Recovering Lost Shipments

  • Xyletic3244
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    Hi!
    Just wanted to share my idea on a new Merchant type of quest that I'd consider more exciting that cargo delivery or animal collection. That's not to say everyone doesn't enjoy them, but I feel like they're too delicate and tedious for my personal taste. Ghost ship/Meg/Kraken spawn and you could potentially devalue your loot to next to nothing with events out of your control.

    Basically the idea is to utilize sunken ships on the map (or new ones) for merchant quests. Say that these ships were lost at sea and you need to recover the cargo that was on board. For ease, they'd need to be marked on the map, but it could spawn merchant associated items like teas/ores/cloth/etc inside the shipwreck.

    This is just a starter idea to it, but I'm hoping this can start spark some interest in adding some variety to the more (what I consider) tedious part of the game. They could be added to athena/mercenary voyages and beyond.

    Thanks for reading!

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  • xCALYPT0x
    Master
    Insider
    Boatswain

    @xyletic517 That's a great idea! Might be some technicalities to work out like other crews getting there first but sunken ships definitely seem to be on the lower end of profitability and for that reason I think many people avoid them. Would be a great way to revitalize this content.

  • Xyletic3244
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    @xcalypt0x Yeah I thought about that as well. At first I was thinking that it could be that you just "visit" the shipwreck and the quest would complete. But that would probably simplify the speed-running of getting 250 voyages completed too much.

    A thought I did have was to recover an 'inventory list' that spawns in the barrels on the ship. It should be a random barrel so that way you had to put in some effort to completing and finding it. Once you picked up that list, you'd have completed the voyage.

    I appreciate the positive and constructive input! Thanks for the response!

  • xCALYPT0x
    Master
    Insider
    Boatswain

    @xyletic517 Interesting solution. I wonder if they have the ability to make instanced/private barrel contents. If they can that would work really well. I was thinking they could also potentially only populate the ship once you get to it, like they do with the skeletons on islands for order of souls.

  • Xyletic3244
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    @xcalypt0x Great idea actually. Since that tech already exists in the game (so to speak) I imagine it'd be easier than a private instancing type of tech which as far as I know doesn't exist in SOT. The question from that point would be where do you decide the voyage completes. Would the player have a list of items to dive for and once all are 'touched' it considers complete? Definitely has a lot of potential though I feel!

  • xCALYPT0x
    Master
    Insider
    Boatswain

    @xyletic517 I like your idea of completing it by finding a ship "manifest" of sorts. That way if you get there but are killed, you can still come back and finish the voyage even though you might not get the treasure.

    Another issue I thought of is when the ship despawns? Maybe it sinks ever so slowly and you have a time limit? It would fit the theme of merchant voyages being timed.

  • Xyletic3244
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    @xcalypt0x Oh I like that idea! It opens up potential to strengthen the "lore" behind it and it would add a real scenario as to why it's expiring!

    I think with that though is that you couldn't have it show up on the map because it wouldn't always be there if it did despawn - so it could potentially confuse players. This would require the map to be dynamic or some other way of finding the ship.

    You could always slap a contract on it like the others and just say that the loot will be lost to the sea if not recovered by day x @ time. It would be less dramatic than a sinking ship (and far less cool), but could allow for static shipwrecks to be placed on the map.

  • xCALYPT0x
    Master
    Insider
    Boatswain

    @xyletic517 hmm. I don't think the map needing to be dynamic is a problem. They already have the functionality to add and remove ships that have the reapers mark.

    I'm not sure but I would think having an icon for a sunken ship that is removed when the ship finishes sinking wouldn't be too difficult to add. IDK.

  • D3ADST1CK
    Vanguard
    Insider
    Founder

    I don't think you need a mark on the map at all, the quest/voyage paper could just say to "Recover the lost shipment of 'The Wreck of the So-and-so' last seen in the [North-West|North-East|South-East|South-West] area of the [Wilds|Ancient Isles|Shores of Plenty]".

    When the player finds the correct ship (ie. hits the title sequence), then appropriate loot for the voyage level is spawned inside the wreck - perhaps on top of what is already in there. If the ship despawns ('sinks') then just expire the contract similar to the other merchant voyages.

  • ItsBlackbirdy
    Seafarer
    Insider

    I agree with the cargo being too delicate, especially with megalodons etc.

    Definitely potential in your idea! It would be fun that you have to go to a ship wreck, find the right cargo inside of the ship and deliver it to someone else, somewhere on the map. Possibly make it a bit harder in some way to get the cargo out of the shipwreck.

    If you put the different components together: time limit, skeletons or maybe you get caught in an epic sharkshow, finding the correct shipwreck and then delivering the cargo to someone else would make merchant voyage so much more exciting :D!

  • BloodyBil
    Legend
    Insider

    Love it!

  • Vin The Rat
    Marauder
    Insider

    I think it's a great idea for an alternate mission set.

    The spawned wrecks would have to have gulls, and be lootable by other players.

  • Xyletic3244
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    @xCALYPT0x Good call on that - didn't even think about the repears mark/allianced ships.

    @D3ADST1CK That's a great idea actually. It kind of plays out like a gold hoarders riddle quest and would be fun to find the first few times you do it. Especially like how the "Last sighted" to even concrete the idea of the lost cargo run. Appreciate the input!

    @ItsBlackbirdy Thank you for the added suggestions and discussion! I think it'd make sense to have it delivered to someone specifically - it not only matches the other merchant quests, but since the ship would have been sailing to a delivery destination, it'd make sense that someone specific wants it.
    I think your other options of sharks and skellies could add to it for higher level missions or athena runs. It'd be cool to have some of the wrecks being guarded by a skeleton ship - which is the reason it sunk in the first place.

  • Sgt Paloogoo
    Commander
    Insider

    This is a great idea mate!
    We'd get to see Merchant Crates a bit more often!

  • Vin The Rat
    Marauder
    Insider

    @xcalypt0x said in Recovering Lost Shipments:

    @xyletic517 hmm. I don't think the map needing to be dynamic is a problem.

    Just give us a grid. "Last seen in the vicinity of G7" or something

  • xCALYPT0x
    Master
    Insider
    Boatswain

    @vin-delanos That's a good idea too. And then it could stay on the voyage paper so that people don't forget. I like it.

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