The Gunpowder Problem

  • Tehlingstar2
    Master
    Insider
    Founder

    Ok so, Gunpowder barrels are a very useful tool lets not lie to ourselves me and my mighty crew of the saucy sue are guilty of using them to sink other ships, and im sure you who is reading this are guilty of it to. Its without a doubt the most efficient way to sink and enemy ship, However is this healthy for the game? with the recent nerf to the blunderbuss rare clearly does not want their to be 1 sure fire solution to win in a combat situation but right now that is precisely what the explosive barrel is. Yes an organised crew can deal with the damage a barrel gives off but if all 4 of them are just caught on the edge of the blast that ship is going down.

    An example i can give is when me and my friends where doing a skeleton fort about a week ago we kept sinking the same galleon with cannon fire (Keep in mind this is before the ship re-spawns where fixed) and no matter how many times we proved to be the better crew with cannons blazing they kept coming back with explosive barrels and blowing many holes into our ship, sure we always battled them off and repaired the holes but we had more then a few close calls. If we hadent maxed out supplies before the fort we would have surely gone down and its a shame because we proved several times by sinking them we where the more well oiled machine of a crew when it came to ship to ship combat, It sort of makes gunpowder barrels feel very cheap and when your ship is hit by one you dont say to yourself "Wow that other crew are pretty good, they got us" you just say to yourself "Well thats not fair, we beat them and now they can screw us with a gunpowder barrel." it sort of feels like the gunpowder barrels are a low skill opportunity for players to win ship battles because lets be honest, you can be the most well oiled machine of a crew on the waves but that does not mean you cant be unlucky. If all 4 of you just happen to be caught in that blast your ships done.

    While im no game designer so i wouldn't even presume to suggest what rare could do to these barrels i think they have to do something, As shown in a video produced by Force Gaming the gunpowder barrel will always punch 4 holes in a ship when it explodes, maybe reduce that from 4 to 2? i dunno i dont think they should nerf the barrels into the ground so they become unusable i think they should still be a viable option but right now it seams like people dont even care about engaging with cannons anymore they just go for the strat of ram enemy ship, run off the bow with gunpowder barrel, blow self and enemy crew up, re-spawn and claim all their treasure as their ship goes down, repeat.

    TLDR: Gunpowder barrels in their current form arn't healthy for the game.

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  • Chud Stuffens

    Nerf to three holes would be fine.

  • Da German420
    Legend
    Insider
    Founder

    im for 6 holes,its just a problem at a raid cause u stand n idk if u move your ship again,the cannon skellies could be respawn ,even if u just circle around the fort,thats is pretty annoying,u can avoid gunpowder barrels when u move your ship

  • HonestFuture85

    @chud-stuffens is it a set amount right now? I guess that nerf would work.. it's what they'll probably do.

    I hope they don't nerf the radious or explosive damage though, because I'm a noob and use them on oos quad bosses often. (One shotting 4 gold skeles is too enjoyable)

  • syntxerr
    Master
    Insider
    Founder

    To be honest, I am more annoyed at the draw distance than the barrels themselves.

    Currently, it is impossible to see what players aboard other ships are doing, because the ships seem empty even at quite close distance. A crew actually paying attention to what the others might be up to actually has no benefit, especially in a chase.

    This is what needs urgent fixing in my opinion.

  • HonestFuture85

    @neptuncynic the worst nerf so far.

    I still see crews say they have a dedicated (?) lookout.

    All while I'm thinking " no thanks mate I can see ten feet in front of me just fine"..

  • syntxerr
    Master
    Insider
    Founder

    @honestfuture85

    I am thinking how hilarious this will turn out once we get the speaking trumpet for inter ship communication.

    Imagine just shouting out to a ghost ship and suddenly mysterious voices will answer.

    It sucks though, because you can’t even watch whether they might be up to some mischief. 🙈

  • Sir spishush
    Commander
    Insider
    Founder

    @tehlingstar2 this is one of those issues similar to the blunderbuss in that it is very powerful but to nerf them would take away one of the best tools solo players have to defend themselves. i understand people that dont like them as is but im personally fine with things as they are.
    kegging is a well known tactic you just need to look for it like you would a potential boarder and shoot the keg before they reach you.

  • Sir spishush
    Commander
    Insider
    Founder

    @neptuncynic i agree totally

  • HonestFuture85

    @neptuncynic

    I honestly haven't read about the horn yet.

    I heard of it and all I can think is

    We use to have map wide VoIP (direction off) and good enough view distance that we didn't need this stuff? (Okay nerf VoIP a little was needed but)

    It's like the stuttering that's got worse.

    They've been at this 4 years? They're good at job security because they just fix problems they create lol.

  • calissedecrisse
    Master

    @tehlingstar2 They should keep the barrels as they are right now but reduce the amount of barrels spawn in the world especially in the inactive forts, maybe only 1 per fort.
    That and/or raise the barrel respawn timer by a lot (not to sure how it works in this game).

  • Belugadon
    Seafarer
    Insider

    The barrels seems more like an oversight than a strategy. It doesnt even kill the carrier underwater when they set it off.

    The barrel takes out the main combat in this game, cannon fire. 90% of battles result in a barrel carrying maniac knowing that there is ZERO penalty for dying, and thats a problem.

    And dont even get me started on tje draw distance...this game, despite is focusing alot on "scouting out" situations, has the worst i have ever seen in a game.

    You can be literally next to an island, and stuff still doesnt render and stay in their "semi rendered checkerboard" state until you are 5 meters away.

