The Defias Blog

Birth of a Vendetta

Havohej — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 23:36:59 +0000

ven·det·ta \ven-?de-t?\ n.
1 : blood feud
2 : an often prolonged series of retaliatory, vengeful, or hostile acts or exchange of such acts

The Pirate Hunter

Somewhere off the Florida Keys, December 1720
Aboard the Xebec Jackal

“Sails on the horizon!” came the spotter’s call. Captain Stephen MacKenna brushed a lock of stray hair from before his eyes as he took the spyglass from Quartermaster Dugan. By the shape of her sails, the captain made her out to be some manner of packet-boat and by her speed, he surmised that she was probably heavily modified; perhaps a ‘Hermes’ Sleek or an ‘Expedition’ Privateer Packet-boat - wouldn’t that be nice! Her ensign was that of a French Naval Officer and she sported the arms of a society called the Legio Auxilia, an unknown factor recently arrived in the area.

“Beat to quarters, Mister Jones,” MacKenna ordered. Ship’s Musician Harlon Jones began pounding out a staccato rhythm on a bodhrán drum and within moments, the deck of the Jackal was a flurry of activity as the few men on the top deck were joined by dozens from compartments below. While they may seem a motley assortment of vagabonds to the unwary eye, this cutthroat crew represented some of the finest men ever to serve before the mast under the Jolly Roger and they knew their business as well as the Old World navies’ best seamen; indeed, some of them had been a part of those navies before various indiscretions had led them to the black flag. The difference was that these men had absolutely nothing to lose, and everything to gain - Captain MacKenna’s Articles of Agreement guaranteed each and every one of them a fair share… that’s what made them dangerous.

Once the majority of the crew had found their places, MacKenna shouted over the wind, “Make ready for battle!” The captain knew that his ship would be very difficult to spot beyond 30 miles so if he wanted surprise and a favorable wind, he would have to get the Jackal downwind of the packet-boat before the Frenchman sighted her so he took the wheel himself. His men had seen Red Stephen on the chase before. The fire behind those eyes could be startling, especially given how cold they were any other time, and they knew that, on board the Jackal, there was no finer helmsman. Captain MacKenna growled in frustration as he saw the packet-boat alter her course.

“We’ve been spotted! Bos’n, get me oars in the water! Dugan, ration out some rum to get these ladies motivated again!” Eyes fixed on the ‘Hermes’ Sleek Packet-boat, MacKenna couldn’t spare the time to see that his orders were being carried out nor could he let his concentration on the wheel lapse long enough to listen to the booming voices of Quartermaster Seamus Dugan and Boatswain Smilin’ Fred Haywood. But he trusted his officers and he trusted his crew - they’d all made each other both rich and hunted since his father was hanged and there was no reason for to think they’d fail him now.

As the xebec Jackal drew closer and closer to to the ‘Hermes’, Master Gunner “Lazy Eye” Ozzy Smith and his cannoneers looked expectantly to their captain, eager to open the gunports but not daring to do so without Red Stephen’s say-so for fear that the slight increase in drag might cost them the chase and incur all of their captain’s wrath. The first Article of Agreement was “Every Man shall obey civil Command,” which basically meant that the captain’s word must be obeyed above all else, possibly on pain of death, whomever the captain may be at that time - after all, many pirate captains were elected, in power only through the “consent of the governed” and though he came from a comfortable background Red Stephen’s crew was no exception. As soon as Captain MacKenna was certain that he’d gotten far enough downwind of the packet-boat, he shouted the order they were all waiting for:

“Run out the guns!”

Captain MacKenna knew he’d only get one shot at this; if he couldn’t sink or board the target fast enough, she’s use her better downwind sailing characteristics to escape and there wouldn’t be much the Jackal could do to chase as her best point was closer to 45°, not 135°. Still, he had to try. Even if she weren’t carrying anything of value, that packet-boat could be serious competition for targets in this small hunting ground and that just wouldn’t stand!

