Teleportation / Fast Traveling

[Brogsitter]

While the current teleportation mechanics is non satisfying for most of the players for several reasons, it is time to make a clear proposal how to make the system better. So lets figure out what the players are complaining about the current mechanics.

 

Current State

• System is getting abused for hauling goods
• System is not flexible enough
• System is refusing players to be with their friends and forcing them into planning and scheduling everything (most of us have this stress at work allready)
• System is unrealistic regarding teleporting ships from A to B (well... maybe David Copperfield can do this)

 

1) Remove the current teleportation system (outpost to outpost)

Players should be able to book passages from Free to Free Town (OR: from regional capital to regional capital) whenever they want to, regardless of having a warehouse in this town or not. The price for a passage depends on the distance you are going to travel.

 

2) Remove / Alter the curernt teleport to capital system

The teleport to capital mechanic should only be used, if you are getting lost on the open sea. This feature should be removed completly, or altered that way, that you loose the ship you are currently on. For transporting goods there is a different mechanic implemented.

 

3) Alter the current "send ship to outpost" mechanic

If a ship is send to an outpost after battle, the sent ship should not arrive immediatly at its destination. It should not take as long as it takes to send goods. As reference I want to suggest 45 minutes for the distance between Key West and Tumbado.

 

What effects will these changes have?

• With these changes you will give the players more flexibility.
• You will encourage them to participate in group play, cause they are able took hook up with their friends in a short amount of time.
• There will no more transportation of goods to capital, like it was possible with abusing the current system.
• There will be another money sink in the game to control inflation.

Edited April 14, 2016 by Brogsitter

[codyproxy]

I only liked number 3 so i didn't vote. I really like the idea that you can send unlimited (until it's full) ships to an outpost, and then with a timer based on distance. The capped trader abuse system won't be needed anymore, and you still don't have to sail each ship for hours to the outpost.

[Brogsitter]

I only liked number 3 so i didn't vote. I really like the idea that you can send unlimited (until it's full) ships to an outpost, and then with a timer based on distance. The capped trader abuse system won't be needed anymore, and you still don't have to sail each ship for hours to the outpost.

 

Do you have any reason in particular for keeping the current mechanics?

[sebb]

1) sounds fairly ok, it wouldn't change the way PB's work too much (because you still need to get a ship to the port) and would make everyone more mobile. It might have some negative impacts on the economy because you can get to alot more ports, buy goods and ship them, so ressource gathering might be faster but I can't see the full extend of the impact on eco that might have.

2) I agree that tp to capital is a highly abused mechanic and it should be changed but I'm not sure if the proposed change is helping. 

3) would be a really nice addition to limit the possibility of having any ship be available basically everywhere instantly. +1

[Brogsitter]

1) sounds fairly ok, it wouldn't change the way PB's work too much (because you still need to get a ship to the port) and would make everyone more mobile. It might have some negative impacts on the economy because you can get to alot more ports, buy goods and ship them, so ressource gathering might be faster but I can't see the full extend of the impact on eco that might have.

2) I agree that tp to capital is a highly abused mechanic and it should be changed but I'm not sure if the proposed change is helping. 

3) would be a really nice addition to limit the possibility of having any ship be available basically everywhere instantly. +1

 

Impact on the economy will not be that hard, you still have to haul the goods from the normal ports into the free towns. And IF the economy will be completly player driven at one point it wont have any impact at all.

[Hethwill]

hmmmm unsure...

 

All these "fair" points could be reduced to a single system. Reduce teleports by 90 mins. Eliminate all cargo if teleporting.

[Brogsitter]

hmmmm unsure...

 

All these "fair" points could be reduced to a single system. Reduce teleports by 90 mins. Eliminate all cargo if teleporting.

 

Just reducing the timer wont fix any of the spoken issues.

[Hethwill]

Just reducing the timer wont fix any of the spoken issues.

 

I know. But rather than complicate, simplify. No cargo, shorter cooldowns.

 

The transfer ship to outpost ( n.3 )is the hmmmm part. It is the only one I might see through, maybe.

[Long Beard]

Keep in mind this is a game, and people play it for the singular purpose of having fun.

Current TP is good. Planning ahead is important, but it gives you some flexibility in what you want to do on a particular evening.

Example. I wan't to go plundering in enemy waters but it will take me 1 hour 30 real time to get there sailing. I TP there where I have a ship stored, have some fun, then TP back to home port after 4 hours of fun.

 

Next night, back at home port, I can get some crafting done or go out and PVE fleets with the lads, or I can chose to go back up to enemy waters, or perhaps even go to different enemy waters.

