Buying ship supplies

@admiral-rrrsole said in Buying ship supplies:

@pumpkinkangaroo lol I promise.

That idea does tend to favour a 4 man crew over a solo player. Each of the 4 crew members could buy 10, 20, 10 respectively which is naturally 4 times the advantage of a solo player.
Even as it stands now, a galleon crew could carry 20,40,20 in their inventory on each trip between ship and found barrels as oposed to a solo only carrying 5,10,5.

By simply buying one empty supply crate per vessel helps even the odds. Or even one crate of each type.

I responded to this :) I have a little 'possible concerns' section at the end of my thread.

Also @PumpkinKangaroo I will rephrase the OP for the 2x inventory suggestion.., I probably didn't phrase it in the best way :P

I do love the idea of buying crates to help inventory space.. but would that be too much to carry on an island? It can already be quite the walk if you have multiple skulls/chests.. to take back to the ship, and it isn't always viable to bring all of your crew as someone may need to stand guard as look out on the ship.

@subaqueousreach said in Buying ship supplies:

That's fair. I don't necessarily think this would be a bad thing to implement, but for it to be convenient and more easily accessible to everyone I think 1000 gold is a little much for two reasons;

1. Cannon ball and banana crates (50) only turn in for 300 - 400 gold.
2. Cosmetics are already excruciatingly expensive and are what people should really focus their gold spending on.

I don't see 40 cannon balls really being worth an hour long voyage since during that time I could easily stock up on several times that. I do think the cool down idea is fine in limiting how much you stock you can purchase and that would work well without the high cost.

Realistically the price for buying cannon balls, planks or bananas would only have to be just high enough so that it wouldn't be worth it to purchase them in order to fill a turn in crate. Somewhere around 400-500 gold would be fine, keeping it on par with the turn in value, but in favor of the vendor.

1. That's a fair point. I'd forgot about the crate quests. Like you said below, so long as you can't make a profit then this won't be abused.

2. Cosmetics aren't too bad in my opinion, the trouble is there is such a limited amount out, and adding more clothes doesn't really help people who have already got a set of clothes they like because when people have got a set of clothes they are happy with they won't necessarily want to buy lots more. Thus plenty of people have accumulated a large amount of gold... I think we need some more 'permanent' gold pools for people to spend their money on... this is one such solution. Personally I think it could be cool to have durability on our sword so that we will have to pay a small fee for it to be repaired (another function for a possible iron monger NPC!), I imagine this will be shot down though as it's more of a MMORPG mechanic, but I just think cosmetics are only useful for gold until you have them, whereas this, and durability (for instance) are a more permanent place where gold can be spent.

For instance, I'm level 19 on all factions I think? Haven't played in a while due to exams but I like keeping up on the forum :P I have almost all of the cosmetics I want, certainly by level 30 I'm sure I'll have everything I want... and so any gold income I get after that will just be extra.. I won't have anywhere to spend it. Obviously that is subject to Rare bringing out more things that I want but I think it's best to look at the game for what it is currently.

At the end of the day it's important that this never feels mandatory, which is why the supplies on islands will stay the same - certainly when voyaging you are very unlikely to need to buy stock. It is purely an additional option for players.

You make a very good point actually, the timer does solve the issue of rich people just having fully stocked ships all the time. I think lowering the price would make it an even more attractive option, and if over-stocking does happen to be a problem still then the timer can be increased by 15 or 30 minutes or something. I will reduce the cost in the OP.

@subaqueousreach I get your points and I respect them. Early in the thread everyone agreed that if purchasing supplies was a thing then it should be expensive. I know it seems like it's giving the older players an edge, but I think it would help newer players by leaving more supplies "laying around" for them.

I personally didn't want to make this purchase and easy way to fill crates. It is, but it will not be worth the cost if it's more expensive. I don't find crates often and I know it's no fun trying to fill them by island hopping, but again I would like to maintain balance.

Also as @AngryCoconut16 said, many players have a lot of gold just weighing down their pockets. Personally I have a full ship set that I wanted, at least 3 outfits, and all the reskins of items I want and I've still got over 60k and I'm about 30 across the board.

