Add a practice mode for players to practice against AI

@majorityasp936w

Why not just try to hone your skills in the actual Hourglass ?

Discounting brigantines, the practice mode for naval combat is with Skeleton Ships, as they not only have half-competent AI, but they also spam cursed cannonballs that cover how you should handle some weaknesses in combat like suddenly dropped anchors, "lost" masts, the inability to steer, etc.

Sadly, people in this game believe the best practice for PvP like hourglass is just learning from your failures, your 2 hours of endless failure a day somehow makes you better. Not like I'll understand that properly, I guess I'm ignorant. Anyways, better get diving, because there's no way you get hourglass practice without actively getting involved with hourglass itself.

@lem0n-curry It's difficult when matchmaking is 5 - 10 minutes long every time you lose, A dedicated practice mode would be quite nice for honing skills with things like cannon aim and specific scenarios such as boarders.

Edit: Adding on to this, Matches can last at least an hour if you get into a match with a runner that doesn't do anything but try to lure you to a keg zone or the kill barrier.

@nex-stargaze I second that.

When I was grinding for the curse and after finished it my PVP skills have significantly improved. However after stopping it and just enjoying the adventure, I noticed that I have became less consistent. Then I started grinding for the 500 skelly ships title, still had about 200-150 to go. Just finished it last week. After fighting galleons and either hitting them in lower deck or suffering from curseballs and cannonball barrage, it made my aim a lot better. Last few fights against players, I was consistently able to hit and kill their cannon guy, just as I was able when getting the curse.

Boarding the skelly galleon will help with PVP skills too as those skellies will overwhelm you if you don't move quickly around. Just like in CQC PVP, if you stand still - you are toast. Obviously it's not as good of a practice as against players, but it certainly helps if you know what you are doing in the first place.

Your practise is fighting against other ships in Adventure or in Hourglass. Each time you win or lose, you gain valuable knowledge that helps you in the next match. Not that practise mode wouldn’t do this either but why waste resources on building it and having the upkeep when the same job is already being done?

@schwammlgott It's still infuriating honestly.

@tesiccl The problem here is that it's harder to retain the information learned due to everything that happens, The lack of a practice mode makes it more difficult and time consuming for everyone who's new to the game trying to play.

@majorityasp936w maybe that’s the point? This game seems to pride itself in the lack of straight up teaching you what to do and spoon feeding you every bit of info.

@majorityasp936w as mentioned use skelly ships and ghost ships. Be aware for ghost ships they have a more lenient hitbox. Generally try to play how you would against players with skelly ship i.e aim for the skelly on the cannon to stop incoming fire, once killed spread shots across their whole side.

Riding a exercise bike isn’t the same as riding a normal bike.

Just saying…no AI practice will prepare you for player encounters. They are all different and not mindless. (Some repeat the same tactic tho)

@burnbacon But riding nothing at all would be even worse. I think this is a great comparison.

Two identical people won't perfom equally, if one was on exercise and the other wasn't. Not that one all of a sudden would become Lance Armstrong, but conditioning would surely be better ^^

Just my two cents, if you want to get better at cannoneering, I cannot recommend ghost ship voyages enough. My shots were alright prior to shooting for the Ghost Captain Sails, which, to complete, you need to do a total of 50 ghost ship voyages. Which is insane. But if you're the dedicated cannoneer, trust me, you will get real good at shot placement via that practice, and your driver will get real good at driving and angles via that same practice.

I can't speak for boarding and sword fighting, because players DO NOT do the same thing that skeletons do. They have entirely different movement tactics and have different strategies that change depending on their situation. I'm not opposed to the idea of a practice mode or anything, I just feel the main focus of practice you would need is pirate to pirate combat, and that's difficult to learn with AI that act predictably.

@burnbacon It would definitely help with cannon practice though when it comes to getting the right angle.

@thelostsentinel Thank you for your advice! I'll be sure to try that out!

@tesiccl said in Add a practice mode for players to practice against AI:

Your practise is fighting against other ships in Adventure or in Hourglass. Each time you win or lose, you gain valuable knowledge that helps you in the next match. Not that practise mode wouldn’t do this either but why waste resources on building it and having the upkeep when the same job is already being done?

In Adventure, there's tons of preparations that need to be made, tons of loading screens, the RNG MMR matchmaking giving you either a free win, a cheater, a very bored HG/Arena main that RODLs you for every cannonball you fire, a bitter runner making you lose your patience, or an actually fair and relatively balanced fight (even though it will probably take much longer than the mud stomp matches I just listed).

Losing multiple times in a row when you're trying to "improve" is quite demoralizing, which I personally see as pretty unfair for trying to practice PvP. Getting into a "fair" fight is only 1/100, and even then, unless you win your first fight, your supplies won't be enough to remotely win a fight, which puts into question the purpose of practicing.

I know that I likely have a major misunderstanding of what good and healthy practice is due to being a stressed out college student, but even I have to admit, for as much as I can defend the "proper" way, the "proper" way is not friendly and healthy for casual play, and I have as much right to say it has flaws that should have a compromise.

@thelostsentinel said in Add a practice mode for players to practice against AI:

Just my two cents, if you want to get better at cannoneering, I cannot recommend ghost ship voyages enough. My shots were alright prior to shooting for the Ghost Captain Sails, which, to complete, you need to do a total of 50 ghost ship voyages. Which is insane. But if you're the dedicated cannoneer, trust me, you will get real good at shot placement via that practice, and your driver will get real good at driving and angles via that same practice.

I will fight everyone to the grave over this: Ghost Ships are the worst practice you could get in terms of naval practice. There is nothing beneficial you can get out of the event and voyage that's good practice for naval, especially solo. Helming is a nightmare to manage, cannon angles are a nightmare to manage, solo hourglass fights offer more control and less pressure than a Ghost Fleet of any kind by default.

@nex-stargaze you’re being hyperbolic tbf.

Honestly, what I would love is the ability to duel your crewmates. I always wish I could fight my friends especially when it comes to like teaching new people how the sword works.

@tesiccl said in Add a practice mode for players to practice against AI:

@nex-stargaze you’re being hyperbolic tbf.

On the contrary, these are all scenarios I've seen in hourglass, and some even weirder, even more difficult, and even more impossible to beat. Hourglass feels like a cesspool of unfun PvP because the wins don't feel satisfying, and the losses feel demoralizing, if they're not already "humbling". I just lie to myself and say it's a good thing to deal with so people don't get mad at me and incorrectly label my central stance.