New merchant voyages, not just fetch contracts.

  • Admiral RRRSole

    Rather than always playing "go fetch", why not merchant voyages that could deliver and supply other outposts?
    This would run along side the current merchant contracts (perhaps 1 in every 6 or so contracts) but with a slight twist.

    Buy a voyage from any outpost merchant.
    The merchant supplies you with her surplus stock that other outposts are in need of. Preferably the furthest outposts from where you've bought the contract.
    Take the full cargo load and deliver the correct items to the respective outpost.

    Outpost 1:
    3 X Banana Crates
    3 X Barrels of Grog
    1 X Exquisite Spices
    1 X Fine Sugar
    2 X Rare Tea

    Outpost 2:
    1 X Exotic Silks
    2 X Fine Sugar
    5 X Gunpowder Kegs
    2 X White Chickens

    Outpost 3:
    1 X Banana Crate
    2 X Barrels of Rum
    2 X Crates of Cannon Balls
    2 X Exquisite Spices
    2 X Fine Sugar
    1 X Rare Tea

    Each outpost pays you a commission upon delivery calculated by items x distance.
    Cancel the voyage and the cargo de-spawns.

    In this example I chose to have ten items for each stop but that could be altered.
    The rep could have a significant increase over regular "go fetch" contracts as you are now a new level of merchant (distributor) and no longer just that one in a million small time poacher / supplier.

    Rare, if you really are listening to us, this could be a great way to introduce more handheld variety into the game. Grog and rum barrels, new food types, almost anything.
    Crates of weapons, sails, utility items and clothing could all be introduced by merchant voyages (and actually sold to the respective vendor if you prefer).
    There could even be unmarked crates of goods with simply coloured labels for identification.
    Rare is free to use my ideas. Just scratch my name in a rock somewhere... but not where there are snakes. lol

    I would personally prefer to do this type of voyage than any existing quest.

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  • KattTruewalker
    Vanguard
    Insider
    Founder
    Deckhand

    @admiral-rrrsole

    I really like this suggestion, it reinforces Sea of Thieves as a living breathing world with each Outpost population having specific needs, or shortages of items that the others might specialise in. Plus it would also add a lot more meaning to these quests, for me at least, rather than deliveries to individuals.

    I also like the idea that we could deliver items to specific vendors on the outpost - thought about something similar myself a while back too, especially with the random crates we find on islands and wrecks.

  • FishSt1ck
    Master
    Insider
    Boatswain
    Founder

    @admiral-rrrsole
    I think it's a great suggestion and would indeed deviate a bit from all the other fetch quests. I had some similar suggestion about a postal service on here.

    One thing I would change in your suggestion though is that the stuff you have to transport isn't normal loot. Otherwise nobody would do the transport as they would just hand it in immediately for rep/gold. So I think they should be special trade crates or something that are useless outside the voyage.

  • Admiral RRRSole

    @katttruewalker Thank you kindly, Katt.
    What I'd would really like to see would be island natives NPCs also giving / receiving transportation quests in bartering fashion.
    This could lead to a never-ending string of zigzagging from island to island all over the seas.

    For example:
    A native of Devil's Ridge might have something for a buyer on Plunder Valley who has something for their family on Wanderer's Refuge, etc.
    Small delivery fee / payments would be made at each stop and they could also include outposts.
    This could possibly extend to a native paying your crew to eliminate a certain tribe of cannibals / headhunters. A pleasant change from skeletons, skeletons and more skeletons.

    @FishSt1ck Cheers mate.
    Man, that is a great post you've link me to. I honestly haven't see it before but from what I just read it sounds great. I will go back and read it some more after posting this.

    Yeah I had thought to sell / deliver crates direct to the respective vendor but struck it out rather than delete it because I was sitting on the fence whether to keep that part or not. Thinking more so about the task of Rare implementing it.

  • LaughsManiacaly
    Master
    Founder

    Honestly I'd settle for just a simple in game economy.

    Speak to a merchant (any vendor, clothes, weapons, barkeep or voyage) at outpot A and they tell you they need XYZ, you can then go and get these items from another outpost (BCDE etc) or find them like current "wild" loot. The value is say 10% higher due to the demand so you could make profit by just grinding a merchant life but also retains the potential for that loot to be stolen or lost.

    The information isn't a voyage so to speak but more a time sensitive side quest. It adds value to the NPCs and something else to do in game.

    The potential here is fairly limitless in regards of what to ship but my idea is that it is stuff that has no practical use on the ship (no planks cannon balls or bananas) more things like; letters, cloth, weapon parts etc, all just barrels and crates with a slight reskin but with variable value to each outpost and definitely something that changes regularly so you can't just farm the same couple of locations.

