Sencliff Ship Rental

[facesmash]

So the cliff has been getting a lot more traffic lately, likely due to the lv. 6 start. This is fine, and its nice to see new faces about. However, along with this lv. 6 start and influx of population also comes with a lot of people that seemingly have no idea what can happen when you rent a ship and go out at lv. 6 on your own.

I should preface my suggestion by saying the 'vets' have tried to do our part by placing warning signs, placing postings on the message board about how greenies should not be going out alone and if they leave the ship stranded they'll have consequences to face ECT ECT, but none of this seems to work or stick in a way that wouldn't just turn into an endless pvp bashing everytime a greenie touches a boat (which just isn't fun for anyone).

I suggest making the cliff boats have a rank requirement of at least veteran or higher (3rd rank I believe, after greenhorn and shipmate) before they can rent a ship. This prevents the new influx of players from just grabbing both ships and then dying out at sea leaving them abandoned until a reset (which dont happen that often). I've been able to get some groups together when one is lost, while taking the other ship and bringing the lost ship back to the port, but when both are lost at sea it leaves everyone without ship to use.

I believe this would help not only ensure the ships are always (or at the very least more often) available to use, but also would help the new players of the cliff get integrated in the community and form groups to sail where the more experienced sailors can show the greenies the ropes (as it should be). Just my two cents of what I've seen and experienced since the influx of lv. 6 starts have happened.

Thanks

[Edens_Fall]

That or one ship that is restricted to higher pirates and the rest leave as is?

[facesmash]

That or one ship that is restricted to higher pirates and the rest leave as is?

Yeah this would be fine as well. At least that way, we have a chance to go out and rescue the lost ship. The main issue is both being lost at sea by what I assume to be new players to how the ship/sea mechanics work. I'm not sure if there are plans in the works to give the Cliff a 3rd ship, but if there are maybe make that one a high rank ship only.

[Ork]

Sencliff's vessels are painful. The price of a severe mechanical consequence for the ink is met with two of the slowest ships in the module for rental. Players frequently careen these vessels into the open waters and leave them floating for god knows how long. It was one of the most frustrating experiences of being a pirate when you can't even pirate.

[malcolm_mountainslayer]

it should be explaiend to players that at sea writs are a trap for effecient low level progression. THe writs giver should arranged the land lubbing writs at the beginning of the list AND should mention to the player they can still get proper normal writs at cities.

[xanrael]

Or could have the NPC crew steer it home after the timer has passed. So you can't abandon the ship unless it is at port but once the full IG 24 hours has passed if the next person rents it it will move the ship back to Sencliff.

So a rental ship can be lost at sea for a little over 2 RL hours but no longer. That would also give a pseudo-resolution for rare bugs that can happen to anyone like being unable to board back from a skiff/ladder.

Also the reason I suggest this over the other is for time periods where Sencliff is dead at off hours, especially when the newness of the place wears off. If you never see any vets+ walking around and you can only make shipmate from land based writs the ships are effectively unusable. Though I wouldn't be opposed to half and half where one ship is usable by anyone and the other (probably warship) requires a higher rank.

[facesmash]

Or could have the NPC crew steer it home after the timer has passed. So you can't abandon the ship unless it is at port but once the full IG 24 hours has passed if the next person rents it it will move the ship back to Sencliff.

So a rental ship can be lost at sea for a little over 2 RL hours but no longer. That would also give a pseudo-resolution for rare bugs that can happen to anyone like being unable to board back from a skiff/ladder.

Also the reason I suggest this over the other is for time periods where Sencliff is dead at off hours, especially when the newness of the place wears off. If you never see any vets+ walking around and you can only make shipmate from land based writs the ships are effectively unusable. Though I wouldn't be opposed to half and half where one ship is usable by anyone and the other (probably warship) requires a higher rank.

This would also work, yes. Thanks for the additional suggestion.

[Apothys]

Lets be honest. Im sure Nassau back in the golden age of piracy had quite a few vessels and were not forced to share ships and wait on the docks for a ship to hopefully come back to port.

Cordor has 2 ships: 1 is a state owned warship, 1 a rental.

Guldorand has 5 ships: 1 state owned, 2 private and 2 rentals.

Sencliff a pirate haven full of pirates queing up on the docks has only 2 rental ships which are constantly being sunk by greenhorns.

what would be nice if each of the new large crew Quarters (guild houses) made for separate crews had a ship each. This way they could focus on there own privately owned ships and could focus on using that ship and upgrading them, and the rental ships can be used by other pirates without a crew and greenhorns. Given that the crew quarters are only available to Dread pirates this would be another incentive to become a Dread pirate, muster a crew and take one of the Large Crew Quarters. Plus without a settlement mechanic, it would be a nice push t gathering resources to upgrade your crews ship.

