Cargo shipping problem.

[Captain Jack Shadow 488]

For the amount of time it takes, and the effort involved, and the risk involved, shipping cargo seems too high risk.  Cannons weigh too little.  70 pounds for a small cannon, and 140 for a large?  Likely about ten times to low.  So, when you go to another island to gather resources not on your own, you find yourself having to sacrifice being able to carry a reasonable amount of materials from that island back to your own.  You will need to farm Wood, Metal, Crystal, Thatch, Fiber, berries, vegetables, etc...  And bring enough back to your base to have an impact.  But the risk is too high.  By the time you load up a ship with these resources, you will be a sitting duck for the residents of that Grid, who WILL be out looking for you, since they saw you join their Grid.

That is one thing that bothers me about PvP in this game.  Somebody coming into your Grid is seen, and when they are seen, everyone there assumes it's a raid.  So there is no chance for commerce, or trading.  You might trade with Allies, but your allies tend to have the same resources you do.

I will admit that this is one way in which Unofficial is better than official, because they tend to put more islands, 4 to 5 islands, in each grid, and the companies tend to be smaller...typically under a dozen people, and islands aren't completely closed off by things such as gates.   So you can actually go to islands and gather resources.

One fix would be to allow for more realistic trading with merchants that I assume will be placed in the towns.  You should be able to farm items and trade them for gold.  Items sold on your island, or islands with the same resource, won't pay as much for the item, as an island that does not have that resource.  At the same time, items not on your island, will cost more to purchase.

I also realize that one of the problems is that some of these resources are used for repairs during battle.  A fix might be shipping containers that cannot be opened while at sea, and these would reduce the weight of the items inside.  Thus, you can carry a reasonable amount of resources to make the trip worthwhile, while also not upsetting the balance of ship fights.  The idea being that if the items are too light, you can carry so many that it makes impossible to sink a ship that has enough people repairing, because they have too many resources available to them.  They can repair more than you can destroy.  Shipping containers that can't be opened on the ship, would solve that.  We could start carrying a reasonable amount of cargo to justify the risk, and time involved.

[Percieval 1,067]

Why not create an ANNO kind of trade. Have NPC trading ships that go from port building to port building, if you say in your port building I need 2000 wood for 100 coins, the trade ship trades it to you from stuff he took from other trade ports etc. 

[Captain Jack Shadow 488]

I would like to see NPC trading ships in the game eventually.  Real sailing ships that you can pirate, but they go from port to port.  But, I would also like to see a reputation system as well.  PvP is fun, but PvP with consequences is more fun.

In the meantime, they could probably just put an NPC trader in those NPC towns, and allow you to farm your own resources for gold.  The present system seems to be inhibiting this kind of trade because it is too costly.  The gold plus resources is putting people off the idea.  Instead of encouraging commerce, it is discouraging it.

[Percieval 1,067]

Maybe make it so you need to pay a fee if you trade through trade ships rather than doing it on your own. Or maybe make an island in the middle of the map with a grand exchange where people can trade everything and buy anything they want. Players can set the coins they want from it. But I’d rather have that island based but if it’s too much of a risk. 

[Captain Jack Shadow 488]

Yeah, an Island in the middle of the Grid, with a large port that is similar to a freeport.  You can't base there, but you can dock for an hour, but then a fee to remain docked there, starts stacking up, and at some point, gets very expensive.  Does so quickly, to encourage getting in and getting your business done, and leaving.  Heck, these islands could become the new Freeports.  They don't need to be big, just have a good sized port, that is easily accessible.  I would think this would be very exciting to new players, to log in and see so much activity...hints of what the game has to offer them.

[Thor Ragnarock 99]

I would like to see NPC merchants as well. I would also prefer to not see ship of the damned keep being expanded upon and much rather see NPC ships of varying merchant companies and navies classes and armaments (they can all be fictitional) who also own land  in different areas on islands which can be raided that we the pirates and chase, sink, plunder, and force... I mean allow the survivors to join us or die as our new NPCS. We can execute the npcs who won't join us. That is far more piratey to me. Currently the pvp between playes while I expect this to happen and it's good should also be supplemented by people ganging up to kill npcs as pirate fleets vs the people who have what the pirates want... Really hope that is where this game is eventually heading personally. 

Edited March 1, 2019 by Thor Ragnarock

[Captain Jack Shadow 488]

21 minutes ago, Thor Ragnarock said:

I would like to see NPC merchants as well. I would also prefer to not see ship of the damned keep being expanded upon and much rather see NPC ships of varying merchant companies and navies classes and armaments (they can all be fictitional) who also own land  in different areas on islands which can be raided that we the pirates and chase, sink, plunder, and force... I mean allow the survivors to join us or die as our new NPCS. We can execute the npcs who won't join us. That is far more piratey to me. Currently the pvp between playes while I expect this to happen and it's good should also be supplemented by people ganging up to kill npcs as pirate fleets vs the people who have what the pirates want... Really hope that is where this game is eventually heading personally. 

This would definitely take it our of ARK's shadow.  ARK was pure mindless PvP.  I like PvP, but not the way it was in ARK, and has transferred to Atlas.  It's nothing but paranoia.  I mean, I was trying to find my new company on an island.  Had to make a Sloop and travel there.  So as I am cruising along the coast, people in chat are talking about how it looks like they are about to be raided.  I would prefer that the sight of a ship not make people assume bad things are about to happen.  That is not how life was when people saw a ship on the coast.  I mean yeah, 4 Galleons, a few Brigs, and several Schooners should raise an alarm, but a single Sloop?  Shows a problem in the game.