Balance the Boarding Tactic

I don't know if anyone remembers this but there was one week early on that friendly cannon fire was turned on! It was the best week ever in my books! As a crew we had to negotiate our shots with our boarders so they didn't take damage. Also "Dodge the cannonballs" on a beach at the end of the night was great and awesome for crew morale!

Id take damage to for the realism, but I get the feeling there'd be an eruption of people with their Feelers out

I think it would make sense to have knock back included with that, but I honestly thought that already happens. I may be wrong but I swear I remember getting knocked back by friendly cannon fire in the early days. 😕

@xix-zeno-xix Not anymore, Its off, I tested it.

@dennis-box Its not useless. The Devs actually do listen around here.

And if that particular tactic is used it is OP.

I didnt say anything about how it happened. I said the impenetrable Flak shield was ridiculous. I dont see what you think about that is "Balanced" or realistically fun honestly?

I mean whats the downside to boarding if you can still just pummel the main deck to protect your boarders? they are literally walking inside an explosion

@dennis-box Secondly, It's not impossible to be boarded even when you are paying attention.

Ive literally shot a teammate onto the enemy deck whilst sailing, whilst firing cannonballs full sail. It's really really easy as a matter of fact.

@jdge439 @Dennis-Box

And if that particular tactic is used it is OP.

I didnt say anything about how it happened. I said the impenetrable Flak shield was ridiculous. I dont see what you think about that is "Balanced" or realistically fun honestly?

I mean whats the downside to boarding if you can still just pummel the main deck to protect your boarders? they are literally walking inside an explosion

You may have not described how you got boarded in this post, but this sounds near identical to a post you made a few days ago. Which you describe how you got caught out with 2-3 crew mates off ship cashing out chests in the Arena. Proceeded to get boarded, and spawn camped without them even trying to sink you.

Now I get that this isn't your point to this topic, however at least from my perspective, your asking for a remedy to a situation you yourself put yourself in. This strategy you describe requires quite a few steps in order to actually pull it off. Many of those steps have counter play already available.

Regardless, to answer to main focus of thread. I am all for FF in its full force, but I know not everyone likes this kind of realism. Sure just having knock back might have an impact on play, but not near as much as you think it would. Even with knock back, if you are put in the position you describe, knock back wouldn't stop the strategy of working.

@nabberwar Im not asking for a remedy to a situation... Im asking for no personal Flak shields for my crew or theirs. I think its silly.

@duke-of-spire said in Balance the Boarding Tactic:

I don't know if anyone remembers this but there was one week early on that friendly cannon fire was turned on! It was the best week ever in my books! As a crew we had to negotiate our shots with our boarders so they didn't take damage. Also "Dodge the cannonballs" on a beach at the end of the night was great and awesome for crew morale!

This was amazing for the short time it was in the game. I have been a proponent of FF being individually toggleable, but even more so for damage to all from any cannon source. I can understand that they feel taking FF damage from a cannon may allow room for toxicity, but for the most part, the cannons are on a fixed point with arguably less grief-ability than Kegs.

CCB's are non-discriminatory, and so should regular CB's!

Welp, it would knockback everyone, not only boarders so its not that good thing.

But friendly fire sounds fine, without some knockback

Turn on both FF and knock back. I love the idea.

@grindtony45 It levels the playing field.. thats why

@tundra-793 "That is a dangerous frame of mind mate. Theoretically, a whole crew could board an enemy ship via cannons, land mid deck very fast and proceed to rampage.
Would you then put the blame on the boarded crew for not sniping, or hitting with cannonballs, in mid air, an enemy boarding team?" No but it is their fault for putting themselves in a position that enabled the enemy crew to do this.

