Hello, Avonmora

I have been pondering our flagship suggestion and got me thinking about game paths. I have only the basic game paths to discuss, as the more advanced paths are to be covered later.

Three Basic Paths: Trader, Noble, Pirate

The paths are not chosen immediately at creating your character. Instead, they are completed after you complete the tutorials. A mission will appear to choose your path, which will lead you to a menu of all existing paths, both locked and unlocked. This will be found in the governors link in the Court.

The locked paths are the advanced paths, however, I am only going over the basic paths. Advanced paths are for another post.

Basic perks for TRADER starting out:

Trade ships have an additional 10 crates space. Stacks with ship traits

Trade ships have 5% faster travel speed

Basic perks for NOBLE starting out:

5% increase in influence earned from port buildup. Stacks with tech

Additional 5% attack roll with war ships and 5% defense bonus with war ships. Stacks with voodoo. 5% additional defence bonus if attacked by a pirate.

The basic perks for PIRATE starting out:

War ships are 5% faster in travel and 10% faster in PVP and NPC battles. 10% attack roll and defense bonus in PVP if battling a trader. 5% increase attack roll increase if fighting every other game path EXCEPT Pirate hunter.

Additional 2 skirmish points added daily. Earn fame at update based on plundering and skirmishing. Not defined in numbers yet.

If a player changes paths, they must wait 7 days before changing their path again after choosing their path. A player can change their path anytime if they are not in a cool down state. This is only for basic game paths.

I would include Privateer as a path : this is a more all-round career which doesnt concentrate on trade, plunder or nations but does include opportunistic forays into them.
For example while a privateer may not actively cast or hunt fleets they will swoop on any stragglers or lit fleets as chance occurs : they may not trade at any great level but will run some fleets to keep a project fed such as shipyards or hideout : they may run a plantation or two but not aim to cover every port.. and so on.

Danik wrote:I would include Privateer as a path : this is a more all-round career which doesnt concentrate on trade, plunder or nations but does include opportunistic forays into them.
For example while a privateer may not actively cast or hunt fleets they will swoop on any stragglers or lit fleets as chance occurs : they may not trade at any great level but will run some fleets to keep a project fed such as shipyards or hideout : they may run a plantation or two but not aim to cover every port.. and so on.

The noble path was to be similar to the privateer path, as most nobles were both either traders or privateers. I didnt want to make a privateer individual as it would have the perk from noble and is plunder based, and I wanted to not also have an exact copy of pirate path just a different name. I thought through this process, and the noble I believe should remain whereas privateer would be a “noble.” To make each path unique, the paths need to have differentiations from other paths that the path does carry above others.

Privateering is also a vague classification as a privateer can have many trade fleets or no trade fleets, and can have many war fleets or a few war fleets. Additionally not all privateers plunder a lot. A privateer usually is a hybrid of trader and pirate, but not exactly the same as either one. Its a vague path and the perks would be too similar to trader and pirate in combination, which is what i don’t believe is balanced.

It would be a shame to ignore the path though.. or render it unrewarded in comparison to others.. there is too much enforced play-style in many games which can end up creating a walk-through mode absent any sense of adventure or finding your own personal way to succeed or fail.
This game in particular actively penalises non-traders thru the fame system. To be a so-called 'noble' requires a primarily trading based game style to fund that pathway. So to throw Privateers in with 'nobles' is to pretty much call them traders too.. and fact is neither trader nor noble are anywhere close to being Privateers.. yet you seek to ignore privateers for being noble traders already... illogical in my view.

Danik wrote:It would be a shame to ignore the path though.. or render it unrewarded in comparison to others.. there is too much enforced play-style in many games which can end up creating a walk-through mode absent any sense of adventure or finding your own personal way to succeed or fail.
This game in particular actively penalises non-traders thru the fame system. To be a so-called 'noble' requires a primarily trading based game style to fund that pathway. So to throw Privateers in with 'nobles' is to pretty much call them traders too.. and fact is neither trader nor noble are anywhere close to being Privateers.. yet you seek to ignore privateers for being noble traders already... illogical in my view.

The only issue is what perks a privateer would have that wouldnt make noble not worth the path.

Noble has the battle perks and influence perks, and trader has the cargo and speed.

I follow these three based on the tutorials. You choose noble trader or pirate in the beginning, making privateer not a basic path to follow.

Additionally we haven’t even covered the advanced paths, which is where I plan to place privateer in the future.

Still wrong in my view : to keep my bank I must stay in a nation.. though I would be content to fly the black otherwise. To keep bonuses as a ship-builder again I must climb the ranks in a nation.. though I would be content to fly the black otherwise. Flag and rank are enforced upon me.. that pathway is enforced or else I cannot enjoy those parts of the game.. but neither makes me a noble or a trader anymore than occasional forays into plunder and ship stealing make me a pirate.. perhaps the end point I would make is stop pushing me into your pre-ordained boxes and pathways... stop seeking to endlessly reward conformity and most of all.. stop prescribing conformity itself. Maybe let the player decide their own path and play-style rather than choose yet another blessed label.

