Proposed Changes to the "Pay to Restore Ship" function.

  • I've been thinking about this, and I still can't get over how having to pay to start a session with a fresh-looking ship feels like a major downgrade with the Captaincy update. I've heard arguments for and against this functionality, and so I have some changes to the system I would like to propose.

    1. Captained Ships can opt out of having cosmetic damage carry over to their next session.
    2. Ships can still mid-session go to the Shipwright and pay to have their ship fully restored, whether they opt out of having persistent damage or not.

    This allows for player groups to get what they desire from the game without having an added burden to those who don't care for it.

    One of the arguments I've heard for having to pay to repair the ship is that it's a gold-sink. Players have so much gold they need somewhere to spend it, and this does that. While I don't agree that this is a good use of a gold-sink, and don't think the cost will actually effect players with tens or hundreds of millions of gold, that's besides the point. The proposed system still gives those who want a gold-sink one. They can choose to spend their gold to repair their ship when they want.

    Another argument I've heard to pay to repair the ship is that players like keeping the damage on their ships as it tells the story of their ships, showing off their battle-scars. The proposed system allows this as well! It allows players who want to keep battle-scars on their ship, only removing them by paying the shipwright, and allows those who don't care for such things to spawn in with a pristine-looking ship.

    Another reason I've heard for keeping this in game is that it makes sense with the lore/reality of the game. You can't just expect a shipwright to repair your ship for free? To that I have to say that it doesn't make much sense. For 4 years the shipwrights have been granting us brand new ships every session to do with what we please, never expecting a rental fee or to pay for insurance. So why now would there be this need for gold to repair ships? Especially when players without their own captained ship can still spawn fresh ships without cost at the beginning of the session?

    At any rate, the system I am proposing allows those who want those options to have them! They can roleplay having to pay the shipwright for repairs, they can repair mid-session for a gold cost, they can sink their gold into repairs because they have too much, etc. But it also allows players who want to start each session with a fresh-looking ship that option without having to pay gold to have it. For 4 years we've had nice-looking ships at the launch of a new session, and then with one update, because we have our own ship, now we have to pay?

    These are just some changes I would like to see, and I don't honestly think it's asking very much. The current system reminds me a lot of the "Death Tax" that was eliminated early on. It grossly over-punishes more casual players and those who don't rake in huge amounts of gold each session, and those who have tens or hundreds of millions of gold will not feel the effect in the slightest.

    Please, Rare?

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  • what about being able to turn in storage crates to put towards repairing the ship at the end of the session

    encourages production and doesn't sacrifice gold or treasure and cleans up the seas

  • @maximusarael020 said in Proposed Changes to the "Pay to Restore Ship" function.:

    For 4 years we've had nice-looking ships at the launch of a new session, and then with one update, because we have our own ship, now we have to pay?

    With the captaincy, I look at it as the ship you bought is YOUR ship. The last 4 years were not really our ships, as we had to change it every session to look like how we want it to look like. Its not that we were given a new ship, we were loaned out by the shipwrights. They were the ones who owned the boats. Now we have a chance to own them.

  • @drwho1105

    That's great! And I'm glad for that. But I would still like the proposed system to be put in place.

  • @wolfmanbush
    That's an interesting idea! It does still feel a bit like "paying" for my ship to be repaired, though. I'm not opposed to that kind of thing taking the place of the cost. It could make sense if you drop off a crate of wood, but at that point you could just sell the crate to get gold to pay for some of the cost...

    I dunno. I still like the system I proposed, as it gives players what they've already had and doesn't impose anything extra that they don't want.

  • @maximusarael020

    I will admit, maybe something could change, but IMO, being the captain of a ship, you are taking all responsibility of repairs etc.....
    like someone else said I like the idea of maybe turning in wood that would be put into repairing your ship.

    BTW, after re reading my post, i did not mean to sound like a jerk. It was not my intention, i was just stating what my thoughts were.

  • Similar to repairs on your personal vehicle.

