Mercenary Faction - Solo Mode

  • Pugwash9586
    Master
    Insider

    A true solo player experience;

    BASICS:

    • Separate option when in main menu to be a Mercenary

    • No Mercenary faction XP (like bilge rats) but new commendations available

    • Mercenaries spawn with no ship, only a nearby rowboat

    • New Mercenary beacons on all large islands and outposts which are visible from afar and on world maps

    • Beacons with Mercenaries nearby will always be lit telling crews a mercenary is present (no mermaids for mercenaries to begin with)

    • On death, mercenaries will respawn at any of the large islands

    ALLIANCES:

    • Mercenaries may put offers on voyage tables to act as alliance offers. ONE PER CREW

    • Allied crews and Mercenaries may revive each other

    • Crews and mercenaries may cancel the alliance at any time by visiting the table and voting

    • Mercenaries may purchase voyages for later sessions or drop them for allied crews to vote on

    • Allied mercenaries will respawn back on the nearest beacon island (unless un-allied crew is nearby to the island?) but can use a mermaid to get back to the allied ship if they fall off but at slower speeds

    This idea is to help increase player size to the servers without adding too many ships, there could only be one Mercenary per ship so 5-6 Mercenaries per server with a high chance of server merging on death

    I'm aware of the 3 man sloop argument which is why I decided not to let Mercenaries spawn back on any ship they may ally with, as such, this is no different than one crew member forming an alliance with another and hopping onto their ship instead of sailing two.

    There may be an exploit to hoard rowboats this way so perhaps a Mercenary only gets one rowboat when they first start the game and have to be picked up by another ship upon death?

    Do I think such a feature would be implemented?
    I pirate can dream right? I'm more so just speculating at how it could work rather than asking for it to be added

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  • b4njAx
    Seafarer

    I actually really like this idea. As someone who often struggles to find friends who are available to play at the same time as me, I often get stuck not playing. If I could wander the seas as a merc and be drafted into a crew, that would make solo play a lot more worth it. I just want more interesting interactions with other players and I think a solo mode of some sort would definitely help with that.

  • HiradC
    Lord
    Insider

    It sounds like a lot of effort to implement a playstyle you can already choose. You can ally with someone then offer to join their ship and abandon yours

  • Pugwash9586
    Master
    Insider

    @hiradc said in Mercenary Faction - Solo Mode:

    It sounds like a lot of effort to implement a playstyle you can already choose. You can ally with someone then offer to join their ship and abandon yours

    😑 with that attitude nothing would get added, I am aware player can just abandon their ship and sail with allied crews but this could add a few extra players back to each server without having to sacrifice too much performance by adding another ship

  • Pugwash9586
    Master
    Insider

    @b4njax said in Mercenary Faction - Solo Mode:

    I actually really like this idea. As someone who often struggles to find friends who are available to play at the same time as me, I often get stuck not playing.

    Yeah I usually find myself solo slooping and always want a little rowboat adventure but don't want to respond on a ship I'm not using

    If I could wander the seas as a merc and be drafted into a crew, that would make solo play a lot more worth it. I just want more interesting interactions with other players and I think a solo mode of some sort would definitely help with that.

    Same here

  • HiradC
    Lord
    Insider

    @pugwash9586 true I am somewhat jaded but with the current drought of additional content but I think we do have to distinguish between dream world ideas and more pragmatic changes and the impacts they would have on the game.

    E.g they could add your commendations as mentioned for this playstyle without actually coding as a complete faction.

  • Pugwash9586
    Master
    Insider

    @hiradc said in Mercenary Faction - Solo Mode:

    @pugwash9586 true I am somewhat jaded but with the current drought of additional content but I think we do have to distinguish between dream world ideas and more pragmatic changes and the impacts they would have on the game.

    I get you, personally if they were going to add a new mode I'd much rather prefer a Call of Duty Zombies type of mode ecause there is so many different types of modes they could do and could apply to almost any map type;

    • Waves of skeletons at forts

    • Waves of Phantoms at fortresses

    • Waves of ocean crawlers at random islands

    • Waves of all 3 at outposts

    • Spawning in the water around a shipwreck battling Waves of sirens and sharks

    We know that the CoD Zombies system is (maybe was) popular amd I think sea of thieves could lend itself to such a mode quite well. Maybe add titles for X amount of rounds survived for bragging rites too.

    E.g they could add your commendations as mentioned for this playstyle without actually coding as a complete faction.

