Sandbars and safety or Strategy idea

[CokaCoder 1]

Hi folks.

So im fairly new to the game, but I can see there is a definite problem where it comes to grinding away for hours building your ship, only to have it wrecked while your asleep or at work... (which is really a bit too punishing in my view).  This is especially true for people who often play solo, and don't have the resources or time to build a huge galleon with npc crew to protect it while your away.

I do however like that the game is quite hardcore and would hate for it to become too easy, so here is an idea.... (please ignore if this is already in game.. I just haven't discovered it.)

It would be really cool, and not too difficult to create if there were sand banks/bars out in deep sea.  I've been sailing around quite a bit and never found any. The only ones you see are near to islands.

The problem is you can't really drop anchor at a Freeport, because your decay timer will have your boat wrecked before you even get out of bed the next morning.  But sailing out to a "Lawless" area and dropping anchor near a Lawless island leaves your boat very exposed to pvp players sneaking onboard and wrecking it while your off line.  Perfectly valid strategy, but there are far too few methods for us solo players to combat against that.

The only real advantage a small "solo" player has, is they usually use a sloop which gives them a speed and manuverability advantage, which they need to be able to use to balance out against the huge "Companies" who have galleons. If we had certain area's on the map, where there were "Mazes" of complex sand banks... out in the middle of the ocean somewhere waiting to be discovered. A valid form of defense could be to take your sloop and weave your way inside some complex sand banks and drop your anchor there.  This would prevent larger ships with an unfair advantage, broadsiding you just for fun while you sleep.  It would also present a new defensive strategy for people with smaller ships.  If being chased by a bigger ship, you could sail into a known sand bank area and attempt to run the enemy a-ground... or at least force them to slow down while your smaller nimble ship weaves its way through and makes an escape.  I believe this was a genuine tactic used at sea.

The sand banks could even move or change their location... like they do in real life. Meaning that someone on large ships needs to be stationed on watch to prevent "running a-ground. "

I do also think that there should be "Safe ports" where you can sail your ship and dock for safe keeping.  The npc presence on the dock, should protect your boat while your away.. but there should be a price to pay for this "service."  Maybe you have to pay a mooring fee, in booty or gold gained during your adventures.  Or maybe make it that if you become a known villian or pirate, law abiding ports won't take you.  If you want to become a true pirate, you must be prepared for the fact that your not really welcome in most ports... all except "Tortuga" or course!!

 

Edited February 11, 2019 by CokaCoder

[CamsterAu 16]

The reason you haven't seen any sand bars in deep water.... because it's deep water! Your not just going to have a great big pile of sand appear in water that deep, let alone stay there. Yes it would make things easier for some people, but the rest of us are happy to drop anchor at an island

[wildbill 142]

This is certainly something I can see being added. I just watched a video today of someone being very candid about why they will no longer be playing on any official PvP servers. The game does seem to be losing players that just can't stand the grind. To survive in the game in a PvP server, you must log in or have someone log in constantly to maintain stuff and grind stuff (at least that is what I'm hearing, I don't play the PvP).

I'd say play PvE, but I suspect those that are not liking the grind in PvP wouldn't be happy with that either, although it works for me. Especially unofficial servers with higher rates can make this game so much less of a grind and don't require that you log in every 8 hours or so. You can even skip several days and play other games also. 

This game seems to require, kind of like a jealous girlfriend, that you spend all your time, and only your game time with it. It is just a game after all, and should not be some demanding of your attention just to survive in the game, let alone succeed.

Edited February 12, 2019 by wildbill

[Archsenex 309]

They have said they want to try and come up with a way to allow you to address this with Tarot.  I could see something like a "Ghost Veil" where you can cloak One ship, but only up to a Schooner or something, and it can't move.  They might also consider things like letting you make a small room invincible.

The difficulty is in finding a way that larger groups can't just chain them together to make invincible mega bases.

While the sand bar idea sounds nice, I don't know how much it will help you in practice.  They just get off their galleon, hit you with a couple oil jars, and burn your ship while you sleep.  The problem is the fact that you need to go offline.  Most simple solutions will be easy to just circumvent.  They need to change something more fundamental.

[CokaCoder 1]

11 hours ago, CamsterAu said:

The reason you haven't seen any sand bars in deep water.... because it's deep water! Your not just going to have a great big pile of sand appear in water that deep, let alone stay there. Yes it would make things easier for some people, but the rest of us are happy to drop anchor at an island

Actually i just meant any of the various forms of deep sea geological structures... eg: Coral reefs, or underwater volcanoes which form tiny islands like those found in the Maldives and yes even in the middle of large expanses of deep ocean.  Having them close to islands isn't going to make them much use as a place to hide so maybe sand bars is the wrong thing, although it would still add an interesting hazard to avoid and something to consider as strategy. 

Most players will agree that anchoring at an island on a pvp server is risky at best and suicide at worst and I think the balance is wrong.  If it was actually that risky in real life there wouldn't be any ships on the ocean.  Obviously this isn't real life, but to make the game enjoyable this balance needs to be addressed somehow.  Either make certain islands "safe" by introducing a port you can dock at, where you are protected for a modest fee.  Or give solo players a fighting chance by introducing somewhere to hide. Preferably both!

It's a shame that players are turning away, because I think this can be such an amazing game if they can come up with a good solution to this problem.  Maybe they could make it so you can elect to "sleep" on one of your ships or boats, and if so that ship logs out with you?  If it were like real life, in practise you would be woken up if someone tried to burn your ship while you slept. So why not remove that as an option if your character is "asleep" on it.  It's a bit unfair that your body just lies there unable to move, while someone torches your boat because your off line.

I also like the idea of this "Tarot" thing.  That sounds really interesting and this is the first i heard of that, so fingers crossed they are working on it.

Edited February 12, 2019 by CokaCoder