I cannot do the first mission

[Yutani]

I just bought this game at a friend's recommendation, I have a Basic Cutter and he gave me money to buy 6lb guns.

 

We did some missions together.  I tried one on my own - 3 times - and I cannot beat the AI Cutter.  He seems to fire through waves.  He seems to hit me no matter what.  I am dead every time before I even get him to 50% armor.

[Henry d'Esterre Darby]

The new AI logic is a bit too hard for new players.  This is a temporary problem though.

 

See if you can play a bit in company with your friend until there is time to potentially make adjustments to how the low-end AI works (no promises, I'm not a developer, but this sounds like something that will be fixed).

[Powderhorn]

My own suggestion is to grab carronades and lay alongside.

[Arvenski]

You might try working with your friend until you've got the crew and gold for a ship like a Brig or a Snow. You should be able to handle Cutters with ships like those. 

[SeaMist]

Also go after trader cutters. Great practice with no risk.

[LeBoiteux]

What about Duel rooms (?) : using them as training rooms.

What about you and your friend fighting against each other for training ? There mustn't be a lot of players in cutters in duel room. You both have good opportunity to face each other. As friends, you could play at your pace, letting the other firing while sailing in a straight line, testing tactics, learning the basics without the stress of a "real" battle, such as how cutters work (turn rate...), how to aim... And have fun.

And fight against other players at no risk.

 

Some great advices already mentioned in this thread :

- Using Carronades at close range (where it's easier to aim and more devastating).

- Trader small ships for aiming/firing and tagging in the OW training

 

Also :

Guides : http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/12426-the-big-list-of-naval-action-guides/

 

 

Missions may not be the first thing to do in NA for a newcomer.

That's great for grinding or quickly setting up a fight against AI.

But it needs a lot of skills from the start.

 

Traders in the Open world or a friend in a Duel room are definitely better opponents to start with.

 

Also some thought about newcomers' experience here : http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/13295-newcomers-learning-curve/#entry242911

[KuroNyra]

First try to play with a Friend, and use carronade, stay right on the side of the cutter, and you will rape his side.

 

It's a bit hard at the beginning but don't worry, it will succed first, then again, and again.

[Fletch]

Put 12lb  Carronades on that cutter.

Don't try to hit at range Sail right up to it point blank as quick as you can, and it will get easier. New players are not great shots and faffing around at range, the AI will always be a bit better. I lost my first 3 missions in this game the same way and was getting frustrated.

Once I learnt to sail so close I could not miss, the carronades did the rest.

[Yutani]

Thank you all for the advice.

 

I managed to win in my cutter against other cutters and even privateers.  Not so good against the pickle though

[LeBoiteux]

I managed to win in my cutter against other cutters and even privateers.

Congrats ! 

Not so good against the pickle though

Quite normal... I've always preferred the Pickle.

[maturin]

Thank you all for the advice.

 

I managed to win in my cutter against other cutters and even privateers.  Not so good against the pickle though

Congratulations!

 

In all seriousness, you should be an inspiration to many of the players on this forum that have many times your level of experience.

 

Pickle is a tough nut to crack. Try saving your money and buying one.

 

 

 

To everyone else, just buy carronades and sail slow circles around the enemy. So long as you land more than half your shots, you should win an even fight.

[Toothless Jack]

Grats Yutani !

Good to see you not giving up

There is some great advices in this topic all i could add is try and shoot single shots while sailing small ships.

Corronades is very good for damage but its also hard to put all shots in target. So use SPACEBAR and shoot single shoots while aiming.

This way you do max damage from broadside.

Good luck in your journeys !

[Jean Ribault]

....New players are not great shots and faffing around at range, the AI will always be a bit better. I lost my first 3 missions in this game the same way and was getting frustrated....

 

Very true.  Edward lost only 3 missions at first, wow, I'm sure my first losses were double digits.  Eventually figured it out though, it just takes time, it'll be more routine the more you get used to it.

 

IMO missions are the way to go at first.  Not much to lose at that point, but a lot to gain, and the experience is worth it.

Edited April 17, 2016 by Jean Ribault

[VonVolks]

Also go after trader cutters. Great practice with no risk.

 

This is the answer, and duel / small battles will be great practice, and small battles can give you xp and gold too...

 

 

And practice! I just read you won so congrats and enjoy the game. I've been playing a while now and still have TONS to learn about fighting and sailing....

Edited April 17, 2016 by VonVolks

[charognard666]

my first day in NA : can't succes my five or six first missions... Even if you loose, you have gold and xp rewards for a FREE ship and repair kit... Gain some gold, buy new cannon, try again and again, probleme solved... 

