Ship turning during naval battles and understanding and compass display

[wino345]

Thanks for a fun and challenging game,

Most things in the game are easy to figure out, and in the tutorials or in other players' videos, but despite me already completing 26 of the 50 achievements possible, I still struggle to understand almost everything about the naval battles.

Tops among these are some basics that are irritating.
(1) I have no idea how I am supposed to rotate my ship during battles, and the cost of rotations. I know I am supposed to try and use rotation to shoot from one side of the ship and then the other, but that's it.
(2) Sometimes I'll see something that looks like a target or a sundial get put around a ship during battle, but I have no idea how it got there or what it means. Am I or my opponent , locked in place? Have I been damaged? Am I being shot at from multiple sides? I have no clue.
(3) I see fires being put in locations just one square away, and I know that is supposed to be harming my ship, but if it is also just one square away from the ship that started it, does that mean it is also being damaged or does it just mean I can't move there? What about my opponent?
(4) When my opponent or I use a captain's tactic, I see a giant number then displayed. I presume that means I (or my opponent) have to wait that many turns to use it again, but what about the other ships of mine (or my opponent)?
(5) Apparently you can use grape shot or canister shot, or even some other shot, but there is no explanation of why attacking a ship versus the crew directly is preferable? I'm not a naval guy, so this would be of interest.

There are also weird things relating to finding lost people, who never seem to be where the game tells you to go find them, or Viceroys asking you to capture enemy towns when you haven't even got one captain up to a high level yet. Or pirates being at level 12 or 13 within two months of a game starting, while getting your captains up to a high level from the starting 1-3 level takes 4-9 years, yet you are being told to go chase them down.

Overall, though, a great game, and I appreciate you sticking to mostly historical accuracy (crops in some cities being the understandable exception).

[69Inanna69]

Sorry wino..

1. i went on a break for a while,so haven't played for 6 weeks.
or i woulda answered earlier.

2. I just spent an hour answering your 100 questions..
But then somehow pressed a wrong button and the page reloaded and it was gone.

So i cant be xxxx'ed typing it all out again., atm..

If you wanna add me to friends, maybe we can just voice this later when we are both online?

[wino345]

Thanks for trying. I've had that happen to me, too. Guess we all have at some point. Sent you a friend invitation.

[69Inanna69]

You are welcome. hope the info helps in your next freeplay game.
...Since its best if thats the direction you take from start of a game, rather then swapping directions in the middle of the game..

Like captains need the +25 boarding combat (Close Combat Fighter), and 8% leadership as their possible max.. which helps : ) So best to hunt for a captain like that early in the game. And level them up to that.
ETC ETC

But hopefully some of the info's useful for campaign's too.

[wino345]

Thanks so much. Will put your advice to use in a freeplay game as soon as I finish the final campaign (English) challenge. Great talking to you and very useful information.

[Lord Bludgeon]

Don't feel bad, combat is $hit. Sometimes you can fire from a certain angle, sometimes you can't. I guess it all depends on whether the AI thinks you should be able to beat it or not. This is why ALL the previous combat systems worked better than this one, even PR 3 (and that's saying a lot). PR 2 was best, been downhill from there. It's a damned shame, too, as there really are a lot of good things about this release.

If I wanted to play Chess I'd buy a Chess board, a lot cheaper.

[wino345]

Thanks for the comment. I least I know it's not just my issue.

[Jambie Lionheart]

Woulda been more fun if they'd make it a little more chess like :P

Currently I'm trying to figure out the turning system in relation to firing system. Sometimes i'll fire on an enemy ship and think I can turn to fire again but then can't. Just seems silly that we can turn 90 degrees but not 180 in the same hex.

[Wingnut]

Originally posted by CtMurphy:

Currently I'm trying to figure out the turning system in relation to firing system. Sometimes i'll fire on an enemy ship and think I can turn to fire again but then can't. Just seems silly that we can turn 90 degrees but not 180 in the same hex.

Its a sailing ship not a ballerina.
The combat system in this game is retarded, not even remotely like naval warfare in the age of sail. In all the port roayle and patrician games the combat system is bad.