Thats my thoughts on this, what do you all think?

[Irongron]

Lets be honest. Im sure Nassau back in the golden age of piracy had quite a few vessels and were not forced to share ships and wait on the docks for a ship to hopefully come back to port.

Cordor has 2 ships: 1 is a state owned warship, 1 a rental.

Guldorand has 5 ships: 1 state owned, 2 private and 2 rentals.

Sencliff a pirate haven full of pirates queing up on the docks has only 2 rental ships which are constantly being sunk by greenhorns.

what would be nice if each of the new large crew Quarters (guild houses) made for separate crews had a ship each. This way they could focus on there own privately owned ships and could focus on using that ship and upgrading them, and the rental ships can be used by other pirates without a crew and greenhorns. Given that the crew quarters are only available to Dread pirates this would be another incentive to become a Dread pirate, muster a crew and take one of the Large Crew Quarters. Plus without a settlement mechanic, it would be a nice push t gathering resources to upgrade your crews ship.

Thats my thoughts on this, what do you all think?

I did consider having ships tied to each crew house, and may move forward with that. It has also always been my intention to have a number of Sencliff ships tied to different ranks, so this will happen sooner or later.

I should also correct the above ship list.

Guldorand has TWO ships, not five - the Timber Fleet and the Guldorand Galleon.

The Free Port has 4, but that is non-settlement and open to everyone, and also, effectively serves Myon. Guldorand (the settlement power) has the same number as Cordor, Brogendenstein & Sencliff.

[Apothys]

I did consider having ships tied to each crew house, and may move forward with that. It has also always been my intention to have a number of Sencliff ships tied to different ranks, so this will happen sooner or later.

Speaking from a player point of view these are both great ideas.

However from a players perspective I would lean more in favour of ships tied to the large crew quarters. Only so that there is less moving siege weapons on and off ships not owned by yourself and your crew. Or certain pirate ranks from different crews squabbling over the state of specific ships available to them at the time. Theres nothing like naming your own crews ship and then making it your own with fixtures and siege weapons.

Having said that, at this point, anything is better than what's happening now. No one wants to fix up the ships anymore and people are starting to name and shame on the boards on the docks if ships get lost at sea or sunk, its getting a bit toxic and obviously affecting players enjoyment of the game.

Thanks for the response by the way. Means a lot to know there's something in the pipeline.

[helitron]

Many vets, including my char, have been running around teaching new players / greenhorn pirates how to do writs and how to use / not to use the ships. There is even a board in the Feasthall made by another player that explains the most important points IC. Before the Sencliff update this was still manageable, but with the increased pirate population (due to location overhaul and level 6 start, removal of clamper, etc), I guess I can speak for many veterans that it's hard to keep up and enforce that everyone adheres to these IC rules.

The current state is an unfortunate combination of many low level pirates having access to ships and pirate writs which turn out to be a death trap due to the high level spawns around Sencliff. So they simply die on the ship and often ragequit without considering releasing the ship or asking for help to retrieve it. With only 2 ships, this can be very frustrating to everyone else. Also, I have the impression that the level 6 start is very attractive to players that are very new to Arelith, since they want to give it a try and skip forward a bit. Many of those are not fully informed about all rules and details of this PW.

The current situation also prevents any type of upgrades, because nobody wants to invest into ships that everyone with ink can access and destroy at their will. Same goes for all placeables that are placed on the ships (weapons, chests, etc), there is no security that these are not removed by others. This is even a potential exploit to some degree, but that should not be the topic to discuss here.

I fully support the idea of having ships attached the crew quarters. That would clearly make Sencliff even more attractive. I know several pirate chars that are looking for (semi-)permanent ships to call their crew's own vessel. Unfortunately these permanent ships are never available and there is almost no chance for obtaining one of these in the lifetime of a char.

[Xarge VI]

The spawns are very overpowering in Sencliff region. Just by taking the ship from Sencliff to Arelith on my level 16 character the first spawn I encountered was a boarding group of Sahuagin Masters and a Priestess. Maybe tone down the possible spawns on the squares that are the direct route from Sencliff to Arelith, so that even lower level pirates can chase merchant ships and sandbanks.

The main issue I think is that since the Sencliff rental ships leave from Sencliff they leave from a square on the map that has high level spawns, instead of the Arelith square that has manageable spawns for even lower levels.