Not a single hostile NPC to kill

[Audacious]

Sailed around Port Royal island, full circle and not a single npc to attack. Really? Waste of time...

Edited July 4, 2019 by Audacious

[Aster]

Enemy ports spawn enemy ships go in that direction.

[VirtuallyIdiotic]

Yeah cannot be taking and closing all the ports if you want to see enemy npc

[Meraun]

4 hours ago, Audacious said:

Sailed around Port Royal island, full circle and not a single npc to attack. Really? Waste of time...

You have to go near Enemy Ports.. British Ports dont spawn enemy Ships.-

[James Thomson]

Just let the AI spawn everywhere for god damn it. Realism is already broke with russians and other nations not belongin in here.

 

Just do it for the sake of fun and gameplay!!!

[James Thomson]

37 minutes ago, rediii said:

It's also for your safety you know?  4 frigates approaching? Better stay at that friendly pavel ...

That is easily removed, just attack once and leave. *boof* NPC escort is gone.

But having more of allied ship spawn around could help in that yes.

Edited July 4, 2019 by James Thomson

[Guest]

12 minutes ago, rediii said:

Friendly AI leaves when battle over message is displayed. If you leave aswell its dtill there. Only if the leadingship is destroyed the NPC fleet is destroyed

this bug is still in the game?

[James Thomson]

1 hour ago, Liberalism said:

AI now disappear and don't leave the battle. The leading ship is fake news and was fixed.

Yep. Been ganked like this few times and never seen the AI before im tagged again.

[Sparkydog]

Devs- I understand your philosophy about not having foreign NPC's in our sovereign waters- but come on, throw us a bone.  There is too much quiet time with not much going on where it would be nice to see a NPC go by that we could attack.  Also, would you ever consider rotating they type of NPC's that inhabit different parts of the map?   It really feels like a disadvantage that the US only gets small NPC's on their coast- how about mixing them up every few months?  More stuff to shoot at means more fun- please think about it.

[Hethwill, the Red Duke]

Go to frontier waters, establish a outpost. Attack stronger AI ( higher BR ) as battle will be closed after the 2 minutes.

Go with friends, attack AI fleets, hit higher BR fleets, battle will be closed after the 2 minutes.

And IF you are in the War server, well, you accepted that is a PvP server and you shall PvP and you shall like it, when you want it and when others want it.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Koveras said:

Let's be honest - looking for AI to kill is just a shitty idea. The ai is dumb and uninspiring so why the hell would I waste half an hour to get to enemy ports, just to find an ai to kill?

And if the idea was to promote PvP - well mission failed.

I currently like to sail from Aves to French waters where there is tons and tons of AI. So I kill a few and if I pop out of battle and see a player I pvp and if someone joins my battle I may fight them. 

[Hethwill, the Red Duke]

1 hour ago, Borch said:

Talk how much you want about "you shall like PvP", PvE always is the main content in every sandbox MMO ever made.

You shall PvP and you shall like it.

Many captains do NOT PvE at all. And all the AI they might get is from player's fleets.

Do NOT consider everyone a MMO'er. Many just love the simulation, hunt other players, the chase, and resolve it in a good tag or run away to fight another day.

Sail and you shall find, both players and AI.

 

[Captain2Strong]

that's not a problem just sail 3 hours to the gulf and die to some russian - I do not see where's the problem

or you can just spend that time sailing to LH and sit there for another 5 hours thinking you will find some spaniard, then spend another 3 hours going back home and being disappointed

Edited July 26, 2019 by Captain2Strong

[Hethwill, the Red Duke]

Every nation has a immediate neighbour. Those waters will have AI.

For example French can sail to swedish or Dutch waters and find enemy AI there.

[Guest]

29 minutes ago, Hethwill said:

Every nation has a immediate neighbour. Those waters will have AI.

For example French can sail to swedish or Dutch waters and find enemy AI there.

The swedish and french actually have a peace agreement at their border so both sides can farm AI there.

Edited July 26, 2019 by Guest

[Hethwill, the Red Duke]

You are right. I don't get it. In Peace server i sail and find AI. On War server i know i have to sail into hostile waters to find AI. That at least I get right.

Glad I have a choice between War and Peace to fit my wants and needs of the moment.

Enjoy.

