Thought on Balancing Port Bonus

[CrustyJohnson]

Port Bonus -

I think we can all agree that port bonuses for ships have the ability to swing actual combat advantage in the direction of the most powerful nations. My suggestion is to change the way ships are crafted in the first place. I think ships with any bonuses should be forced to be constructed over real life time (hands off of course). Therefore, normal ships could be crafted instantaneously, but ships with bonuses would take actual time. The time frames might need to be balanced but maybe, 1 day per level, up to 4 levels .  That way the best ships could be crafted anywhere, such as at the capital of nation that has been reduced to just one port or a free town. That way, impoverished and isolated nations could still hold their own in a PB, albeit after a period of waiting and preparing. Upgrading a port could still come with a hefty bonus, perhaps 25% off the time it takes to make the highest quality ship per level and reduced material costs or something to that affect. Honestly, the ability to invest in a port and have all materials be able to be produced there seems like a giant bonus. Ships stats would still be balanced by rare woods and would still give a smaller bonus to large nations who own many ports (but an advantage that would not be unable to be matched through planning). Any thoughts on this?

[Teutonic]

Let's take a hard look at port bonuses and determine whether they really are OP or not? because if you look at the first 2 levels, those bonuses are barely worth considering OP - some books basically do better then them. 

We will look at Level 3s and Level 4s, Level 3s is where port bonuses get close to perm mods, level 4 is where folks would argue are "actually" OP. Lets go out and assume a few things:

55 point port will have:
3 bonuses at level 4
1 bonus at level 3
1 bonus at level 1
(leaves 2 points for fort defense)

45 point port will have 2 options:
option 1:
1 bonus at level 4
4 bonuses at level 3
(leaves 2 points for fort defense)

option 2:

2 bonuses at level 4
2 bonuses at level 3
1 bonus at level 1
(leaves 0 points for fort defense)

any port smaller than 45 points realistically is not doing port bonuses - you could argue though that a 35 point port is doing 5 bonuses at level 3 though.

 Gunnery

Level 3 -- 
Cannon reload time − 3 %
Cannon min/max angle ＋ 4 %
Cannon dispersion per 100m, cannon vertical dispersion per 100m − 3 %
Cannon ball penetration ＋ 2 %

Level 4 --
Cannon reload time − 5 %
Cannon min/max angle ＋ 5 %
Cannon dispersion per 100m, cannon vertical dispersion per 100m − 5 %
Cannon ball penetration ＋ 5 %

I'll be honest, I really don't see anything for gunnery that would make it OP. 5% increase in penetration without another pen mod doesn't really break anything. cannon reload at 5% isn't huge without more cannon reload mods, and the dispersion is the same.

Honestly when it comes to Gunnery, the only way these bonuses become "OP" is if the player also adds a cannon type mod. Gunnery OP? I'd say no.

Sailing

Level 3 --
Ship speed ＋ 2 %
Turn speed ＋ 3 %
Acceleration ＋ 5 %
Speed decrease ＋ 5 %

Level 4 --
Ship speed ＋ 3.5 %
Turn speed ＋ 5 %
Acceleration ＋ 10 %
Speed decrease ＋ 10 %

Sailing bonus is where we can argue on what is OP or not. Sailing bonus level 3 is fine for the investment costs. When comparing to other books and mods, it's probably on par with them, maybe a bit better. I could agree to advocate for a slight adjustment here.

When it comes to Level 4 though I think it is still too high. I would lower the speed bonus to 3%, lower turn to 4%, lower accel and decrease to 7.5%. Sailing bonus 4, Is probably OP.

Hull

Level 3 --
Armour strength ＋ 3 %
Armor thickness ＋ 3 %
Fire resistance ＋ 10 %
Splinter resistance ＋ 5 %

Level 4 --
Armour strength ＋ 5 %
Armor thickness ＋ 5 %
Fire resistance ＋ 20 %
Splinter resistance ＋ 10 %

When it comes to Hull bonus, the only one "worth" getting is bonus level 4 if you're really trying to get some extra armor and thickness. There are woods, mods, and books that already allow players to get to the "hard cap" on these bonuses, the only thing hull bonus is doing is "maybe" allowing a mod or book slot to be something else. 

These bonuses aren't OP, and when it comes to building and kitting the ship out you want, you have better options to get these bonuses than the port bonus itself. a fir/fir ship with this bonus is not going to change the paper aspect that Fir gives.

