How long should battles last?

[Thomas Blackwell]

Hopefully we can get historical battles with predetermined positions and wind direction

 

I would be disappointed if this was not the case. Only issue is any mechanics applied to the game that are not strictly realistic will effect the outcome. Would still be a lot of fun though!

[Samuel Adams]

Yeah but I don't want a 1v1 lasting for 2 hours. I love the history stuff but after all it is a game.

[Clinch]

I would think it will probably be a happy medium between realistic and arcade. Maybe the devs or modder can make a realistic setting. If im fighting a large fleet battle, id want it to last at least an hour.

[BrutishVulgarian]

They should last until victory, defeat, surrender or retreat.

[Captain Rotgut]

Yeah but I don't want a 1v1 lasting for 2 hours. I love the history stuff but after all it is a game.

 

^^ Exactly. I played WoT, not because I was a tank nerd, but because I could log on, get a lot of fun PVP and tank tweaking, and log out. In my playing of WoT, I will admit, I ended up becoming a bit of a tank nerd myself. NA has the potential to turn a lot of people on to the fun of ships and ship combat. If regular PVP action in NA could be a 2 hour affair, I would not play. 

I would love to log on, throw some cannon ammo in my ship, sail out of port, find an enemy and sink him or be sunk myself in under 30 minutes. So, ~20 minute battles for a legitimate 1v1, not a grief session.

However, there should be an option for those that want a historical battle reenactment. Maybe like the PotBS skirmish system which the devs could pre-program with historically accurate parameters. I don't see such events ever happening publicly. Getting a semi-scripted 20v20 is too much to ask of random internet denizens. I am way too pessimistic when it comes to my fellow gamers. 

[Sweetdeal]

Should be long. Not sure about "Realistic time"

[maturin]

The shortest naval battle (between capable opponents of equal strength) that I am aware of was the duel between the USS Chesapeake and HMS Shannon. 15 minutes from first gun to surrender, and not at all a one-sided affair. I think that's a good benchmark for a game, where the superlative becomes routine.

[Sweetdeal]

So ~ 15 min to 30 min should be common? Based on Weapons / Aim etc?

[Ink]

It mostly depends on tactics, so I think for a duel it can be ~10 min for a point blank fight and ~30 for a defensive tactic by one side

[Chilly Willy]

like the idea of 15 - 30 min for 1v1

would love to see some epic battles lasting up to 3 or 4 hours

depending on conditions and tactics 

ex: 10v10 with mainly sloops attacking and maneuvering  thru a chain of islands and shoals.

where weather and time of day/night is a factor.

[akd]

Even a realistic 1v1 can be decided in a short period of time.  Look at Shannon v. Chesapeake, in which the outcome was decided in approx 15 min.  Imposing arcade acceleration is not necessary, you need only encourage decisive close range action.

 

Unfortunately, I believe the current gunnery model will have the opposite effect and encourage long range duels sailing along distant parallel lines rather than close range maneuver and decisive engagment.  Treating the ship as a stabilized firing platfrom simplifies long-range gunnery to nothing more than an elevation problem making gunnery more 20th Century than 18th Century, while forcing cannon to fire only on fixed lines reduces the possibilities for closing maneuvers and effectiveness of close range raking.  But more thoughts on that in the gunnery thread sometime soon.

[PegasusUK]

Would the time limits be removed once the open world multiplayer aspect comes into play, I can understand time limits put in place for battles for Arena type gameplay like World of Tanks but for MMORPG style open world isnt it to each his own?

[Mirones]

the question of how long battles last is mainly for the matchplay we have now  Team A vs Team B

in open world we will see if there is no battle instance only the open map liket he british channel i see no need for it since there will be alot of ships that could come for help or escort.

i'M talking now about the lower ships lower than 38gun mostly only 20

[Lurken]

small battles around 20 min, large battles 40-60 min range mabye, cant take too long many ppl like myself dont want to sit 2-3 hours at the computer at once ;-)

[FLGibsonJr]

As an example The Battle of Lake Erie took a little over 3 hours once they were within cannon shot, the preliminary maneuvering took a little under 5 hours.  It would be nice to have some type of time guage that could be adjustable that could either speed the game up or slow it down to real time depending on what was desired.  I could even see wanting to do both for different parts of the battle...long range maneuvering could be sped up...and short range battle could be slowed down to real time...i would think it could be done automatically.

