Hi guys!
Recently we asked people at TW forums give us a few questions about "Caribbean!" for a Q&A session. Here's what we got:
1.When does it come out and how much will I have to pay for it?
At the moment we’re planning to release the game in February 2013. Price is not decided yet but most likely it’ll be something around $15.
2.How do I join the beta?
Just send us a mail with submission. We’ll start accepting them in the second half of November.
3.I’m interested in how different would multiplayer ship battles be compared to the ones in singleplayer.
The main problem with boarding synchronization is when there are more than two players fighting. Other than that there are no substantial differences.
4.Will we be able to find full plate armors in the game? Such as one from the artistic piece shown in video?
Yes,sure. We strictly follow the “fun before realism” principle that was formulated by Sid Meier back in the days. Not quire sure if it was exactly him but surely one of the most respectable people in the industry who can be referred to for explaining why full plate armored men can be in the game about the pirate era. Why? Because it’s cool, that’s why! J
5.Are you able to put a number on server player limits yet? Will it be somewhere in between Warband and Napoleonic Wars?
We didn’t test the player limit yet. But just for the record, like Napoleon (the real one) we’re really fond of big battalions.
6.Naval combat during the pre-boarding stage functions as though the player him/herself was the ship, correct? (rather than running around on the deck in first person)
If you’re asking about possibility to run on the ship’s deck during the fight then initially we had the player controlling the ship when he walked up to the steering wheel. You could watch the ship from outside or from your character’s point of view. Later we removed this option as performance had dropped significantly. Still, the player can shoot from cannon himself before boarding starts, he’ll have time for that.
7.Once a boarding action takes place (I assume we go first or third person then?), what are the objectives? Do we need to kill the entire crew, occupy some part of the ship, or what?
In the working build we have right now there’s only one goal which is “kill them all”. We’re thinking of another option – capturing control points. Not sure if it’ll add something to the fun element but we’ll see.
8.If we capture more ships than we have available commanders for, do we get the option to scuttle one of our current ships and keep a captured one instead?
Yes, of course. Player chooses what he wishes to do with a ship. Make it your flagship, sink it, add it to the squadron or delete the old ship and keep the captured new one.
9.Should a player gain control of a town, are we able to store extra ships there?
It’s a good question and could be a great feature, we’ll think about that. For now a player can only captures towns like in original M&B.
10.Will there be hidden treasures and maps?
Absolutely.
11.Apart from the factions already mentioned in interviews, what kind of parties will the player meet? Deserters, bandits etc.? And is there any option to recruit or join these; or other interactions with them?
Some small forces of buccaneers and bandits will be on the map, that’s for sure. Interaction with them boils down to mutual murder attempts. It’s quite a dangerous area, yes.
12.With Fire and Sword had several storylines. Will Carribean also have this, or will it be closer to Warband with free-roaming, do what you like?
We completely switched to sandbox. Yes, four years ago we though that lack of plot really M&B and we hoped that WFAS would fix this. And, you know, we changed our mind about this. Strict storyline quests and dynamic open world don’t get on well. Bugs in WFAS story campaigns not only show that we’re a bit mentally challenged but, probably, also the engine’s inability for long story lines adaptations. We can try doing some small quests or chains of 3-4 quests though.
13.Will you actually call the game 'With Fire and Sword 2: Caribbean'? (Seeingasithasnothingtodowiththenovel)
«With Fire & Sword 2» is our working title. Mostlikelythefinaltitlewillbe«Caribbean!».
14.Will you be releasing another patch for the first WFAS? I recall you saying you are working on it.
Nobody could ever force us to promise that we’d release a patch for WFAS but we will really try to do that before «Caribbean!» release.