Privateer needs a bow gun

[Bach]

The privateer ship is relatively useless for hunting anything but specifically trader cutters.

It's to slow to catch a trader Lynx while having to swing side to side to tag it in. Especially since the coward perk came out. Making any TLynx captures highly dependent on tags or gank swarming.

Everything under the digital sun can outrun it down wind and it suffered from the same problem of being even slower swinging sued to side to keep target tagged in.

Just about the only ship type a privateer can actually run down and capture regularly is the Trader Cutter.

So I suggest putting x1 4# chaser on the front of the Privateer to give it more use as ..well ...as a privateer.

[Snoopy]

You are probably right.. and it's the same with the bigger ships that don't have bow chasers (Belle Poule, Essex, Pavel..)

 

It is such a big drawback when you have to run down ships.. so much so that many beautiful ships won't get sailed.

Problem is - there really isn't any space on the Privateer model to put that chaser cannon.

Shots coming from an invisible "virtual cannon" might do the game mechanic part but are cheesy also

[Hethwill, the Red Duke]

Hmmm it would make it very OP and wouldn't change anything regarding outcome if clean slate interception.

 

Only a Lynx to catch a Trader Lynx given the same build and setup.

 

Regarding the Cutter, the Privateer struggles with the downwind, true, but the Pickle will get it.

 

But... wind and land can change everything.

 

 

Just my million cents on it.

[Ledinis]

I would rather keep the historic armaments and remove the unhistorical tagging and hyper drive teleportation from the game -.-   

[Kronans]

dont like the ide of a privater shall have chasers it is to small ship. wud be same as arm all traders with max guns

[Bach]

dont like the ide of a privater shall have chasers it is to small ship. wud be same as arm all traders with max guns

Perhaps. But here is the point if the issue.

In real life a privateer could race up to a cutter after an hours long sailing duel to capture the prize. In real life the privateer can just sail until it's got the positioning. In NA, even if the privateer is the faster ship, it has to tag the cutter every 60 sec with broadside guns all while still trying to close range. All the cutter needs to do in NA is repeatedly cut back and forth through the wind. This forces the Priv to slow more as it has too exaggerate the move to get gun arcs every 60sec as it falls further and further behind.

In real life there was no privateer class ship. They were simply modified merchants and packets made to fit the job. If real life had required the Priv to hit the runner ship every 60sec they would have put a small bow chaser on it.

[Æthlstan]

I can see a different lanteen rigged ship coming out that has a bow chaser, but not a bow chaser added to the current privateer

[Vernon Merrill]

Hopefully the USS Prince de Neufchâtel, the hermaprodite-rigged schooner I ordered will come off the stocks soon. I'll talk to my ship-builder and see if he can cut a port or two near the bow.

[Bach]

Hopefully the USS Prince de Neufchâtel, the hermaprodite-rigged schooner I ordered will come off the stocks soon. I'll talk to my ship-builder and see if he can cut a port or two near the bow.

It does bring up and interesting but neglected mechanic. The Neufchâtel enjoyed speed over all its adversaries. But in a bit of a gale she was finally caught as she sprung a mast. The ability of stouter ships to carry speed in weather is probably not a factor we want to add to the game. But it is something to think about.

I can see a different lanteen rigged ship coming out that has a bow chaser, but not a bow chaser added to the current privateer

It still leaves us with the problem of the Privateer being a relatively useless design taking up pixel space.

[Prater]

I can see a different lanteen rigged ship coming out that has a bow chaser, but not a bow chaser added to the current privateer

 

Something needs to happen though, because Bach has a point.  Having to swerve back and forth to keep an enemy tagged every 60 seconds seriously cuts in on its usefulness.  It isn't just privateers, but all frigates, brigs and fore-and-aft ships that lack them.  Either give the ability to move guns to the bow or change how these ships interact with the leave timer.

[CaptVonGunn]

dont like the ide of a privater shall have chasers it is to small ship. wud be same as arm all traders with max guns

Huh? I ship designed to catch trading ships should have a chaser... all it needs is a single 4 pdr....  The coward perk and the silly tag timer make it even more needed. You should NEVER be able to leave a combat if your leak,burning under fire OR the enemy is catching up to you....

Edited July 20, 2016 by CaptVonGunn

[Hethwill, the Red Duke]

It is something not yet in game. The ability to approach a ship under a false flag. That's how most prizes were taken other than the normal catch up and the trader striking the colours.

[Mrdoomed]

Its not so much that certain ships need bow guns but more a fair and reliable mechanic that allows a ship to chase down a ship without having to hit it ever 60 seconds.

Im at a loss of what could work,be fair,and not be insanely time consuming. Some have suggested that if you are gaining grown then the timer dont tick down. That coul work but then again a chase couls literally take a day so maybe it wont work.

