Sea currents and swells.

@daringclarky I actually like this idea. Adds some spice to your grog. More dynamic and unexpected elements to a chase would be a welcome change to the current monotony of how it is now. Currently there is nothing unexpected that can occur with similarly skilled crews. Good idea.

@DaringClarky I'm into it. As a IRL sailor, currents and tides are def something you plan for. They are strongest around bays, rivers, and island chains, so maybe as you got closer to islands, the currents would grow stronger.

I saw someone on here recently complain that the pocketwatch had no real value. If each boat came with a tide chart, a pocketwatch would become indispensible. Unlike wind, you could plan for currents, timing your routes to get a speed boost.

Of course, all this calculated planning starts to feel like a departure from the drunken chaos of pirating :) But I'd be stoked for another layer of strategy in sailing and chases. Great thinking!

The only thing, for me anyways, is that this does not solve the fringe situation you describe where two crews in similar ships are sailing at full efficiency. If that remains the case, even with currents, nothing changes as in those instances both are getting the same boost and stay equally apart. You're still not out sailing each other and so the chase persists with no real progress.

Not that it isn't an interesting idea, but if we're taking the example at face value of perfect sailing under circumstances then we must do the same under the newly proposed system, which means we are still in the exact same place (though possibly frustrating inexperienced sailors or those on a limited timeframe in a game where sailing already takes a bit of time being slowed to a crawl by the tides despite the wind appearing in their favor.

Like I said, interesting idea that I don't think really solves the problem presented.

@redeyesith It's a good point. But maybe if currents got stronger the closer to their center you got, and there was no great way to tell where exactly center was, it might add enough uncertainty so that the ships weren't always exactly even. I think having three variables (ship size, wind, and current) would be enough to scramble even the best players so they aren't always hitting peak efficiency. You'd start to see gains and losses in a chase.

As a completely different solution, what about adding harpoons to Skellie ships? So they pop up randomly and fire harpoons to slow you down?

The solution to the problem doesn't have to be current (although I do like that idea). It's just adding additional variables to accelerate/decelerate your ship to keep chases spicy.

We do have some existing tactics for that which require a fair bit of skill to pull off well. For instance, you can explode a GPB behind your ship for a nice boost, and if you time it all right you won't take damage. That can certainly change the chase as it stands.

My main point being though, that no matter how many layers you add to the system, a crew actually hitting all the marks chasing a crew also hitting all the marks will leave us in the same place in the end. Max efficiency is max efficiency no matter how you slice it.

There is also the matter of how much complexity to we want and how much can the servers handle. A current system would have a fair number of moving parts, more so if we want different currents in different places for variety. That is gonna start taxing the server a bit, and we have to ask ourselves if those resources might be better allocated to something else. As for the player side of that equation, we also have to keep in mind the game is meant to be pretty accessible, and all of the present systems (excluding the odd glitch) are designed in a way to be fairly clear overall and easy to interact with. And it still provides is wiggle room for tactical approach and skill gap, it just isn't a massively wide gap.

We also need to decide how it will feel if RNG stops you even when you're doing everything right. Your proposal of having Skelly Ships harpoon ships they spawn on seems to me it would add more frustration than anything (we already see this in the community when a Kraken spawns in a chase or anything else from the PvE RNG system). Constant posts about how this shouldn't be a thing (again, I disagree with that to some degree, but I also wouldn't want the game to stack so much against us every time we hit the seas that it feels more like a chore than a fun pirate adventure). I get why these situations can feel like the game is working against you - despite my own ability to be fine with it.

And so I remain kind of middle of the road on this concept - I wouldn't hate it myself, but I suspect I would loathe all the complaint threads on the forums.

@RedEyeSith

As for the player side of that equation, we also have to keep in mind the game is meant to be pretty accessible, and all of the present systems (excluding the odd glitch) are designed in a way to be fairly clear overall and easy to interact with.

Currents would be extremely accessible. More so than sailing, even. They're basically a moving walkway for your boat: float onto them and let them carry you along.

Your proposal of having Skelly Ships harpoon ships they spawn on seems to me it would add more frustration than anything (we already see this in the community when a Kraken spawns in a chase or anything else from the PvE RNG system).

The difference between a Skelly ship and the Kraken is that players have agency with Skelly Ships. They can choose to outrun/escape if they want. The Kraken doesn't give players any agency, it just stops gameplay and forces you to deal with it. Which, from a game design perspective, isn't very good.

I'm not saying make Skelly ships automatically harpoon you. I'm saying give Skelly ships the ability to harpoon you and then let players take evasive action to avoid them. SoT is a constant weighing of strategic options. Right now, chases feel dull because there aren't enough variables. Harpoons would solve this and so would currents.

@daringclarky i would like fixed/charted currents that go based on the time of day as well as dead water that can leave you becalmed for a time. Add a second sea chart with the prevailing currents and their times.

@stryps3071tv said in Sea currents and swells.:

30 minuts ago, I was a grade 5 merchent emisairy parked up at a sea post while I waited for a event to spawn because I'm scared of the.. Didnt feel like getting krakened. Eventually I spotted a brig coming across the horizon to me and I ran away, because of the wind, the brig was able to catch and completely set my ship on fire. The current idea could really help this because I may have been able to escape them.

You should have sailed directly against the wind and angled your sail perpendicular to it; sloops are the fastest ships in this situation.

@stryps3071tv said in Sea currents and swells.:

@blam320 if I had sailed against the wind, I would have smashed into the krakens fall, if I turned around the island, there broadside would have been on me. They would have had every angle on me and there would have been no escape. Better sail away damaged than sail away destroyed.

Then git gud at using the existing sailing mechanics. I've been able to outrun every ship type in the game solo by being smart about how I position my ship, what turns I take, and where I go to try and be rid of my pursuers. It's all totally dependent on what directions you go, which islands you round about at based on how close your adversaries are, et cetera. Practice is more useful than simply dictating things to you.

@stryps3071tv said in Sea currents and swells.:

@blam320 I was too close to the island to turn anyway and doing a pressurized anchor turn doesn't end well. I would have been on there broadside and wouldn't be able to get away.

Happy sailing.

You don't always need to do a handbrake turn. And you can use islands to your advantage to get away. You're being defeatist instead of thinking of ways to improve.

Interesting. Sounds game breaking though. This engine and the servers are already at breaking point. 🤣