[Teutonic]

43 minutes ago, Flinch said:

The swedish and french actually have a peace agreement at their border so both sides can farm AI there.

Not anymore officially.

But I tend to see a lot of folks having nice conversations in battle and end up letting each other go.

It is the folks who like to be assholes that get sunk ;).

[Lancelot Teggin]

I agree with old npc system just let they spawn around so ppl dont need to sail hours and hours after a cutter somewhere for get 8 xp! 

[CrustyJohnson]

On 7/26/2019 at 6:39 AM, Hethwill said:

Every nation has a immediate neighbour. Those waters will have AI.

For example French can sail to swedish or Dutch waters and find enemy AI there.

As a US player, do you know how far we have to sail to find anything above a 5th rate AI? From Cabo Canaveral to the North of Cuba, it's easily a 45 minute sail through enemy water. Even if I am fighting 5th rate AI at the edge of my nation's borders, PvPers come up with 3rd rates and I don't stand a chance because I am in my 5th rate, which I am using so that the battles I do find close after 2 minutes. if it does close before they get in, they just wait outside and pounce on me, injured. If I bring my own 3rd rate to stand a chance? i get nearly zero XP from farming 5th rate AI. Plus I have to build it tanky and slow to compete with the 2-3 man PvP teams teams, so even if I do get close to killing one, they run off. 

So as to not simply bitch without providing a solution, I propose that Ai ships increase in rate size toward the frontlines and consist of all rates. Either that, or only allow rates up to a certain rate in each county to participate in fights. A county spawning 5th rates should only allow 5th rates and below to engage in battles there, unless for hostility.  Would make fights fairer and anyone that doesn't want a fair fight should be ignored. I love PvP, I dislike unbalanced fights, whether the disparity is in my favor or isn't. 

[Hethwill, the Red Duke]

Hey Crusty.

I was at Canaveral since Friday, on and off, and yes it is highly populated by enemy players. ( was even chased by a sizeable US navy squadron from San Augustin back to Canaveral  )

( sidenote: USN and the pirates in the area had both similar ships but neither confronted each other as i passed the Cape. pirates went into port, US turned back north )

But it also has AI of all rates that do actually sail as far as San Augustin. I did shadow one pirate Wasa up the coast and did see AI pirate Surprises, Essex, etc sailing up and down. They were not really hugging the coast though but more off to sea with coastline in the distant haze.

Granted that enemies will try to hunt pve'rs. There's no denying that.

[CrustyJohnson]

54 minutes ago, Hethwill said:

Hey Crusty.

I was at Canaveral since Friday, on and off, and yes it is highly populated by enemy players. ( was even chased by a sizeable US navy squadron from San Augustin back to Canaveral  )

( sidenote: USN and the pirates in the area had both similar ships but neither confronted each other as i passed the Cape. pirates went into port, US turned back north )

But it also has AI of all rates that do actually sail as far as San Augustin. I did shadow one pirate Wasa up the coast and did see AI pirate Surprises, Essex, etc sailing up and down. They were not really hugging the coast though but more off to sea with coastline in the distant haze.

Granted that enemies will try to hunt pve'rs. There's no denying that.

Well if that's the case, I take back what I said. I guess my personal experiences haven't been as lucrative when finding certain ships, especially 4th and 3rd rates. Been sitting at needing one more Wasa and 2 more Aggys for a bit now. The US will respond in force if you come up near San Agustin which is nice, but most are afraid to go down near Cabo, sadly. Also, I play at an odd time, so our nation pop is pretty dead.  I don't mind people hunting PvErs, I do the same thing. At least it's more of a fight than hunting traders. I probably need to just change my tactics and stay near the port in order to avoid being ganked when coming out of an AI fight. or maybe there's a strategy you know of that I am overlooking? Do battle indicators go away after a certain amount of time? I would hope they would disappear as soon as a fight is locked, so as to deter fight camping. 

Don't get me wrong I love the game and I know I could stay safe if I chose to, but I want the PvP. I just want it to be a fair fight more often than not. I could accept that doing PvE came with risk of being ganked--considering that it is the main way to get chests and rewards--if there were an alternative that ensured even BR PvP fights.