My husband who plays a bit more than I do and who isn't as vain has his ship set and is only now thinking of purchasing an outfit. All this while he's sitting on over 300k. He just has no reason to spend it. It is these players we are looking to give a reason to spend some of that gold.

Those players are also why we are seeking a balance to keep them from over stocking. They can easily afford 1k an hour to stock their ships. Not to mention that if you are doing voyages you can make well over 1k in an hour.

Sorry if I'm rambling. It's morning for me and I slept in a bit so I'm only on my first cup of tea.

@pumpkinkangaroo

I honestly don't know how people come across that much gold lol. I've got the sails I want (for now), a few pieces of an outfit and I'm currently only sitting at 43,000 while I save up for my ship hull and I'm 26/25/20.

That said, the idea behind this game is to keep things evenly accessible for everyone. While yes you and your husband have gold burning holes in your pockets, plenty of people don't have that much. I definitely agree that there needs to be some sort of gold sink and economy to this game, but to make it so it's only easily accessible to already wealthy players sort of defeats the point of the game's "level playing field" idea.

Hence why I suggested if they did add purchasing supplies, they make them cost just more than what you would get for turning in a crate of the same supplies. It's a nice little refill and the system still can't be abused. Not to mention, 500 and 1000 are hardly different numbers to someone with 300,000 gold, but they are drastically different for someone with 15,000 gold.

@subaqueousreach I do get where you are coming from. These are just some fun ideas. Perhaps Rare will see the thread and build on what we've said and add something of their own design. Perhaps not.

For me, it's more being able to converse with fellow players about the game in a fun way. We all see the game in different ways and it's fun to explore how we all love the game.

As for gold accumulation, we just voyage a lot. Hubby does a lot of Merchant when he's solo and he can make a lot of gold that way. He also works nights so on weekends he spends hours playing when the servers have low populations.

@pumpkinkangaroo I took the gold down in the OP as I do agree it should be open to more players... not just those who are rich. What do you think? The timer should already stop it being abused.

And you are bang on with what you said, especially with someone like your husband. Not everyone is fussed by cosmetics. My friend for instance spent so much of his money, every time he had enough he'd get a new hat, or some new clothes.. and he'd be like dude buy something! and I'd say 'well i don't really want anything that much..' so I saved up and saved up until I had something like 30-40k.. not a massive amount, but it was only at that point that I thought 'yea why not I'll buy something'... thus even with that sort of money this restock option would've been open to me.....

I think it would be healthy to have a few ways of spending money in the game which are not limited to cosmetics.

I agree 1k would be alright but I just felt like perhaps 500 gold is more accessible to all sorts of people?

I do see how players would feel it's unfair. I try to think of the new players but this could seem unfair to them. I love that the only advantage is learning the basics. I wish a few more people would share their thoughts.

I do also think that there are other things that can be added for purchase that won't give an advantage. Your other thread about new ship customization is a great start! After reading that thread my prow is so dull and boring! ;)

@AngryCoconut16 I do thank you for putting up these posts! You know I love them. These are like our own taverns where we can meet and discuss our ideas. I'd happily raise a pint to each of you who have shared your time!

@pumpkinkangaroo The thing is, I don't think it provides a substantial advantage. And if it does I'm all for it being tweaked, or for increasing the timer to 2 hours or something. New players who voyage will still feel like they have plenty of stock I think.. (I've not had any problems during a voyage anyway..), this would only be an option for players who wanted to make use of it :)

Haha, yea I love coming up with little ideas and coming to the forums to discuss. I don't know why, normally I don't bother with game forums.. I think because SoT excites me, yes it could do with more content but in a sense that's what makes it so exciting. It's a template for something which could be truly amazing and the foundation we have at the moment is already a beautiful and very unique experience. Rare have already shown that they listen to player feedback so who knows what we will see in the future :)

If you'd like another topic check out my PvP faction one and see what you think :)

@angrycoconut16 Honestly I like what we had formed too. I think it would be good for the game. It's why I said I'd like to hear more voices on this. For or against, I feel it's important to have plenty of ideas.

