Moving Soldiers with Ships

[Jack Teach]

Kidnapping them would be more piratey, Jack, no??

In a way, yes, but it would also make the task of attacking a large plantation much more difficult than it already is, and it already seems to me to be a pretty difficult task.

New Trade Routes system will take the management nightmare out. Then new nightmares will need to replace the eliminated ones.

Could you elaborate on that?

[Captain Jack]

Replying without quoting:

-There is no decision made. This is an open discussion.
-There is no priority given yet. A discussion usually turns to a suggestion that makes the topic more specific which then needs to be approved. Once it is approved, it can be prioritized.

The current implementation is Trade Routes redesign. It is long due and it must be implemented as soon as possible. I am positive that the new system will allow easier return of players to the game.

Following up, I would ideally want to couple the redesign with a hot new feature, which I will make my best to deliver as soon as possible.

Once both steps are done and the game stabilizes, we will move it to version 2.0 (discussed before). Version 2.0 is important because it will signify a new Era of the game and it will allow me to send a mass mail to inform old players of the developments and invite them back. The hot new feature is not mandatory for version 2.0 but if we could at least lay down some foundation for this, it would be good to inspire the return of old players.

Having these in mind, I am concerned about the unchallenged part of the current plantation system. Plantations, when designed were to come with the Disaster system, in order to balance their earnings. Following the initial criticism on them , the Disasters were never implemented. Currently, I am hesitant to add a PvE feature (such as Disasters) on top of plantations. I would prefer a PvP feature to control it, such as Plantations Warfare.

Regarding plantations warfare, I remember discussing this before but i could not find any topics. Perhaps this was on slack. Anyway, I have a lot of ideas for plantation warfare and they are mostly good and I think you will like them. I will try to come up with a post explaining them , in the coming days. For now, it is just an idea. Not even a discussion. I am not going to push anything down the throat of anyone. Anything will need to go through the standard procedure of idea-discuss-suggest-approve-prioritization-implementation.

[Most Lee Harmless]

My issue is that the mere development of a plantation is onerous enough. The sheer amount of gold bars reqd to improve even a modest-sized plantation is immense. And that is when it is located in the same port as your goldsmith.

If not in the same port then the risk of moving large quantities comes into play. If you lack a goldsmith of decent level then the burden of making in-port purchases falls upon you.

Next : pay for permissions, ship in workers, or spend more coin buying them, add consumables : food etc to keep them alive until, eventually, you have a plantation that can support itself, pay for its rent, governors bribes (sorry... permissions) and then... add more investment to bring it to the blessed stage of adding coin to your vaults rather than subtracting it.

Now... it seems to be that further hurdles must be added... mmmm... a hurdle too far, methinks.

[Shadowood]

Foot Soldiers has been an idea for a long time, well before Plantations were even considered I believe. If soldiers were implemented, I feel they should be tied into a Port Fort system and not Plantations. However, they can still attack plantations (Raiding Party), but they belong (Stationed) in a Fort.

* Strength of Soldiers should be based not just on Size, but equipment and experience.
* An experience system like Plantation Worker would work. Soldiers will gain experience from battle and plantation raids.
* Equipment would come from a new building in the Fort. The "Smith" or the "Foundry"
* The Foundry would be a new GOLD BAR SINK. Upgrade and Unlock weapons and armor. Bronze, Steel, Iron

There is a ton of stuff that could go into an upgrade like this in the game. I look forward to seeing what comes out of this discussion. Something, I hope.

[Captain Jack]

Foot Soldiers has been an idea for a long time, well before Plantations were even considered I believe. If soldiers were implemented, I feel they should be tied into a Port Fort system and not Plantations. However, they can still attack plantations (Raiding Party), but they belong (Stationed) in a Fort.

* Strength of Soldiers should be based not just on Size, but equipment and experience.
* An experience system like Plantation Worker would work. Soldiers will gain experience from battle and plantation raids.
* Equipment would come from a new building in the Fort. The "Smith" or the "Foundry"
* The Foundry would be a new GOLD BAR SINK. Upgrade and Unlock weapons and armor. Bronze, Steel, Iron

There is a ton of stuff that could go into an upgrade like this in the game. I look forward to seeing what comes out of this discussion. Something, I hope.

Tools too. The problem is that we lack the tool production we need. So there will only be a fraction initially.

[Admiral Nelson]

How about reactivating Official List of Demands, that is a potential PvP disaster for Plantations?

Even if it is, for a short duration until a new update would be made.

A simple drop from 15% to 5% of resources, could suffice.

[Argo]

[quote="Shadowood".... If soldiers were implemented, I feel they should be tied into a Port Fort system and not Plantations. However, they can still attack plantations (Raiding Party), but they belong (Stationed) in a Fort.[/quote]

[sXs]

Having these in mind, I am concerned about the unchallenged part of the current plantation system.

There is a very simple solution to this that does not require huge additions, changes or upgrades.

-Profits from plantations should be transported back to hideout to be deposited in your bank. Right now the profits simply go to on hand. I sign in and deposit. The only threat to these profits is booty master card. As I stated before, you do not need a single fleet to run a hugely profitable plantation. You can buy everything from players markets.

Treat plantation profits the same as Goldsmith. you can not deposit profits in the same port as generated, they must be transported. This allows several things. If i generate profits in New Land from a plantation, I should need to transport those profits to my bank.

#1 It does not destroy the huge investment required to upgrade plantations(to Stans concern)
#2 It is more historically accurate. i.e. historical treasure fleets and armadas to protect them.
#3 It brings plantations into the general theme of the game. Sailing, pirates, strategy and planning.
#4 It would be able to be tied directly into other approved suggestions. Port blockades, contract shipping, Flagships, Letter of Marque, maybe even an Armada type upgrade.
#5 probably most controversial........ it would bring back the black flag as a legitimate game path for those that wish it.

I believe I have the largest plantation in the game right now. running at max, this one plantation generates more gc in a day than any trade route or party route I have ever ran requiring 100 fleets or more, And it requires no ships at all if I chose to play that way. If these profits were at risk via raid or transport plunder, I would definitely change several things instead of simply signing in and depositing gold. This is where the imbalance in game is. Pirates do not raise armies to raid plantations. Yes nations can do this, maybe even a privateer or two.

[Sir Henry Morgan]

I concur with that - plantation goods should be moved out and sold at other ports; local ports could purchase for the criminally cheap price of 1 gc and the fleets would arrive to haul it away!

[DezNutz]

I concur with that - plantation goods should be moved out and sold at other ports; local ports could purchase for the criminally cheap price of 1 gc and the fleets would arrive to haul it away!

There is a downside to that. Plantations was intended to replace game production of resources.

There are a couple of things to really make plantations force to transport their goods. This is what I would do.

1.) Ports no longer sell resources.
2.) Ports buy and consume resources.
3.) Ports cannot buy resources that are made from a plantation within the same port.
4.) Plantations can produce any resource selected by the plantation owner.
5.) Plantations can only produce 1 resource type at a time.
6.) Plantations can change the resource it produces either once every 90 days or at a cost.
7.) Players can either sell their resources via the player market or transport and sell to another port.
8.) Port populations will need considerable resources to maintain populations. More Pop= More Resources Consumed
9.) Insufficient resources supplied to a port = population loss.


Of course this comes at the price that player market prices could be ridiculous. Which would of course make it difficult for new players starting out.

Of course there are things that can be done to mitigate that.