Boarding, lets talk about Boarding!

[Chromey]

Does any body know what the

 

Guess I'll stick this here http://i.imgur.com/13VbhWW.jpg

Isnt Fire > Defense? He had only ~15 guys more at start (I took a beating from bellona)

Does any 1 know how to interpret the boarding system? I for the life of me cant guess what bk fk ok means

[Windy]

http://www.moddb.com/mods/laigle/images/naval-action1#imagebox

 

Here you go Destraex,,,

[Jognt]

Does any body know what the

 

Does any 1 know how to interpret the boarding system? I for the life of me cant guess what bk fk ok means

 

 Same here, don't understand what they mean.

[Dino.707]

This game is already better than some released games.  You people are doing a extraordinary job!  Thank you. 

 

I have been trying to do what beta is supposed to do, and that is test it before release.

 

The only thing that I can see there is a need for, is the boarding mechanism.  It is a little clumsy and out of synch with the rest of the game.  It is almost a mini game in its self.  I'm not sure how to improve it, and I cannot think of a good model to make an example of.  To clunk a button every 7 seconds doesn't really feel like I'm boarding anything.  To be a Captain of a vessel, and issue the order to board, I give to the hands of my junior officers to carry out.  I'm don't know how to work that into a game though.  The present method is okay for a first release, but bear in mind it might have to be re-worked sometime in the future.

[Flip]

Its already been stated that its a first iteration. There may not be a crazy detailed system but they aren't settling on this one (yet).

 

Searchbar is your friend btw.

[jon]

I was imageing something more like this myself it would be awesome. and probably encourage boarding.

[SYN_Bloody-Bandy]

Given the importance of capturing prize ships in the whole scheme of the age-of-sail, I would prefer something more visually stimulating for boarding parties than a flow diagram. 

The underlying mechanic can be based on that diagram, but to just have flow arrows to click on is, well, underwhelming in this day and age of computer games.

 

Yes, we know that what we have is a stand-in, and that's OK for now, barely.  But if NA is a great success then devs could subcontract the boarding action to others with the experience to accomplish it (since they admit it isn't their strength).  Know your limits, find others to fill the gaps.

 

It doesn't have to be fancy avatars, maybe just a top-down view with simplified platoons. 

[Megiddo]

Had an interesting fight last night...

Their side:

1 Vic, 2 Bellas, Trincs, other smaller ships

Ours:

3 Bellas, Trincs, other smaller ships

I boarded/captured a Bella and had one of our cutters took over the ship (way above his pay grade I must say!).

 

The other side was hollering, what the heck... they have 4 Bellas now!?!   Their Vic sunk fairly quick after that... all four Bellas firing on her.

 

The strange thing is... I had about 5 crew member less but won the boarding.   I've no idea how the mechanics of the boarding action are performed.   I just clicked Attack/Defend/Fire randomly... no idea what I was doing.

 

And BTW, both mine and the newly captured Bella sailed/turned like we were in molasses (understandable... his ship's crew was drunk and mine were sore from the battle).

[nornica]

^^

Been there, saw that. It was awesome boarding capture battle xD

[MATANZA]

Oh, and there's currently another problem with boarding. From the tactical point of view, I wouldn't board a ship that has similar crew number, because it would let to massive losses in my crew. I'd prefer to rake the opponent, cause a lot of casaulties and then board a ship when my loss would be minimal. The problem is, ships sink faster than you are able to properly "soften" your opponent.

[Megiddo]

I felt sorry for the guy I captured... I was not intending to do the capture thing (cause I've no idea what is happening).   I was just bringing my port side to bear.   My turn was fairly slow since I was moving directly upwind and was being carried by momentum and we came side, by side.

 

The guy disconnected 2 seconds after I successfully captured his ship... must have been pissed.   And I don't blame him.

It was funny though getting one of our smaller ships to take over that Bella.  They were like.... what are you talking about????

[Chromey]

currently ships can be crewed by way less numbers then needed to switch reload canons etc. Needs to be fixed asap.

 

 

played a game today and the sails definitely did slow down with less crew very well but the reload was still crazy too fast.

[Sir Cloudsley-Shovell]

Slightly different but in the same vein,what about "Cutting out" Missions on anchored ships in Harbours etc,it would be great to "Capture" vessels this way.

[SYN_Bloody-Bandy]

As posted elsewhere, but not generating comment...
 

 

Why do we need to kill off EVERY member of the enemy crew?  Perhaps it would be better to have some proportion/fraction of men judge when one side looses, such as 4 to 1 odds, or 5 to 1, or whatever...  Also, if someone boards the enemy ship, then the boarding fight should not end if their ship sinks, the fight is on the other ship to capture it afterall. 

 

Game Labs has created Ultimate General, which looks quite interesting from a top-down perspective.  Could a simplified version of Ultimate General be made to handle boarding parties???  A simplified version, not the whole thing...

 

Not perfect solution, but my yes, it would be very engaging.

 

[Zeal]

I like the idea of a more tactical boarding (as opposed to a simple "they have more crew than you, you lose" or rock, paper, scissors [lizard, Spock] concept). The fact that you have crew members as well as a company of marines should help you win a boarding battle. Also, if you choose to arm your vessel with swivel cannon and rigging sharpshooters (done before setting off on your voyage), that should also give you a slight advantage over another vessel's mob of sailors. The number of boardings each member of the boarding party has participated in should also be a factor. 

