Free town changes - Important

[admin]

Hello Captains

 

Four types of change will be done to the free towns in the next patch within 15-25 days:

 

1. Free town status and free town assets exchanged switched with another port - to save players time.

The free town status will switch from a port to another. All the player assets (outpost, ships, warehouse) of the ex -free town will be transferred to the new free town. Also, all the player assets of the ex- normal port will be transferred to the new standard port. This change concerns those pairs of ports:

• Island Harbour  -  Hat Island

• Plymouth  -  La Désirade

• Caño Macareo  -  Guayaguayare

• Canalete  -  Dariena

• Victoria  -  Santa Ana

• Tordo  -  Tamiagua

• Aransas  -  El Rancho

• Barataria  -  Saint-Malo

• Key West  -  Las Tortugas

• Cabo Cañaveral  -  Cayo Biscayno

• Sunbury  -  Saint Marys

If you had assets in one of those free towns (on the left), you will find them in the corresponding new free town (on the right). If you had assets in one of those ports on the right of the list, you will find them in the new port on the left of the list.

 

Example. You had assets in Las Tortugas. It became a free town. To save players time we moved his assets to Key west. 

 

2. Free town status and free town assets moved to a new port

One free town will be moved to a newly created port. This change concerns only:

• Île-à-Vache  -   La Navasse

If you had assets in Île-à-Vache, you will find them in La Navasse. The port of Île-à-Vache won’t exist anymore.

 

3. Free town status added to a new port

Some standard ports will receive the free town status. This type of change concerns those ports:

• Salinas

• Little River

Those 2 ports are new ports, they will start empty anyways.

 

4. IMPORTANT Free town status removed from a port

 

4 ports will have their free town status removed without any other modification. This type of change concerns the following 4 ports:

 

• Crown Haven

• Little Isaac Rocks

• William's Bay

• Vieques

 

If you had assets in one of those free towns, they will stay there but the port will become a normal port and its ownership may change. We advise players to move the assets out of those ports before the patch.

 

Reasons for changes

New positions for free towns are required to support the hostility mechanics - they have to be placed on the borders of regions (preferably). The overall free town mechanics is under review and their number might go down before release. 

 

To support the changes of the regions system 14 new ports will be added

• Ocean Bight

• La Navasse

• Hat Island

• Sandy Hill

• Cul-de-Sac

• La Désirade

• La Moussette

• Salinas

• Tamiagua

• Guacata

• All Saints

• Little River

• Wantlands Ferry

• Rum Cove

 

Edit 14/09

 

Those ports will actually not get the FT status in the september patch:

• Beata (which will also not be added as a new port)
• Barranquilla (which will stay as standard port as it is currently and be included into the Santa Marta province)
• Gracias a Dios (which will stay as standard port as it is currently and be included into the Royal Mosquito province)

Updated map: http://imgur.com/a/ijzWn

 

Sorry if any players had already started moving stuff to Barranquilla or Gracias a Dios.

[Anolytic]

Is this arriving with the September Patch? Or in October?

Edit: Nvm, I guess I need to read more carefully.

 

Can we have a new map published that reflects these changes? If that wouldn't be too much work for devs. Maybe you already have one that you use internally and would be able to share. Or if we could have a file with the map you use but the information layered or stripped so we can easily modify it ourselves to reflect the information shared?

[Lucas Corso]

Where is La Désirade?

[Loco Bandito]

You say patch. When is patch?

[Barberouge]

new ports:

 

• Ocean Bight

• La Navasse

• Beata

• Hat Island

• Sandy Hill

• Cul-de-Sac

• La Désirade

• La Moussette

• Salinas

• Tamiagua

• Guacata

• All Saints

• Little River

• Wantlands Ferry

• Rum Cove

[BallsOfSteel]

Where is La Désirade?

Next to Hat Island

[Barberouge]

map: http://imgur.com/a/ryp86

[Anolytic]

map: http://imgur.com/a/ryp86

Thanks!

 

The overall free town mechanics is under review and their number might go down before release.

