Cargo Runs forcing players to not engage with the game wolrd.

@olgilviemaurice They already increased the durability of all cargo. Jumping once used to do enough damage to make cargo no longer pristine.

The reason cargo is fragile is to make it slightly risky to transport. It is super easy to get and usually super easy to deliver. Why make it easier?

It's called Carg o' Runs...... Hahahaha... see?... see what i did there? :d ... ahah.... hhhhh sighs

@olgilviemaurice said in Cargo Runs forcing players to not engage with the game wolrd.:

The way that cargo from cargo runs take damage forces players to avoid world events, player encounters and actively pushes them if they do engage as well as makes it unrewarding for plunderers to steal this loot.

This is mostly due to the way Rum Bottles and Fine Silks take damage.

Rum bottles crack if they are a boat that gets shot at or if a player jumps with them and Fine silks get wet when the ship they are on sinks. Pair that with the time limit to deliver them and you can see why people are put off by the voyage type.

My idea for a solution
Rum bottles no longer take damage if they are on a boat that is taking damage. This would make people engage with emergent threats like the meg, skelly ships or other players.
Along with that if a crew sinks a boat and steals the rum, the cargo will be in good condition to sell.

For fine silks I think that they should not be able to get wet from floating in the sea. a little unrealistic but again if you are a crew that sunk a ship and is trying to steal silks you are punished for doing so by having the loot be ruined.
Silks should only get wet if out in the rain, has bucket of water thrown on it, OR if a player swims UNDERWATER with the cargo (Swimming above water should let the cargo stay dry)

I think these 2 changes to cargo would go a long way to just making them less tedious to prefor.

No offense mate but with a little clever planning nothing is really an issue.

Stick bottles in crows nest to avoid cannon damage.

Bucket 12 sea water in hull for never wilting plants.

Place cloth on map table.

You can do whatever you want and basically never have damaged cargo.

This doesnt need a nerf.
You just need to place things like so and its done :)

Ive had devils cargo onboard, totally forgot it was there and it was in mint conditon.

I would only suggest nerfs as a last resort. You'll be surprised what you can actually do til you try it or ask.

Never thought soloing a skelly fleet would be possible, ive done it with 2 cargo runs worth of loot, sank the fleet and cashed it all in, completing the runs too.

There isnt much you cant do really.

The issue what I more have with Cargo Runs, is that it's completely lossless battle opposing to a PvPer. When a PvPer sinks a Merchant doing a Cargo Run, they have no loot. Sure, they have the cargo, but for them it's completely worthless, because A- it's ruined, and B- it's nothing worth to anybody BUT a Merchant. Even El Reaper cannot tolerate the merchandise.

@kapitein-kater said in Cargo Runs forcing players to not engage with the game wolrd.:

The issue what I more have with Cargo Runs, is that it's completely lossless battle opposing to a PvPer. When a PvPer sinks a Merchant doing a Cargo Run, they have no loot. Sure, they have the cargo, but for them it's completely worthless, because A- it's ruined, and B- it's nothing worth to anybody BUT a Merchant. Even El Reaper cannot tolerate the merchandise.

El Reaper takes the merchandise without any problems.

@lem0n-curry Strange! My bad then, I thought nobody would buy those but the intended buyer. Though my earlier point persists though; it's worthless because it's already ruined as part of combat. At least, the bottles and silk that is.

@kapitein-kater said in Cargo Runs forcing players to not engage with the game wolrd.:

@lem0n-curry Strange! My bad then, I thought nobody would buy those but the intended buyer. Though my earlier point persists though; it's worthless because it's already ruined as part of combat. At least, the bottles and silk that is.

It sure has less value ... it still gives rep though.

El Reaper doesn't seem to like fish and meat though.

@stevethegent As a solo slooper who loves a good cargo run, I have definitely chuckled to myself as a reaper ship sinks me and kills me. Can't wait for them to grab all of my fine silks and rum bottles! Me? No problem. I'll just hang out on the ferry and go grab a snack from the kitchen until I feel I can re-enter the game with a new ship.

@schwammlgott extremely little, yes.

@schwammlgott even in full value, cargo is worth almost nothing.

@kapitein-kater said in Cargo Runs forcing players to not engage with the game wolrd.:

@schwammlgott even in full value, cargo is worth almost nothing.