Understanding that he was caught, the captain of the ‘Hermes’ Sleek had already ordered his crew to quarters. No doubt things were proceeding much differently on the Navy ship than on the pirate xebec, low-ranking and poorly-paid seamen carrying out precisely structured drills in the hopes that they might someday be fortunate enough to get noticed and promoted to their own commands. Men like that just don’t fight as hard, especially in situations like this one where they’d been caught unaware by a vessel much better prepared for the type of fight they had been pulled into. Men like that are easily intimidated, and their captains doubly so because of it.

So, outsail her though he may, when the packet-boat captain inevitably found himself downwind of the Jackal, he turned tail and ran. Red Stephen’s eyes narrowed as he watched his target slowly pull away. “Some pirate hunter you turned out to be,” he muttered. Quietly, he told Mister Jones to “quiet that racket” and as he turned to walk past Quartermaster Dugan and retire to his cabin he said, “Legio Auxilia… remember that name, Seamus. They’re our new best friends.”

Merry Christmas!

Havohej — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 08:06:48 +0000

Just a quick Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays; enjoy your alcohol responsibly! :)

Garbad’s Ship of the Week - ‘Mercy’ Naval Frigate

Havohej — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 05:01:00 +0000

This week at The Defias Blog, Garbad_the_Weak discusses the ‘Mercy’ Naval Frigate, which is one of the Naval Officer’s class-specific MoV ships.

Key Ship Stats

Max Speed: 17.00
Acceleration: 1.08
Turning: 9.00
Turning Accel: 5.85
Armor: 1638 / 10 DR
Sails: 2875
Top Deck: 16 x 8lb Guns
Gun Deck: 28 x 18lb Guns
Defining Characteristics: More hitpoints, better sailing characteristics, heavier, more accurate guns and faster reload than the ‘Defiant’ Mastercraft Frigate it’s based on.

Mercy — Level 50 Naval Frigate

The ‘Mercy’ is a Naval 44 gun warship intended as an open sea supremacy fighter. Featuring superb long range DPS, solid toughness, and a very good top speed the ‘Mercy’ has ruled the sea for a long time. The ‘Mercy’ is generally used as an OS Heavy fighter and as such regularly squares off against bundlehercs, ‘Dauntless’es, and other refits. Should things go poorly, the ‘Mercy’ has enough speed to escape or keep its distance. The ‘Mercy’s weakness is poor agility and relatively poor armor (compared to its peers), and it can get mauled in close range fights. As a MoV refit, she is expensive, but is well worth it.

The Mercy in Perspective

The ‘Mercy’ Naval Frigate comes from a very large family. Its direct kin include the vanilla ‘Defiant’, the Sleek ‘Defiant’, the ‘Gallant’ Naval Frigate (which is a MoV refit of the vanilla ‘Defiant’), and the Mastercraft ‘Defiant’. Each of these ships shares a similar flavor (high top speed, moderate armor, good long range firepower), but they have dramatically different results. The vDefiant is almost never used because its low gun count makes its DPS poor relative to the MC ‘Raa’ . The Sleek ‘Defiant’ and MC ‘Defiant’ were recently buffed, and have some potential as chasers and skirmishers, but in general they looks inferior to the ‘Minerva’ (which is large, not huge). The ‘Gallant’s recent buff was even more interesting. It’s unusually tough for its level and has outstanding target tracking and accuracy, as well as an excellent top speed. It’s not quite the equal of most level 50 frigates, but it’s close. It has some potential for a wealthy NO who wants to get into fleet PvP right away. None of these ships is anywhere near as popular as the ‘Mercy’, however.

The ‘Mercy] also is frequently compared to the ‘Dauntless’ (better range, accuracy, armor and speed) and the ‘Archelon’ (better long range DPS and speed, less armor by far). Finally, ‘Mercy’ vs. bundleherc is one of the most common fleet fights in the game (Herc has agility and toughness, mercy has ranged DPS and speed).

The Mercy and Pirates

The ‘Mercy’ is a very prized capture for pirates. Many pirates believe the ‘Mercy’ is even better with the CT/BU skillset, and prefer it even to their own MoV/bundleboats. As it happens, I have a Naval Officer, a Buccaneer, and a Cutthroat who each own a ‘Mercy’ at this moment, and I thought it might be useful to compare the ‘Mercy’ as sailed by other classes.

