Some suggestions from a new member

[4535jacks]

I am very new to this community and looking forward to exploring the game and hopefully adding to its development.

I have watched numerous YouTube videos and the thing that I particular like and that has helped draw me to NA is the fact that the developers have taken a holistic approach to gameplay and included many elements of life at sea in the age of sail. For example, the inclusion of economics, trading and crafting helps players to fully immerse themselves in the scenario and for me this means that NA is more than simply a naval combat simulator.

I think one of NA greatest features and selling points is the Open World. This means that gameplay is not prescriptive and allows a much more fluid and realistic experience where you have to find a quarry or try to escape a more dangerous foe.

I am also very impressed with the graphics and attention to detail in the scenery textures. The sky textures are stunning and the seascapes are simply beautiful.

Another attraction for NA is that it has an active community of enthusiasts.

Since I have not had a chance to play NA it is difficult for me to comment on my dislikes but if I had to comment it would be that from the videos it appears that some of gameplay and UI features can constrain players. What do I mean by this? Well I am sure like many other here my interest in this genre started with tales of daring do involving Captains such as Jack Aubrey and Horatio Hornblower and I would like play small actions and battles similar to what I read. What always stood out in these books was that their greatest victories were not as a result of master tactics although they did play their part, but rather ingenuity and often deception. From the videos it looks like this is difficult to achieve in NA. So in order to rectify this I would suggest finding a way to mask a ships identity to another ship until it is in hailing distance or it has engaged the other player so ships can lure others in close by flying the colours of another faction. If a ship attacks another with the wrong colours then they are penalised in some way.

So some suggestions from a newbie, please feel free to correct me or shoot me down!

Multicrew: How about allowing players join the same ship? A large ship of the line could have a commander and then positions for midshipmen and Lieutenants who could control individual gun batteries or one player could control the sails. This would allow junior players like my self to gain experience under an experienced captain before commanding their own ship. This would also promote teamwork. Bounty and xp could be divided in the same manner as prize money was. Also a junior officer could command a prize once captured and sail it to the nearest friendly port. This would unfortunately require more ship functionality and higher fidelity in order for there to be enough for a divisional officer to do but maybe one for the future.

Launches. How about modelling launches which can be used to launch cutting out expeditions or capturing ports. Launches, cutters, longboats and pinnaces could also used to run men ashore to resupply food and water if required.

Crew Fatigue. The crew could get tired during a fight so their speed and accuracy decreases as a battle progresses. They would remain fatigued until they are rested which would mean ceasing any fighting or disengaging for a period. This would also give an advantage to a ship that was fresh to the battle.

Simulator Server. Once the game is launched, how about having a dedicated arcade server and a dedicated simulator server. The simulator server would force certain difficulty options such as manual skipper and health/info bars turned off.

Introductions Area. It would great to set an introductions area on the forums where new members like me can introduce themselves.

I really hope to be given the opportunity to join you guys on the high seas and help further develop NA.

Jacks

Edited November 13, 2015 by 4535jacks

[Arnaud Arpes]

Welcome to the community, if you haven't gotten into the closed beta yet, and you're interested, you might try poking around on the forums here for how to get a copy.

I really like your suggestion of having the identity of a ship concealed until within some range. Being able to click on ships two miles out and seeing the type of ship, name of captain, rank, and faction is a little cheap in my opinion. That being said, there are still many ways to trick or deceive an unsuspecting enemy. When I was first in the game, and finally acquired a frigate, I sailed into unknown enemy waters and located another player along the coast in a small trade vessel. I chased him into a baylike area, only to realize too late that his faction mates had circled in behind and trapped me. I was caught, had my sails shot to shreds, and boarded. It was a disapointing engagement, but I took a lot of joy in the experience of having been tricked like that. It made me realize that this game is going to be a lot of fun, and much more to it than at face value.

The game is still very much a WIP. So the devs will specifically say to ignore the UI. Other game mechanics such as port battles, crew, officers, and admiralty have not yet been implemented.

 

[GrapeShot]

Yes, good suggestions. Another piece of trickery you'll encounter is people who take names similar to the NPCs.

I like your suggestion for launches and cutting out. I hope to see shallow water combat fleshed out more so's the smaller boats have a bigger role.

[OlavDeng2]

1. multi crew: too complicated to implement for not enough return in my opinion

 

2. dont know excactly what you mean here

 

3. if it is only a small penalty, i dont like this idea personally unless it is only a small penalty

 

4. I dont think the differences would be big enough to warrant 2 servers different, but maybe in the future

 

5. That is something which wouldnt hurt

 

note: these are all my opinions

 

also regarding flying the colours of different countries, iirc that will be implemented at a later date(does not currently have priority)

Edited November 14, 2015 by OlavDeng2

[Destraex]

In real life a good look out could identify a ship long before she came within sailing distance a lot of the time by " the cut of its jib" so to speak. Naval action on the other hand has all nations ships on all sides. So that would be hard. Also remember the power of the birds nest with telescope.

As for an arcade server I am pretty much dead set against splitting the community this way.

I don't mind some of your other suggestions.

[Henry d'Esterre Darby]

also regarding flying the colours of different countries, iirc that will be implemented at a later date(does not currently have priority)

No sufficient system has been figured out to do this well. As far as I know, this feature is not planned for the game.

Search the forum for the appropriate thread.

[OlavDeng2]

No sufficient system has been figured out to do this well. As far as I know, this feature is not planned for the game.

Search the forum for the appropriate thread.

Yeah ok, i read somewhere that it was planned, a while ago though, fair enough.

[Henry d'Esterre Darby]

The developers attempted a false flag feature, but found (prior to it being released to the public) that it didn't work well.  They asked for the community to weigh on in a way to do it well, without allowing the ability to grief or loopholes that could be abused, and a few of us took a stab at the feature. I myself put in a fairly detailed proposal, but even after a lot of thought there were still problems with it.  While I won't say "never", it's currently not a feature that is being considered to the best of my knowledge.

 

The original thread is here: http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/1610-raising-different-national-flags-hiding-under-a-neutral-flag/

My "Feature" post that describes what it might take at a minimum to put a feature like this in the game is here: http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/1610-raising-different-national-flags-hiding-under-a-neutral-flag/page-4?p=95503#entry95503