Gregory Rainsborough Posted April 19, 2018 Posted April 19, 2018 (edited) The Hercules is an amazing ship when used properly. I would say that's its BR should be higher despite it's poor rate of fire. Is it going to be added as Epic Event reward at any point or is this it, can I only take it out carebearing for fear of losing it? Chain damage is nice but concerned in a PvP situation that it could just lead to a battle of who has the most repairs. Edited April 19, 2018 by Gregory Rainsborough 1
Njord Posted April 19, 2018 Posted April 19, 2018 1 hour ago, admin said: So we give a much better ship but as a note. Will the Hercules be available as purchasable premium ship later? Seems like a waste to have this beauty only be available once per player and then never again... Also I wonder why it is a 6th rate ?
admin Posted April 19, 2018 Author Posted April 19, 2018 51 minutes ago, Ahoy H.R. Matey said: "AI never cheats" is bunk. AI ships have buffed HP as of one or two patches ago (you said so yourself). AI always has marines, morale and boarding prep. AI can hit your stern from a mile away, putting sniper shots on a small target with medium cannons (I have never seen a bot ship with longs). AI has insane firing arcs on the broadsides. You can be well ahead or well behind the bot and it'll still put the vast majority of the broadside on you, whereas you can only hit them with a few cannons (somehow, pretending to be the Mercury never works out in the player's favor, somehow you always end up being the Turk, LOL). I get the whole "durr bots are stupid and need to cheat" thing, but please don't say "they don't cheat" when they clearly do. Chain limitation is crazy. Let's just limit ALL of the ammo so people exhaust the cannonballs and are forced to board. So hardcore, much historic, very accuracy, WOW. I swear, with every patch yall are making it harder and harder to like this game. Sad. Lets repeat this again: upgrades are not cheats you can install marines you can install boarding mods or reload mods you can install arc mods you can hit targets from afar (if you are skilled and use accuracy mods. number of upgrades depends on rank of the bot (not the ship) If you call upgrades cheats why no-one is reporting you to tribunal for using allowed upgrades? Also do me a favor go do a 40 man heroic raid in WOW and report back please - i just need your opinion if blizzard is doing fine by buffing NPCs based on rank 1
Edmund Blackadder Posted April 19, 2018 Posted April 19, 2018 Now contrary to my posts before the patch over all I have to say I think he is rather good. Tutorial might be a bit tricky in the end, but not undoable. I think the chains do rather high damage from what I’ve seen, but two per gun may be a bit low in numbers. Haven‘t got to test the new ship yet, but looking forward to it, even if I’m a bit afraid of losing it.
admin Posted April 19, 2018 Author Posted April 19, 2018 1 hour ago, Wraith said: So is the Hercules really supposed to be 80 BR? Given its specs it doesn't feel like it fits with other 80 BR ships... yes 80 br is required for ship to enter BOTH port battles. 3
Mikocen Posted April 19, 2018 Posted April 19, 2018 Ok, so from my side. Dont call it tutorial, cause its a challange mode. Last two missions (Endurance exam and Final exam) are really difficult and new player will not manage to do them. How do i know it? My friends cousin, who never played naval action, was stacked on demasting exam. When he finally starded Endurance he was really annoyed. After Endurance (which he didnt finish) he just quited. Another thing, ships in normal battle dont behave like in tutorials. They normally dont gain and loose speed so fast (bug?) and their cannons dont penetrate with such big angles. Tutorial should show how normal battle looks like, right now it doesnt :/ All in all, in my opinion last missions were really annoying but worth their reward. Still, there are really bad thing if we call it tutorial. Tutorial should show to new player that game gives a lot of fun, not frustration, right now it shows the second thing. 3
Ahoy H.R. Matey Posted April 19, 2018 Posted April 19, 2018 25 minutes ago, admin said: Lets repeat this again: upgrades are not cheats you can install marines you can install boarding mods or reload mods you can install arc mods you can hit targets from afar (if you are skilled and use accuracy mods. number of upgrades depends on rank of the bot (not the ship) If you call upgrades cheats why no-one is reporting you to tribunal for using allowed upgrades? Also do me a favor go do a 40 man heroic raid in WOW and report back please - i just need your opinion if blizzard is doing fine by buffing NPCs based on rank Oh give me a break with this. No mod will expand my broadside arc to such degree that I can land the majority of it when the enemy ship is way ahead of me or way behind me. No mod will make it possible to hit a tiny target (stern) from a mile away when both you and your target are moving. Yeah, maybe once in a blue moon, sure. Maybe with 2-3 balls, sure. Not every time with half a broadside and using medium cannons. But your bots hit every time, because they are bots and have perfect aim. I haven't once heard a boarding whistle from a bot ship. They are always ready to roll. Hell, I saw someone get t-boned and boarded about a minute into a PvE mission by a bot, during the initial "joust" phase. Said bot had full prep and and marines, and boarded the human player in 2 turns. Even if the human started preparing for boarding the moment the battle began, he wouldn't have had nearly enough prep to even start boarding. Tell me please which mods I should install for that? Heroic raids have nothing to do with OW and PvE missions. Blizzard buffs heroic NPCs because it's an option that people select for greater challenge and reward. You buff everything across the board. I get the overbuffed ships in epic missions - sure, you can choose to go out and face Grand Admiral Hugenuts and his Super Armada and feel good about it and get extra-good loot if you survive. But we're talking about OW and regular PvE missions, no "heroic" settings involved. Maybe the "mods" your bots use are some magic NPC-only mods and skills, or maybe they all have 10 perma slots and 20 skill slots (which magically disappear the moment I capture the ship and turn into "Fir/Crew Space, Shoddy" LOL). Then yes, of course, they are using mods like we do, and don't cheat at all.