This game does bring something out in us. My husband has even posted and that is saying a LOT! We love the game and really do enjoy talking about it with other people who love it. Discussion is how we learn and grow our ideas.

I will check out your other thread. The forums move so fast that even my serious stalking habit isn't enough to keep up.

@pumpkinkangaroo said

I do see how players would feel it's unfair. I try to think of the new players but this could seem unfair to them.

This is a very good point and I commend you for thinking of the new player starting out in this game. It falls into what I suggested about only being able to buy empty crates. By being empty they could cost as little as 50 to 100 gold, which everyone could afford.

@AngryCoconut16 said
Not everyone is fussed by cosmetics.

Exactly. I am at 41, 39, 37 with more gold than I know what to do with. 769,101 gold.
I purchased sails at 70,000 gold, but only through peer pressure by a crew I was a random with. They had the ship livery but couldn't afford the matching sails.

I have no interest in anything cosmetic. I played in my underwear until my Black Dog code arrived about three weeks after the launch. I also purchased the 1 gold coin sniper rifle the other week, simply because I was told that it was a limited time offer and the fact that it was only 1 buck.
I'm not a tight-a**e, there is just nothing in the cosmetics that I can get excited about. Maybe that comes with age? I'm 56 with the mindset that the only good investment is in real estate, so to me, I'm saving to buy my own island. lol

Not that I'm interested in becoming a Pirate Legend, that is just a progression level of the game, but I am told that it will require a lot of gold to purchase legendary cosmetics and if something catches my eye when that time comes, I'd like to have the cash on hand.

@angrycoconut16 said

I do love the idea of buying crates to help inventory space.. but would that be too much to carry on an island? It can already be quite the walk if you have multiple skulls/chests.. to take back to the ship, and it isn't always viable to bring all of your crew as someone may need to stand guard as look out on the ship.

Whilst standing guard on the ship is a valid point there are still better ways to do that too. Simply rotate crew members. While one crew member is swimming back to the ship the look-out takes their final glance at the horizon and jumps overboard. The roles now change until the next swims to the ship.
Stagger the crew into equal spacing. This is also very effective when at outposts cashing-in loot.

We even do this at skull forts with a 3 man crew in a "tag-team" fashion. As soon as one dies the lookout jumps overboard to help defeat the skeletons. The freshly spawned crew member becomes the look-out.
The time between dying and spawning isn't enough for any ship to become a threat. Communication is key. Then everything after that is clockwork.

Like everything in the game, the choice is yours to make.
Okay now let's break this down. After you have already brought back skulls/chests....
If you go back to shore just once to gather more supplies then the crates idea has you beaten. Depending on our current stock of supplies, we could take several trips back to the island barrels to refill our personal inventory.
I know that I would much rather make one trip to carry one supply crate than to make several trips carrying small inventory loads. You would end up with far more items for a fraction of the time spent. Don't forget you can fill your inventory too.
If you had a crew of 4 and three different supply crates you could still have a look-out on your ship while three members scavenge the island for supplies.

Your argument actually works in favour of the supply crate(s) when you think about it. :o)

@admiral-rrrsole Maybe it is an age thing, you and my husband are only a couple years apart. He lives in his black dog and is only thinking of getting something new because I've told him it needs a wash ;) .

Resource collection is part of the game. Being able to just buy what you need and sail away would take so much away from what we have now.

You think sunken ships continuously returning to a skull fort are bad now. Think about when they don't need to take time to regather for an attack.

@grievous32 We had the price set at 1000g but others thought it was too much. I personally think it's good and also limits put on how much and how often. Thank you for joining the conversation! We do need more voices!

@el-Dunco Thank you as well for joining! My only issue as I've stated before, we've gone into an outpost or started in one that had most of the supplies emptied already. There is a thread where they are trying to figure out the timing for refills and I'm watching that.