@jdge439 I do like this idea, I really enjoyed it during the week cannon FF was active.

my biggest issue with boarders is the every low skilled player tactic of boarding with gunpowder. almost all ship vs ship fights i get into, result in them boarding with powder, or at least trying too. its very hard to notice someone under the water as you are having a cannon fight. its got to be the lamest part of SoT. having a fun cannon fight, and nekminit u see someone is trying to board. cant do anything to stop them because it blows the barrel anyways if u camp the ladder.

there should be no hit detection on gunpowder if someone is on a ladder. or give us some melee option like a kick with the foot to push people off the ladder without gunpowder blowing. its reallly really lame that u see someone, but cant do anything to stop the barrel blowing. and then lose a fight to a crew that couldnt steer or shoot their ship with any skill. the best part about this game is the ship vs ship combat, the worst part about this game is that 90% of the people out there just circle and swim boarders with tnt, you either have to disengage and let them sail away just incase theres someone swimming or end up losing to low skill tactics.

tldr;

GIVE US A MELEE OPTION THAT DOES KNOCKBACK ONLY, so you can actually defend against powder n00000bs.

thats probably also the best part about Arena, no stupid powder n00000bs, can actually have real battles without the lamest item in the game coming into play. stupid thing needs to be taken out of the game.

@freaktmonline Barrel play is fun at times. I get what you're saying about the ladder though. When someone reaches our ladder we drop anchor and hit the water while one person explodes it with a sword swipe once its on deck. Then we hustle n patch. If you blow it up coming up the ladder it puts a ton of holes in your hull so it's best to get it on deck. Having to use this technique on a brig sucks! A foot to the head would be nice alternative.

@dennis-box when circumstances highlight an issue, you use that to portray the issue.
That's how you articulate that an oversight has occurred. That's how the world works.

Air bags aren't mandatory because if you had just not hit a wall you, wouldn't need them.

I simply used an experience to highlight the silliness of the situation.

@goedecke-michel Thank you. I used the situation to highlight the silliness I saw. I cant think of a better way to do that.

About Kegs, If we are on a Galleon, which we usually are, We all run up to the command deck and wait then all run down and repair/kill the dude. Never Ever chase a guy with a keg, its just suicide. Its better to survive and fix it than to die and sink.

But the FF option would be:

A. More realistic
B. Balance boarding tactics as you would just as easily foil your boarders own plans as you were to kill the home crew with cannon fire.
C. Bring a welcome new obstacle for crews to figure a way to work around. Be it telling them you are aboard, boarding on the side away from cannon fire, staying below deck to make sure you dont get knocked over board.

Id actually enjoy FF being full on with damage too, I think its a great way to make the game real. But the only thing Im really against here is personal Flak shields.

@a-cranky-eskimo

sometimes i wonder why there are people that dont want this game to be good and they try to do these twisted mental gymnastics with people like us who make good suggestions with actionable points.

Regardless of the topic, this topic included, we just don't think the idea being presented makes the game good or better. I can understand from your perspective you see a suggested idea as good, we just don't. I mean most of us on this forum, want to see the game improve. That's something we all can agree with, we just have a different approach to get there.

It definitely isn't a case were we don't want the game to improve. That's kind of silly straw-man to put there.

@Nabberwar

Regardless, to answer to main focus of thread. I am all for FF in its full force, but I know not everyone likes this kind of realism. Sure just having knock back might have an impact on play, but not near as much as you think it would. Even with knock back, if you are put in the position you describe, knock back wouldn't stop the strategy of working.

Didn't you just say you're all for friendly fire? That's all we're asking

@jdge439
If I were to nitpick, my version of FF varies from yours, but for arguments sake yes we agree. I just don't agree with the statement he presented. Just because someone disagrees with a presented idea, regardless of the current topic, does not imply they don't want the game to improve.

Its a straw-man argument, and it does a disservice to whatever argument their championing.

@nabberwar so, to summarize, yes

@nabberwar so, you agree, but you disagree with the presentation.

So instead of just arguing why the presentation doesn't suit you, why not tell us your opinions/give it's your presentation why you'd like it.

Instead of standing up infront of the class to spit on the prior presenter. Give us your thoughts. Not your dismay for the way we like it.