WE NEED ALLIANCE CHAT

@galactic-geek wouldn’t really call that a viable solution for all players. Something as simple as a chat wheel that goes out to all in the alliance. A party chat with 4 ships and 16 people would be way too confusing to manage. Plus not all players have headsets or use discord.

@galactic-geek was just a thought.

Considering the way chat in-game is structured (i.e. you need a megaphone to speak over a longer distance), alliance chat doesnt really make sense in-game.

That said, I think a ping system or smoke signal of some kind would be interesting. Found something neat? Smoke signal. Wanna make people think you found something neat, but are actually luring ships into a trap? Smoke signal.

Either way, I think that would be a good solution to "communication" over long distances without making it too reliant on a chat. It would keep the game feeling immersive.

@king-rezkin said in WE NEED ALLIANCE CHAT:

Plus not all players have headsets or use discord.

Pretty sure a mic isn't required for Xbox Party Chat, nor is it for discord. You can still be in a party and not be required to use a mic. At the very least you can hear your crew.

@galactic-geek said in WE NEED ALLIANCE CHAT:

@king-rezkin said in WE NEED ALLIANCE CHAT:

Plus not all players have headsets or use discord.

Why should we cater to those who choose to not help themselves? Headsets are dirt cheap for PC, and are free on console, and Discord is free too. There really is no excuse. Besides, if they don't have either, why would they invest heavily in such a sociable and cooperative game?

Putting aside the fact that the discord overlay does not function with SoT due to the microsoft integrations, I'd also venture to say basically, that responding with "use voice chat" for something that has immersive value because "why cater to xyz" is a dangerous way of thinking. By that logic:

-we really dont need an alliance system in general. Just divide the chests between ships.

-We dont need text chat or emotes. Just use discord.

-We don't need musical instruments, just use a music bot on discord.

My point is that gameplay development can go farther based on the way that players choose to use the systems. The only way to experience that gameplay is to make the option available to players.

@king-rezkin said in WE NEED ALLIANCE CHAT:

We need a way to talk to our alliance members when they are half way across the map. Situations arise where it would be nice to be able to call for backup. Ei enemy pirates, krakens, skeleton ships. It would be a very useful function and I would love to see such a vital feature added to the game.

Just invite them to party chat?

@entspeak said in WE NEED ALLIANCE CHAT:

@pomalotacusmk3 That’s never going to happen. One thing the devs love about alliances is how they can be betrayed and infiltrated. Having a ledger with the names of pirates in the alliance would kill that - so don’t expect that to happen.

That reminds me of a story my friends were telling me, one had invited another into their game, they were in a 3 ship alliance, all at a fort. When he joined he heard another ship talking about betraying them, his fellow cremate was all like "Dude they can hear you" "Relax they're all in party chat"

LOL....

My main thought when I posted this was simply the addition of a chat wheel that is accessible only when in an alliance/to alliance members. It would be a simple and easy way to contact your alliance from a long distance without the need for party chat or discord. I don’t need to hear, nor do I want to hear everything another crew is saying to each other. Especially if you’re all doing your own thing, allied to help each other make more gold. All of a sudden you come under attack by another ship.. wouldn’t it be nice to simply open the chat wheel send out an S.O.S. to your alliance and hope they can show up and help. Or if they want to betray you they can show up and do just that when you’re vulnerable.

@katttruewalker the only problem with the reapers mark aside from attracting unwanted attention is it would require the other crew to be looking at their map table. The chances of them happening to be checking the map at the time when you might need help is pretty small. Yes we have the speaking trumpet but even it’s range is quite limited. I don’t think the addition of an alliance chat wheel would stop the use of speaking trumpets at all. The chat wheel would be limited in what can be said just like every other chat wheel. Just thought it was a cool idea, i know personally I could have used such a thing many times over. Doubt it will ever happen, just thought I’d share an idea that has been discussed amongst my crew mates and I.

@king-rezkin said in WE NEED ALLIANCE CHAT:

@katttruewalker the only problem with the reapers mark aside from attracting unwanted attention is it would require the other crew to be looking at their map table. The chances of them happening to be checking the map at the time when you might need help is pretty small. Yes we have the speaking trumpet but even it’s range is quite limited. I don’t think the addition of an alliance chat wheel would stop the use of speaking trumpets at all. The chat wheel would be limited in what can be said just like every other chat wheel. Just thought it was a cool idea, i know personally I could have used such a thing many times over. Doubt it will ever happen, just thought I’d share an idea that has been discussed amongst my crew mates and I.

I think my original point is just that, because you need a speaking trumpet to talk in general, I can't see how it would make sense to be able to yell to an alliance member across an entire continent. Chat is designed to be extremely localized.

I still think a gameplay mechanic to SoS somehow would be nice to have - but pirates don't have cell phones. We cant call over to other ships :P

@reveraster I understand what you’re saying regarding the distance. My logic is that I can use the chat wheel from anywhere in the game world with my own crew and they can see it, regardless of proximity. It would be the same for crews in the alliance. The speaking trumpet would still have its use. All of that aside, the main point is it would be nice to have a way to hail your alliance without having to;
a) have a confusing party chat going
b) use an outside source such as discord
c) look in recent players and then type a msg while trying to play the game.

Also if a crew gets added to the alliance by another ship and you haven’t seen/met them yet then you can’t add them to party or find them in recent players making it impossible to contact them without physically chasing them down on the map to try and chat.

@dyfrin ya a crow or some sort of messenger bird that could appear beside the wheel on allied ships with your msg. The length of time it takes to get to the other crew depends on how far away they are. Something like that would be cool.

It was Joe Neate himself who pointed out the hilarity of having no differences between enemies and alliance members - in both the ability to chat and gamertag. Generally it keeps it more immersive and keeps in piratey but also keeps the alliance as an alliance between two crews as opposed to an extended crew with two boats. It brings out the manners in us by slashing them and then going 'S**t, sorry...' (though I know that doesn't relate to universal chat).

@king-rezkin said in WE NEED ALLIANCE CHAT:

@reveraster I understand what you’re saying regarding the distance. My logic is that I can use the chat wheel from anywhere in the game world with my own crew and they can see it, regardless of proximity. It would be the same for crews in the alliance. The speaking trumpet would still have its use. All of that aside, the main point is it would be nice to have a way to hail your alliance without having to;
a) have a confusing party chat going
b) use an outside source such as discord
c) look in recent players and then type a msg while trying to play the game.

Also if a crew gets added to the alliance by another ship and you haven’t seen/met them yet then you can’t add them to party or find them in recent players making it impossible to contact them without physically chasing them down on the map to try and chat.

I was thinking about this too, but crews arent really ever designed to be separated over large distances. So I feel like this was done more as a code optimization measure and not as a meaningful point of reference for gameplay. Proximity chat detection can bog down a network.

Why not try to implement some sort of carrier parrot system. You tell the parrot some predetermined emote and have it fly to an ally ship, then when it arrives it says the emote.

I think it would be pretty fun, unnecessary but fun.

My crew has suggested using carrier pigeons to communicate with alliance crews.

@galactic-geek said in WE NEED ALLIANCE CHAT:

Use XBL party chat or Discord. Both options are freely available.

Yeah but I think he is referring to Random alliances that may not cooperate as easily. Or just so you can convince a crew to be pirated if that's your use for it.