This morning while playing we found 2 outposts with only a couple of barrels that had supplies and I had to run all around to find those. One outpost we sailed to and one we started at. This is where I think the option would be helpful and not only to the crew choosing to purchase but the next crew who can have supplies handy. We aren't trying to take away the hunt for supplies! I agree it's part of the game.

@nebenkuh I agree, if you have a well supplied ship and can out last another crew head to head, it should be because you and your crew worked for it instead of buying your way to the top. This would go against SOT 's theme of progression is cosmetic, success comes from skill. I know crews that never stock up and when the cannons let fly they pay the price. Everyone here starts equal, if you wanna win then plan, prep, and execute.

@admiral-rrrsole You know, that is a fantastic idea. I've never thought of that, that should stop people being 'too bored' as well (I mean the game is fun but I would much rather be on the island exploring than standing guard) if it alternated like this. Me and my friend alternated per island but this is another way of doing it :P

Good points! I know I've been in the position of having a full inventory and being irritated as there are more supplies in the barrels!

Hey I just thought, this would be a good idea for galleons and the implementation of larger ships which Rare will almost definitely do! You could easily buy one of each crate and then either give one to each crew member and it is their responsibility for that particular supply, or perhaps one person is responsible for supplies and goes to 'fill up' while the others defend or do the voyage...

Gosh. I actually really like the idea of supply crates now! I'm busy at the moment as I have exams this week :( But when I get the chance I'll add this into the main OP too!

@grievous32 Agreed. I must admit I'm not sure which price is the best lol. I keep humming and harring about it.

One the one side I want it to be a bit more expensive but on the other end I want it to be available to as many players as possible - so I think we need a compromise between the two...

@el-dunco Look at our discussion. That is why we want to implement a timer. Perhaps the timer can be altered, but this idea could easily be implemented without breaking the system.

It is purely about providing another avenue for consideration and an additional option.

Or in the case of supply crates, it would make things much more convenient.

If for instance the timer was 60 minutes as discussed in the OP (this could easily be justified by the shop vendor 'selling out', then even if the players stocked their ship well, if they got sunk, or if they ran out, that couldn't do it again for 60 minutes. I'd have no issue with this being increased to 90 minutes or whatever for balance, but that is the reason the timer exists. Rest assured we all understand how important the current supply system, we just believe this could add another fun dynamic to the game :D

@thee-black-hat To be honest though, I think if anything buying a few supplies would add another element of strategy and planning to PvP... at the moment PvP at forts in particular are more a battle of attrition than anything else. With this suggestion crews would have to think a bit more about when they want to buy stock (keeping in mind the cool down timer..) which could add another fun element to PvP.. More to the point, I think PvP would be a lot more based on strategy and skill if two ships are well-stocked, rather than one crew beating another ship purely because they ran away as they got low on cannon balls. I mean I don't think this idea could be implemented without the timer suggestion so running out of stock would still be a thing, but perhaps less so?...

'Out lasting' another crew head-to-head as you put it, is already in the game... and lets be real, that isn't anything about skill or strategy, I mean one big element is how long you've been logged in compared to another player - if you have been logged in longer (and assuming you have been collecting supplies) of course you will have more than other players, and there is no skill involved in that. You have literally been playing longer in your session than someone else = you have more stock (taking into account ship size and number of crew members of course).

And there would still be planning involved in WHEN to purchase the additional loot. For instance, 4 crew members on a galleon, do we all purchase cannon balls at once? Perhaps we stagger it, every time we respawn one crew member buys stock? Or maybe 2 at once, then the other 2 purchase stock on respawn if we sink? That in itself would add an entirely new element of strategy and thought!

Plus you would still have worked for it, you worked for your money. I mean I see your point, I suppose purchasing supplies with money feels a little 'cheap' especially with how much money some people have accumulated... but I mean if I'm completely honest I think people sometimes give too much credit to people when they talk about 'strategy' and 'planning' required with the current supply system. The biggest factor in obtaining supplies currently, is time, whereas this suggestion would add an entirely different dynamic to the game.. at least that's how I'm currently seeing it. (don't shoot me I'm not saying that it doesn't require any planning at all, I'm just saying it isn't overly difficult to obtain supplies currently, just can be a little time consuming..)

