My Fan-Update for Sea of Thieves (Feedback is welcome)

@ajm123 said in My Fan-Update for Sea of Thieves (Feedback is welcome):

@nyanbonecrush The sails damage would be cool but way to easy to do. cannonballs would become useless. Just rip the sails and they are stuck

Not unless blades are the only way to break them. 😅

@nyanbonecrush said in My Fan-Update for Sea of Thieves (Feedback is welcome):

Hey there, I want to share some ideas and, hopefully get this noticed! Please provide feedback if you can: (TLDR is on bottom)

Happily!
...but you may not like it. 😅

UPDATE FOR SAIL:
-Sails now catch pirates that fling themselves at them (ex. Cannon shot from island, sails catch the pirate)

This would certainly make boarding easier with cannons - though I would worry if it would make it too easy, especially against the larger ships with more sails. Also, sails are pretty static animation-wise (nothing interacts with them) and we have to ask ourselves 1 very important question: do we need to strengthen something that is, by most accounts, the meta?

-Pirates sliding down sails can stick a blade in the sails to slow their descent, and damage sails.

I kind of like this, but only because it strengthens the sword - everything else I said above still applies.

-sail damage (tears splits, punctures, fires)

No, because we already have a lot to deal with on the ship - potentially adding even 1 more factor can become overwhelming across the board.

-Climbing nets (to climb masts and maintain sails),

Rare's ships aren't perfect from a realistic sense, but that seems to be because they're catering to gameplay balance - in this case, sails already obstruct quite a bit and are often raised slightly to offer a better view. Rare has mitigated this by offering various sails with better trim options, but generally speaking, we only really need 1 way to get to the crow's nest or crossbeams. Having more could promote camping up top, which isn't it's purpose.

-Spare cloth to patch the sails. (found in random containers like planks) and to share the same barrel as the wooden planks.

Again, we don't necessarily need more resources to have to manage the ship - what we have now is a reasonably good balance.

TAKING A BOW:
Ability to switch out harpoons for other tools at a shipwright

Depends contextually on what's added. Also, not likely to happen due to customization expansion (every ship cosmetic theme would have to be revisited again for the new pieces).

-Chase cannons (frontal assault), -Shields (blocks projectile damage from front),

No. Far too unbalanced.

-fishing nets (passively scoops up fish for the hunters call),

No. Too easy.

-battering ram (head on collision for massive damage)

Maybe this.

-bumpers (absorbs all frontal impact)

No.

-Flamethrowers (lick any pirate or ship you chase with flames. Needs gunpowder for fuel. Bigger gunpowder barrel, stronger and more fire)

A free Ashen Winds skull on each side? Definitely too OP!

THIS IS ALL CANNON:
Gunpowder from all gunpowder barrels can be used to stuff inside cannons to make them travel farther and do more damage. (This provides incentives for gunpowder barrels being used more frequently)

Maybe? But it might be abused. Also, gunpowder barrels are limited in their use for a reason (balance). Even taking time to set up, it's still potentially OP (you think chainshots are bad? Wait until this gets added.). Besides, we already have wraithballs that fulfill this purpose and they are considerably much harder to get (for good reason).

NEED FOR CONCEDE:
-White flags now serve as means of surrender, and a call for parley. As long as the white flag is up:
-all cannons are locked in "peaceball" position,
-all weapons of surrendering crew are locked, (drawing a weapon now puts your hands up instead),
-the ship moves much slower.
-victorious crews can choose to either A) Ignore the parlay, and sink them, or B) Go up to the surrendering ships table, voue unanimously for a merciful treaty.
-Winning Crews can shanghai losing crews onto their ships AFTER the white flag is raised. This is done with Grappling hooks to bind them up and drag them onboard.
-Detained pirates can be thrown into the brig, or tied to the mast.
-Attach chainshots to Detained pirates legs and throw them overboard to quickly drown them.
-Detained pirates can possibly break free at anytime to escape. Rarely happens.

Rare has already turned down any kind of gameplay that takes complete control away from pirates - also, referencing the more horrifying aspects of sailing history (e g., torture/slavery), even temporarily, is not something Rare wants to promote in any sense.

Also, what if I want to run the white flag just because? I shouldn't be penalized for that!

