New player experience: is this intended?

[ajffighter86]

12 hours ago, admin said:

you contradict yourself here

• You say 7th and 6th rates are hard to replace
• But NPC shops buy crafting materials at ridiculous prices
• Generating ridiculous profits i suppose right as you said in the next town.

If people can make those ridiculous money in the next town (easy money) - why can't they use that money to replace 7th and 6ht rates? 
 

Simply put, Iron fittings that are dumped by players into NPC stockpiles are not used to build ships. That phenomenon hurts crafting.

NPC stores should only buy those trade goods. For example, Dutch peanut butter isn't an item required to make ships (but I suppose it would be delicious). Therefore if you are just looking to trade to make money, you should be trading those items. It is safe to assume that filling a trader brig up with peanut butter and selling it to the next town, is not going to leave some crafter back in port wishing he had the peanut butter needed to finish his Snow. The demand does not overlap. But with the stores being stupidly generous with what they will pay for materials, it's just too tempting to craft ship parts and sell them to an NPC store in the next town, which will essentially cause those materials to evaporate into nothing, rather than circulate through the market where crafters can put them to use..

TLDR: Player crafters really shouldn't have to compete with NPC stores if you want the economy to be player-driven. Competing with other players is one thing, but trying to comptete against the way the game is programmed to spend an arbitrary amount for shipbuilding materials is rather senseless.

Edited June 10, 2017 by ajffighter86

[Vernon Merrill]

craft furnishings...  you'll make millions

[ironhammer500]

4 hours ago, Hodo said:

Hard fact....

Real world economies dont work like that.  The town of Pittsburgh doesnt buy iron ore for 50% over production cost because they want steel girders.  No... they pay for the finished product, which is worth FAR more than the material it is made out of.   

Even then the npcs buy for pretty bad prices, not sat down to work it out but im sure they buy for less then what it  costs to make.

[ajffighter86]

I don't really have a problem making money off raw materials, if I sell to players. The question is: "why are you not selling to players?". Because the habit of most people in the game is selling vital shipbuilding materials to NPC, which effectively destroys what you've crafted, removing those materials from the player economy and instead throwing it into an incinerator that resets after server maintenance. Yeah you make gold, but you've just denied human players another opportunity to get the things they need. It's a stupid system.

A level 2 coal mine will cost about 30 gold per coal piece to extract. I can sell it for at least double that to players through contracts at the capital. It's a good way to double your money and also know that the coal you put on market will go into making finished products.

Edited June 10, 2017 by ajffighter86

[ajffighter86]

I would say the developers had the right idea with how they implemented cannon crafting. The idea was to get players to craft cannons, so medium cannons from the store cost more than most players would be willing to pay for them now. Players are making cannons cheaper than the AI will offer them, and so most of the cannons you see now in major trading towns (capitals) are made by players. To resell your medium cannons to the shop is going to get you about 30 gold, lol. This means that the AI does not compete with players in supply/demand, and was brilliant. You can clearly see how the cannon market is booming and yet most players aren't complaining about a lack of cannons because there is almost always someone trying to sell them in the shop, and these cannon crafters compete with each other to beat each other's prices so new players benefit as well. Basically it's a giant yard-sale for cannons, lol.

The only problem is that cannons seem to be the only materials that are set up like this. They are the only items, other than ships perhaps, that are programmed to encourage crafting and selling to other players, because you can make a profit if you sell to players, but you cannot if you just dump them in a store somewhere.

It is also brilliant by the developers in the case of cannons because you can always offer the cannons as 'hand-me-downs' to newer players by selling them cheap in sell contracts when you need the money yourself to do some upgrading. I just put some old 12 lb carronades up cheap for sale, something I don't really need anymore but a new player would love to have.

This keeps things cheap for the new player getting into the game.

Update: Those 12lb Carronades just sold. Honestly the economy needs an overhaul so things are set up like the cannon market. Dealing with NPC stores should be expensive/take losses. Dealing with other human players should flow like clockwork.

