Sir Texas Sir

I can see how it won't be to bad as PvE your not doing PB"s and PvP where you need the good ping connection. When I played on PvP1 you could tell the bad ping rate big time in big battles. My nomarl ping is about 159 with abour 59 on the US servers. That is a big jump and it's why many of us don't want to merge PvP1 and 2 cause of the ping rate. I really don't get why they keep supproting the PvE server as it's not really bringing much to the game and you honestly can go weeks without getting hit in the OW if you just sale smartly. Hell I only been able to not escape once when I been tagged and didn't want to stay and fight cause I was in a loaded trader. This prob why we been seeing a lot of PvE guys showing up wanting to join the PvP 2 server. The bad ping rate after the move.

They pretty much only do patch notes for major patches. What your doing now is hotfix/mini patches as the tweek things. Remember this game is an Alpha and we are the testers. They don't have to tell us every little tweek they do.

I can see it now, the GREAT GUNBOAT RACES or even BATTLES....lol

SURPRISE? I would ask what type of player are you? If you like getting in there and brawling the Frigate prob be the one you like. I haven't sailed the Belle Poule, but to me it seems some where between the Surpise and the Frigate. My play style is more the Suprise so it's the path I went.

And after playing with them in the US Nation we don't want them in the Pirates either.

One of the first big things we have to explain to new players so I think this is a great thing.

Was there any changes or patchnotes?

I really wish I had screens of the guy I put 14 leaks in his Merc with my own Merc in two broad sides and he never got one shot off on me. Never seen a boat sink so fast. Than again what you expect when you take on a Live Oak Strength Build with Estra Planking and Turn modes. Yah and that was the first time I got the stupid sails right for turning in irons to swing one broad side on him after the first. Oh and thanks to the lovely Prep perk for having all ready loaded guns. Yah his Rattlesnake buddy ran fast after that. Though if it was me I would prob not show any screen shots of getting sunk that fast. I'm sure I"ll do somethign stupid soon and I'll try to submit some screen shots of it. You just some times have some really bad days.

Yah I'm a big fan of the Privateer concept and was going to play my National like that and pretty much stay out of the big ships. I found I get more of that style play as a pirate now though. I pretty much told my clan I won't go to regional PB's unless I have to and I want to mainly keep to shallow waters. Even though I'll go in the other big ship PB"s if I can get a ship there. So if they come up with something more like privateers when the game comes out I'll most likely be playing back on the National side once again. Hell I'm still National on the EU and Carebear servers to try out the new alliance stuff when it comes out. If they take away from pirates the power to build say SOL they need to give pirates more optional ships than just the Pirate Frigate and ships like that. Maybe more crew, crew or cargo space at cost of armor/structure than the normal ships of that style. I like the concept of a raiding system instead of a port capture system. We will have to wait and see how it turns out. There will prob be many changes before the game is final.

I been saying this more for the fact to do piracy too...lol I can hit traders and take the cargo and not have to sail the ship back to port witht he cargo. Not every trader is plum full and such. Though I like this for exploring too. Have few cross over ships that have a bit more cargo but less guns kinda like the LVG and Indaman ships are but maybe not that big. I know cargo place is going to change Prob going to get smaller for some ships, but it would be nice to have a few more ships in the mid range of a trader/war ship that can do both purpose and not be large ships.

Will have to check out the movie now. I wouldn't mind if once you sunk in PB"s you could go more to this mode or a better overview mode to watch the rest of the flight. Lilke that you can't see damage or click on the other team ships but I would like to watch it more than just from clicking from one ship to the other or allow more of a zoom out function for this mode than they allow all ready. By watching other ships fight I have learned a few things too.

I think that is why the mass effects them slightly. I'm playing around with a speed build and I put all 6pbrs (yes instead of the 9's it can have on the lower deck) on a Ren and going to use some Light Carriages to compare it with normal set up of guns and see how much diffrent the speed will be. The ship is for tagging not fight and taking some ones sales down. So you want the fastest chain shot you can and than pull back out of the fight when the big boys catch up to you.