 

Remove that and....

 

Meh, I ain't sailing 1hr 30 up to enemy waters, guess I'll just go PVE fleeting. Variety is lost, boredom sinks. Go play something else.  

 

As for abuse, yeah, I do think being able to TP a full trader snow with goods is a tad overpowered, but we all use it and I really don't see any reason why it's hurting the game. I still find plenty player traders to plunder.

[Crayon]

 

1) Remove the current teleportation system (outpost to outpost)

Players should be able to book passages from Free to Free Town (OR: from regional capital to regional capital) whenever they want to, regardless of having a warehouse in this town or not. The price for a passage depends on the distance you are going to travel.

 

 

 

Yes! Very good suggestion. 

 

Add one thing: Allow for more deliveries, as well as some form of CoD mail orders.

[Brogsitter]

[...]

Variety is lost, boredom sinks. Go play something else.  

 

[...]

 

Starring at a flatscreen, watching a ship sailing straight in one direction, without whales, flying fishes and flipper..... for 1,5h is no boredom? Even a Train simulator has way more action than this ^^

Yes! Very good suggestion. 

 

Add one thing: Allow for more deliveries, as well as some form of CoD mail orders.

 

Nice idea, but this is another mechanic and should be discussed seprately

[KittyHawkes]

Starring at a flatscreen, watching a ship sailing straight in one direction, without whales, flying fishes and flipper..... for 1,5h is no boredom? Even a Train simulator has way more action than this ^^

 

 

you´re right... we need flipper and his friends... maybe add a feature to feed them over the railing...

btw, i voted no... mostly because i only PARTLY agree with nr. 1...

on nr.2: i only use the teleport to hometown after a mission when i want to logg off, so i port back home... or similar situations...i would hate to lose my ship everytime

i would how ever be willing to agree on the "no cargo" suggestion further down the page, since i can see the abusive potential in teleporting your cargo back and forth...although a 3 hours timer makes it less effective than one would think i guess(?) ...

and number 3? Well since the ability to capture battle ships got scrapped, i don´t really care ... i´m not into capping trader ships (pure PvE player)

Edited April 14, 2016 by KittyHawkes

[Shrez]

No thanks!

[Brogsitter]

No thanks!

Because of ..... ?

[Tyrant]

Take teleport out of game.  Replace it with AI navigation method which place my ship in the Open World and let the AI navigate to a port I've selected.  If my ship is engaged, it would be no different than any other AI battle is now on the map.  If I logged in, I could take control of my battle; otherwise, the AI would attempt to defend itself.

 

Being able to teleport good across the map with impunity, without risk from piracy is not good.

 

Being able to teleport big ships way behind enemy lines for stupid surprise port attacs is silly.

 

Take teleport out, replace it with something more realistic.  Having AI control my ship while I am offline is like the captain of a ship going to sleep in his cabin and allowing his offficers to make basic navigation decisions.  That is realistic, helps newer players, removes the mundane task of sailing hours back and forth from place to place, and allows piracy of the high seas to be a viable way to play.

[Long Beard]

What I'd actually like to see is the outpost to outpost TP decreased to 2 hours, and the TP (with ship) to capital increased to 6.

 

This would allow players to still plan and meet up with friends or head to other locations for PVP, but would limit the ability to teleport a fully laiden LGV back to home port.

 

The argument that TP to HQ is required in case you are lost is null and void. There are tools such as F11 which allows you to find your approximate location in the event you get hopelessly lost.

 

Oh, and they REALLY REALLY REALLY MUST put in an 'are you sure' option when clicking on TP. Hastily clicking the wrong outpost is common and can quite literally ruine your evening.

[Ronald Speirs]

Unfortunately the teleport in this game has been poorly implemented much like other aspects, i used to play on POTBS and there was no cooldown between teleports and that worked great, you could always just move around to ports you had a ship in and then jump out and fleet, do trade runs and pvp, unfortunately in this there is to much wasted time, players having multiple ports and being able to create outposts in free towns causes more trouble and thats why we have a cooldown.

To fix the problem they need to look at the following things

1.) Player outposts reduced to say 5 deep water ports that they own plus 2 shallow, warehouses arnt included in this, you can make warehouses where ever for trade goods and production, warehouses just get more expensive the more you create.

2.) Ship storage in ports, Capital 5 ship slots, Regional Capital 3 and standard deep ports 1 while Shallow Port 2

3.) You have to sail te ship to port to store it there, no more send to outpost

4.) Freetowns cant store warships, they can repair and log off but not leave there and teleport somewhere else

5.) No teleporting goods, goods in hold will be lost if you teleport back to capital

6.) No cooldown so you dont waste more time running around somewhere thats dead

It worked fine in POTBS and once they fix the PB and the rate at which they can be captured plus the alliances this teleport fix will work far better and provide better use of players time.

