Testbed Feedback - Battle UI, Localization, Patrols, Delivery quests

[Vlaxie]

I don't know if anyone else feels the same way and I'd probably be asking too much but I think that the ability to resize all the in-battle windows separately would be a really nice feature (and not all of them with just one slider) and to be able to reposition them around the screen.

Other than that I like the new look of the battle UI but I'm unsure about the boarding, everyone's complaining about it but I do not yet understand what their problem is

Oh and while I'm here, the sextant perk is a big no-no for me, I've always adored the non gps-esque navigation in this game, it made it feel grittier and more real, sextant perk just cheapens it and makes it feel casual

Edited January 24, 2019 by Vlaxie

[van der Clam]

Passenger Delivery Mission: There is no green check mark provided when you arrive at the port for delivery. So, if I had a handful of these missions, I would have to click each of them to know which one to Deliver.

Edited January 24, 2019 by van der Decken

[Farrago]

Fleet 1 Perk = 4 points?!?

😳

I hope that is a typo/bug.

[Empecinado CCEI]

Will the reward be obtained on the PvE server as well?

[Angus MacDuff]

Left and right?   LEFT AND RIGHT??!!!

@admin I am shocked!  Its P & S or Port and Stbd.

[Farrago]

Both double charge and double ball say "Double" when loaded in a broadside.

Edited January 24, 2019 by Farrago
because I am an idiot.

[Angus MacDuff]

I'm disliking boarding.  By not seeing the enemy choices for the next round, we have changed something that was similar to rock, paper, scissors into something that is exactly like rock, paper, scissors.

[HandForged]

It seems like the AI still know what we are selecting during boarding.  If I do not select at the last second the AI will counter effectively.  If we can't see what the enemy is doing, the enemy should not see what we are doing.

 

Also, changing the boarding in this way has taken out all the skill and timing..now I just can randomly mash buttons when fighting another player and have the same odds of winning. 

What is your vision for this new system @admin

Edited January 24, 2019 by HandForged

[HandForged]

@admin Will there be a wipe when this patch is launched on the PVP and PVE servers?  

[PG Monkey]

3 hours ago, Farrago said:

Both double shot and double charge broadsides are indicated by "Charge"

On mine they both say Double .

Top is double shot bottom is double charge

 

Edited January 24, 2019 by PG Monkey
added pic

[Guest]

3 hours ago, Farrago said:

Fleet 1 Perk = 4 points?!?

😳

I hope that is a typo/bug.

You get the 1st fleet perk by default now, so that is for a 2nd fleet ship

[Captiva]

14 minutes ago, EliteDelta said:

You get the 1st fleet perk by default now, so that is for a 2nd fleet ship

Should probably be renamed to, '1 Extra Fleet Ship' and '2 Extra Fleet Ships'

Why is 'Unlocked Sector Focus' now changed to 'Water'? Does it denote 'Water Line'?

Edited January 24, 2019 by Captiva

[Farrago]

36 minutes ago, EliteDelta said:

You get the 1st fleet perk by default now, so that is for a 2nd fleet ship

Oh. I missed that somewhere in the instructions. I never read the manual. 😉

Thanks.

[admin]

2 hours ago, Captiva said:

Should probably be renamed to, '1 Extra Fleet Ship' and '2 Extra Fleet Ships'

Why is 'Unlocked Sector Focus' now changed to 'Water'? Does it denote 'Water Line'?

we could not find a better explanation for (old unlocked) 

Balls converge on water at first graze (when they first hit water). Maybe some linguist here can provide a better 1-2 word explanation for UI

[Apl]

You've removed the ability of changing ammo in prebattle - is it a bug or new mechanics to kill prepared perk?

[admin]

3 hours ago, HandForged said:

 

Also, changing the boarding in this way has taken out all the skill and timing..now I just can randomly mash buttons when fighting another player and have the same odds of winning. 

What is your vision for this new system @admin

We will see
It might be that you will need more skill because you need to count preparation and know what command the enemy plan to pick. Main beauty though is: it also removes incentive for last click changes (reducing ping dependence of boarding).

[Guest]

is it intended that we still can see how much prep is used, the firepower and melee damage of the opponent?

[MrocznaSurykatka]

Instead of "water line" simply Focus fire / Concentrate fire, together with current aiming reticle behaviour should be more readable to everyone.

Edited January 24, 2019 by MrocznaSurykatka

[jodgi]

37 minutes ago, admin said:

we could not find a better explanation for (old unlocked) 

Balls converge on water at first graze (when they first hit water). Maybe some linguist here can provide a better 1-2 word explanation for UI

Hm, not sure a linguist could help as the firing modes relate so heavily to something very specific and even unique we do in game, I'm open to be pleasantly surprised, tho.