Edited June 10, 2017 by ajffighter86

[Rabid_Infidel]

On 6/9/2017 at 2:46 PM, Borentos said:

This week i started to play Naval Action, so far i really liked it, the combat is interesting and the ships are beautiful. I sunk my starter ship several times, but in the end i got the hang of it and made it to rank 2nd Lieutenant with slightly less than 100K gold.

I bought my first ship ( a snow) and fitted it with long cannons and off to my first 2nd lt. mission. I managed to sink my snow on her maiden voyage. Everything in that fight went wrong, the first AI salvo set me on fire, i didnot hit anything with my long cannons ( i did well in my cutter with the mediums) and at some point i was sailing backwards. (later i learned on youtube that i could manually control the sails).

I am now left with ~ 2500 gold, i need to do about 10 ensign missions in the cutter again to earn enough money for a new snow. I guess 1 mission is about 20/30 min., this will take me somewhere between 4 and 5 hours to get a snow again (no way i am going to do that).

I played EVE online long enough to know the famous slogan: never fly a ship that you cant afford to lose.  In the case of Naval Action i didnot had any other option, the snow was my first ship after the starter ship which cost a (relative)  fortune for a new player.

I checked the forums and learned that it wasnt always this way, apparently in the past your ship had 5 "lives" and were alot cheaper. I just cant understand the reason why they changed it, there is absolutely no room for any mistake as a new player.

 

I'm sorry...You dropped into this game at the worst possible time. 

Never before has this game been so grindy (for old and new players alike) or hard (mostly for new players) then it is now.

If you had tough time getting your snow and loosing it on a first run there are no good news for the future. Next snow you buy might get taken by a merry band of happy gankers.

Rarely have before players attacked other players below a 5th rate. But now everybody needs PvP marks so there is no honor or empathy towards starting players. 

This is the majesty of the new player experience of Naval Action!

Shame..

[Borentos]

10 hours ago, Rabid_Infidel said:

I'm sorry...You dropped into this game at the worst possible time. 

Never before has this game been so grindy (for old and new players alike) or hard (mostly for new players) then it is now.

If you had tough time getting your snow and loosing it on a first run there are no good news for the future. Next snow you buy might get taken by a merry band of happy gankers.

Rarely have before players attacked other players below a 5th rate. But now everybody needs PvP marks so there is no honor or empathy towards starting players. 

This is the majesty of the new player experience of Naval Action!

Shame..

 

After i lost my snow, i took the advice in the replies i read here and bought a pickle. Things were going well, till i sailed right into 2 player pirates (i was sailing around an island, i didnot see them)  both were in a suprise. Ofcourse the battle was very short and i lost my pickle. I am now back in the cutter again.

I have to do 3 missions before i can buy a mercury (i will also be 1st lt. then) , i can finally do 6th rate missions (so far i only did 7th rate missions besides the 1 mission were i lost my snow). Lets hope i can survive with the mercury a bit longer than i did with my other ships. With these insane death risk i dont see myself participating in pvp anytime soon, besides avoiding ganks.

 

[Hethwill, the Red Duke]

Thank you for sharing Borentos and for keeping up.

Reading your account of the Pickle makes way to a new thing you must learn, cool huh - how ships act on the wind.

The Pickle, for example, can sail very close to the incoming wind, also at beam reach and surprisingly as well downwind.

This gives you options how to disengage ( or what to engage ).

 

[ironhammer500]

17 hours ago, ajffighter86 said:

I would say the developers had the right idea with how they implemented cannon crafting. The idea was to get players to craft cannons, so medium cannons from the store cost more than most players would be willing to pay for them now. Players are making cannons cheaper than the AI will offer them, and so most of the cannons you see now in major trading towns (capitals) are made by players. To resell your medium cannons to the shop is going to get you about 30 gold, lol. This means that the AI does not compete with players in supply/demand, and was brilliant. You can clearly see how the cannon market is booming and yet most players aren't complaining about a lack of cannons because there is almost always someone trying to sell them in the shop, and these cannon crafters compete with each other to beat each other's prices so new players benefit as well. Basically it's a giant yard-sale for cannons, lol.