[PegasusUK]

One has to be careful to not overdo the complexity of the game that when new players enter the door they actually want to stay and enjoy the game rather than testing the waters for 30 mins and saying its too hard and feel they wasted the money they paid for it and leave no matter how good Naval Action looks good on YouTube or Twitch.

 

The latest patch is starting to remind me of this old screenshot. Eve Online was absolutely terrible for new players back in 2003 with no tutorial or documentation back then we didnt have YouTube so there is content out for Naval Action in 2016.

 

[Jan van Santen]

the most important advice when it comes to the starter cutter is still missing here though:

 

Starter cutters come in random qualities. Search neighboring harbors till you find a free blue life oak cutter. 

They take a lot more damage than eg a green fir version.

 

Also mising: you can hire 2 AI cutters to help you. "Home", "Fleet" is where you find them.

 

As to the momentary difficulty: It is indeed to high for new players. Yesterday i did a little experiment: I took the free green cutter with 4pdr's any new player would have to take first and tried to do a r1 mission. 

I ended up against a privateer with more crew and better guns. Despite my r10 (highest rank in game currently and all from PvE) I was not able to beat that....

[charognard666]

One has to be careful to not overdo the complexity of the game that when new players enter the door they actually want to stay and enjoy the game rather than testing the waters for 30 mins and saying its too hard and feel they wasted the money they paid for it and leave no matter how good Naval Action looks good on YouTube or Twitch.

 

The latest patch is starting to remind me of this old screenshot. Eve Online was absolutely terrible for new players back in 2003 with no tutorial or documentation back then we didnt have YouTube so there is content out for Naval Action in 2016.

 

 

 

Well less players, but good quality players... I'm sorry, but wow and lotro are just easy casual games, and now, they over simplified Eve and it loosing many and many players

[Fletch]

One has to be careful to not overdo the complexity of the game that when new players enter the door they actually want to stay and enjoy the game rather than testing the waters for 30 mins and saying its too hard and feel they wasted the money they paid for it and leave no matter how good Naval Action looks good on YouTube or Twitch.

 

The latest patch is starting to remind me of this old screenshot. Eve Online was absolutely terrible for new players back in 2003 with no tutorial or documentation back then we didnt have YouTube so there is content out for Naval Action in 2016.

 

 

Pfff that's nothing compared to Everquest when it was first released.

[PegasusUK]

Pfff that's nothing compared to Everquest when it was first released.

 

agreed, good ole days.

[ironhammer500]

Its about time a tutorial was made for new players explaining everything to them, hopefully with a New UI update that can be done, just remember the start cutter is free so feel free to lose it a lot...when u get another ship start to care more about sinking.

[Jean Ribault]

Its about time a tutorial was made for new players explaining everything to them, hopefully with a New UI update that can be done, just remember the start cutter is free so feel free to lose it a lot...when u get another ship start to care more about sinking.

 

Well, it would be nice, but IMO it's not practical and the status quo ATM is good.  Technical writing is a difficult process, and if you have to revisit it every time there's a major or sometimes even minor change (i.e. alpha-level reworking), then the final product is without question going to have errors, oversights, and potentially a lot of incongruous material.  The better product is written near or at the end of the development.

 

Also, I'm not as experienced as many of you contributing to this post, but I don't think it's overwhelming to figure it out, due to the other available resources here.  The in-game HELP chat is invaluable and the players are kind and generous with help IMO, info that would take you a long time to hunt down in a manual.  Also if you join a clan you will tend to be mothered, like it or not, and help is immediate.  There's also the in-game command/control overlay, which is a little incomplete but gives you the basics.  Finally there's oodles of info available by browsing or reading through this forum.  There's the whole section on "guides", and a couple posts you can print out a few pages and have right at your side for quick reference.

 

Not to be disagreeable, but I think it would be premature to write a manual now.

Edited April 17, 2016 by Jean Ribault

[Jeheil]

Pfff that's nothing compared to Everquest when it was first released.

 

In everquest you had to build your own curve, made from pain that you first had to farm, then learn how to weave !

[entombet]

Ask friend to borrow you 20000 and hire a ai cutter to help you. I started playing last friday and strugled with missions too, it changed after i bought ai help. Hes great at sucking some dmg and he's doing decent dmg too, just remember to repair them in towns after mission.

[Sir Robert Calder]

Thank you all for the advice.

 

I managed to win in my cutter against other cutters and even privateers.  Not so good against the pickle though

 

Congrats, Yutani!

 

It's been a very recent change with the increase in AI difficulty, and should be tweaked soon to be easier -- especially for newer players such as yourself. In the meantime, I think you will find many of your fellow players will assist you in progressing through the game as a new player. If you happen to be British on PvP1, hit me up if you need anything.