DeRuyter

I have read a lot about the term "gank" since playing this game and a 1v1 fight is not one of the definitions of a gank. What if you were sailing in a Snow or Cerb and he hit you with a Surprise or Frigate - gank? What if you had an AI fleet to fight him - gank? In fact it is one of the basic features of the game - the lone privateer or pirate out hunting for enemy traders a common historical occurrence in the age of sail. You didn't get ganked the Surprise did. I get the compromises for gameplay but having a player go into port and come back out to join a battle 20 minutes later rips a huge hole in the space time continuum!

The Trader Lynx had a 200 hold at the beginning of the OW, now it still has more and the devs always have maintained the x4 cargo capacity would be adjusted. Now they have done it but increased the warship capability as well. All those people having to drop loot in PB will benefit now. The small traders are not supposed to be open ocean long haul ships, more like coastal trading vessels running short trips. Frankly the trader brig and snow are just trade versions of warships included for variety anyway. So no it is not a silly reduction and it was always going to happen. Also notice that traders still all have 30 slots whereas warships all only have 10. So for large trading run (while fishing) you still may need the trader.

Can't wait to test after work. Thanks for the update! Comments after testing. IMO upgrades from ship wrecks should be the non-craftable modules, not Boarding Ropes and Ladder.

As admin noted already big discussion and poll on this issue. Just to address your idea specifically. Some good thoughts, but the simplest solution will be best, ie; one without conditions. The first question is really how much of an exploit is it, or how often is it used as an exploit? Just this morning I logged on before work to sail from OW to a port and got tagged in a 3v1 (2 Mercs, Snake v Snake). They got a great tag and I was lucky to get away, then I logged out in the BS. Exploit? I needed to get to work but even so I was outnumbered so should I be forced to fight after successfully getting away once? You can change the numbers, how about 10 ships waiting outside including SoL and your squadron is 4 frigates, etc. The issue really is that the waiting fleet cannot see who remains and the other side can only see if they have a friend outside. So a simple solution should suffice - give both sides notice even if it is just a timer on the screen and notice of what is waiting on the outside. 5-10 minutes to take action for the ships in screen. Log off or TP to national port w/o cargo for example. Of course one can come out and fight with reasonable odds.

Already in game = Trader Lynx. Sharp lined Baltimore schooners were predecessors of clippers and in period were blockade runners and smugglers. I agree though that cargo capacities need to be adjusted. Prater = !

Capitols should be very hard to capture. Multiple large forts guarding the harbor entrance leading to the cap zones, etc.

Yes at the opening of the OW last summer there was a lot of discussion about ship speed, time compression and map size. There were also graphics issues with the ships interacting with the water at higher speeds - your Lynx looked more like a speed boat on the water, more so than it does now!

Tried out the Santa Cecilia yesterday and she seemed to tack well. No problems getting through the wind without making sternway (mostly!). But then it looks like she is a maneuverable ship. The new acceleration model may bring benefits for the slower but more maneuverable ships.

One really has to define sinking and on fire first. Is it no surrendering with any amount of water in the hull? Is it any fire or fire shock? Carpenter: Captain we have 9 feet of water in the well and the pumps can't keep up! Captain: Sorry we can't surrender to save the ship and crew. Save yourself if you can swim! I agree there should be a point of no return, but ships that did strike their colors often had extensive damage to include water in the hull. So a mechanic to prevent the last minute surrender and preserve the capture would definitely be a good thing.

First you want to define your adventure. A one off summer booking on a sailing vessel or a more permanent volunteer situation? For the former you can pretty much go anywhere but most of the options are likely to be steel hulled sail training/cruising vessels well after the NA period. Having said that you are still sailing on a square rigged tall ship and the seamanship has not changed much. Also as you noted these can be quite expensive! I can think of 1/2 a dozen based in Europe: Europa, Stad Amsterdam, Oostschilde are examples: https://www.stadamsterdam.com/en/index.xml Here is a page from a sail training booking site: http://www.atseasailtraining.com/177/ships/12/oosterschelde.html AFAIK there are not as many tall ships carrying passengers for extended sails in the US. Some offer day sails, or are used for youth sail training. Lynx and Pride of Baltimore II are examples of this. You can book day sails and help the crew haul on lines etc. I sailed on Lynx for an event in Baltimore as a passenger. The tops'l schooner Sultana is a replica of an 18th century ship, but is mostly used as a youth training/education ship. There are a number of schooners on the East coast, in Maine, for example where you can book a week for a sail, but more as a passenger. I did have the opportunity to do the latter, volunteer as crew on a tall ship. Mostly this is down to time and location. IMO the best would be to volunteer on Niagara , but you need to live near Lake Erie. In the Northwest there is the Lady Washington, Hawaiian Chieftain and Californian among others. I am not sure if HMS Surprise uses volunteers or offers sail training. I volunteered on Kalmar Nyckel which is a replica of a Dutch ship built in 1625 and used by the Swedes to bring colonists to the East coast. The initial training class was six weekends after which you have to put in 40 hours maintenance prior to each sailing season in order to voyage. http://kalmarnyckel.org/ It was an awesome experience but I still have an Atlantic crossing on my bucket list! Here is a link to the Tall Ships website which has a lot of information on sail training: http://www.tallshipsamerica.org/ Good luck!

