CommodoreWesley

So, here's at least my "meta" for Alpha 1.05, though it is essentially the same as previous builds. What I mean by "meta" is that the easiest way to play the game. Therefore, I am only really proposing the fewest number of designs needed. There are quite a few things that I think should be debated about here, but there are some major balance issues that I bring up that are being addressed (torpedoes) but also some others. 1890: Battleships and Torpedo boats - Cruisers are pointless due to awful engine efficency. Fire will be the easiest way to knock out enemy vessels with guns, though it is best to use fire with concentrated main caliber battleship guns on one target than trying to add secondaries. In general, aiming is heavily based off of pitch and roll, therefore having fewer guns is typically far better than quantity. Torpedo boats should also only be armed with 51 mm guns, due to their rate of fire for torpedo boat vs torpedo boat actions. AI torpedo boats however are hardly a threat to player battleships, as they are too shy to get close, allowing for the BB to usually take them out extremely easily. 1900: Battleships and Torpedo boats - Relatively the same as 1890, though torpedoes are more effective due to increased range and damage, putting more favor to them than in 1890. Cruisers finally sort of catch up, but the battleships are typically faster, therefore are still largely a waste of valuable starting money. 1910: Battlecruisers only (Destroyers optional) - Probably the most fun era currently in my opinion, though once you play it with only Battlecruisers, that's really the only way to play it. Destroyers are really only there to help protect your own transports from other destroyers in raiding actions. Battlecruisers however should be essentially built as fast battleships from here on out. Keep the number of guns limited, typically three sets of twin turrets. Don't bother with casemates as all they do is increase roll, and honestly don't really have weight savings over turrets and make the hull more likely to be penetrated due to armor thickness limitations. Make a few turreted secondaries. Typically, I do one twin turret on each side, with one superfiring over the rear main turret. Destroyers however should be kept out of fleet actions, as they tend to get targeted, and their torpedo range isn't far enough. Cruisers are absolutely pointless in this era due to heavily restricted hulls and funnels and high costs. Fire can still be an extremely effective way to knock out enemy ships, therefore stock up on HE still. 1920: Battlecruisers and Destroyers - Similar to 1910, though this is where the game starts becoming less fun for me due to how dangerous torpedoes can become. While cruiser design has greatly improved by this era, light cruisers are so extremely weak against torpedoes that they are really not worth it at all due to their lack of torpedo defense (seriously, destroyers can take a torpedo better than a light cruiser for some reason...). There are also so few cost savings of them compared to heavy cruisers, it's far better just to build heavy cruisers. However, I still don't recommend building heavy cruisers either, as big gun battlecruisers (think fast battleships) are just far more effective at taking out the enemy. The Battlecruiser might be twice as expensive than the cruiser, but they are like 4 times more effective, and are cheaper per ton of displacement than cruisers, making it somewhat ironically more difficult for the enemy to blockade you despite having fewer ships in your fleet. Secondaries from here on out really become optional. Your main enemy will be torpedoes and enemy light cruisers (they are essentially expensive destroyers but can last a bit more under shellfire though their cost is not worth it for the player). Also keep the destroyers out of fleet actions, maybe let them fire torps once then let them retreat, otherwise all the do is feed the enemy victory points). 1930: Battlecruisers and Destroyers - by this time, torpedoes are king, or well, at least the most important thing you need to pay attention to from the enemy. Extreme range plunging shellfire is also very good, and with Radar it is pretty easy to do. Still, I even arm my battlecruisers (fast battleships) with torpedoes by the stage due to the range torpedoes have. The AI overloads their designs with so many unnecessary secondaries that they typically have abysmal long-range accuracy. Most of your battle is largely just trying to avoid your ships from hitting enemy (or your own) torpedoes. Therefore, long range gunfire should be the main focus to try and take out the enemy. 1940: 1930, but even more dangerous torpedoes. Basically, after 1910 just build "Fast battleships" from battlecruiser hulls and have destroyers to kill other destroyers. Torpedoes become so powerful and abundant in the later years that they will be the main threat to the player, while enemy shellfire will be largely ineffective due too many secondaries. Cruisers in general are pointless in battle effectiveness and economically (light cruisers EXPECIALLY so). I would recommend a major decrease in their cost. They may become more useful once more theaters open up in the campaign, as they were historically more so a strategic weapon, rather than a tactical one, but with the exception of build times, it seems like it is better to build battlecruisers due to their overall greater displacement as that has the blockade effectiveness. Player destroyers are really only there for potentially torpedo opportunities and for destroyer duels to protect convoys. Later era destroyers are also a bit too expensive to throw away in the screen orders (which are too aggressive and risky for my taste, particularly with the limited funds available to build our starting fleets). I think with longer term campaigns in the next version, ship designs will be more diverse, as I likely won't ever have more than 4 capital ships of the same design reducing "fast battleship" battlecruisers, though I guess we will have to find out.

