Is Naval-Action the Age of Sail Game I'm Looking For?

[Dejv Vu]

I'm a fan of the Age of Sail era and have been looking for a game that can give me a fun and exciting experience, with depth and a rewarding skill curve. I've been searching about and have played a few games hoping to find such, but the two primary ones I tried out have been not right. Blackwake is too team-oriented and there isn't much you can do to turn the tide of the match. It mostly depends on your captain. Sea of Thieves is alright, but I'm a solo player who doesn't enjoy using voice chat, so there's only so much to do. 
 

I've seen gameplay and some guides on Naval Action and it's certainly nabbed my interest. But the reviews on Steam are frightening, and with a 40$ price tag and a lot of DLC, I wonder if it's really what I'm looking for. So, to really get an idea of what Naval Action is all about and who it caters towards, I've come to the community directly to ask a few things and get your opinions.

1. I'm a fan of PVE, but I don't mind some challenge against players if I feel the fight is fair and I'm not going to get folded by default. Is there ways to do PVE without dealing with PVP until you're ready?

2. In PVP, what's the penalty for losing, and what kind of skill curve should I expect to feel?

3. Most of the reviews on steam that are concerning say the game is pay-to-win as of late. What's the general take on this?

4. How grind-y is the game? Can I expect to be able to put a week's worth of grinding in and see sizable return, or would this have to become my night job to get a quality grind?

5. Finally, is it possible to customize ships, or are you given historically-accurate replicas of named ships in the past?

Appreciate you all tending this newbie. Apologies if the questions are dumb as hell.

 

Edited May 9, 2020 by Dejv Vu

[Malcolm3]

First of all Naval Action is more like arena game, where arena is vast Open World, so you can search for enemy (player or NPC) for a long time. This is game about fights and primarily PvP fights - crafting and trading are very limited. So it's not proper sandbox game.

1 hour ago, Dejv Vu said:

1. I'm a fan of PVE, but I don't mind some challenge against players if I feel the fight is fair and I'm not going to get folded by default. Is there ways to do PVE without dealing with PVP until you're ready?

There is separate PVE server (no PVP at all), so you can get some skills. On PVP server you most probably will be ganked often at first

1 hour ago, Dejv Vu said:

2. In PVP, what's the penalty for losing, and what kind of skill curve should I expect to feel?

You lose you ship, upgrades on it (often much more expensive than ship itself) and everything in hold. In exchange you get some  XP (defined by damage you dealed) and sometimes some insurance money (if ship was crafted)
And skill curve is very steep... You will sunk a lot to AI or players while learning.

1 hour ago, Dejv Vu said:

3. Most of the reviews on steam that are concerning say the game is pay-to-win as of late. What's the general take on this?

More like pay-to-play, not quite pay-to-win. For example without Admiralty connection DLC you can do only limited crafting, and building SoLs is quite expensive and time consuming, but there are DLCs for 4th and 3rd rate. The latter - Redoutable, is almost obligatory to be competitive in PvP and RvR.

1 hour ago, Dejv Vu said:

4. How grind-y is the game? Can I expect to be able to put a week's worth of grinding in and see sizable return, or would this have to become my night job to get a quality grind?

Very grindy, so more like a second work, though DLCs ease the pain a bit.

1 hour ago, Dejv Vu said:

5. Finally, is it possible to customize ships, or are you given historically-accurate replicas of named ships in the past?

All ships are historically accurate replicas in terms of basic characteristics and appearance, but you could change stats (not appearance) by building ships from different woods, installing various upgrades or different guns, using books for knowledge slots.

[Kejsaren]

1 hour ago, Dejv Vu said:

I don't mind some challenge against players if I feel the fight is fair and I'm not going to get folded by default.

Stop looking for fair or turn around. Not going to find it here.

Edited May 9, 2020 by Emperor Ming

[Dejv Vu]

1 hour ago, Emperor Ming said:

Stop looking for fair or turn around. Not going to find it here.

So it's a get skilled or get suck environment. I've heard it's fairly intense, but I think I can get behind it. If I end up getting involved I'll probably see if I'm interested in the major competitive scene. The combat looks nice, either way. But I'll prepare to get absolutely yanked by ships of the line, so thanks for telling it straight.

[Sea Archer]

Even if this game is not perfect, there is no better game on the market. 

Concerning the price: there should be a cheaper version soon. All players, that have bought todays expensive version will get a free, expensive, DLC ship (though which one is still unknow).

