Tactical Idea: Killing Player's Mermaids

I think the of killing is probably overkill. But I really really really like the idea of “scaring” mermaids away. Snipe a players mermaid and they’re stuck until they swim far enough to spawn another. Slash your own mermaid and it disappears.
You’ve just come up with an idea that aids tucking. And I love it.

And it helps delays borders getting back to their boat, which I suppose is good for some too.

@galactic-geek said in Tactical Idea: Killing Player's Mermaids:

This would easily lead to trolling. So, no.

Picture a crewmate who scares away or kills your mermaid so you can never effectively return to your ship. Or a successful boarder that knocks you off of your ship while it'sb still moving, and that then kils your mermaid. Or perhaps even a meg that inadvertently eats it.

So yeah... Definitely a no.

It doesn't even fit in with the lore either.

Higher health should prevent free kills on mermaids while youre chasing a ship except for rare times where the entire crew all hits their shots.

Trolling concerns are completely pointless considering the fact you can keg/firebomb your ship.

I fail to see how something dying doesnt fit with the lore either

@mostexpendable said in Tactical Idea: Killing Player's Mermaids:

I think the of killing is probably overkill. But I really really really like the idea of “scaring” mermaids away. Snipe a players mermaid and they’re stuck until they swim far enough to spawn another. Slash your own mermaid and it disappears.
You’ve just come up with an idea that aids tucking. And I love it.

And it helps delays borders getting back to their boat, which I suppose is good for some too.

Scaring them off could work as well, the main point is to be able to opt out of the mermaids or have it forced on you. A mermaid shouldn't just chill amd be a punching bag or be in the line of fire just because they're worried about your health as the lore suggests.

There is an exploit in the game which will completely remove the mermaid but i feel until it is a normal feature people shouldn't be able to do it. The paranoia that tuck players bring to the world is great for the thrill of the game and keeps things fresh. I am mainly a tuck player but when i get tucked on every once in a blue moon it absolutely makes my day even if i lose

@galactic-geek said in Tactical Idea: Killing Player's Mermaids:

@zherron-vorse said in Tactical Idea: Killing Player's Mermaids:

@galactic-geek said in Tactical Idea: Killing Player's Mermaids:

This would easily lead to trolling. So, no.

Picture a crewmate who scares away or kills your mermaid so you can never effectively return to your ship. Or a successful boarder that knocks you off of your ship while it'sb still moving, and that then kils your mermaid. Or perhaps even a meg that inadvertently eats it.

So yeah... Definitely a no.

It doesn't even fit in with the lore either.

Higher health should prevent free kills on mermaids while youre chasing a ship except for rare times where the entire crew all hits their shots.

If it takes a long time to kill mermaids,then the overall idea would be rather pointless because from the time they appear to when a pirate reaches them is usually pretty short.

Trolling concerns are completely pointless considering the fact you can keg/firebomb your ship.

Wrong - just because we can still be trolled in some ways, it doesn't mean that we should add more. I think we'd all prefer to take the lesser of 2 evils.

I fail to see how something dying doesnt fit with the lore either

Considering that we have an agreement between the merfolk and the pirate lord, I feel that killing them might be in violation of said terms.

Im a reaper. I dont give a rip about the pirate lords sea of friends stupidity. If rare is interested in this idea but wants to keep that dumb mentality of friendship they can instead do the scaring idea.

Shall i list ways you can be trolled with features that are currently in the game?
Firebomb
Blunderbomb
Keg
Cursed cannonballs (green)
All these have friendly fire. Need i say more.

Harpoons can be used to intentionally crash or pull your teammates back as well.

Im sure you would have shot many of these things down because it could be used to troll players. The answer to avoid trolling is simple. Dont open crew. If you do you roll the dice. Besides how often do you see an allies mermaid? Not very often with the exception of island hopping for resouces.

At the core this idea is mainly for tuck players with added benifits for dealing with boarders.

Sounds cool. BUT
You yourself can also use that same mermaid. They rescue any lost pirate at sea regardless of who they are.

So killing them would also kill your own.

Also, Lore prevents this.

rare just released season 2 with the theme of mermaid appreciation, lol

So... what about if you can only scare mermaids of other pirate crews away so there's a delay until it reappears?
This way this could also prevent enemy pirates from just disappear in front of your eyes if you're too close in a battle scenario.

