Witch Doctors gameplay - manageable risk for everyone

[Most Lee Harmless]

Players dropping fleets to fight is fair enough : they take a 30% loss on build cost, plus turns, materials etc. Putting any serious number into the market is also costly at 5 credits per sales berth so its not a cost free option. Placing their high-value ships into the marina is also not cost free : its an expensive critter to build enough slots in.

Its plain daft to expect folk to leave all their assets on view and open to loss when a fight starts. You act to minimise potential loss and weigh that against what you feel you will need to inflict harm on your foe. That's not always running some fleets of Sotls and another 50 trade fleets.

Pay to play will always be an issue in these games : the trade-off is that often they spend wildly and cast twice as wildly, thus throwing their real advantage away.

[Most Lee Harmless]

I would add a personal note about one suggestion made by CJ : since Hide-outs were introduced we have been assured they are inviolate : thus many have invested considerable sums and assets into developing them. Part of the decision to do so was based on those assurances. Its a heck of a lot of investment only made worthwhile in that it was deemed to be secure, even if not immediately profitable. If any change is made to make Hide-outs vulnerable to attack, I feel that would be a major breach of trust between the devs and the player-base. I for one would find it very hard to accept any future reassurances on any part of the games structure. Added to which, I dont see why Hide-outs status should be so severely compromised to deal with what is actually a minor annoyance down to a minority of the player-base and having very little to do with Hide-outs at all.

[Vane]

I agree with the above.

[Stan Rogers]

I suggest focusing more on battle strategy and slowly pull cards away. Make the seafight about who's tactically better and less voodoo to do it. Right now a SoW can't beat a Lrg Frig without voodoo, where with the right mechanics and choices available, it should be possible without cards.

+100

The game has moved from it's original concept of ships fighting at sea to who has the most voodoo.

There is a place for voodoo and without the game would become stale however, I feel the focus on voodoo through out the game history has been too great and not enough time has been spent in expanding ship abilities (positive and negative)
A SoW should be able to defeat a frigate IF the right captain is at the helm AND the right conditions exist (Weather influenced) without using voodoo. A simple example would be utilizing prevailing winds to limit or assist the combatants. A SoW should be able to out turn (avoiding frigate cannon fire) or out run a frigate if the right conditions (environmental)are in place. A small sail ship should be able to tack against the wind where as a large sail ship must go with the wind to achieve its potential. This would enable a small ship to launch an attack on a large ship and slowly damage it to a point where the large ship could be defeated providing the SoW captain paid close attention to what way the wind is blowing and maintained a heading that would limit the large vessel from effective counter attack.

Not too sure if the battle engine in game needs a rework or if it can be done with minor re-coding but I think the game focus is not enough ship abilities and too much voodoo.

It's time to put the game back to it's original intent of ship vs. ship battle and less reliance on voodoo curses and casting.

[Admiral Nelson]

How about maxing some special rules for Witch Doctors, as stupid as that seems.

I can think of a few:

- A maximum of 300 Turns at any given time (100 less then the average player).
- Only 50 Voodoo casts a day are allowed.
- Has a special symbol above his 'Player Name' to identify himself as a Witch Doctor.

This is a serious proposition from me; me being a witch doctor right now(On the defensive). Obviously it can be talked about.

[Sir Thalius Hayle]

I suggest focusing more on battle strategy and slowly pull cards away. Make the seafight about who's tactically better and less voodoo to do it. Right now a SoW can't beat a Lrg Frig without voodoo, where with the right mechanics and choices available, it should be possible without cards.

Hearty agreement with Vane on this one...

[Admiral Nelson]

Well I don't know... What would the precious, light hearted yet decent Merchants think of this...

[Shadowood]

I joined the game when voodoo was already introduced. I don't know the game with out it. I have benefited from its uses greatly and feel like I have a pretty good understanding of its power. Having said that, I agree with what Vane and others have stated. We need to move away from voodoo and have more ship abilities.

I think this is why a lot of people are so excited for Flagship. The design of it is how I see the direction we should be moving. Use a ship/Captian/crew... that ship/captain/crew gains experience to which the player can decide how to further advance its abilities. I see this working for all ship types. Couple this with Technology and we have a solid base to which to grow from.

If I sail a SoW for a year and raid and plunder with it, it should be the most feared SoW out there and capable of taking on a new Large Frig with a fresh crew.

As far as people with no ships and just casting voodoo on people. Grow up. Play fair. It's just a game after all.

[Sir Thalius Hayle]

[quote="Shadowood"]I think this is why a lot of people are so excited for Flagship. The design of it is how I see the direction we should be moving. Use a ship/Captian/crew... that ship/captain/crew gains experience to which the player can decide how to further advance its abilities. I see this working for all ship types. Couple this with Technology and we have a solid base to which to grow from.

If I sail a SoW for a year and raid and plunder with it, it should be the most feared SoW out there and capable of taking on a new Large Frig with a fresh crew.[/quote]

+1

Also in hearty agreement with Shadwood on this one, for what my opinion is worth.

It would do a lot for game play. Plundering and skirmishing would become about much more than just gaining swag- it would be about training and growing a fleet that could defend against a less experienced enemy, regardless of their size or the gold they invested in larger ships. "Pay to play" would only get a player so far... they would actually have to show up in order to compete against experienced players.

[Stan Rogers]

Shadowood Wrote: "If I sail a SoW for a year and raid and plunder with it, it should be the most feared SoW out there and capable of taking on a new Large Frig with a fresh crew."

Experience would be a wonderful attribute to add to a ship and it should be dependent on age/number of pvp battles it encounters. Not a number that can be assigned with voodoo or lvl advancement.
Still, it does not challenge the mind to actually try to outfight an opponent when a battle happens or depend on unique fleet ship stacks to gain an upper hand. More battle variables I think would help in this short coming.