.jpg)
Quote from: Destraex on June 27, 2018, 07:00:37 PM
I have been doing the tutorials and now exams in naval action.
I am finding the endurance exam especially, to be an education.
I learned a lot from the tutorials!
Quote from: MengJiao on June 27, 2018, 06:09:43 PM
Quote from: MengJiao on June 23, 2018, 10:18:41 PM
Quote from: Destraex on June 22, 2018, 11:59:55 PM
co-incidentally I tried this again last night with a mate and the UI and map look great although are not finished still from the linux interface look of a lot of things still.
Enjoyed the game immensly as I had not played for a while. Considering the ship DLC just so that I do not have to grind so much.
Well, the Hercules is a fine ship:
Another view of the Hercules:
Surprise going over 13 knots:
They are beautifully modeled ships. I love the lines of the Essex, Renommee and Endymion. When I'm sailing them I love moving the camera around and just appreciating how beautiful those ships must have been
just passed my last standard exam... but have not done the final exam yet.
Got a rattlesnake as reward, pressed claim and it has not appeared anywhere... great.
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1782/42196300415_235d9448f9.jpg)
Quote from: mikeck on June 29, 2018, 10:32:12 PM
They are beautifully modeled ships. I love the lines of the Essex, Renommee and Endymion. When I'm sailing them I love moving the camera around and just appreciating how beautiful those ships must have been
And they all sail pretty differently, with very different ways that work for them in action. For example, sailing the Surprise with the crew at 90%, it is hard to change speeds, but once you get going, she turns so fast with the wind that wearing is the way to go even in a tight battle. The Hercules is a lot slower, but with its smaller crew at 100% -- much handier and I usually tack even in tight spots.
Quote from: Destraex on June 29, 2018, 10:52:49 PM
just passed my last standard exam... but have not done the final exam yet.
Got a rattlesnake as reward, pressed claim and it has not appeared anywhere... great.
(https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1782/42196300415_235d9448f9.jpg)
Have you checked the "redeemable" drop down on the top of the screen when you're in a port where you have docks? Should be there. That's where you claim DLC ships or those given by the devs
I have. It is not there. I also waited for the server reset to happen that night. Not their.
Does not bug me much really.