Noriruru
Freebooter
I've been playing Naval action for a bit now. I'd like to say that I could endorse this pretty looking game but I can't.
There are quite a few unsavory elements to the game. And here's a few.
1. Unrealistic and overpowered AI.
The NPC ships in the game routinely break nearly EVERY sailing rule of physics in the book, maneuvering like hydrofoils even in a headwind. And if THAT isn't bad enough, their gunnery puts even present day warships with their guided missiles to shame with a near 90% hit rate even at extreme range with maybe 2 out of every 3 hits landing criticals. Also they seem to have a higher rate of fire than most players.
The devs DID recently reduce the AI accuracy on small ships such as cutters and brigs hoping that less experienced players won't notice that all frigates and SoTLs still have the "sniper elite" level AI and dance around like fairies.
2. Toxic and hostile player community.
The game is supposed in alpha stage, which means that people playing the game are supposed to be providing feedback and making suggestions. However the player community will usually try to shout down player suggestions, throw insults and name-calling around, and attempt to derail the suggestion thread by leading it off topic into wild and immature tangents. They also seem to celebrate on the forums when frustrated players announce their intention to leave <like good riddance or don't let the door hit you in the *** on the way out, etc>.
3. Devs alienate PvE and Independent players.
With only a single PvE server and no access to alt characters if you want to experience something new, for example playing another nation or just plain want to play a new character they give you only 2 options either completely delete your old character and make an entirely new one sacrificing all your gold, ships, crafting resources and all that even though you still retain both your rank and crafting xp or be forced onto a PvP server where only 3 of their 7 or 8 playable nations are even viable and where ganking and griefing runs rampant.
They claim that this is designed to prevent economic exploitation but that kind of exploitation already exists in the game in the form of the current guild activity.
4. They are setting the stage for total disaster for the game economy and solo playability with their future economic goals.
In their most recent patch they did away with player ability to sail captured warships. Instead players now have to auto turn in warships they have captured in boarding combat over to their respective nation's admiralties for a tiny sum of gold and only allowing players to commandeer merchant ships. They also have future plans to completely do away with NPC resource vendors and allowing players to have the complete run of the economy. This action coupled with the canned ability to sail captured warships will inevitably open the door to massive overpricing of ships, and other items and make it impossible for any independent player to survive and be competitive.
It's like Pirates of the Burning Sea all over again.....Perhaps even worse.
At least portalus games has since begun to offer means of solo player survivability (if only to line their own pockets with real-world cash).
With this all said I can not in good conscience recommend this game to anyone.
There are quite a few unsavory elements to the game. And here's a few.
1. Unrealistic and overpowered AI.
The NPC ships in the game routinely break nearly EVERY sailing rule of physics in the book, maneuvering like hydrofoils even in a headwind. And if THAT isn't bad enough, their gunnery puts even present day warships with their guided missiles to shame with a near 90% hit rate even at extreme range with maybe 2 out of every 3 hits landing criticals. Also they seem to have a higher rate of fire than most players.
The devs DID recently reduce the AI accuracy on small ships such as cutters and brigs hoping that less experienced players won't notice that all frigates and SoTLs still have the "sniper elite" level AI and dance around like fairies.
2. Toxic and hostile player community.
The game is supposed in alpha stage, which means that people playing the game are supposed to be providing feedback and making suggestions. However the player community will usually try to shout down player suggestions, throw insults and name-calling around, and attempt to derail the suggestion thread by leading it off topic into wild and immature tangents. They also seem to celebrate on the forums when frustrated players announce their intention to leave <like good riddance or don't let the door hit you in the *** on the way out, etc>.
3. Devs alienate PvE and Independent players.
With only a single PvE server and no access to alt characters if you want to experience something new, for example playing another nation or just plain want to play a new character they give you only 2 options either completely delete your old character and make an entirely new one sacrificing all your gold, ships, crafting resources and all that even though you still retain both your rank and crafting xp or be forced onto a PvP server where only 3 of their 7 or 8 playable nations are even viable and where ganking and griefing runs rampant.
They claim that this is designed to prevent economic exploitation but that kind of exploitation already exists in the game in the form of the current guild activity.
4. They are setting the stage for total disaster for the game economy and solo playability with their future economic goals.
In their most recent patch they did away with player ability to sail captured warships. Instead players now have to auto turn in warships they have captured in boarding combat over to their respective nation's admiralties for a tiny sum of gold and only allowing players to commandeer merchant ships. They also have future plans to completely do away with NPC resource vendors and allowing players to have the complete run of the economy. This action coupled with the canned ability to sail captured warships will inevitably open the door to massive overpricing of ships, and other items and make it impossible for any independent player to survive and be competitive.
It's like Pirates of the Burning Sea all over again.....Perhaps even worse.
At least portalus games has since begun to offer means of solo player survivability (if only to line their own pockets with real-world cash).
With this all said I can not in good conscience recommend this game to anyone.