    You pay for it or leave it alone and continue to drive.

  • I kind of liked the idea of ships showing their battle scars, but I feel like retaining every bit of damage your ship takes actually undermines that. A couple sessions focused on ship combat activities, or just hanging out in the Devil's Roar, and your ship no longer has distinctive scars, it's just fully damaged, and ironically identical to any other ship that's not paying for repairs.

  • The ship repair costs (among other things) are the "justification" for the extreme convenience of the Sovereigns.

    How about, if you opt out of ship damage carryover, you also opt out of the use of the Sovereigns?

  • @burnbacon said in Proposed Changes to the "Pay to Restore Ship" function.:

    Similar to repairs on your personal vehicle.

    You pay for it or leave it alone and continue to drive.

    Wish I could use my SoT gold to fix up my van 😆

    The cost is negligible for me. I think I managed to get 5k for repairs. It's usually less than 2k, and that's after being pounded by the final stage of the veil.

  • @sweetsandman
    But I don't think that's true, because you never need to spend money to repair your ship currently. So people who pay zero gold currently still get to use the Sovereigns as much as they want. Same with those who don't pay to save cosmetics to their ship. Realistically the only cost that must be paid for the convenience is the 250,000 gold minium for buying your ship.

  • @maximusarael020 said in Proposed Changes to the "Pay to Restore Ship" function.:

    you never need to spend money to repair your ship currently.

    That kinda validates my idea...You want your ship to look pretty AND use the Sovereigns? Then pay the toll.

    My idea would allow you to avoid the toll, but forego the Sovereigns' convenience as well.

  • @sweetsandman

    But I already did the only necessary requirement to use the Sovereigns: bought a ship. The Sovereigns don't seem to have anything to do with any of the Captaincy things except buying loot exclusively from captains.

    You buy Captain Voyages from the shipwright. You pay the shipwright for repairs. You pay the shipwright for saving cosmetics to your ship. It seems like you buy your ship from the Pirate Lord but I suppose that's not exclusively true. It seems odd to include the Sovereigns in anything with ship repairs because lore-wise they don't have anything to do with it.

    Secondly, why should there need to be a trade-off at all? We've been waiting for Captaincy for 4 years and now when we get it owning your ship means you have to pay to make it look nice everytime there's a scuff on it? The game is about "tools not rules" so why not just have the option to keep damage as basically a cosmetic thing? They could even add "damaged" looks to the cosmetic shop or something. Bite marks for a Meg attack, big sucker marks for the kraken, maybe cannon ball holes with purple or green smoke for getting hit with a cursed cannonball, etc.

    I just don't know why there needs to be a "balance" for Captaincy. "You get the convenience of using the Sovereigns but have to pay to have a nice looking ship." That's not really true of other things in-game. It's just more end-game content. There isn't "balance" for reaching Pirate Legend. You just get access to more stuff.

    And there's already "balance" for Captaincy. It costs gold to buy your ship. It costs gold to save cosmetics to it. And now even if you don't fly an emissary you're still valuable to Reapers because of your log book, so it's kind of an "opt-in" to PvP like emissary flags are, without showing up on the nap. So why is this extra charge necessary? It just feels like a step down.

  • @maximusarael020 It's a perpetual gold sink. We've been begging for gold to have a purpose for literally YEARS. Finally, we've got a few reasons. I'm now (slightly) less inclined to leave loot floating in the water and I'm happy about that.

    Honestly, I think the ship repair costs should have been higher.

  • @sweetsandman
    But that works with my proposed system as well! Those who have tens or hundreds of millions of gold can still pay to have their ship fixed and have an excuse to spend their gold. But others don't have to. Like a tax on the wealthy instead of the lower to middle class. The system I proposed caters to the need for those who have it to sink gold if that's something they feel they've been needing! It's a win-win!

  • @pithyrumble
    Mine on my sloop is over 8,000 currently. Does anyone know if there's a cap on it or will it just keep increasing?

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