Naval Action coming to Steam EA on the 21st......

[Pete Dero]

They should use the engine to allow players to fight custom battles without the need to go through the long (and grinding) campaign.

[RedArgo]

I agree, while I probably wouldn't do it, there are probably a lot of historical gamers who'd like to recreate real battles without regard to the open world part of the game.  Doesn't seem like it would be much more than a custom setup UI for ships and map location, so they should be able to whip that out in no time at all, but what do I know.

[mikeck]

Just bought the alpha. Man this game is cool. I hate MMOs because I don't like multiplayer. Elite allows you to play in the MMO world but "solo". The PVE server in naval action isn't the same but it's close enough. Unlike the solo play of elite, PvE has multiple human players...but they cannot attack you. Only NPCs can be attacked or can attack.

The graphics are unbelievable...especially the cannon fire. Yellow flames blast out with a ton of smoke. It actually LOOKS LIKE a 24lb cannon firing instead of a little smoke puff. When a ship does a rolling fire, you can see the flames "lighting" up the smoke that shrouds it...very cool

[mikeck]

You can see in the attacked pics...

1. Swedish frigate takes a "rolling broadside" - which has just started - from so close that the smoke from the shot envelopes it. You can also see the second cannon firing and illuminating the smoke.

2. The Swedes return fire off the opposite side.

3. The amount of smoke generated by just 1 cannon is amazing..and REAL! FINALLY!

I never understood why no one could make sailing ship cannon look like cannon fire

[Nefaro]

It's a great & beautiful MMO.

I suspect it will be in Alpha/Beta for quite awhile yet.  So I've not played much of it... since early last year IIRC.  Will get back once it's at a release version.


One of the guys we played World Of Warships with has been avidly playing it for a long time, now, on PvP.  His faction warfare stories very much remind me of the early days of Pirates of the Burning Sea, although I'm sure the devs for this one are doing a better job of listening to their players concerns and adjusting things appropriately.

[mikeck]

It's a great & beautiful MMO.

I suspect it will be in Alpha/Beta for quite awhile yet.  So I've not played much of it... since early last year IIRC.  Will get back once it's at a release version.


One of the guys we played World Of Warships with has been avidly playing it for a long time, now, on PvP.  His faction warfare stories very much remind me of the early days of Pirates of the Burning Sea, although I'm sure the devs for this one are doing a better job of listening to their players concerns and adjusting things appropriately.

I just started so i can't speak to whether it's coming along nicely or not. I will say that overall the more groggy community seems to enjoy it a lot. It has a high degree of realism and complexity if you turn "auto skipper" off and sale square rigged ships. Adjusting sails properly and timely is important not only for speed and maneuver, but to keep your ship from leaning to leeward in a fight and causing your guns to over or undershoot. Ballistics and wind are highly modeled also.

It's definitely an Alpha though. A lot of place-holder graphics in the menus. Trading and the economy needs to be fleshed out, etc. I will say this though, if they don't improve the ship handling, sailing, ocean physics, battle graphics and ballistics one bit, it will still be an unbelievable simulation and definitely the most authentic.

[DennisS]

This is my #2 game on steam in hours played, out of 190. Behind only Civ V. The game has undergone some pretty significant changes in the last month or two. The biggest one was where you had to replace your crew, using gold. Gold is hard to come by, and many players were unable to re-setup their large ships.

In my mind, this was a World of Tanks mechanism, to try to set up the ground for micro transactions. Buy gold directly for real money sort of thing. This won't fly, did not fly, and they have already made adjustments. Personally, I stopped playing. If I cannot play my biggest ship, all the time, without spending real money, then it becomes pay to play, and fuck that.

[DennisS]

It's a great & beautiful MMO.

I suspect it will be in Alpha/Beta for quite awhile yet.  So I've not played much of it... since early last year IIRC.  Will get back once it's at a release version.


One of the guys we played World Of Warships with has been avidly playing it for a long time, now, on PvP.  His faction warfare stories very much remind me of the early days of Pirates of the Burning Sea, although I'm sure the devs for this one are doing a better job of listening to their players concerns and adjusting things appropriately.

I played PotBS extensively, and I have never seen a game wrecked by the developers anywhere near as bad as this one. Imagine a team of six developers, on the main US server (Rackham), who then proceed to gift themselves the biggest, best ships in the game, 100 maxed out.

...and then proceed to terrorize the server, making it their own personal bitch. When a bunch of us players finally figured this out (after several months), we all quit immediately. I bitterly complained on their server forum, and was essentially told...It's our game, tough. OK...the $15 a month I was paying was MY money, so back at you. I was so pleased when they went out of business!

[Nefaro]

It's a great & beautiful MMO.

I suspect it will be in Alpha/Beta for quite awhile yet.  So I've not played much of it... since early last year IIRC.  Will get back once it's at a release version.


One of the guys we played World Of Warships with has been avidly playing it for a long time, now, on PvP.  His faction warfare stories very much remind me of the early days of Pirates of the Burning Sea, although I'm sure the devs for this one are doing a better job of listening to their players concerns and adjusting things appropriately.

