Point Battles

Skirmish was created to give you a way to try out battles and experiment in ways that can’t happen elsewhere in the game. In a normal skirmish, you can set restrictions on what is allowed in a match. This leads to everyone building to the limit of those restrictions. Why take a player in a sloop if the same slot can be filled by a high end frigate? That’s where point battles enter the picture.

What is a point battle?

Every battle in Pirates of the Burning Sea is restricted by the number of players. With the point battle option checked in skirmish, the limit switches from player count to player strength. The battle creator can set a point value for each side in a skirmish, and then players can fill up each side until they hit the point cap. This allows organized groups to arrange battles and find good configurations for a point cap. Sure, you can field a full group of SOLs with a high point cap, but then you might find yourself heavily outnumbered by a mixed fleet of cutters, frigates and maybe a flagship. Ever want to try an all-sloop versus all-SOL battle? Now you can.

Here’s how it works: In ship combat, you get a point value that is a combination of your level and your ship. Here’s an example with a 500 point limit:

Team A

Level 50 Player (50 points) in a First Rate (200 points) = 250 Points
Level 50 Player (50 points) in a First Rate (200 points) = 250 Points

Two Ships, Total 500 Points
 
Team B

Level 22 Player (20 points) in a Mastercraft Cutter (25 points) = 45 Points
Level 37 Player (35 points) in a Mastercraft Cutter (25 points) = 60 points
Level 50 Player (50 points) in a Mastercraft Raa (60 points) = 110 points
Level 50 Player (50 points) in a Mastercraft Capricieux (110 points) = 160 points
Level 45 Player (45 points) in a Mastercraft Arcadia (80 points) = 125 points

Five Ships, Total 500 Points
 
Team C

20x Level 14 Player (10 points) in a Mastercraft La Belle (15 points) = 25 points each

Twenty Ships, Total 500 points

Point battles let you setup any mixed fleet battle you want. Of course, there’s still a player cap to prevent battles with 400 gunboats that would make your computer explode. The point values you see above (and in the upcoming chart) were derived from a set of calculations, and there will be some hand massaging of the numbers for different ships before live. This chart shows how many of each ship you can bring for 250 points, assuming you’re level 50:

However you setup a point battle, basic “kills” are gone and replaced with kill points. When you score a kill, it gives you kill points that are equivalent to the points of the target you defeated.

Ship Selection

We’ve also enabled you to select your ship inside the skirmish lobby. For point battles, that makes it easier to adjust your point value and fill whatever role the team needs. When you select a ship in the lobby, it activates it for your current skirmish without transporting you to the ship’s location.

Questions? Comments? Drop by the forum and let us know what you think.