Captain Jack Shadow

They should just go ahead and make Factions a part of the game. That way nobody is left out in the cold, and you can actually trust those in your Alliance. Many of my company left because you can't trust anybody, and the penalty for losing is so high...you literally lose everything. With factions, while you lose everything, people in your faction would more than likely go out of their way to help you rebuild. When I say factions, I mean companies in a faction. You would still form your own companies, but they would be in a faction. Just make it 2, or 4 factions, based on the map. Where you initially settle would determine your faction. Maybe even where you spawn in, which you would choose. The game could help with balance by closing off joining of factions is an imbalance is detected. The Megas could be encouraged by the Devs, on which faction to join, to start off. When single players join, they are only able to join the undermanned faction, if a serious imbalance is detected. Playing hours could be tracked, to also help with this, as hours played is as important as total number of people in a faction.

When you have a ceiling hatch that is one wall high, it won't let you place it because it collides with the floor. Needs fixed. Book shelf requires you to place first, and then place the ceiling over it, if the room is one wall high, such as on a ship. I would like to see the basic building structures be put into a separate category in the code, to allow it to collide with the terrain. Having played on both ARK and Atlas unofficial servers that allow this, I assure you that it makes building much more pleasant to do. Also allows for less structures as you often have to use more structures to find work arounds to the collision issue when you run into those spots that just won't allow a structure to be placed, where you need them to be placed to complete the structure. I totally understand that you don't want every structure to be able to collide, but those issues were largely solved in S+. For instance, while you could mostly bury a vault into terrain, or other structures, when you did so, you could no longer access the inventory, negating the exploit.

With the water temperature perk, it works, even in polar, though you WILL take some health damage.

Had the second whale not disappeared, we would have been good. Not sure what happened to it. We had some screwy stuff happen in that grid. The wreck we were diving on was our own ship. We had a Blue almost dead. Somebody in a Sloop with a medium handling sail was heading straight for the whale, and ended up right on top of it, and disappeared. The whale was behind us. No other whale around. Suddenly our boat started taking massive damage and sank fast. This was immediately after that sloop disappeared on that whale. Odd thing is, there was no wreckage for that sloop. Only our ship. But, our ship had not been stripped, and the whale was still there, and still badly injured when we went back, and killed it. Then we dove our wreck. Another odd thing is that the floating debris was not over our ship. Nothing was under it, and we located our wreck just a short distance away, using the map wreck marker, which was accurate. We killed the three whales and several sharks that showed up. Then we searched for, and found another Blue. Got it down in health, and then one of our guys was credited with the kill. We were going slow...me on the helm...and I stopped immediately. 3 people searched for it, but could not find it, and it definitely did not float to the surface. It was free diving. One person was using the suit, and myself and another, were free diving the wreck. It was our wreck, not a procedurally generated wreck.

I guess I would like to see something like this. Use Crafting Crafting Improved Crafting Further Improved I would like to see improvements in crafting, reduce the cost of crafting. A master craftsman is going to waste less material when they craft, right? As far as use goes, if you are going to have to spec into using better equipment, then that would need to branch off in a separate branch of the tree. Frankly though, that seems a little silly. What is the difference between using a sword made by a master craftsman, and one made by an apprentice? One does not require more skill. It's still a sword. If anything, you might need to be more skilled to use the apprentice made sword. If this is a stand in for being more skilled, then just make it that, and allow it to give a little buff to the item you use, regardless of what level it is. Just make it an actual skill buff, like the Strong Arm skill.

No problem. The game will continue to die.

It was supposed to be two, but it appears that has changed.

Agree.

That's what it was. The middle three whales were whales that just came at us as we were salvaging a wreck. I had wondered if the issue was that they were not one of the surface circling whales, and thus actually a different thing according to the game. The last whale that just seemed to disappear, yeah that was bad luck. I do wish there were more whales at the surface. I hear rumors about this grid, or that grid being the place to go, but honestly, the game needs balance. You shouldn't have to travel all over the map for what you need. Most people don't have the time it takes to travel 9 grids, fight several whales, and then fight the wind to go back 9 grids.

As it is now, you often have to spec into the ability to create, in order to use, or tame in order to ride, etc... What's the point in me being the tamer for the group, if everyone has to spec deep into Beastmastery to ride what I tame?

