CoopedUp

Yay! You got an island all to yourself! For a week. Or do you think you'll magically be able to keep that island when the bank starts crying about it's upkeep and you realize that you yourself can only farm up enough materials to pay 1/10 it's cost?

Maybe, but who cares? So you claim an island, what's different then if you don't claim the island? You get a short period where you can destroy other settlers stuff, but now have to manage an upkeep to maintain your island, settle tenants disputes, and police your island from griefers and trolls. Meanwhile John Pegleg will just find a nice location on the island and settle down to start building. No extra fuss or responsibilities.

I think that would get us in the same situation as we are in now, sort of. You'd have a lot of little companies looking to put to down endless settlements and since it's a radial area like the claim flag eventually they'd start crowding each other or whining about it's location and everything else. Not to mention it would be another settlement system, but operate completely differently between PvE and PvP servers so people transferring between one server and the other might get confused. I say stick with the same settlement system that they are proposing for the PvP server, simply come up with an alternative to PvP raiding that the settlement owner would be responsible for controlling. I suggested somewhere that in PvP they have player raiders, in PvE they incorporate some sort of Undead Crew island invasion that happens periodically. This would give the settlement owner something to protect his tenants against, and it would give all the islands some fun PvE events to participate in or prepare for. A lot of your other suggestions like tents, docking fees, trade and other such items can be added into the settlement system for both PvP and PvE servers at a later date as well. Just for now they need to decide on and implement a new basic system for the servers that is somewhat common between both play styles.

I did, but I'm also not the one harassing you about one of the suggestions. Honestly I thought some of the suggestions were good, for the most part it sounds like you are advocating for the same basic principle as the PvP server with a single claim and it making the island into a settlement which I am a huge fan of. The hard part about PvE is the incentive to build on another companies Settlement and I don't think the "to stave off the decay" is enough. Hear me out. In PvP the settlement system comes with both the tenant and the landowner having to donate time and resources for each other's benefit. The tenant pays some of the resources he gathers and has to blindly trust that the landowner won't rob/destroy his stuff without cause. Meanwhile the landowner has to spend his time and resources setting up defenses, protecting/policing the island from random raiders every day, and moderating his tenants if there is any land/resource disputes. If he doesn't then his tenants will leave and he'll be forced to work even harder to maintain an island without their help. In your scenario the tenants are still donating resources and blind trust to a Settlement "admin" which is basically the landowner (same as in PvP's concept). In the meanwhile the landowner or "admin" has to do nothing extra. He has the power to boot anyone that's on the island and besides for the upkeep has no incentive to shit.

Someone else knows the reason behind the mini-game, besides myself right? I for one want ALL THE PRACTICE in the world with the damn thing ... so when they introduce the dueling mechanic I have the edge and can reload a couple seconds faster then y'all and shoot you while curse your in-ability to time the clicks.

True, but that was why I suggested the ability to choose to Opt-Out of the tax collection and not fund the upkeep. If enough of the tenants choose not to assist with the upkeep then eventually landowner wouldn't be able to keep up with it and would lose the rights to the land. And if they are banded together, he can't vote to evict any of them since enough of the island's tenants would vote against it. You are right though, there is always going to be toxic players and griefers. And I agree that an extreme case should have an Admin involvement, but I also don't want to place everything on their shoulders too. I'm just trying to offer some suggestions for a system that might allow the players to be able to moderate their own islands to a limited extent so they don't have to file an admin complaint every week. The truth though is that no system is perfect, and you can't please everyone.

But the problem is that in PvE if everyone owns their own stake of land and no one can touch them, how do you evict someone that is completely toxic or griefing other islanders? Or someone that comes along and places one of their spare claims right on the only gem source in 3 sectors and completely walling it off or building over it? The idea of a landowner/governor having the ability to call votes to have that griefer removed from the gem spot if everyone else on the island agrees is something that is needed, but if he can get evicted can you really say that the griefer truly owned that claim? I think a LOT of people are just afraid of having someone build over top of them or caging them in and preventing them from expanding after they've settled down with just a simple hut. Which if that happens with a landowner/governor I think it could be solved diplomatically without the need for more in-game controls, but if I'm wrong then perhaps a compromise would be that the landowner can grant "parcels". Where you are free to build in your "parcel" and any other free spot on the island, but can not build in another tenants "parcel".