So because I'm a Post Captian I should not be able to say. Lt and 2nd Lt you get in those ships and come with me. There is a trouble some Pirate hunting our traders in such and such area and we need to stop them. So I go on patrol wiht my two Niagara's in some shallow waters and I prevent you from hitting other ships? Maybe you should of got some help. With either other players or fleet of your own. If your not of rank to crew more than one ship than you prob should be watching out more and picking more fair fights or avoiding the ones you are out number. What is the difference from one player with two AI or three players? The fact you have better odds against the one player with two AI that tend to do stupid stuff and can't sail or aim for crap half the time. To be honest the only reason I bring two AI's now with my Merc is cause the US PvP2 Nation players are now brining fleets with them to Port battles so we Pirates are doing the same to counter them. It's cause they can't win a fair fight when they even out number us. I know this cause I use to be in the US nation and watched them bring Basic ships with no mods and keep complaining why they where getting suck so fast. Uh cause you brought a crap ship to a major fight. Noobs as you call them can't even field them cause they don't have the crew to fill the ships up. So most the times it's some one that has been playing the game for a while and has some clue. Hate to tell you unless it's a clan mate most folks aren't going to go and be bored while you sail cargo a long distance and not get paid. Cause to be honest I have rarely every had some one offer money for me to escort there ship safely. Though I have been screamed at in chat after they get tagged in there trader just after we warned every one such and such ships was patrolling that area hitting traders and our ships. Many of these folks aren't noobs at all according to there ranks, they just don't pay attention and only want help when things are going bad for them. You know what I do when I see AI ships. I SINK THEM. Cause guess what that crew they just lost or even the ship if I board it just cost them money. Even if they get away and most the time they don't cause we can blow past the AI and get them. Than come back and sink/kill the crew of the AI ships with no problems. Even when out numbered and no AI ships of our own. There is all ready a limit to the ships you can bring. Shallow water or Deep water depending where you are going to sail. You are also limited to the number of crew you have to man them. Sorry some new player should not be on the same level as me with crew and ships. Cause I can man and command more ships than they can shouldn't mean I should be limited and not allowed to do so. Though I wouldn't mind if they did a class limit cause i think it's silly to see a Lynx with two SOL or even Frigates escorting it. Maybe you can only fleet like ships?

Yep today we had one of our lower rank guys needing an escort from one port. So we all got out and helped him. Some one asked us when he passed, "WHAT THE HELL IS IN THAT TRADER?" We had about 6 Trinc/Connies around a Snow Trader. Than we pulled away when he ported in to do missions once he popped back out in his little combat ship. We where heading to help him grind up his level any way. Just thought it be handy to make sure no one hit his trader too. That and it was loaded with a lot of goodies lol Before anything like this happens and I like the concept they need to fix the end of battle screen where you can trade goods with other players from the win of a battle. Shouldn't I be able to get part of the spoils of the cargo if I help you take that trader down? This would also give reason to bring in a fleet with your own trader like the LVG or Indiaman when your fleeting. Say you find a Spanish GOLD fleet leaving the new world to head back to the old world. It's going to be fat loot, but well guarded too. Yah I can cap the ship and keep that one for myself, but what if we want to keep hitting ships? We just load our prize on one ship and we can keep on going. That way we can sink the ships we don't want or give option to send back to port with a slight prize crew. This takes away from your total crew and will make press gang even more important for the multie battles.

Well that is our main Capital port. That like me complain that there is to many US players around CT or something....lol Some one got to pay the bills and keep the ships a sailing.....being a pirate is expensive and my crew is always thirsty.

