Ability to change ship types mid game

  • I think the ability to change ship types from an outpost would be useful. Say if Im on a sloop with a friend and 2 of my crewmates get on the ability to trade a sloop for a galleon would be nice.

    It would also be nice if after people leave I could also trade down it keeps from constantly having people to change servers just to have a ship size.

    There does need to be a player cobtrol system that prevents changing to a sloop if you have more than 2 people to prevent exploits

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  • @blatantwalk4260
    I thought they said in some interview they were workin on this feature. Its been asked for since the start

  • I think they said this was immensely more easily said than done.

    From the sounds of it there's alot of background issues with just making the change and there's a huge amount of things to account for

  • @blatantwalk4260
    Like others have said, there are a lot of server issues with this. I wish it could work, but it would be hard for rare to do this.

  • Yes, please !

    @nwo-azcrack a dit dans Ability to change ship types mid game :

    @blatantwalk4260
    I thought they said in some interview they were workin on this feature. Its been asked for since the start

    I heard something like this too I think... Do you remember when or where it was confirmed ?

  • Yea, there was a video at some point mentioning changing ships mid-game. IIRC, they said it's something that's come-up at the office a lot, but isn't a high priority because of the technical implications.

  • @blatantwalk4260 Like most people here I want this but as @NWO-Azcrack said before me, Rare wants to do this. They want to let people change ships but as it stands there's a limit to the number of players and the number of ships. The limit to the number of players was 16 I believe and the number of ships was 6. So that's 6 sloops 5 brigs or 4 galleons as a max, but with wiggle room for combinations (3 sloops 2 brigs and 1 galleon for example).
    I think this limit was placed later after launch as I can remember encountering more then just 4 galleons in the beginning (4 galleons and a few sloops for example).
    But I believe that this was placed after more ermergent threats came about and more land was added.
    Hope Rare can expand the game more with the growth of Azure and the capabilities of this platform.

  • The implications are hard to solve? I'm not convinced, I doubt this is really the truth. If a ship change was allowed to trigger a new server assignment, that would be perfectly ok and solve any implications I can think of.

  • The problem is the Server's have a 20 player/6 ship cap. In this case it's not the ship number but the player number that would be an issue.

    If Rare allowed ships to upgrade in size it could shatter the player slot ceiling when, for example, 6 Sloops became 6 Galleons.

    So in order to achieve this the Server limit would have to increased by 4 player slots. I don't know if this is technically a problem? But I suspect that it is, seeing as Rare have decided on going with 20 players max instead of the logical choice of 24.

  • @hynieth I believe that the cap was 20 players / 6 ships. Although I wouldn't be surprised if Rare has reduced it to less (players) .

    I haven't seen 4 Galleons plus 2 Sloops on one server in the last half year. And certainly never more than 16 Pirates together.

  • @hynieth Any source for the player limit? 16 sounds a bit low. I've been in alliances with a capacity of more than 16 players (I don't know if all ships had a full crew). I want to believe this was after Shrouded Spoils but I'm not really sure about that.

  • @crimsonraziel It was said by joe Neate a good while back when he was asked about new ship sizes and a possible future 6 man ship (Man-O-War).
    He specificly named the Number of players and ships. Now this could have changed, this was around the time I think before the Forsaken shores launched. But that's the last time I heard Joe Neate about the player and ship cap.

  • @fractal-pitch
    Na sorry mate. Just remember them mentioning they were lookin into it. This is not a feature i think about to much as i usually only duo sloop, so i didnt give i didnt pay to much attention

  • @hynieth
    I really hope they up the ship cap. Even if its just a little. I feel the map is big enough to add a couple more.
    I have been countin the ships i see lately out of curiosity and i havnt made it past 6 counting myself.

  • @nwo-azcrack 6 is a well known number because that is also the number of initial outposts. That's why it won't soon be more then 6, there should always be a free outpost for a ship to dock at.
    Now we have Marrows Peak but that's in a dangerous area so I can understand that Rare doesn't want to have people spawn there or go there as a last resort.

    So I feel that when they ever expand the map more and add more outposts it will be in a region that's more like the rest in terms of difficulty so they can add more ships to the cap.