TREATY EVERYONE FAIRLY
-Merciful Treaties are honor bound contracts from victorious pirates that say "We beat you, but we still can/will plunder you."

This can be done socially through word of mouth, and still leaves the sandbox nature of the Sea open to moree options, such as betrayal. Tools, not rules.

-Both Crews must vote on the LOSING ship's table to unanimously sign a merciful treaty.

See above - too redundant.

-All crewmates must not attack the crew or ship they won against, or the treaty is broken and lost.

But there's not always a clear cut winner. For example, yesterday, my crew's ship was disabled multiple times, and boarded, but each time we repelled the boarders and were able to continue pursuit. Eventually, both our ships went our separate ways due to the long-standing stalemate. Nothing lost from either side, but supplies and time.

-Treaty counts as an emmesary flag. The value is equal to the amount of the flage current grade.

Emmisary flags are complex enough (they even have their own dedicated tutorial pages in the menu's UI), and you want to make them even harder to understand!?

-Turn the treaty into the respective faction to recieve a reward, plus a bonus for sparing the crew. (A seal of the faction logo will be adourned for identification.)
-Upon signing a treaty, the losing ship's emmesary flag will lose two grades of progress, but the flag will still be kept.
-All factions accept merciful treaties and offer a bonus for sparing their representatives EXCEPT for Reapers bones who just accept the Treaty without a bonus (incentive to play aggressively towards reapers)
-Reapers who surrender and sign the treaty lose 3 levels of progress instead of just 2.

TOOLS, NOT RULES.

TOOL COOL FOR WORDS:
Dagger weapon:
-Short range
-quick attacks
-blocking allows a small amount of damage, but move much faster
-Can INSTANTLY kill a pirate from behind with a backstab
-Less damaging than the cutlass

Not against new melee weapons because I'd likr to see a 3 melee vs. 3 firearm setup personally), but I've seen how effective a mobile pirate can be - Making it easier to circle around a pirate's block, which already slows yhem down, only to get a free kill at their back is wayvtoo broken because it weakens the block mechanic, and nobody would ever use a sword again.

Twin pistols:
-Takes up TWO weapon slots
-Five rounds, fire both before reload
-Can aim
-Can mix and match
-Slightly longer reload, but can fire one pistol mid-reload if it's hammer is loaded
-Skeletons and phantoms can spawn with these

This will bring back the double gun exploit which as we all know, completely broke combat gameplay balance - it's never been the same since...

Fusebombs:
-Throwable weapon
-5 Ammo pool
-Fuse can be lit that thrown for timing
-Stronger explosive than blunderbomb, but weaker then gunpowder keg
-can be thrown back
-Skeletons and Phantoms can spawn with these

Do we really need a happy middle ground though? That said, I do like the ability to catch them, but why not just add that as a new mechanic (with a timed button press) if your pirate is unarmed?

Axe:
-Swings are slower, but do more damage than a cutlass
-Can tear off planks that were used to repair damage
-Can stick to a ship and be used as a swing to board vessels
-Charge attacks slam the ground causing a staggering shockwave

Boarding axes are cool, but I think they shouldn't be used to tear off planks, which are just textures once applied anyways. Better to use it to disable the ship's parts like the wheel, mast, and capstan as a personal alternative to chain shot. It would take longer and be loud.

Also, being able to board from any part of a ship with it is too OP. Maybe if it only worked via cannon shot over to a ship?

A slam attack? I maintain that the gravity hammer is still OP in Halo, and I imagine that it would be here too. Perhaps it could be used to bat away throwables?

Grappling Hook:

-Throw to lasso treasure from afar
-Lasso enemies and pull them in
-Lasso pirates to bind them up during surrender
-throw to latch onto a ship, and pull it close for boarding (Grappler must be on a ship for this to work, victim crew can cut the line with a bladed weapon.)

Again, there will be no surrender-style mechanics. Also redundant with ship-based grappling hooks.

COSMETICS
Name plates:
-Name Ships what you want

Yes to nameplates, but where on the ship (the only 1 availablenow is on a galleon)? Also, how would it be determined by the crew?
Furthermore, this would require censors to be in place to prevent abuse.

-Spyglass will show name of a vessel if spotted

Okay, I could see that working - but what would stop a ship from changing its name or appearance? Again - tools, not rules.

