Solo sloop combat /new cannonball

  • StormyCoire
    Ship Mate

    It would be great if you could Load a scatter-shot cannon ball, so you load many small cannonball at the same time but the damage spreads over a larger area hitting many targets.

    This would make bigger ships and crews have more to repair rather then just repair one or two high tier holes. ( But the damage would be quick repair e.g Tier 1 hole) but since it spread shots you could damage the whole boat a bit per shot.

    The sloop would have scatter-shots by default in their on board barrels instead of cannonballs(you would not load them one by one but you would load the stack e.g 5 per stack at once)

    This would allow a solo sloop to take some quick shots, turn, repair etc while tying up the other ship more.

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  • TheBlackBellamy
    Champion
    Insider

    @stormycoire said:

    This would allow a solo sloop to take some quick shots, turn, repair etc while tying up the other ship more.

    If the other ship (e.g. gally) is quad-cannoning with their own scatter-shots, the solo slooper would be tied up as well.

  • Lackbarwastaken
    Marauder
    Insider

    @stormycoire a lot of pellets all packed together....that would probably look like a grape.

  • Hijack Hayes
    Commander
    Insider

    @lackbarwastaken sounds like grapeshot to me.

  • Lackbarwastaken
    Marauder
    Insider

    @hijack-hayes hmm some kind of shotgrape perhaps.

  • Galactic Geek
    Seafarer
    Founder

    If this so-called grapeshot has a spread, good luck getting close enough to the other (faster) ships to make it count... In any case, limiting 1 ship to the type of shot breaks the rule of balance between pirates (in that you have everything that I have), and allowing all ships to have it defeats the entire purpose of helping the solo pirate/sloop.

  • StormyCoire
    Ship Mate

    @theblackbellamy hi all thx for replys so the sloop is fast so it can make those shots, the sloop would come default with the scatter shot ammo but the other ship crews would have to find it in barrells etc, your right other ships could use it but I think existing cannon balls would be much better for brig and Gally. And besides the solo sloop probably find it easier to repair tier 1 damage on their own. And why would a bigger ship want to lose damage by spreading its shot on a smaller target?

  • TheBlackBellamy
    Champion
    Insider

    @stormycoire said:

    And why would a bigger ship want to lose damage by spreading its shot on a smaller target?

    Lol same reason the solo slooper would want to use the scatter shot: to keep the opponent occupied with multiple tier 1 holes.

    If you're solo going against a gally & they happened to find scatter shots in barrels, they could shoot you, create multiple holes to distract you with, and make it even easier for them to board/disable your ship.

    I do think solo sloopers need a buff so that the scale isn't shifted so far against them. But adding any sort of new cannon ammunition like this would only further shift that scale.

    Just spitballing, but perhaps this could be balanced with cursed cannon balls or something similar. I believe wraith balls currently produce 4 holes. Maybe they could be reprogrammed to produce only 2 holes on a sloop, 3 on a brig and 4 on a gally. Similar to the differences in the meg's bite depending on the ship type.

    I've also read suggestions that specials (blunder, fire, chains, CCBs) should be extremely rare, and tied to activity (completion of World Events or specific voyages). This could also improve the QoL of solo sloopers, as they wouldn't have to worry as much about a fresh boat de-masting and special-dumping them for an easy sink.

  • Norrington4010
    Seafarer
    Insider

    why not just reprogram blunder bombs to explode into grape shot

  • Ottyman8687
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    I think instead of adding a new cannonball, I think mounting a cannon on the front could make things interesting..?

    Might be a bit OP in chases, but according to another thread Sloops aren't faster going into the wind

    So maybe an extra cannon could help

    Idk

  • BurnBacon
    Vanguard
    Insider

    If Sloop gets the new ammo, all ships should get them.

    No one ship type should be any different when it comes to what they can fire or carry.

  • StormyCoire
    Ship Mate

    @theblackbellamy because you would only hit the sloop with maybe one tier 1 hole or 2 if your lucky, remember the shot spreads out not in in a forward tunnel together but away and outwards more like a big net. The sloop would find this much better because it would either be firing on a bigger ship or another sloop.

  • StormyCoire
    Ship Mate

    @burnbacon All ships can use them the Sloop would have it by default instead of the cannonball, but like i just wrote below, its a spread-shot / grapeshot its going to be more beneficial to the sloop then a brig or gally anyway, you might only get one or 2 Tier 1 holes, it wont fire forwards like a small circle but away and outwards like a large net of dots.

  • ScurvyWoof
    Captain

    Wait, wait, wait! You want to replace default sloop cannonballs with basically grapeshot?
    Woah, balance doesn’t exist anymore! Those gally’s and brigs will just find them at the outpost!

  • StormyCoire
    Ship Mate

    @scurvywoof like those sloops at the beach it's the end of the sea lol

  • Galactic Geek
    Seafarer
    Founder

    I think your idea falls flat from the beginning. Sure, there might be more holes, but they're only level 1, slow to fill up, and are easily repaired. For this reason, I think most crews will do the opposite of what you think they would do - they will shrug it off for a time to ensure that they get their far more powerful shots in on you,and then choose repair.

    Just spitballing, but perhaps this could be balanced with cursed cannon balls or something similar. I believe wraith balls currently produce 4 holes. Maybe they could be reprogrammed to produce only 2 holes on a sloop, 3 on a brig and 4 on a gally. Similar to the differences in the meg's bite depending on the ship type.

    I really like this idea, but it bucks the trend of pirate-based damage being a constant. Cannonballs do consistent damage; bombs do consistent damage; guns do consistent damage; the sword does consistent damage. It has never changed from pirate to pirate unless hit reg got involved - and we all know how much we hate that!

  • StormyCoire
    Ship Mate

    @galactic-geek i don't agree if a boat with a larger crew has only one or two holes regardless of size they just fix that easy, if they have several holes that's more time both below AND up above on top deck at the same time such as mast and wheel and Capstan..etc. The damage is lighter but it's spread across a larger area so no not flat at all.

  • Nitroxien
    Captain
    Insider

    Quick math here:

    If a balky decides to spam these at a poor sloop imagining 4 tier 1 holes per shot from 4 cannon that’s 16 holes worth of damage. Chances are multiple of those will stack so expect on your sloop for 5 tier 3 holes a bunch of tier 1 to 2 holes scattered, a destroyed mast and wheel…

    The sloops advantage is how small it is making it harder to hit co sternly from ranges you are giving bigger ships now a shotgun to instead of a pistol to shoot a marble.

    Now from someone who plays a lot of tally vs sloops that like to run a lot can’t say this change would harm me at all but rather would hugely benefit me.

    So I’m short not sure you thought this one through enough tbh these will serve the opposite purpose you intended them to.

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