I love this game but as I grind my way solo to Pirate Legend one thing had become very tedious. The start of every session has 20minutes of busy work filling my boat with supplies, choosing my customisation, loading my cannons, organising my barrels and turning off my lanterns. The carry limit of 5 planks makes this extremely time consuming and I have found that I need at least 40 planks to survive the kraken solo and still have some redundancy. How cool would it be if I was returned to my vessel the way I left it. This would massively improve my enjoyment of the game. Perhaps because I'm a solo player I have never seen the boats as disposable. I go to extreme lengths to keep my vessel afloat even when it would be sensible to let it respawn. For me Sea of Thieves is more like old school roleplay it's not about the gold, it's about the story. I know others have said it before but not being able to name my boat seems like a own goal, especially when I form an alliance. I want to return each day to "The Rabid Sea Wolf" to find all my hard earned customisations in place, the lanterns off, the canon balls in the top barrel, the cursed balls in the bottom barrel, my food in the top barrel and my fishing gear in the bottom barrel (come on I can't be the only one) in short, I want every time I log in to feel like I'm coming home to MY ship not a rental.
A clean slate, unlike a clean plate, is not the state, I described as great.
I organise cannonballs and food the same, almost....bait also goes in the top barrel, so that emptying my pockets while gathering supplies is faster. Only animals in the bottom barrel, so cooking and selling goes faster.
Its probably just in my head, either way is probs the same speed, im just used to it.
@blue-w0lf to be honest I am against the saving of the state of a ship as the ship is a crew asset not a individual one and even if you are solo should be considered.
Though I would be a big fan of just having the basic supplies of a ship in adventure mode being increased at the start of a session (not after a sink or scuttle) to be able to log in and set sail, as a compensation for the added dangers in the seas since the Shrouded spoils.
@blue-w0lf Well I figure the whole point is that you everyone starts a session in the same state (ship dependent) so there's no advantage between when you or someone else starts a session. You're all "in the same boat" as it were.
Personally I think rather than remembering our supplies from one session to the next, it would be more beneficial to have a mechanic that allows us to quickly resupply the basics from time to time (perhaps with gold, or a service we're only allowed to use every so often in a session). Just so the ship is in a better state to get back to adventuring quicker.
Also, there's the issue of other crew mates. I know you play solo, but other crew sizes must always be taken in to account. When I log in with a crew, whose supplies are carried over? Everyones? That can make a pretty big advantage for larger crews.
I think that it comes down to the fact that Ships aren't individually assigned.
Even playing Solo your Ship is still not really yours. Playing solo is just opting for a "locked" 2-man crew. At any time you have the ability to add a friend or open up your crew to a "Rando" joining. So any ship "settings" are always communal and never actually unique to your account.
Perhaps an alternative solution to save time would be the ability to purchase supplies at outposts for gold?
Getting those supplies is a part of your adventure.
I suggest going to floating barrels and using harpoon to get them to ur ship for loading, its the fastest stock-up-tactic as of now imo. Other than that, just be aware of not overkilling it with supplies. I've logged out of brigs with 4-500 cannonballs and it feels like such a waste, but in the end its just me and the crew that should've spent time othervise.@cotu42 yeah I do get that the ship is a crew asset but the game already chooses a "captain" so I don't really see a problem with that. I like your idea though I think that could be a good middle ground.
@luciansanchez82 I love the idea of being able to purchase supplies, perhaps we could use the captain's table to vote for customisations the way we do for voyages?
@jack3ast yeah I agree, if my idea were to work you would definitely need to cap the barrels a lot lower.
@blue-w0lf Given that solo play is “hard mode” and the game is more designed around teams, this idea would be technically very difficult to implement. If you do an open crew, which crewmember decides the state of the ship? If you do a closed crew, which of your friends decides the state of the ship?
This is a session based game and ship persistence is not part of that experience. As someone who has already done the solo grind to PL, I feel your pain; but, it’s part of the challenge.
Also, 40 planks to deal with the Kraken?! I’ve never had that issue when defeating the Kraken solo. Also, if you just want to escape the Kraken, you can do that in about a minute and needing only a few planks, if any.
@blue-w0lf
This idea would make people who play longer have an advantage. It's a no for me. Same with buying supplies.@blue-w0lf The only timesaver I can think of for you is to have the cosmetics stick with you.
Gathering supplies never takes me more then 5 minutes and I've not sunk solo in a long time.
I can't disclose much but I'm able to play in a game mode where I'm sure to get krakened as soon as I leave port and I never need more then 8 planks and 3 cannonballs to get out of the kraken ink.So you might save up on some gathering times if you play a bit smarter. Maybe some guides can help you there are lots of them here on the forums.
Also, Gather at Barrels of plenty, as soon as you see them, move close to them and loot the supplies from those barrels using the harpoon and your sloop will be over stocked in no time.
Having supplies stick would go against one of the core pilars of this games' design as people playing for longer would have hundreds of cannonballs planks food items etc.