That's 3.5 k per cargo item from the Roar when delivering at highest Emissary grade.

That's more than almost nothing and for what ? Picking stuff up, some traveling and keeping out of trouble.

@lem0n-curry For the time and effort needed for a devil's roar delivery, that's very low. Especially considering that you can't even start that value of cargo runs from a fresh flag raise.

@schwammlgott a single Ashen map or riddle hunt from Goldhoarders for example already gives you much more money than that. Which is just as much time it needs for a Cargo Run to do. But that one can't degrade, and you actually get flag grade BEFORE selling.

@kapitein-kater said in Cargo Runs forcing players to not engage with the game wolrd.:

@lem0n-curry For the time and effort needed for a devil's roar delivery, that's very low. Especially considering that you can't even start that value of cargo runs from a fresh flag raise.

You need risk in your assessment as well, besides time & effort.
Perhaps a fort or fleet gives more in less time... picking up loads of cargo in The Roar is not a big hassle and most of the time you're only disturbed by volcanoes.

Finishing a fort, fleet or even vault can draw some attention from others.
Even if you win, it takes time.

You just need good timing to get to turning them in, perhaps raise an emissary flag to get a nice "starting grade" from some PvE on the way and stay out of the storm, fleet and PvP encounters as those have the tendency to damage your goods.

@galactic-geek
In my experience not every time you do a Devil's Roar Cargo Run will you get to deliver 8 pieces, but otherwise the math is sound.

@galactic-geek said in Cargo Runs forcing players to not engage with the game wolrd.:

It takes about 10-15 minutes to do 2 cargo runs simultaneously. If you're maximum level, that's 16 pieces of cargo, at a value of 700g each! That's 11,200g total! For 10 minutes!

Now, if it's in the DR, it's doubled, because each piece of cargo is 1,400g - that's 22,400g!

If you're already a lvl. 5 MA emmisary, that gives you a 2.5x bonus, which puts the total possible value at 56,000g.

Do these cargo runs with these bonuses during a Gold and Glory weekend, and it's doubled again! That's 112,000g!

Do it with all of these bonuses during Happy Hour and it's an additional 1.5x bonus! That's 168,000g!

FOR 10 MINUTES!

...and that doesn't even include the lvl. 5 bonus emmisary voyage you could pick up afterwards with similar bonuses! I can't even think of a better way to get more gold so quickly unless you were stacking - a far more risky endeavor.

Besides, most who attack you will be less likely to do so again once they realize that you're only running cargo that they themselves ruined.

The ONLY issue with cargo runs is that they're too easy, and boring.

There are a lot of major flaws with that.

1 - This again, is fully disregarding the "warmup" time in which you aren't Merchant 5 yet. And this warmup time can only be achieved by only selling, which means that your first lot of cargo runs, will sell for VERY poor.
2 - Your time constraint fully assumes that you have the same seller and the same buyer for each cargo. And also completely forfeits the loading / unloading time, which expands with each additional piece of cargo per mission.
3 - A cargo run in which Walter (Fetcher's Rest) or Tony (Ruby's Fall) is either a buyer or seller, is by FAR not a 10 minute run.
4 - The emmisary voyage bonus is cross-region, and doesn't give (I believe?) Devil's Roar cargo.

The best merchant money making method is always Lost Shipments. Sure, they take around 20 (25 if solo) minutes and can't be stacked, but they nearly always end at a selling station to immediately sell / restart another, and you can literally park your lootpile right next to the buyer without requiring a rowboat for that, so no excess unloading time either. If you really only stop for the key (and maybe a precious gems box), you can even cut it down to 15 minutes. A single cargo one can net you 100k (10k for the manifest, 12k for the avarage random keg chance, 75k in excess loot) without any extra modifiers such as GnG or Gold Rush hour. On top of that, each ship can spawn with up to 2 EXTRA Stronghold gunpowder kegs, randomly adding another 23k just like that. So best case scenario, with all GNG and Rush Hour modifiers, that's 360k in just 20 minutes duo, or 25 minutes solo.

Sorry you have L5 merchant emissary you will be targeted by players.
Pve wise..Let’s see megs, Kraken, skelly ships ruin cargo.
You must be lucky if no one messed with you.