Where is my shipment, St. Kitts and Diana events, May 12th - 15th
Captains,
Three loot events will run from daily maintenance on May 12th until daily maintenance on May 15th:
Where is my shipment?
All traders carry increased numbers of crafting resources and rare woods.
St. Kitts Event
St. Kitts 5 modules are available in the Admiralty, they can be exchanged for Broad Pennants that occasionally drop from 5th rates and higher
Broad pennant will drop from military NPC ships
Diana Event
Captains have to find rare ships like Diana, Santa Cecilia and Admiraal de Ruyter in the search areas provided below. These ships may carry a very rare ship notes and special loot coins, rare wood and rare guns:
Gold Ducat
Gold Rouble
Gold Sultani
Gold Thaler
Strange Gold Bar
Rare wood
Rare guns
Coins might be exchanged in the Academy building to receive:
Additional outpost permit
Additional dock permit
Diana permit
Admiraal de Ruyter permit
If you already have the Navy Connection using the item will add even more outposts or docks (up to a total limit).
Search locations
South Antilles
East of Tumbado - area between Cuba and Tumbado
South of Hispaniola
In case of capture of certain ports in the area, the nation of ships will change.
*Spotlight image by Captain Esteban from the June 2021 screenshot competition.
Server issues - Gifts will be issued today, May 11th
Captains, as we have already announced that we rescheduled the patch launch to Monday 15th of May so everyone who participated in naval service medal events can receive their rewards.
In addition to that we would like to give our traditional rewards for minor server problems on the Caribbean server caused by the provider electricity issues which caused the reboot.
Gifts will be provided today (May 11th) and will include:
Exceptional quality 3rd rate (74).
30 x 32lb Navy Guns.
30 x 24lb Navy Guns.
The gifts will be only available to characters created before the daily maintenance on Thursday, May 11th.
Players must claim gifts until daily maintenance time on Monday, May 15th, otherwise gifts will expire from the Redeemable box.
Pre-Patch Weekend. Where is my shipment, Martinique and Diana events, May 5 - 8
Captains,
Three loot events will run from daily maintenance on May 5th until daily maintenance on May 8th:
Where is my shipment?
All traders carry increased numbers of crafting resources and rare woods.
Martinique Event
Martinique 5 modules are available in the Admiralty, they can be exchanged for Broad Pennants that occasionally drop from 5th rates and higher
Broad pennant will drop from military NPC ships
Diana Event
Captains have to find rare ships like Diana, Santa Cecilia and Admiraal de Ruyter in the search areas provided below. These ships may carry a very rare ship notes and special loot coins, rare wood and rare guns:
Gold Ducat
Gold Rouble
Gold Sultani
Gold Thaler
Strange Gold Bar
Rare wood
Rare guns
Coins might be exchanged in the Academy building to receive:
Additional outpost permit
Additional dock permit
Diana permit
Admiraal de Ruyter permit
If you already have the Navy Connection using the item will add even more outposts or docks (up to a total limit).
Search locations
South Antilles
East of Tumbado - area between Cuba and Tumbado
South of Hispaniola
In case of capture of certain ports in the area, the nation of ships will change.
*Spotlight image from Captain Stuffy from the January 2022 screenshot competition.
Update on dates for Major Seasonal Content Patch
Captains,
We need more time to finish the update. The current estimated time is 5th - 10th of May.
Apologies for the inconvenience in delay.
Where is my shipment? and St. Kitts loot events, April 28th - May 1st
Captains,
Two loot events will run from daily maintenance on April 28th until daily maintenance on May 1st:
Where is my shipment?
All traders carry increased numbers of crafting resources and rare woods.
St. Kitts Event
St. Kitts 5 modules are available in the Admiralty, they can be exchanged for Broad Pennants that occasionally drop from 5th rates and higher
Broad pennant will drop from military NPC ships
*Spotlight image from Captain une_merguez_d_avenir from the September 2021 screenshot competition.
Information about rewards and prolongation of the Land Owner Competition
Captains,
In preparation of the upcoming patch Rewards for the current competition were issued without resetting the current leaderboard state. Seasonal land owner leaderboard and competition will continue until July.
If necessary future rewards will be adjusted to reflect increased length of the season.
Where is my shipment? and St. Kitts loot events, April 14th - April 17th
Captains,
Two loot events will run from daily maintenance on April 14th until daily maintenance on April 17th:
Where is my shipment?
All traders carry increased numbers of crafting resources and rare woods.
St. Kitts Event
St. Kitts 5 modules are available in the Admiralty, they can be exchanged for Broad Pennants that occasionally drop from 5th rates and higher
Broad pennant will drop from military NPC ships
*Spotlight image from Cptn of Hamburg from the January 2022 screenshot competition.
