Thoughts on sneaking / solo play

  • easyhookers
    Founder

    I've seen several players complain about the solo experience in the game (ie it's too tough to take on a galleon). While most certainly true, I think it SHOULD be tough to go alone. The description says as much in the main menu, but maybe this could be better illustrated in the UI.

    THAT SAID, I think a very attractive element of going solo is that you are nimble and can outwit / outmaneuver a crew of 4 in the right circumstances. Currently, it is near impossible to sneak up on a full party because 1) Your name automatically shows at a medium far distance 2) Mermaid smokes pop instantly when you go away from your ship. If we're saying solo is for experienced pirates, lets at least give them a chance to be rewarded for sneaking onto enemy vessels, or surprise attacking a team at an outpost, etc. For starters, I think it would be nice to have names only appear on targeted characters within a certain distance / scope distance. Perhaps have the chest cash-in process take a little more time (a few seconds) so that a skilled solo pirate can actually shoot the person while cashing in. A no/low noise walk movement would be nice as well for sneaking on board enemy vessels to steal their plunder. Even if you do manage to sneak on board, a mermaid smoke is a dead giveaway that someone is on board the ship....so maybe have a way to summon the mermaid (with UI encouraging its use when out of ship range) instead.

    Just a few thoughts on improving the solo / sneaking / pvp experience. Would love to hear your thoughts!

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  • JCLIVININIQUITY
    Founder

    I want a crouch so I can hide behind cargo and bushes.
    Maby have a dagger and the pistol only allowed while in that stance.

  • Madame Ching

    I agree, not to mention you could possibly be waiting a looooonnggg time for that ship to sneak aboard. I do love sneaking on to galleons though, wait for them to fight and then kill their repairmen. Or sneak on their ship lift the anchor and run it in to a rock then kill repairman.

  • easyhookers
    Founder

    @jclivininiquity For sure! I was thinking that as well in my last session.

  • easyhookers
    Founder

    @madame-ching Sneaking is such a fun mechanic of the game...I hope they opt to reward that play instead of trying too hard to be inclusive for all skill levels.

  • Eddy Panda 2000
    Rogue

    @easyhookers solo navigation looks like would be hard, but could be done. If the small vessels had a better smooth way to control maybe we could fight with other larger ships without hiding

  • XxAlfonzxX
    Master
    Insider
    Founder

    A trick I like to do is after I'm spotted I voice chat saying "HE'S AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SHIP!!" when they go low, I go high...and steal a chest from the top deck

  • Luca Blackwell

    @easyhookers I certainly agree with you about sneaking. It is virtually impossible given you have a name tag over your head. Only on the ferry of the dead should the name of your killer be reveled. I.E. Easyhookers blunder busted by Blackbeard. And also only the people on your crew should have name tags above them. AND absolutely the mermaid should have to be summoned when needed. Maybe blowing into a Conch shell from inventory. Because as you said it is a dead giveaway that enemy crew are still around. I hope the Devs take notice and agree to make some changes.

  • Dje La Planque
    Master
    Founder

    @easyhookers Other players can see your mermaid, not the smoke. Same for you. You can see mermaids but only yours will have blue smoke.

  • Avo HellBlade

    The issue of solo sneaking is. With the reveal that snakes can be used as traps is that it can prevent access ways upon the ship without taking lethal damage.

  • Inbred Chimera

    My upvote to the OP, a very sound suggestion I frequently support that often faces unjustified opposition. I don't like the gamertags at all from a gameplay perspective. From an abuse prevention side i'm usre there are better methods such as voice activated tags or tags only when not crouching. Plenty of space for development.

    @avo-hellblade I hope they consider that when they add the snakes, and that they need feeding to be maintained (like a pig or chicken every 2 days)..

    They need to have some kind of upkeep if they're going to essentially be a turret.

  • easyhookers
    Founder

    @dje-la-planque For sure. I posted this a couple of months back now... and I may be wrong, but I was under the impression at that point that it was visible to all. Even at this point, I can easily see someone else's mermaid and you know that if it DOESN'T have smoke, then you have someone aboard. I think it would be more interesting to the game if it was summon-able.

  • easyhookers
    Founder

    @Avo-HellBlade Wow I haven't seen that yet. I think that we should be able to board the ship outside of the 2 ladders, which would help with that issue. For instance, in the data dive that happened a while back there was a reference to a "boarding axe". Would be cool if you could slam it into the side of a ship and use it to climb up anywhere, or just ride along. BUT it would take up an inventory slot and not be as long of reach as the cutlass. I have no idea if that's the intended use of the item, but it would be REALLY awesome to see that happen.

    @luca-blackwell @Inbred-Chimera So it's been a while since I've posted this, but its clearly still an issue. In fact, I've actually noticed since starting this thread that you can see gamertags through ships and other solid objects. I haven't had enough time in the full game to notice it yet, but it was certainly in the scale tests. If you're interested, you can see it happening in one of my videos at 5:11 included below (shameless promotion? lol noooo.) I never considered game abuse, etc....but I think a targeted / close nametag would serve it's purpose there. I also like the idea of showing on using voice comms, as you would have a pretty good idea where the voice was coming from if you were actually there.

    https://youtu.be/j5yLyZpc9n0?t=5m9s

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