The Ship combat thread

[Crucis]

I'm pondering writting a negative review of this game just due to how bad ship to ship combat is. It feels so badly implemented and out of place in game like this.

 

I had fights where I would chase the enemy ship for 10 turns or more, trying to hit it, missing, going left, going right, and then after 15minutes instead of trying to sink them, they board you and you are 4v20 and die in 2 seconds...like who thought this system through, who though this would be fun?

 

This game so far is miles belowed PoE. Right now I'd almost call it a bad game.

 

Some other irks:

- hate the narrator

- hate the stupid english-italian accent

- hate the inclusion of unknown words that you constanly have to hover to see what the NPC is talking about

- hate the rations ship system

 

Basically, there's not one thing here I can agree with.

 

I don't mind the ship combat system.

 

I like the narrator, and really don't understand why people hate her.  Is it because it's a female narrator and not a male narrator?

 

I absolutely LOVE the Valian accent.

 

I do wish I could at least once ask what some of those odd words mean.  But if they're bothering you this much, you must be really looking to be bothered.

 

The ship rations system is nor a big deal.

 

 

Basically, some people wanted a Stronghold with more depth.  AND THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT YOU GOT!!!  And now you're whining about it!!!  

Oh, the irony of it.

Edited May 17, 2018 by Crucis

[Hetmasteeen]

 

I like the narrator, and really don't understand why people hate her.  Is it because it's a female narrator and not a male narrator?

 

 

The narrator was possibly the only thing that bothered me. There's something about her voice that didn't fall in tune with the theme of the game. Every time she'd pop up to narrate the god cut scenes it would pull me out of the game. Her voice more suits something like a Voice over from Disney films like Frozen or Braided. I could almost imagine her dropping out of narration and into a song. Good voice actors need to have character and depth to their voice, and if it's a non-cliche voice then its all the better. I would have preferred the voice used for Maia to be used as Narrator instead. Her voice has a nice strong but almost warm sound to it.

[Frostwyrmwraith]

I actually loved the narrator. I found her very pleasant to listen to.

 

The ship combat is fun at first, but it eventually got a little boring. I basically just avoided it until I had a galleon, then I went out with a full roster of guns and I've literally won every single fight since. I've only had a couple ships flee, and when that happens it's easy enough to just catch them again and charge to boarding range instead of shooting it out. 

[The Sharmat]

 

I'm pondering writting a negative review of this game just due to how bad ship to ship combat is. It feels so badly implemented and out of place in game like this.

 

I had fights where I would chase the enemy ship for 10 turns or more, trying to hit it, missing, going left, going right, and then after 15minutes instead of trying to sink them, they board you and you are 4v20 and die in 2 seconds...like who thought this system through, who though this would be fun?

 

This game so far is miles belowed PoE. Right now I'd almost call it a bad game.

 

Some other irks:

- hate the narrator

- hate the stupid english-italian accent

- hate the inclusion of unknown words that you constanly have to hover to see what the NPC is talking about

- hate the rations ship system

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the closest thing to a rpg with perfext ship-combat/crew mechnics integration is Sunless Sea. Obsidian could have taken a few nods from this and flawlessly intertwined it but no, they wanted to be innovative I guess. The result is a naval system that is just as unfocused and unbalanced as everything else in the game.

 

Reminder that Sunless Sea has a crew depletion and boarding system you will never see because the damage values of guns prevent it and it was never fixed.

[Lord_Mord]

 

...

 

. . .

 

How eloquent.

[Zagadka]

Text combat, overhead party movement over the world... this is a huge nostalgia for NES RPGs...

[FuzzyPuffin]

Hell no, I love the ship stuff. I think many people who dislike it just need to learn it properly. At first I wasn't huge on it but now I love it. I love winning a battle when you are the underdog, such a good feeling.

The problem is there is no tutorial, so you’re introduction to it is no good. I found it frustrating so I shelved it. When I came back to it later in the game I bought a galleon and all the upgrades, which lets you spam the 1 key and board every time without any thought.

[Farsha]

Ship combat can be intense... when it starts. Problem is you have to spend a couple of rounds running on the opponent ship before reaching fire range. 