    Yeah that's fair

  • b4njAx
    Seafarer

    Definitely wish there was more discussion on this topic. Deleted my Free Agents thread in favour of expanding on this one.

    Main point I'll carry over from the other thread was my point about potentially making Port Merrick more of a social spot. From there to enrich the experience maybe there could be a parlay reward for, you know, not killing each other. Throw in more social commendations, maybe some minigames, the ability to duel each other. Then if they could get paid upfront to join a crew's voyage for a fixed price that can scale up to join a different crew's voyage for that sense of working for the highest bidder.

    Personally I'd prefer that PM just becomes the hub for mercenaries rather than having Mercenary beacons. Some players may see those and think it's some kind of pvp event or something. Will mean that they can simply respawn back at PM. Could give them a longer death timer though for an improved chance of being revived.

  • Pugwash9586
    Master
    Insider

    @b4njax you didn't have to delete yours my guy, these forums have dozens of the same topics saying the exact same thing about safer seas before its even come out. Better to have similar threads suggesting new ideas than crying about what's around the corner before it's even arrived lol

    I wasn't too keen on the beacon idea myself but didn't want to use an outpost simply because players could use the feature to steal loot without any real risk to themselves. What if instead they used the sea dogs tavern? That was they're in a more central location with all the utilities of outposts except without the trading factions. The place needs some reason for being there after all.

  • b4njAx
    Seafarer

    @pugwash9586 Firstly, I just felt your thread was better. And I'd prefer fewer but stronger threads with a proper discussion rather than many little threads that basically talk about the same thing but less fleshed out.

    What if instead they used the sea dogs tavern? That was they're in a more central location with all the utilities of outposts except without the trading factions. The place needs some reason for being there after all.

    Not gonna lie, I never knew this was a thing and now that I know it was part of the Arena mode, I can understand why I never knew about it until now. Definitely a good thought. Would certainly remove that conflict of trying to sell loot where all the mercenaries are. And I strongly believe in things like that having a purpose, like how my main reasoning for wanted player bounties was to get purpose out of the brig and quest boards. You also make a good point about it being in the center of the map. K-11, right?

    Still think that PM has too much space and detail to not be used as a social hub. It has the biggest accessible tavern in the game and it feels super deserted most of the time because of that in my opinion.

    Ooh! What if they were both social hubs and had a singular fast travel system via an NPC with a rowboat at each location? Give them some gold and they essentially teleport you from one spot to the other. Makes PM feel more alive while offering a place to meet mercenaries without them potentially trying to steal and sell your loot.

  • Pugwash9586
    Master
    Insider

    @b4njax yeah the Sea Dog's tavern is criminally under-used even when arena was in the game, if you saw what the inside of the tavern actually looked like I'd like to think you'd be as disappointed as I am that they still haven't opened the doors in adventure mode for us. I've made a few posts in the past with ideas for what to do with it but so far I've not even seen something hinted at what will become of it which is a shame cause it has such potential.

    As far as social hubs, personally I just wish the main menu had an option where we can join a lobby where players are bound to a certain outposts like Port Merrick where players can search for crews to play with, tell stories, go shopping without getting kicked for idle or shot in the back and change their outfits, they could even duel one another either by a voting feature or by simply equipping a weapon

  • b4njAx
    Seafarer

    @pugwash9586 said in Mercenary Faction - Solo Mode:

    @b4njax yeah the Sea Dog's tavern is criminally under-used even when arena was in the game, if you saw what the inside of the tavern actually looked like I'd like to think you'd be as disappointed as I am that they still haven't opened the doors in adventure mode for us. I've made a few posts in the past with ideas for what to do with it but so far I've not even seen something hinted at what will become of it which is a shame cause it has such potential.

    I agree. It looks like it was a very cool and underrated spot and I genuinely think something like mercenaries solo play would really benefit from it as a base of operations in addition to Port Merrick. Different vibes, both appealing.

    As far as social hubs...where players can search for crews to play with, tell stories, go shopping without getting kicked for idle or shot in the back...

    This is why I am thinking about a parlay bonus. Like for every 5 mins spent hanging out at the port without attacking other players, maybe get like 10 gold or even a doubloon, not enough to just idle and farm it but enough to incentivize the non-violence. Would definitely need a way to mute some people from slurring up the experience but still, would be nice.

    Also for what it's worth, this kinda thing could really help players get people together to do stuff like the Glitterbeard tree which requires like 8 people to play music around it if I recall correctly.

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