Sneak peek into the forthcoming Nations Feature

[Xepshunall]

There should be a limit to how many ports a nation can control. Maybe not hard coded but it should he NEARLY impossible to have as much national coverage as Falkland Islands currently does.

[Captain Jack]

Currently, every day, each player above 10000 influence points in a port, loses 0.5% of his total influence in that port.
Details of this decision can be found here: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=179

If you read up that topic, the 0.5% was inserted as a starting point which would be reviewed later. We may increase this to 1%. We first want to launch the titles feature. Then, according to the way people hunt influence after this point, we will be deciding if it will be needed.

1% may sound like still small but it is not. Practically, it will double the current difficulty to keep a port. Influence deterioration is very important for the game balance as it acts as a gold sinker. The current imbalance seems to come from the use of Charity Donation card. This is why we created conspiracy card.

Another important factor is that many nation missions for the titles will require the players to help influence of their nation. Therefore we will get more people involved in the influence hunt. This alone may prove enough as currently, not many people bother with it. Even if they are winning millions per day they still don't spend a penny for influence.

Once more people start to bother with influence, Charity donation will become more rare and important than it is now. This will also might favor to maintain port control with gold.

One more important factor to keep in mind is Propaganda card. Charity donation has certainly been used more than Propaganda so more Propaganda cards should exist right now (I have not checked the database, just common sense). Propaganda is the counter-card of Charity donation. This means that in a probable war, propaganda could vanish a port influence completely.

If you want a verdict, in the future, it will be counter-productive for any nation to hold more than 2-3 ports. This could happen only due to the increased competition for influence. Every nation will need/want at least 1 port and there are only 21 ports for about 200 nations...

[Xepshunall]

One more important factor to keep in mind is Propaganda card. Charity donation has certainly been used more than Propaganda so more Propaganda cards should exist right now (I have not checked the database, just common sense).

You place more significance on the usefulness of the Propaganda card than it warrants. It is a player-targeting card with Undercover effect. The Undercover effect only works from half to twice the using player's fame. Propaganda isn't going to be popular no matter how common it is in relation to Charity Donation. It will be clear who cast it even with the Undercover effect. The receiving player will consider this an attack since it is a negative that targets a specific player directly.

[quote="Captain Jack"]Propaganda is the counter-card of Charity donation. This means that in a probable war, propaganda could vanish a port influence completely.[/quote

It is good that you chose to use the word "war" here though I think it should have been capitalized to draw more attention. War is exactly what can be expected if we go using voodoo against a specific player. If you want the Propaganda card to be more popular, it has to be more discreet than any Undercover card. It's easy to cast Conspiracy though I see very little purpose at the moment.Then again, I see little reason to use Propaganda at the moment either. At least Charity Donation allows me to hire crew without spending gold. I see no reason to hurt another player's ability to do the same. A voodoo card with no reason to be used serves no purpose. These Nation features are all the rage here if my understanding isn't flawed. I want a reason to hold a port and to use Propaganda and pick fights. These players that have been pure merchant with no fighting forces will have to take notice of the fame that holding a title within a nation will surely induce. Fame from trade is impressive but nothing holds a candle to being Royalty or even a Noble.

Furthermore, It is unlikely that a King would deport or deny citizenship to a player who would increase port influence in his favor so I could easily become a citizen of Falkland Islands and further the imbalance of power. Maybe a hard-coded limit on ports control would take effect if it was clear that the whole map is guaranteed to stay in the control of only one nation. If predictions are to be noted, I predict that anyone who doesn't want to pay tariffs and elevated prices will switch to Falkland Islands and the whole competition for port control will just die unless a nation is limited to just a few ports.

[Captain Jack]

One more battle that you might enjoy reading while waiting for the feature (we are working full time on it now, I'll avoid mentioning when it will be ready):
http://s2.piratesglory.com/share.php?id ... 88a3a714ab

[Random pandah]

that man of war...makes me not want to mess with the administrator account xD

[Captain Jack]

that man of war...makes me not want to mess with the administrator account xD

Ultimately, each player will get the chance to own ONE such ship.
We will put it as an award to a quest (mission series).

[Random pandah]

so will there be like daily quests, or just like a story line? and would some be repeatable or something? obviously not that particular one xD

[Captain Jack]

so will there be like daily quests, or just like a story line? and would some be repeatable or something? obviously not that particular one xD

There will be -eventually- daily quests. But the one which will reward you this ship, will be a quest that each player will be able to complete once.

[Captain Jack]

More Sneaky peek:

Missions to accomplish the nations mission series will not be standard for all but will fluctuate based on your nationality (mostly).

For example, in colonel missions, if you are Scottish or English, you will get to battle William Kidd as a pirate and while he is aboard his sloop. If you are French for example, you will get to battle him as a Scottish one aboard his galley.

Just a pinch of historic accuracy

[Random pandah]

so wat happens if ur man of war is sunk or happens to get commandeered? will it go bye bye and ur sad or wat?