[Hawke]

I think a battle should take as long as it takes to sink, burn or take the enemy ship as a prize. I know in POTBS battles could last well over an hour, particularly if it was a matched Frigate fight and you could sail off to repair. If you wanted to leg it there were escape points, which was a system (in theory) that worked well. 

[MrPiggi]

As an example The Battle of Lake Erie took a little over 3 hours once they were within cannon shot, the preliminary maneuvering took a little under 5 hours.  It would be nice to have some type of time guage that could be adjustable that could either speed the game up or slow it down to real time depending on what was desired.  I could even see wanting to do both for different parts of the battle...long range maneuvering could be sped up...and short range battle could be slowed down to real time...i would think it could be done automatically.

 

 

There is no game in the world that would force or even allow people to spend 5 hours maneuvering in preparation for a fight lol. And I don't see NA allowing 3 hour battles, either. I suspect we'd be looking at 1 hour being the longer side of the spectrum. Most battles I presume will conclude between 10 and 40 minutes.

[Feretier]

I think a battle should take as long as it takes to sink, burn or take the enemy ship as a prize. I know in POTBS battles could last well over an hour, particularly if it was a matched Frigate fight and you could sail off to repair. If you wanted to leg it there were escape points, which was a system (in theory) that worked well. 

+1

Who wants a time limit in a ship combat ... this looks as silly as saying : "Gentlemans, we are finally getting on her, prepare for combat, Branle-bas de combat !!, bring me my swor... -sorry sir, times out, game is over...."

[maturin]

If the devs want battle time limits, there are plenty of dynamic, realistic ways to accomplish this.

 

For instance, after a certain number of broadsides you could start suffering from overheated guns, with exhausted gun crews and powder monkeys. That would bring your rate of fire down precipitously, and if two fleets had been hammering at each other for an hour, it would give the losing side the chance to escape without being sunk.

[MrPiggi]

If the devs want battle time limits, there are plenty of dynamic, realistic ways to accomplish this.

 

For instance, after a certain number of broadsides you could start suffering from overheated guns, with exhausted gun crews and powder monkeys. That would bring your rate of fire down precipitously, and if two fleets had been hammering at each other for an hour, it would give the losing side the chance to escape without being sunk.

 

Or it would just make the engagement even longer lol

[RaiVeN]

Unless there are no things like following (video is random picked, check around 0:35),

 

 

i guess times would be nice to have a "reallity philosophy" combined with "game philosophy".

I agree with MrPiggi, we should not forget that this a game and people won't spend a whole day to prep and fight (at least the majority).

And if we consider the votes in this post, http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/506-arcade-or-simulation-the-poll/ that also point to a direction of the pace (6th and 5th are the most voted),

we understand that battles also, can't be so much close to simulation (at least when it comes to time factor).

i dont think we have to compare potbs with any other game. potbs pvp was very nice until aug 2012. but was a different game. I dont think is a good idea to Mix both games.

 

Btw i had pvp in potbs 6v6 that was not longer than 5 minutes, and other that went to 40 minutes or more (vs dsl - podw mostly)

[BungeeLemming]

I dont think this open discussion is a lot of use to the actual length of battles.

 

We can test things out and see what fits the best.

Already testers needed additional time to play around with.

 

So with a lot new people coming into the game we will soon find out how much time battles really should last.

[PsyOps]

I believe there should be timers for battles because it will force people to engage, There is nothing worse than chasing someone around the battle area because he's in a faster ship. If it is a 1 v 1 then it should be about 15 minutes, 6 v 6 about 30 minutes, 10 v 10 an hour and larger 120 minutes. I played PotBS and I have seen Port Battles(24 v 24) take 2 hours and I have seen some take 20 minutes so each battle is different because you don't have the same Captains every time. Plus, with tactics, the art of focusing fire comes into play and so does cat & mouse play.

[Pepper Spray]

For this stage of the game I think the timer and amount of time is dead on the money. Don't change a thing boys.

[PsyOps]

For this stage of the game I think the timer and amount of time is dead on the money. Don't change a thing boys.

 

For this part yes but I was talking about the future