Pirates of the Burning Sea, the next phase

[Hovis]

So kids, we're going to have a Renegade Legion society (the guilds are called Societies for some reason, maybe they are looking for a different name I dunno) although we probably won't be going under the name of Renegade Legion and we're not going to be made up exclusively of RL members from other games, we'll be recruiting in game too in order to create at least a partially autonomous unit.

The questions we face are as follows:

1. Which nation to play from the following list (pirates unless they change a lot are out, they don't have the versatility):

- The French.
- The British.
- The Spanish.

2. What will we call the Society? This will depend on what nation we pick.

3. What will our colours be? We will be able to have our own flags and sails for our ships, and I'd like for us to use our own.

There is no debate as to the focus, Pirates of the Burning Sea is a PvP game and we shall be a PvP society. This doesn't mean we all need to fight, Freetraders will be needed to help with production, but the game is a war and we are first and foremost fighting to win the war, loots, levels, leetness are a secondary consideration.

Opinion among the beta players so far seems pretty much set on playing the French because they are the PvP faction. The Spanish don't really seem to have developed their own character yet, they seem a bit laid back and quite cool, but the haven't reacted to the pirate and British zergs with the audacity that the French players have. The British are too carebear and I'd be hard pressed to play for them, at the start they zerged, then the playing field levelled out, then they whined. Insufferable bunch. The British will also have a large population advantage, as will the Pirates, so we'll do more good fighting for the French. The pirates could be fun, but I think playing as a pirate is very much a light version of the game, and we'd be missing out on a lot of things if we sailed under their flag. I also feel that, as a pan-European outfit/clan/guild whatever, we've been anglocentric for too long, and I think it's time we honoured the continental roots of this outfit by picking a continental faction. I mean it's enough that we make all our European players speak English, it's asking a bit much I think to ask they sail under the Union Jack and blast their countrymen as well. :D

The society name is tricky, that can wait. So far we are called the Renegade Squadron, that could translate nicely into French, not sure what the Spanish for Renegade Squadron is. Isn't the French for Squadron 'Escadrille'? Dunno what the word for renegade is, but I'm sure somebody does. The good thing about having the group have a name that isn't in English is it can make even a fairly mundane name sound loads more exotic, and it also makes it hard for our enemies on TS to tell their mates we've shown up if they can't pronounce our name properly.

For the colours it's tricky. Some ships look better one colour than others. Originally we were black and red, but this colour scheme, when carried on to the mid and higher level ships, looks powerfully ugly. I'm thinking perhaps a return to the New Conglomerate colour scheme of yellow and blue could be the way forward. That'll need looking at when the game goes live. We will need to have a uniform colour scheme for battle though as it makes picking targets a million times easier if you can tell friend from foe without having to click on something.

[Flufball]

Well, you already know that I'd prefer the British, but if they're going to be mobed I'd lean towards whatever side would get the most PvP action, even if Rear Admiral Warburton can't make an appearance he can live on in spirt.

Oh and for a freelance journalist, the following sentence doesn't make sense:

This doesn't mean we all need to fight, Freetraders will be needed to help with production, but the game is a war and we are first and foremost fighting to win the war, loots, levels, leetness are a secondary consideration.

Is that supposed to read: We are first and formost fighting to win the war. Loot, levels and leetness are a secondary consideration? (Or any variation seperating war and loot, such as an extra comma or a hyphen/dash).

It's a tad confusing because at the moment you seem to be trying to emulate Mike33 with the amount of commas involved... :p

[Hovis]

Loots is plural in MMOs for some reason, same reason Noes is plural (as in Oh Noes!)

[Daymare]

stop being such a nitpick fluffhead =p
I like this idea tbh. Blue sails and yellow ships could look mighty cool. Then again im not even sure if I will have the time or patience to play another mmo in the close future + HG:L is out in a coupple of months O_o

[Flufball]

Odd. But that wasn't what I was talking about, it was more the missing "and" between levels and leetness more than anything else, putting that it at least lets me understand better that the war comes first, everything else comes second.

Oh and "Yay for thread derailment! \o/" :p

One question though, I've still not played the game, do different factions get different ships, or are the same ships available to all?

[Lyngs]

I vote for France when release comes. Mainly because they will be underdogs and i love having the odds against me. Havent decided if im going privateer or freetraider as main yet but will deffo choose one of the two. If it is decided that RL will join a different nation than France i will probably go with that but pirate is out of the question.

[Lyngs]

One question though, I've still not played the game, do different factions get different ships, or are the same ships available to all? I dont think its possible to answer that question yet.