Striking = Surrendering No reason to have two different features - Striking [the colors] is essentially a term for surrendering a ship at sea. Now there was historical precedent of ships that had struck attempting to escape in fleet actions, however, I would just keep it simple rather than add option that potentially gives the player his ship back during the battle. Just like the ransom idea that has griefing potential. Players are just too used to getting xp/rewards for the kill, surrendering is seen as a deliberate denial of rewards. Despite getting the value of the ship you just captured. Ironically surrendering or striking the colors is much more historical, however; for game play just give the xp to the player putting in the most damage as usual and the surrendering crew will auto patch leaks and pump out water to prevent the ship sinking.

We should not have a blanket restriction on surrendering if you are taking on water. That was always a consideration for surrendering - the ship has 9 feet of water in the bilge and can't keep up with it - so the option was to surrender and keep the ship afloat and the many sailors who couldn't swim from drowning. Just have a mechanism once the surrender takes effect and the crew is saved, then the ship stops sinking. Alternatively maybe a point of not return like 75% full or something like that.

Reread the OP again and you may be surprised Thanks to the devs for this ship and the hard work on this outside problem - and I got some Ultimate General: Gettysburg play time yesterday while the server was down!

Lots of discussion on this subject posted on the Poll topic just above this thread: http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/11383-should-ships-have-durability/

Here is what admin wrote in the patch notes: "Every rank has its limit of free crew provided by the admiralty. For example a first ranked newbie has 40 free crew, so he does not have to pay for crew if he loses the ship." Works for me and my clan. I might suggest that your clan test the crew functions out over multiple RL days. Try using different ships, putting into port with outpost, then TP and sailing out on different ship from different op. Lose boarding combat and then wait to log in to next day and see what happens - just suggestion to test it out. If your whole clan is unable to get crew to regen back to rank level I would suggest sending a pm to dev at that point.

+1 Excellent post and suggestions! I like following the historical ships officers and warrants as the starting point for in game officers. I had posted a list like this, abet not nearly as detailed or fleshed out, when the admin called for officer suggestions. Glad to see this in such detail. I also like that the perk bonuses are not OP - and you have to rank them up.

+1 As I posted in another thread - taking on water was a good reason for surrendering IRL. Many sailors in the 18th century did not know how to swim and saving the ship by surrendering was preferable to drowning or the sharks... For gameplay it is simple: Give kill xp and force on survival you noted above. Problem solved.

I usually don't disagree with you Tommy but here I do . Taking on water was one of the reasons a ship surrendered! As I noted in the other thread many sailors could not swim and surrendering was the preferred outcome (think sharks). You have provided the solutions - get kill for ship and crew goes into survival mode to save ship.

Maybe it is just the way I am playing but I have not spent any gold on crew yet. For example, I fought a solo mission with a BP vs. a Surprise and lost 120 men in the boarding action and battle, but didn't have to buy any crew. You do realize that crew regenerates over time once you go back to port right? In the post battle screen you can add crew from your available amount onto your ship to exit with a full crew - or use a medikit. I returned to port to repair and do some crafting and the next time I sailed out my crew was back to the max. Of course sailing out with an AI fleet maxing out your crew all the time could be costly. It is called crew management after all, manage wisely and you won't lose money.

In RL terms if your ship is taking on water that should prompt a quick surrender to save the crew. Remember that many sailors in the 18th century couldn't swim so being a prisoner was preferable to drowning or worse the sharks..... I can see how this could be exploited in game, but we already have the no escape while taking on water. Maybe having the crew max out survival mode automatically on surrendering will help, and of course awarding the kill xp.

Actually on your third point it does not have to be - you can manage crew in the battle results screen. So if you sail out with less than your max available crew you can replenish crew in the screen. You can also use the medikits to regenerate crew.

I usually have the same amount of time as you per session. Once you figure out how the crew management works it really doesn't add any time - particularly if you are only sailing your main ship. It may actually be easier to catch players on the OW since they are slowed down by their AI "fleet". No reason you can't pvp the AI doesn't do much. The problem may be that a player trader can get away by sacrificing his AI escort.

I am on the bad side of RNG for bottles I guess - none discovered on trip down FL coast, but I did catch a bunch of sharks! Hoping for better bottle luck today or maybe I'll just sell all my sharks! Thanks for the hotfix on the group bug so quickly!

Sigh - must wait until after work - can't even look at Steam as it is considered social media and blocked content on our servers.

Of course now you'll have to put a prize crew aboard and sail it back to port in company with your ship.