You need Imperial long cannon, 8-10 of them actually

[GamerSerg]

To be clear, I'm loving PoE2 and overall really enjoy the game but I have to be honest that ship combat is pointless.  I hate to be so negative when I do appreciate how hard the devs work on these things but there is no advantage to sinking a ship over boarding it and you can't capture ships either way so there is just no reason to sit there shooting cannons back and forth for 10 minutes when you can just rush forward full speed ahead, board the ship and win with very minimal damage to your ship or crew (opponent usually gets off maybe one round of cannon volley).

 

If you chose to board right from the beginning you automatically take damage but it's so easy to just enter combat and rush forward with little to no damage.  Every ship encounter goes like this for me....  Press 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1, 2 (prepare for boarding).  Then sit back and watch as my party slaughters the other crew on auto combat.

 

There is no strategy or tactics necessary.  I'm using only the starting base ship with no upgrades at all.  There is absolutely no point wasting money on bigger ships or ship upgrades (and yes the other captains are my level or higher).  

 

There needs to be some incentive to participate in ship combat like maybe a chance they will surrender if I do enough damage.  Or make it more risky to simply rush forward.  Every battle I have been in, the enemy captain just parks and holds position without moving as I rush towards him.     

[daven]

I like it but it could use more variation in strategy. It seems the Fire -> Jibe -> Stop or just Fire -> Jibe - Stop or just Fire pattern is an automatic win in every fight I have.

Yeah I kind of figured that out in my first battle. Is that all there is to it?!

Edited May 17, 2018 by daven

[PangaeaACDC]

 

I like it but it could use more variation in strategy. It seems the Fire -> Jibe -> Stop or just Fire -> Jibe - Stop or just Fire pattern is an automatic win in every fight I have.

Yeah I kind of figured that out in my first battle. Is that all there is to it?!

 

 

Essentially yes, but it depends on what happens. Maybe a ship makes a run for it and you need to go after it, especially if you can't fire again for a few rounds. Maybe there is a fire on board or something, so you need to take measures.

 

I like it a lot though. Been fun so far. Unfortunately sounds like we will run out of ships, so at some point I'll have to use merchants for target practice.

[artyom]

ship combat was a very good idea in general, it was just implemented poorly. This menu type combat is dull.

 

The thing that doesnt fit into the game is how fast and exciting and spectacular the normal fights are compared to how slow ship fights are with all that pointless repetitive narration and repetitive actions.

 

If anyone were to enjoy these narrative-type mini games, one would have created millions of separate independent such games because they are very simple to develop. But nobody likes them, so why was it added....

[Jayngo]

I for one like the ship combat. It's a nice side quest mini game kind of thing.

 

I suppose the question that needs to be asked is:

 

 

Would you prefer Caed Nua or the ship, taking into account all the work that goes into both (unlocking rooms, ship battles, etc)?

 

 

IMO, for the Deadfire setting, the ship fits perfectly, but overall, I would much rather be an owner of a huge castle and all the bonuses that come with it. Truthfully, I never had an issue with much of it in Pillars (minus having to travel back to defend it). I hope IF there is a PoE3 that we get a stronghold again. All this negative talk surrounding both may make Obsidian say: "Screw it." I hope that's not the case.

[Yakmann]

I personally prefer the ship to Caed Nua, at least from a gameplay perspective. The Caed Nua stuff wasn't very engaging.

And the ship combat is ok, certainly better than the Caed Nua attacks. I just wish there was more to do with the ship - apart from the bounty quests, I think only one quest really involves your ship directly (transporting cargo). It just feels like the necessary vehicle for travel, and no more meaningful than just walking. From all the talk around it, I expected it to be more involving and involved.

[Ineth]

 

Why hold for a turn?

It increases accuracy of your cannons

 

Thanks.

I didn't do that, so that might explain why it always took so many turns until I finally managed to sink the other ship.

 

 

Every ship encounter goes like this for me....  Press 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1, 2 (prepare for boarding).  Then sit back and watch as my party slaughters the other crew on auto combat.

 

[...]

There is absolutely no point wasting money on bigger ships or ship upgrades

 

Well, if you invest in some combat speed upgrades, you won't have to press the 1 key quite as often before you can board...