[Hovis]

As yet different factions don't get different ships, though I think it's being worked on. Different classes get different ships.

[Endangerment]

vive la france!

[Pegasus]

France seems like a cool idea

1. We can gank merchants of other natnalities
2. We can gank pirates
3. We can produce all our own stuff
4. Target rich enviroment
5. All other hardcore PvP players on our underpopulated side
6. Din't the Frenchies have big ships in the 18th cent?

Personally im going to go for Navy capt and take shipwrite as a profession If I can.

[Volw]

French sounds fine, hate joning the zerg factions. Blue / yellow sounds great, too.

I'd stick to Renegade Legion or smtn similar, maybe The Renegade (Legion?)Company?

[Endangerment]

The foreign renegade legion of the high seas.
no really :p

I dont mind what we are called. I will also have full economic plans setup for the legion when we start for both casual players who want to make sum cash to a small team of people who want to make any ship for use/to sell.

seems pretty easy really, i've just got to work out how to do it with minimum down time of facilities.

[Hovis]

The economy works by you producing things out of facilities. You can build a maximum of ten across your account. You don't have crafting skills, you just make things out of the facilities and put them all together. Free traders get skills that benefit them in this process and make things easier in trading at auction houses, and they can sail big cargo ships, other than that all the classes are equal.

I'm going to make a free trader at the start, and a naval officer for fighting. My main plan is to produce a fuckload of rum. Rum can be exchanged for some products, and also can be used to fuel rebellions.

[Flufball]

Well from the sounds of it, the Renegade Legion Trading Company seems to be gearing up to take control of the entire economical side of the game.

[Volw]

Well from the sounds of it, the Renegade Legion Trading Company seems to be gearing up to take control of the entire economical side of the game.

That's where the idea of The RLC came from. I think, 'trading' part with PvP whores sounds really bad...

[Flufball]

I wasn't suggesting a name Volw, I was making a comment on the plans for an economical empire... :p

[Hovis]

Economics is important. You can't fight without a ship, end of story. Combat is based upon economical objectives as much as anything, that's why this game is win. Take the enemy ports, whack taxes on production, hurt their ship production, sink their crappy ships. Win the map.

[justinalot]

I think all the Kids will be going British, France sounds like fun

I Think Red and Black is a good Colour.

How many people are expected to play within the Legion?

[Gunhead]

http://gunhead.schlagbat.dk/raisehand.gif

[Daymare]

lol gun. Anyway, just want to make one comment. I really think you should stick with Renegade Legion, even though it might not completely fit the genre, it should always be known who it was who just handed you your ass and your face in a plastic bag.

[Hovis]

What's Renegade Legion in French? :D

Regarding red and black, the colours look fine until you start sailing frigates, then they look a bit dark and grim. They sort of work as pirate colours better too.

Dunno what the player count from the Legion will be, but we'll see who else we can add to the pile when the game launches.

[Tapja]

What's Renegade Legion in French? :D

Le Renegade Legion


Regarding red and black, the colours look fine until you start sailing frigates, then they look a bit dark and grim. They sort of work as pirate colours better too.

Dunno what the player count from the Legion will be, but we'll see who else we can add to the pile when the game launches.

Well, obviously, the correct color scheme would be Blue/White/Red (or any other combination of these colors :)).

[Hovis]

Le Renegade Legion



Well, obviously, the correct color scheme would be Blue/White/Red (or any other combination of these colors :)).

It's pre-revolutionary France, so it's all fleur de lis or whatever they are called, rather than tricolour.

[Gunhead]

Dunno what the player count from the Legion will be, but we'll see who else we can add to the pile when the game launches.

By the way when is it expected to launch?

[Lyngs]

By the way when is it expected to launch?
This year, cant be more precise than that.

[Hovis]

This year looks about right. They are wiping the beta and going to the SOE launch platform and servers on September 10th and from the dev chatter it is apparent that pretty much all of the coding has been done, the content is pretty much done, and they are now hard at the task of fixing bugs, balancing the game and getting things finalised. I'd say it should be out around Christmas maybe. It could be sooner.

[justinalot]

It's pre-revolutionary France, so it's all fleur de lis or whatever they are called, rather than tricolour.


How about Le Legion de Renegade's

[Flufball]

According to google translation hax Renegade Legion in french is Légion renégate...

Dunno if any of the frenchies can clear that up as translationbots of death tend to be useless.

[Pegasus]

I really think you should stick with Renegade Legion, even though it might not completely fit the genre, it should always be known who it was who just handed you your ass and your face in a plastic bag.

