Retail therapy is good for the soul yet all we can buy is cosmetics.
Now people have brought up their own versions of this idea before but its always been too unbalanced.
I think ive got something here that will allow you to use a currency to stock your ship up, still keep those who do it the old fashioned way an advantage and still keep every new ship a equal footing.
So here goes...
SHIP CURRENCY
Its a brand new shared currency for your ship.
When you join a new session your ship funds will be 0 and will reset to 0 after each new session, only carrying over during server merge.
If your ship sinks it will also be reset to 0.
WAYS TO EARN
This is where it gets interesting.
Two options, one quicker than the other.
- The slowest option. Do a normal voyage or cash in any loot and you will get a little bit of new currency added to your ship aswell as any xp or gold you would normally get. The idea is to basically let it build up over time to the point where you have a sufficient balance to use it.
The amount you get though is very meagre, so its something that you will just forget about until youve cashed in lots of loot.
Its balanced because its gonna be slower than looting outposts etc. Unless you do a fort and cash in lots of loot, in which case you can keep momentum and go onto the next right away.
- Fastest option. Sink a player ship.
They lose all of their currency and you gain theirs. Just dont let your own sink because you too will lose it, whether its a pvp or pve threat.
This is good because some ships have no loot on them but they could have currency still. So you could net some resources from them or replenish lost resources from a prolonged battle.
WHAT CAN YOU BUY?
Basic Supplies, a few cool items and some very expensive munitions.
For basics you have..
Cannon balls, planks, chain shot, throwables.
Cool items include rowboat (Which is available in various painted colours!) Storage crates, fruit crates and wood crates and cannon ball crates to cash in surplus of supplies.
(These items are deemed luxury so will be expensive so it will actually be better to find them the old fashioned way. You’ll likely burn through your currency if you buy a few of these to keep balanced. Plus, you’ll likely will wanna keep currency for stuff like cannon balls etc which in bulk will also be pricey.)
Very Expensive munitions include..
Kegs and the Stronghold Keg.
However to deter purchase of many stronghold kegs and regular etc it will be very expensive. You will not find many ships with tons of stronghold kegs on, its there mainly as like something to ‘save up for’ when they plan to heist a fort or something.
PRICES
No idea what the ideal prices would be.
However they should be played around with and set at a level where “Doing it the old fashioned way” is actually quicker.
You can island hop and get the stuff you need.
Or you can choose to do multiple voyages and then buy your supplies.
Of course taking 3x as long if not more.
This will enable you to buy supplies but yet not give disadvantage to those who have just started or those who go looking for supplies etc.
I think its probably the most harmless way to introduce this kinda thing and if anything, it will make doing voyages a viable albeit slow way to stock up.
I suppose cargo runs are less boring and killing skellies are less boring than looting barrels off an island tho.
Just remember though.
Its a shared currency.
So you need to chat about what is best for your ship.
If your crew buys a keg for like £500 or something it will be deducted from the ships funds and that means you potentially cant afford to buy cannon balls or planks etc.
STOCKING UP
Resources appear in the inventory of the purchaser.
That means you cannot keep a guy at an outpost and repeatedly buy resources. You will still need to run back and forth to the ship loading up your planks and cannon balls etc.
You buy a keg, it will spawn on the floor near you etc etc.
You buy a rowboat it will spawn by the dock and so on.
So your ship will need to be at the outpost to actually stock up still.
You will also need to still spend time loading it up too.