-Custom Ship names can be toggled in options menu

Hmm... 🤔

Pirate Name:
-Choose the option to use a Gamertag or a custom Pirate name for identification

Technically already a thing.

-Can be toggled in the options menu

See above.

Voices:
-Choose from male and female voices

Yes.

-Pirate Legends can choose SoT character voices (Flameheart, Briggsy, Duke, etc.)

No. Each pirate is a unique butterfly.

-Crew Pirate voices can be Toggled in the options menu

Sure.

Ship Set slot:
-Save a ship combo you like for easy access at a shipwright

Okay.

Partner Emotes:
-Will begin an emote for another pirate to join in, join by emoting anything
-Waltz, arm hook, rock paper scissors, high five, sword clash, hug, flexing, whispering

Yes. May need to update Olde emotes.

OTHERS:

Interactive npcs:
-Pirate Legends can buy random Ghosts from athena's fortune to join them on their journey

No.

-They DO NOT offer any tactical advantage

But then what's the point?

-They will wander around the ship like jack sparrow in 'a pirates life' tall tale

Who happens to be a crack shot.

-Hired Npcs will wait in taverns until selected to replace previously selected npcs

That's going to take a lot of coding.

-If you have more than five hired Npcs, the tavern keeper can be used to summon a favorite
-Can be talked to
-NPCs gain experience. Once they max out, they can be bought again to restore them back to life as pirates.
-Can be 'killed' by enemies, explosions and other elements. (Will respawn in about a minute)

Restored Pirate NPCs:
-CAN BE CUSTOMIZED
-can be sent on voyages in your possession and do them on your behalf. (It takes 24 real time hours to complete, and players only receive a fraction of the voyages renowned and gold.)

Do all of the work while you go AFK? Never going to happen.

-can complete messages in bottle missions and journal missions on your behalf (takes an hour and players only receive a fraction of the map's renowned and gold.)

Having AI play games for you completely defeats the purpose of gaming.

TLDR; Sails can take damage, Harpoons can be changed to other tools, crews can surrender, Gunpowder has purpose on ships, new tools and weapons, name ships and pirates, Voices, Ship set selection, NPC pirates

TLDR; pretty much no to almost everything,as I predicted. 😅

@lleorb said:

A pirate has approximately 6 life points, a normal pistol shot takes 3 or half points... it would take a whole gameplay change for a 5 shot gun to make sense in the gampley, or new melee weapon.

6 life points? I've been sailing for years and this is the 1st I have heard of life points. Try percentages - it's easier!

A pirate has 100% health, and loses 25% per sword slash (4 needed for a kill), 60% for a charge (might be 50%; I can't recall), 50% for a pistol shot; 10% per pellet from the blunderbuss with a total of 10 pellets for a potential 100% depending on how many hit; 70% per EoR shot; 50% per direct hit from a blunderbomb; 30%/60%/90% for each level of charge from the trident; and firebombs and gunpowder barrels vary.

@nyanbonecrush said in My Fan-Update for Sea of Thieves (Feedback is welcome):

@metal-ravage

I appreciate this comment a lot! The lasso concept here was inspired from those classic pirate movies where the heroes would be captured to a mast as their villain looms over them like in peter pan. The difference here is that pirates might escape the ropes with a blade.

All tied up, you say?

@lleorb said in My Fan-Update for Sea of Thieves (Feedback is welcome):

@galactic-geek I do the measurement using a sword hit as a parameter.
I forgot to put this on.

• There are 6 weak sword hits to kill a player, that is, 3 hits take half life.
• A strong attack takes 3 life, then 2 dash to kill.
• A pistol shot are also 3
• A sniper shot for about 75% health

It takes only:
4 slashes to kill a pirate,
or 2 charges,
or 2 slashes and 1 charge,
or 2 slashes and 1 shot,
or 1 charge and 1 shot,
or 2 shots (1 w/blunder up close),
or 2 slashes and 1 bomb,
or 1 charge and 1 bomb,
or 1 shot and 1 bomb,
or 2 bombs,
or 1 cannonball,
or 1 gunpowder barrel.

The fact that you think it takes 6 slashes tells me 1 of 2 things - either you suffered from hit-reg, or you didn't do enough recent and/or proper testing (or possibly both).