Sending player ships to sail across the open world

[van Veen]

Hi all,

I have one suggestion to improve the gameplay providing more content for hunters and traders alike.

My proposal is to allow players to send a ship or even a fleet of ships to another port. These ships should appear in the open world actually sailing to the assigned port as NPC ship/fleet. Obviously, there is the risk that the ships are attacked by players and eventually sunk. But hey, that's life! When the ship/fleet arrives in the assigned port, the player may take control of the ships again. The ships sent abroad should be allowed to carry cargo to facilitate trade and allow transferring goods to distant places also.

Implementation of this feature is not very demanding in my point of view. Instantiating a NPC fleet from the ships assigned for the journey should be easy. Setting the route to be sailed by the ship/fleet to an arbitrary port is not quite straightforward, but there could be limitations as to which port is available from which (maybe only player's outposts?). Perhaps AI fleet routings need to be fixed, but this is an issue that should be on the agenda anyway to deal with the AI sailing through land 😉 

The concept allows players to reach distant harbours without forcing them to stay in game which is in my point of view a major reason for potential players quitting the game (or not even starting it).

PVE now has a meaning: There would be a lot more NPC ships out there on real, meaningful missions. The ships would be loaded with goods valuable for a player (not random goods) encouraging privateering. And stealing those goods actually has an impact, e.g. on crafting goods supplies or repair supplies for supporting RVR.

More PVP content as players would start organizing convoys to escort AI fleets and secure their trade and supply routes which brings more PVP content. 

If the idea proves itself, maybe even the tow function can be disabled. Then, port battle logistics would change dramatically, as you would not risk sending your 1st rates unescorted. It would no longer be possible to have a whole fleet of battle ships pop up out of nowhere for a port battle or to raise/counter hostility in a far-away region. Battle ships could be intercepted while on the way. The whole RvR gameplay would require a lot more strategic planning. 

I'd love to see this in the game! Looking forward to your feedback!

Cheers,

van Veen

Edited August 16, 2018 by van Veen

[Koltes]

This cannot be done technically. Server will not be able to handle the load. They have stated this before that max number of AI on the server is 1500 (not sure if im right on the number, but something like that). Whatever number of players server can support you can double it if you add towed ships added to the actual OW.

On a separate note what exactly are you trying to achieve? Ok now you towing you ship and it appears in port after DT. With your mechanic you sending the ship and it puts load on server traveling in the OW and...after DT appears in the port?

People being able to capture your ships means you will have to sail them yourself. This will simply add more time sink and you still wont see players ships on their own

[Hethwill]

"Les Gros Ventre

Sailing on behalf of Captain AFK

Contraband goods found "

 

Yes, I don't mind.  See what I did ? There's no other way if we going to pursue "playing without playing".

The inherent comfort of "playing without playing" but with risk and due reward due to that simple piece of info.

[van Veen]

On 23.2.2017 at 11:30 AM, koltes said:

This cannot be done technically. Server will not be able to handle the load. They have stated this before that max number of AI on the server is 1500 (not sure if im right on the number, but something like that). Whatever number of players server can support you can double it if you add towed ships added to the actual OW.

On a separate note what exactly are you trying to achieve? Ok now you towing you ship and it appears in port after DT. With your mechanic you sending the ship and it puts load on server traveling in the OW and...after DT appears in the port?

People being able to capture your ships means you will have to sail them yourself. This will simply add more time sink and you still wont see players ships on their own

Well, for protecting the server from overload, there sure needs to be an upper limit to the AI fleets sailing the map. There is a way to deal with it:

When there are too many AI fleets out there, you will be informed by your officer that it may take "a day or two until the crew is hauled out of the taverns, the ship is loaded and the winds are fair to sail that course". In that case your ship will be the next to set sail as soon as another AI fleet arrives at it's destination or is sunk.

Taking it to the next level, you could limit the number of ships a player can send out to the number of officers. After all, you need a competent officer in command, right? Perhaps you can then allow more officers (with different perks) depending on player rank.

[van Veen]

On 23.2.2017 at 1:46 PM, Hethwill said:

"Les Gros Ventre

Sailing on behalf of Captain AFK

Contraband goods found "

 

Yes, I don't mind.  See what I did ? There's no other way if we going to pursue "playing without playing".

The inherent comfort of "playing without playing" but with risk and due reward due to that simple piece of info.

You got it! That's it! "Risk and due reward", I couldn't have said it any better.

[Akir1975]

I say: why not but is for me not on the top 10 of the todo List. 

[van Veen]

Hey folks, 

I still think this idea has a lot of potential. Everyone is crying for more content and this idea would definitely bring more content to the game. Perhaps @admin might want to comment on it?

Cheers,

van Veen