I hope that by the time of release the number of Free Towns will be considerably reduced, making borders and front lines more significant for PvP and free town based ganking less significant. Without as many freetowns, home waters would be naturally more secure, and players might become more inclined to participate in RvR when that would actually help secure their mission running grounds and trade routes.

Another mechanic should possibly be found to allow (only) pirates to move about nearly as freely as with current freetowns.

[Rychu Karas]

Maybe with map changes, fix a little bit depth model?

ATM approaching to a lot of towns are the most irritating part of gameplay: [

[Sir Texas Sir]

15-25 days, grrrrr well I was expecting the patch to be more like the 22 next week.  Looks like it's going to be more the end of the month or first of next month.  Was really wanting some of these changes sooner. 

[Anolytic]

Just had a look on map and wondering now, why Gustavia marked as "WC"? 8)

Swedish Capital

(The S was already taken for Spain).

 

Edit: Going to repost the map legend I made:

Orange lines: Region outlines

Red circle: Capital

Orange star: Regional Capital  (1st rate port battle)

Yellow pixel: Port location

Yellow line: Port entrance with direction of inlet

Blue circle: Shallow water port

White line(on blue circle): inlet to shallow water port

White circle: Freetown

Striketrough text: Pacific ports not open until release

 

Map letters: (Indicates historical ownership)

N: Neutral

P: Pirate

D: Danish

S: Spanish

W: Swedish

UP: Dutch

B: British

F: French

US: United States

I: Indian/Native

 

USC: US Capital

SC: Spanish Capital

DC: Danish Capital

WC: Swedish Capital

UPC: Dutch Capital

FC: French Capital

BC: British Capital

B - PC: Pirate Capital, historically British

B - NC: Neutral Capital, historically British

UPRC: Dutch Regional Capital

SRC: Spanish Regional Capital

FRC: French Regional Capital

BRC: British Regional Capital

[Bramborough]

Thanks for the information.  This clears up a good bit of uncertainty.  Heh, rather amused that Ile-a-Vache will be moving to a new location even closer to Jamaica.

[Anolytic]

I added a map legend directly onto the new map image, and marked all the new towns so they are more easily found:

[Guest]

Still waiting on official confirmation as to whether capitals are safe to store things in or if everything has to be moved to free towns.

[Ned Loe]

Thanks!

 

I hope that by the time of release the number of Free Towns will be considerably reduced, making borders and front lines more significant for PvP and free town based ganking less significant. Without as many freetowns, home waters would be naturally more secure, and players might become more inclined to participate in RvR when that would actually help secure their mission running grounds and trade routes.

Another mechanic should possibly be found to allow (only) pirates to move about nearly as freely as with current freetowns.

Removing freetowns completely would be a smart move. If they remain pvp will be reduced greatly and gank will prosper. Ex. we spent so much time preparing for a fight , but enemy escaped into a free port and remained there. Disappointed we logged from the game. (some group in chat).

 

P.S. Looks like US got 2 free ports and one right in the middle of Econ ground. Not sure why devs did it, but it surely will hurt traders and kill population if gank squads settle there, but they know better what to do. 

 

 

How I see it. Come out gank go back in free town. 

[Anolytic]

Still waiting on official confirmation as to whether capitals are safe to store things in or if everything has to be moved to free towns.

Currently everything I've seen indicates that capitals are safe. I assume that we would get a warning in due time if not. Pitt's Town (Neutral Capital) is the only capital that has been said is going to change. All other capitals should be safe, as the capital regions will reset to belong to their nation.

 

I made a map of the more safe bets for region distribution:

 

Crooked (Region) is set to British based on devs saying about Pitt's Town:

Pitt's town will change nation - if you have assets in Pitt's town - move them out.

 

[Anolytic]

map: http://imgur.com/a/ryp86

What does "Green Cay (N)-W", "Bimini (-D" and "Mimbres (N)-UP" (and more) mean on the new map? Does that mean those ports were historically owned by Sweden, Denmark and United Provinces respectably? And does this have any impact on region ownerships after the wipe?

[Anolytic]

So la Orchila will become a pirate city?

No. Not if regions can't have mixed ownership. The Margarita Region, which La Orchila is part of, will become either Spanish or Neutral.

