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wildbill

Ship can be sunk by a single random rock

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Does anyone else think the sinking of ships by hitting a rock, however unlikely, is a bad feature of the game?

So I've not tested it, but if you do hit a rock and your ship says it is sinking, you should be able to lower the anchor and patch the hull and save it. This assumes you have a spare plank or two and remembered to stock the ship resource box.

The most ironic thing about this mechanic, is that it is least likely to happen to a sloop, most likely to happen to a galleon. So the more you invest in the ship, materials and time wise, the more likely it will sink because the draft is so much deeper for a galleon. The deeper the rock, the less likely you are to see it, so the more likely you will hit one. Also there are more rocks you can hit if you include the ones in all the different depths of water it could be at.

So you could reply, just get good, but that doesn't help all the new players (and there are a lot after the $5 sale), that hit a rock for the first time and don't know what to do and didn't even realize it was a thing, that it could sink their ship.

This reverse kind of Atlas logic (more time and resources spent on something doesn't necessarily make it better at all things), is what in my opinion holds this game back from being played more. It is things like this that cause a player to rage quit and then forever after not recommend the game.

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I don’t mind rocks that kill ships. Coincidentally it has happened to me 2 weeks ago with my schooner, but I’m fine with it because it’s pretty realistic. If you go full speed and hit a rock, your ship is gonna sink and it’s gonna sink hard. If you go slow, it doesn’t - pretty realistic. What I would like to see from the devs is something to make the sea more clearer. You can’t see shit underwater with k-mode or when you’re uptop on a sail. This would reduce the chances of hitting anything and you can see where to park your ship. 

Edited by Percieval
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Whilst it can be a pain, it's a least a little realistic. Just make sure you always carry some spare planks on your ship. Good for emergencies like this, and if you get into a bad situation with SOD. I always carry 4 spare planks, 1 spare deck & 1 spare wheel on all my ships.

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Lol a month after release was doing some exploring in my brand new fully crewed brig with a few thousand gold on board. Sailed into a cove, anchored and took the bear inland for discoveries. Got back, bear stowed, raise anchor and all hell broke loose. Apparently and anchored right over a rock. When anchor came up the boat dipped into the water and the rock destroyed 4 planks. Boat sank within a min as I only had 2 replacements and lost some time due to panic and trying to figure out what the hell happened. Lost everything in that one little moment. But gained so much in knowledge that taught me to better prepare. Not just what's in the boat, but in making sure I have replacements back home as well i.e. the bear, the gold which was all lost by the time I got another ship and got back to where I was

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23 minutes ago, PeglegTheAngry said:

Running aground is a real danger in boating, a number one cause of small boating accidents is running into a rock or reef.

In modern times, not really. All rocks tend to have a bouy to mark their location if they are not close to shore, but of course the Atlas game is not in modern times.

I think there are different types of rocks in Atlas, and we are not all talking about the same ones:

1) The rock close to shore in shallow water that you can see just under the surface.

2) The rock close to shore in not so shallow water that you may or may not be able to see.

3) The rare rock not close to shore, not in shallow water, not marked on the map.

So we can all probably agree, if you hit 1 or 2 at high speed (although a new player probably won't know this) it will try and sink your ship. But #3, is not expected and when it happens, may just cause some people to take a break from the game or never return. This is a part of the game I think we could do without.

The other problem I see with the current mechanic is the way the ship jumps around and bounces all over the place when it does hit an obstruction. This is so not like how a ship should behave that it confuses all but the most experienced Atlas players. They lose precious time figuring out what just happened. I think there is a message that says what happened, but are you reading all the messages on the screen when your ship is acting like a jumping bean?

2nd aspect of this is that not only does your ship sink, but there is no way to raise it again. In actual boating, a ship seldom sinks when hitting a rock, unless there is a severe storm involved. It generally gets a small hole and is able to ground itself or patch the hole and then repair it. In Atlas if you fail to be able to repair the ship in a short amount of time, that it, you lose your ship. No 2nd chance. You can salvage a part of the ship, but that is difficult and not always very practical.

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37 minutes ago, PeglegTheAngry said:

Running aground is a real danger in boating, a number one cause of small boating accidents is running into a rock or reef.

Actually, it is not, there are in for example Florida:

Operator inexperience, lack of proper look-out, operator inattention, excessive speed, machinery failure, navigational rules failure (collisions with other boats), careless/reckless behavior and hull failure, followed by hazardous waters, alcohol use, weather.

No mention of hitting a rock or reef in the search I did, but that probably is the result from some of the above.

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I'm pressed to agree the game should allow careening; but many famous pirate vessels were taken to the bottom by rocks in the keys and Carribeian.

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Just to add:

 

A larger ship, such as a galleon would have a much larger draft.

Rocks like you are talking about, I have only experienced in some of the Tropical zones.  

 

Now, I've...ahem...fallen asleep on the wheel and my ship has approached an island and dropped anchor safely.

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