    I honestly would like to know what the bottleneck is in terms of what's limiting them. I don't think it's the servers themselves, they do handle a lot of the data going trough but they are capable of this. The azure datacentre is quite a beefy beast.

  • @hynieth
    I wonder if its just for balance also. So players who are pveing arent always surrounded.
    I realize just because i want more players per server it might not be a good idea for everyone else.
    Oh well, im sure ur right tho as the map grows the player count will too

  • @goedecke-michel said in Ability to change ship types mid game:

    The implications are hard to solve? I'm not convinced, I doubt this is really the truth. If a ship change was allowed to trigger a new server assignment, that would be perfectly ok and solve any implications I can think of.

    That is a very good point, since it addresses the max. player problem. Seems like a simple answer should there indeed be a technical player count issue.

  • @hynieth if that outpost wasnt an active volcanoe it wouldnt be bad as a spawn point

  • Maybe when crossplay preference opt-out is enabled, the server wizardry can accommodate this as well.

  • @dyfrin Wow, did you just try to get crossplay into this? Please for the love of my sanity, please don't.

    @BlatantWalk4260 I think you also have to take into account that people can only start Roar voyages from there. So if a new(ish) person would start there he or she would have a really bad time.

  • @viperishemu2992 a dit dans Ability to change ship types mid game :

    @goedecke-michel said in Ability to change ship types mid game:

    The implications are hard to solve? I'm not convinced, I doubt this is really the truth. If a ship change was allowed to trigger a new server assignment, that would be perfectly ok and solve any implications I can think of.

    That is a very good point, since it addresses the max. player problem. Seems like a simple answer should there indeed be a technical player count issue.

    Yup !
    When I thought about this feature one year ago, it seemed obvious that requesting the game to change the ship type should only be allowed while at an outpost, like for the ship skins. It should also force you to change server.

    This could be done by talking to the merchant at the shipwright shop for example.

    "My crew is changing in size, I'd like to change my ship please !
    -Sure, but be aware that it will take some time for the new ship to be ready, during this time, the world around us can change a lot. Don't worry though, all of your ressources and treasures (should it ? See below) will still be available. What type of ship do you need ?
    -I want Answer
    -Ok, I'm going to prepare one for you, hang on."

    Then, either black screen or the same old text when we're getting a server merge.
    But some things should be looked into before.

    How is it going to work ? How does the game know where to put previous treasures to the new locations of the ship (with the size of the ship changing) ? Does it just puts everything in the water or near the shipwright ? Does it puts everything at a default location in the ship ?
    But before that, should it be allowed to change the ship type with treasures on board ? Will this not become a case of "we're being chased, quick to the next outpost and let's change ship type to avoid the other ship !" ?
    And what about gunpowder barrels ? Should they be merged too ? Will the game be able to teleport them to the new crow's nest ? This just seems to be really difficult and potentially very buggy.

    For me the game should only save ressources when changing ship types and that's it

    Also, changing ship type should also requires the whole crew to vote, because that would just be messy not to do this ahah.

    I'd love this feature but I can understand why it would be difficult to implement properly.

  • @fractal-pitch It would have require a whole crew vote and no it should store resources this might cause a bug moving to a sloop if you have so many canonballs.

    I say decide what you really want to keep put it in a row boat or on dock barrels then change the ship.

    This would make the method a bit slower so as not to be abused.

    As far as server merge I think that would cause even more server merge issues but who knows.

    Now the Treasure if the boat disapears itll fall into the water once the old boat disapears and the new one appears so now you have to fish everything out of the water.

  • @fractal-pitch I think it sounds like a great feature and exactly the type of mechanic that would appeal to the "core" philosophy of how Rare want people (with friends) to play this game.

    I always assumed that the player cap was the problem. But now that you and @Goedecke-Michel have pointed out that a server change would solve this issue this idea is a no-brainer. Rare should do this!

    In fact, forcing a server switch may be the most fair way to do it? The important thing is that crews could keep their missions going. This is especially prevalent in long missions like Tall Tales and Athena's.