The only problem is that cannons seem to be the only materials that are set up like this. They are the only items, other than ships perhaps, that are programmed to encourage crafting and selling to other players, because you can make a profit if you sell to players, but you cannot if you just dump them in a store somewhere.

It is also brilliant by the developers in the case of cannons because you can always offer the cannons as 'hand-me-downs' to newer players by selling them cheap in sell contracts when you need the money yourself to do some upgrading. I just put some old 12 lb carronades up cheap for sale, something I don't really need anymore but a new player would love to have.

This keeps things cheap for the new player getting into the game.

Update: Those 12lb Carronades just sold. Honestly the economy needs an overhaul so things are set up like the cannon market. Dealing with NPC stores should be expensive/take losses. Dealing with other human players should flow like clockwork.

There are no buy order from players on PvE in Port royal for most of the stuff and if players are buying they buy under the production cost, yet another turn off of what bother, also wanting instant gold selling to npc is better.

Right now i see tons of demand, no supply.

[ajffighter86]

4 hours ago, ironhammer500 said:

There are no buy order from players on PvE in Port royal for most of the stuff and if players are buying they buy under the production cost, yet another turn off of what bother, also wanting instant gold selling to npc is better.

Right now i see tons of demand, no supply.

You know you can place sell orders too? If they need it badly enough, they'll bite.

Yes there are people who are placing buy orders at prices so low it doesn't make it worth it. But you can place a sell order for a price above that. For example, there's always gonna be that player who tries to trick new players into selling their sealed bottles for 10 gold, but I guarantee that if you put a sealed bottle up for sale at 50,000 gold, it'll be sold before you can leave port, especially on PVP EU.

One thing I have changed my opinion on with regard to the economy over the past few major patches, due to the sheer volume of types of goods introduced into the game being increased, is that the contract limit be increased as well. I can imagine that having only 5 contracts at a time on a server with the low population that PVE has, especially slows down trade between players. Trade between players should be streamlined and not limited by artificial caps like contract limits.

Edited June 11, 2017 by ajffighter86

[Vernon Merrill]

8 hours ago, Borentos said:

 

After i lost my snow, i took the advice in the replies i read here and bought a pickle. Things were going well, till i sailed right into 2 player pirates (i was sailing around an island, i didnot see them)  both were in a suprise. Ofcourse the battle was very short and i lost my pickle. I am now back in the cutter again.

I have to do 3 missions before i can buy a mercury (i will also be 1st lt. then) , i can finally do 6th rate missions (so far i only did 7th rate missions besides the 1 mission were i lost my snow). Lets hope i can survive with the mercury a bit longer than i did with my other ships. With these insane death risk i dont see myself participating in pvp anytime soon, besides avoiding ganks.

 

This is exactly why "the grind" should be in game.  Borentos, I'm not making fun of you, so please don't take it that way.  But if you don't know how to get away from a Surprise in a Pickle quite easily, you SHOULD NOT be wasting your time/money on a bigger ship yet. Fore/aft/hermaphrodite rigged ships are nearly impossible for a square-rigged ship to catch going upwind.  

I would encourage you to stick with it and try and learn a little from each encounter and perhaps ask in chat for someone to accompany you on a cruise and give you some feedback and assistance.  

This game is quite fun once you learn a few important basics.  Unfortunately, many people want to immediately get to end content and then complain when they aren't prepared for it.  

Fair winds, captain!

[Fengist]

I just spent and hour and a half in my Snow with 4lb longs in a mission vs a Rattlesnake.  I know I hit it's masts at LEAST 50 times with ball.  Didn't take a single one down.  Meanwhile, it's bow chasers erased my stern, 1/3 of both of my side armor, 10 crew plus half my structure.  Why? Because the AI is now deadly accurate even at long range.  To make matters worse, as the OP pointed out, you can't take the risks that you once took in missions.  Repairing costs resources now, ships are a LOT more expensive than they once were and if you lose that ship, it's a HUGE setback.