I think the speed right now is just fine and I go all over the place except haven't explored the GOM (Gulf Of Mexico) yet, but it's on my list. You could of all ways put a port down once you make the trip and just hop over any time you want to play, but that sounds more like you are going there to tag stuff not do missions. Very bad man as folks will never leave port and just pop on to do them and only that. They aren't that far as is, specially if you find a port that has a lot of close ports around them and can set up missions to do. We do 2-3 missions every time we pull out and you get more than one player to pick them too. Than you don't have to return to port so often. <-------FORMER NAVY AND A SHELLBACK. Oh I know all about those deep blue seas. 4 Years in the Navy and 14 years working offshore oil rigs and drilling ships. I seen some sunrise and sets that will just blow you away. I also been in some storms that have put 30 ft waves over the flight deck of an aircraft carrier. blue water n. The open sea; deep water. Term for when no or limited support while at sea. Oh if you want arena style battles we still got Large and Small battles for those type of players? I haven't touched one in ages so no clue if folks even still do them.

You keep calling them drones, well you do control them so it's not exactly drones it's player controlled AI/NPC ships. Again ships didn't sail alone on the seas cause it was easier to not be a target and why shouldn't it be the same in game. I mean hell a Flag Captain or above would normally be in in charge.....wait for it...wait for it....>>>A FLEET OF SHIPS<<<= By your own words the AI ships are a joke, well than why can't you sink them? Seem's like your taking the wrong ships into battles you can't handle with those ships. Hell I have capped PC traders and been out of there with there ships before the AI even caught up with us. Even more I have sunk or capture the escorts too. That is cause I don't bite of more than I can chew. I'm going to repeat myself, "PICK YOUR TARGETS WISELY." So it shouldn't matter if they have 2 AI escorts or Player Escorts. Most of the time you don't even know about the players that might join in until they do. When my Surprise or Trinc runs escort duty for clan members I run a bit off from the group to watch out for any trouble and to not let on that Trader might have one or more escorts. As for get a group or clan, not every one has time for that or even want too. I didn't get into my first clan on this game until about 3 weeks ago. I done every thing by myself solo. Did I pop out and help others? Yah if they asked and I was free, but most the time I just did it myself instead of asking for help myself. The trade ship doesn't get away with the goods? So you sink him and than run? What is the point of hitting the trade ship if your not going to capture it and get the goods on his ships. This to me tells me right now that your only looking for easy soft targets and nothing more. You do know you get extra XP/Gold for capture ships not just for sinking them. Not to mention what every they had on there ship. They could of had millions in supplies on that ship you just sunk. The other night one of my clan mates got an LGV and it had every thing to make a first or second rate on the ship when he captured it including the High Notes and labor contracts. You know what he did with it? He brought it to our ship crafter and got himself a brand new ship built.

Not really cause they built the ships to run at best speed while with a load not while empty. In fact if you didn't adjust and added ballast to an empty cargo ship it could be very dangerous for that ship. This is why they added more ballast when they had a light load to equal out what is it's best sale weight. Though is best speed wasn't filled to the plum either as they all ways keep some space to bring on more cargo/supplies when they hit ports and traded depending on there cargo and routes. As for seeing who is or not loaded up on the OW it's way to early to have anything like that in game. They have better things to work on for now. Even so unless they are completely empety or filled to the max you prob wouldn't know how much cargo that ship really had cause again they adjusted there ballast to be able to sail in a safe manor with or without a load.

I agree kinda with this but until they rework the pirates I can understand why they are a nation right now. For me I think they should not be able to build SOL, but haave more options of special mod ships like the Pirate Frigate that only they can make and only pirates can sail. Like they have perm smuggler flags on them so if a Nat capture one it can be hit by any one. The same goes for if a Pirate captures a SOL. As for ports let them be able to do what they want in the freetowns. Be the only ones to be able to build in them other than just a shipyard. Instead of Port Battles they should have Port Raids. They don't capture the port, but instead they get a bunch of booty from the raids. I'm sure NPC aggression is a good way off, but I think they should be tagged by any one including other pirates that might of made a deal with a certain nation under the table clan wise. It's not like it's hard to capture a SOL with some of the folks that under crew them so this is an easy way for them to get them. We will just have to wait for the Pirate changes to come in the future though. I prefer to keep to shallow water Port Battles and my Frigates and below for my Pirate. Maybe with the Alliance stuff we will get the option to join either side or even against other rats or against both. I can all ready seing it working this way with your allies and enemies for the Nat's. Why aren't Pirates able to pick who they might help or not?