 

Essentially, you can choose (before you depart port) that you might be interested in boarding any vessel you battle with, or simply to sink them. If you wish to participate in boarding, you would load swivel cannon on your vessel, hire a troop of mercenary marines (with some even having sharpshooting from rigging as a specific skillset). This might also be an option if you wish to prevent being boarded, to have a strong anti-boarding defence.

 

I don't think the devs should go for first or third person graphics, as it's too much work, and could be a strain on some player's machines. But simply an algorythm that comes into play if you board a vessel, or if they board you. You have 120 crew, 6 swivel guns mounted before your departure, a platoon of mercenary marines with 3 specialist sharpshooters, and 36 of your crew have participated in three boardings, 12 have participated in two boardings etc etc. As a Captain, you have been in charge during 6 boardings, and have 3 years experience. All this would give you a "boarding score" of "x", whereby your opponent has a "boarding score" of "y". If X>Y, and all other factors such as Captain's experience are taken into consideration, you win the boarding battle. Your losses during this battle will be consistant with your boarding "algorythm" score.

 

Now comes the problem of what to do with the surviving enemy crew. Do we throw them to the sharks, make them walk the plank, keelhaul them for fun? or threaten to toss them to the sharks unless they join your crew. You can't keep them all on the prize vessel (which you must adequately repair, crew and provision to get them to a safe harbour to become part of your personal fleet) as they will mutiny against your skeleton crew and return the vessel to its previous owners. So you lose some of your best crew and your first mate to crew this prize back to port with you following closely behind. Your crew then reunites when you return to port, keep the enemy crew you can trust, release others, or even ransom them back to their owners.

 

Is this thinking too much into it? Will it be too hard to "code" or to make this a reality in the game?

 

I really think you should be able to increase your chances of winning a boarding battle by making these choices and purchases before you set sail, and also having requisite experience in attack and/or defence of boarding parties. I don't like the simple "rock, paper, scissors, lizard, Spock" boarding battle.

 

I like this idea or some variant if it is possible.  Is crew moral, healthy state, fatigue etc... going to be a thing?  If so this could potentially be another factor that influences the outcome.

 

Also another thought I just had.  Another thing that would need to be considered is the fact that there may be other ships in the battle which could fire into boarded ships if the so desired which could result in a multitude of things happening...

Edited February 10, 2015 by Zeal

[Chromey]

all in good time I hope.

[ingerad]

I still have no comprehension as to how the boarding system works.  I figured it was like Rock, Paper, Scissors, but I have no idea what beats what.  If anyone knows I would love to be let in on the secret lol.

[Kaaru62]

wow Destraex, I played that game. never figured I would see a screenshot of that.

 

[MATANZA]

I still have no comprehension as to how the boarding system works.  I figured it was like Rock, Paper, Scissors, but I have no idea what beats what.  If anyone knows I would love to be let in on the secret lol.

Attack beats fire, fire beats defend, defend beats attack. Theoretically. To be honest, none of them seem to have any influence on the outcome now.

[Slamz]

Given:

 

* Boarding combat should be an entire stand-alone module fun enough to play in its own right

* It should be a contest that relies on skill more than chance

* It must be easy to develop (which rules out complex avatar combat and probably even a decent RTS style system)

 

I suggest:

* Rapid turn based strategy game of some sort.

 

It could be conducted on a board, like a tabletop game, or it could be more akin to a card game.

 

A board game might be best. Imagine:

- Your ship is a board, similar to half of a checkerboard.

- The goal is to capture the enemy captain while protecting your own.

- If you are boarded from both sides, another board representing the enemy ship is added.

- The pieces are your crew.

- Turns are conducted ping-pong style, left-right-left-right or, if boarded on both sides, left, middle, right, middle, left, middle, right

- Play may work something like Stratego meets Risk. One piece attacks another, both roll 1d(RANK), higher roll wins (e.g., a rank 6 marine fights a rank 2 crewman, marine rolls 1d6, crewman rolls 1d2, higher roll wins. Ties could kill both or just be a no-action move or cause an automatic reroll.)

- Timed play. You have only a few seconds to take your turn.

 

 

Honestly it's kind of lame but if we're going to have boarding combat, I hope it's something that can invoke player skill and a simple cardgame or boardgame might do the trick while being easy to develop.

 

I'm sure there are tabletop gaming enthusiasts who could come up a good design that's still easy to develop.

[Dharus]

A simple Stern, Center, Bow with a reserve space would be easy enough.  You see this setup in many strategy games using a Left Flank, Center, Right Flank setup.  The each ship would be a board of 2x3 sections. You get several seconds to setup or adjust a balanced board which then turns start quickly where you allocate reserves into a spot or focus crew into one of the three areas to give a slight combat bonus and flanking bonuses when on side is done.  Crew would be melee and/or ranged and could have moral points.  Perhaps your crew units could be an upgrade item of some sort.  Boarding from two sides would put 3 2x3 boards together.

 

Larger ships have the crew number advantage and size could also add a base defending or attacking bonus.  Moral of the crew should be a very key aspect.  If the crew has been raked with grape a few times and took 30% causalities then a similar 30% moral loss could make boarding and capture easier.