Naval Action
I haven't purchased it yet.. but I will be come pay time. Currently in ALPHA state where the only available game modes are PvP and PvE, eventually this will be an open world sandbox game with exploration, trade, combat and more available to the aspiring Captain!
(From the Naval Action website)
Naval Action will feature one of the largest sandbox maps in history of age of sail games. You will be able to write your own story by building the trading or military empires for their nations or guilds. Because game will not have levels or classes you will have full control over your fate and character development.
Realistic ballistics and cannon performance of the period. Every cannonball is tracked in the air and after it hits the target. One shot can hit the stern, damage the rudder, then hit the cannon carriage, injure crew, ricochet from the floor and hit the opposite side. Listing and wind affects the shooting distance and will require change of tactics.
Weapons: All major types of naval artillery are implemented: from long guns to carronades, and mortars (of course limited by the ship role and its hull). Fort and land batteries will provide support during port battles. Fire ships and branders will also be present in the game.
Advanced wind and physics model provides for realistic portrayal of ship’s performance in the age of sail. Yard angles, ship angle to wind, cargo, fittings and ship condition affects speeds and turning rates. Correct tacking, boxhauling, clubhauling and other elements of the age of sail sailing are possible. Hidden ship characteristics will allow to gradually uncover potential of the vessel – every ship in game will be unique.
Damage model: Leaks, splinters, loose cannons, demasting, raking, fires and all other hazards possible in that era. Damaged ship fittings and modules will change behavior of the ship.
Naval Action will feature accurate hull models, sail plans, guns, internal modules and parts, historical speed, turning and heel performance. Ships from trading ships and smugglers to small gunboats to large 100+ gun first rates will allow the player to experience every possible role of the Age of Sail period.
Finally here's the video that sealed the deal for me (how he maneuvers that Victory to keep pounding the wounded enemy 1st Rate on it's weakened side and then the prolonged fight to get back into that position.. such a dance!)
Comments
Naval battle in rougher seas courtesy of SideStrafe
Looks cool, I love games from that era!
Now for sale on Steam!
We found out that the max group size for your fleet is 6.. we may soon have two squadrons (groups) of CP1 ships sailing the seas!
This game is so beautiful and so relaxing/stressful and addictive.. I recommend you spectate one of us playing first before you get it though. It IS early alpha so there's a lot of rough around the edges.. yeah.. those broadsides are so damn satisfying.
The Iron Crisis has been solved with today's patch!patch notes here
They've also improved the XP sharing for kills, which should help the Midshipmen in the Kraken fleet greatly!
Took the Krakens in with me to engage some Pirates last night. The fools didn't stand a chance!
One of my favourite moments so far happened last evening. I chased down a French Trader Cutter and its attendant escorts (Lynx and Cutter) on the open seas. Brought Griffith and his Cutter with me to engage the escorts while I chased the unarmed Trader in my slightly faster Navy Brig. Griff did his best against the escorts but had to flee to perform his DI roles at BCT which left me chasing the Trader, while in turn being chased by her escorts!
I managed to de-mast the trader before wheeling on the escorts which were kind enough to engage me one at a time. I crushed the Cutter with a series of broadsides from my 19-pounder carronades and left it to die slowly, its crew struggling against the rising tide, while I spun and drove upwind to command the coming battle against the Lynx. To the Lynx's credit he kept me maneuvering and having the demasted trader drifting through our fight forced me to hold my broadsides more than once, but the end was inevitable. Finally I crushed the Lynx as well and came about to pour a load of grapeshot across the trader's decks before boarding action commenced! A decent haul was had and the drinks were on me back at Port Royal.
If my computer can run it well, will definitely have to take a look at it.
Sgt. Wozniak took us on a merry goose chase. It was pretty though..
Sgt. Wozniak (Post Captain I should say..) and I went hunting last night when a storm swept in on us. At first we thought the flashes of lightning and the driving rain were pretty.. then the visibility dropped and the waves got higher until they were rising above my gunwale. Before long we had to return to port and wait out the storm - our quarry escaping for the moment.