Could something as simple as a "fake gun" or something that you can " fire" like a gun to retag but its not a gun tjat does damage work ? Wouldnt be very immersing but maybe.

I wish someone could figure something out because i really like most ships tjat dont have bow chasers but cant really use them because of the lack of guns.

[CaptVonGunn]

If the chase takes all day it takes all day... that is the chasers option... he can disengage at any time

[Mrdoomed]

If the chase takes all day it takes all day... that is the chasers option... he can disengage at any time

While i totally agree with you i have to say that it would lead to griefers who just outlast someone who has to go to work the next day or take care of a child eventually.

If griefers didnt exist then yes let it play out.

[Henry d'Esterre Darby]

It is something not yet in game. The ability to approach a ship under a false flag. That's how most prizes were taken other than the normal catch up and the trader striking the colours.

 

And not likely to come any time soon.  The feature is very near impossible to implement correctly.

[Hethwill, the Red Duke]

And not likely to come any time soon.  The feature is very near impossible to implement correctly.

 

Perfectly understand. I am okay with the options I have at the moment ( apart from the skynet ).

 

But.... a review over Navy and Maritime crews, war and trade focuses, should improve the gameplay.

[Kronans]

why not put that on all ships cutters to povels that dont have it?

 

Dont like that ide

[Prater]

Could something as simple as a "fake gun" or something that you can " fire" like a gun to retag but its not a gun tjat does damage work ? Wouldnt be very immersing but maybe.

I think the idea of an invisible "cannon" that does no damage but only resets the exit time is a good idea.  Make it require crew and give 1 to every ship that doesn't have a bow chaser.

[Mrdoomed]

I think the idea of an invisible "cannon" that does no damage but only resets the exit time is a good idea. Make it require crew and give 1 to every ship that doesn't have a bow chaser.

Kind of a reloading sonar wave or something...this way the chaser must acually play and not akf grief and would need to aim and use at least some skill.

[Prater]

Kind of a reloading sonar wave or something...this way the chaser must acually play and not akf grief and would need to aim and use at least some skill.

Yep, you have to aim it and it takes time to reload.  Also, you have to buy the cannon and put it in the bow chaser slot, it just doesn't do damage.  It isn't that immersive breaking in my opinion. 

[jw62]

I've had to let a ship go here and there because I failed to make the interception properly in the OW. If we treat the OW and the BW as two different cases then that might be one thing, however, for the sake of not wrecking my immersion, if I pooch it in the OW and fail to set up properly then I am chastised by watching the unarmed lynx disappear. Fair is fair, even the AI has to be given an honorable chance, or the game is not a game. I built an exceptionally fast privateer, but still, just like in real life, preparation and set up are skills.

These boats are all too sharp forward to have carriage guns mounted forward. There are games you can play while maneuvering, and the fun of this game is figuring them out.

[Bach]

Historical record of the Royal Marine

Vol II page 39 Details the 32 gun Frigate Minerva being fired upon by the bow gun of a Spanish Lugger Privateer. Granted the Spanish may have been crazy trying to grape a frigate. But the point is the Priv, in this case, mounted a bow gun.

https://books.google.com/books?id=HVtHAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA39&lpg=PA39&dq=cutter+with+bow+gun+privateer+with+bow+gun&source=bl&ots=KfaiwOuXr_&sig=my23u4JiZuXMpvCbmBM-Y7YzRA4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiXkY6AsIXOAhUBxGMKHZsDAWkQ6AEIUTAL#v=onepage&q=cutter%20with%20bow%20gun%20privateer%20with%20bow%20gun&f=false

Edited July 21, 2016 by Bach

[CaptVonGunn]

Historical record of the Royal Marine

Vol II page 39 Details the 32 gun Frigate Minerva being fired upon by the bow gun of a Spanish Lugger Privateer. Granted the Spanish may have been crazy trying to grape a frigate, but the point is the Priv, in this case, mounted a bow gun.

https://books.google.com/books?id=HVtHAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA39&lpg=PA39&dq=cutter+with+bow+gun+privateer+with+bow+gun&source=bl&ots=KfaiwOuXr_&sig=my23u4JiZuXMpvCbmBM-Y7YzRA4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiXkY6AsIXOAhUBxGMKHZsDAWkQ6AEIUTAL#v=onepage&q=cutter%20with%20bow%20gun%20privateer%20with%20bow%20gun&f=false

Yes but Privateer was not a ship class as much as a type....  ie any ship that was flying the flag of a country and attacking shipping that was NOT also a Naval vessel was a Privateer

[Prater]

That's a different vessel.  That it has 26 crew tells me it is smaller than the privateer.  It isn't an American Topsail Schooner.  Ps.  Here are pictures of the Lynx/Privateer:

 

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRaW5-Z7WOubGAntSKpmNjtW8U4ApuPzoxEoFMUskPxsNXceqyR

 

 

Naval Action doesn't quite do it justice in size.