Cannonball Damage Needs a Buff

cannon balls kill you in one hit if they strike your body, i've been hit in the face by the skele cannons a couple of times to attest to their efficacy.

@salclyon yeah those dont think strike your body directly i think, just some splash dmg. though if they keep hitting the same spot while your repair i think it only takes 2, but 3 tops

@salclyon the problem isnt the cannonballs its repairing. Repairing and bilging is OP right now. Takes the fun out of sea battles. I was fighting a galleon the other night and I hit them on two passes 10 consecutive times twice.. I sat nack to enjoy the sinking for them to repair and chase after..

Anyways. I think repairs should take 20-30 seconds each. However incoming water from dmg would need reduced somewhat to stop repairing becoming completely ineffective. This would then add a tough choice of shoot back or go downstairs for 30+ seconds..

I have further thoughts to enhance ship combat which right now needs improvement. I love the back and forth cannon fire but right now it becomes someone swimming over to climb up your ladder which is so helpfully down for them :D considerate pirate ships.

If your only tactic is to shoot the base of the hull you are right..

But you have three cannons on each side, one of your crew could be aiming at the deck to take out a few of their men, see how easily they can keep up when they only have 1-2 guys repairing the ship whilst taking a bombardment

@salclyon I have heard one man can bail 7 holes faster than they can sink it... Ooft. I dont want ship combat to be over fast.. but I dont want to be fighting all night either...is it too much to ask to get this perfectly in the middle :D

@salclyon said in Cannonball Damage Needs a Buff:

As of right now when two competent galleon crews fight, the only way the battle ends if somebody boards and powder kegs the ship or one runs out of resources.

Cannonballs are not a threat unless most of your crew is dead, as any decent crew can easily repair and bail the water out during combat.

I'm suggesting a buff towards player damage not ship damage, as more of the crew being dead makes repairs harder. Cannonballs should one shot players if hit directly while doing repairs. If a powder keg outside the ship can kill a player on repairs, a direct hit from a cannon below deck should too.

This would improve the ship to ship combat and would mostly remove the requirement to board and spawn camp the crew to prevent repairs.

You hit the nail on the head my friend. Firing too many canons when the full crew alive is a mistake. It is a better idea to take out a few players, THEN worry about sinking them. Hit a hole here and there to cause some chaos, but don't let the canons rain until you know they are down some crew. Now you have the easy job, and you didn't waste your ammo.

@only-alexraptor said in Cannonball Damage Needs a Buff:

Funny, everything people complain about regarding naval battles is exactly what makes them FUN for me, and part of the main reason I play the game.
I enjoy the realism that comes from these drawn-out battles of attrition. My only wish is to be able to deal more types of damage such as to masts and rudder and even guns in order to be able to more effectively concentrate sustained fire on a ship. Also, a weak stern and bow that would allow cannonballs to ignore the hull and fly straight through the ship would also be nice in order to encourage "raking" strategies.

But at the end of the day, if a ship is properly stocked up on supplies, victory without boarding becomes a contest in accuracy. In fact sinking ships in this game is A LOT easier than it ever was in the age of sail, on account of it being extremely difficult to land hits below the waterline. The cannons were actually mainly for slaughtering the crew.

And it's still a battle of accuracy, even if ships are actually sinkable, so your point is completely moot.

I would very much like to see an increase in damage done from cannon fire to players below deck, and an even larger increase to a player repairing the hull as it gets hit.

@salclyon "a direct hit from a cannon below deck should too."

True, except, it's not a direct hit... You're not hit by the cannonball itself, you're hit by the explosion from the cannonball hitting your ship.

You want to buff cannonball explosion damage... Because cannonballs already instakill if they directly hit.

Sadly, this is not going to happen... because if we implement this suggestion, then one single cannon shot towards enemy cannons, instantly kills most of the enemy ships crew in one hit... This means ship battles would essentially become a game of who hits first, not who plays best.

"This would improve the ship to ship combat and would mostly remove the requirement to board and spawn camp the crew to prevent repairs."

This sentence directly contradicts itself... How would it improve ships to ship combat, by removing the need for ship to ship combat? ._.

I cannot support this idea.