You know I can say the same about you. If you need to attack unarmed/escorted traders than you prob suck at the game too. If you can't beat the escorts on your own than get some friends. Maybe wait for an easy picking that isn't being escorted. Not every one is in a clan and not every clan member is on 24/7. I have ran many solo runs without AI fleets to escort me and I have escorted many of players in my Nations I have played. Some times you have that option and other times you don't. To me folks like you just want the easy button and not the challenge of a fight. I will fight out number and have won more of those fights than I have lost. If you want a one vs one than find a solo target to hit and not some one with a fleet or Player escort with them. Cause I bet you that same person had two Player escorts you wouldn't fight them either?

Just like pirates in the past did, they picked there targets. If a target is to protected they waited for one that isn't to come along. I'm sorry your stuck with wanting to play in a pickle, but if that is your ship more power to you, but you need to pick your targets and battles that you can handle. If you can't get some friends to help you. Hell last week we used about 5 Mercs to take on a Bucc and almost sunk him but we had one DC and another sunk before we had to pull out of the fight. Guess what there was no AI involved in that fight. Not every one runs around with AI fleets. Hell I don't cause I don't like them slowing down my traders when I make fast runs. Than again I have only not been able to escape one time when I was tagged in my trader cause I'm not an idiot and my situational awareness isn't that of a potato. I heard you used this other times and sounds like me you just want easy targets and not a challenge. It doesn't take much for some one to capture an unarmed or lightly gun trader in just about any ship. Now take on a protected trader by AI or Player escort and than you show me you actually got some skills. Ok let me put it this way....if that same trader had two Players escorting him would you still try to hit it in that Pickle? Prob not, so why would AI be any different than players? In fact the AI is kinda of retarded and you have a better chance beating them and getting that trader than you would if it was a trader with two player escorts. Maybe just maybe you need to let that target pass and wait for some more easy targets out there? Or just maybe use a bigger ship next time if you don't like them having escorts. OH And I still own all my lower level ships and take them out. It's fun to fleet with new players in your old ships and play them. That way you let the new guys learn beside a like ship instead of bringing in something and power gaming them through fleets. They learn better that way. I also like to get them into a level or two higher fleet once and while and get them to take on a much bigger target to learn it can be done. Seems you don't have that skill to judge what you can take on and fight even if out gunned. Sounds like you just want the easy targets and not something that might fight back. I bet you prob gank lowbie players too don't you? Prob run every time it's an equal or out number fight too? But hay that is life, not every fight is going to be a fair fight 1 vs 1 and all. Hell the majority of the ones I been involved in was not fair fights. But you want to know something? I tend to still win them when I'm out number cause I don't give up and most the time I find folks that like to fight with the upper hand tend to suck and lack skills.

Good practice with your shallow water port battle ships is to take the new guys out and your Shallow Water Ships and do fleets until you can get them up to that level and or higher. Than move to bigger ships. We been doing this as in either Nation for are clan. If you just power level them with big missions they can't do much in than they really don't learn and it helps the clan work more as a team too. That and I'm a bigger fan of the little boats myself. I been wondering what the hell will happen if they do a merger and you have two different nation chars. For Example since I just switched to Pirate on US PvP2 and I have US char on PVP1 (same name) than how would the merger even work with folks like that? Though I'm prob going to delete that char on PvP1 and change the name cause I keep getting folks saying oh I know you from US server. Though when I do that not sure what nation that char will be apart of, but prob a National for the new alliance stuff since I now have my main char as a Pirate. My poor PvE char has pretty much never been touched other than a little testing...hell had to sale the Bucc just to get a decent ship to fleet and level up my Officer to test out some of the crafting perks. If they are going to ever do any mergers they need to prob hold off until they do some big in game changes like the Pirate rework or something.