In these screens, the Cutthroat and Naval Officer are rigged identically (2 Runner’s Rigs, 2 Precise Gun Tackles, 2 Double-Planked Hulls, Overloaded Cannons, Engineered Structure, Explosive Powder) and are each using Crew Focus: Gunnery and Fine-Grained Gunpowder (for accuracy). The NO is using reload and damage toggles (plus passives), and the CT is using Rum Ration and Sacrifice for Victory (plus passives). The Buccaneer is rigged a bit differently (2 Runner’s Rigs, 2 Devastating Guns, 2 Double-Planked Hulls, Overloaded Cannons, Engineered Structure, Explosive Powder). I gave him more damage because BU DPS sucks and because I figured the reduced turning wouldn’t hurt a BU much (who get large boosts to turning). The BU is using accuracy powder, his prebuff, and passives (no hound, survivor, or whistle). In all three cases, no one else is buffing them.

I also did some comparisons using Douglas Jackman’s excellent Ship Comparison tool. The outcome was not at all what I expected. I expected the CT to have similar DPS to the NO and superior speed/agility. Instead, the NO has far, far superior DPS (15-40% depending on range). This is due to the NO’s accuracy and range bonus, which fits nicely with the ‘Mercy’s strengths. The BU’s DPS was in the middle, probably due to its focus on spiking and better accuracy (NO DPM = 1343, CT DPM = 1108, BU DPM = 1183). The speed, as expected, heavily favored the rats. Rats simply get a lot more speed out of a ship. My NO with those riggings would peak out at about 26 knots, while my BU would hit 27.4 regular and 32.3 with Whistle Down the Wind. The CT could hit 30 before Dump Guns and 31.7 with Dump Guns.

Contrary to my expectations, the ‘Mercy’ is not better for rats than NOs. In combat, the NO has a major advantage as his skill set is better tuned to the long range combat the ‘Mercy’ is designed for. Likewise, much of the CT’s agility and debuffs were wasted at long range and the BU was unable to use some of its best skills. The ‘Mercy’ still has some potential in the hands of a pirate (specifically because of its ease of escape and/or kiting), but there is no doubt a NO is superior in terms of toughness, DPS and range.

Conclusion

The ‘Mercy’ is a staple of OS PvP for good reason. It’s an excellent ship overall, and the best long range fighter in the game. Its outstanding blend of firepower, speed and toughness make it an excellent skirmisher and supremacy fighter. Every NO should seriously consider coughing up the doubloons for this ship and every pirate should pray the NOs get careless with it.

Oh, and she just happens to be one of the most beautiful ships in the game. Not that we would pick a ship based purely on how cool it looks. Right. =P

This article was originally posted by Garbad_the_Weak in the Pirates of the Burning Sea official forum here.

Garbad’s Ship of the Week Archive

Another Uneventful Week

Havohej — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 01:28:33 +0000

As the title says, really. I’ve spent the bulk of my time this week job hunting without success; in a desperation bid I even went sniffing around at the local fast-food joints hoping to at least find something to tide me over. At one place, I was told they had too many people already and that nearly everyone was being cut to 2 days/week - that’s not even 20 hours!

My leisure time has been spent levelling a couple of nationals on Pirates of the Burning Sea’s Blackbeard server, mainly just to get a sense of that side of the game. My main character remains Stephen MacKenna, though - yarr!

I’m considering the 5-day EVE-Online Free Trial offer CCP e-mailed me the other day, sort of a ‘winback’ effort I guess. It talked about all the changes that came with Quantum Rise and offered me 5 free days with my existing account. I planned to resub for a few months after the new year (probably in February or March), but I might at least use the 5 days… haven’t decided yet.

Ground Rules Explained

Havohej — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 00:58:06 +0000

In another impressively candid forum post reminiscent of early CCP Dev forum activity, Flying Lab Software CEO Russell “Rusty” Williams described how the FLS development team behind Pirates of the Burning Sea set their priorities.

