Port Blockades (Large)

[Shadowood]

Perhaps to correct the mass weak fleet inflation tactic brought up earlier we could put a couple regulations on ship type and fleets.

Something to the effect of...

Only "War" class ships can be used in a blockade fleet.

and

Any fleet entering a blockade battle must carry 75 or more cannons. (Amount negotiable of course)

+1 I said that earlier in the thread (minus the cannon limits) but it still is a good counter to the weak fleet problem.

I like Shadowoods idea!

[Captain Jack]

I disagree on limits. We generally are against limits. We must avoid limits. Let's see how it floats with the currently proposed metrics. I think the best way to correct any hard tactics found later, should be through ship specialization.

As for the question; There will be no standard wins/losses. Which means:
-No gold loss/win
-No fame loss/win
-No ships level loss

Damage will apply normally (damaged ships will need to be repaired after the battle. You will be able to do so during Blockade Resolution and before ejecting the fleet from the blockade).

We could consider additional fame/coin bounties. Something among the like of:
-To enter a blockade: Pay X% of your fame (either per fleet or per blockade or x fame per cannon)
-At the end of the battle, winners receive the total fame raised, divided by the points of damage they conducted. Or we could include everyone.
-Same can happen with gold coins. Every fleet to enter the blockade, could pay a small fee (ie 5k). The gold coin bounty again can be distributed to winners or everyone, based on damage dealt.

I am awaiting your feedback on this last proposal so I can add it to the first post.

Has anyone found some time to work the metrics for earnings? This is what only needs to be finalized before this suggestion is approved. I must say it is pretty detailed and this will greatly help with implementation time.

[Shadowood]

I disagree on limits. We generally are against limits. We must avoid limits. Let's see how it floats with the currently proposed metrics. I think the best way to correct any hard tactics found later, should be through ship specialization.

As for the question; There will be no standard wins/losses. Which means:
-No gold loss/win
-No fame loss/win
-No ships level loss

Damage will apply normally (damaged ships will need to be repaired after the battle. You will be able to do so during Blockade Resolution and before ejecting the fleet from the blockade).

We could consider additional fame/coin bounties. Something among the like of:
-To enter a blockade: Pay X% of your fame (either per fleet or per blockade or x fame per cannon)
-At the end of the battle, winners receive the total fame raised, divided by the points of damage they conducted. Or we could include everyone.
-Same can happen with gold coins. Every fleet to enter the blockade, could pay a small fee (ie 5k). The gold coin bounty again can be distributed to winners or everyone, based on damage dealt.

I am awaiting your feedback on this last proposal so I can add it to the first post.

Has anyone found some time to work the metrics for earnings? This is what only needs to be finalized before this suggestion is approved. I must say it is pretty detailed and this will greatly help with implementation time.

I like the Fame portion of your suggestion CJ. It would make sense to me if you win or lose a Blockade your Fame would increase or decrease. +1 to that.

I would leave gold out of it except for the "earnings" should one win the Blockade, based on the metrics we/you decide on.

[sXs]

I disagree on limits. We generally are against limits. We must avoid limits. Let's see how it floats with the currently proposed metrics. I think the best way to correct any hard tactics found later, should be through ship specialization.

As for the question; There will be no standard wins/losses. Which means:
-No gold loss/win
-No fame loss/win
-No ships level loss

Damage will apply normally (damaged ships will need to be repaired after the battle. You will be able to do so during Blockade Resolution and before ejecting the fleet from the blockade).

We could consider additional fame/coin bounties. Something among the like of:
-To enter a blockade: Pay X% of your fame (either per fleet or per blockade or x fame per cannon)
-At the end of the battle, winners receive the total fame raised, divided by the points of damage they conducted. Or we could include everyone.
-Same can happen with gold coins. Every fleet to enter the blockade, could pay a small fee (ie 5k). The gold coin bounty again can be distributed to winners or everyone, based on damage dealt.

I am awaiting your feedback on this last proposal so I can add it to the first post.

Has anyone found some time to work the metrics for earnings? This is what only needs to be finalized before this suggestion is approved. I must say it is pretty detailed and this will greatly help with implementation time.

CJ, I have done a rough estimate based on arrivals per hour in each port. The hard thing to calculate is whether or not people will refuse to pay and leave their fleets parked, or will pay rates and continue.

I have a feeling that once a blockade is successful and in place, many will simply park their fleets.

Now I have a few questions for you CJ.

Scenario is this.

Successful port blockade. A trader has set his routes up and is party trading, so simply transporting goods between 2 warehouses. When a fleet arrives at blockade port he is presented with option based on Blockade initiators choice. How long does the trader have to decide before there is an auto choice made for them? What happens to those that set and forget and may not sign in for a day or two?

[Shadowood]

Successful port blockade. A trader has set his routes up and is party trading, so simply transporting goods between 2 warehouses. When a fleet arrives at blockade port he is presented with option based on Blockade initiators choice. How long does the trader have to decide before there is an auto choice made for them? What happens to those that set and forget and may not sign in for a day or two?

