Check out this naval combat

[Amigo345]

An new indie game has just entered eraly access. A team of 5 ppl made it.

 

Abandon Ship

 

http://store.steampowered.com/app/551860

 

It has a real time ship to ship combat and some exploration. Not sure about the engine but it looks like unity. Could PoE 2 have this kind of ship combat? How do you fancy this? 

[Wormerine]

Ya, I had my eyes on it for a while. I will wait till its finished though and reviews are out before purchasing. 

Visual presentation isn't much of a concern to me, what Deadfire already has is great, and I really can't figure out mechanics from store page to see of there is anything there Obsidian could borrow from. 

EDIT: Watched a playthrough on youtube. Based on a tutorial, it doesn't seem to do anything more than what Deadfire already does - basic crew stats, manning different parts of a ship, different cannons useful against different ship arts (connon, chain, grape). It seems you can aim manually, but I am not sure how much it does - you need to use different cannons for different ship parts (sail, hull, crew). "Abandon ship" has a damage and repair system (like in FTL) though Deadfire has something like that with the "event" system. Positioning seems more limited than in Deadfire.

Edited February 21, 2018 by Wormerine

[Amigo345]

Heres a thought. Text based ship battles and crew management in POE2 may seem fun at first but they can turn into a tedious busywork after a while.

[Wormerine]

True. But "text based" has little to do with it. It is not in presentation where potential problems lie. If it has interesting mechanics and variety, or it doesn't If it will become tedious I would rather have it text based where I can skip ahead quickly, than have to way 30s for guns to load in a real time combat. With bad base mechanics it could look like "Black Flag" and still be tedious.

Sadly, from what I saw and heard Abandon Ship isn't great. Hopefully it will improve throughout early access.

[Osvir]

Hah, I think Deadfires Scripted interactions look really cool and fits Pillars of Eternity. Is it possible to do more with them?

I don't think pirate combat in games like Abandon Ship, Black Flag, or even Sid Meiers would fit Pillars of Eternity. Though, I'd definately want some expanded options or expanded system. Perhaps something like Battleships, a Minimap, and a game of both wits and prediction. RNG included. Which way is my opponent facing? Which way am I facing? Can I manouver in such ways that I can play a smaller ship, with faster movement and just be a nuisance? Escape? Hardy? Magical? Powerful? Perhaps allowing for ships to go in 8-directions, or maybe even as far as 16-directions. Something slower, more chess-like, Square tiles/grid. With a Minimap and decided/designed movement sequences, you could even insert more ships in the combat sequence, fighting off 3-4 ships at a time.

... and ultimately, own a Fleet. If you have money to buy a new ship, then you should be able to just simply add a ship and crew for it? Trading or Patrolling for economy, some Exploring, Fighting. Fantasy Sins of a Solar Empire/Jagged Alliance, with a touch of Sid Meier's pirates (or perhaps New Horizons?).

There should be an option to capitulate your opponents, if you defeat their Captain. Duels, almost like Monkey Island (Scritped Interactions). There could even be scripted interactions where nothing happens, just both parties staying their guns, tension in the air, or perhaps hailing each other as friends or to warn of danger. Scripted interactions during Naval Combat could be Non-Combat encounters even. Traders for instance. Or bandits in disguise. Opposing and Ally factions. Depending on Perception and Mast Scout, Scripted interactions could occur more frequently or less. With a High perception you'd start it sooner, before the enemy ship has even noticed you (Naval Stealth), or avoid Scripted interactions with allies.

Or simply have an Enemy Status Indicator (Hover?) and choose what to do with them as soon as you see them? (Questionmark until proven otherwise) Start Scripted interaction from far away, or when getting closer. Touching ships on the World Map always result in boarding. AI having Set radius depending on Level, allowing them to Force scripted interactions from far away, or very close as well.

Parts of the above would allow more varied battles, visually.

It looks right now like you are in range so quickly, and bouts occur fairly quickly, and you only get a sense of how you are moving through a compass like shape.

Right now the Naval Combat looks a lot 1D, with some 2D elements. It looks fun and charming! Just very simple. I really really like the "sort of" 4X inspired(?) elements of resource management for the ship & crew.

Also:
Are crewmates generic NPC's? Do they have little bits of personality and wills, motivations? Or just Adventurer Party goons following the Watcher around? Do you give crew points or abilities? How do they get better, random or custom crewmate? If I make an Adventurer, can I also make them man the ship? Or are they separate? (Adventurering can't be Crew and vice versa)

Finally, I believe Naval Combat would be worth a $ Expansion. Turn-Based but also a little bit RTwP, sort of fading into Turn-Based, and fading out of it into RTwP. Right now it just clips into Turn-Based.

TL;DR:
1) More scripted interactions
2) Monkey Island, duels, scrited interactions
3) "Battleships", Minimap, Fleet, 8-/16-Direction movement
4) Crew abilities? Crew Hall? (Adventurer's Hall~) Questions about crew
5) World map engagement
6) Overall variety~
7) Deadfire Naval Combat $ Expansion Worth Content

Edited February 28, 2018 by Osvir

[Amigo345]

Im pretty sure devs looked at several games featuring naval combat Abandon Ship included. Why they rolled with this option?

 

Partially because real time combat would require more work and would become a game within a game drawing too much focus from RPG part. So its a compromise decision just like the Stronghold in part 1.