New blueprint system

[victor]

I submit to the Devs my suggestion for new BP system that is rather realistic (and better - at least in my opinion - than both the actual system and the future one possibly based on the fact that one has sailed a ship or fought against it).

 

1) in the crafting screen there will be new option "study blueprints";

 

2) in the screen "study blueprints" one can study all the BP that are avaliable for him

 

3) a blueprint becomes available for study on the basis of a tree (i.e.: if you have not studied with success a brig, you cannot study a navy brig and so on, one can also imagine study topics - like "fast speed hulls" o "heavy hulls" - that shall be unlocked in addition before being able to search some kind of ship BP)

 

4) "study sessions" are needed to study BP and need labor hours: each of them requires a huge amount of hours (i.e. 500 labor hours)

 

5) the success in searching a blueprint is defined by an algorithm (an example is described in point 6 below) that makes is proportional to:

- the number of "study sessions" (so of 500 labor hours batch) and

- the crafting level of the player

- the presence of the gifted perk

so that, a success in studying a certain BP is more likely if i) more labor hours are used in studying ii) if the player has a higher crafting level and iii) in presence of the gifted perk

 

6) the success in studying a certain BP - also taking in account the crafting level and the gifted perk - is not 100% guaranteed for each study sessions but is determined with a casual factor (i.e. for the first study session a "X%" factor is determined by the crafting level + 15% of basic chance of success + 15% in case of gifted perk), BUT when you have unsucessfully used a study session on a specific BP, when you study it once more you will have a higher basic chance of success (i.e. second time you study the same BP have 30% basic success chance, third time you have 45%, fourth you have 60% and so on).

 

7) Moreover the BP tree could be structured in a way that choosing one path closes another one:

- i.e. if I choose the path of "frigate construction" I will be able to learn only the BPs up to 4th rate, while if i choose the path "ships of the line" I will be able to learn SOL but not frigate.

- in alternative one could be allowed to choose to study the "flavour" of the ships he will build: speed expert, hull expert, rudder and trim expert, cannon expert, traders refit, boarding refit. Also here one can choose just two "flavours" in order to allow specialization.

In this situation - however - all the tree options should be fully disclosed in advance (like in normal MMOs ability trees) in order to let the player choose wisely what specialization he perefers. 

 

This system is like real life engineering studies and projects: needs time, effort, resources, adds a casual factor but - at the end (after a certain time) - grants the result and also stimulates specialization.

Edited October 28, 2016 by victor

[Vaan De Vries]

Agree completely. Would also add some real time waiting till process of complete. Like 24 hour for one study session. Also additional studies should be required for crafting different traits (speed, build strength, etc).  Would really force people to specialize in certain ship areas.

[Siegfried]

And speed up the process fighting with or against that ship model and more speed if you put your hands in one of the studied ships.

[Anolytic]

I didn't read all of your proposal that closely, but I am quite intrigued by the idea about specialisation. You should be able to build all ship types, but you could only specialise in either unrated ships, frigates or ships of the line. And only if you specialised in a ship size would you be able to make exceptional ships of those rates. And whether you choose to specialise in frigates or SOLs you would have to be level 50 to make ships exceptional in that class. That way some players would specialise in making exceptional frigate ships and heavy frigates, while others specialised in SOLs, and yet again other specialise in shallow draft ships and traders, or a separate specialisation could be created for trader ships.

[3rdguards]

I like the idea of specialization of certain classes of ships, however i think you should be able to switch, in this case losing all your current frigate BPs to switch to lineships and so on.

[Siegfried]

The "specialization" is represented now with the crafting level. If you can build a santissima, you can build a cutter obviously.

[Wesreidau]

Anything that moves away from random drops and towards measured progression is an improvement.

[themule08]

Blueprints should unlock by crafting level..stop making this difficult!

Specialization is a good idea.. say I choose frigates 5th and 4th rates.. those ships would get a stat bonus, all other ships I build would get a negative bonus.

Bonuses would be based on ships in game now..

Blueprints honestly are a terrible idea..why a level 50 crafter can't make anything but a frigate is beyond me..