Martinique and Diana events, April 7th - 10th
Captains,
Martinique and Diana events are live from daily maintenance on Friday, April 7th until daily maintenance on Monday, April 10th
Martinique Event
Martinique 5 modules are available in the Admiralty, they can be exchanged for Broad Pennants that occasionally drop from 5th rates and higher Broad pennant will drop from military NPC ships
Diana Event
Captains have to find rare ships like Diana, Santa Cecilia and Admiraal de Ruyter in the search areas provided below. These ships may carry a very rare ship notes and special loot coins, rare wood and rare guns:
Gold Ducat
Gold Rouble
Gold Sultani
Gold Thaler
Strange Gold Bar
Rare wood
Rare guns
Coins might be exchanged in the Academy building to receive:
Additional outpost permit
Additional dock permit
Diana permit
Admiraal de Ruyter permit
If you already have the Navy Connection using the item will add even more outposts or docks (up to a total limit).
Search locations
South Antilles
East of Tumbado - area between Cuba and Tumbado
South of Hispaniola
In case of capture of certain ports in the area, the nation of ships will change.
Spotlight image from Captain There and Back Again from the November 2021 screenshot competition.
Major Seasonal Content Update - ETA April 17-24
Captains: Major new update is coming in April. Estimated time is 17th or 24th of April.
Contents of the update
Combat overhaul.
Previous combat model balance
Early on and until now we balanced the game to give lighter ships a lot of chances against heavier vessels (many still remember Snows sinking a first rate).
In the last combat improvements patch last year, we tried reducing the HP difference between lineships and light ships even more, thinking it would make easier for new players to participate in pvp. We then had also reduced ability to tank damage with thickness thinking that it would allow new players to get damage output easier.
Since release we also balanced planking hitpoints of ships for 4 broadsides to destroy planking (with base wood) when fighting the same ship. Which was wrong, as balance should have been done for the main role of the vessel. 4 broadsides to destroy planking did line battles (especially with thickness removal). In addition to that 4 broadsides made other areas and types of ammo somewhat less used – why wait for a skillshot into stern or why try to disable other areas. This balance also did not consider the skill level and complexity of achieving perfect rakes etc. It did not give ability to tank against the semi-competent ganksquads (which was especially reduced by removing thickness influence)
In reality balance was not achieved. With narrower difference and lack of thickness It became even easier for veterans and harder for new players. Not having the ability to tank with something made all ships squishy as well.
Combat overhaul should have been done differently. Many players tried to point that out early.
Main themes of the combat rebalance
Ships of the line
Ships of the line should be balanced for line combat and multiple enemies. Light frigates and lower level vessels should be balanced for solo or small group action.
Ships of the line will tank significant amount of damage by their broadside, and should not worry about focus fire from large number of enemy ships at least for some time.
Ships of the line should not expect fast 1v1 battles when fighting other ships of the same class unless they use skillshots or other critical damage, disabling the enemy by other means.
Ships of the line should not worry about multiple ships 2 levels below them and consider them a minor threat.
To achieve that the number of shots to destroy planking of the same ship (on average for base wood) is being increased depending on class. Line ships planking HP will be significantly increased allowing them to tank damage from the enemy line for some time.
Other classes
Superfrigates and heavy frigates will also have their side planking boosted.
Light frigates will be able to tank with the broadside for a short time.
6th rates and below balance will remain the same (fast resolution of 1v1 or group battles)
Skill shots
Effects of skill shots (for example perfect rakes).
Critical damage to structure through bow and stern will increase.
It is not easy to achieve a perfect rake but now it will be worth it now wait for the stern or for the bow rake even for 2-3 reload cycles.
Reload penalties from switching the ammunition type will decrease significantly (from 30% to 5%)
Damage to masts using chain-shot on full sails will increase
Ships will of course have some protection from skillshots by their bow and stern armor. The amount protection will depend on the ship and will increase with ship class. First rates can tank several full broadsides by stern and bow armor. Light ships will be able to hold only one. After that raking fire will crit.
Skillshots against much higher class enemies will be hard. Ships 3 classes lower than you wont be able to crit at all unless they have precise group fire control
Structure vs Planking.
Previously - once you lost planking - your structure also took similar time to destroy.
In the new model - you tank a lot of damage by planking, but once you lost planking to 30% it will no longer mitigate structure damage and structure will go down faster than before. This will still allow precision focus fire by a fleet when taking on the enemy ship of the line. But of course if you focus on critical hits you will destroy enemy faster.
Tactical changes
The changes to planking and structure vs planking balance will increase the importance of tactics and the commander role, especially for heavy ships of the line (even commandeered by the new players).
Lineships showing the side cannot be focused out easily by enemy line and can focus on fulfilling orders of the fleet commander, who will be maneuvering the fleet to cross the line and achieve rakes.
Of course it will still be possible to sink enemy line ships through broadside, but the fleet trying to maneuver into rake shots will have a big advantage.
