Shipping: Ship Training [Part 2]
Ship training is a new feature that was implemented only 5 January 2008 (barely two weeks ago) and I believe it is going to make a huge difference for players just starting out learning about ships to practice without penalties. The penalties of learning shipping is huge if you think about it. 15 mil for a Man O'War plus 11.1 mil to fit guns and 3-4 mil in ammo to start out only to sink on your maiden voyage is a painful 30 million lesson that almost everyone starting ships go through. And more often than not, you're going to end up sinking several times too.
While ship training does not fully replicate the actual conditions of shipping, there are aspects which can be used here.
- Getting a feel for deckhands of different skill levels.
- Getting a feel for serpents of different colours.
When you look at the help file ('help serpent'), you will find many configurations of color that modify the serpent's movement speed and hit points, heads that attack you when the serpent is next to your ship, tails that add new attacks or modify hit points, and body that affects the serpents hit points and speed. All in all you will find that there are overlaps in modifiers and you should average them out if they conflict. I find that dragon heads are particularly nasty as they spread fires on the ship upon ramming you. I particularly dislike fanned tails as they spin the ship in all sorts of directions and more often than not, in the opposite direction of where you intended to go in the first place.
Also, what one should try out is seeing how you can dealing with getting rammed by different serpents and practice recovering from damage. This will be an invaluable experience when you do actually get rammed out there on your own ship. The standard response is to prioritize dousing fires (if any), maximize repairing and minimal pumpers unless you've taken a lot of water, keeping a skeleton crew for manning guns if there are still serpents out there lurking to attack your ship. As for what percentages work, I think its a matter of individual preference and up to everyone to try out for themselves what works best. After all, that's what ship training is for. The difference in ship training vs actual shipping is that you don't have to deal with ruby kah when you get damaged badly in ship training, which is not necessarily a good thing since ruby kah keep the serpents at bay buying you time to patch up real quick. - Getting a feel for maneuverability of your ship under different wind conditions.
Wind is a big factor in maneuverability and it can either be your best friend or your worst enemy, depending on how you use it. Use 'ship stat' frequently as the wind changes constantly both in direction and in speed. Turning away from the wind results in faster turns and turning into the wind is slower. Wind blowing behind you results in faster speed than moving into the wind. - Practicing grappling
I personally find grappling to be quite tricky and practicing it a few times with a friend on another ship in the arena will serve you well when you are attempting to board a Khrait ship or another clan's ship. In this type of practice, one can try different variations of simulations to add to the difficulty level and variety:- Fixed preset course grapple.
- Zigzag course grapple. Ship A takes a fixed zig-zag course and ship B attempts to grapple.
- Catch the rabbit. Ship A avoids grapple and ship B attempts grapple.
- Free for all. See who manages the grapple first.
- Practice in fog conditions.
Fog is an element that one has to seriously contend with. Even if you diligently avoid all sunrise and sunset times, you cannot avoid someone popping a Khrait scout ship attack and triggering the accompanying fog that precedes the Khrait ships near you while you are out trying to kill serpents. Different people have different reactions to it but as the saying goes, practice makes you sink less. I do not think one can fully master the fog but at least you can minimize your damage and still prosper. - Player vs player ship practice. Use the ship training arena to sharpen your skills and test out different tactics for ship vs ship combat.
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