What you don't realize is that we don't want to play in a game with Megas, where we need to settle on somebody else's island. We want a server tailored for small companies, where we can compete with similar sized companies. We don't want to be the small fish in somebody else's pond. We want our own pond. If the Megas hadn't been so selfish, and asked for Empires to be converted to Colonies rules, but no company and alliance limits, everything would be fine. A lot of people did not come back because word got out that the Megas were going to Colonies.

And they are taken...By Megas who could have afforded bigger islands. Also, you have to choose between a high gold cost, or a crap island with no resources, which means now instead of gold being your problem, resources are. And save the shaming language. It has no affect on me. I see it for what it is. The fact that you use it shows that you don't actually understand the balance problems in the EARLY ACCESS game.

Maybe they can do a hybrid. Maybe there can be a list of islands that are open...no owner, and a list of owned islands, and who owns them. In addition, each island in the list can have the details listed, so if owned, what the raid timer is set to. Then bring back the fog of war. I would, however, like it to reveal a larger area by default. I don't mind having it show me where I have been, but I want more revealed as I pass through a grid. Allow an icon for discovery points that you have revealed, but not accessed. In other words, you sail past an island, close enough to reveal it is there, but not landed...it should show a discovery icon, so you know to go back there and get it. I wouldn't mind the game offering more exploration, but they need to allow the Sloops and Schooners to shine in this department by allowing a new sale just for them, that allows both speed, and more ability to sail closer to the wind, like the maneuvering sails do. So in other words, a sail that combines the speed sail and maneuvering sail. This makes the game friendlier to new companies. The exception should be the ramshackle sloop. That should not come with this sail.

Because most of them cannot play more than a couple hours, and not every day. The problem is mostly time. My issue is that the rates could be better for a small company server, and thus not as much of a problem. Small companies need different things than large companies. Frankly, if I enjoyed playing in a Mega, I would want the wild animals to be much more dangerous, as that would allow the strengths of the mega company to shine. Would be more fun when an Alpha shows up and it takes the 20 or 30 of you online, in the area, to take it out, somewhat comfortably. Having to imprint for 2 days, around the clock makes sense in a Mega with people in Europe, North America, and Asia. It makes no sense for a small company with everyone in just one of those regions. If it is working as intended, the game is likely not for us, or any other small company, who likes not being a Mega.

Costs 1248 gold per 24 hours.

The real question is, why did the three whales we killed at that wreck site, not drop any gold? Does shooting it with a bow, change that? Nobody got an indication that we could access the inventory, and when we chopped them up, there was no satchel for us to access. One was a low level, but one was very high, and the blue was low-medium level. Not sure none of them allowed us to get any gold. We did put one on my whaling schooner, so I suppose I will try it.

The key with the sharks and Ballistas is that somebody has to be the bait, and lure them to the surface in front of the Ballistas. I was usually the bait, as I am spec'd for the swimming, and am good with the bow, but I did kill one with the Ballista as it was after somebody else. I did not get the yellow indication, but killed it just the same, with one shot.

The key is to get very good Bows. Even with a vanilla bow I can beat off one shark, regardless of level, but when it's more than two, that becomes a problem. Thing is, I am not seeing any sharks or other baddies at some of the sites, and at others, only one or two. I suspect the crossbow may help with this, and they may even bring in a harpoon gun with the new patch. Not having adequate weapons is the key. I would use the diving suit if they didn't make me feel so claustrophobic with that unrealistically tiny view. If you have ever put one of those diving hard hats on, you would know that you can see MUCH better than that. From the outside, you would think that the person's view is really restricted, but from the inside, you see that the view is much better than you would think, because your eyes are so close to the glass. Like if you have a very tiny window in a house, from the outside it appears that it doesn't offer much of a view, which is true if you are standing well away from the window, but if you are right up to it, you can see plenty. It took me one time using the diving rig in the game to know I never wanted to use it again. Also, we used the Ballistas to kill sharks last night. The eels were more of a problem, but I killed them with bows.

