Perspectives from a newcomer

[Chess]

Ahoy!

Play-time 294 hours - 22K XP

The introduction:

Found a realistic "age-of-sail" game, love it, the graphics, the sounds, everything....so starting off in a cutter, looks nice, I can handle this. Checking the warehouse, market, Admirality thinking cool, I can perhaps jump into a kill mission and see what it is about...

Few days later and my first "exploration":

Ranking up, its good, I obviously need a bigger ship to get my hands on the traders and their loot out there...still in my cutter, not sure about the difference between a trader snow and just snow, trader brig and just brig. Oh, I can have more ports?- Nice, I think I will head up to Nassau, seems to be a good place for a second port with access to other goods. 

After a week:

"You need a clan" someone wrote me. I didn't reply, what does being in a clan mean? - No idea, but I should probably be a good player for being in a clan first, so I go out gathering some XP/Sailing experience first. Not sure if I want to be in a clan yet either. Still in my cutter, the Trader Snows are a nut to crack....about to give up...checking the chats, seeing the same players in and out of ports in their different high-rate vessels, the envy, the curiosity. Need to find some documentation, navalactionwiki...reading, figuring things out

"You need a clan" #2:

I need some help here, the cutter and my sailing-skills are not up to par with the snows or brigs...ok, going for the tutorials, youtube, trying again and again, demasting, basic sailing, cannons....I did it, and I got a price as well - very nice. Finally, snows and traders no problem - getting the hang of it. Taking my pride out for a ride towards Nassau, hey what is this? - A lone trader, going for a tag (not noticing or even understanding the meaning of the R above the compass. Whats going on? A single trader just turned into a f**king Armada - Boom, I'm sunk.

WTF?! - Now what do I do...

Need xp, someone notices me again in my cutter - I am asked if I would like to try a Heavy Rattlesnake (Creds to Bob Americana) , sure, I would be delighted, not even sure what it can do but seems anything is better than the cutter at least. Gaining XP, loot seems no problem anymore, I have been saved, gamechanger, I start to be motivated again. Better stay safe now not to loose my ship again (although still not aware of the meaning of the "R").

I am invited to a clan again, maybe not a dumb idea afterall….so joining, with my Rattlesnake...got dubloons now, so buying a surprise, looks nice, works well against the traders, throwing all loot above hold-limit overboard, too bad - shouldn't it be possible to capture ships in this game? Still not moving outside safe-zone, the efforts behind my surprise is too great to throw away...Been attacked by pirates twice on my way back and forth to Nassau, I am lucky I could sail away...

Back to Rattlesnake:

Ok, got sunk again, by some dude who got up to my stern and just severly punished my masts...so ends meet, and I need to gather more dubloons again to buy a new surprise so I can keep my Rattlesnake safe. The idea of going back to the cutter feels like a no-go. Also better to stay safe with my fellow clan-members, who wants to go out alone in the open seas risking all this effort just to have to start over again....

Clan seems to have ship-builders, other members keep refreshing their dockyards now and then, but I got my surprise - thinking these guys probably are veterans with too much resources and cash stored they can probably just build whatever they want.

The Pirate Frigate:

Finally, enough dubs for a Pirate Frigate from Admirality. Have been looking at those Le Gross'es for a while, now it's time to get a hang on them as well....tagging....and I find myself sinking.
And there we start again with the Rattlesnake....then Pirate Frigate, stay behind the LGV, get those crew-members down, youtube, boarding....winning.....great!...Throw excess loot overboard, sell in harbor...gaining reals, gaining dubloons, life seems great...

I notice from the chats I can cap up to 5'th rates - really, how? - By moving the crew-slider towards the boarded ship. Well, that's a gamechanger when considering the rewards in return.

Some dude named Woldemor Bishop tags me in his Le Requin, I am arrogant, I have a bigger ship than him, he's in a, I don't know, some tiny schooner with weird colors, but he is fast - he wants PVP, I want to get to port to sell my loot. He tries to board me but I outsail him after several hugs telling him to leave me alone, I find it quite annoying that he even tries - he gives up and sails away.

The Constitution:

Next day I feel like a real champ - I just bought my first really big vessel from Admirality, a Constitution, can't crew it fully yet but it sails, and its glorious - Pride, finally payback from all the looting of LGV's. Roaming between ports close by thinking the closer to home the better chance of getting help if needed, no chance in h*ll I am taking this one out on the open seas, all my efforts would be a waste.

Just exiting Coral Bay and *tag*, by a Le Requin? Oh, its my friend Woldemor again, now what do you want....I am boarded, lost my Conny AND my pride....wtf!

Google, YouTube, Forums, Le Requin, Troll-ship, buy-to-win someone writes, the glory of the game straight down the toilet...why am I even here...