/Agree

[Endangerment]

I agree, and as we discussed in game just take english/irish/scottish names and its fits, renegades fighting against england

[Volw]

This year looks about right. They are wiping the beta and going to the SOE launch platform and servers on September 10th and from the dev chatter it is apparent that pretty much all of the coding has been done, the content is pretty much done, and they are now hard at the task of fixing bugs, balancing the game and getting things finalised. I'd say it should be out around Christmas maybe. It could be sooner.


errr it is published by SOE?!?

[Lyngs]

errr it is published by SOE?!?

yup, SOE will be handling shipping, marketing, billing and stuff like that. FLS will still be in charge of all the important stuff.

More here: http://pobs.warcry.com/news/view/73411-SOE-Deal-Exclusive-Interview-with-SOE-and-Flying-Lab-CEO

[Volw]

hopefully they will be better off than Sigil with Vanguard ...

[L00L]

i want in on this and from what i've read beta is going well, can someone bring me up to speed?

[MiMaRz]

think we should stick with renegade legion, we are after all gaming community, no reason to pose as something else:)

[Kampf]

Kaptain Kampf will fight in the name of the queen.

[leanmeankillingmachine]

ah well, just installed it and patching now, so watch out for captain leanmeankillingmachine raping and pillaging a local port near you.

[Endangerment]

its a bit weird at the moment. they are wiping on the 10th and have given skill books that allow everybody to hit lvl 50 instantly. they hve also seeded all the best ships in the auction house and give everybody 1m cash.

so best wait till after the wipe lean to get proper impression of the game, but at least you can try out top lvl pvp!

[leanmeankillingmachine]

the top lvl PvP is what im after, I dont buy games to grind out the levels, cant stand levelling up.

[GuardianAnge1]

its a bit weird at the moment. they are wiping on the 10th and have given skill books that allow everybody to hit lvl 50 instantly. they hve also seeded all the best ships in the auction house and give everybody 1m cash.

so best wait till after the wipe lean to get proper impression of the game, but at least you can try out top lvl pvp!

good to hear, guess i'll pop back in once that has happened to have a looksie

[Pegasus]

Where to pre-order?

[FuSs]

What is the combat system like? Compared to Planetside, Eve and WoW.
How much do you have to grind? Are there character levels and are they important?
Has a 20 cannon ship a chance against a 100 cannon ship?

[justinalot]

Is it possible for someone to Fraps it up and show us around the game?

Would be very handy to see everyone working together and also see how the Guild work together

[Hovis]

What is the combat system like? Compared to Planetside, Eve and WoW.
How much do you have to grind? Are there character levels and are they important?
Has a 20 cannon ship a chance against a 100 cannon ship?

You level up but it's more like Planetside than WoW for example, because most of what you do to level is done in the name of PvP (even killing NPC ships). I'd say once you get to level 25, which doesn't take very long, you're ready for direct participation in combat. In Planetside you might look down on somebody who is BR10 or less, because they won't have the skills to be really valuable, the same is partially true in PotBS, but once you're into the 20s a player is a vital wingman to a more experienced player, and once you can get a really good small ship or a frigate of your own then you can stand on your own two feet. You get the Cerberus Courier Frigate at level 23, that's got a broadside that will get you noticed in a scrap. In terms of raw firepower one of the most powerful ships is the Stralsund class frigate at level 28, more firepower than God, just handles like a turd, but I still killed a level 47 in mine.

As to a hundred gun ship versus a 20, well to be fair I think the 20 is fucked. But it is worth bearing in mind that very few people (in the real game) will have ships with 100+ guns, those are rarer than tits on a fish. Most of the combat in the open sea, where you see the most one on ones (port battles are a different barrel of rum), will be frigates. Frigates typically mount between 26 and 40 guns, with a gundeck of 10 pounders or similar and a top deck with a handful of lighter guns. Any frigate can kill any other, used properly, though naturally some of the higher level ones by virtue of their rarity and cost, are more dangerous. The Defiant class frigates, for example, have a great straight line speed, they also pack the heaviest broadside of almost any frigate, but they cannot turn at all. If you have the beating of a Defiant Captain for agility you can pull him down, especially if you hunt as a pack, but if you play to the strengths of the Defiant, for instance you get into a one on one running battle, you're going to be fucked, because no matter what your level compared to his he's got you. Learn to handle the ships, learn the advantages of the enemy, and you'll do well.