Holm Hansen Posted April 19, 2018 Posted April 19, 2018 (edited) 3 hours ago, Capt Aerobane said: .... Why, at least here, get not all the same, for the same effort? Especially in this case where we only have one chance.RNG, I think, is in this case a very bad idea. Edited April 19, 2018 by Holm Hansen 8
Archaos Posted April 19, 2018 Posted April 19, 2018 The problem with the tutorial final exam is that it contradicts what was said regarding the tutorial. We were told that new players would easily be able to get into the action once they complete the tutorial as they would be M&C and have a frigate. But the problem is that even experienced players are struggling to complete the final exam. You may have had people who have never played before beating it after a few tries (I am sure you gave them some advice and hints and tricks on how to do it), but many will struggle and if this is the first thing they encounter many will give up. Imagine a new player who has just bought the game, knows nothing about NA and knows no one in game. They start up do the tutorial and then hit the final exam, they have no one to ask advice, they try it a few times and get wrecked each time, they are still within the Steam refund period, what do you think they will do? and theres no point advising people to check out videos on youtube on how to fight as most people do not do that when they first start a game, they do that when they want to improve their gameplay. This final exam would be better suited for advanced play rather than at the end of a beginners tutorial, that way you could introduce the players to some advanced tactics and give hints on how to deal with situations where they are outgunned and outnumbered. 5
Glorgir Posted April 19, 2018 Posted April 19, 2018 Just asked a newbie (my wife) to have a go at the tutorials, and after a couple of attempts on some managed to complete them all except the final exam. On this Mission she did over 550 sail hits and 123 mast hits and did not even manage to demast one of them. She then threw down the mouse and said in so many words, sod this game, never trying again. I have had fun trying various methods on this Mission, but she will never try again, hope this is not the same for other new Players. 3
Tomasso il Fortunato Posted April 19, 2018 Posted April 19, 2018 @admin when will you introduce the new UI ? The descriptions on AI fleets are not good as expected. I can't understand at what I'm going on to fight . Example: Frigate , 3x Medium .... ecc. I want more information on AI fleets . The tutorial is good , max crew is good , nice work !
NethrosDefectus Posted April 19, 2018 Posted April 19, 2018 Sorry if it has been said already but could @admin confirm the Exam rewards can only be awarded ONCE per steam account?