You can play the game perfectly without DLC ships, though they can make things easier.

Even if some people complain a lot about this game, there are many with more than 1000h play time. You wouldn't find that in a crap game.

 

[Cetric de Cornusiac]

I'd say PvE peace server is perfect for you, once we get that little extra content of "consensual duel" - the occasional but not game-breaking PvP you ask for - there. People like me keep pushing for it but it's not so important that you won't like to play on while waiting for it to happen. Our NPC are quite good, and some even better (ask for elites), and will keep you busy for a long time or even all the time.

[Kejsaren]

Have a look at that thread, and ask yourself if you can deal with this. If the answer is yes, then welcome to the caribbean pvp server (of course you are welcome regardless).

[Cathal Brugha]

14 hours ago, Dejv Vu said:

4. How grind-y is the game? Can I expect to be able to put a week's worth of grinding in and see sizable return, or would this have to become my night job to get a quality grind?

Very grindy. You would expect this much grind from a free to play, so here it is appalling. Actually, I think some free to play games have less grind than this one. Also much of the items are acquired through random loot rewards, so after all the grind, you may not get what you want, or anything even worth it. Other things, including starting money, require hours of just sailing. My friends complain to me about the grind in Elite Dangerous, and I just laugh, as I play Naval Action.

14 hours ago, Dejv Vu said:

5. Finally, is it possible to customize ships, or are you given historically-accurate replicas of named ships in the past?

A variety of historical ships, from 1760 to 1830 from various countries. A number of holes in the lineup though, as in no true mid frigates, they go from light frigates to heavy with no true mid in-between. Ships are not set to particular nations either, thankfully. Any nation in-game can build the Constitution for example

Edited May 9, 2020 by Cathal Brugha

[Bonden]

Hi, have a look at the new project of Game-Labs, Sea-Legends, RPG/hardcore simu solo-player game which is really exciting and promising in my opinion:

https://www.sea-legends.com/

I purchased NA and for an Age of Sail fan (like I am) you will be anyway amazed by the beauty of the game the ships and the battles, but I am an occasional player, so I only play from time to time on PVE server. And as I am fond of simulation, Sea-Legends seems to be exactly what I am looking for. 

Problem, it is still in the very early stage of development (and we get no news anymore of its development since March). Keep an eye on it !

[Urchin]

 

18 hours ago, Dejv Vu said:

But the reviews on Steam are frightening, and with a 40$ price tag and a lot of DLC, I wonder if it's really what I'm looking for.

Forget about the reviews, if you're a fan of the Age of Sail then it will be the best $40 outside of Pattaya you've ever spent, was for me I started late 2015 and have almost 5,000 hours.. DLC's None of them are required to start playing and  enjoy the game, they are optional. You can experience and progress very far in the game without any of the DLC's.

 

18 hours ago, Dejv Vu said:

1. I'm a fan of PVE, but I don't mind some challenge against players if I feel the fight is fair and I'm not going to get folded by default. Is there ways to do PVE without dealing with PVP until you're ready?

Yes you can join the PVE server, I've only ever had an account on PVP server but have met a few players that have done exactly as you suggest, gain some experience and understanding of the game first and then move over.  

 

18 hours ago, Dejv Vu said:

2. In PVP, what's the penalty for losing, and what kind of skill curve should I expect to feel?

The penalty is that you lose your ship, so don't sail expensive ships.  The skill curve will be helped immensely if you join a clan which is friendly, shares knowledge and spends time training new members.  My first clan I spent nearly all of my time just trading and helping with resources for the first couple of years,  then focused on ship building. Because that's all I had time for from Real Life, it was enjoyable and rewarding.  

 

18 hours ago, Dejv Vu said:

3. Most of the reviews on steam that are concerning say the game is pay-to-win as of late. What's the general take on this?

It's certainly not pay-to-win but there is  a pay-to-play aspect where by buying a third rate DLC saves you A LOT  of time in acquiring, sailing and losing a port crafted ship of the same rating. My opinion the devs are pushing the game more towards the use of DLC ships by making port crafted ships less appealing due to time and expense required.  

 

18 hours ago, Dejv Vu said:

4. How grind-y is the game? Can I expect to be able to put a week's worth of grinding in and see sizable return, or would this have to become my night job to get a quality grind?

