Community Update: Let's talk boat speeds

We're starting a new weekly update, every Tuesday we'll be collecting community questions and discussions and bringing them to the front page news to address them. This week we're talking about Navy!!! The "Harbor" forum has lit up with discussion on the speed of our Fairmile B (riverine) boat and Troop Transports (freighters).

The topic that was started was FMB ( Fairmile B ) speeds should they be increased? We have been thinking of increasing the TT (Troop Transport) speeds a little in order to have more action in the Zeelands (an area of the map to the north). Destroyer speeds are just fine and most likely will not be touched.

From player "Quincannon": I am all for the historical accuracy aspect in most cases, but sometimes I believe that for game playability, maybe that realism needs to be stretched. The Naval portion of our game suffers, not only from a feeling of "There's nothing to do but sail around and shoot at each other", but from a frustration at not being able to get to the action when there is a battle.

There are two sides to changing the speeds. One side is to leave it as a match to the real world. The second is to make it more user friendly to get to the battle faster. FMB's now can move through the rivers at a good speed now without any trouble. Increasing the speed might make navigating more difficult as one player has said. This may be true but my response would be learn to use your throttle. There is more positions than idle and wide open. So learning how to drive would be a new twist on the rivers.

From player "Rossco": I can barely maneuver an fmb through a river at 20 knots. It would be a terrible mistake for me to get steer one at 40 knots. Therefore, I have to support this proposition if for no other reason than it will be funny to watch me hit the shoreline and flip.

Open water with FMB's is a lot different. There is the much greater distance you must go. There is the Destroyer that is like a Great White Killer Shark that may sink you at any moment or just leave you be. Increasing the speed to keep up with DD's will do a few things. One being greater support to keep the enemy planes off of them. (I can hear them now). Second is going from the northern part of the Zee's to the southern parts to where the battles are will shorten the time to get there. This would be very good for the newer players who don't have rank for DD's.

Now the other part about FMB's vs DD's an fmb can de-gun a DD if you're not paying attention! This will get the Destroyer Captains very angry. But they should always be on their guard anyway.

From player "Rwkeen": Well, yes, you can totally de-gun a DD and occasionally get a kill credit on them with a Fairmile. Heck, TO used to hunt DD's in his Fiarmile, which is why most captains stopped letting Fairmile's pass and instead shot them on sight!

The most important thing for new players is getting to the action in a reasonable amount of time is the key. Doing this will spark more interest in retaining players in game and that is our number one goal!

From player "Delems": Just now saw 3 rookies trying to sail FMBs from Helle down to the Boz attack. Of course they didn't realize how long it would take and they couldn't escort the DDs or keep up. If the speed of the FMB were increased, they could join the fight at Boz much easier.

Join the discussion in our Harbor forum (here).

Here's a player created guide on how to use the Fairmile B riverine, accessible by all players in the Naval persona.