Manifest in the Water during Merchant Shipwreck voyages

A strange thing I noticed regarding this topic some time ago (I would love other people who have the time or patience to investigate this further!!):

As most people familiar with the voyages know, the final clue you find that states the ship is making it's way toward its destination will also have some kind of mention of a calamity or incident that would lead to a ship sinking (ran out of wood, heard a kraken nearby, ran aground, saw a storm coming, etc.) just to flesh out the storyline a bit. Most of them are pretty funny.

Now keep in mind that I haven't tested this with any degree of scientific method, nor have I done several Lost Shipment voyages in one sitting since many seasons ago, but I can confirm that back then 100% of the time the final clue mentioned a maelstrom (which is a huge whirlpool that sucks down ships whole for anyone unfamiliar with the term) we only ever encountered a manifest floating in the water and no shipwreck to be found beneath the waves.

Can't guarantee there's a correlation there (or how it would work if there was) or if it's just an incredible coincidence, but my crew never ever got a 'maelstrom' final clue and found a shipwreck at the end of the voyage.

Would be interested to hear if anyone has experienced this also?

@thegrimpreacher said in Manifest in the Water during Merchant Shipwreck voyages:

A strange thing I noticed regarding this topic some time ago (I would love other people who have the time or patience to investigate this further!!):

As most people familiar with the voyages know, the final clue you find that states the ship is making it's way toward its destination will also have some kind of mention of a calamity or incident that would lead to a ship sinking (ran out of wood, heard a kraken nearby, ran aground, saw a storm coming, etc.) just to flesh out the storyline a bit. Most of them are pretty funny.

Now keep in mind that I haven't tested this with any degree of scientific method, nor have I done several Lost Shipment voyages in one sitting since many seasons ago, but I can confirm that back then 100% of the time the final clue mentioned a maelstrom (which is a huge whirlpool that sucks down ships whole for anyone unfamiliar with the term) we only ever encountered a manifest floating in the water and no shipwreck to be found beneath the waves.

Can't guarantee there's a correlation there (or how it would work if there was) or if it's just an incredible coincidence, but my crew never ever got a 'maelstrom' final clue and found a shipwreck at the end of the voyage.

Would be interested to hear if anyone has experienced this also?

Yes, 100%. This has been noticed by many folk. It was first pointed out to me by Shumba on his stream, and I can confirm that the "maelstrom" voyages are always bugged for me.

@realstyli

Oh good, it's not just me then! My buddy Rhino pointed it out to me while we were out on one about a year or so back, and I just kinda dismissed it at the time.

I figured the clues are all randomly generated, right? What are the chances that the final note you find has any kind of procedural effect on whether the game generates a wreck or not when you reach the final set of birds?? Apparently it does.

@thegrimpreacher

Yeah, I don't know what would cause it or why it would be specifically that last clue. I wouldn't have thought there was a correlation between the text and the actual wrecks, but this would suggest there is and it's not just flavour text.

@ravenclaw214 said in Manifest in the Water during Merchant Shipwreck voyages:

@realstyli
Based on what everyone is saying I think it might be an actual feature but the one thing is that why would they make one clue worse than the others

It would be a really terrible feature if that were the case. No other voyage does anything like that and wastes the players' time on a wild goose chase. So I still think it's a bug.

Running these just for the manifests for the Reaper commendation I typically just head to the destination first to grab the book.. you could do the same to check if you got a ship to spawn and back track for the key?

Not sure if that would help save time in the long run, but is a possible workaround

I've done well over 200 of these since their release and i'd say about 1 in 8 or so has been a manifest in the water with some routes being more prone to it than others.

I can also confirm that Maelstrom ones seem to be guaranteed manifest in the water though i haven't actively tested it or payed close attention to it either.

I also think they are spawned with it being just the manifest when the shipwreck is unable to spawn (i've heard different theories for this like another shipwreck being too close in the area and shipwrecks being limited to one per so much space but its hard to say).

I understand it might have to be a thing and not be something fixable if it is because of a bug but i'm just hoping they would consider adding a little loot along with the manifest.