Actually, those who want a Colonies for small to medium tribes, often talk about just reducing the size and not allowing alliances. And yes, they can say that they will track the transfer of goods, and that on this server, when it becomes obvious to them that two companies are operating together, they will wipe them. It's simple enforcement. They could also make all transfers take place through the trading booths, and thus cost a set amount.

The Devs can develop tracking to see who is doing what. When one company is doing a lot of farming, and giving it to another company, it is obvious that this is one company. You make a rule that this is not allowed. Do away with alliances. No cooperation between Companies. Anyone caught doing it, gets wiped. 2nd time is wipe and 30 day ban. 3rd time is perma ban. I doubt it would ever come to that. I don't think this would be hard. Just let the data compile as to what is going where. When it becomes obvious that one company is feeding another, consequences follow. Cooperating on raids, and defenses, would also be against the rules. You can't control the fact that they can share a common communications system, but you CAN make their cooperation in the game, against the rules. Also, do away with the practice of changing company names, or creating shell companies to raid without consequences. The only thing that should be allowed, is a non-aggression pact on an island, or in a grid. Maybe...but I would be fine with this even being against the rules.

We killed 5 whales last night. 3 Blue Whales and 2 Sperm Whales. The 1st was a Blue, and we got a small amount of gold from it. Seems the whales do not pay out like they used to. Next, we dove a wreck, and in the process, 2 Sperm and one Blue showed up. I enticed them into a fight with my bow, and we killed all three, one at a time. Got no gold from these three. Not sure why. But finally, we killed another Blue we spotted swimming in circles. I was at the helm, and we got the message that one of our guys on the Ballista killed it. So I stopped. Wasn't going fast, so we stopped fast. Three guys went in the water looking for it, and could not find it. It was below the surface when killed, and never floated to the surface. 140 spear bolts, 5 whales, several sharks, and we ended up with somewhere around 600 gold for the first whale. Quite disappointing. Not even enough for a full day's upkeep on our island. Getting to be too much.

But the point is still valid. Youngstown State has won Championships, even though there are many bigger schools in Ohio. They did so because they did not have to compete against them. They are in a different division than Ohio State, Ohio University, Kent State, Akron, Miami (OH), Toledo, Bowling Green, and Cincinnati. The fact that they are in a different league (server) allows those players a chance to have an enjoyable season...a winning season...a Championship season. The idea that everyone must be lumped into one server is absurd.

The point remains. Ohio State, Florida, Texas, Florida State, USC, Oregon, Penn State, Oklahoma, Alabama, etc...they will almost always destroy any FCS, or Div II school that they play against. Occasionally, lightning strikes, and the smaller school will win. So Div II, Div III, and FCS have their own Championship system. They are not required to compete with the larger schools. Yes, there are games between FCS schools and the big boys. This is not about actual competition. This is about money, and only money. The FCS schools will take a pay day that allows the Div 1 FBS school to have another home game, and a better chance at a winning record. It's easier for Vanderbilt, Indiana, Ole Miss, Oregon State, etc..to continue to sell tickets, when they finish 6-6, or 7-5, than if you take away 3 or 4 of those cupcake wins, and replace them with losses against other FBS schools, they will have season after season of losing, and it becomes much harder to fill stadiums. Also, a 6-6 record can qualify for a bowl game, which is another payday for the school. Most FBS teams have 4 to 5 away games each year. If they only played FBS schools, they would have between 6 to 7 away games. When you consider that Ohio State brings in well over 5 million dollars in ticket sales per home game, and that they get even more for things like parking, and other sales at the game, you can see there is a huge incentive to pay a million to a small school to come and get beat up. FYI, Ohio State has NEVER lost to another in-state university. They are not the only large school to boast such a record. Others, who have lost, don't lost very often to a smaller school. There's a reason it was big news when Appy State beat Michigan. It was totally unexpected.

No it's not.

https://www.campusexplorer.com/college-advice-tips/CC202B90/How-is-the-NCAA-Structured/ So like I said, it is mostly based on school size, but there are smaller schools, that have big budgets...wealthy schools...that do compete with the big boys. Like I said, this was mostly accomplished because those wealthy schools were able to BUY the top athletes, back when that was a common practice. Now, they are still able to do so because of their history of success. It is becoming harder for them to do this, after what happened to SMU. They can't buy the top players anymore.