@galactic-geek said in Tactical Idea: Killing Player's Mermaids:

Im a reaper.

If you're only sailing as a Reaper, you're missing out on a lot of what the Sea has to offer.

I've done everything else, nothing else is fun in the long term, what kept this game alive from it's pathetic state at launch was the 3 hour fort fights and server jumping. Without that no-one would be here. PvE was only against skeletons at the time and the Meg hadn't even come out yet.

dont give a rip about the pirate lords sea of friends stupidity.

Language! And rude!

If rare is interested in this idea but wants to keep that dumb mentality of friendship they can instead do the scaring idea.

Language! Again! 🙄

It's about the social experience and never knowing what might happen. If there was no aspect to the social dynamic, nobody would keep playing as their losses mounted up - it would also become incredibly predictable and boring. Oh boy, here comes another attack... 😒

Do the words "stupid" and "dumb" offend you so badly? You must be a ton of fun in real life where filters aren't so readily available.

Tuckers are currently balanced - we don't need to sway that pendulum in either direction.

It isn't swaying the pendulum at all, it is simply giving more risk/reward and skill expression to everyone involved in the scenario. If you kill a tucker they lose everything and have to respawn at their ship which could be miles away. Most of the time my kill crew can nuke entire servers at a time with rarely anyone capable of standing up against us. We could just keep wiping servers or we can give people a chance and use tuck methods which we find more fun overall for everyone involved.

@burnbacon said in Tactical Idea: Killing Player's Mermaids:

Sounds cool. BUT
You yourself can also use that same mermaid. They rescue any lost pirate at sea regardless of who they are.

So killing them would also kill your own.

Also, Lore prevents this.

I see no problem with this, at this idea's core is simply getting rid of the mermaid on demand.

In regards to the lore, was every single pirate to ever sail a pawn of the Pirate Lord? I doubt it, if we were able to completely side with the skeletons (true pirates) I would.

@uzugijin said in Tactical Idea: Killing Player's Mermaids:

rare just released season 2 with the theme of mermaid appreciation, lol

Not a fan of the mermaids in SoT if you haven't guessed, ya boi is about to go eat some sushi and pretend it was Paul or Anna (the two mermaids that spawn on the players).

@odyssee-mit-tee finally a man of culture. Let me explain what got me on board with this idea. I recently became aware of an exploit that completely prevents the mermaid from spawning at all on you. Additionally it completely removed your nametag from other players view and theirs from yours.

I tested it on my crew and was essentially able to tuck on my own crew without them being able to track me like you normally would be able to track your crewmates.

After the testing I decided it was too powerful to use in a genuine combat scenario because players wouldn't be forewarned it exists and it leaves no counterplay for them. Similarly if someone had access to the Barrel Disquise emote before season 2 started it would have been unfair because no-one would have been warned it existed.

So I'm still tucking the old fashioned way with mermaids and all. Both rowboats and mermaids completely give away tuck players especially against seasoned crews who watch for them. The tuck player has minimal control over these factors especially when attempting to get to the island the defending crew is on.

For me the art in tucking isn't staying in 1 place (the "perfect" spot) the entire time. The real talent comes from moving around the enemy crew without them seeing you. The second you step foot on the island though your mermaid pops up and that is what gets on my nerves.

@galactic-geek said:

It's about treating others with respect for their contributions and hardwork. In other words, being civil. If you can't do that, then you won't get very far. Take it from someone who's a teacher by profession, and as such knows the importance of social decency in society.

Lol you sanctimonious hypocrite, you.

First of all, his exact words were:

Im a reaper. I dont give a rip about the pirate lords sea of friends stupidity.

He wasn't insulting anyone's contributions or hard work. He didn't call Rare or the devs, or the players stupid; he wasn't being uncivil at all.

He was criticizing an idea, not any individual. He said, within the realm of the game, as a Reaper, he finds the Pirate Lord's philosophy stupid. Shouldn't a Reaper?

It's incredibly difficult to have conversations with you when you cherrypick and twist people's words like this, while deviating from the topic. But it's equally incredibly hilarious to watch you scold someone else about politeness, knowing some of the rude posts you make yourself.

