Unable to hire ships for fleet

[Ghroznak]

Did this change in the recent patch?

 

I have two cutters in my fleet, and my friend had one.

 

His was sunk, and now he is unable to hire a new one, even though he did hire one earlier. 

 

When did this change and at what rank, if any, can we hire fleet ships now?

[OlavDeng2]

Did he pass rank 3? if so well it isnt possible to higher fleet, if he is still rank 3 or lower, well then i dont know

[Ghroznak]

Oh... yeah he did pass Rank 3 yesterday.

 

That's weird... so at rank 4+ you can no longer hire fleet ships?

 

Earlier it said I could hire 5 ships, but I could only bring 2 in my fleet, so I (perhaps wrongly) assumed you would be able to bring more ships when you reached a higher rank.

 

Guess I was wrong

 

Thanks.

[OlavDeng2]

No problem, yeah at rank4 and higher you cant due to people hating the fleet for PVP, especially at higher ranks they were a pain in the arse for you(the fleet owner), your allies and the enemies.

[Robaroo]

So i should get as many in my fleet as possible before i hit rank 3?  Right now im 1878/2500

[Tremor]

yup. buy as many fleet you can before upleveling.

 

the devs should just make fleet autoflee in pvp and keep the rest of us happy with the ai fleet (love it)

[Jacob van Heemskerck]

They should do "escort" after fleet rank 3, and only with trader ships?

Because i mis protection (fleet) with a trader ship.

And for an example, the highest "escort" ship wil be only 1 mercury or cerberus? For a very steep price?

Personally i don't mis a fleet, i didn't hire them post wipe.

Edited February 10, 2016 by Jacob van Heemskerck

[Ghroznak]

I am assuming then that being able to hire 5 was just a way to keep 3 as backup, and then you could bring 2 with you at a time as part of the fleet.

 

I do see how they could be annoying in PvP. They are a bit clumsy with their sailing, but also I suppose the added firepower makes things a bit silly.

 

Wouldn't mind them as being available if you are in a trader ship though. They could be a nice distraction and also set to Demast orders while you try to flee in your trader in order to slow down an aggressor and allow you to escape.

 

Also, being in the Niagara right now and facing solo Renommee's, two NavyBrigs and so on when I do missions is starting to make things difficult. The little cutters would be useful for both added firepower as well as damage sponges so you don't soak up all the damage yourself.

 

Then again, I guess I can always bring real friends instead of digital ones for those missions

 

Thanks for the clarifications though guys!

Edited February 10, 2016 by Ghroznak

[Robaroo]

yup. buy as many fleet you can before upleveling.

 

the devs should just make fleet autoflee in pvp and keep the rest of us happy with the ai fleet (love it)

Yeah i like this idea...remove them for pvp and let us keep them for pve. Seriously having issues solo with these 2 vs 1 missions.

[Lefort]

Yeah i like this idea...remove them for pvp and let us keep them for pve. Seriously having issues solo with these 2 vs 1 missions.

I like them and think they should be brought back fo all ranks, if they're so bad for pvp people won't use them for it also they're a money sink which the game really needs. I mean they're just lynxes and cutters they're hardly dangerous to frigates and above, while they're super handy for underarmed traders as escorts, especially now that they slowed them down.

['Sharpe]

Background on why fleets are disabled past a certain rank:

 

http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/8057-unofficial-ai-fleet-discussion-thread

 

AI Fleets are great for the PvE server. No place in PvP server, unless to help new players with missions. Once past Rank 3 there should be no problems beating the 1v2s you are presented with, it just takes practice and sailing.

[Tremor]

pvp server no fleet ? why ?

pvp MATCH no fleet would be enough

[Ghroznak]

I want to sail in a Pickle with three Constitutions as my fleet

[Aetrion]

They should definitely allow you to have a fleet at higher levels.

 

I think it would be cool if they changed the way fleets work to not have fleet slots, but rather you simply divide the number of sailors you can command between up to three ships. That way having a higher rank pays off more for people who prefer smaller ships because you can run bigger escorts.

