Suggestion: Make Sailing XP Separate from Combat!

[CrustyJohnson]

I posted this suggestion earlier in a different thread but wanted to repost as its own for visibility and so I could flush out the idea more, because the more I think about it; the better an idea I think it actually is. Sorry this post also has some of my other ideas and suggestions stuffed into it.

 

Crafting has its own level and xp gain, so why not make sailing level be separate from rank?

 

What increasing "Sailing Level" could affect:

- Ability to more accurately determine location on the map (because the longer you sail, the more logs you keep and the better you are at knowing where in the world you are)

- Ability to weather storms more effectively (Maybe storms could do damage over time and would be lessened with increased sailing rank

- Ability to predict where storms are forming (could be used as a way to lose a ganker or avoid a damaging storm)

- Ability to predict wind changes (I think wind should change in a more random way instead of boring counter-clockwise motion)

- Increased fishing skill (more efficient, better fish, more bottles, fish preserved longer) ((Also fish should go bad after a while to prevent AFKers))

- Increased crew morale

- Increased cargo and hold capacity (better at distributing cargo)

- Ability to navigate shallows better (decrease amount ships are slowed when passing near them)

- OW repair times reduced (I think OW repairs should be time-based)

- Tag timer increase

- Increased shop knowledge (maybe at a certain level you can see all the buy/sell orders in a county and the area of visibility increases with rank)

- Ability to call NPC fleets to help over a larger distance (but they would have to be in the area and sail to you and join; not just spawn them and would mess with RoE so allied players may not be able to help)

- Better prices for trade goods

- Trade ship knowledge slots

- Lower docking fees (I think clan-controlled ports should be able to charge a fee just for docking like a pilot's fee that all real-life ports have)

 

How "Sailing Level" XP could be gained

- distance traveled/time at sea (basically gives more xp for more efficient sailing and punishes AFKers who may just sail in irons until wind shifts.

- visiting new ports

- discovery missions

- tracking down bottles, deadman's chests

- trading goods to ports that consume (further distance increases xp)

- blockade running and entering enemy ports: increased xp and rewards from delivering to enemy ports and sailing in enemy controlled county waters.

 

[tomsk]

18 minutes ago, Koveras said:

The game is released. You can't change the way xp is generated without wiping the server again and I'm not really in favor of this.. The noobs got left behind, again, I have all the encyclopedias (I'm still buying btw - pm Lars Kjaer ingame for a full list of prices) and I'm still the richest man on the server.. Nothing changes in wipes but ffs let's accept the damn game has been released - bugs, desynch, lack of content etc.

Then sentence "game is released" you can use for everything, and then game will not go ahead / no new features (because it is released), and it will slowly die.. Game is released is very bad reason.. There are mmo games that exists more than 15+ years old and they are not afraid of new features.

[Slim McSauce]

It's not the same, it's an addition. Rank determines crew count, sailing XP is like a skill tree you learn over time.

[tomsk]

2 minutes ago, Koveras said:

There's a difference between asking for an update or add on and asking for a rework of how xp is generated.

It is not rework, it is just adding more sources from where is xp generated

[CrustyJohnson]

1 hour ago, Koveras said:

The game is released. You can't change the way xp is generated without wiping the server again and I'm not really in favor of this.. The noobs got left behind, again, I have all the encyclopedias (I'm still buying btw - pm Lars Kjaer ingame for a full list of prices) and I'm still the richest man on the server.. Nothing changes in wipes but ffs let's accept the damn game has been released - bugs, desynch, lack of content etc.

There's always room for more features. None of the suggestions I gave would impact current mechanics in a way that would need a wipe. It would simply give traders something more to work for. If we stop showing interest in the game developing than so will the devs. Also, look at all the MMOs in the world, like Eve, they all get huge changes fairly often. 

[CrustyJohnson]

1 hour ago, Koveras said:

The game is released. You can't change the way xp is generated without wiping the server again and I'm not really in favor of this.. The noobs got left behind, again, I have all the encyclopedias (I'm still buying btw - pm Lars Kjaer ingame for a full list of prices) and I'm still the richest man on the server.. Nothing changes in wipes but ffs let's accept the damn game has been released - bugs, desynch, lack of content etc.

