Ahh the POTBS battles .. i loved the early game skirmishes, and end game red zone(these areas are pretty much PVP FFA between all 3 nations.) skirmishes... Thanks for reminding me about the good times in the game Merlin =D
It was loads of fun... I too was stumped by econ... i made a few mistakes getting my ammo production line started, until i linked up with a crew (Les Condamnes, in game) and we started a production line which in the made our French nation quiet powerful in the end.
I remember in the beggining i was called upon by The few active members of France (3 guys from TOG, and 3 guys from LC) to come to the defence of a red zoned port, because it was early game i think the best ships that were fielded were either Postilions or something like that, a small frigate or a frigate slightly stronger.. i had a corvette which was a weaker ship, battles were tight and hard fought because you didn't have all the WOW skills you do end game and alot of it was keeping cool, and teamwork.
End game I liked the fact that you not only had to supply your own ships by way of labour hours to build, but the fact if your nation or guild lost one of these ships it would hurt. In port battles i remember having a SOL above 4th rate was HUGE, because it meant weeks of hours spent gathering materials, and materials taken away from other ships even. We cherished these things we would never bring them to a battle we knew we couldn't win or succesful retreat them, usually mean we brought them to port battle defences.
Our open sea teams (the ones that protected our ports from dipping too far into red.) consisted of Balanced frigates, supported by 4th rates(which were relatively cheap to build) and a group of cutters/fast frigates to take down any ship that was left too far from their main fleet..
Ahh good times...
P.S. we won the first map, through forum/in game politics, and the fact that our players stuck it out... 2nd map was fail.. Winning mechanics meant that you were basically on defence most of the time. shame
P.P.S. Sorry for the rant.. i thought i'd go back through memory lane, POTBS game and the community in it is probably the reason why i enjoy reading everyones posts about historical naval engagements, the ships in them how the developed etc... Gaming communities i think make part of the game nowadays with all these forums for each game...
It was loads of fun... I too was stumped by econ... i made a few mistakes getting my ammo production line started, until i linked up with a crew (Les Condamnes, in game) and we started a production line which in the made our French nation quiet powerful in the end.
I remember in the beggining i was called upon by The few active members of France (3 guys from TOG, and 3 guys from LC) to come to the defence of a red zoned port, because it was early game i think the best ships that were fielded were either Postilions or something like that, a small frigate or a frigate slightly stronger.. i had a corvette which was a weaker ship, battles were tight and hard fought because you didn't have all the WOW skills you do end game and alot of it was keeping cool, and teamwork.
End game I liked the fact that you not only had to supply your own ships by way of labour hours to build, but the fact if your nation or guild lost one of these ships it would hurt. In port battles i remember having a SOL above 4th rate was HUGE, because it meant weeks of hours spent gathering materials, and materials taken away from other ships even. We cherished these things we would never bring them to a battle we knew we couldn't win or succesful retreat them, usually mean we brought them to port battle defences.
Our open sea teams (the ones that protected our ports from dipping too far into red.) consisted of Balanced frigates, supported by 4th rates(which were relatively cheap to build) and a group of cutters/fast frigates to take down any ship that was left too far from their main fleet..
Ahh good times...
P.S. we won the first map, through forum/in game politics, and the fact that our players stuck it out... 2nd map was fail.. Winning mechanics meant that you were basically on defence most of the time. shame
P.P.S. Sorry for the rant.. i thought i'd go back through memory lane, POTBS game and the community in it is probably the reason why i enjoy reading everyones posts about historical naval engagements, the ships in them how the developed etc... Gaming communities i think make part of the game nowadays with all these forums for each game...