Possibly unnecessary idea - Single person ship

  • AmbiguousMonk
    Insider

    This is probably completely unnecessary for the game, since sailing/battling with a sloop solo is totally possible for anyone that has basic familiarity with the ship mechanics, but still, I think it would be neat to have a one person ship in the game, especially for brand new players that are unsure about joining a public crew, but aren't skilled enough to manage a solo sloop

    Essentially, it'd be somewhere halfway the size between a rowboat and a sloop, single level with a small roofed superstructure over the wheel and map board, single sail, single block, single cleat, no crows nest (replaced with climbing onto the superstructure), the anchor could be a solo vertical crank instead of horizontal wheel or it could have no anchor at all, and it would have a single, either forward or rearward facing, cannon (this might be too strong though) or no cannon at all. It could also possibly have the ability to be slowly oar driven (but not dockable), especially if it has no anchor, since this will give it the ability to stop quickly like an anchor would allow. It would also allow newer players to do fine tune, albeit very slow, maneuvering before they are skilled enough to do so with sails. Any damage would occur on the walls of the single level (~6 holes max) and would always take on water. The supply barrels might need to be pared down to just boxes to make them fit. Either that, or have a single barrel for all three supplies, but with a very limited inventory, like a rowboat box

    The general idea is for it to be nearly entirely a training/beginning exploration ship, having little to no defenses, very little ability to take damage, but still able to cross the seas faster than a rowboat (but not as fast as any of the cooperative ships) and without requiring manual oaring. It's maneuverability could be equivalent to the sloop, as to train users to eventually move up to using the sloop

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  • Nefnoj
    Marauder
    Insider

    @ambiguousmonk This actually sounds really fun. Since players tend to separate from the main ship in a rowboat (like to deliver some plants to an island in the opposite direction) maybe you could find this ship in the main world and players could use that.
    Less handy than a rowboat, but nice on the fingers so you don't have to press those two buttons to row repeatedly.

  • xCALYPT0x
    Master
    Insider
    Boatswain

    @ambiguousmonk I'm not sure if there is a need for such a think but I like the suggestion.

  • AmbiguousMonk
    Insider

    @xcalypt0x Yeah, it'd definitely not necessary, but I still think it would still be a neat addition. It does address the steep initial skill curve a bit and make it more newbie friendly, but that's not really a pressing problem

    @Nefnoj I wouldn't want to it found naturally in the world. That would make building fleets, even if only from the single person ships, too easy. I think it would be best used as a player chosen ship, but not as one intended to play the whole game with

  • wkd1337
    Master
    Insider

    The sloop is a single player ship, that can be manned by two people. @AmbiguousMonk I will give you the benefit of the doubt and refrain from my colorful commentary as I'm betting you are a new player... but yeah, this post and idea is pretty unnecessary as the title suggests .. now I'm going to go have some fun on the other threads identical to this one happening right now. Later.

  • Wodyo

    The only reason I doubt we'd see this in game is because it is intended to be a cooperative multiplayer. That's precisely why playing solo is more challenging - there is no difficulty settings, but doing the work of a 2 man ship can be tedious. You have no friends to send you an invite, if you are disconnected (for whatever reason), thus losing an entire session's progress. It is not supposed to be made even easier. It's designed in such a way to encourage you to seek out a crew to play with.

    I am a [predominantly] solo-slooping Pirate Legend (Athena's level 4). All but three of my (40) Xbox friends have been made in Sea of Thieves (mostly from in-game encounters). I seldom get the opportunity to crew-up with most, because they log on after I'm already well-underway, or vice-versa. I understand full-well the desire for a single-person boat/"ship." I just do not believe it would be in line with Rare's goal to promote gaining new friends.

    What I DO think should happen is a solution for problem of trolls in Open Crews. I will give Rare credit, as my last 2 open crew sessions have gone mostly well in that regard, but it is still too common of an issue. Nobody is befriending the pirate who just logged on to ram the ship into the rocks, or eat all of the bananas. If anything, that sort of behavior prevents the use of open crews by more-experienced pirates, who have seen treasure lost this way. But, perhaps I digress...

  • Bosun Rotrr
    Master

    You mean something like this?

    https://www.seaofthieves.com/forum/topic/72976/new-boat-idea-one-man-dinghy

  • Kondrites
    Marauder

    @ambiguousmonk There is always the rowboat.