EDIT: And La Orchila is still marked as a freetown on the map, so it won't be affected.

[Chijohnaok]

Dear Admin:

 

 

1. Free town status and free town assets exchanged switched with another port - to save players time.

The free town status will switch from a port to another. All the player assets (outpost, ships, warehouse) of the ex -free town will be transferred to the new free town. Also, all the player assets of the ex- normal port will be transferred to the new standard port. This change concerns those pairs of ports:

• Island Harbour  -  Hat Island

• Plymouth  -  La Désirade

• Caño Macareo  -  Guayaguayare

• Canalete  -  Dariena

• Victoria  -  Santa Ana

• Tordo  -  Tamiagua

• Aransas  -  El Rancho

• Barataria  -  Saint-Malo

• Key West  -  Las Tortugas

• Cabo Cañaveral  -  Cayo Biscayno

• Sunbury  -  Saint Marys

If you had assets in one of those free towns (on the left), you will find them in the corresponding new free town (on the right). If you had assets in one of those ports on the right of the list, you will find them in the new port on the left of the list.

 

Example. You had assets in Las Tortugas. It became a free town. To save players time we moved his assets to Key west. 

 

 

[My bold emphasis above]

 

Do these "assets" include things such as buildings?

For example: if a player has a shipyard in one of the ports listed above, does their shipyard also move to the new port?

 

Do these "assets" include assets belonging to a clan (rather than to individual players)?

For example:If a clan has a clan warehouse in one of the ports listed above, will the clan warehouse and all the assets within the clan warehouse also be moved?

 

Thank you in advance Admin for your response.

[Anolytic]

P.S. Looks like US got 2 free ports and one right in the middle of Econ ground. Not sure why devs did it, but it surely will hurt traders and kill population if gank squads settle there, but they know better what to do. 

 

 

Enjoy

The freetown Hat Island is similarly put right next to the econ zones of both Sweden and Denmark.

But trade routes might change in October when the resource distribution is reset.

[Ned Loe]

The freetown Hat Island is similarly put right next to the econ zones of both Sweden and Denmark.

But trade routes might change in October when the resource distribution is reset.

It doesn't change much in US location. 

[Guest]

Dear Admin:

 

[My bold emphasis above]

 

Do these "assets" include things such as buildings?

For example: if a player has a shipyard in one of the ports listed above, does their shipyard also move to the new port?

 

Do these "assets" include assets belonging to a clan (rather than to individual players)?

For example:If a clan has a clan warehouse in one of the ports listed above, will the clan warehouse and all the assets within the clan warehouse also be moved?

 

Thank you in advance Admin for your response.

From the "Port changes next content patch" thread.

 

 

 

In October resource map will change requiring reset of production buildings.

 

From this thread.

 

 

The free town status will switch from a port to another. All the player assets (outpost, ships, warehouse) of the ex -free town will be transferred to the new free town.

 

Hope that helps.

[admin]

It doesn't change much. 

 

Sunbury exist as a free town near US capital in the current version. It is also close and allowed raiding in the US waters.

[Ned Loe]

Sunbury exist as a free town near US capital in the current version. It is also close and allowed raiding in the US waters.

I understand raiding (ganking) is part of a game, but are you willing to sacrifice player numbers?  Why not convert free ports into trader only ports and let neighbor Nations who are on the border raid nextdoor routes. Those (other nations) who want to gank have to risk with no ports to hide.  

 

What I mean is if you sailed into my waters and you want to gank? please gank. But if we catch you, you won't have ports to run to and you will sink. Risk is yours. On the other hand, Our neighbor has ports close by and is at war with us. He officially can do whatever he wants and run to his ports near by. 

 

Benefits:

 

-reduce distant ganking squads from entering regions without risk and hurting trade routes during war with next door nation. 

-allow more direct fights with neighbor nation during the conflict. 

[admin]

I understand raiding (ganking) is part of a game, but are you willing to sacrifice player numbers ?

 

free towns serve another important purpose - resource deliveries. Removing them will make crafters/builders life much harder. 

Sunbury existed before close to the US capital and had no significant influence on the player numbers.