Terror of the Seven Seas Bewertungen

Ahoy there! tl;dr: Naval Action for singleplayer, combined with elements from other pirate games to create some sort of "Best of pirate games". And that's all it needs. If you [b]absolutely need[/b] fully fleshed out boarding like in [i]Black Flag[/i] and [i]Sea Dogs[/i], then you can stop reading because you won't find that here. It's just numbers going down. Hoo boy, where to even [i]begin[/i]? What you get here is a solo-developed pirate game that thrusts you into the endless oceans of our very planet, with only a small vessel, a bit of cash, and some questionable intentions. Nothing tells you what to do, where you must go, and how you will achieve it. There's no set end goal. Will you amass riches as a trader? Discover Eldorado as a bold explorer? Plunder your way through the seas as a dreaded pirate? Or become a conqueror that would make every famous warlord in history die again with envy? You decide! If you are already accustomed to classic pirate games like [i]Sea Dogs[/i] and [i]Pirates![/i], you should feel right at home. You still start in a sorry excuse for a ship, and fight and trade yourself up the ranks and riches until you finally find yourself behind the wheels of the mightiest vessels humanity has ever built. Yes, even including the obscure, but still legendary [i]Duke of Kent[/i]. Take that, [i]Skull & Boner[/i]! With gained gold, you'll purchase new ships and upgrades, hire crew and new captains to increase your fleet, attack enemy ships and, finally, ports. And you do that until you have conquered the entire world for your faction. Whatever you do, play the tutorial first. Because the game will throw many things at you, and some aren't self-explanatory. Sailing itself is more on the arcade side, though it is still not on the level of speedboats. Wind won't stop you completely but drastically reduces your speed and turning. Outside combat, you can accelerate time in different steps - which is a godsend, because travelling from continent to continent takes a while. Speaking of combat: prepare to die a lot as a newbie, even on "Easy". The AI is excellent at shooting and can reliably snipe you from large distances. Difficulty only affects their HP and firepower. Graphics are... serviceable, I would say. The ship models are amazing, their wheels and rudders turn, and cannons are all animated, qualities which even [i]Naval Action[/i] can't offer. The environments on the other hand are extremely basic at best, and the humans look and move like animatronics. Though considering that the game not only depicts the whole Earth - something only [i]Uncharted Waters[/i] managed to do -, but also enables literal armadas duking it out with all effects still intact and without slowdowns or further cuts regarding the graphics, I think that this is an acceptable sacrifice. Otherwise the game will probably melt graphics cards and then shit itself and die anyway. And if 3rd person isn't your thing, then you can switch into 1st person. You are always the ship, though. There's also a rudimentary sail editor, that lets you set colours and choose from a rather small selection of emblems, but sadly, you can't use custom ones from your computer. So what exactly is new? Well, the map, of course! It features the whole globe with all continents, and the only places not occupied are the north and south pole. The Caribbean is tropical, while Europe features lush forests and snow-covered mountains, for instance. The different biomes have no effect on gameplay, but I still enjoy fighting along the coasts of Scandinavia due to their beautiful backdrops. Sailing next to Africa also features Savannahs and (2D-images :( ) of animals, and yes, you can visit [i]Skull & Bones[/i]-territory. Regarding gameplay, it takes some notes from a few other pirate games: Fighting and trading grants EXP that will increase your rank. With each level you gain skill points, that you can invest in, well, skills, which there are an entire boatload of. Some need to be activated, some can be toggled (for instance, better movement but less firepower), and others are passive. Beware though that you can't respec, so choose wisely! Fighting boils down to whittling down enemy armour, before being able to damage the internal structure directly. The bow and stern are naturally much weaker, so position and good aiming matters! Also known from [i]Pirates of the Burning Sea[/i], and [i]Naval Action[/i], though hitting below the waterline won't do anything special. Cannons also can't be turned, only aimed up and downwards, thus your positioning becomes essential. Really neat: you can set the order of fire. Either random, from bow to stern or vice versa. You have infinite ammunition, but reload times are long enough to not turn it into a fast-paced arcade shooter, and you can set the shot type for each battery separately. Of course, there is also the option to capture enemy ships for personal use. Beware though that this is limited by player level; so no, you can't get from a sloop into a [i]Duke of Kent[/i] in the first minutes by cheese tactics. And even if you could, your maximum crew is tied to your level as well, so you won't be able to sail it effectively anyway. Also, exclusive to you, are three special weapons: mortars, fireships, and bombs. Mortars greatly expand your range, fireships deal heavy