 

I hate the "continue" button, 'nuff said!

 

Oh yes.

Ideally, you'd just choose a move, and then both your action and the opponen'ts action would play out without additional key presses, and then it would prompt you for your next move.

[ThacoBell]

Had my first ship combat, and yeah, not a fan. Just clicking menu options with still images is not immersive for combat at all.

[Greygore]

Is it just assumed that you destroy/sink the enemy ship after boarding it?  I would think taking it over if it's better than the Defiant, or at least hauling it back to a port to sell it would make sense.

 

I've only actually been in one ship battle so far and didn't have a clue what I was doing.

[marimo]

I didn't like the ship combat either at first but by the end of the game it grew on me. I think the biggest problem with it is the difficulty is very front-loaded. It's frustrating in the beginning when you don't have all your companions and sidekicks recruited and you're getting attacked by other ships all the time, on top of having to learn how the battles work. By the endgame, the battles become trivial. 

 

I do like the little flags you take that show up on your ship though.

[Lokizarro]

My ship combat currently goes as follows:

 

- Mash "1" repeatedly to get closer.

- "Prepare to board!"

 

That's just me, always works though. Glad they give the option just to skip it and get right into the combat.

[wih]

Maybe Obsidian should just implement a ship battles autoresolve option. The outcome can be influenced by the stats of the ships, captains and crew members. Those players that don't like the ship battles can autoresolve but will still have an incentive to buy better ships and hire better crew.

[ThacoBell]

I usually just rush to board, and deal with the injuries.

[Crucis]

I for one like the ship combat. It's a nice side quest mini game kind of thing.

 

I suppose the question that needs to be asked is:

 

 

Would you prefer Caed Nua or the ship, taking into account all the work that goes into both (unlocking rooms, ship battles, etc)?

 

 

IMO, for the Deadfire setting, the ship fits perfectly, but overall, I would much rather be an owner of a huge castle and all the bonuses that come with it. Truthfully, I never had an issue with much of it in Pillars (minus having to travel back to defend it). I hope IF there is a PoE3 that we get a stronghold again. All this negative talk surrounding both may make Obsidian say: "Screw it." I hope that's not the case.

 

I agree that for the Deadfire setting, the ship as stronghold does fit. But overall, I'd rather have neither a castle nor a ship for my optimal "stronghold".  Were it in PoE1, I'd have rather had a nice little house in Dyrford.  Or alternatively, a nice little townhouse in Defiance Bay.

 

I don't overly mind the ship.  And it's kinda nice that you aren't required to upgrade your ship, at least as far as I've gotten into the game.  I've gotten pretty well into it without needing to upgrade.  I did buy a couple of cannons just to fully arm the Defiant, and bought some cheap upgrade sails for a smidge more speed.  But I really didn't HAVE to do it.  In truth, I prefer charging the enemy ship and forcing a boarding action, to any long, prolonged ship vs ship action using the guns.

[Purudaya]

I usually just rush to board, and deal with the injuries.

 

Don't even bother with rush to board - it assumes way too much damage. Just keep hitting "1" (full speed ahead) until you reach boarding range and you'll take maybe one or two hits.

[illathid]

I like the ship combat system, but I think having some random/environmental events that makes you change up your strategy could be fun. Like a huge swell block lines of sight, reefs that make you change directions, etc.

 

EDIT:

Thinking about this more, you could have the various crew member traits potentially set off events too. Maybe have a drunkard pass out during a fight, or have malicious one fire early, etc.

Edited May 18, 2018 by illathid

[Epimetreus]

I think the biggest issue is the lack of a proper tutorial. Many who have had trouble with the system might feel different about it if it had been explained properly.

 

The suggestion above to add an optional auto-resolve function is interesting. I probably wouldn’t use it (now that I have a big ship loaded with heavy guns and expert crew), but it would give people who hate the system a way to enjoy their play more. After all, there’s a story mode for those who don’t like how tactical land combat works, or find it boring.

 

So - a few tweaks, maybe some AI improvement and less spamming Continue - and I think more will be happy. I was thrilled once I figured out close-turn-hold-fire-jibe-hold-fire, but it does get repetitive. Overall, I think it’s good, and I am not a fan of minigames, generally.