  • Crazed Corsair
    Captain
    Insider
    Founder

    The so called sloop was actually designed and balanced around solo play.

  • AmbiguousMonk
    Insider

    @wodyo You make a totally valid point and that's why I don't expect anything like to this actually be added to the game. Maybe, if nothing else, they should let us be able to erect a small sail on a rowboat. It'd be nice to be able to cover longer distances with a rowboat without needing to wear out our fingers

    The Open Crew troll problem definitely needs a better solution. The brig is great, but insufficient for dealing with people like that. Party control systems like that need to be designed with the knowledge that, sadly, some people's greatest entertaining is simply in making others suffer. Players need to be given the tools to weed our those people without causing even more detriment (e.g. currently, to my knowledge, if a team brigs someone, they're down a sailor until they leave)

    @Starship42 Kinda, but definitely NOT faster or more maneuverable than any other boat. It shouldn't be able to out perform a solo sloop, given the sailor is competent

    @Kondrites Yes, but covering longish distance with the rowboat is tedious as all hell

    @Crazed-Corsair This is totally valid and why the game probably doesn't need a single person primary ship

  • entspeak
    Captain
    Insider

    @ambiguousmonk Nah. The sloop is a 1-2 person ship. There's no need for a strictly solo ship.

  • IceMan 0007
    Insider
    Founder

    we can't even get them to put a man-o-war into the game for larger crew sizes. We don't need a dinghy (technically the row boat) when we have a sloop which is based for one or two players.

  • AmbiguousMonk
    Insider

    @Bran-the-Ent @IceMan-0007 Yeah, as time goes on, I'm thinking a dedicated solo ship is probably more detrimental than beneficial

    However, I'd still REALLY REALLY like to put a tiny sail on a rowboat

  • txcrnr
    Master
    Insider

    @ambiguousmonk I would actually love a solo ship like this. Imagine if it had a small sail, no cannons or spots for a rowboat, but had a spot for oars so that you can row it while sailing to be faster than any other ships! The tradeoff from the cannon being that it can reliably run away. It wouldn't have a cannonball barrel, and perhaps it would go entirely unnoticed by skeleton ships and sea beasts.

  • AmbiguousMonk
    Insider

    @txcrnr I definitely think that if a ship like this were to be implemented, that it must NOT be faster than any of the cooperative ships. In fact, it would need to be dramatically slower, maybe only outspeeding the galleon while fully sailing upwind. It would need to be a ship that doesn't compare in any way to the cooperative ships, since it's main benefit would be how simple it is to sail. The more complex/difficult ships must necessarily outperform it in every way when they are properly sailed.

    At this point, I think it would be better if players could simply find/trade treasure for a small sail to go on the rowboat. I think this would be a great additional with very little, if no, downsides

  • txcrnr
    Master
    Insider

    @ambiguousmonk It would be unusable if it didn't have some way to avoid enemy ships. The suggestion was that it is only faster when being manually rowed AND sailed at the same time. Otherwise, players looking for blood would pick off anyone using it, and they would have no way to retaliate.

  • AmbiguousMonk
    Insider

    @txcrnr That's exactly the idea though. It's an option for players to have, but it underperforms in all respects. If players want to sail with a better performing ship, then they must either accept increased difficulty (solo slooping) or work cooperatively with a crew. A single player ship cannot replace the usefulness of a cooperative ship, since this whole game is based on playing cooperatively. If one wants to play solo at low difficulty, then one must except ship underperformance. That's the tradeoff

    With all this kept in mind, I now think that simply being able to put a sail on a rowboat essentially fulfills this concept, since it could be sailed for slow, low maneuverability but automatic movement, rowed for slow, fine control but wholly manual movement, or both at the same time for slightly faster, lower maneuverability, partially manual movement. I feel like this would also make rowboats more overall useful, which I like because I love rowboats

  • Lucky 13 X
    Captain
    Insider
    Founder

    Came up with a similar idea myself during beta period of the game. The boat you would use would be slightly larger than a real life Sunfish boat with one cannon facing front. It would allow you to make it through the oceans quickly but easily attackable by boats and even normal sharks or storms.

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