[OlavDeng2]

They should definitely allow you to have a fleet at higher levels.

 

I think it would be cool if they changed the way fleets work to not have fleet slots, but rather you simply divide the number of sailors you can command between up to three ships. That way having a higher rank pays off more for people who prefer smaller ships because you can run bigger escorts.

This would not solve the issues people have with fleets what so ever...

[Aetrion]

This would not solve the issues people have with fleets what so ever...

 

It's not a suggestion for solving the issues with fleets, it's a suggestion for improving the XP progression.

 

 

As far as fleets in PvP go, as far as I understand it the problem is that the NPC are just doing their own thing and crowding up the battlespace in ways that makes it hard for players to maneuver. I don't really know what to do about that. Maybe better AI could solve the problem, like having the ships run in some kind of formation with yours instead of just going off on their own. Maybe fleet ships have to work differently all together. Ultimately I don't think there is a solution to "Escorts are annoying" other than "Remove escorts", but being able to have your own wolfpack seems like a great way to give players an incentive to use smaller ships even if they have a very high rank.

Edited February 11, 2016 by Aetrion

[Ghroznak]

Two places I see escorts as fine.

Doing missions or capturing NPC traders, ergo PvE.

Being attacked while you are in a Trader classed ship, ergo defense in PvP.

[Aetrion]

I'm not sure I agree that traders should get NPC escorts instead of having to take some actual warships along. It's already a game where people who want to play as navy officers are one sidedly dependent on crafters without any real dependence the other way.

[Ghroznak]

Of course there is a dependence the other way.

 

Players who fight battles rely on crafters for ships and upgrades.

Crafters rely on players who fight battles to keep waters free of hostiles as well as defending ports, and expanding by capturing new ports, thus increasing the market for the traders and crafters by having more resources available.

 

It's a symbiosis. If you lose one of them the other one ends up having no purpose, or no resources to keep going.

 

Anyways, trading ships can bring friends to protect them. However, while it sounds great, babysitting trader ships can get quite boring, and payment for services rendered is limited as the amount of profit a trader can make varies greatly. Any combat player wanting to earn money would simply do missions or hunt enemy ships as that gives better profit, and it gives XP to rank up, rather than rely on breadcrumb dividends from trading.

 

They realized this in Elite Dangerous and added a Trade Dividends feature where any ships in the same fleet, and in the same system, as the trader would get a percentage of the profits as dividends they could claim. Those dividends were NOT taken out of the profit for the trader, but were added as a separate reward for each ship in the fleet. E.g. if I sold items and earned 10.000 profit then I made 10.000, and everyone in the same fleet as me makes 5% out of the profit, ergo 10.000*5% = 500 each.

 

I guess something similar could be added in Naval Action as an incentive to sail escort for traders.

[Aetrion]

Of course there is a dependence the other way.

 

I'll believe that when a crafter pays me.

[Cossack]

Background on why fleets are disabled past a certain rank:

 

http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/8057-unofficial-ai-fleet-discussion-thread

 

AI Fleets are great for the PvE server. No place in PvP server, unless to help new players with missions. Once past Rank 3 there should be no problems beating the 1v2s you are presented with, it just takes practice and sailing.

 

I disagree that they have no place on the PvP server. They would be perfect for traders to be able to hire a ship or two to escort them on their voyage to ports. Let's be honest here the majority of pvp battles are port battles and large clan battles. Then you have the odd group of friends who sale around pouncing on lone targets. Those lone targets having a couple ships to help them fight against larger numbers would probably help stop the situation we have now where almost every enemy engaged flees the battle. I know most players say just join a clan, but what if you don't want to? having a game that fits more types of play styles can only be a good thing. It's not like sinking a couple extra NPC ships is a waste of time, in fact it seems that is all every one is doing right now just attacking a.i fleets and grinding their way up to 1st rates. 

 

Perhaps a system where you could only use your fleet against players if their BR was much higher than yours or something would have been much better overall in my honest opinion. That way an out numbered player could use his fleet for help yet even PvP battles fleets cannot be used etc.