So I hope my tips help you get into the game faster, the game doesn't need to change, you can change your playstile a bit to make it easier tho.
How do you spend 20 minutes supplying your ship? Even solo it takes like 5-10 min to clear the outpost. After that (most) islands have plenty of supplies, and barrels are littering the sea now. Just jump overboard and fill your inventory when you pass by. It also awards players for taking the time to do so against lazy crews that are just out "grinding" with stock supplies, which is nice. Putting on ship cosmetics takes under a minute. Turning off lanterns, why? Good players (the ones most likely to actually get you) will see you from miles away anyway, so I just keep mine on unless my crew is paranoid and demands they be off. (A pet peeve of mine with LFG crews, second to sailing at half sail so the poor helmsman can see without effort. But I digress...)
In short, I see your whole post as a non-issue. Add that to all the issues making this work for crews of several players and I don't see a point to what you suggest.
You've highlighted several downsides to this game that are all centered around the relationship with the ship....
NO SAVE STATE FOR THE SHIP!!!
No relationSHIP with the ship.
The ship is not OUR SHIP!!
We're simply borrowing it.This causes multiple issues....
- no relationship with your home
a. cargo is the only thing that matters - reckless sailing
a. wreck your ship...no matter, you'll get a brand new one - dumb or no naval combat
a. distance is the enemy, get as close as possible to board as quick as possible....lame!!
b. if ships were valuable or not replaceable, ship engagements would be surgical, precise, cautious, sneaky, rare and WAY MORE FUN. - boarding tactics
a. simply crash into any other ship cuz who cares
The ship has no real value to the player as it is merely a temporary and completely replaceable conveyance for resources. If you don't have any resources on the ship it is entirely valueless.
When they added ship damage, I got super excited as I assumed the ship would now have some value and importance.....but that was short lived as it only added value to the planks and not to the ship.
Planks are WAY more important than the ship.A SHIP SAVE STATE would add value and character to the ship and add the 2nd most important level of immersion.
The 1st....would be to make replacing a ship much more difficult.
This would dramatically improve the game.It would dramatically alter the recklessness and toxicity of most interactions in the world as players wouldn't want to sacrifice their home for the sake of purely reckless piracy.
I used to see this lack of import for the ship as a benefit to the game; but, quickly realized the obvious problems that it causes.
I've been championing such changes since the very beginning and am totally on board for a meaningful relationship with our only home that exists in the game.....the SHIP!!
- no relationship with your home
@lil-fokker Finally someone who gets it! It's about making the game more satisfying not about making it easier. I wouldn't play Solo at all if I wanted it easier.
@rk1-turbulence I'm willing to concede that you are most likely a far far superior player to me but I think you miss my point. If I want to make the game easier then I would simply crew up, as a solo sloop playing on console I am the single most vulnerable player most times I play and I do that deliberately. Rather i want to feel more pirate to validate that choice. The single most important thing to a pirate is his/her Ship, without it they are just a bandit.
@entspeak Ahoy! you make good points but the game already has an excellent voting system. Ok so maybe 40 planks was a bit of an exaggeration but when I mentioned redundancy bare in mind that I will do everything to finish the session in the same boat I started with so I like to prepare for even those days when you get Megged just as you finally escape from a hostile skelly ship and accidentally run aground at full sail because you are bailing the tears from your sorrowful chest. Sure its also true that I could improve as a gamer to help (as many are only to keen to point out) but this isn't about me, its about the game surely the game is designed to be accesible even to those of average ability no?
@blue-w0lf Yes. It’s about you. Part of the journey is planning. That means getting the ship ready and stocked for the voyage.
I do have a question though. Let's say I Captain a ship but am the first to sign out for the night? What happens? Does my ship continue and come back to me in the condition it was at the point I left? Does it come back to me in the condition it's in at the point my last team mate left. Can I Captain a new ship while the crew is using my old one or will I have other ships in my livery I can choose from to start a new venture? One of each kind maybe?
@duke-of-spire Interesting! I think your ship should Return to stock cosmetics when you log out and the crew get to vote on who's new cosmetics get applied in effect they vote in a new captain. The barrels i think are more tricky, I personally don't have a problem with them resetting provided the new captain brings his stock from last game. I think that would be a really interesting game mechanic that is very, very pirate. Perhaps you could even perform a mutiny and vote in a new captain, how cool would that be. I imagine putting down a ship prospectus on the voting table where you can see the cosmetics and how well stocked it is.
@duke-of-spire I also quite like the idea of persistent damage that you can pay to have properly repaired. Maybe every 10 holes become a permanent "Scar" not ACTUAL damage, by the gods no, that would be horrific but a scar. Imagine the bragging rights of a full Parrot Skin sloop, once gaudy and magnificent reduced to a tattered (but quite functional) mess by its many battle scars :-)
@blue-w0lf The only issue with bringing in someone else's ship is abuse. One person leaves, the new ship is voted in and that person who left comes back.
