Weak Animals

The same could be said for Rum Bottles as well. I see this as part of the intended experience. A fair bit of what Merchants are meant to transport are fragile things in some way (Animals can die, Plants can wither, Cloth can be soaked, Bottles can break, Gunpowder can be detonated). So to me it just feels in theme with the Faction design.

As for it being more risky in a Sloop, that is also working as designed I feel like. The Sloop is essentially always in a more risky position than any other size ship. Less crew, less space, less storage options by a full barrel.

All in all I don't think this needs adjustment, this is exactly how it is supposed to work. If you're not a fan of the stuff that carries that Fragile Goods facet of things you'll just need to be more picky about which Merchant Voyages you decide to actually do. You have the ability to cancel a Voyage and propose a new one without actually doing it, and that is a viable strategy if you don't feel the Voyage you got by RNG aligns with your goals or feels less profitable than it is worth.

But the Voyages cost Gold you might say, and not everyone has loads of Gold to toss around. Well, that is where Sunken Loot, Message in a Bottle Voyages, and Emergent Loot come in to play. You always have the ability to get more Gold for Voyages, and they are so cheap it basically just requires turning in a single piece of just about any Loot to have enough Gold to grab one. So cancellation of Voyages is wildly viable in this game thankfully.

So, my advice is to either accept that some Goods you'll be transporting will be Fragile, or simply start skipping Voyages (wholesale or in part, you can always do the things on a Voyage you're willing to do and then cancel as well).

Alternately, if you don't like Merchant Voyages at all, you're in luck since getting to Pirate Legend only requires you to have Rank 50 in 3 Factions, which Factions those are is up to you. So you still have Gold Hoarders, Order of Souls, Hunters Call, Reapers Bones, and Sea Dogs as viable options to fill out your card. You could just skip the Merchants entirely, and level them up via delivering Gems which can be taken by any Faction other than Athena's Fortune (and Sea Dogs, since they don't really exist within Adventure in reality).

Now, if you're a Completionist and hate the Merchants, all I can say is that as a Completionist you must be used to doing tasks in games you're not a fan of to get that job done. This is just gonna be another one of those things I fear, in that particular case.

So, in summation, you have a lot of options here, so I don't think this actually needs to be changed or balanced further. This advice is equally here to help out anyone else who pops in and may be feeling the same, but isn't aware of all the details (the OP very well might be aware of all this, in which case please don't see it as talking down to you - this is just as much for others).

Good luck out there, and may you find the Adventures you are looking for!

@redeyesith said in Weak Animals:

So, in summation, you have a lot of options here, so I don't think this actually needs to be changed or balanced further. This advice is equally here to help out anyone else who pops in and may be feeling the same, but isn't aware of all the details (the OP very well might be aware of all this, in which case please don't see it as talking down to you - this is just as much for others).

Its quite funny really, I read most of this and was getting very angry thinking you were talking down to me. I was like "Bruh I know, you don't need to tell me this" had you not ended with that this reply would have been a lot more aggressive hahah

I appreciate the reply but yes, it does need a SMALL change just in that if an animal is in a crate it take more than 1 sword swing to kill it. As it is right now a rum crate is more durable than the animals are and I think that ludicrous.
If I put the animals on the shelf on the sloop and a cannon ball hits the shelf from the outside, sure it should die as it should with a direct hit from a cannon or blunder or fireball but that's not what happened;

My chickens were below deck behind the wood crate on the barrel, my pigs were on the rug on the "second deck" by the voyage map and my one snake was on the canopy behind the anchor.
One lightning bolt hits the mast and all the chickens and pigs died before I could even get a bucket of water to throw on them.
The only thing that survived was the 1 snake that was above the deck.....
Literally made no sense, if I had left them on the deck sure I'd accept the loss but I did everything in my power to keep them safe as the tail end of the storm came except to leave the island and go find another one but I just don't think you should have to, just giving the animals that small bit of health is enough to balance it, as it is right now if you accidentally swing your sword when your next to them, they'll die and you got to go waste another however long to find the right ones again.

Yep, figured it was best to make that clear because I find it best to try and also help others in these kinds of threads, not just exclusively the OP. This probably related to some of my work in community management.

To be fair, that sounds like a need for a tweak to the lighting mostly, as I think I'd agree that an above deck strike shouldn't impact the below deck area immediately. And I'd also say it is a fair argument that Animals could stand to be generally more durable (would also make hunting them on an island take a bit more work too, which wouldn't be terrible) to have a comparative to the other goods. Perhaps maybe have them have 75 Health? I don't think being in the Cage should make any difference, personally, but that would put them at needing 3 Sword Slashes to be killed, and might allow them to take some Blast Damage in the case of an attack in some but not all cases as well as being able to withstand a bit of Fire should they need to even.

One could even have the different Tiers of Animals have varied Health potentially (somewhat replicating the difference between Normal Cargo and Devil's Cargo in the game). So for instance maybe the most valuable Golden Animals could be very weak and fragile (like Devil's Cargo) and thus worth more, while the lower Tier Animals would have more Health available. This would functionally make those Tiers align well with the Cargo system players will interact with as they advance in Rank.

So despite my sentiment that I actually think it is fine as it is, these are two potential concession points I could live with. This isn't one of those "hill I need to die on" kind of things for me, if it changes I wouldn't be too bothered.

@redeyesith cargo has already been buffed. Jumping once used to break bottles enough to not be perfect. Animals on the other hand have had their health reduced. I could see animals being a 3 hit again, and retain balance.

@captain-coel said in Weak Animals:

@redeyesith cargo has already been buffed. Jumping once used to break bottles enough to not be perfect. Animals on the other hand have had their health reduced. I could see animals being a 3 hit again, and retain balance.

Yea, like I said above, that could be reasonable. I'd favor the varied Health option I presented most, but that would be viable.

Blame flamehearts presents.