[Bulwyf]

As a crafter I hate these ideas, I already spend a lot of time shifting cargo ships, all this would do is double that amount of time and massively slow down ship production for no useful purpose.

[Tyrant]

As a crafter, I love these ideas.  If I was too lazy to do the work of moving the goods then I will simply pay others to transport goods for me.  If I am too poor to afford that, then I will do the transporting myself.  It will drive the economy and create new roles for players to fill as merchant vessels.  I would love to see that sort of player interaction!

[mikawa]

I must say that I like the idea of teleporting between outposts without cooldown restriction. Of course this is not "real" but as the OW is that huge, it spreads the players all over the map instead of starting everytime from one's capital. The OW teleport should stay as it is: a quick transport to the capital, even with cargo, so that most of the trading activities take place around the capitals - making these spots interesting for trader-hunters.

[surfimp]

The OW teleport should stay as it is: a quick transport to the capital, even with cargo, so that most of the trading activities take place around the capitals - making these spots interesting for trader-hunters.

 

Unfortunately, OW teleport to capital has exactly the opposite effect:

 

Player traders load up their cargo vessel at their production outpost, then use the Teleport to Capital function to move their laden vessel directly to the capital without ever going through OW. The result is that their ship and cargo are never at any risk to trader-hunters whatsoever, because they never transit through the open world.

[Bulwyf]

As a crafter, I love these ideas.  If I was too lazy to do the work of moving the goods then I will simply pay others to transport goods for me.  If I am too poor to afford that, then I will do the transporting myself.  It will drive the economy and create new roles for players to fill as merchant vessels.  I would love to see that sort of player interaction!

 

This has multiple problems, (a) you need to have people you could trust to do it for you, the majority of non trader people don't want to spend the hours to transport your stuff, hell they really dont like to spend the hours to harvest. ( It in no way mitigates the risk of losing huge amounts of cargo to some ass who did nothing to produce it.  Building ships is already expensive and that type of system would cripple it.

[mikawa]

 

The result is that their ship and cargo are never at any risk to trader-hunters whatsoever, because they never transit through the open world.

No. Only the way back to the capital is a short-cut. But you have to sail to the trading port manually. There a good informed enemy can intercept him very well. Speaking for Britain: Just wait outside Pedro Cay where all these compass wood ships bring their cargo in.

[Tyrant]

This has multiple problems, (a) you need to have people you could trust to do it for you, the majority of non trader people don't want to spend the hours to transport your stuff, hell they really dont like to spend the hours to harvest. ( It in no way mitigates the risk of losing huge amounts of cargo to some ass who did nothing to produce it.  Building ships is already expensive and that type of system would cripple it.

Not to detract from your argument, because your point is no less valid, but you only went so far as (a).

 

I think people are afraid to let a free market economy do what it is meant to, and what it inevitably would... given the opportunity.  When people see an opportunity to make money, certain enterprising players will take advantage.  If people do not move goods, the prices will rise until somebody eventually says "screw it" and sails out of there way to make a ton of money.

 

With production buildings, the distances aren't even that great.  If you create a system which creates an incentive for the merchant style of game play, there will be people willing to fill that void and players who find that sort of thing "fun".

 

That's the long and short of it from my perspective.

 

Preventing TPing of goods across the map won't break this game; it will make this game.  Prices will fluctuate, players will adjust, and that is half the fun for some people.

 

Edit: Ahah! I see your second point was turned into a smile emoji.  So you say that some ass can steal your cargo without doing any work?  I would argue that their determined piracy efforts involve a separate kind of work in and of itself.  It is what this game is missing.  We pvp for bragging rights and ports that don't mean anything.  There is no piracy.. and anyone who patrols the high seas for trade vessels and finds an open to pursue deserves to be rewarded for that style of game play.  Don't like the risk? trade closer to home, ask for an escort, build a fast ship, change up your trade routes.... you know... play the game!  Get strategic!

Edited May 18, 2016 by Tyrant

[Tyrant]

Unfortunately, OW teleport to capital has exactly the opposite effect:

 

Player traders load up their cargo vessel at their production outpost, then use the Teleport to Capital function to move their laden vessel directly to the capital without ever going through OW. The result is that their ship and cargo are never at any risk to trader-hunters whatsoever, because they never transit through the open world.

THANK YOU!