CoAS or POTC

[worksforthe]

Hey,
I played sea dogs years ago and absolutely loved it. I didn't know that AoP games were crafted in the same vein until recently, so I bought AoP: CoAS. I'm enjoying it, but one question I have is what are the major differences between POTC and CoAS? Do people feel one is better than the other? I ask because I definitely want to dive into one of these games, but if POTC has been more improved through its builds than CoAS, then I'm happy to go for POTC. My favorite type of game is extremely open-world/gigantic world games with tons to explore. Also, I'm a major management/building junkie. Does this fit CoAS or POTC more?
Thanks!

 

[Officerpuppy]

I think the only reason to buy POTC over COAS is because of the build mod. The standalone POTC game (with no build mod) vs COAS, COAS, in my opinion, is much better.

 

[Rad]

If you didn't play any of these games I would suggested first to play POTC especially for the reason POTC is much easier for playing than COAS. But to play POTC only with Build mods. Basic game isn't good and has a lot of imperfections.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

PotC + Build mod is really good and remains being improved.
For CoAS, it seems there's not much modding going on anymore.
Stock PotC vs. stock CoAS is easy: stock CoAS is better.
But PotC Build mod is at least as good as CoAS, if not better.
Depends on what you like, but do give PotC a try if you have the chance.

 

[Handel]

Definitely COAS part of the COAS is great. Although it is not that long:-*

 

[carmenara]

But PotC Build mod is at least as good as CoAS, if not better.

That's exactly why I'm holding out on CoAS - especially once I got to know that a large chunk of B14 originated from CoAS (environmentals etc).

Dynamic tactical battles with Direct Sail (Jack Sparrow never needed arcade mode, neither do you) make for an interesting study in age of sail tactics especially with the scalable weapon performance options. (Setting cannon damage to 0.3 = properly, historically, ineffective gunfire requiring use of tactics and gunnery doctrine).

You don't get that in stock.

 

[Luke159]

But PotC Build mod is at least as good as CoAS, if not better.

That's exactly why I'm holding out on CoAS - especially once I got to know that a large chunk of B14 originated from CoAS (environmentals etc).

Dynamic tactical battles with Direct Sail (Jack Sparrow never needed arcade mode, neither do you) make for an interesting study in age of sail tactics especially with the scalable weapon performance options. (Setting cannon damage to 0.3 = properly, historically, ineffective gunfire requiring use of tactics and gunnery doctrine).

You don't get that in stock.

Nope but i'm trying to improve the battle mechanics of the game by improving the way the battles are fourght. It seems a ballance has been found, and with new cannons unlocked and added that has increased that aspect of the game already. It can now take you a few hours of firing at one another before you kill most of the crew, it can take a very long time to sink another ship depending on your ship and the ship your attacking. In COAS Vanilla you could easily sail upto a ship and board it after firing just a single broadside of grapeshot and win the battle. not any more. Now its about tactics aswell as gunnery skills. Almsot every ship from POTC has been ported over already, the main ships that haven't been ported over are the Victory, Dauntless and Endouver. The other ships are the mass amount of Lugger's which is fine by me because we don't need lots of Luggers. We need alot more class 3 ships though.

COAS has improved alot just with the few mods that have been released and for that reason its nice to see how much potential COAS has got and thats only editing and adding a few things, with build mods one day been added thgis game will be something else.

 

[modernknight1]

Along with Luke's comments, I'd add that there are several of us collaborating to bring more accurate content into the game from a simulation aspect. As far as new quests, characters and new locales are concerned we've got a lot to learn, and look forward to Build 14 being completed in the hopes that some of the experienced modders will lift and shift targeting to teaching some of us neophytes, as well as taking on the building of more depth into COAS.

I don't think that you can make a bold sweeping generalization about one game being better than the other. They both have things that they are better at. If I have to compare I must rate subcategories. I'm not completely an impartial judge either in that I only have about 25-30 hours playing POTC and have played COAS hundreds of hours. I am partial to COAS, but only because I enjoy the realism of the sea battles so much.

Here is my hack at a 1 to 10 scale:

Quests: POTC: 10 COAS: 5

POTC hands down has way more stories, thought out plot lines and depth with a larger more diverse environment to play in. Way more quests and a lot to occupy your time. However, the quests that COAS does have are very very good and immersive.

Environment: POTC: 10 COAS: 6

POTC has a larger playbox with more cities, towns, and interesting places to visit. POTC also has a better variety of structures and more diversity in the harbors (they don't all look alike)

Characters: POTC: 10 COAS: 6

POTC has a greater variety of characters and a wider variety of officers. However, with the JScombined mod many of the POTC characters have been imported into COAS bringing it to a 7. COAS also has a very interesting character and officer management system in P.I.R.A.T.E.S.

Historical: POTC: 7 COAS: 4

POTC has a period mod and has done a better job at weaving its plotlines with historical reality. Enemy factional loyalties, hostility and alliances shift based on timeframe. Ships flags and character/soldier/sailor appearances (clothing) vary by time period. COAS is limited by the same alliances throughout. Both games could still be vastly improved with a greater variety of ship models/textures/skins matched to specific times.

Sworplay: POTC: 3 COAS: 9

While POTC's hand to hand encounters look fine in gameplay, combat system control is very simple/limitted and somewhat clunky. Attacks are limited to one button and the character will auto engage with a variety of movements. Defense is simply blocking and getting out of the way. The character can also shoot when he leaps from sword range. Someone who likes simplicity will prefer this system. COAS has one of the best swordplay combat control systems I've seen with a variety of attacks, blocks, and feints available.

Sea battles: POTC: 5 COAS: 9

The controls are very similar between the two and POTC also has the more realistic enemy striking colors behavior that I'd love to see imported to COAS. However, the look and feel of the combat is just much more realistic in COAS. I think a lot of this is due to the superior graphics that COAS enjoys. The ship models just look way better, hands down.

Graphics: POTC: 3 COAS: 7

POTC's baseline is 2003 and is limitted to DirectX 8. COAS enjoys much more depth and cleaner looks with DirectX 9. However, it still isn't even close to the quality offerings we are seeing in other games now (Empire Total War). I look foward to future Seadogs pedigree games in DirectX 11.

OK so that's my subjective opinion on them. I love the hell out of both of them. It's a simple question of what you like. I'm into sea battles/simulations more than quests and a good storyline. Many others prefer the opposite. When I feel like a change I simply switch back and forth.

MK