I played PotBS extensively, and I have never seen a game wrecked by the developers anywhere near as bad as this one. Imagine a team of six developers, on the main US server (Rackham), who then proceed to gift themselves the biggest, best ships in the game, 100 maxed out.

...and then proceed to terrorize the server, making it their own personal bitch. When a bunch of us players finally figured this out (after several months), we all quit immediately. I bitterly complained on their server forum, and was essentially told...It's our game, tough. OK...the $15 a month I was paying was MY money, so back at you. I was so pleased when they went out of business!

Yeah, those guys were dolts.

Our Guild's Leader/Mistress was always in contact with other guild & national leaders, doing some politicking but also a bunch of socializing with all sorts. 

Evidently someone in another another Nation complained about her dropping in and bullshitting with peeps outsider her own.  To the PotBS devs.  I don't know the details of what went down, but I guess they suspended her.  Then reinstated her account, after some back-and-forth, but by that point she was sick of dealing with their bullshit after they refused to apologize for jumping the banhammer. 

Myself and some others had already left a short time before that, due to various issues, and weren't surprised the devs handled such things so poorly.  I feel like we can at least get some enjoyment out of ridiculing them, whenever the subject gets brought up.   ;D

[mikeck]

Was this happening with PotBS or Naval Action? Either way, THAT is why I hate playing against humans in an MMO. When I last tried elite in "open mode", within 30 minutes, I flew into a station to land and was intentionally rammed by a guy in an anaconda who was just flying around ramming people to death. In alpha, before station security, players would camp out in the corner inside a station and shoot you as you came in. So, I chalked that up as "douchery" and bought my ship back with insurance. 15 minutes later I was interdicted by a Python. He started shooting me and types a message about "give me you stuff man". So I dropped my cargo. He proceeded to blow me up anyway. As I was telling him repeatedly that I and dropped everything he just typed back "hahahahah".

So yeah, open world MMOs have been a lot of fun for me. Back to solo mode

[Skoop]

^ lol sounds like the dark zone in The Division, another mmo.

[DennisS]

Was this happening with PotBS or Naval Action? Either way, THAT is why I hate playing against humans in an MMO. When I last tried elite in "open mode", within 30 minutes, I flew into a station to land and was intentionally rammed by a guy in an anaconda who was just flying around ramming people to death. In alpha, before station security, players would camp out in the corner inside a station and shoot you as you came in. So, I chalked that up as "douchery" and bought my ship back with insurance. 15 minutes later I was interdicted by a Python. He started shooting me and types a message about "give me you stuff man". So I dropped my cargo. He proceeded to blow me up anyway. As I was telling him repeatedly that I and dropped everything he just typed back "hahahahah".

So yeah, open world MMOs have been a lot of fun for me. Back to solo mode

I work with a guy who claims that all he does is grief others in Eve Online. It is the reason he plays. He just wants to piss people off. No..he isn't a good guy, or a good worker, and I will eventually be able to fire him. Will I fire him for being a ganker, and a griefer? Ummmm....no, not directly, but it is certainly a part of his character and personality. The exact opposite of a team player.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

I'm no fan of PvP either but I think that's where the focus is on development in Naval Action.  They really haven't done much to improve depth of play for the PvE server in quite some time.  I had a lot of fun with the game for about a month and a half but it started to feel pretty monotonous as there wasn't really much you could do besides shoot up a couple of bad guys in a mission (and there was no variety to these), buy low and sell high, or chase random encounters and try to snag a prize.

[Nefaro]

Was this happening with PotBS or Naval Action?

The horror stories were from PotBS years ago.

Thus far, the Naval Action people aren't so hard-headed and listen to their player base as far as I know.  Many old PotBS players have been participating, so they probably have some good insight & suggestions to input.  Will probably take a long time, yet, before Naval Action reaches it's potential though.

There are always issues with MMOs that need constant adjustment, tweaking, and additions.  The best you can hope for is developers who can take all the suggestions and implement them in some sort of balanced way.  Not an easy thing to do, but the first step is actually listening to them.

[Nefaro]

I'm no fan of PvP either but I think that's where the focus is on development in Naval Action.  They really haven't done much to improve depth of play for the PvE server in quite some time.  I had a lot of fun with the game for about a month and a half but it started to feel pretty monotonous as there wasn't really much you could do besides shoot up a couple of bad guys in a mission (and there was no variety to these), buy low and sell high, or chase random encounters and try to snag a prize.

It's absolutely PvP focused.


More specifically, it's focused on large PvP conglomerates fighting it out with each other, or allying to do so against other such groups.  A mini-war with multiple different "nations" involved, each having their own changing priorities and goals. 

Pretty much just like the wars in Eve Online, but with less harsh punishment for losses.  Quick and permanent losses being something that inspires Harassing Troll types in Eve.  Exactly like it inspired the "PKs" in Ultima Online, to kill newer players and take all their stuff, almost twenty years ago.