Danik wrote:Still wrong in my view : to keep my bank I must stay in a nation.. thiugh I would be vontent to fly the black otherwise. To keep bonuses as a ship-builder again I must climb the ranks in a nation.. though I would be content to fly the black otherwise. Flag and rank are enforced upon me.. that pathway is enforced or elsecI cannot enjoy those parts of the game.. but neither makes me a noble or a trader anymore than occasional forays into plunder and ship stealing make me a pirate.. perhaps the end point I would make is stop pushing me into your pre-ordained boxes and pathways... stip seeking to enflessly reward confirmity and most of all.. stop prescribing conformity itself. Maybe lets the player decide their own path and play-style rather than choose yet another blessed label.

Game paths are made every update it seems. This isnt a suggestion but a discussion of the idea to give each path its own benefit. Conformity is against the point of what this is designed to do. This IS for anyone to have their own path, and to have benefits with such a path. Wanna be a ship builder? Lets make a path to make more margin of profit and make building cheaper. Conformity you say?

Want to be an all-rounder? Make it a path where no specific path is listed and you freely do as you see fit. No bonuses or consequences. A neutral path, freeing you to do any paths not listed. Conformity you say?

Anyone who doesnt choose a path would be an all rounder. Its not forcing them to do anything. Really isnt as dystopian as you make it sound. Its just additional perks to work towards and to have extra bonuses.

You did suggest it was unreasonable for shipwrighters to not have extra bonuses as its a scary number tk make what you put into tech. This addresses this. Now its conformity.

I would love constructive criticism for the idea, as paths have been discussed in the past with good reviews.

So excessive fame loss for not having 200+ships is not a penalty.. its just tough love if you choose not to conform to the games notion of what the correct number of ships to have is. Choose not to conform to the ideal Noble path and dont get those bonuses. Choose not to conform with the ideal path of being a pirate and dont get those bonuses. Choose not to confirm with any of the ideal paths you describe and get no bonuses at all.. but its your own fault for choosing not to conform cos no-one is forcing you to chose just penalising you if you dont.... well.. that keeps it fair then.. dont it?

I never said ship wright bonuses are unreasonable : I presented them as an example of enforcing nation and rank if you want them : to be a profitable low-cost shipwright means you need to follow the noble path.. being a pirate means its a high-cost option.

Constructive criticism? You got that in my first response. I think you really meant 'constructive agreement' and you wrote off my criticism as irrelevant cos look.. privateers are really just the same as the other paths.. but chose it and get no perks.. thsts how the same it is.

I'll add that I think the so-called 'noble' class is a made up semi-derogatory classification : in truth being active in nations is part of being a trader : its certainly requires a traders finacial heft to be successful in the nation-game. Whereas the Privateer is just as common a career path yet must be disregarded?

Danik wrote:So excessive fame loss for not having 200+ships is not a penalty.. its just tough love if you choose not to conform to the games notion of what the correct number of ships to have is. Choose not to conform to the ideal Noble path and dont get those bonuses. Choose not yo conform with the ideal path of being a pirate and font get those bonuses. Choose not to confirm with any of the ideal paths you describe and get no bonuses at all.. but its your own fault for choosing not yo confirm... well.. that keeps it fair then.. dont it?

As intended earlier, this doesn’t tie with fame or ship count so what is the relevance of this? Its paths to give BONUSES for anyone who WANTS to follow the path. It doesn’t “force” anyone and it gives free perks in the beginning. This could tie into flagships very smoothly if set up properly.

For the all rounder its either get all the bonuses or none. All rounder has no specialty so why would it have a bonus? Has no counter paths so why give it bonuses?

There are consequences and benefits for each path, which allows all rounder to be balanced as is. Its the set standard.

Are you suggesting that everyone gets a bonus for everything because we can be anything we want no matter what we have? Im a pirate with 10k ships and im also a pirate hunter with no ships.

Jokes aside the constructive criticism was accusing of ignoring privateer, when the advanced paths hasnt even made the forums. Additionally stated for the tutorials choosing noble pirate or merchant, and privateer not being one of the three options. This is why privateer isnt a basic path.

You need to consider the classifications you have chosen. In what way does being a Noble clash with being a trader in the way being a pirate would? It doesnt cos the so-called Noble path is an extension of being a trader. The two paths are the same start. The trader can morph into a noble at will wheras the pirate or privateer can not : its a major change of direction for them as wiuld be a pirate becoming a trader or a trader a privateer. For the trader to become a noble is just a question of where they choose to invest their profits : its not much more than that.

There are zero bonuses for being an all-rounder : bonuses arise from how far into each path you choose to go : I rank in a nation to gain some bonuses there : how noble of me : I max my piracy tech to gain some bonuses there : now I'm a pirate : I max my warehouse techs.. oops I a trader. Your proposal gives extra bonuses for only being one thing.. for following one path. How dull is that?

Okay.. where are the penalties for specialising? Choose to be a trader.. okay bonus for that but where is the down-side then? Pirates get no ship tax but cant own banks and some voodoo is barred to them.. so the precedent is there... whats the down side to pathways then?