BTW, it says "locked" or "unlocked" during countown and then changes to new terms after.

I assumed "locked" referred to locking to a specific point on the water (assuming a certain constant speed) and "unlocked" meant that the aiming point would follow your ships. So, very simplified you would use locked on a target that wasn't moving (Imagine a target raft or raking a ship stuck in irons). You would use unlocked to fire at a target sailing with similar speed parallel to your own ship.

The last sentence above is why it's so weird old locked mode is now called parallel. It does make sense since the cannons would be aimed closer to parallel of eachother than unlocked or "water", but we can see from the aiming overlay it isn't even close to the very specific geometry term parallel.

Maybe it isn't important if we use partially descriptive terms like locked/unlocked or parallel/water?

58 minutes ago, admin said:

Balls converge on water

I could suggest the terms "raking fire" (locked/parallel) and "converging fire" (unlocked/water) as they are closely tied to what we see and do and sound more age of sail-y (?)

54 minutes ago, Apl said:

You've removed the ability of changing ammo in prebattle - is it a bug or new mechanics to kill prepared perk?

You know what, Apl, it's ever so slightly annoying when you go passive aggressive instead of reporting and asking about possible bugs and changes on testbed. Save it to after the unwanted change is confirmed and they really want to "kill" prepared perk. Besides, it's not like it's completely useless to have every single gun loaded up with cannonballs with a close tag.

[Sir Texas Sir]

58 minutes ago, admin said:

We will see
It might be that you will need more skill because you need to count preparation and know what command the enemy plan to pick. Main beauty though is: it also removes incentive for last click changes (reducing ping dependence of boarding).

When I was hitting 6th rate fleets in OW no problem destroying them with a board . The only big issue I see is the auto pull by AI by some one un prepared.  If AI treat d every one as if they had DD perk that would help from so many folks loosing ships to AI that have high boarding perks when you might not.  I lost a LRQ to a Reno yesterday cause he pulled me and we had close to same crew but I had no boarding mods.  It wasn’t the prep that killed me it was that he destroyed me no matter what defense I did and lost crew and moral. 

 

That and AI should not be able to pull when half sinking and your pulling to loot them.  Shouldn’t most there crew be in survival not board prep?  

[Stilgar]

Battle UI:

I like the battle UI: stylish and crisp, with some nice touches (e.g., indicators for rudder or pump hits). Increased font and graphics elements are also appreciated: all should still be readable on 1440p screen. Compliments to the artist! (Btw, I'd pay to see that style UI implemented in OW and in port.)

Reload shock indicator (black dots on red background is not particularly informative). Maybe still keep the word shock with adjacent pictograph of a cannon (reload), sail (rigging), and crew (three-cornered hat?) shock. Would make sense to just use same pictographs that are used for main control buttons.

I agree with proposal of placing bow chasers in position 3, as it used to be. makes more sense.

Perks:

I have noticed that one cannot choose ammo before start of the battle, even with prepared perk. This reduces the value of prepared perk, but I can see the point in this. If you tag properly and unload chain at close range, you immediately gain significant advantage. Another option would be to allow choice of ammo, but allow just half of cannons to be loaded.  

4 pts for fleet perk 1? Increase to say 2 points probably makes sense, but 4? This will penalize both traders and pvp player that rely on capturing ships. Do not see the point. Keep in mind that beginners sailing ships w/o slots open rely on perks.  [Edit; If Fleet 1 is a free "perk", then nothing to complain about.]

Edited January 24, 2019 by Stilgar

[admin]

1 minute ago, Stilgar said:

 

I agree with proposal of placing bow chasers in position 3, as it used to be. makes more sense.

 

we wanted the buttons to correspond to the cannon reload circle indicators  (front(bow) on the right - back (stern) on the left).
not sure - we can change if everyone got used to old one - but new players might appreciate the new positions more (easy to understand)

[jodgi]

4 minutes ago, Stilgar said:

4 pts for fleet perk 1? Increase to say 2 points probably makes sense, but 4? This will penalize both traders and pvp player that rely on capturing ships. Do not see the point. Keep in mind that beginners sailing ships w/o slots open rely on perks.

As others have already said; We get first fleet perk without spending points.

[admin]

13 hours ago, z4ys said:

• I would change the pic for bow and stern guns to something that shows the bow+ guns 

we tried it but it does not look like a gun at all and does not convey direction.

[Stilgar]

6 minutes ago, admin said:

we wanted the buttons to correspond to the cannon reload circle indicators  (front(bow) on the right - back (stern) on the left).
not sure - we can change if everyone got used to old one - but new players might appreciate the new positions more (easy to understand)

Well, if for a greater good, then no complains.

@ jodgi. Thx, missed that part. Clear now.

Edited January 24, 2019 by Stilgar