 I've been mentioning it a lot today, but I'm envisioning a PvP Arena instead of a PvP Zone. One that allows groups or solo players to come and fight an opposing team of equal BR. Solo players would be matched with other solo players, teams, or AI to achieve certain BR and boom, fair fight initiated. Mini Naval Aciton:Legends but in OW with OW implications. I do like the PvP Zone a lot, but it still can result in a lot of imbalanced fights. I've been on both sides of those fights and they are rarely fun. PvP Arena would let clans practice sailing together against an equal opponent. Solo players could finally get assurance of being in a fair fight that isn't a boring 1v1, and possibly make new friends (or enemies). WoW had a feature like this and it was successful. I think it would be popular and people wouldn't mind waiting around if they knew that eventually they would get a fair fight. 

Edited August 26, 2019 by CrustyJohnson
bad grasp of English

[Hethwill, the Red Duke]

I usually play late EU hours mostly. Rarely play at EU peak except on some weekends. Everything happens still at office hours  

But onwards to the subject

RoE 'deficit' regarding attacking AI favours the bold, as i see it.

By attacking equal or higher BR AI your battle will be locked after the initial 2 minutes, if no one joins on your side and raises it of course.

So, as an example, instead of attacking an AI Essex with a Wasa, why not attack the same AI Essex with a equivalent frigate ? A Cherubim ( Frigate ) is a good choice.

So, rule of thumb, don't overpower AI as the battle will be open for the enemy side until the BR equalises or gets over ( if so, then opens to your side ) or until it hits the 20 minutes mark, then it closes for good.

[Capitalism]

3 hours ago, CrustyJohnson said:

As a US player, do you know how far we have to sail to find anything above a 5th rate AI? From Cabo Canaveral to the North of Cuba, it's easily a 45 minute sail through enemy water. Even if I am fighting 5th rate AI at the edge of my nation's borders, PvPers come up with 3rd rates and I don't stand a chance because I am in my 5th rate, which I am using so that the battles I do find close after 2 minutes. if it does close before they get in, they just wait outside and pounce on me, injured. If I bring my own 3rd rate to stand a chance? i get nearly zero XP from farming 5th rate AI. Plus I have to build it tanky and slow to compete with the 2-3 man PvP teams teams, so even if I do get close to killing one, they run off. 

So as to not simply bitch without providing a solution, I propose that Ai ships increase in rate size toward the frontlines and consist of all rates. Either that, or only allow rates up to a certain rate in each county to participate in fights. A county spawning 5th rates should only allow 5th rates and below to engage in battles there, unless for hostility.  Would make fights fairer and anyone that doesn't want a fair fight should be ignored. I love PvP, I dislike unbalanced fights, whether the disparity is in my favor or isn't. 

You know those ports with the empty symbols on the map? The free and neutral ports? You can establish outposts there and you’ll find plenty of foreign AI opportunities from each of them.

Each one has a different distribution of rated ships so you may have to explore a bit outside the warm safety blanket of your US coast line, away from your precious forts (gasp), but they are out there.

[Harting]

5 hours ago, Capitalism said:

You know those ports with the empty symbols on the map? The free and neutral ports? You can establish outposts there and you’ll find plenty of foreign AI opportunities from each of them.

Each one has a different distribution of rated ships so you may have to explore a bit outside the warm safety blanket of your US coast line, away from your precious forts (gasp), but they are out there.

mmmm salt...

[Sea Archer]

10 hours ago, Hethwill said:

I usually play late EU hours mostly. Rarely play at EU peak except on some weekends. Everything happens still at office hours  

But onwards to the subject

RoE 'deficit' regarding attacking AI favours the bold, as i see it.

By attacking equal or higher BR AI your battle will be locked after the initial 2 minutes, if no one joins on your side and raises it of course.

So, as an example, instead of attacking an AI Essex with a Wasa, why not attack the same AI Essex with a equivalent frigate ? A Cherubim ( Frigate ) is a good choice.

So, rule of thumb, don't overpower AI as the battle will be open for the enemy side until the BR equalises or gets over ( if so, then opens to your side ) or until it hits the 20 minutes mark, then it closes for good.

But should give new players the chance to fight ai with bigger ships, without being jumped by raiders. In the beginning it is hard enough to control your own ship and simultaneously fight the enemy. 

This might only happen in the former reinforcement area, but should still happen. Maybe only for players below m+c rank.

Edited August 26, 2019 by Sea Archer