@galactic-geek Somewhat off topic, but I for one would love more ways to mess with your own crew. My friends and I will do it all the time. Light a keg fuse behind a homie while they're looting for a moment, throw a blunder across the isle and hit homie and say we're under attack, slightly tilt the wheel towards a rock, the list could go on. If we could push each other off the boat we would lol! We're not always like that, but sometimes it's fun to actually just mess around. Cause in the end, it's just a game I play with friends I've been playing with forever.

@zherron-vorse said in Tactical Idea: Killing Player's Mermaids:

Make the mermaids able to be killed by any player. When a mermaid spawns it should be assigned to whoever it spawned on and that is their mermaid. When it is killed it won't spawn again for that player until that player dies. They can still use any mermaids that spawn on other players however.

This simple change would enable a multitude of tactics to exist as well as fix multiple complaints within the community all at once.

Chasing a ship that constantly sends boarders at you with no repercussions? Kill their merm. This will make them take considerably longer to get back to their ship and make boarding attempts considerably more risky.

Wanting to tuck without a mermaid giving you away? Kill it.

To avoid this being too easy however, I would argue that mermaids need to have a health pool comparable to sharks so they can't be 1 shot by an enemy player but it instead requires a coordinated effort to take advantage of this in a short amount of time.

Your idea is too unbalanced.

When boarding, a crew with simple awareness can 1 blunder/kill you easily.

Mermaid spawn is so unreliable that this idea would be a nightmare, it's already bad if you can't get a mermaid for 5-10seconds let alone having to wait until you die.

Chasing a ship that sends boarders? That sounds like a you problem, don't sail behind them...

@capt-soul-beard said in Tactical Idea: Killing Player's Mermaids:

Your idea is too unbalanced.

When boarding, a crew with simple awareness can 1 blunder/kill you easily.

Mermaid spawn is so unreliable that this idea would be a nightmare, it's already bad if you can't get a mermaid for 5-10seconds let alone having to wait until you die.

Chasing a ship that sends boarders? That sounds like a you problem, don't sail behind them...

That part of it is mainly for newer players, I rarely miss my 1 tap on the blunder. It's mainly for the tucking aspect of it but I could see it being used well against players in other situations.

@zherron-vorse said in Tactical Idea: Killing Player's Mermaids:

@capt-soul-beard said in Tactical Idea: Killing Player's Mermaids:

Your idea is too unbalanced.

When boarding, a crew with simple awareness can 1 blunder/kill you easily.

Mermaid spawn is so unreliable that this idea would be a nightmare, it's already bad if you can't get a mermaid for 5-10seconds let alone having to wait until you die.

Chasing a ship that sends boarders? That sounds like a you problem, don't sail behind them...

That part of it is mainly for newer players, I rarely miss my 1 tap on the blunder. It's mainly for the tucking aspect of it but I could see it being used well against players in other situations.

The more a game caters to new players the more it will feel watered down, challenge and complexity offers a very rewarding experience.

"The ancients came, then, with their great chains. Together they bound Kraken rightly to the star above, far out of reach.
The Sea Queen was grateful, for her people were saved, and she promised they would always help those lost at sea."

mermaid's are mainly a game mechanic to return you to your ship. it's like killing NPCs on outposts, cuz you know you are a reaper, why would you spare them, right?
but SoT is also a story game and lore is important to it, and sometimes it's the way devs hinting about upcoming events, it would not make sense if you can scare or kill mermaids that come to help. they would think we are toxic and they would never come again, only with hostile intentions, because some reaper felt the need that their free service is in the way. I bet you don't even know Reaper lore let alone what being a "true pirate" means,
cuz we all play only a pirate game not a pirate simulator.

@uzugijin lol who hurt you? Youre all up in arms because i dont care what the lore is over a small idea?

@zherron-vorse

Chasing a ship that constantly sends boarders at you with no repercussions? Kill their merm. This will make them take considerably longer to get back to their ship and make boarding attempts considerably more risky.

Killing the player trying to board you also takes considerably longer for them to get back to their ship and makes board attempts more risky. No need to add a killable mermaids when you can already kill the player and get the desired affect.