Two questions from a returning veteran

[Ligatorswe]

My clanmates can probably answer the questions i have later today, but i feel that it can be useful for the developers to read what is in the mind of a veteran in the game that has been away for more than a year and has returned.

I have some questions.

QUESTIONS

1. MISSIONS: The questions I have in mind isare. First: how do i do something like the earlier  combat missions. Combat missions was nice as a "soft" beginning of the game before you entered the pvp. You could get a rank 4 mission when you had a rank 3 ship. Or fight it out with somewhat equal NPC.s. That has changed. Apparently all ports have their kill fights with specific ranks, and when in a 5 ship you usually get fights with tier 4 or with two tier 5s.
As a returning veteran i was sunk in my first fight that I got against a higher ranking ship. Ouch! is that really as intended? I did not expect that. My guess is that other returning veterans (and newcomers) might be confused about this too.

So. To practise against NPC and get a soft start I am currently searching the oceans for NPCs, but they dont give me doubloons, except if i take mission to get a number of them. I could bring friends, but I feel it should be possible to fight against AI ships alone.

What do I do wrong? 

And the problem is that new players wont be able to stay with their nation or clanmates to find single missions on their level. You cant play class 5 missions everywhere. Neither class 4. In Tumbado, for example, there is only class 2 kill missions you can get. Ok I am a member of a rich clan and I still have BIG ships, but for a new player it must be a pain in the ass to find out where to find missions to level up. 

2. TRADE I cant figure out how to trade at all. There are basically nothing to buy in the ports. in the harbour I am in at the moment there are three yorkshire puddings to buy, and some flying fishes. That is all. How do I trade? 

Otherwise, the game is moving in the right direction and I am happy to be back. 

Edited March 8, 2019 by Ligatorswe

[Ligatorswe]

I know about traders tool, of course. But in order to trade I have to find more than three puddings to trade with. 😉

[Hethwill, the Red Duke]

3 puddings from here, 5 jewels from there, 8 bales of tobacco from beyond, sell and buy along the way, cruise you planned ).

[mikawa]

How works the prize system now? Someone mentioned the longer the trading route the higher the prize? Does it mean that the sailing distance affects directly the selling prize?

[Tom Farseer]

3 hours ago, mikawa said:

How works the prize system now? Someone mentioned the longer the trading route the higher the prize? Does it mean that the sailing distance affects directly the selling prize?

• Ports are grouped in regions.
• All ports of one region produce goods from the same list. Some only one, some more. Every region also has at least one Port (typically the county capital) that consumes goods that are produced in the other regions.
• The further away the producing region is from the consuming Port you sell the goods in, the higher your profit.

For more details check  https://na-map.netlify.com/ and take a look at the two dropdown menus Goods relations and Ports relations

Edited March 8, 2019 by Tom Farseer

[Okita]

I took a two year break from the game and coming back now the game feels extremely brutal. I screwed up after the wipe in 2017 and had to start ranking up from scratch so I have a decent idea of what new players are/would be going through. I'm at Post Captain right now and the future doesn't look too good - the only saving grace is my Trincomalee that allows me to do 5th rate missions with a decent safety margin. I tried doing them on smaller 5th rate ships and lost two of them in a single day. 

I have put about 400h into the game in the past, which by Naval Action standards isn't that much, but still a lot more than your average Post Captain. So the question is, what should a new player do in this situation? Doing 5th rate missions seems an extremely risky task. In the past you could just group up with other players but now the enemy fleet size seems to scale with yours so that doesn't increase the safety margin one bit.. and you can't bring bigger ships either. What is the best route for ranking up then? There doesn't seem to be a viable one.

Personally I see myself running into a brick wall as soon as I hit Flag Captain. I would likely have to grind for weeks in order to be able to afford a 4th or 3rd rate ship and I might just lose it in the first battle I take part in, be it versus AI or players. That really makes me question whether I want to put in the effort or not.

Is there some kind of loophole that I'm missing or is the game designed for masochists only these days?

[Internetbaron]

I support the cause. NPC are too strong.

Nerf NPC in Mission and Oen World and keep the ELITE Npc for Bigger Events and Special Missions. Maybe put Elite NPCs in special fleets with a small icon like it is in EVERY OTHER MMO.

"Pve is fun when the Ai is Hard" . Ehhh no . Its fun when you can get a Challenge from the Ai when you want a challenge. Right now AI is 24/7 a challenge and you only Sail in bigger Ships against it.

There was a statistic from Admin who said 800 AI kills result in 1 Player sunk. Well The players know how hard the AI is and only sail when they have an advantage.

Npc under and including 5th rate classes should be way easier to kill.

It is so frustrating to see the AI in a similar Ship and you know he has boarding mods, is turning faster, sailing faster , reloading faster and outdamages your broadside 😃 .

 

 

[Sang Noir]

3 hours ago, Okita said:

Is there some kind of loophole that I'm missing or is the game designed for masochists only these days?

You are missing the DLC, please buy them to advance in the game.

[Okita]

2 hours ago, Internetbaron said:

"Pve is fun when the Ai is Hard" . Ehhh no . Its fun when you can get a Challenge from the Ai when you want a challenge. Right now AI is 24/7 a challenge and you only Sail in bigger Ships against it.

You're completely right! Being challenging is good but when every battle vs AI is literally a struggle for you very life it's suddenly not so good. It's not fun. It's stressful. 

So I just hit Flag Captain and figured I can now add a 5th rate to my fleet and go do the more difficult missions with two AI targets.. but who could have guessed! Now there's FOUR targets to kill instead of two! Is this a joke? Who are these missions designed for? Not only is there nowhere a mention that the enemy fleet size will scale with yours, the very idea of a 2v4 battle with ships of the same class is ridiculous. 

1 hour ago, Jean de la Rochelle said:

You are missing the DLC, please buy them to advance in the game.

Not the sort of loophole I was hoping for, damn it 😡

 

Edited April 5, 2019 by Okita