Yep I have been using Sir Texas Sir since the 90's as it is a reference to the shirt I'm wearing in my profile picture from a concert shirt one of the local bans put out back than. Deadhorse is the name of the band and the shirt has nothing to do with Fullmetal Jacket as most folks think it's from and I was in the Navy not Marines. I like keeping the same game name for most of my games cause than I can run into friends. I'm currently playing with a friend that was in my WoT clan that I hadn't seen in almost a year cause we both had the same name here as we used over there. Not to mention that is the name tied to my Steam log in. Though I do like the fact you can make new chars and pick your names. I Think I'll use this option on other servers to not have my name tied to one Nation or play style on every server. I all ready have folks on EU PvP when I pop on there say, "I know your name from US PvP." Not to mention using more historic real names makes it really hard to tell the difrence from NPC AI and players some times. I wish there was a tag in the name of the AI ships so you can easly shop them form the players in battle on your group or the other team. For the longest time in small battles I thought Blood was a player until some one told me it was an NPC lol. Same here....

Remember when games actually had expansions like this added to the main game after it's released. NOT THE DLC stuff they try to push off as expansions now a day, but actual big expansions that almost cost the same as the main game or about half but had about the same amount of content. I think this is the only way it can prob be properly set up as in more than one server and since right now servers are linked with your Level/Craft Rank you can have the same char on more than one of those servers and play him in different area's. I Played mostly US until recently on US PVP (still US On EU PVP) and the US had a lot of dealings in the Mediterranean area against Pirates. Though it was maybe a bit more later in the game time period, but could be fun to fight there. Some odd reason even though I prefer to play US (and Pirate) I would prob not mind playing a Portugal player, but they so need to expand the current map to include south america than. Prob cause I been to Brazil a little to many times lol If the game ever got to expansion level I would say yah Med would be a great second expansion and maybe the north stuff later. This would be cool, but the ping for some players is going to suck a bit if they want to play the other servers and different maps.

Well when did pirates have SOL in the first place or super frigates? I think it's silly at this time when you see more Pirates running around with 1st and 2nd rates than most other nations. This would push more for a reason to run smaller ships and shallow battles when the big boys can't chase you into those waters. Than if you capture one of the SOL it's a great prize for the nation. BOARDING was a very Naval thing that did happen for ships that fought for there Nations Navies, not just with pirates raiding merchants. Now what I would love to see is something like the Pirate Frigate. Make some ships that are just for the pirates that has more guns than the other ships of it's class or more crew cause they are more short trip raiders than long run ships. Have the option to remove some guns to have a bigger cargo space or arm a trader up more and loose some of it's cargo space. This would equal out the fact they can't craft SOL's and only capture them. I'm really not a big fan of the current NATION mentality of Pirates, but we will have to see what the new changes in the future in store for them. Agree to many folks want to treat this as either a simulator or a Historical Accurate game, it's not either. Though it's not some silly COD arena combat type game like World of Warships either and that is the great appeal to it by many that play it. We are lucky to be here along with it's growth through becoming the final game that it will be when it's fully released as finished product. Though I do like the concept that if a bunch of misfits/pirates can band together and fight for the same cause or fight against each other or even help out the Nationals (since there is no allies or enemies for pirates). Though with this it would be nice if they can get Privateer status and maybe work on a way to join that nation after so many points if they like. This way you might have one Pirate Clan that helps out the US, but another helps the French and get along with the US one. A third hates the US so they will try to sink the First clan when they see them. Cause of this the French aligned clan might help the US aligned one or just stay out of the inner fighting of the Pirates. In other words a bunch of chaotic fun lol They should be the chaotic mess between the Nations that can help them or harm them in the wars and some times even flip sides at a hates notice. So you will never really truly trust that pirate at your back side. Though I'm all for an option to also let that Pirate Privateer have the ability to game full national status if he wants to keep helping that one one nation and join them. This way Nationals have a way to go back to being a National after becoming a pirate. Though I would say that you can never join your original nation after going pirate. This will help curb the Nation Jumpers, but allow you to join another Nation later in game if you want to. If you burn your bridges with all the nations you can never go back to being so and permanently your a pirate. Would work best if there is some Reputation system installed in the game though.