Raising the standart stock of supplies? Have you ever gotten into a "resource fight"?

  • CommodoreMerlin
    Lord
    Insider
    Founder

    Ahoi fellow pirates out there!
    Yes, this is a suggestion thread but in the first place I wanna ask for your experience/behavior on that topic.

    So with Shrouded Spoils we got an awesome update to the Sea of Thieves that wraps up all we had before and smashes it on to us so we got at least 500 more hours of fun.
    With the encounters that can happen to you in every second you are away from an island I´ve seen a change in my and many others behavior. Before actually doing a voyage or sailing to a fort or track other players down, I spend up to 30 minutes stocking up my ship. Out of fear to encounter the Kraken, the Megalodon and two Skalions before I even reach the next island.
    Another thing I see more and more is random crews I join being mid fight with the Kraken and when I check their resources I see 15 bananas, 10 planks and 15 cannon balls in each barrel except the upper one. I think for new crews there is not much of a reason to stay on the outpost for the first 15 to 30 minutes of the game, rather than sailing out in the ocean and see what the game has in stock.

    And because I spend so much time stocking up befre I leavbe the outpost (and annoying my impatient friends with that) and seeing new players being absolutely crushed because they hadn´t thought of stocking up the ship for 15 minutes, I asked myself if such a low standart supply is still necessary.

    My question to you is: Have you ever gotten into a resource fight? Especially since they introduced the Cursed Cannonballs, which gave all fights such an unpredictable touch.
    I for my part can´t think of the last time I run out of resources while in player to player combat. And I haven´t seen the enemy crew out of resources when I board their ship to the end of a battle.

    With the new enounters draining your resources so fast as they do now, I think raising the standart stock will still be balanced. And I was thinking about a quite signifcant raise here. 50 Cannonballs for each barrel, even though on a gally and brig this might need some work to be balanced. And 50 bananas and planks each.

    Looking into the future at The Arena, this increase could mean faster sessions, focused on PvP only and not resource gathering, while it could also take away the aspect of proper and efficient preparation for a fight.

    Well, this is it. Thank you all for your time and please let me know what you think about this.
    But focus on the discussion about the fights, how they turn out, if resources are a decisive factor for you and what an increased amount of supplies would mean.
    And how long do you prepare your session, do you sail to a fort or another outpost before doing a voyage?
    How many supplies and in what way, be it more on the ship or more found in barrels on the dock, that can be discussed at some other point.

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  • Ghostpaw
    Legend

    @commodoremerlin My crew and I have always hit a fort and stocked up before heading out for adventure. Early on we figured out a ship with more supplies in a conflict had a better chance of survival. I’ve always viewed the starter supplies as insurance against the spawning in a situation where you cannot even make it to a fort for supplies without getting sunk (storm, hitting a sandbar, etc.).

    You raise a good point about newer players not realizing how important it is to stock up. Most figure it out after being caught with too few planks before they sink. My reluctance to agreeing with you over raising the amount of starter supplies is the same reason I would hate to have everyone spawn with full supplies. There are even good arguments for reducing the starter supplies.

    Ever have a crew keep attacking you at a fort or elsewhere? Now imagine them comming back with plenty of supplies. You bested them already but they are in good shape again. With the current setup they cannot sustain much beyond the initial battle without stopping somewhere to stock up first. Since they are not going to be moved to another server after you sink them a couple of times, if ships started out with less supplies it would help crews deal with persistent rival crews.

    There have been a number of discussions about the lack of any investment in a ship. Some players want there to be some kind of penalty for dying or sinking. Crews without loot are free to engage others without risking anything. I’ve always felt the time we spend stocking up was what we risk if we sink. We invested time. Going after another ship with basic supplies is starting the fight at a disadvantage. Raising the level of starter supplies would strip away that “ownership” of the boat and the consequences of sinking.

  • CotU42
    Lord
    Insider

    @commodoremerlin stocking and resource management are key aspects of the game.

    The only rebalance I think is reasonable is that of a brand new ship that joins a server, my estimate is double the current values in each barrel.

    This should not be given to a ship that sunk. As this would make the return tactic to powerful in PvP and is a reasonable cost to sinking in my opinion.

    This will allow crews to sail out at the start of the session, which most of us want to do without the need to stock up for 10 - 15 mins. Just pop in, decide what to do and start sailing without impacting the balance within the game.

  • CommodoreMerlin
    Lord
    Insider
    Founder

    @ghostpaw With the forts you mentioned something I haven´t thought of yet.
    And it makes sense. Raising starter supplies would cause you to be outresourced at a fort really fast.

    Now giving it a quick thought the solution to this could be to provide more supplies only on the beginning of a session, when you spawn into the server for the very first time. This would benefit people who keep their ship alive.

    Thank you for the feedback and the problem you got me on to.

  • CommodoreMerlin
    Lord
    Insider
    Founder

    @cotu42 Yes, that seems reasonable. That´s my main point here actually. When I start the game I wanna head out as soon as I join in. Raising the starter supplies only when you first spawn in seems like a fair and well thought compromise.

    Thank you for the feedback.

  • Ghostpaw
    Legend

    @commodoremerlin said in Raising the standart stock of supplies? Have you ever gotten into a "resource fight"?:

    @ghostpaw With the forts you mentioned something I haven´t thought of yet.
    And it makes sense. Raising starter supplies would cause you to be outresourced at a fort really fast.

    Now giving it a quick thought the solution to this could be to provide more supplies only on the beginning of a session, when you spawn into the server for the very first time. This would benefit people who keep their ship alive.

    Thank you for the feedback and the problem you got me on to.

    First, I want to commend you on your willingness to actually discuss the idea and incorporate other points of view.

    I could get behind a boost in initial supplies when we first start out a session. It seems like a fair compromise.

  • HaydnSym45
    Marauder
    Insider

    Most fights between equals (skills or numbers) book down to resource attrition. Having said that I don’t usually stock up... volcanos are too happy to sink me... or a kraken+meg. So I’ll gather as the Athena/fort progresses.

  • CommodoreMerlin
    Lord
    Insider
    Founder

    @haydnsym45 Interesting how different the experience can be... I have had the opportunity to steal resources off the sinking ships of my enemies very often. The only ships that run out of resources are the plain white/standart skin ships with people shooting 5-10 cannonballs at you as you sail by them in the opposite direction.
    And I often get attacked right after I leave the outpost for the first time, so I tend to stock up to be prepared. Of course during the session I keep filling my ship more and more so that I do not have to panic when meg appears during the fight with the skelly ship that spawned right after I defeated the kraken :D

  • HaydnSym45
    Marauder
    Insider

    @commodoremerlin Don’t get me wrong I clearly believe in the power of supplies. I used to stock up like you, but now I just kind of see it as a time soak. Even heading to a contested fort... as long as we have a gunpowder barrel on board we’re good. I guess just a couple too many times gathering just to sink and realize the time wasted. Now we did run out of cannonballs against a PvP + Karken last week - but still got away to sell the loot regardless.

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