    I'd suggest that these are instance based and as soon as someone has fulfilled the order the value returns, that way someone might just snipe that better value before you and you can make the decision to hold that cargo or sell it anyway.

    Maybe even add a rumor chat bubble to merchants that allows you to hear that another outpost is supposedly short on x. Just to give that better depth of immersion.

    What do you think

  • Isaac Occam

    I think it's important that cargo is worth stealing by other pirates. Having merchants give you free cargo and making it despawn goes against the spirit of the game IMHO.

    But if you buy the cargo at the going rate and get a contract to deliver it at an outpost where it is in demand and where you can sell it for double the going rate, would be a great idea.

    Then you have skin in the game and need to defend the cargo from preying pirates. They make money if they steal it and you make a profit if you make it to your destination.

  • LaughsManiacaly
    Master
    Founder

    @isaac-occam
    Thats alot less words than what I said but... Yeah, this should be in the game.

  • Sgt Paloogoo
    Commander
    Insider

    @admiral-rrrsole
    I think this idea could really work.
    You could even make a few Quests where you have to deliver Gold a to certain gold Hoarder.

  • Puck269
    Master
    Insider
    Founder

    I agree that the items that are given to deliver should be items that can and are worth stealing by other pirates.

    The problem is just them giving you something to deliver, without having to actually go get the stuff first. As notes, that is basically what merchant quests are now, they just have only the 3 things they do...

    You have to make it so what you spend to get the mission, is equal to the value of the item normally turned in.

    But that leads to another problem, which is transfering money from
    one person to another. Right now you have to earn your money... however, if you can buy an item, then instantly be able to turn it in.. it would lead to people buying a bunch of stuff.. leaving it for a crewmate.. logging off, then the crewmate turns it in... You've basically just transferred the money to another player without doing anything in game.

    I think that is the main reason when we get a mission we get an empty crate and have to go to another island to pick up the item.. then take it to another outpost before we can get paid.

    About the only way it could work with say a spice crate.. is if you started the quest, had to go pick up the crate from say a secret hold in a shipwreck.. then delivered it to an specific outpost for more money then normal.

    But, then you pretty much have the same gameplay loop we have now.

    The other option would be a merchant quest to deliver like a particular trinket (like you find that glow washed up) and have to deliver it to another outpost for like the 10x markup chickens get.. but I think you would have the same problem.

    The item would have to have a value of zero until it traveled away from the island. So, this idea would only really work out if they institute a value by distance traveled metric to the game. So that the value of the item ramps up to 100% normal value once it travels the required distance (which also happens to be the distance to the outpost it needs to be delivered to)

  • Isaac Occam

    @puck269 Yes. Pirates should not be able to transfer gold to to each other. You should always do some work and spend some time before you aquire something of worth.

  • FishSt1ck
    Master
    Insider
    Boatswain
    Founder

    @puck269
    I agree they should be worth something, however they don't have to be worth something to each vendor. To slightly alter the example @Admiral-RRRSole used:

    You talk to the Merchant Alliance vendor at Galleons Grave on the 15th. You receive a voyage to deliver goods to Sanctuary Outpost. You pick up those goods immediately and get a certain time to do it in connected to certain amounts of gold.

    Shipment for Sanctuary Outpost (gotten from Galleons Grave):
    3 X Barrel of Grog
    3 X Barrel of Fruit
    3 X Barrel of Water

    • Each of the barrels has the destination printed on the side and is only accepted at that outpost, other Merchants wouldn't touch visibly stolen wares.
    • You'll get an added bonus if you own the contract
    • You'll get an added bonus if you complete the full shipment

    Delivery time
    You started the contract on the 15th, a same day delivery (which will be virtually impossible) will reward you 10,000 gold on full delivery with the contract for it, each day that takes longer you'll lose 1500 gold, up to the lowest value of 3,000 gold on a full delivery (which is also what you'll get for a full delivery of stolen barrels at the correct vendor).

  • Isaac Occam

    @fishst1ck I like the concept, but I think the profit of 3k+ GP is too much.

    You are only sailing from one island to another and you don't need to locate the goods as with the animals.

    But I think we are on to something. Perhaps a triangle trade route where you trade three different commodities between each of the three areas.

  • Captain Fob4141
    Captain
    Insider

    @admiral-rrrsole said in New merchant voyages, not just fetch contracts.:

    Rather than always playing "go fetch", why not merchant voyages that could deliver and supply other outposts?
    This would run along side the current merchant contracts (perhaps 1 in every 6 or so contracts) but with a slight twist.

