We want to add a toggle to let you turn NPCs on and off on your mini-map. I don't know when we'll be able to do this.

Speaking personally: I think the simpler, 2-tone shading works best. Having three levels of grey in the skull starts to veer back into modern graphic design territory, IMO.

Speaking officially: I'll ask the rest of the 2DSC, as I can easily see the latest version getting sent back for more work (3D effects and/or "cartoonish" design), at which point we'd need to discuss the design anyway. Further input pending.

By Jove, I think you've got it! Excellent work. I dare say, the first of its kind.

This technique is discouraged, for two reasons:

1) Not everyone can play the game with the highest graphic settings. This looks great with the texture detail turned all the way up, but starts to degrade a little at medium setting. At low setting, it won't work at all.

2) More importantly, you're supposed to be able to scale your decal on top of your sail. While this feature isn't currently working as intended, when it's fixed we will have no way of locking down what textures can and cannot be scaled.

It's best to use an opacity of 50-70% to make use of the higher resolution texture underneath every sail.

Simply put, there's a right way and a wrong way to ask questions. This is the wrong way, which makes me feel inclined to ignore it, but I'll answer some of the important questions anyways.


Population Balance
It's a problem. We're working on it. Rusty has been talking about the issue.

Red Zone Incentives
There aren't any. We're adding some, starting with spawns and the rewards you get for combat in PvP zones.

Port Battle Invites
Can definitely use improvements. I don't know where it falls on the schedule.

Contention Point bug
This is a pri 1 bug that someone's working on now. It should be fixed in late 1.2 or in 1.3, depending on how long it takes to resolve.

FT/Priv/Pirate End Game Ship
There are some adjustments in 1.3. The FT ships simply aren't up to par. I generally disagree about the issue with the Priv/Pirate ships aside from the need for some tweaks. I'm happy to have players try to convince me otherwise, if they can do so without theorycrafting post 1.3. We had similar complaints throughout beta, and then skilled players got their hands on the MC / Pirate Herc and they left a path of devastation behind them. Statistically, these ships are inferior to SOLs, but they don't have the weakness of SOLs. That means the stats don't tell the whole story. These are delicate ships, because it'd be very easy to create a situation where it's not viable to sail anything else once they become common.

They aren't supposed to be cost-effective, and thus we're not stripping lineship bundles out of their construction.

Rewards
The rewards for Marks of Victory and Citations of Conquest were replaced in 1.3. I don't know the all the details, but I know that lineship bundles are involved.

Welcome to the Burning Sea!

If you desire advice on your designs, please post a preview in this thread before submitting for approval. The only thread to post links to your submissions is the Flag and Sail Votes! thread. I have renamed this thread, so it can be the place to show your designs before submitting them

I suggest you read the 2D User Content Guidelines as well. Note particularly:

I hope this helps! Happy drawing

This isn't really possible without remodelling all or most of the ships currently in the game. Each colour needs separate geometry on which it's applied, and most of the ships -- including those made by the community, who can't realistically be asked to come back and revisit their work -- aren't set up properly for a "Nelson checquer."

No, this is a one-way copy. The backing databases for testbed and each live server are completely separate except by using this tool.

I've been back and forth with Taelorn on the subject of the Hercules today. I'm not the ship expert and I'm not going to tell you everything he said. (That's two different, unrelated facts: 1) I'm not a ship expert. 2) I'm not going to tell you everything he said.)

Basically, the gist is this: If you compare the stats of a Hercules to the stats of a 4th rate, it's not surprising that you'd wonder why the Hercules would be worth the money. However, experienced captains lucky* or rich enough to own a Hercules tend to find it worth it. Thus the pricing designed to make it rare. 4th rates tend to have exploitable weaknesses that the Hercules (and other apparently crazy-expensive, high-end ships) don't have.

I know that's not a lot of specific info. I'll also throw out there that Taelorn has additional stat tweaks planned for this ship. However, they are tweaks, not redesign-from-the-ground-ups. Hope this helps at least make you realize we are reading your feedback and pondering it even if we don't rush out and implement your suggestions right away - or ever.

*Luck played a key role in folks getting chosen to participate in Beta.

What if I don't wanna?