  • @viperishemu2992 a dit dans Ability to change ship types mid game :

    @fractal-pitch I think it sounds like a great feature and exactly the type of mechanic that would appeal to the "core" philosophy of how Rare want people (with friends) to play this game.

    I always assumed that the player cap was the problem. But now that you and @Goedecke-Michel have pointed out that a server change would solve this issue this idea is a no-brainer. Rare should do this!

    In fact, forcing a server switch may be the most fair way to do it? The important thing is that crews could keep their missions going. This is especially prevalent in long missions like Tall Tales and Athena's.

    Yeah of course, that's the main reason why this feature is needed I think.
    Not doing that makes the feature pretty useless :)

  • @fractal-pitch Good points. Of course you need to unload your ship, as you sell it. You won't sell your treasure to the ship makers, won't you? And you buy a new one, which is supposed to be empty ... err... I mean... a used one at Stan's shop. Or any outpost.

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  • @hynieth
    In no way did I promote crossplay, it is a fact that it's being worked on, and while they are in the matchmaking process, they could also implement this, instead of delaying it further?

  • @dyfrin please for the love of our lord and Saviour Joe Neate, stop.. Please stop!

    Read for crying out loud READ!

    I was wondering how and why you tried dragging Crossplay into this conversation and you're trying to further drag it in there.
    This has nothing to do with crossplay. Please go somewhere else.

  • @goedecke-michel said in Ability to change ship types mid game:

    The implications are hard to solve? I'm not convinced, I doubt this is really the truth. If a ship change was allowed to trigger a new server assignment, that would be perfectly ok and solve any implications I can think of.

    In a later post someone mentioned that any missions should be preserved ... this can be exploited by doing an athena's first part, sailing to the outpost closest to the Athena island and then switch ship.
    You mostly will spawn without other ships close by and none of them will have any clue that you're doing an athena.

    Also this will make for nice fort-server hopping or crews that hunt PVE-players but now with full supplies.

    While I think that ship-change will make a nice addition for people with friends that want to play (or when a crew loses one member), I don't think that new server assignment is the solution.

  • @nwo-azcrack They said that there are massive technical issues with doing this, as I recall.

  • @goedecke-michel Ah, and we can have a new form of combat logging where you can keep all your stuff. Being chased? Phone a friend, quickly stop off at an outpost and switch ships, switch servers and keep all your stuff. Sounds fun... not.

  • I'd like it. I hate having to leave the game just to take on new crew members, or shrink down because only a couple of us want to continue for a while longer. But if you switch on the same server, a crew of three could use the brigantine's speed to catch another ship, then switch to a galleon just before battle for a more resilient ship. A larger crew could also have one member (or even two) drop out to use the smaller ship's advantages as needed before switching back to galleon to let the remaining crew rejoin them. If they gave us this option, a significant cooldown timer between changes should come with it. Or it could only occur near shipwrights similar to how changing livery works.

  • @entspeak a dit dans Ability to change ship types mid game :

    @goedecke-michel Ah, and we can have a new form of combat logging where you can keep all your stuff. Being chased? Phone a friend, quickly stop off at an outpost and switch ships, switch servers and keep all your stuff. Sounds fun... not.

    That's why I'm against being avle to keep your treasures. If you do this, you lose everything except ressources and voyage.

  • @entspeak did you read and understand what I wrote? I wrote you have to unload your ship, which means you have to sell an empty ship. As the ship change will transfer you to a new server, you need to sell your stuff - or leave it behind. And you would recieve an empty ship.

  • @goedecke-michel Okay, and if someone is coming for your Athena, you can drive-by to empty the ship, switch servers and complete the voyage. It’s still a form of combat logging. Whereas, now, if someone has learned that you are on an Athena... you are going to have to deal with them or drop the voyage.

    With this suggestion, you could start an Athena on a sloop, call your buds when you get the final voyage, and switch servers. Thereby minimizing the threat of robbery from the folks who may have been stalking you to steal that final chest.

  • @fractal-pitch if yiu go by the system I was suggesting the treasure would get dropped in the water either way it slows you down no matter which of our systems we suggested are use.

    No changing and running :)

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