    Buy a voyage from any outpost merchant.
    The merchant supplies you with her surplus stock that other outposts are in need of. Preferably the furthest outposts from where you've bought the contract.
    Take the full cargo load and deliver the correct items to the respective outpost.

    Outpost 1:
    3 X Banana Crates
    3 X Barrels of Grog
    1 X Exquisite Spices
    1 X Fine Sugar
    2 X Rare Tea

    Outpost 2:
    1 X Exotic Silks
    2 X Fine Sugar
    5 X Gunpowder Kegs
    2 X White Chickens

    Outpost 3:
    1 X Banana Crate
    2 X Barrels of Rum
    2 X Crates of Cannon Balls
    2 X Exquisite Spices
    2 X Fine Sugar
    1 X Rare Tea

    Each outpost pays you a commission upon delivery calculated by items x distance.
    Cancel the voyage and the cargo de-spawns.

    In this example I chose to have ten items for each stop but that could be altered.
    The rep could have a significant increase over regular "go fetch" contracts as you are now a new level of merchant (distributor) and no longer just that one in a million small time poacher / supplier.

    Rare, if you really are listening to us, this could be a great way to introduce more handheld variety into the game. Grog and rum barrels, new food types, almost anything.
    Crates of weapons, sails, utility items and clothing could all be introduced by merchant voyages (and actually sold to the respective vendor if you prefer).
    There could even be unmarked crates of goods with simply coloured labels for identification.
    Rare is free to use my ideas. Just scratch my name in a rock somewhere... but not where there are snakes. lol

    I would personally prefer to do this type of voyage than any existing quest.

    What if there were NPCs living in the camps and huts around the archapellago and we sell the goods to them.
    That way its not just outpost to outpost

  • SappyElephante
    Master
    Insider
    Founder

    @Admiral-RRRSole totally onboard with you matey!! A few of us suggested this very idea back in the alpha days if you remember. Let's hope it gets added someday.
    Only thing I would like to add to your OP is that when you do these kinds of trade missions that you get automatically assigned a merchant flag. This would increase the risk by others knowing you have loot on board.

  • Megagamer96
    Marauder

    Yeah, this would be very nice to have...
    Gives the game some more variation.

  • Manifest7
    Master
    Insider

    @sappyelephante
    I can't really get behind the flag idea... that shoots the whole risk vs reward out the window and it's also the game making decisions for me which I'm totally against. It also feels like it would lose a lot of game play too.

    I'm really digging everything else in this thread.

  • Puck269
    Master
    Insider
    Founder

    @isaac-occam That gives me an idea.

    Chaptered Merchant quests.

    They start you off with a cage, you deliver it to the next outpost, where turning it in completes the chapter, they then give you the upgraded item, such as a tea crate, or a banana crate.. and that continues until the final delivery where they give you the large payout in the end.

    This then allows them to add more "successful crate turn ins" without having to rely on msg in a bottle quests. You have to "earn" the crates, not just outright buy them.

  • Isaac Occam

    @puck269 This is really great. Your profit is steadily increasing based on the work you have already put in. This means that you can't cheese it and have to be more and more careful not to get robbed. Because if you lose the cargo it will break the chain.

  • xCALYPT0x
    Master
    Insider
    Boatswain

    @laughsmaniacaly Ahh, this sounds similar to Mount & Blade's trade system! I would really enjoy this type of feature in the game :)

  • ZkilfinG
    Captain
    Insider

    I'd love to see something like this, and suggested something similar a while back. It's important to keep the pirate part (pvp) of it though. I think if it was a "living economy" it could be quite interesting, because that means you could take the risk of buying supplies to ship to a different outpost, but might get sunk on the way and lose it all. Could be some fun encounters both for the merchants and the pirates.

  • Admiral RRRSole

    Some great brainstorming folks. Thank you all.

    @rattlyfob said

    What if there were NPCs living in the camps and huts around the archapellago and we sell the goods to them.
    That way its not just outpost to outpost

    Yes, I suggested that in my reply to Katt (my second post of this thread) post #4.

    @Isaac-Occam In both methods I've mention (OP and post #4) you would be paid at each delivery drop-off depending on the cargo and distance traveled.

  • Dragonsire2016
    Seafarer

    @admiral-rrrsole Why not, could be fun.

  • LaughsManiacaly
    Master
    Founder

    @admiral-rrrsole

    Again, I'd lean more towards a supply /demand basis with that guiding where to go but evedently alloing you to choose location based on rates.