What if PvE just got the exact same thing as PvP is getting with a couple tweaks? Still 1 claim that encompasses the entire island that when active turns the island into a settlement with an upkeep, same as they are proposing for PvP. Since SO MANY people will be up in arms about the owner having the ability to destroy their stuff, adjust it that the owner can only DESTROY (not loot, even backpacks) a companies stuff if there is a majority vote from all other members of the island with the owner having a larger voting share. Now, here is the kicker that will prevent any random wanna-be from taking up that claim flag ... instead of the owner having to set-up raid times and protect his tenants from other pirate raids and wars. Like in Conan Exiles the owner is responsible for setting up a defense against a raid of SotD crew members that have issues with the living. Periodically, after so many upkeeps are paid or failed the SotD will rise up en-mass and attempt to expel the living from their island. They will be armed with archers, gunners, explosives, and anything else that may be needed to make it a decent challenge for players. The tenants will all see and know when a raid is likely to happen so that they can attempt to schedule being online during the raid and help with tames or swords to repel the Damned Crew till another day. If the tenants are unhappy with the landowner's defense, they can choose to op-out of the taxes or pay towards the upkeep but the bank will have a display showing all individuals that are contributing that anyone can see. So if you decide to be greedy and opt-out hoping everyone else will pick up the slack, all other residents will be able to see and a vote can be called to remove you from the island. I think this would actually pretty damn fun to see be put into place ... and it would make sense with the game Lore for the Damned Crew to want to seek revenge both out at sea and on the land besides for just being spawning for treasure hunts.

The auto-repair structure will probably only work as an aura effect like a feeding trough, so the upkeep of materials for the griefer isn't the materials but the time he'd have to expend running around and repairing each individual pillar/foundation. I do like the concept though that the decay rate of structures is accelerated for individual structures and then increased (to a limit) for every new structure attached to the first. So like a single foundation or pillar will decay and pop in 4 hours, but an actual base's decay rate is a couple days unless the upkeep is paid or the auto-repair structure is filled. The major concern that I have for the Dev's attention is how will the upkeep be controlled? Like if I have two 5x5 bases with auto-repair structures, one base is stone and the other is thatch. Is there an inventory limit to the auto-repair structure so I can't overload it and keep the bases repaired for the next 3 years and if I do fill it in both bases will the auto-repair structure run out of fuel or materials at identical times?

I'm just not sure I can understand your thought pattern, how did you draw that conclusion? PvE won't have a claim flag, therefore there will not be a tax on player shops ... and since there is no tax that means that there is no player shops? Just HOW did you connect those dots? So since there is no tax on harvested trees, that means they are eliminating trees from all the islands too right? No taxes on gold from treasure maps ... guess we're eliminating them too ...

Is that honestly the foundation aura on lawless? Because I swear I was hitting the foundation aura on my claim on a normal island at triple or quadruple that distance when I was checking before. I wonder if the "Enemy Foundation" aura changes depending on the island type? Since Lawless is not meant for you to have a permanent base on and is supposed to be for a springboard point if you lose your previous base or just traveled from the Freeport, then the aura radius is reduced from normal to a more restricted version.

I will point out that no one said that PvE would NOT get player shops, they just mentioned that in PvP the Owner of a settlement could set a tax for player run shops. I'm betting that the idea of player run shops will be a 'future' thing that they'll introduce later after they've debugged and fixed some of the holes that people will find with them at the freeports.

I think you guys are forgetting something. If the landowner DOESN'T build and protect his tenants then their bases get wiped and his upkeep costs go up. If the landowner decides to pillage his own tenants for resources, his upkeep will go up (possibly even higher then the amount of resources he stole). I think the Devs are hoping to set-up a kind of Mayor/Town setting where one Company is in charge of running an island and setting up rules/protection, and if he lets the island become a lawless apocalyptic wasteland of looters and trolls then all the good "farmers" that would help him pay his upkeep will leave. Eventually his grand utopia dream will crumble and die as he realizes that without his farmers he can't afford to keep the island anymore.

I think it's the fact that your enclosure is built over water. I have/had the same style of enclosure built over water with a single ceiling tile level between my animals and the water below. On 3 separate occasions any time I tamed a Rhino if I put it in the pen then overnight they would dis-appear and I'd be left with that same message stating that they were simply killed. All my other animals would be fine and in the exact same place that I left them, so it's not like anything got in and attacked them. Anyways I've heard a theory that Grapeshot may have a figurative "mesh" that is responsible for catching tames and such and then raise them back up to the appropriate surface if they clip. Supposedly the theory is that if a player or animal glitches below/outside that "mesh" then they are instantly killed and the body deleted, which may be what happened to your animals. It seems plausible that with the water level raising/falling below the pen and if your tames are not that high over the water level, then maybe the animals got caught being reported as outside that mesh and instantly deleted. I later built a small enclosure over land maybe only 4-5 enclosures away, and I've thus far managed to keep a rhino alive for a week.

I'm not sure if this is on your list of future content, but I for one would be incredibly happy for some sort of Dueling mechanic to be added to the game. I usually play on PvE because I enjoy the more laid-back casual style of gaming, but even so there is sometimes where I just can't stand someone or am drunk and feeling adventurous and want to just punch someone. As such on PvE and possibly PvP I'd love to be able to challenge someone to duel sometimes and release the PvP restriction for a bit. My vision for the mechanics is that one person would initiate the challenge possibly even as by choosing whether the duel is as a 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, or 5v5. The challenged party then has the ability to refuse or accept the invite, and as the challenged party he has the right to choose the weapons of the duel. Those weapons could be knuckles, sword, bow, pistols, even ships (though only if it's more then a 1v1 and only with a single ship each.

Link: Steam Forum post about Tattoo's, Ship Sails, and Animal Painting.