  • Chud Stuffens

    @honestfuture85 said in The Gunpowder Problem:

    @chud-stuffens is it a set amount right now? I guess that nerf would work.. it's what they'll probably do.

    I hope they don't nerf the radious or explosive damage though, because I'm a noob and use them on oos quad bosses often. (One shotting 4 gold skeles is too enjoyable)

    It's 4 holes currently.

    Also just take gold skellies into water or throw a water bucket on em and one shot em with the Blunder.

  • HonestFuture85

    @chud-stuffens said in The Gunpowder Problem:

    @honestfuture85 said in The Gunpowder Problem:

    @chud-stuffens is it a set amount right now? I guess that nerf would work.. it's what they'll probably do.

    I hope they don't nerf the radious or explosive damage though, because I'm a noob and use them on oos quad bosses often. (One shotting 4 gold skeles is too enjoyable)

    It's 4 holes currently.

    Also just take gold skellies into water or throw a water bucket on em and one shot em with the Blunder.

    Ah either way still need to address the fact you have to stop them from repairing.

    I've tanked a lot of barrels in duos but I'm not really a PVP focused guy.

    I knew about the water, I don't roll blunder much as close range with oos rng op skeles is a no from me lol

  • Freecellqt

    @tehlingstar2 I haven't sunk to a gunpowder barrel in almost 2 weeks. Once you have a crew that has played together at least a few times u understand exactly the conditions u need to survive it. 1 person on ladders, 1 person bucketing and 1 person planking. The 4th person needs to fire cannonballs back to apply pressure on them and or board them to again apply pressure back to prevent further incursion.

    I understand that barrels can be devastating to a crew who aren't familiar with each other or know how to actually survive the gunpowder barrel but once you learn it you won't sink to it again.

  • Trickrrrtreat
    Insider

    There is no gunpowder problem. Sometimes you are the bug, sometimes you are the windshield. Nothing about them needs changing.

  • IM THE BEER MAN
    Founder

    Pro tip, swim up under a boat and let the gunpowder barrel go. You lose no health and it sinks a ship quick.

  • Gloog
    Master
    Founder

    No gunpowder problem, draw distance problem though..

  • NullValuePoint

    @im-the-beer-man I think that's the only thing that needs fixing. It's not that the barrel is too powerful (4 holes is a quick fix), it's that the person delivering doesn't need the appropriate amount of skill.

  • ShadowStrider 7

    Not calling anyone out or putting anyone down, but a good crew should be able to see a barrel coming while at a fort. If another ship is approaching fast, head-on or at an angle they can't fire efficiently from, it's a red flag to a barrel attempt. Send a crewmate with a ranged weapon into the water and you'll have no issues. 9 times out of 10 anyone I have sank with a barrel was because they were too focused on deck rather than below the ship.

  • Boost King
    Master
    Founder

    I've noticed more people at forts swimming over with a gun power barrel and doing the whole suicide mission thing and taking our ship down. However last night I intercepted the critter under water with a gun power and I shot his barrel and it exploded but neither he nor I died? I was quite confused by this and as a result let my guard down and he shot me. Has this happened to anyone else?

  • TtargetPractice

    I can't agree that powder kegs are unhealthy for the game. They make ships that aren't crewed by potatoes actually able to be sunk once in a while. The damage model itself is unhealthy for the game. It's ridiculous that four cannons can pour 10 shots each into the side of a sloop and the sloop still has a side to speak of, just with a few tiny holes. Before you assume that I'm a galleon rider who likes to bully undermanned crews, please understand that I sail solo sloop 80% of the time and duo sloop 19% of the time. Ships need to be able to be destroyed before you start making it more difficult to destroy them.

  • ShadowStrider 7

    @boost-king if the powder keg explodes underwater, it only causes damage to ships, not players.

  • Byrnndi Teach

    Personally I don't like that this has become meta. But that's sort of what happens when you're limited on options to sink somebody.

    I'm hoping these cursed cannonballs actually add some more complexity to ship battles. I mean it's not even just that either. It's the anxiety you get when you even have one random on the team and a single gunpowder barrel on board.

    This is a bit of an event that occured with me today, I had a crew 2 were completely new and 1 was constantly AFK, I decided to take control of the ship and set off immediately for skull fort. As I was pretty much done and the captain was defeated I went back on board the ship and trying to motivate the crew to help me with moving the loot to the ship quickly. I went into the captains quarters and realized they had taken every gunpowder barrel off the island and stored it in the captains quarters, there must of been 12 barrels, I almost had an aneurysm form in my brain

  • Seedy Platypus
    Marauder

    @tehlingstar2

    Four holes is fine.

    Maybe reduce the blast radius, so less people die. Then the fight is person against person still, with a few holes added to the equation.

    Will a reduced blast radius mean people blow up barrels sooner after dropping them due to less personal risk? Will this make the barrels more or less powerful?

  • Boost King
    Master
    Founder

    @shadowstrider-7 said in The Gunpowder Problem:

    @boost-king if the powder keg explodes underwater, it only causes damage to ships, not players.

    Cheers for clarifying that. Its rather interesting isn't it.

  • GodsPhoenix13
    Marauder
    Insider
    Founder

    Theyre fine. I've survived barrels on sloops and galleons in multiple different scenarios. If anything needs to be fixed it's adding a third ladder to the galleon and fixing the spawn killing on the sloop.

    If anything add other tools to fight against ships.

  • Osimmity Smash

    I don't see one issue with them, i have been hit & it doesnt end you if anything it stops your pursuit which means it is good vs maniacs who follow people.

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