NethrosDefectus Posted April 19, 2018 Posted April 19, 2018 1 hour ago, Glorgir said: Just asked a newbie (my wife) to have a go at the tutorials, and after a couple of attempts on some managed to complete them all except the final exam. On this Mission she did over 550 sail hits and 123 mast hits and did not even manage to demast one of them. She then threw down the mouse and said in so many words, sod this game, never trying again. I have had fun trying various methods on this Mission, but she will never try again, hope this is not the same for other new Players. Like seriously, is it even possible to demast those ships? Because I have been unable to 1
Vile Executioner Posted April 19, 2018 Posted April 19, 2018 I found a glitch/bug in the tutorial. I was doing the final exam in Rio, and I sank in mission. I was on my rattlesnake because I just opened the ship(no guns no repairs on board, I’m in port why do I need them). After I had died the game put me outside la Mona, in middle of nowhere and I could not enter the port afterwards. I had no time to F11 as there was enemy players near by so I had to run away quickly. I restarted my game to try again, even tried friendly ports afterwards instead of free port. I logged out on the open world. @GreasyMnky has a recording of my bug if you can find out anything from him maybe. @admin little help here ? 😁
asuspiciousbear Posted April 19, 2018 Posted April 19, 2018 2 hours ago, Ahoy H.R. Matey said: Oh give me a break with this. No mod will expand my broadside arc to such degree that I can land the majority of it when the enemy ship is way ahead of me or way behind me. No mod will make it possible to hit a tiny target (stern) from a mile away when both you and your target are moving. Yeah, maybe once in a blue moon, sure. Maybe with 2-3 balls, sure. Not every time with half a broadside and using medium cannons. But your bots hit every time, because they are bots and have perfect aim. I haven't once heard a boarding whistle from a bot ship. They are always ready to roll. Hell, I saw someone get t-boned and boarded about a minute into a PvE mission by a bot, during the initial "joust" phase. Said bot had full prep and and marines, and boarded the human player in 2 turns. Even if the human started preparing for boarding the moment the battle began, he wouldn't have had nearly enough prep to even start boarding. Tell me please which mods I should install for that? Heroic raids have nothing to do with OW and PvE missions. Blizzard buffs heroic NPCs because it's an option that people select for greater challenge and reward. You buff everything across the board. I get the overbuffed ships in epic missions - sure, you can choose to go out and face Grand Admiral Hugenuts and his Super Armada and feel good about it and get extra-good loot if you survive. But we're talking about OW and regular PvE missions, no "heroic" settings involved. Maybe the "mods" your bots use are some magic NPC-only mods and skills, or maybe they all have 10 perma slots and 20 skill slots (which magically disappear the moment I capture the ship and turn into "Fir/Crew Space, Shoddy" LOL). Then yes, of course, they are using mods like we do, and don't cheat at all. What are you doing? sailing a cutter against a wasa? The AI might have better mods than you, might be able to land shots better, but they dont aim for your sails or try to angle their ships. If you're getting upset you cant go broadside to broadside, board, outmanouver and out shoot the AI all at once than that tells me your upset you're no longer shooting fish in a barrel.
jodgi Posted April 19, 2018 Posted April 19, 2018 39 minutes ago, NethrosDefectus said: Sorry if it has been said already but could @admin confirm the Exam rewards can only be awarded ONCE per steam account? I can confirm that admin said rewards only once per game account, so no delete character clock duping.
Greysteak Posted April 19, 2018 Posted April 19, 2018 The endurance exam and the final were pleasantly difficult. Got caught unprepared in the endurance exam. That was great. I don't think they should be easy. I think the tutorials got most of the important stuff. The only thing I'd add would be an exercise to use both the rudder and yards at the same time. I noticed that the chain usage in the third tutorial is not consistent with the new chain rules. That was the only thing I thought needed fixing. Afraid to try the rewards, but I will.
Ahoy H.R. Matey Posted April 19, 2018 Posted April 19, 2018 11 minutes ago, asuspiciousbear said: What are you doing? sailing a cutter against a wasa? The AI might have better mods than you, might be able to land shots better, but they dont aim for your sails or try to angle their ships. If you're getting upset you cant go broadside to broadside, board, outmanouver and out shoot the AI all at once than that tells me your upset you're no longer shooting fish in a barrel. Q.E.D. "Bots are stupid so bots need to cheat", which is pretty much the norm, I take umbrage to being told "bots don't cheat" when they obviously DO cheat. And yes, I'm pissed that I can't go broadside to broadside with ANYTHING anymore, because it's not goddamn worth it, considering how much you will spend in repairs afterwards. If you told me 3 months ago that two 5th rates can strip half the armor and quarter of structure from a Bucentaure, I would have laughed at you. I deliberately didn't angle the hull because FFS, I am in a 2nd rate lineship with thickness upgrades. Lineships didn't give half a toss about frigates in real world, and frigates sank when lineships looked at them funny (as rare as it was). And I assure you lineships didn't scramble to OMG HERE COMES A FRIGATE ANGLE THE HULL QUICK SO WE CAN TAKE THEIR MIGHTY BROADSIDE. So on one hand we have paper ships everywhere now, which is of course enables YAY CHECK OUT MY HARDCORE TURNING SKILLZ AND MY EPEEN, and on the other hand doing stupid crap like limiting chain shot because HURR DURR HISTORICAL ACCURACY. Either one or another please. Either we gamify things to please people who want to show their "leet skillz" and have a fit at the thought of not having a chance in certain match-ups, or we accept the fact that it would take a miracle and a whole bunch of unfortunate events for certain ships to prevail over other certain ships. 3
AeRoTR Posted April 19, 2018 Posted April 19, 2018 (edited) Thank you @admin for reverting the fleet missions enemy layout back to previous system, or even they are closer now, great thing is, you never tell us about these little suprises ! It cost me a ship, but that is okay. It was funny to see 6 consti sitting very close to each other in front of my consti, I knew it was game over for my floating battery 4th rate, tried hard with no luck. One question did you buff the enemy AI in fleet missions? I felt they were manevouring to get to my weak armour side. Edited April 19, 2018 by AeRoTR
Hullabaloo Posted April 19, 2018 Posted April 19, 2018 my last post was deleted so i will rephrase. Players who already have experience in the way AI behaves will find the final exam a breeze and that is what it is an exercise in: predicting/dictating/anticipating AI behaviour. It does not do the game justice Its not fun
asuspiciousbear Posted April 19, 2018 Posted April 19, 2018 21 minutes ago, Ahoy H.R. Matey said: And yes, I'm pissed that I can't go broadside to broadside with ANYTHING anymore, because it's not goddamn worth it, considering how much you will spend in repairs afterwards. I You try not getting so close? they will all bounce if youre at a normal engagement range. Also, if your letting 2 frigates spend enough time that close to you to do that much damage its your own fault.
