Recent reviews by b l a m e _

I play this game since the steam release of the early acces.

The game is great, combats are very intense and beautifull.


It not really an hardcore game, but i understand that right now it's not easy for lone beginners. There is no tutorial yet. User interface is still the fonctional but dull work in progress blue UI.

Naval action is a sandbox where you can pick a faction and sail everywhere in the huge carribean. Visit ports, attack any enemy ships (bot or players), ask for PvE missions, build production buildings, produce, loot, craft stuff, material, trading goods, cannons & ships, participate in conquests, trade .

All of this you can do, but you can't do all of this easily if you don't organise with other players from your faction.
So you better buy a microphone and install teamspeak then join your faction teamspeak server, even if you don't join a guild from the start.
Other players will help you in your first steps, they will give you advices, usefull links, maybe even gold or ships.
Because if everything can sometimes seems very difficult to get and easy to loose when you play alone, the game is build around cooperation, and most factions have well organized guilds looking for you even if you are not hardcore.

About combat:

Ship handling is a good mix between realism and arcade. You will have to use wind to your advantage and the more you progress in square-rigged ships, the more it will be important. You will have to use rudder, but also your masts manually to turn or stop faster.
Waves will make you ship roll & pitch. Depending on wich wood your ship is build on, it will be faster or balanced, or very resistant. Crew can be lost by cannon ball or spall and are vulnerable to grape shots if not protected. In short: damage model is very detailled: holes, leaks, fire, demasting, damaged sails, critical explosions, boarding (fonctional but wip) are well represented and you will really be able to feel like a real age of sails captain.

But being an age of sail captain is not an easy career, and battle instance are only a small aspect of Naval action.

Open sea:

If sailing in the open world is faster than real sailing, and wind is not modeled like on Virtual regatta or other sim games, sailing time can still be important if you choose to sail somewhere far with a bad wind, it can take very long.

Speed and wind is what keeps you alive so you still need to watch for enemy ships & wind or you will be sunk by superior forces before you know it. So sail in group or sail fast, ask others about enemy spotted, no place is sure on the map.

Economy:

The game ports have some production and ressources, but economy is mostly player-driven, you can build some buildind in your outposts, and pay your workers to collect ressources, craft & production cost labour hours, you can place or accept trade contracts. Use ressources to craft ships or trading ressources. Due to WIP interface, it's not user-frindly, but the community created lots of tools on the web to help you like navalactioncraft.com. If you don't have any interest in trading or getting rich, your only chance is to join a Clan/Guild, otherwise you can also keep sailing schooners/cutters and hunt traders, it's fun too.



Conclusion:

Naval action will be the only game able to put you in the shoes of a sailship captain of this timeframe (around 1800) in the caribbeans. Don't expect it to be easy, pick the fights you can win, survive as long as you can, If captured or sunk, you will have other chances to get your revenge, but patience is the main virtue in this game !