BIIIIIG Meta game stuff is on the way. The devs have posted a thread which gets into the details, here's the initial post summary of the meta game.
Alliances
All nations are at war with each other/ Unless you have signed an alliance
Alliance gives the following options
-You can support each other in port battles (conquest)
-You can enter each other battles
-You can enter each other ports
-You can build in each other ports
Any nation can have 2 alliances (maybe three) to eventually force all nations into 3 blocks.
Potential other states of national relationship
-Neutrality/Peace agreement
-Trade war
-War
The rulers/parliament initiate the proposal.
The proposal is voted by lords.
If both nations have proposed and voted the peaceful change in the national relationship it is formally signed for 30 days (or longer?) and must be mutual
War can be shorter (until war points level reached declaring a winner) and does not have to be mutual
Who can vote:
-Voting system is based on the simplest and oldest mechanic of all. Owning land.
-If you own land you can vote – you are the landlord – or simply lord
-If you don’t own land you can exhibit heroic feats – then you can become a lord and get land by lets say winning a lot in PVP
-If you don’t have heroic feats you can marry into the Lordship by buying a special item
-To get land you have to capture a port. Thats why all ports start neutral (except for capitals)
-Every port grants from 25 to X estates depending on port size
-After you won the port battle you are allocated estates based on your rank
-If there are less winners than 25 lord protector gets the difference
-Lord protector is a person who earned most victory points in the port battle (port assault flag will be abandoned)
-Number of estates owned determines your court rank. Your court rank might give you additional points.
-Person with most estates will become a ruler
-Top 50 (or maybe more) estate owners become parliament
-They get a separate parliament chat for private political discussions
-Ports are controlled by lords. Lord protector can determine entry rights
National decisions are enforced by design.
If captains don't like national policies - capture more ports and change the decision. Maybe a large guild in opposition to a government should get an option to become a rebel, starting a civil war allowing them to capture ports from existing owners getting votes to change national decision deposing a current ruler. Foreign nations can incite civil wars and pay rebels to weaken enemy nations
Making ports valuable.
Owning ports = owning land
If you own land you have more people
More people means 2 things:
-Increase labor hours generation for estate owner which could spill to the nation as well (crafting)
-Increase crew regeneration – because crew has to be hired and fed and rehired in case of full loss of the ship
Short inspirational guide on the differences between lords
The baron wears a cap with 6 pearls. The Viscount wears a coronet of which the pearls are without number. The Earl the coronet with the pears upon points mingled with strawberry leaves. The Marquis one with pearls and leaves. The Duke, one with strawberry leaves – no pearls. The Royal Duke, a circlet of crosses and fleurs de lys. The Prince, crown like that of the King but unclosed.
The Duke is his Grace; the other Peers their Lordshps. Most honorable is higher than right honorable. Lords who are peers are lords in their own right. Lords who are not peers are lords by courtesy. There are no real lords excepting such as are peers.
http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/13596-such-is-a-lord-simple-politics-and-alliances-part-1-heavily-moderated/page-1
I am sorry to say that little ship sank right after the taking of this screenshot. I did not think I was going that fast, who needs guns!
Just an update for those who have this game and haven't played a while (shame on you!
)
A server wipe is in the works whereby all ships/materials will be wiped though you will keep your XP/crafting XP. Servers will be broken down into Euro and a Global Server with likely a single PVE server still living on. The devs have advised the playerbase that if you haven't played in a while but wish to keep your XP after the wipe that you should login and sink an enemy ship/complete a mission to update their XP status for their logs. If you do not do this you will likely lose all XP/crafting XP though it is not necessarily for certain. It is still Early Access after all!
From Dev post:
We will be getting a free ship upon release as a "thank you" for enduring the growing pains of the game. HMS Pandora, a fast and agile light frigate famous for the search for the Bounty after her mutiny.