This should auto to the Initiators Blockade settings "Fee", "Cargo Plunder", or "Free Pass". The trader doesn't get to choose the Attackers choose the settings. Right?

[sXs]

Successful port blockade. A trader has set his routes up and is party trading, so simply transporting goods between 2 warehouses. When a fleet arrives at blockade port he is presented with option based on Blockade initiators choice. How long does the trader have to decide before there is an auto choice made for them? What happens to those that set and forget and may not sign in for a day or two?

This should auto to the Initiators Blockade settings "Fee", "Cargo Plunder", or "Free Pass". The trader doesn't get to choose the Attackers choose the settings. Right?

I just re-read that section you are correct. They can set a maximum they are willing to pay, once that is reached they go to auto goods plunder.

Another question.....

Earnings share
All earnings will be shared among all attackers in this way:
-Initiator gets to keep 25% of all income.
-The rest share the remaining 75% based on the damage their ships conducted.

What if blockade is successful and only 3 participate on attackers side? Initiator gets 25%, other two attackers each get 37.5% I know this is unlikely but possible.

[Most Lee Harmless]

I strongly suspect that trade will fall away to pretty much zero in any blockaded port, be it under Toll or cargo plunder rules. There would be absolutely no incentive for any trader to go there, not when plenty of alternative routes can be used until the blockade period expires. Inconvenient, maybe, but its the only sensible option for any trader to take.
In which case, I dont see any great riches being that forthcoming for any successful blockade initiator. I do see it being valuable as a tool to attack a nation/port owner as part of some overall strategy but in and of itself, no big income stream.

[Shadowood]

4)Active Blockade

The initiator of the Blockade is named as the Active Blockade Admiral. The admiral gets to manage the naval traffic during the duration of the Active Blockade.

The admiral will assemble 3 lists, which he will be able to setup before the Blockade Resolution and update anytime during the Blockade (active or not).

The three lists will be the following:
a)TOLL FEE list (Arriving fleets will pay a fee to enter the port - it will have a hard limit, most probably % based on cargo value - different percentage for gold bars).
b)Cargo Plunder list (All cargo carried by the incoming fleets will be sold back to the market for their gold coin equivalent. If the incoming resource is same as the port's, they will still be sold back to the market at half the price)
c)Free Pass

Automatic trade routes will pause in case of Cargo plunder.

The targets of each list will be the following:
i)Treaties (ie, countries that are at peace with your own)
ii)Guilds
More options will be avoided at version 1.0 to avoid making it too easy to avoid a blockade.

Individuals that find themselves in the TOLL FEE list, will pay this in order to pass the blockade (only arrivals count).
Every player will be able to set the maximum TOLL FEE he wants to pay, either globally and/or specifically for every blockade (since Preparation state).

In case for any reason the FEE is not paid, then targets of this list will automatically fall into the cargo plunder list.
If there is no cargo or the cargo is not full, then the incoming fleet will receive a +8 danger extra penalty (incomplete cargo will still be pillaged).

Earnings share
All earnings will be shared among all attackers in this way:
-Initiator gets to keep 25% of all income.
-The rest share the remaining 75% based on the damage their ships conducted.

The formula used will be the following:
Earnings Share (%) = ( Damage conducted by every participant * 100) / Total Damage Conducted by all attacking Ships
So, if the total damage is 10.000 and someone has conducted 1.000 dmg, he will receive 10% from the remaining 75%.

These earnings will be paid once the Blockade is over and will be collected in the same way Credits Exchange delivers its earnings; on next page to Plunder page.

CJ the only "Metric" that needs to be figured out is the "Fee" based one correct? "Free Pass" is a free pass... "Cargo Plunder" is plunder of all cargo that is sold back to market at base price... No math to do on those.

So the "Fee" is the only one that needs to be worked out right? I would say that this would look kind of like the "Antagonize" voodoo where the fee would be 2gc per crate. This would be a thorn in a traders side, but it wouldn't be a full out loss like "Cargo Plunder" would be. Plus the fleets would still be moving as opposed to pausing like when they get hit with "Cargo Plunder".

I think the split of earnings you have above is fair as well.

[sXs]

I strongly suspect that trade will fall away to pretty much zero in any blockaded port, be it under Toll or cargo plunder rules. There would be absolutely no incentive for any trader to go there, not when plenty of alternative routes can be used until the blockade period expires. Inconvenient, maybe, but its the only sensible option for any trader to take.
In which case, I dont see any great riches being that forthcoming for any successful blockade initiator. I do see it being valuable as a tool to attack a nation/port owner as part of some overall strategy but in and of itself, no big income stream.

Right now there is no trade benefit to a nation, so there is no benefit to use it as a tactic against a nation either, at least not as things are now.

[Most Lee Harmless]

Correction : there IS a trade benefit to the port owner :

Every resource sold from the port market, returns 1% of the value to the nation that controls it.

The nation that holds the port, earns 0.75% on every Gold Bar crate sale. Duke bonuses of 2% is applied on sales.

And I can see further implications down the road when Plantations join GoldSmiths as a consumer of incoming wage stocks.

As I said, I see it being valuable as part of an overall strategy, but not a major income stream in itself.