The Treasure Tower
In regards to the desire to provide large sea battles and not wishing to not divide the community, I thought about a new way Sea of Thieves could instead 'strongly encourage' players to engage in large-scale PvP battles without creating a new game mode.
Skull Forts already do this somewhat, but it's easy enough for players to not engage in Skull Forts by simply not sailing to them. I've heard stories of huge 4-galleon Skull Fort battles by I myself have not engaged in a single one.
So here's the idea -
You and your crew are out sailing, perhaps on your way to collect some treasure. Suddenly, an eerie purple haze begins to settle upon the sea. Visibility is poor, but you can still make out the lights of the nearest outpost. Deciding to brave the fog, you and your crew push ever onward towards your destination.
The fog grows thicker and soon you cannot see past the bow of your ship. Your navigator remarks that the compass seems to be spinning wildly and they haven't the foggiest where you are headed. You push onward.
It isn't long until you emerge from the fog, a tall fortified tower in front of you. Levels upon levels of cannons and skeletons are seen all the way to the very top, and at at the top level a platform with an iron cage; within lies mountains of gold.
Unsure of how you arrived here and not being able to pinpoint the location on the map, your crew rejoices for treasure all the same! But wait - you suddenly notice four other ships emerging from the fog... it seems whatever force brought you here didn't ferry just your ship! Let the battle for Treasure Tower begin!
Gains
- An ocean wide threat along the same lines as Storms or the Kraken
- Provides large sea battles for Players who desire them
- Gives Players two opportunities to 'opt-out' while still encouraging them to participate
- Uses a special area only available to this event (the Treasure Tower)
- A PvP battle focusing on navigation and seamanship rather than land-battles
Mechanics
an eerie fog begins to fill the seas
The fog / haze limits visibility and eventually is thick enough that Players cannot see beyond the outskirts of their ship. If players jump into the water at maximum thickness, they will be transported back to their ship. The fog event would be rare and only be activated if enough ships were on the open sea (so not on low-pop servers).
Try as they might, once the Players are in the fog their ship will be transported outside the known map and their ship will head in a constant direction towards the Treasure Tower. Once they reach the tower they will regain control of their ship. This would be done in such a way to give the illusion of the Players having control of their ship even if they do not.
Ships that do not wish to participate in Treasure Tower have a brief window of time in which they can make it to the closest island. Docking your ship close to an island will allow you to escape the fog (until it passes). This allows Players who do not wish to lose their treasure or participate in PvP a way to "opt-out".
The fog rolling in and ships being transported to the Treasure Tower - here you can see the islands are safe areas.
In the above gif, ships are moving through the Seas as the fog rolls in. They are then transported to a new location (off map) where the Treasure Tower is located. In this example, all ships on the server were caught in the fog.
The Treasure Tower
a multi-layered threat
All ships caught in the fog end up at the Treasure Tower. It is a multi-tiered tower filled with skeletons and cannons (similar to those at Skull Forts but larger and more intense). In my illustration it's a regular wooden tower, but I would hope the final art would be much more fitting for such a special event.
Atop the town within a iron-cage absolutely full of treasure - potentially much more than found at a Skull Fort. Ideally it would be hard if not impossible for crews to shoot themselves to higher levels and it would be required to ascend up through from bottom.
The intention of the tower is to give a centerpiece around which the battle takes place.
Ships battling it out around the Treasure Tower.
Results
When ships arrive, they can if they desire turn around and sail back out through the fog, which will take them back to where they came from on the normal map (this is also how the victor returns with their treasure). This allows Players one more opportunity to escape, although they will be leaving behind the opportunity of treasure in the process.
The skeletons in the Treasure Tower will fire on Players until defeated, and when Player's ships are sunk they respawn back on the regular map.
On the floor right below the Treasure is a Skeleton Lord who holds the key to the Treasure cage. Once open, anyone can take this treasure (even by shooting themselves to the top by cannon!).
There are lots of aspects of this I have intentionally left open to interpretation and hope you the reader will have some creative ideas for filling in the blanks! As always I look forward to any feedback people have, thanks for reading!