In recent weeks, ever since the AvCom overhaul was announced, there has been a flood of joyous praise for this change which is seen by many as a giant leap in the right direction but there has also been a tremendous backlash from PotBS players who believe Flying Lab Software’s development budget dollars would be better spent on other features such as the in-game economy, the much-anticipated (by some :P) Skirmish system or oft-teased about Port Governance just to name a few. Every time a change is announced that doesn’t have to do with one of the problems (both real and perceived) that players tend to consider “more important,” the rabble-rousers come out on the official forums in force.

For every person who understands that software development companies are just that - companies - and that they are divided into departments where every developer is responsible for a specific type of content, there seem to be a dozen others who don’t understand. They seem to believe that if a company has thirty developers, then all thirty of them should be focused on Feature A regardless of whether that’s their particular area of expertise. Those few of us who do get it, though, are quite pleased with the way things are; we don’t want graphic artists tampering with the way our ships’ fittings are balanced against others’ fittings thank you very much!

In addition to the average gamer’s ignorance of how businesses operate, FLS must also contend with the perception that because Pirates of the Burning Sea is distributed through Sony Online Entertainment it must also be controlled by SOE. Considering SOE’s reputation for destroying good games (like Star Wars: Galaxies and possibly EverQuest/EverQuest II now), this negative perception has been difficult for FLS to shake despite numerous assurances that Flying Lab Software is in control of its own destiny.

Yesterday, the following question was posted on the Pirates of the Burning Sea Official Forum:

“It has been noticed that the current extensive wish list of future content was put on hold for several months for the avcom re-vamp.

Does Rusty, SOE or the project manager now set the priorities for future development & what can we expect in the coming few months.
How does the new FLS project distract from the future speed of developing & adding new Potbs content?

Thank you.”

-PotBS Player

Rusty broke his two-week-long silence to reply, and quite promptly I might add! Among the informative nuggets were the following points I would like to highlight:

“…we have a huge list of new features that’s about three years worth of work. These new features enable new forms of gameplay, content, etc. Some of them are neat, little features, and some of them are big projects (such as player governed ports).”

-Russell “Rusty” Williams, Flying Lab Software CEO

For anyone who has concerns as to how long PotBS is going to survive, or how long FLS is going to continue working with it, nobody bothers making three years’ worth of plans if they don’t believer they’re going to be there for at least that long!

“SOE never sets our priorities. The development of Pirates is entirely ours. Michelle and Isildur are the lead voices in setting priorities and while I can override them, it rarely happens. I often show up with some new feature I want to implement, or to get an answer for the forums, but i haven’t had to change development priorities in a while.”

-Russell “Rusty” Williams, Flying Lab Software CEO

“SOE never sets our priorities.” (It bears repeating.) As Mr. Williams has said on this very blog, “Flying Lab is self-financed via its founders, SOE doesn’t hold any purse strings.”

“…we’ve hired several new devs recently, and one of them is going to be focusing on supporting the mission designers. [...] Dev support makes creation of content faster, and opens up new possibilities of missions via new features.”

-Russell “Rusty” Williams, Flying Lab Software CEO

Again, for anyone concerned with the health and future of Pirates of the Burning Sea, it’s not going anywhere! :D In a subsequent post, Mr. Williams also mentioned that an official affiliate program is coming soon; maybe I can start getting a little bit of love for conversions from those banners at the top of this blog, now (24 clickthroughs in total and at least one new sub that I know of as a result)! I encourage any PotBS player who hasn’t yet seen the post to check it out. I also encourage anyone who isn’t yet a player of Pirates of the Burning Sea to take a look - things are moving right along for PotBS! In the two months or so that I’ve been playing, I’ve seen dramatic improvements to the state of the game (and it wasn’t bad when I started to begin with!) and it’s only getting better.

I would also like to take this opportunity to say farewell to Director of Community Relations, Troy “Aether” Hewitt, who announced today that he’ll be resigning on the 19th of December. Happy Holidays, Aether; may you find fair winds wherever you should go.