*Facepalms* You know, a lot of us were already quite upset that due to the lack or ship parts that have to be crafted to build ships (blocks, frame parts, ingots, and etc.) as the production for it allowed for smaller players to be able to participate in the crafting economy and assist the shipbuilders. Taking out the crafting experience for repairs and guns is extremely ridiculous as now there's no way for us to get the crafting level up to get the labor hours to get the resources out of the production buildings... This is literally the complete opposite direction that we wanted.

I love heeling ships, because only there it separates men from the boys.

Rattlesnake HYPE!!!! And I get my Essex back!!! (and hopefully she is not the wooden wall of indestructibility this time, but behaves more like a Frigate) And crew changes! More reasons to press the 6, 7, 8, and 9 keys again! And... okay, to save you gents some time... pretty much everything. It's just so nice to be able to test new features again!

I think it should be updated weekly, most port battle invasions take two to three days to happen. Particularity right now, the battles for the frontiers of the national empires are starting to begin, there is going to be a bit of port fighting coming soon...

Daw... It was moved from the shipyard... That didn't last long... Really, this should belong in the history topic.

I'm pretty sure the Devs have declared that 1820 is going to be the real cut-off date, so the most modern ship in the game is going to be the Russian Mercury brig.

Yes, this is more of a joke than anything, but the thing that I am shocked about is that I never heard about it until a few days ago. I don't want it in the game, I just want to see what kind of reaction I am going to get.

So, the other day I was doing my normal what-I-do-when-I-am-not-playing-Naval-Action routine of searching through history articles on the internet, I found a ship that fits in this game's time period! INTRODUCING: USS Demologos (1815) Launched in 1815, and designed by the legendary American naval architect Robert Fulton, the USS Demologos was the first steam propelled warship. She was designed as a floating self-propelled gun battery to defend the Harbor of New York. Armed with 30 32-pounder guns and 2 100-pounder Columbiads, she was able to mount a full broadside due to the fact that her paddle wheels were mounted inside of her hull, therefore protected from enemy gunfire. Unfortunately, the Brits were content with just staying outside of New York and wrecking the American economy with the blockade. Also, the war would shortly come to a close. Later renamed the Fulton, she would be lost due to a powder room explosion in 1829. (Please don't kill me for suggesting this ship...)

No, no grouping of alliances, that is what made Uncharted Waters Online's port conquest thing so lame was that it was already balanced and rigged before it even started. The Devs however have already proposed an alliance system for the game, where each nation is able to make a limited number of alliances. I believe it is in their posted development plan. Each nation should be able to choose their allies through a voting system. The catch is however nations have a limit to the number of nations that they can be allied with. For example: GB currently should not be able to make alliances in PvP 1 due to their sheer numbers. Americans will be limited to one ally, while all of the other nations will be able to only ally with two other nations. Pirates are pirates, so no alliances allowed for them.

It's all about our nationalistic fervor for conquest! And I get to jump on the forums and TeamSpeaks to talk about ships and history all day! I mean, who would want to pass that up?

I would like the ability to select your own ship color, but I don't know if that should be restricted to particular nations. Personally, I would get bored with seeing the same ship paint color for all of my ships from cutter to ship-of-the-line. It's also not just the paint color, but also how the hull is marked up, some have extra lines between the gun deck, others paint the lower hull different colors. It was suggested in a post a while back, but it is probably buried under hundreds if not thousands of threads by now... I would love it if players were able to paint up their ships to seem like they have more gun ports than they really do. I hope that one day they will remove the ability for us to be able to see the health bars, number of crew and gun ports on enemy ships, or even the name of players and ships on the list when you press Tab, so people could disguise their trade ships to appear like warships to frighten away the people with not well trained eyes.

Oh my... What have I've been missing?

I personally don't like each nation to have special benefits, as one stat will make one nation seem to be the more preferred than another. I prefer battles to be out of skill of players, not the extra bonus multipliers for which nation you pick. However, I am not opposed for individual nations to have special national ships, which can only be crafted by that nation.

I guess I am the only person who has not regretted calling myself CommodoreCommodoreWesleyTestDutch...