Add to that the fact that NPC traders now have escorts (right, like I'm gonna take on a tbring and a brig with my Snow) and the loot is utter shit.

THEN... Add in the costs of building a shipyard and a workshop and THEN trying to find the resources to build things in an economy that's still naked because it wasn't seeded..And THEN... as one player suggested, trade... well for a noob that's not always possible.  BC's can't get into foreign ports now even with smuggler turned on.  So now they have to either buy a trade ship (assuming they can find one for sale) or, spend GOBS of money and resources building one.

And I won't even get into pve marks and the HUGE advantages they offer and the grind it takes to earn them.

Ya, noob experience utterly sucks right now.  It's not a game, it's a grind.

Edited June 11, 2017 by Fengist

[Borentos]

3 hours ago, Vernon Merrill said:

This is exactly why "the grind" should be in game.  Borentos, I'm not making fun of you, so please don't take it that way.  But if you don't know how to get away from a Surprise in a Pickle quite easily, you SHOULD NOT be wasting your time/money on a bigger ship yet. Fore/aft/hermaphrodite rigged ships are nearly impossible for a square-rigged ship to catch going upwind.  

I would encourage you to stick with it and try and learn a little from each encounter and perhaps ask in chat for someone to accompany you on a cruise and give you some feedback and assistance.  

This game is quite fun once you learn a few important basics.  Unfortunately, many people want to immediately get to end content and then complain when they aren't prepared for it.  

Fair winds, captain!

The thing is, i dont have much options. For each mistake i make, i am thrown back at the basic cutter. Depending how much money i made with the non cutter ship, i have to do several hours again in the basic cutter fighting the AI which is either circling around each other or sail next to each other firing broadsides. I dont see how this grind would benefit me fighting real players. My guess is that i spend 90% of my time in a basic cutter.

I started this game because the pvp looked really cool, and i guess it is when you get the hang of it, but for a new player this game doesnt make sense at all. How many players would there be online in a Battlefield/ Call of Duty game when you are forced to play the entire single player campaign each time you died in multiplayer? This is how Naval Action feels for me atm.

 

 

 

 

 

[Fengist]

3 hours ago, Borentos said:

The thing is, i dont have much options. For each mistake i make, i am thrown back at the basic cutter. Depending how much money i made with the non cutter ship, i have to do several hours again in the basic cutter fighting the AI which is either circling around each other or sail next to each other firing broadsides. I dont see how this grind would benefit me fighting real players. My guess is that i spend 90% of my time in a basic cutter.

I started this game because the pvp looked really cool, and i guess it is when you get the hang of it, but for a new player this game doesnt make sense at all. How many players would there be online in a Battlefield/ Call of Duty game when you are forced to play the entire single player campaign each time you died in multiplayer? This is how Naval Action feels for me atm.

 

 

 

 

 

There is a somewhat easier way, and much less dangerous.  Traders.  Take your cutter out and take out trade brigs in particular.  They only have 2 stern chasers and they'll always turn downwind.  To slow them down a bit, chain their sails.  Then sail beside them and use ball to take down the armor on one side.  Once you have the armor down, switch to grape and take the crew down to say 15 or so.  Then, pull along side and shove them upwind and board.  If you cant get them to slow down enough to board, chain their sails some more.

Now, is this profitable?  Marginally.  Is it more profitable than missions.  Well, sometimes yes, sometimes no.  Is it less dangerous than missions... by far.  Take the loot you get and learn what sells well where.  Like fish meat.  Many places you only get 1 gold for it, others, you get 25+.  Hell, put in a buy order for fish meat and haul it around for profit.