You wasted one night and didn't really lose anything. You still have your ship so I call that a win, myself. Myself and two others spent one night sailing across the map during a double gold weekend for 2 Journeyman maps worth 1.7k each, which we successfully managed to dig up. The next day with a heavy belly of 9-10k gold we decided to stop off at an island and collect some resources for repairs and I bet you can guess what happened. It wasn't cyclones, elementals, or SoD's that did our poor ship in ... it was a fucking sand-bar. The ship ended up bumping into a sand-bar and in the process of turning around it glitched into it, resulting in the entire ship exploding with 3.5K-4k damage down it's entire length and shattering practically every plank in the span of 3 seconds and sinking in the next 15 seconds. By time we had died/fast-traveled back to base and returned with a second ship and hour or so later, someone had sailed up and picked over our entire ship. All of the gold, every piece of equipment, every plank, and scrap of wood was gone. You sailed across the world and lost a night of playtime. I sailed across the world and lost 2 nights of playtime, a Schooner, 2 Bears, all of my and my company's equipment, and all the gold that we had managed to dig up. I simply used the night as an excuse to build a new ship design that I wanted to try out, Early Access comes with set-backs and I knew that going into the game. I'm not going to quit because I found a bug ... I'm going to report it and continue testing, waiting for the day when the bugs are something that you run into on VERY rare occasions.

I don't think they are required to buy the game again is what I'm thinking. When I first started playing the game I had to copy the "Save" data over from one computer to another so that I could play my original Pathfinder on either computer, so depending on how the game is written or was patched your Pathfinder may not be linked to any specific online account. So they may be only able to ban a specific "Pathfinder" and not the entire Steam account, thus they could just have to delete some files or re-install the game, then make a new Pathfinder and start over.

I wouldn't say that there is no risk. For all we know the Devs could be archiving all these complaints and compiling all the data on every griefer that gets reported for later. Banning someone right now (while a set-back) isn't the end of the world for a lot of these types of people, they'll simply create a new character/account and power-level up a new toon in a week or two. Once the Dev's have a more permanent and punishing way of dealing with these types of people, then they can go back through their list and bring the Ban Hammer down on them all.

I thought you only got the buff if you went when you are more then 90 years old, currently I don't think anyone should have the buff more then twice if that is the case. How did you manage to already stack it to 3 times?

I'd give this a shot, like he said the NPC's are supposed to be able to contest claims so in theory he should be able to refresh the timer on a lawless base. And if you have a resource box and larder stocked with berries or cooked food (not sure on the spoil time of cooked food in the larder) you should be able to supply him enough to last a full week without issue.

I've lost 3 bears that have glitched off the boat when I've taken a shot from an SOtD, 1 Horse that fell through the foundation and drowned in the shallow water under my animal pen, and 4 rhinos that I've tamed on 3 separate occasions have all died within 24 hours while everyone was logged off and they were tucked away in the pen. Animals in Early Access are expendable. Don't worry about making sure it's "the one" and of an appropriate level ... because odds are it'll die before to long.

Weight management I wouldn't mind seeing, but heavier cannons are something I'd voice against. Heavier cannons should only be allowed IF they fix the weight system of everything else in the game first. As it stands I have a Brig with 12 guns that is almost 8k out of 15k in weight simply because I didn't make it as a husk of a ship, I actually tried to make the ship look like an actual ship with multiple deck entry points and sectioned off cargo areas. With every mortar and pestle, section of rope ladder, railing piece, ceiling tile, half-wall, full-wall, door, and even a canvas painting counting as anywhere from 8-16 it all adds up to much and to quickly.

I could maybe see the need/want to hunt down SOtD's for ship blueprints if I was playing in a PvP server where I had to worry that someone with a bigger ship and nothing to do would take notice and give chase. In that case every little bit of extra durability matters for both your bases and ships. But for those of us on a PvE server, there isn't really a need to struggle for high grade ship parts just like there isn't a need to to grab flotsam except if your collecting song sheets. No body is going to raid our base or sink our ships in our sleep, basic planks are fine if all I'm looking to do is go exploring or resource gathering. If you ARE equipped with upgraded planks how much of a return do you actually see? If I decked out a Schooner with Journeyman planks will it allow it to take twice to three times as much punishment from an SOtD as one with basic planks? Or simply 1-2 more volley's?

Yeah, I agree with the original post that the concept is great but the execution needs to be worked on. You either make a ship specifically designed to eliminate SOtD's quickly with minimal damage, which is so weighed down with cannons and such that it's not really feasible to go out exploring or resource hunting. Then you spend hours sailing around looking for the elusive High Level SOtD's because even though you can destroy the Low Level ones just as easily, the loot return and time investment are like tossing money overboard. OR you make a cargo ship with speed/weight sails and just sail around locally or to specific locations for "X" resource while dodging all the SOtD's as best you can hoping you can get your resource back to base. Then when you need to pay the 3-5 crew members you need to control the sails you simply hop over to another island in your same sector with a bear and in 1-2 hours you can dig up 5-6 common treasure maps with no trouble.