There were several types of period ships and each is modeled in detail with rigging right out of historical renderings. Ship models are so well done and it’s a joy to engage in combat just so I can look at the ship models. I’m sure to some people the complexities aren’t as enjoyable, but I get incredibly impressed every time I jump into the game. I like that I need to experiment a bit to learn how I want to play the game and then experiment more to learn which ship best suits that style and how I should best equip it.Īnother thing that I think the devs got right with Naval Action is the level of detail in the game. While a higher server population would really help to spur demand and create a lot more opportunity for economic gameplay, it would also eventually lead to a certain level of min-maxing that doesn’t seem to exist right now. Secondly, I think the in-game economy is both hurt and helped by a relatively low server population.

First that I really haven’t had a chance to dig deep into the economy personally yet and could be under or over estimating portions of it. I really only have to caveat that with a couple things. Ships are highly customizable, which is really great for supporting a robust economy.Įffectively, the economy seems to have a pretty good balance between complexity of product and simplicity of participation. That additionally drives a need for mercantile-oriented players and expands the economic demand a bit. Each wood type gives different bonuses and penalties and has to be picked based on need, expense and playstyle. It’s also a little more complicated by the variability built into the game, such as what wood you use for the hull of a ship. While I think crafting is hard in the sense that there are a lot of different resources and a lot of hauling or placing orders to get the needed materials. It’s a solid way that uses an in-game system in an intelligent way to create income opportunities for new players and supplemental income for more experienced ones. There are also shipping quests for cargo-haulers who don’t want to dead head across half the Caribbean and there are transport quests for carrying passengers if you don’t have the cargo space for those. The need to transport resources across moderate distances is central to the game, so there’s a lot of opportunity for the seafaring truckers. Otherwise, the system lends itself well to trading and crafting, both being pretty core elements to MMOs that find places in my play list. The more players in a guild that have to be involved, the less efficient the process becomes, and that’s a good thing for the game. Limitations on buildings make that harder, though. Obviously, that’s always a possibility in any game that has PvP as a core function, which is supported through a player economy.

It’s also a system that helps to prevent run-away guilds from reaching a critical mass with respect to resources and ruining the game for everyone else. Ensuring no player can capture the entire vertical on their own helps to create additional demand and provide space in the market for other players to participate. Markets are driven by both supply and demand. While some may not like the fairly limited number of buildings you’re allowed to have at once, I really like it a lot. The number of buildings you can have to collect resources or to combine them into items is limited, though. Each island has a set of resources that can be collected by players as the first step in the crafting cycle. I’ll wrap it up by giving my read on whether it’s a game that readers should consider purchasing or not.ĭepending on what your tastes are, there will be different aspects of this game that you’ll like most. Though, there are a few concerns I have about the game and will also walk through a few of those. Today I’m going to take you through some of the things I really like about Naval Action, such as the economy and crafting. I’ve seen a few games make that same transition very successfully lately and thought I’d take a look to see how well Game-Labs had managed their turn at the make-or-break event. I was mulling over picking up new games last week and noticed that Naval Action had released out of Early Access.

Naval action pc game