Increase NPC spawn rate, decrease fleets

[bart430]

Please increase the NPC spawn rate on the PVE server.  Its it beyond ridiculous to have to sail for hours at time to find no target or just huge fleets.  There is no reason not to do this.  Thank you

[admin]

17 hours ago, bart430 said:

Please increase the NPC spawn rate on the PVE server.  Its it beyond ridiculous to have to sail for hours at time to find no target or just huge fleets.  There is no reason not to do this.  Thank you

hold on.. (or check the testbed) it has new mission spawn system which will solve your problem

[Christoph]

3 minutes ago, admin said:

hold on.. (or check the testbed) it has new mission spawn system which will solve your problem

we need a change on pvp server that the enemy AI are not sailing to a friendly port. the players have to sail out. Atm the player is waiting at the docks or the fort.

[Audacious]

8 minutes ago, admin said:

hold on.. (or check the testbed) it has new mission spawn system which will solve your problem

so you are saying he must take missions every time he goes out in order to have ships to kill? otherwise he will seek npcs for a long time without any missions?

Edited February 1, 2019 by Pirate78

[bart430]

More and better missions are all well and good, thank you for that.  However,  you shouldn't have to take a mission in order to find an NPC ship to fight.  

Sometimes you just want to cruise around and find ships that may not be available to fight with missions.  Having to only rely on missions limits the scope of the targets you can fight.   It doesn't seem to me that it would take much time at all to increase the solo NPC spawn rate unless there is some CPU/RAM requirements that would cause issues.  The other issue is the size of NPC fleets.  With the server population on the PVE server so low its hard to find someone to group with, especially since you can only group with your own nation.  

As it stands now you cant just jump into the game for an hour unless you take a mission, if a mission is available and expect to find a ship to fight. You might, but you might not be able to find a target and that limits players who maybe dont have 4 hrs to play.

[Farrago]

1 hour ago, bart430 said:

More and better missions are all well and good, thank you for that.  However,  you shouldn't have to take a mission in order to find an NPC ship to fight.  

Sometimes you just want to cruise around and find ships that may not be available to fight with missions.  Having to only rely on missions limits the scope of the targets you can fight.   It doesn't seem to me that it would take much time at all to increase the solo NPC spawn rate unless there is some CPU/RAM requirements that would cause issues.  The other issue is the size of NPC fleets.  With the server population on the PVE server so low its hard to find someone to group with, especially since you can only group with your own nation.  

As it stands now you cant just jump into the game for an hour unless you take a mission, if a mission is available and expect to find a ship to fight. You might, but you might not be able to find a target and that limits players who maybe dont have 4 hrs to play.

Are you sailing around friendly ports? Enemy doesn’t like to sail near them. Sail in hostile waters if you want to find hostiles. 

[Guest]

DELETED

Edited February 7, 2019 by Guest

[bart430]

Sailed about 4 hrs around Cuba as a Brit in a 5th rate.   Saw 1 ship that I could attack and have a chance at winning.  Saw a few fleets but that was it. 

[Sir Texas Sir]

11 hours ago, admin said:

hold on.. (or check the testbed) it has new mission spawn system which will solve your problem

Test bed seems to have very few AI ships too.  You have to sail way over in other parts of the map to find stuff for most of the nations. I been going through my alts and starting them in different nations for this 25 kills and found it's hard to find ships in some areas away from capitals even.

Edited February 2, 2019 by Sir Texas Sir

[Hethwill, the Red Duke]

Did test as US. Sailed down to Saint Mary's. Engaged fleets of 12x 5th rates or half of that if 4th rates with the victory and a redeemed bellona  sometimes with a buddy. There was enemy AI for everyone. We weren't picky about what to attack really. Just anything would do  

Couldn't check other nation realities.

[Barbancourt]

35 minutes ago, Sir Texas Sir said:

Test bed seems to have very few AI ships too.

The AI distribution is really spotty, and not the same as I remember it being from a year or more ago.  I found a couple good spots, and some formerly good spots were dead.

[Azenya]

On 2/1/2019 at 3:58 PM, admin said:

hold on.. (or check the testbed) it has new mission spawn system which will solve your problem

First of - who has time for a testbed? The game is a testbed itself. I don't want to play missions - because the AI in missions is buffed to do unrealistic stuff, and is doing twice your damage. 

I want open world battles until there are missions shared for the whole battlegroup. 

Edited February 3, 2019 by Azenya

[AeRoTR]

It is a good idea, I do not like to see 10 ship fleets all the time, 3-4 ships may be, but 10 line ships or 10 frigates ?

[Hethwill, the Red Duke]

Fleets are intended for group play ( group is 2 players or more). They are good for that.

Glad they are abundant.

[bart430]

OK here is a typical day.  Brit 5th rate sailed from Baraco to just past Carahatas then to Cayo del Sal and back to Baracoa.  2/3/19,  8:44 Am - 11:39AM

Saw the following ships and engaged 2.

