META Shakeup - Boarding

@jaegerdelta3465 I'm not really sure how any of these alterations would push combat towards mass boarding. It's not like multi-boarding is impossible today; far from it. That said, I feel like board happy crews are often way easier to deal with than those that use boarding as a more strategic and complimentary tactic.

All that adding additional ladders to the ships mentioned does is create a balance across the different ship variants. It forces larger ships to have to use the same manpower to guard ladders as the sloop. That's it.

Boarding still part of the meta?

Heck this whole time I’ve been shooting cannonballs at ships with nobody on them, keging, chain shot the mast and ramming the front.
Who still boards? :/

1. adding more ladders is unbalanced. Only two per ship is required. Releasing why gally and brig have better protection is because of crew size but that reason why you shouldn’t board. Upset about that is a solo sloop problem.

2. dropping the anchor is such a time waste. If you fail to stop the anchor from dropping, which on a brig and gally have better crew size so more people to rush to it. If your crew can’t because they are boarding. That on them.

3). Really? I havnt seen anyone who is displeased with this besides! A boarder. No issue

So far the “meta” with boarding isn’t broken or needs fixes. The players need to function better. If someone is off ship, the protection fails.
Someone boards because nobody watched ladders and had an anchor drop (which takes what 3 seconds for it to fully drop?) that the crew fault. Just place loot on top to solve that. :/

@burnbacon How is adding more ladders to the brig and galleon unbalanced? There's nothing balanced about the current ladder setup at all as it pertains to boarders and managing your ship.

Currently, if a 2 man sloop crew sees a boarder incoming, they can either have one player guard both ladders and have the other manage the rest of the ship....or they can both guard ladders and forego repairs, angles, cannons, bilging, etc.

If a galleon sees a boarder incoming, they can either have 4 players guard both ladders...or they can have 2 players guard ladders while the other 2 manage the rest of the ship.

If a brig sees a boarder incoming, they can either have 3 players guard both ladders...or they can have 2 players guard ladders while the other one manages the rest of the ship.

Regarding your other 2 points I'm not sure I understand what you're getting at I apologize.

@conceitedox8550 said in META Shakeup - Boarding:

Just like you said, the asymmetry would be intolerable.

Laughs in off-center capstans

I do get the motivation here, and have thought that the galleon should have extra ladders in the past, but I think it's enough to consider how far out of a person's way they need to go to guard effectively. A helmsman on the sloop can guard ladders without having to go more than a few steps from his post. On my brig crew, we pull the back cannoneer to guard ladders, and it's a little further than the sloop has to go to guard. The galleon needs to go longest of all, and has a wider trip between the two ladders, as well.

It's unquestionably easier to guard ladders on a brig/galleon than it is on a sloop simply because there's extra manpower. Sure, the helmsman is logistically better positioned on the sloop, but the cannoneers and deckhands are better positioned on the brig/galleon. Doesn't change the fact that they have more flexibility for guarding ladders while managing the ship than the sloop does. Additional ladders would balance those resources out.

On top of that, the ladders on the galleon/brig require a decent run through a potential gauntlet to get to the capstan, where as on the sloop it's 2 steps. Because of that, it's considerably easier to anchor the sloop than it is to anchor the other 2 ships.

All that said, if I had to leave one of these 3 things out, it'd be the additional ladders... though I do still believe it would bring some balance to the boarding tactic.

A longer capstan activation should be the top priority of these, though.

100%. It would force a shakeup to the meta of sprinting to the capstan while scarfing pineapples and skirting around it while dropping it.

Great suggestions. The galleon most certainly needs another set of ladders. It could even be a long rope ladder on one side for the brig so it doesn't throw of the symmetry. Would be nice if the anchor functioned properly in that when you start raising it the ship moves because you've theoretically lifted the anchor off the sea bed slightly. This would atleast help with escaping even if the speed is reduced until it is fully lifted. The games whole meta could do with a shake up in general.

Not sure if these would have the desired effect but it’d be nice to test some shake ups.

I'm strongly opposed due to how impactful a boarder can be I don't want it easier for them to get on. A boarder does not need to drop anchor to be impactful, often times good ones know how to rat and just stay as an annoyance which is massively more impactful. These changes would heavily decrease the risk of boarding at not much change in the reward since a gally can still intant demast any other ship but now can do so with an almost guranteed boarder.

I am for the PVP shifts people are proposing but hoping not to add or decrease the emphasis and effects of boarding hoping for more naval changes. Ways to combat runners? Better tools for smaller ships to take out larger ones?

@nitroxien said in META Shakeup - Boarding:

I'm strongly opposed due to how impactful a boarder can be I don't want it easier for them to get on.

Based on this response, I can only assume you spend more time on a galleon or brig since those are the only 2 ships impacted by the first suggestion. My response is that this is about balance. Why should it be easier to guard ladders on the brig/gally than it is on a sloop based on sheer manpower? Why should it be the easiest to board the ship that's also the easiest to immobilize based on # of masts and distance from the ladder to the capstan? The ladder additions simply bring balance to boarding across the ship types.

A boarder does not need to drop anchor to be impactful, often times good ones know how to rat and just stay as an annoyance which is massively more impactful. These changes would heavily decrease the risk of boarding at not much change in the reward since a gally can still intant demast any other ship but now can do so with an almost guranteed boarder.

I'm not sure I understand what's being said here. I apologize. I'm just not sure how any of these suggestions would manage to decrease the risk of boarding? The only risk of boarding is leaving your ship/crewmates under-manned for a period of time. If anything, this would increase the risk of boarding because the "period of time" is being impacted before an anchor can be dropped.

I understand that boarders can be impactful in ways beyond just dropping the anchor, but let's not pretend that the overwhelming majority of boarders sprint to the capstan first and foremost. Immobilizing a ship of any type is a damaging blow in a battle. This would simply shake up the boarding objective meta and force them to run interference and/or kill the crew before they are able to meet the objective instead of just sprinting to the objective. The only crews that could still be done on would be the oblivious ones or the ones who's ship is in serious trouble already.

@sweetsandman I like it, but this thing of increasing the time of the anchor release is unnecessary, to avoid this just don't let them climb on your boat, except for this option, the rest I agree with.

@ll-atena-ll said in META Shakeup - Boarding:

@sweetsandman I like it, but this thing of increasing the time of the anchor release is unnecessary, to avoid this just don't let them climb on your boat, except for this option, the rest I agree with.

I get it. As a boarder myself, it's easy to say yeah just don't let me on...but...also it shouldn't be so easy to immobilize a ship as a boarder. Again, this is about shaking up the meta. We're all guilty of metagaming at times. A forced shakeup is nice.

Galleons ladders are especially easy to guard because not only are there enough peoe for 2 at each currently, but they are also angled making it really easy to both see some one on a ladder, and to then shoot them where on a sloop or brig you have to go from the side

@d3adst1ck Sometimes, that split second it takes to realize which ladder they're coming up is the difference between one-blundering them and having them get on.

The sloop is the only ship that has to choose between fully guarding the ladders or one guard and one manage the rest of the ship.

The sloop is the only one that can be forced into that split second opportunity simply because of manpower.

Even if it makes minimal difference, it's still about balance.