(Apologies if I repeated myself I got distracted in the middle of writing this reply)

@angrycoconut16 I'm still convinced there are plenty of supplies available without needing to spend gold towards ship provisions.

-Ship wrecks
-Floating barrels which spawn where ships recently have sunken
-Island runs. Dont even need to stop, you can just ghost sail your ship and take a mermaid back
-Guerilla warfare style supply raids on other ships

And honestly the respawn time on islands isn't even that bad. Just bad luck if you spawn on an island that just recently got ransacked. Not trying to squash your ideas but if buying provisions becomes a thing there needs to be some serious thought put into how it will effect gameplay. It's not a terrible idea, I just am not digging it.

@el-dunco I have said it multiple times, it isn't compulsory, it is only supposed to provide another option, and another use for gold. I am not saying there are any major issues with supplies, to be honest the current supply system works pretty well, I agree with you.... but this would:

1. It's another use for gold, and unlike cosmetics this is a permanent use for gold which I think is needed in the game.. rather than just one time purchase cosmetics.
2. see the OP for other reasons but essentially it would add another element of thought and planning into the game

If the supplies had a timer I don't think it would effect the game negatively.. i can't think of any reasons it would anyway. Obviously a major concern would be two things...

1. Can rich people permanently have a fully stocked ship?
2. Does it mean that at forts for instance, or areas of hot PvP, that ships will be constantly fully stocked?

The timer prevents both of these problems.. I suppose you could argue well yes but if someone is rich then they can buy supplies the moment the timer runs out... and always be fully stocked, but the timer suggested here is 1 hour, and as far as I'm concerned that's the lowest it should be. In an hour you would easily have fully stocked your ship if you are picking up supplies on every island you go to and in the ways you suggested.. so at that point no difference whether they are bought or found in my opinion.

@admiral-rrrsole I am going to add your suggestion of crates into the forum. Before I do, any idea on how much this crate should cost? There would be one for each, planks, bananas, cannon balls, and I guess with a capacity of 50 like the merchant versions? Or maybe they are smaller and have a capacity of 15 or something as the primary purpose should not be storage, but a useful method of carrying stock :)

@angrycoconut16 Cool. Thanks.
Um, I think I suggested a low cost of around 50 to 100 gold so everyone could afford them but that doesn't sound right with this game costing so much for any cosmetic. So really, I don't know what price to place on empty crates.
I think it would be best all round to leave them at the current capacity of 50.
I don't think that they would be used for storage. We have never ran out of supplies from being fully stocked. And I don't think that we have ever fully stocked all cannon ball storage barrels.

Thanks for asking. :o)

@admiral-rrrsole If they had a space of 50 people would definitely use them for storage too :) I think these can cost maybe... 5,000 gold each? It might seem a lot, but they are permanent - they will then be on your ship forever, and they are great for convenience, but at the same time not essential and they won't break the game. People don't have a substantial advantage for having them compared to those who don't for instance.

To be honest the hungering deep has only made me believe more in this idea. Even if Rare don't want us to buy stock, the idea of buying a permanent supply crate would be so helpful to get stock quicker from larger islands. The megalodon is quite hard from what I've heard and guides have suggested stocking up to triple digits, well that takes a fair bit of time, supply crates would help with this...

I would say as much supply as you can when fighting Meg! Our first time in battle we had about half stocks (before I'd read that you should have more) and lost horribly. So this morning we filled our sloop to the brim! Alas we couldn't find another crew and we feel we wasted all those supplies when we left the game.

We've been talking that if we can't purchase supplies then perhaps allow us to restock the barrels? Even if just at port it would be nice, like when we leave cages we aren't using. It seems such a shame to just leave a server with empty barrels.

@pumpkinkangaroo yea.. and that's the other thing if you have spent a lot of time restocking and yet you can't fight the damn thing.. such a waste of time then :/