How grind-y the game is, that's up to you. If you want to craft and sail first rates in big port battles then yes it's going to take a long time to reach that stage.  Because not only do you need to gain high enough rank, but you'll also need to get good yourself plus unlock the five knowledge slots in the ship. Each ship has five slots, where as a small Privateer can be unlocked in a couple hours a first rate is going to take considerably longer. 

Or if you only want to trade and/or pvp in small ships the grind is almost non existent other than the long steep learning curve of PVP.  Myself I've only unlocked three ships since release (two sixth rates and one fifth) for PVP because they are the only two ships I'm interested in sailing or have the time for.

 

18 hours ago, Dejv Vu said:

5. Finally, is it possible to customize ships, or are you given historically-accurate replicas of named ships in the past?

Customize you can change the woods the ship is built from, choose between different cannon types (mediums, longs or maybe carronades)  add different mods, select from different paints (DLC) but you can't  alter the ship from it's historic specs and yes ships are accurate and correctly named. Victory is Victory and there is no mistaking her.

In Summary NA  isn't perfect by a long shot, but it's the best available, there is nothing else like it and many players have thousands of hours. From what you've stated without hesitation I'd recommend NA. 

Edited May 9, 2020 by Urchin

[Cathal Brugha]

18 hours ago, Dejv Vu said:

Age of Sail era

To echo what Urchin said, it is far from perfect, but it also is good. Being one of the very few Age of Sail games out there, it is good that there is this game, instead of nothing. Based on what you said the PvE server is where you may want to go, and hopefully down the road there will be the availability of consentual pvp action many of us are asking for. There are many, myself included, on the PvE server who help new players get started too, with advice, ships, and combat partners. Looking forward to seeing you on the high seas if you do get the game.

[Macjimm]

23 hours ago, Dejv Vu said:

1. I'm a fan of PVE, but I don't mind some challenge against players if I feel the fight is fair and I'm not going to get folded by default. Is there ways to do PVE without dealing with PVP until you're ready?

2. In PVP, what's the penalty for losing, and what kind of skill curve should I expect to feel?

3. Most of the reviews on steam that are concerning say the game is pay-to-win as of late. What's the general take on this?

4. How grind-y is the game? Can I expect to be able to put a week's worth of grinding in and see sizable return, or would this have to become my night job to get a quality grind?

5. Finally, is it possible to customize ships, or are you given historically-accurate replicas of named ships in the past?

Appreciate you all tending this newbie. Apologies if the questions are dumb as hell.

The Peace (PvE) server is a good final destination for players who enjoy the relaxed atmosphere and are not looking for competition.    I like the the War server (PvP) but I'm always prepared to be sunk, captured and ganked:  I don't risk what I am not prepared to lose.   I like both servers, they are equally good.  You can pay lots of money if you want more ships, docks, warehouses, buildings etc.  There is no limit to number of Alts you can have, but you will need a separate account for each identity.  I only have one account and that works fine for my casual style.  The game is as grindy as you let it become.  I've never spent any time grinding.  Life is too short.  Some players hate sailing yet they spend thousands of hours in this virtual world, ... go figure.  Suppose the grind is entirely up to you.

The main concern is there are countless players who are trying to persuade the Devs to change the game to suit personal preferences.  Get ready to hear continual whining and moaning about how the game is dieing and it must be fixed.  It is part of the culture and the complaining is relentless.  The game will never be perfect for everyone.

Temper your expectations, resist dreaming about the games potential,  and just enjoy it for what it is.  Naval Action is immersive and the ships are very beautiful.  The Devs are very pleased with the combat and spend most the their efforts to maintain the experience of fighting. 

 

[Conte D. Catellani]

On 5/9/2020 at 7:10 AM, Dejv Vu said:

 

If you choose PVP server join Russia they hold ports everywhere 

[Conte D. Catellani]

2 hours ago, Macjimm said:

  There is no limit to number of Alts you can have, but you will need a separate account for each identity.  I only have one account and that works fine for my casual style.  The game is as grindy as you let it become.  I've never spent any time grinding.  Life is too short.  Some players hate sailing yet they spend thousands of hours in this virtual world, ... go figure.  Suppose the grind is entirely up to you.

 

 

the use of alt is the first cause of problems. What could be done by paying for the addition of more space in the ports, more outpost, more hours of work was obtained by buying more copies of the game and through software third parties make them work simultaneously. In Sea Legend they are planning to put all these extra in sale or available on subscription.  Alt is probably more a Steam problem since the platform  allows you to have multiple accounts and consequently multiple copies of the game.