Also, you don't want bugs fixed? Lmao stop being such a crotchety old salty bastard and please don't flex in the suggestions section of the forum. If they don't want them, they should take the section down. 

[Sir Texas Sir]

I would just be happy if that XP went towards the ship your in.....this would allow trade ships to gain a little xp instead of having to fight.

[Macjimm]

5 hours ago, CrustyJohnson said:

- Ability to more accurately determine location on the map (because the longer you sail, the more logs you keep and the better you are at knowing where in the world you are) Not sure if anyone would like it if we made the GPS Sextant Icon less accurate.   We tried for years to have a mechanic that required a little bit of skill to navigate and the outrage was constant about how stupid it was.  GPS Sextant Icon shows player where they are all the time.   I don't think this crew would be pleased if we changed this and made it even a tiny bit more difficult.

- Ability to weather storms more effectively (Maybe storms could do damage over time and would be lessened with increased sailing rank  There is no damage from storms.  It has been suggested since the game started, but the Devs are firm.

- Ability to predict where storms are forming (could be used as a way to lose a ganker or avoid a damaging storm)  The outrage will be deafening if you negatively impact players ability to fight,  they need to find prey and need to increase chances of combat. 

- Ability to predict wind changes (I think wind should change in a more random way instead of boring counter-clockwise motion)  Again you are messing with a simple system and adding complexity.   

- Increased fishing skill (more efficient, better fish, more bottles, fish preserved longer) ((Also fish should go bad after a while to prevent AFKers))  Good idea, more fish more bottles.  Fish doesn't go bad.

- Increased crew morale There is no morale

- Increased cargo and hold capacity (better at distributing cargo). Excellent idea

- Ability to navigate shallows better (decrease amount ships are slowed when passing near them). Interesting, is this a thing?  I havent noticed slowing as I pass shallows. 

- OW repair times reduced (I think OW repairs should be time-ba sed) Interesting

- Tag timer increase I'm too ignorant to have an opinion.

- Increased shop knowledge (maybe at a certain level you can see all the buy/sell orders in a county and the area of visibility increases with rank)  Interesting idea.  Although I doubt our Devs would code this. Plus it kinda defeats the real knowledge players aquire though familiarity, frequency of visits and memory (or records keeping).

- Ability to call NPC fleets to help over a larger distance (but they would have to be in the area and sail to you and join; not just spawn them and would mess with RoE so allied players may not be able to help)  The NPC fleet support idea could be horrible.  Lets wait and see if aggressive NPCs are a massive fail again.

- Better prices for trade goods  This is a great idea. 

- Trade ship knowledge slots  Excellent idea.  Hauling, fishing,  and sailing should be the ONLY way to unlock XP on Traders ships.

- Lower docking fees (I think clan-controlled ports should be able to charge a fee just for docking like a pilot's fee that all real-life ports have)  The port clan should be able to set this.

 

How "Sailing Level" XP could be gained

- distance traveled/time at sea (basically gives more xp for more efficient sailing and punishes AFKers who may just sail in irons until wind shifts.  Wow interesting.  I suspect the Devs will never code this for us. 

- visiting new ports cool

- discovery missions What are discovery missions?

- tracking down bottles, deadman's chests Yes, I love finding bottles.  What is a deadman's chest?

- trading goods to ports that consume (further distance increases xp)  Do ports consume goods?  I would love it if they did.

- blockade running and entering enemy ports: increased xp and rewards from delivering to enemy ports and sailing in enemy controlled county waters.  Sounds nice.

 

You have a lot of great ideas here.  Perhaps we should start with the easy ones, that don't impact fighting.  Anything that makes it harder for players to find fights will likely get shouted down fast and receive no support from the Devs.

Players that don't fight should not increase in combat rank.  Seems kinda silly to have the rank of Rear Admiral if you have NEVER fought in a battle.  But if we gain combat XP from sailing eventually we will be top rank.  We could gain Trader XP and it should enable advantages like you describe.  Additionally it would be cool if traders received some preference over fighting captains regarding costs and production related to trade and fishing.  Separating Combat XP from trade XP is a win win.

if we keep it simple it might be fairly easy to do.  

 

 

 

 

Edited July 12, 2019 by Macjimm

[tomsk]

There could be some random wind changes.. Counter-clockwise motion is boring and predictable.. And it is not hard to implement it.