Demasting will also change to allow higher damage to masts by chain of enemy ships sailing at full sails
Damage output and DPS Gun damage: will be changed based on weight of the cannoball. Example: Damage table of standard medium guns on the test server. 4lb – 4 damage 6lb – 6 damage 9lb – 9 damage 12lb – 12 damage 18lb – 18 damage 24lb – 24 damage 32lb – 32 damage 36lb – 36 damage 42lb – 42 damage
Importance of heavy guns will drastically increase. Light ships will no longer tank any damage from ships of the line. Role of shooting well from heavier guns will be extremely important - for example HMS Victory total broadside weight is 50% 42lb gun deck.
Overall
Gameplay on the lineships will change - to resolve the battle captain will have to maneuver into rakes or wait for enemy mistakes (demasting him with chain at full sails, or raking with cannoballs when enemy shows the bow or a stern). Initial mistakes wont be deadly because you have a good reserve of planking on the stern and the bow.
Gameplay in frigates - frigates will be able to tank some good damage with the broadside but still will be somewhat vulnerable to large group focus fire, but they will be able to resolve the combat very fast if they are good in positioning into rakes or exploiting enemy mistakes.
Gameplay on the light vessels will not change - captain will only have to watch the broadside health more carefully and never tank with the stern or bow.
All captains in all ships will sometimes be using broadside shots to prepare enemy for bow or stern rakes by trying to destroy bow and stern armor through the side.
Boarding
Due to increase of the role of skillshots in combat boarding resistance will be introduced.
Boarding resistance will significantly reduce ALL incoming damage for ships on boarding.
In addition - bracket fire [] will be removed completely, so the combat is resolved by boarding not outside influence.
Other KEY changes.
New ships Two new ships will be added (DLC + available through events).
Spanish 1st rate ship of the line
Heavy armed trader
National ship auctions
Ships listed in one nation will be visible and available for purchase in ALL cities of that nation. Giving crafters and sellers a much bigger market.
Ships listed in neutral cities or freetowns will be visible in ALL freetowns and neutral cities.
Price of the ship will depend on distance from the listing port.
Ship Race
Solo competitive ship race will be introduced where captains will be able to test their ability to sail and maneuver against other captains.
Entry to the race will cost in game currency (for example doubloons). Prize pool will grow with the number of participants.
Perk and upgrade overhaul
Upgrades will receive a color scheme for rarity and will be rebalanced
Perk system will be overhauled as well.
Safety Zones
Safe zones are under testing - we hope we will be able to add this by the time of the patch.
Safe PVE Zones Safe zones where it will be impossible to attack enemy players will be introduced around coastlines of almost all regions. You will still be able to capture ports in those areas.
PVP Zones: Deep see away from coastline and all areas around Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and the Bahamas will allow attack on enemy players. Better sell prices and better loot will be present in NPCs in those locations.
The list is not final and will be updated more within this week.
Please let us know if something is confusing or ask for clarifications in comments. Post will be updated based on this feedback.
April Content Update (now with trunnions)
Captains – Update will be deployed today at midnight.
Contents of the update
Gun damage: will be changed based on weight of the cannoball.
Damage table of standard medium guns
4lb – 4 damage
6lb – 6 damage
9lb – 9 damage
12lb – 12 damage
18lb – 18 damage
24lb – 24 damage
32lb – 32 damage
36lb – 36 damage
42lb – 42 damage - HIGHEST DAMAGE AND HIGHEST DPS. Giving HMS Victory more than 50% of broadside weight and alpha damage.
reloads were also harmonized and increased.
Santa Ana
Santa Ana research team? led by Don Lex have identified current Santa Ana as incorrect. Their letter from the Caribbean has finally reached Europe. As a result, current Santa Ana will be renamed as San Pedro Apostol or simply Pedro (soon). New monster first rate - 120 gun - Santa Ana Verdadera - or Santa Ana DLC will be urgently added.
Safe PVE Zones
Safe zones where it will be impossible to attack enemy players will be introduced around coastlines of almost all regions. You will still be able to capture ports in those areas.
PVP Zones:
PvP zones will be in the Deep see away from coastline and around Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and the Bahamas. There you can attack on enemy players. Better sell prices and better loot will be present in NPCs in those locations.
Combat changes
Boarding resistance added – ships will receive 90% less damage on boarding
Massive buff to HP of broadsides across all vessels above 6th rates - Ships will be able to tank multiple shots
Line ships will be rebalanced for group combat meaning they will no longer fear smaller ship ganker groups in ANY situations, they will be able to hold fire from multiple ships tanking with the broadside, even from ships of higher class.
Demasting of ships at full sails will become easier and more predictable.
Raking will become deadly especially against ships of lower classes.
All unnecessary protection for hardcore pvp hunters will be removed – like invisibility, speedboosts.
NPCs will now use chain and grapeshot properly sometimes causing a lot of trouble
Player names will return for enemy players.
We hope you like these forthcoming changes. Please let us know what else we should add in comments.