Once you get the hang of taking out tbrigs, you can work on tsnows.  They're a bit harder but very doable.  They however have broadside guns.  Again, they always run downwind.  You'll need to stern camp them.  Take out the stern armor then grape them.  Same loot as with tbrigs but a bit more of a challenge.

I've taken out Le Gros Ventre's with a basic cutter.  Learn your ship and your prey.

If you want to pve a combat ship, look for a trader that has an escort that you can handle.  Taking out a pickle escort with a snow is very doable.

The Snow is a wonderful ship if you realize what it's really, really good at.  It sails straight downwind faster than any other ship in the game.  With bow and stern chasers it's perfect for taking out players in the lone tbrig or tsnow.  It's a predator.  Think like one.  Don't go tackling some full grown buffalo. Look for the weak and injured.  If you get into a pvp match with it, make them chase you.  It's stern chasers are deadly accurate.

When you buy your next Snow, look for one made out of Fir or Mahogony for the speed bonuses.  Accentuate the positive.  The Snow is faster than any trader except a TLynx.  A TCutter will be hard to catch but doable.  Keep in mind, the added speed means you have less armor.  A glass cannon.  But, if you stick to hunting traders with it, armor becomes less of an issue.

Yesterday I had a Mercury, Niagra, Snow and a Pickle tag me twice in my Snow, and both times I escaped because I know my ship's strengths and it's weaknesses.

You mentioned EVE.  This game has a lot of similarities.  And just like EVE, you wouldn't take a T1 Frig against a BB unless you really knew what you were doing.  But, tackling a hauler... of course. And just like EVE, it'l take you a while to learn how best to use each ship and what you can handle.

Hope this helps.

Edited June 12, 2017 by Fengist

[surfimp]

Going after AI Le Gros Ventre (LGV) traders is a quick and good source of income and you can pretty easily do it in about 25min with a Basic Cutter and the stock guns (video).

You get about 17k, 3 PVE marks, a decent amount of XP (I think about 75?), and the loot can be quite good. They're much more lucrative than a Traders Brig, which is about 3k and not really worth the effort (it's basically the same amount of work as an LGV).

They take not much longer than a 7th rate mission and they pay almost twice as well. Plus there are LGVs everywhere.

 

[Borentos]

8 hours ago, Fengist said:

There is a somewhat easier way, and much less dangerous......

Hope this helps.

I will try this, Also nice video posted by sanson, it seems more interesting then the current 7th rate missions.

[victor]

On 9/6/2017 at 3:25 PM, Guruthos said:

don't give up it might be hardcore but this game will how it's beautiful sides aswell

Sorry to disagree. This game is not so hardcore. A hardcore game is all about skill, while success in naval action it's much more about having a crapton of time to grind the resources needed to buy, repair and replace high end gear.

Edited June 12, 2017 by victor

[charognard666]

50 minutes ago, victor said:

Sorry to disagree. This game is not so hardcore. A hardcore game is all about skill, while success in naval action it's much more about having a crapton of time to grind the resources needed to buy, repair and replace high end gear.

Yes 50% true, because, you must deal with risk during your grind. 

[Vernon Merrill]

6 hours ago, Sansón Carrasco said:

Going after AI Le Gros Ventre (LGV) traders is a quick and good source of income and you can pretty easily do it in about 25min with a Basic Cutter and the stock guns (video).

You get about 17k, 3 PVE marks, a decent amount of XP (I think about 75?), and the loot can be quite good. They're much more lucrative than a Traders Brig, which is about 3k and not really worth the effort (it's basically the same amount of work as an LGV).

They take not much longer than a 7th rate mission and they pay almost twice as well. Plus there are LGVs everywhere.

 

Sanson, this is great advice...  This was my dirty little secret too while I was leveling up my ships...  The ONLY thing I noticed is that I did not receive as many "skill book" loot drops from them as my mates did taking missions...