The days after the latest patch:

Roaming the Reinforcement-zone in my Agamemnon someone in my clan built me. Carefully crafted and modded from all my gaming-experience and reading so far (I already lost my vision of success and joy by hard work, so clinging to the shipbuilders in the clan now). Built my Forger and Mines and got everything set up for an easy strawl in the bay. Need to open up a few knowledge-slots on the Aga and need more resources (logs etc) as they are scarce both within R-zone and outside. I don't feel like going outside R-zone alone anymore except when there is a storm and I am heading from A to B for some easy reals by trading. I tag an LGV just outside the capital.

30 Seconds later a Russian Bellona jumps in - and you can probably guess the outcome yourself.

So you tell me Mr.Developer:

Quote

Breathtaking open world based on 18th century historical maps gives you an opportunity to explore the 18th Century Caribbean. More than 365 historical ports based on their real locations are scattered across the map. Map is enormous - you cannot see another shore of lake Maracaibo.

End Quote

How can I, after almost 250 hours inside the R-zone, enjoy what you introduce this game to be for newcomers with the ability to have the occasional 1-on-1 (PvP/PvE) without risking everything if not being supported by high-ranked ship-builders and vast resources available to me? I would like to explore, but in a world where everyone is your enemy that's just not gonna happen if I want to see land as well.

Some Reflections:

These suggestions would allow me to actually enjoy the world and choose my battles, be wary of the scary pirates and not just every single enemy player out there I see. Although it would make the game less realistic in some areas perhaps, but maybe more realistic in other areas (like for ability to do international trading helping the economy better). I believe it would open up the world to many more players with the result of motivating players to come out of their secure zones.

1. The new RoE should limit the reinforcement to reflect the rate and numbers of original attacker(s) - if that was in place I could never have been jumped by a 3'rd rate while in my 4'th rate, and maybe I could have had a fair fight afterall.

2. There could be a minimum threshold to the range between an R-zone and where players can exit/log out of the game to stop exploiting the new RoE, 20 minutes is a long time for anyone to log in if they logged out in a foreign nations R-zone. So while I tag a trader, the reinforcement in the new RoE denies the function of R-zone in its whole.

3. I would like to choose whether or not I wanted a PvP or not, sometimes I am out hunting, sometimes I am out trading or just want to hear the sounds of the waves. It would be nice if you'd deploy some "consent"-mechanism for the player being tagged that gives the battle green or red light. Perhaps a small screen telling the player being tagged what odds he'd have (or similar measurement)based on the attackers experience-level, ship-rate, thickness/armor etc. So for example if I am being tagged I see a screen saying "the odds are 2:1" but for me that may be good enough to accept the challenge, or choose to sail away while a timer limits the tagger to tag me again. Maybe even when being tagged by a pirate this mechanism would not be there making it more fun to be a pirate perhaps.

And one last thing on my mind - It would be great to be able to choose which deck I want to use with regards to isolating, lets say, carronades from long-guns. This way maybe undercrewed vessels may be able to fully utilize their guns on a given deck.

Apart from that, excellent game!
 

[staun]

You can chose with deck to use. Try hit F1-F4. Plus you don’t have to put cannons on all decks, ore you can put smaller on.

Edited March 6, 2019 by staun

[Howell Davis]

The largest issue is basically: Who wants to do all that grinding for a few hours of fun?

Make the ships DLC's and ppl with actual lives can do stuff other than moving goods from A to B.

[Teutonic]

I think this is an excellent perspective of a newcomer's experience.

I also think there are a number of things you say @Chess that remind me why it was helpful to have others to talk to in game to gain knowledge of changes in patches and also how to fight certain ships.

Your experiences of fighting the Requins - the best suggestion i got from friends was to sail downwind, since the requin cannot catch you that way or at the very least you'd keep an advantage in being difficult to board.

Your experiences of what "R" is or how things works helps all of us realize that a lot of mechanics in the game are still not properly explained and we could use a nice reference tool in the game to solve these frustrations. 

I don't think anyone needs a clan, but being in a clan has a lot of benefits which you seemed to have enjoyed. 

Finally, The developers plan to change the "R" (reinforcement zone) to be similar to the Capital zone around your nation's capital... to better help everyone understand what to expect.

 

[Guest]

5 hours ago, Chess said:

I would like to choose whether or not I wanted a PvP or not, sometimes I am out hunting, sometimes I am out trading or just want to hear the sounds of the waves.

problem with this suggestion is that the economy would be totally broken, players would be able to generate billions of reals because they could trade wherever they want and it would be a problem in RvR if a scout can sit inbetween the whole port battle fleet without danger of getting tagged.

[Chess]

Ok Wyy, but my suggestions should not be taken literally, and everything could be fine-tuned to avoid the things you mention, amongst many other things....my message was merely an effort to highlight the fact that a lot of players may never dear to roam the open seas in pvp-server unless they feel confident enough - and by then most of them may already have left the game before they get to taste the thrill of arming up against another player.

Maybe I am not utilizing the full potential of the game yet, and when I do I can just build myself a new vessel right? - If it should be that easy the new rare-woods system surely did not help with that although I could always grab myself a trader outside the capital - but if we all do, what good does that do to the trading/economy.

But anyways, I was just sharing my experience