Mast/Rig

Level 3 --
Max roll angle − 8 %
Sail damage − 5 %
Mast health ＋ 5 %
Mast thickness ＋ 3 %

Level 4 --
Max roll angle − 10 %
Sail damage − 7 %
Mast health ＋ 7 %
Mast thickness ＋ 5 %

Take a look at the mast mods and book options. let's take the french rig example and add the mast port bonus - you roughly get what French rig "used" to be. In fact the 5% increase in thickness for these masts still do not make you immune to demasting against similar ships. even smaller ships, when equipped with over sized carronades will probably still be demasting you if that's the problem. What this bonus gives is having the enemy require 1 extra penetrating shot to demast you. 

It actually gets interesting for this one with the reduced sail damage - as I don't believe there is currently anything else that reduces incoming sail damage (a perk though?). the reality is that many players will invest in this port bonus last, and we have better mods to cover this part of the vessel. Not OP.

Crew

Level 3 --
Side armour repair time − 3 %
Sail repair time − 3 %
Water pump repair time − 3 %
Rudder repair time − 3 %
Powder repair module time − 3 %
Armour repair amount 3 pp
Sail repair amount 3 pp
Generic repair amount 3 pp
Crew ＋ 5 %
Crew transfer speed ＋ 3

Level 4 --
Side armour repair time − 5 %
Sail repair time − 5 %
Water pump repair time − 5 %
Rudder repair time − 5 %
Powder repair module time − 5 %
Armour repair amount 5 pp
Sail repair amount 5 pp
Generic repair amount 5 pp
Crew ＋ 8 %
Crew transfer speed ＋ 4

Crew is a different story. There are not many mods to increase crew, and even less to increase crew without any downside. I believe Crew is invaluable, for both level 3 and 4 you get more crew, more repair amount, less repair time, faster transfer speed.

This bonus is probably the most powerful bonus, but can't really be quantified like the others. 

more crew equals more sailing, more gunnery, more on repairs and survival, more going to boarding. This bonus allows you to essentially do everything on your ship faster and better. Is this bonus OP? probably, I believe it gives too many bonuses.

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Overall though you're realistically only going to ever see 2 or 3 bonus at max level. The 2 port bonuses that you could argue are OP are sailing and Crew right now. The three others are not OP in the slightest, and in some cases are redundant to a lot of mods or books you would already be putting on a ship. 

If we must further nerf port bonuses, then do the following:

reducing sailing 4 bonus speed by .5% to --- 3%

Reduce or cut the Crew bonus repair speed.

 

[Guest]

The only port bonus that is really op is the sailing one that gives more speed than an improved sextant.

[Guest]

i think the problem is that most players including me didnt know that each port had a set of port points which you can spend to different bonuses, so if im correct the better the port, the better port bonuses your ship can get. I didnt know this until yesterday, and after reflecting on it it doesent seem that OP like it was pre patch as i thought you could have unlocked all port bonuses to max level in one port.

[StaleMemes]

Crew looks super somewhat OP to me, its like having every single crew and repair related book simultaneously without the morale penalties you normally get. I also think sailing is OP, especially because I believe sailing mods have the greatest potential to break the game out of all. If you can take a larger slower class of ship and mod it to be able to catch smaller ones it can effortlessly overpower no matter the trim, thats hello kittyed up. Others all look fine, nice little bonuses to make setting up a good port worth it but not game breaking.

Edited July 5, 2019 by StaleMemes

[Teutonic]

3 minutes ago, StaleMemes said:

Crew looks super somewhat OP to me, its like having every single crew and repair related book simultaneously without the morale penalties you normally get. I also think sailing is OP, especially because I believe sailing mods have the greatest potential to break the game out of all. If you can take a larger slower class of ship and mod it to be able to catch smaller ones it can effortlessly overpower no matter the trim, thats hello kittyed up. Others all look fine, nice little bonuses to make setting up a good port worth it but not game breaking.

yep, pretty much.

Sailing bonus 4 should be:

2.5% speed
4% turn speed
7.5% Acceleration/deceleration

Otherwise the sailing bonuses are fine how they are.

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Crew bonus in general should NOT have repair speed bonus

Crew bonus 4 have a 7% crew bonus instead of 8%. 

Crew bonus should be adjusted to not give crew transfer at level 1, and at level 4 it should only be a crew transfer of 3, not 4. 

Crew bonus should be adjusted to give a repair bonus of 4% at level 4, and the previous levels should have a reduced repair bonus.

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Doing those 2 changes would go a long way to balance port bonuses in my opinion.

 

In terms of where powerful bonuses should come from, I believe the following

1. Permanent Mods - should give "the best" possible bonuses for a specific thing
2. Wood types - should generally determine what a ship will "do" (being speedy, or tanky, etc).
3. Port Bonuses - should generally gives bonuses to improve a ship's overall ability. but mods and woods should always do "better."
4. Book bonuses - Should help a player put the final "toppings" on their ship. Books should help reach the hardcaps, or cover the downsides.