damage if they ram the enemy, and bombs are essentially mines. You have infinite amounts of them, with bigger ships having higher capacities, though they have to reload. They can help you take down much bigger foes (especially the bombs) and provide additional firepower in fleet battles, but sometimes, the only thing that will lead to victory is a bigger ship, or a fleet. And that's an entire topic on its own. If you want to solo the entire world like in [i]Black Flag[/i], then no, you can't. Even a ship of the line will get quickly overwhelmed by multiple frigates - you'll maybe defeat them with clever sailing and usage of your special weapons and skills. But once you get to ports, you'll be pitted against fleets containing Man'O'Wars, and the biggest cities only field those. That's why you can hire captains with their own ships at the tavern. You pay a one-time fee depending on their ship, and from then on, they'll follow you, require no salary, and will respawn if you dock at a port. You can have up to five (six with a skill), and can be issued orders and formations. Unfortunately, even on "Aggressive", they are very passive and serve more as meatshields, but when they decide to fight, expect them to give the enemy hell. One companion can already make a huge difference and serve as a distraction while you keep peppering the enemy with special weapons! Also, as a nice bonus, they increase overall cargo space. Thus hiring just one companion right at the start will boost money-making by a huge margin - either by plundering or trading. It's a shame that they can't use your ships. :( Another edge you can give yourself is upgrades. You can buy them at the lowest quality in ports or find better ones as loot from sunken hostiles. Those take the way of [i]Tempest[/i]: They increase one or several stats, but decrease another one to keep it somewhat balanced and force you to think about playstyles. For instance, heavy cannons will greatly increase your damage but will reduce reload times, and iron planking turns your ship into a fortress, but slows you down immensely. There are many more. Higher qualities increase and decrease the bonuses and penalties further. And if you are in a pinch for cash, they can be sold for some nice sums. (continued in comments)

TOTSS ist ein farbenfrohes Piratenspiel, das anscheinend von nur einer Person entwickelt wurde. Ich glaube, ich hätte es so ähnlich getan - es trifft genau meinen Geschmack als Geschichtsfan! Was kann man alles so erleben in dieser wunderschönen Echtzeit-Segelschiff-Simulation? - Das 18. Jahrhundert! Wer liebt es nicht!? Irgendwann zwischen der Eroberung von Gibraltar durch die Briten (1704) und der Gründung der USA (1776). - Du siehst Dein Schiff meistens aus der Third-Person-Perspektive. Du bist Das Schiff! - Von Anfang an verfügst Du über Mörser, Brander (quasi Ur-Torpedos) und Seeminen. Der Vorrat an diesen Spezialmitteln ist unendlich, die einzige Einschränkung ist ein gewisser Cooldown. Dies gibt Dir gegenüber Deinen Gegnern einen Vorteil, da der Gegner diese Mittel, wenn überhaupt, nur sehr selten einsetzt. Auch die Munition für die regulären Kanonen ist unendlich. - DU KANNST UM DIE GANZE ERDE SEGELN!!! WIND SPIELT EINE ROLLE! - Die Welt ist kleiner dargestellt als die wirkliche Welt. - Am Horizont sind oft genug andere wunderschöne Segelschiffe zu sehen. - Der Entwickler hat sich Mühe gegeben, nette Kleinigkeiten an der Küste hinzuzufügen, wie z.B. Giraffen und Nashörner bei Kapstadt! - Man kann außerhalb von Bedrohungen die Zeit bis zu 10x schneller vergehen lassen. - Wenn Du ein neues Spiel startest, musst Du Dich für eine Fraktion entscheiden, der Du loyal gegenüber bist. - Zur Auswahl stehen 11 europäische und 2 asiatische Nationen. Dazu kommt die Fraktion der "Piraten". - Jedes Mal bei Neustart einer Partie, befinden sich die 13 "normalen" Fraktionen in einem zufälligen diplomatischen Verhältnis zueinander. - Die "Piraten" befinden sich immer und unabänderlich im Krieg mit allen anderen Fraktionen. - Es findet immer alles auf dem einen Echtzeit-Spielfeld statt - also auf der Erde! Es werden keine taktischen Karten o.ä. geladen. - Du kannst nach einem gewissen Aufstieg bis zu 7 Schiffe kommandieren! - Du kannst Hafenstädte erobern und sie der Nation Deines Vertrauens überantworten. Da Du anscheinend nicht alterst, könntes Du versuchen, die ganze Welt (der Hafenstädte) zu erobern. - Es gibt Fantasy-Elemente in Form von Seemonstern, Geisterschiffen und anderen Anomalien. Und was sieht man NICHT in diesem Spiel? - Es gibt keine Anzeige für einen Zeitverlauf. Du weißt nicht genau, WANN Du bist? Gleichwohl vergeht die Zeit an sich, Du merkst es am Wetter und den Tageszeiten. - Auch anhand der politischen Situation zu Spielbeginn kannst Du die Zeit nicht ablesen. Da ist Quebec noch in der Hand der Franzosen (seit 1759 war das nicht mehr der Fall), andererseits haben die Briten bereits Sydney in Australien gegründet (was nicht vor 1788 geschah). Widersprüchlich!! ... würd ich schreien, wenn ich pingelig wäre. - Keine Bodenkämpfe! Das Entern wird dargestellt als der Kampf zweier Zahlen gegeneinander. Dementsprechend gibt es auch keine Fecht-Duelle. - Deine Crew braucht keine Nahrung und keine regelmäßige Bezahlung. Du könntest ewig auf den Weltmeeren segeln, ohne Sinn und Mission. - Es gibt keine Story. Du machst Dir selbst Deine Story!