Ahoy H.R. Matey Posted April 19, 2018 Posted April 19, 2018 Just now, asuspiciousbear said: You try not getting so close? they will all bounce if youre at a normal engagement range. Also, if your letting 2 frigates spend enough time that close to you to do that much damage its your own fault. Again, lineships do not run away from frigates to keep the engagement distance. In that fight, I deliberately behaved as a lineship normally would - that is, sail with the optimal wind, maneuvering to align my broadsides and avoiding stern rakes. I wanted it to be a deliberate broadside-to-broadside battle. A 2nd rate vs. 2 frigates SHOULD be a fish-in-a-barrel situation in this case. Did they hang around too long? You bet your arse they did, because NPCs have buffed HP, and instead of being either wrecked or close to wrecked , they can absorb a lot more than they should and keep doing damage.
asuspiciousbear Posted April 19, 2018 Posted April 19, 2018 (edited) 1 hour ago, Ahoy H.R. Matey said: Again, lineships do not run away from frigates to keep the engagement distance. In that fight, I deliberately behaved as a lineship normally would - that is, sail with the optimal wind, maneuvering to align my broadsides and avoiding stern rakes. I wanted it to be a deliberate broadside-to-broadside battle. A 2nd rate vs. 2 frigates SHOULD be a fish-in-a-barrel situation in this case. Did they hang around too long? You bet your arse they did, because NPCs have buffed HP, and instead of being either wrecked or close to wrecked , they can absorb a lot more than they should and keep doing damage. Ive never had a problem against 2 frigates like that. 5th rates just drown in cannons. I took on 3 essexs in my buc, and yes i lost one sides armor and they abosorbed more damage than they probably should have, but still went down pretty easy. Tougher AI isnt the thing thats going to scare off new players, (when you face off against players, those health buffs disappear) its the lack of safe zones. I dont mean the green zones we have, I mean a zone where they cant be targeted by players, populated with low level AI, at leaat untill they hit a certain rank like M&C Edited April 19, 2018 by asuspiciousbear
Guest Posted April 19, 2018 Posted April 19, 2018 41 minutes ago, Ahoy H.R. Matey said: Again, lineships do not run away from frigates to keep the engagement distance. In that fight, I deliberately behaved as a lineship normally would - that is, sail with the optimal wind, maneuvering to align my broadsides and avoiding stern rakes. I wanted it to be a deliberate broadside-to-broadside battle. A 2nd rate vs. 2 frigates SHOULD be a fish-in-a-barrel situation in this case. Did they hang around too long? You bet your arse they did, because NPCs have buffed HP, and instead of being either wrecked or close to wrecked , they can absorb a lot more than they should and keep doing damage. from wiki - Frigates are often the vessel of choice in historical naval novels due to their relative freedom compared to ships of the line (kept for fleet actions). Also in this game (yet, but i hope devs will develop it) the marines on the SoL doesn't shoot with their muskets or use the swivel guns (that should have been mounted on the ship) at close range targets. Its obvious you are gonna loose to a smaller ship if you sail alone and you're not able to aim down enough with your cannons to kill him before you do. Broadside to Broadside fights were mostly in lineship battles, if you see the uss constitution vs hms java there is like 3 broadside to broadside actions, and rest is maneuvering and raking.
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