3rd rate +6

Brit Niagara +1

Cerberus Engaged and took as prize

Niagra+1 passed to attack Cerberus

Trader Brig took as prize

GB pickle +12

Bellona +2

 

So over 2.5 hrs sailing and only 2 ships I was able to attack, a trader brig and Cerberus.  3 if you count the Niagra +1 which was seen at the same time as the Cerberus which I passed in order to attack Cerberus. 

Also during my time, at least 4 times people complained in Global about not being able to find NPC ships to attack.

 

[Marquês do Bonfim]

All i've seen from the past couple of days were TONS of Brit fleets around Windward Channel and it's getting really difficult to spot enemy fleets with less than 7 or 8 ships, few times I spotted a fleet of 3 or 4, the rarest being lonely ships and such.

It is getting harder, idk why. Specially in the PVE server.

[Guest]

23 hours ago, Portuguese Privateer said:

TONS of Brit fleets around Windward Channel and it's getting really difficult to spot enemy fleets

Same...

About 10 days ago, about when there was a min patch, doubloon dropping NPCs became far and few between, I don’t know if this is true or not, no proof, only perception.

What I do know is prior to that update server numbers increased by 0.03% (no sale either), small but was very good bucking the trend, now after 10 days it’s -1.41%, bad again.

If there was a change to limit doubloons by dropping NPCs numbers then I think this is the wrong approach, since its leads too endless sailing without end and without action, players get frustrated and just stop playing (for a while).

Better to drop doubloons loot rate and keep NPC numbers as high as possible, at least this way players will still be engaged in action even though it means more action (grinding) but the point is that they’re still playing.

If NPCs numbers wasn’t reduced then maybe an investigation into their truancy is needed (of the last 10 days and what was better 10 days ago).

 

PS, and along with that, and always prompting... 500 more NPC singles and fleets of 1-2 within shipping lanes would help alot, to circumvent many frustrated players (if its possible server-wise). And consider that on release there will be a whole lot more online at the same time, all after the same NPCs, maybe more is needed for that release period (an issue as result of replacing PvP marks system with the doubloon RNG loot system).  

Edited February 7, 2019 by Guest

[Holm Hansen]

On 2/1/2019 at 3:58 PM, admin said:

hold on.. (or check the testbed) it has new mission spawn system which will solve your problem

Is there any ETA when it will come to the live servers?

Edited February 8, 2019 by Holm Hansen

[Einarr]

The less fleets idling around the better server performance there is. I reckon you should decrease the amount of AI fleets in R-zones excepting baby ships for the newbies to munch on but at the same time force the chunky boys to have to work in teams to do PvE safely and encourage teamwork which will only enhance clan activity/pvp capability.

[Holm Hansen]

24 minutes ago, Einarr said:

The less fleets idling around the better server performance there is. I reckon you should decrease the amount of AI fleets in R-zones excepting baby ships for the newbies to munch on but at the same time force the chunky boys to have to work in teams to do PvE safely and encourage teamwork which will only enhance clan activity/pvp capability. 

What if there is no clan activity anymore? In a fight-based PVE-MMO (i'm talking about the PVE server) that thinks they can do it without NPC, the players do not stay long.
I do not mind looking 20 minutes for a suitable fight, but if after an hour i still have not found anything, i start to doubt the point of the game.

[Hethwill, the Red Duke]

Attacking 1v2 odds been paying off though, no idea if it helps.

Went with Bellona versus Bellona with 1 large in fleet, that happened to be a Wasa.

Was a good battle, and the income was okay. The reals won covered the repair expenses ( hulls bought in store ), two more kills to add to a Hunt mission, some module, Extra Rum i think, and 3k doubloons if i'm not mistaken.

Granted that singular ships are not common, but why not engage the fleets equal rank with 2 or one rank lower with 3 ? There's plenty of those around.

[Barbancourt]

12 hours ago, Hethwill said:

Granted that singular ships are not common, but why not engage the fleets equal rank with 2 or one rank lower with 3 ? There's plenty of those around.

Heh, because despite some predictable behavior the AI is twice as good as I am.  In larger ships fleet of 2 ships two rates down is a 50/50 battle for me.  I have to use boarding or kiting to survive that. 

Edited February 11, 2019 by Barbancourt

[Hethwill, the Red Duke]

8 hours ago, Barbancourt said:

Heh, because despite some predictable behavior the AI is twice as good as I am.  In larger ships fleet of 2 ships two rates down is a 50/50 battle for me.  I have to use boarding or kiting to survive that. 

Sure. Is not a linear experience  

[Nelson Hornblower]

On 2/3/2019 at 8:54 AM, Hethwill said:

Fleets are intended for group play ( group is 2 players or more). They are good for that.

Glad they are abundant.

But not everyone wants to do group play. Solo NPCs for solo engagements will draw people into the game as well. 

[Hethwill, the Red Duke]

1 hour ago, Nelson Hornblower said:

But not everyone wants to do group play. Solo NPCs for solo engagements will draw people into the game as well. 

There are a few, but not too many, agreed, albeit a 1:2 odds doesn't need a group. Kill missions are okay'ish for solo fast sail and battle.

But yeah, 100% agree, not every player sees the game the same way.