for me after eve online ,im playing eve since 2006,this mmo is my second best with a lot similarities.in the plus is that naval combat seems better than eve...try it its free :)

s: btw its not the usual pay to win f2p ..

i remember when PoTBS was in development.... even back then it was thought to be a game that Eve players would flock to.. i think quite a few did.. i heard it went F2P a while back.. and was tempted to try it again.. hopefully a few things in the game have changed for the better.. but naval combat vs space combat.. are not easy to compare..  as a wooden ships naval simulator though.. its not bad..  if anyone hasnt already tried the game... it would be worth a look at..  its a bit marmite really..

Might check it out.

Any advice for a noob?

if you are playing on roberts server <EU> i can help for your first steps ingame

and the most important thing :  this is the ONLY f2p mmo that isnt pay to win...very important aspect at least for me :)

POTBS is my go to game when EVE gets tiresome. Great game. 

I really love the PVP in POTBS, but for it to be anywhere close to EVE, there must be more sand in the box, and that POTBS doesn´t have. What we have are rounds of maps. You play a map til a nation wins, then start over at page one. In EVE you can hold parts of space with your alliance, and build stations etc. With the little and limited map that there is in POTBS, we prolly won´t ever see any player owned harbors etc. For that to happen it would have to be a fictional world, or include our whole planet, at least asia should be in there. I would also love if there was a way to lvl your crew etc. But as it is now, it´s a fun game to jump in, do a port battle, and then jump out, and for me back to a sandbox MMO like EVE, Earthrise or Mortal Online.

So is this just an instanced pvp game, like LoL or something then?

Originally posted by Lashley

So is this just an instanced pvp game, like LoL or something then?

 

No there aint any instances. But when you fight in a port battle you go to a instance so to speak. Also when you travel on open sea, and get jumped, it takes you to "battle mode", where you can fight with your ship, and others has a time limit to jump in and join the fight. But it´s nothing like LoL. Its a pure MMO with awesome PVP.

Originally posted by Saunakiller

Originally posted by Lashley

So is this just an instanced pvp game, like LoL or something then?

 

No there aint any instances. But when you fight in a port battle you go to a instance so to speak. Also when you travel on open sea, and get jumped, it takes you to "battle mode", where you can fight with your ship, and others has a time limit to jump in and join the fight. But it´s nothing like LoL. Its a pure MMO with awesome PVP.

 "There arent any instances, but when you go to port battle you go to a instance" ... okey? :P

So what things does this have that Eve doesn't?

And what does Eve have that this doesnt?

Originally posted by Crazylike

Originally posted by Saunakiller

Originally posted by Lashley

So is this just an instanced pvp game, like LoL or something then?

 

No there aint any instances. But when you fight in a port battle you go to a instance so to speak. Also when you travel on open sea, and get jumped, it takes you to "battle mode", where you can fight with your ship, and others has a time limit to jump in and join the fight. But it´s nothing like LoL. Its a pure MMO with awesome PVP.

 "There arent any instances, but when you go to port battle you go to a instance" ... okey? :P

All combat is in an instance of one of about a dozen different battle maps for each type of combat - port battle, open sea encounter, land combat.  At release the game was a bit more like EVE, but now it seems a lot more like WOW PVP servers but with moving contested zones.

PotBS is much more tiered than EVE. Whereas in EVE, a wolf pack of frigates (smallest combat ship) is a force to contend with, low end ships in PoTBS are rather useless in combat against a single Level 50 ship. I think the changes have made it so that a group of 6 level 20 ships can't engage a Level 50 ship even if they wanted because they don't have enough 'points' worth of ship to battle it.

Whereas EVE Online has more of a stratiegc map style of battle, PotBS combat is a graphical treat of smoke, debris flying, crewmen working, and visible damage to sails, ship and even the crew. Both games have the players basically putting their ship and its cargo on the line in battle, though.

EVE and PotBS both have regional markets, buy orders and a certain amount of historical data making them both great games for merchants and economy sim fans.

I stopped playing a while back so I'm hoping others can chime in with more current similarities and differences.

Wow, lots of positive respones. I just canceled my SWTOR sub, cant deal with the BS anymore. I always wanted to try the POTBS, so here i am.  miight be bringing guildies along so if you play, let me know where the PVP is ans who to get to know!!

Thanks,

Going to make the same type of post I always make about this game...

I played this for about a year after launch... just one of those moments when not many other MMOs were launching and I was totally bored of what else was out.  Was absolutely stunned to discover - most fun I've had in any MMO - period.

Some great times were had in port battle voice chats... logging in as one of the 24 in the battle.. finding another 24 members of your faction in the chat, just to hear the chatter and be the first to know how the battle was going.

The ship vs. ship combat was really well done. 

I would recommend this game if:

1 - you like pvp/rvr with risk/loss.

2 - you like pirates/18th century atmosphere

This game is about securing resources... building ships/fittings... and fighting with your faction to defend/attack ports (hopefully conquering the map) and winning ad hoc open sea battles.

Do not play this game if you're a player that just loves to PvE or is looking for a pirate-pve game.  You will not enjoy yourself.  Though there is a lot of attention to historical detail-ish stuff... and for some reason I always thought the sound in the game was nice... the PvE is largely very bland and very old-timey/dated... a lot of players will just grind fleets, rather than quests.

I played back a while ago, just came back. Seems to be a lot of people around. Population seems to on the raise. How about you vets, do you see a population increase over the past year?

Never heard of that game, I like EvE and pirates/ships are interesting so I'll try it out. Thanks for the advice :)

Bumping for interest, and because GW2 takes over the active post page. :-)

just read the review.. gone to give this game a shot :)