[The Spud]

15 hours ago, Borentos said:

The thing is, i dont have much options. For each mistake i make, i am thrown back at the basic cutter. Depending how much money i made with the non cutter ship, i have to do several hours again in the basic cutter fighting the AI which is either circling around each other or sail next to each other firing broadsides. I dont see how this grind would benefit me fighting real players. My guess is that i spend 90% of my time in a basic cutter.

I started this game because the pvp looked really cool, and i guess it is when you get the hang of it, but for a new player this game doesnt make sense at all. How many players would there be online in a Battlefield/ Call of Duty game when you are forced to play the entire single player campaign each time you died in multiplayer? This is how Naval Action feels for me atm.

 

If you'e not a 100% confident with your skill level atm, its a better choice to go for the toughest ship available when doing PvE. Tougher ships will be slower, but speed is less important while doing missions or regular PvE as the enemy will always fight you and never run. Traders is another matter tho.

You said you bought a snow, this ship has allot of fire power but it has a weak side structure (1450) as compared to say a navybrig (2100). If you manage to get a hold of a White Oak navy brig, it'll have allot higher side structure HP value. This will be much more forgiving to play with, as a mistake is less catastrophic. If you mount carronades on your 6th rate, you'll get a ton of fire power out of a little tough ship. And sinking ships will be allot easier/faster. They are however tricky to get used to, they are very inacurate and you need to be realy close.

While on the matter of being close, i think most people i have seen lose a ship (even experiencd ones) are because they got boarded by AI. So always keep your speed above 3,5 knots when close to the enemy. Its tricky when you're running carro's and need to get close, but you should be allright. Also don't forget to sell your PvE marks (if you don't need em), and try to loot the enemy ships when they are sunk.

If you would be on PvP EU on the British nation, I'll give you a 6th rate.

[victor]

17 hours ago, charognard666 said:

Yes 50% true, because, you must deal with risk during your grind. 

Which skill is implied exactly in getting a risk?

I look at the risk of loosing a ship every "x" days (in example for a trader or a missioner) as a factor influencing the time needed for the grind that allows him to achieve the gold he needs to make other things.

[AngryPanCake]

It is clear that this game is progressively turning into a non-beginner friendly one. It feels as if the devs and/or a select group of experienced players are unwilling to put themselves in other players' shoes and see the game through those beginners' eyes!

Why should they? they have racked up a good amount of experience and skill that they have forgotten how it is to start from scratch and by scratch, I don't mean no gold but rather no skill. Most veterans and "hardcore players" have been saying this game will not survive if the player population does not increase, and what are their suggestions for the game? Make it harder and harder!

I am definitely disappointed in the most recent direction the game is taking, am I going to say "that's it, I quit", not at all, I am going to remain an advocate for beginners like myself and the ones who feel this game is being turned into an exclusive club of hardcore salty dogs.

Going from patch 9 to 10, the game which was already not an easy one became a lot harder for players like me to stay afloat, and I have 70 hours of gameplay. Has any of those "hardcore players" ever thought what it would be to purchase and start playing without the skill they have accumulated? of course not, it is this inability to empathize and see from a different perspective than his own that makes a "hardcore player" hardcore!

This is becoming just like a hazing ritual for newbies: If you want to join the "hardcore players" frat, you have to go through this excessive grind and time sink. It seems like through this hazing ritual, the game is trying to weed out the "sick" and the "weak" and only allow the "tough" to stay and prosper. It's like everything is being done to only select the ones that were borne to play NA, the true competitive players, if you are not one of those, then tough luck...life ain't fair.

I was actually trying to find one of my earliest post about how I felt after a few weeks into the game after I purchased it. I will have to search later, but I know I felt quite differently than what I have just stated today.

 

[Gysendorf]

On 9.6.2017 at 3:21 PM, Thomas Sailaway said:

This. How many new players did Naval Action loose because of things like these?

The game has a high starter cliff, as you found out. The devs increased it exponentially with decreasing the durability for all ships. Beginner friendly would be Dura 3 or 5 for all ships of line rate 7 maybe rate 6 but thats worth an investigation of the side effects. 