That said number of guns, and size of guns, is important but so is the number of crew and the agility of the ship. The hundred gun ships, called First Rates, are carrying more guns, and bigger guns, and more crew than any other ships in the game. However it is well documented that the one First Rate ship in actual play until the wipe was announced was stolen by a level 38 pirate. The Devs were showing some guys around the game and letting them play with the ships, one got a 104 gunner, he took it into a PvP zone, and he was outmanoeuvred, ground down and defeated by the pirate in his 36 gun frigate.

For example a lot of players, from level 25-50, use a level 25 ship, a Mastercrafted Algerian Xebec, it's a medium sized vessel, lots of crew for it's size, it sails much closer to the wind than the square rigged-frigates, it's stealthy in the open sea and it's nippy. Players use these ships to sneak up on much heavier frigates, they then chase those frigates down, avoiding broadsides as much as possible, then kill the crew in close quarters with anti-personnel shot, blast the rigging to shreds, then close in and board.

But if an MC Xebec comes up against me I wouldn't fall into the trap of trying to sink him right off the bat, because directly destroying a ship takes longer than chewing up the crew or dismantling the rigging, so I'd (presuming I was in a two decker frigate or similar) load a mixture of canister shot and chain shot in the heavy guns, let the guy get near, and let him have it as much as possible. Target the crew and the agility and suddenly the Xebec has trouble, because he can no longer board and he has a much tougher job evading those broadsides.

As for teamwork, it's not an optional part of advanced play, it's absolutely mandatory. The port battles are fixed 25 vs 25 (about the same size of the Battle of Trafalgar in real life) and if you don't have an effective plan you lose. Battles will inevitably involve players who are not in a clan or whatever, but everybody will follow a good leader because the only other choice is to lose your ship when you lose the battle. If you want to win, you pull with the team. The basic tactic is to form a line and duke it out with the enemy, but it works on a lot more levels like that when you have an organised society backing you up, because a lot of the battle is decided by the quality of the equipment and ships you bring. Therein lies the grand strategy; if they can't build the best ships they can't sail them, if they can't sail them they can't beat you with useless tubs in the battle. Don't get me wrong, in open sea you can do well with a light ship, but in a port battle a hell of a lot of it comes down to co-ordination and raw numbers of guns. You try to put more guns into the battle than the enemy with greater focus and that's how you win.

[Dojun]

in the big fights if they shoot your ship to pieces but your team manages to win will your ship get some auto repair or something since your team won or will you have to start all over again? And with the pvp and taking others ships and such how is that distributed among a team?

[Hovis]

in the big fights if they shoot your ship to pieces but your team manages to win will your ship get some auto repair or something since your team won or will you have to start all over again? And with the pvp and taking others ships and such how is that distributed among a team?

If your ship sinks it loses all it's outfittings and a point of durability. If it has no durability left it's gone forever. Doesn't matter who won the battle.

Taking other ships is looking like it'll be gone from the release effectively, in the sense of stealing them outright. Usually that is done by way of the first guy to hit the grab button when in reach of the ship gets it, there's no system. Ordinary loot you dice for.

[Dojun]

How about friendly fire? Can you shoot eachother if you aim bad? If so are there a limit to how much dmg you can do to eachother?

[Hovis]

How about friendly fire? Can you shoot eachother if you aim bad? If so are there a limit to how much dmg you can do to eachother?

No friendly fire. If somebody blocks your shot you just can't shoot.

[Flufball]

Wait, so you won't be able to steal ships anymore? That seems like it defeats the point of the pirates a little....

[Hovis]

Wait, so you won't be able to steal ships anymore? That seems like it defeats the point of the pirates a little....

You can directly take them, and sail off in them. But that's not how it used to work, I won't describe the old system though as I can't be arsed and it'd only be useful as a historical footnote.

[Volw]

If your ship sinks it loses all it's outfittings and a point of durability. If it has no durability left it's gone forever. Doesn't matter who won the battle.



Is it possible to restore the durability somehow?

[Hovis]

Is it possible to restore the durability somehow?

Yeah. Build a new ship of the same class and use it refill the durability of the original.

[Flufball]

You can directly take them, and sail off in them. But that's not how it used to work, I won't describe the old system though as I can't be arsed and it'd only be useful as a historical footnote.

Wasn't the old system the one where you had to fight through a boarding action on the ship to nick it? That was always the impression I got from listening to you guys on TS.

[Endangerment]

no we just always went for the board.

you can make them abandon ship by shooting them, but more ofte nthan not u just sink them. boarding ensured you didn't sink it.

you can still capture ships, just you cant turn them into deeds as before, it stops pirates having access to large numbers of ships, effectivly making them overpowered in pvp because the consequencies of loss were diminished.