    Eg
    Purchase a crate at goldensands for 1000g, it's neither in surplus nor shortage here so this acts as base price.
    You travel to daggertoorh where the same crate is valued at 800g but you hear rumor from the merchant that sanctuary is in short supply at the moment.
    You sail to sanctuary but find their supply has already been covered and hear rumor that goldensands is now short.
    You head to goldensands and sell for 1500g.

    Your distance hasn't been tracked and it's wholly possible to have stayed put to get the same outcome but it feels like the world is changing and gives depth and purpose.
    In the example, you could have sold to any of the traiders but their prices would have been equal to or less than the purchase price.

    This form of economy drives a need for movement, investment and more than anything, risk. The longer you hold onto that cargo the more likely someone else may want it.

    I will highlight, this would definitely bring more pvp interactions as more people will have something on board more often.

  • Admiral RRRSole

    @laughsmaniacaly I agreed with you up until this line.

    I will highlight, this would definitely bring more pvp interactions...

    A lot of PvP is due to the fact that so many find the game boring with nothing better to do. Not everybody first played SoT for the PvP aspect but many (if not most) have turned that way simply because the game offers little else. This gives more to do in regards to PvE.
    With more PvE comes less PvP. There are still the same amount of players. It's a balancing act. :o)

    ... as more people will have something on board more often.

    That's not necessarily so. Except for the PvP / PvE percentage shift.
    People are still doing factions on a daily basis. Last night we duo-ed a sloop with an absolute fortune on the stern between the helm and capstan.
    We had dropped off the animals before continuing an Athena voyage where we also found and completed many bottle messages before claiming the fort stronghold loot.

    As more turn back to PvE it will mean those people are no longer engaging in PvP (out of sheer boredom).
    Of course the risk is always present but there would be more prey and less predators.
    Crews with a lot to loose are less likely to start a battle.

    Having said that, my crew mate is a pirate legend and I'm a total of less than 3 rep points away form that status.
    The loot means nothing to either of us. I am trying to avoid PL status for as long as possible whilst still playing the game so I couldn't care less about the rep.
    I have well over 1.7 million gold coins and 350 doubloons. None of it is book marked for any cosmetics.

    We agreed during the game that we didn't even care if someone sunk us and took the lot.
    At that stage we had 8 or 9 Captain's chests, 12 marauders, 4 villainous skulls and heap of lesser value loot.
    We even thought to put it all in a tavern and video record how long it took for someone to find it.
    We have done similar before, putting chests on rooftops around the outpost. lol

    Money isn't everything, in the game. Just playing it is. :o)

  • LaughsManiacaly
    Master
    Founder

    @admiral-rrrsole

    It's what I believe to be called scalable risk driven interaction.
    You constantly make the conscious decisions of do i or do i not engage that ship. It's what this games core risk, reward system has be centered on,imo.

    Some of the best moments have been when a friend or myself have spotted that ship suddenly change course and you know you've got 2 forts worth of loot on board.

    Generally i agree that alot of pvp has come from boredom, for the sake of arguments, this is what I'd call bad pvp, it aggression because I've got nothing else to do.
    The other form is intentional pvp, it's that opportunistic pvp. It's not out of aggression or bordem but more because of that sense of a quick win. With an active in game economy, it's more likely that people will have stock on them from the moment they leave harbor. This will definitely encourage those seeking an opportunity for easy money but again this is more where the games core function seems to have been aimed at.

    Pvp, but for the right reasons.

  • Mr Pontiac421HO
    Marauder

    @admiral-rrrsole

    This was a post I made a while back, I am glad you brought this up too. It would help make this a more vibrant world with a perpetual economy.

    Ports – create 4 ports on the map and these would be hubs for commerce and additional vendors and they can be plundered by player pirates
    Settlement - 2-3 beach cannons, little larger than an outpost, no organized militia, very little wealth or treasure to obtain if plundered, easy difficulty
    Town – 5-6 cannons small wall on beach, more buildings, more supplies, small garrison, medium treasure and wealth if plundered, moderate difficulty
    City – 6-8 cannons, fortified wall, larger buildings, large amount of supplies, medium garrison of militia, may have a military ship in the harbor, very wealthy and large treasure to obtain if plundered, hard difficulty
    Fortress, 10-12 cannons, set on a hill, draw bridge entrance, large garrison of militia, fortified walls, may have one or more ships in the harbor, extreme wealth and treasure if plundered, extreme difficulty, will require a team of pirates to plunder.

    Economy – by creating ports, NPC merchants and the outposts that exist now, you can create an economy that is perpetual and give merchant vendors more missions to give than just fetch missions. Players actions attacking NPC/player merchants, plundering ports, will have a direct affect on the need for goods and supplies to these ports and the prices paid to deliver them.

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