Has sailing been fixed yet?

[JRamPirate13]

Am I the only one that notices that enemy ships sail in circles? Seems like it's not that big of an issue, given that it was never fixed. it's really frustrating to me when I using the broadside cannons. Also, why do Jolly ships attack you when you're in range of them, but Navy/EITC ships don"t unless you attack first?

 

[Misha]

Ahoy @JRamPirate13,

I'll answer your questions in order:

1. Am I the only one that notices that enemy ships sail in circles?

A: Yes, AI ships are programmed to run circles around player ships when engaged in combat. It isn't a bug, and it takes a bit of finesse and muscle memory to get your broadsides correctly everytime, and there are times where your broadsides will go in directions out of your control.

2. Also, why do Jolly ships attack you when you're in range of them, but Navy/EITC ships don"t unless you attack first?

A: Jolly Roger's Ships, along with the Spanish/French Undead are attack on sight, and are what are considered to be the endgame class of ships used by the main antagonist, who is spoken by lore to rid the sea of pirates who do the bidding of Sparrow.

On the other hand, Navy and EITC vessels are based on a notoriety system out at sea, which can be found over the hull integrity of your ship (Top Left). Once you've attacked a vessel that is acquainted with the Royal Navy/EITC, you will have a mark over your head, which will level up to Three additional times until you've reached Rank 5, which brings the largest and most powerful ships in the Royal Navy after you.

EDIT: Example of the Notoriety system icon shown here:

 

[JRamPirate13]

Ok. Thank you

 

[JRamPirate13]

Ahoy @JRamPirate13,

I'll answer your questions in order:

1. Am I the only one that notices that enemy ships sail in circles?

A: Yes, AI ships are programmed to run circles around player ships when engaged in combat. It isn't a bug, and it takes a bit of finesse and muscle memory to get your broadsides correctly everytime, and there are times where your broadsides will go in directions out of your control.

2. Also, why do Jolly ships attack you when you're in range of them, but Navy/EITC ships don"t unless you attack first?

A: Jolly Roger's Ships, along with the Spanish/French Undead are attack on sight, and are what are considered to be the endgame class of ships used by the main antagonist, who is spoken by lore to rid the sea of pirates who do the bidding of Sparrow.

On the other hand, Navy and EITC vessels are based on a notoriety system out at sea, which can be found over the hull integrity of your ship (Top Left). Once you've attacked a vessel that is acquainted with the Royal Navy/EITC, you will have a mark over your head, which will level up to Three additional times until you've reached Rank 5, which brings the largest and most powerful ships in the Royal Navy after you.

EDIT: Example of the Notoriety system icon shown here:

Did the original game have that ship combat system as well? I don't remember seeing enemy ships sail in circles.

 

[Shamus The Brute]

Did the original game have that ship combat system as well? I don't remember seeing enemy ships sail in circles.

Maybe someone else can confirm this but, I don't recall provoked ships sailing in circles only - if that is what you're asking. Rather instead, they would chase the living daylights out of you up to a certain point and range (before returning back to their 'area' of patrol).

 

[Misha]

Maybe someone else can confirm this but, I don't recall provoked ships sailing in circles only - if that is what you're asking. Rather instead, they would chase the living daylights out of you up to a certain point and range (before returning back to their 'area' of patrol).

I can say that in TLOPO this is not the case. TLOPO's ship mechanics (in regards to standard ships found prior to notoriety levels) will only chase you until a certain distance has been made between yourself and the enemy, then the ship will freeze after it's out of range. This is also the cause of why sometimes ships will be so far away from their spawn point.

In POTCO, I can't recall if that's the case, but I do remember the AI pathing was vaguely similar.

 

[Eric Sailcutter]

Did the original game have that ship combat system as well? I don't remember seeing enemy ships sail in circles.

The sailing in circles thing is only applicable to you either when also sailing in circles or standing still. If memory serves me correctly, which is very uncertain, AI ships in potco did a slightly modified version of this where the AI ships would occasionally change directions. Since I rarely sit still while under attack I don't often see this. It is true that since potco AI ships didn't continuously circle in the same direction you could not simply round up tons of ships and circle them while maintaining your range and sinking them all as is common practice in tlopo. I would say that the potco AI for sailing combat was slightly more sophisticated than the tlopo one. By the way, I have a screenshot of a perfect circle of ships, 14 ships I think, that I'm pretty sure were attacking a player ship which the captain had dc off thus the player ship was sunk leaving the perfect circle, lol.

 

[Shamus The Brute]

I can say that in TLOPO this is not the case. TLOPO's ship mechanics (in regards to standard ships found prior to notoriety levels) will only chase you until a certain distance has been made between yourself and the enemy, then the ship will freeze after it's out of range. This is also the cause of why sometimes ships will be so far away from their spawn point.

In POTCO, I can't recall if that's the case, but I do remember the AI pathing was vaguely similar.

...I would say that the potco AI for sailing combat was slightly more sophisticated than the tlopo one...

Thank you both, for confirming.

I would say that as much as the "culture" of both POTCO and TLOPO each are obssessed with looting, that with each too sailing is given it's fair chance of establishing culture within TLOPO because in all honesty...without a true representative of POTCO's sailing mechanics any remake which comes along is just a tad shy of honoring itself as a Pirate, genre game.

*Let's keep at TLOPO and remain supportive of any progress they do happen to make towards such a goal and challenge.