Seafaring Related Suggestions

Kresslack

Something I requested in the past as well would be the chance to have npc merchant vessels which can be plundered. Now that we have ship trades and routes, maybe these could also carry various cargos depending on the route they're encountered on and that can be transferred to another ship.

The way I see that working is, instead of just having an npc vessel that you just shoot at until it sinks, allow them to beboardable and have hostile npc guards and crew who will try to stop you from subduing the ship. Allow them to work like regular ships, in the sense they can fire back, be set on fire (and potentially risk losing cargo if you sink it before securing it), have sails snared, and grappled. 

I think this would be a good motivation to encourage people to forceboard more often and actually play out the scene instead of having ships serve as a sort of arcade mini-game where you just find another ship and throw ammo at it until one of you sinks.

If you're able to subdue and overwhelm the crew (having a Captain denizen on the vessel which, if reached and killed will stop all ship movement), you can secure the ship via grapple and bring over a small group of npc sailors from your ship to plunder the cargo holds and have what you want transferred to your vessel. 

Afterwards, you can sink the ship OR let it sink on its own. Say the Captain, with his dying breath, orders the ship to be sabotaged in order to get vengeance on the assailants and the ship takes regular damage at a rate that accelerates over time. This will ensure the vessel sinks and can't be left on the surface. After it sinks, it will be disposed of so that it cannot be salvaged. 

The vessels could range from small time merchant vessels in the form of Cutters, to the more familiar and sturdy Striders which hold more cargo, to even War Galleys which would be fully armed and crewed in order to ensure protection from any would-be plunderers. 

There is also potential for faction based ship warfare if, for instance, certain trade companies are distinguished to operate out of certain areas, which some factions may offer protection against attacks from creatures, pirates, or privateers. It would then be the responsibility of the faction offering patronage and protection to actively sail the routes to ensure the vessels arrive at their destination safely . Failure to do so which results in consistent casualties of the trade vessels will result in less security contracts being issued, and eventually the trade company would refuse to do business with the faction if they have failed to provide the security services provided.

This will leave the cities, pirates, and even individuals looking to earn a bit of gold the opportunity and reason needed to sail consistently, knowing that there is a guarantee of both risk and reward. 

Annnnnd....I realise this is getting long so, back to my cups. Something to consider maybe down the road. Would certainly be interesting. and fun.

edit:

One last thing. Think of this type of experience like Icon Wars. You have an objective ( break into the cargo hold), you have npcs to do this ( npc boarders), you have a side objective ( defend your npc boarders in order to allow them to complete their objective, which is breaking into the cargo hold and transferring the cargo. If they die, you have to go to a major port and hire some more, thus missing your chance to plunder the ship).

Ammending the part about the cargo being taken, if your boarders get to the hold and access the cargo, you wouldn't get to pick and choose what gets transferred to your vessel ( which would have to be grappled and stationary next to the npc vessel), it would just all get sent over and you can dump what you don't want later. After all, you'll be on a time sensitive mission to quickly get back to your ship before the one you're on goes down.

There may be a lot of semantics to iron out about that, but it starts with an idea aye?

tl;dr, sorry

Xli

@Kresslack Y U post in white?

Kresslack

Xli said:

@Kresslack Y U post in white?

Sorry, originally posted in another thread before realising it was the wrong one. I use a style that changes the forums so guess I didn't realize copy/paste changed it to white.

Trevize

Kresslack said:

Something I requested in the past as well would be the chance to have npc merchant vessels which can be plundered. Now that we have ship trades and routes, maybe these could also carry various cargos depending on the route they're encountered on and that can be transferred to another ship.

The way I see that working is, instead of just having an npc vessel that you just shoot at until it sinks, allow them to beboardable and have hostile npc guards and crew who will try to stop you from subduing the ship. Allow them to work like regular ships, in the sense they can fire back, be set on fire (and potentially risk losing cargo if you sink it before securing it), have sails snared, and grappled. 

I think this would be a good motivation to encourage people to forceboard more often and actually play out the scene instead of having ships serve as a sort of arcade mini-game where you just find another ship and throw ammo at it until one of you sinks.

If you're able to subdue and overwhelm the crew (having a Captain denizen on the vessel which, if reached and killed will stop all ship movement), you can secure the ship via grapple and bring over a small group of npc sailors from your ship to plunder the cargo holds and have what you want transferred to your vessel. 

Afterwards, you can sink the ship OR let it sink on its own. Say the Captain, with his dying breath, orders the ship to be sabotaged in order to get vengeance on the assailants and the ship takes regular damage at a rate that accelerates over time. This will ensure the vessel sinks and can't be left on the surface. After it sinks, it will be disposed of so that it cannot be salvaged. 

The vessels could range from small time merchant vessels in the form of Cutters, to the more familiar and sturdy Striders which hold more cargo, to even War Galleys which would be fully armed and crewed in order to ensure protection from any would-be plunderers. 

There is also potential for faction based ship warfare if, for instance, certain trade companies are distinguished to operate out of certain areas, which some factions may offer protection against attacks from creatures, pirates, or privateers. It would then be the responsibility of the faction offering patronage and protection to actively sail the routes to ensure the vessels arrive at their destination safely . Failure to do so which results in consistent casualties of the trade vessels will result in less security contracts being issued, and eventually the trade company would refuse to do business with the faction if they have failed to provide the security services provided.

This will leave the cities, pirates, and even individuals looking to earn a bit of gold the opportunity and reason needed to sail consistently, knowing that there is a guarantee of both risk and reward. 

Annnnnd....I realise this is getting long so, back to my cups. Something to consider maybe down the road. Would certainly be interesting. and fun.

edit:

One last thing. Think of this type of experience like Icon Wars. You have an objective ( break into the cargo hold), you have npcs to do this ( npc boarders), you have a side objective ( defend your npc boarders in order to allow them to complete their objective, which is breaking into the cargo hold and transferring the cargo. If they die, you have to go to a major port and hire some more, thus missing your chance to plunder the ship).

Ammending the part about the cargo being taken, if your boarders get to the hold and access the cargo, you wouldn't get to pick and choose what gets transferred to your vessel ( which would have to be grappled and stationary next to the npc vessel), it would just all get sent over and you can dump what you don't want later. After all, you'll be on a time sensitive mission to quickly get back to your ship before the one you're on goes down.

There may be a lot of semantics to iron out about that, but it starts with an idea aye?

tl;dr, sorry

Fixed.

Trevize

Kresslack said:

Xli said:

@Kresslack Y U post in white?

Sorry, originally posted in another thread before realising it was the wrong one. I use a style that changes the forums so guess I didn't realize copy/paste changed it to white.

Have the same trouble sometimes. Paste as text is useful. Or show source, paste to notepad, replace all the stuff you don't want (like color: rgb(255, 255, 255);) with nothing.

Kresslack

Bump, because ships are relevant.