On 9.6.2017 at 5:02 PM, Cmdr Thrudd said:

I agree that the game is much harder at the start than in later game. Difficulty should start easy then ramp up to allow new players to learn this game systems and find their feet before the challenge gradually kicks in. I'm sure thats what the devs would prefer too as it'll improve player retention and its basic game design, it's just not in that state now. 7th rates should be ludicrously easy to replace even for a clueless new player, 6ths easy for anyone to move into/replace after a couple of hours playing and then the work/cost involved goes up as the rates get higher. Folks need to be able to loose their early ships trying things out and not feel devastated by it.

Right high rated games start very easy and ramp up slowley, this game puts newbies in front of the cliffs of Dover without any help.

On 9.6.2017 at 5:44 PM, Vernon Merrill said:

 

3) Get out into the OW...even new players.  I capped a Trader Brig between KPR and Navasse last night.  I was in a Renommee.  But I could have been in a pickle or Mercury and gotten him just as easily.   He was carrying 2100 iron fittings.  Instant 1M gold.  I told him to meet me in Navasse and I gave him his ship and 150 of the fittings back so that he could cover at least a bit of his losses.  

 

@Vernon Merrill this was an expetional act of gallantry. Chapeu!

[surfimp]

I dunno, I think one of the biggest challenges getting going in Naval Action is just knowing what (and what not) to do.

I have put about 80hrs in post-wipe, and before that I'd taken about a year off from the game. I have always focused on 7th & 6th rate ships because I simply like them the best, and also because I like the playstyle they offer. So, I guess I am perpetually in the "newbie zone" in terms of what I'm working with.

I think it's really hard for new players to grasp all the stuff going on in the game. That is definitely something that comes with time. The user interface is admittedly placeholder, and often times hides mechanics that are somewhat complex and opaque. Like with other games that have little or no in-game tutorial, I find myself using community resources to figure out what the heck does what. Which, in fairness, I'm quite comfortable doing and even expect - in a post-Minecraft world, this is becoming more and more common. "If little kids can do it..."

Beyond that, figuring out what earns money is a challenge. As long as you're in the Basic Cutter, this is going to mean essentially some PVE is in order. Which... is fine, to be honest, because it's a good way to learn the combat mechanics with zero risk of loss. You also get to learn about how the ship knowledge slots work, might potentially experiment with different cannons, and so forth. I don't think this is a huge hurdle yet.

Once the first ship is purchased is where I think it gets a bit tricky. Now there is real risk of loss, repairs aren't free, if the player engages in trading then he/she can risk and potentially lose their entire savings to that point. I could see someone getting really bummed when that happened, but on the other hand, I wonder if people do simply rage quit the game at that point.

When I restarted after the wipe, it took me a good few hours in the Basic Cutter to earn enough gold to purchase a ship... a Lynx. Then more time to get the cannons. Then I promptly lost it to an accidental capsize while trying to board an AI Traders Brig. That sucked!! LOL

But actually, I was able to bounce back more quickly. Capping AI LGVs is actually not much different or more difficult than capping Trader Brigs, but the payoff is much higher... better than low level Missions, too (especially if you get some lucky cargo). And I did some Missions, too, and got some nice Copper Plating drops. A few hours more and now I've got a nice Privateer with all but one slot unlocked and some nice permanent upgrades. And a Traders Brig. And I've done some trading and some crafting. And have now found a good hunting ground and begun capping player traders in earnest, making me more money and giving me more ships.

Last night I capped a guy's Lynx, but what I really wanted was his Traders Lynx... which unfortunately got away during the boarding action of the player's ship. In any event, I saw him about an hour later and he now had a Privateer to go along with his Traders Lynx. Which, to me, is evidence that he was not destroyed by the loss of his Lynx, but (like me) had bounced back and was not giving up. So I think people are more resilient than maybe we give them credit for.

TLDR, I think it's always going to be a niche game, and will never appeal to the "Assassin's Creed 4" crowd. Good riddance.