Treasure Hunt in-depth analysis

[Captain Jack]

This feature has took us 2 extra months than originally thought. The greatest difficulty we encountered were the numerous re-starts in how the mechanisms will work. We started from a pretty complicated prototype which had to be simplified in order to be understandable and fair in the same time.

This is intended to be a hybrid feature where the player can compete both against the player and the "computer".
The feature itself is in fact separated in 2 major checks, as shown in the diagram below:


Get to know the area
The feature try to simulate a real case scenario where:
-The hunter first and foremost needs to get familiar with the area he is going to search for treasure. For this reason he must spend some considerable time. Once the hunter learns a region/port well, he will remember is for quite some time. This means that he can search anytime in the same port, without needing to re-explore. Of course, as much time passes, he will start losing memory but only real slowly (1% per region per week).

The knowledge of the area plays the most important role in determining success. If one knows the area well, then he is destined to success most of the time.

Winnings are world-related
However, what success one can have when there is not enough treasure?

Here we come to the most important element of the feature. Winnings are highly scalable and are directly related to what the players themselves allow.

This is defined by two simple rules.
1)Greatest treasure one can find, is the 1/4 (25%) of the largest buried treasure in a port.
2)If this treasure is not coming from a player, then it can be up to 1/16 (6.25%) of the largest buried treasure in port.

The port locals will provide this info to you.
If no treasure is buried, then there will be no treasure to be found - at all-.
The turns cost (related to the player wealth - if you are a poor player, 1 million matters. If you are a rich one, 1 million is nothing) in compare to wealth buried will determine whether or not a player will be interested to use this feature or not.

Is there enough treasure for me?

The gold per turn ration is also affected by the extra turns the player needs to invest in order to obtain valuable information such as:
-Which is the greatest amount buried here?
-How much of this can I earn?

Your quartermaster will not only provide such info for you but will also raise the maximum winnings.
These limits will be maintained in case of failure but will be reset in case of success.

Sufficient anti-cheat measures
Players won't be able to go for NPC treasure all the time.
Not only, you will need to spend turns in Port Locals but your chances to find NPC treasure will get thinner once you find one.
The only way to increase NPC chances is to find a player treasure.

More mechanisms are used in order to ensure that milking through arrangements between players will fail.


PvP is fair play

At one hand, the player who buries his treasure, gets a handful of perks to keep it safe in the days to come:
1)He gets a place to hide his gold.
2)Only 25% of his treasure is in danger.
3)If he loses this 25%, he earns 1 week protection.
4)The hunter needs to spend turns to avoid all NPC obstacles.
5)The hunter still needs to overcome the NPC trouble and chances.
6)The hunter needs to have at least double the turn effort (for turns 2000 or less)
7)There can always be a less prepared treasure than yours in port!

At another, the hunter can be persistent. It is this persistency that will signal the breach of huge treasures in the feature.

[Captain dungeness]

I just got this message and I would like a little clarification:

"Alas! Some bloody thief has found part of your treasure in Tortuga! It seems that you lost about 5,000 gold coins! Your gold will now remain safe for one week. You might want to bury it a bit better during this time to srug off future attempts."

("srug" should be "shrug")

Does this mean only my remaining 15,000 buried gold in Tortuga will be safe but not other ports? Or does this mean ALL the gold I have buried everywhere is safe for a week?

-Captain D

[Captain Jack]

Only in specific port (in your case, Tortuga).

[Mugiwara]

Get to know the area
The feature try to simulate a real case scenario where:
-The hunter first and foremost needs to get familiar with the area he is going to search for treasure. For this reason he must spend some considerable time. Once the hunter learns a region/port well, he will remember is for quite some time. This means that he can search anytime in the same port, without needing to re-explore. Of course, as much time passes, he will start losing memory but only real slowly (1% per region per week).

Is this %1 lose still active? I thought maybe it changed but im not sure. i explored a port 100% and tried a few hunts 48 days ago. But stopped to doing it. Even now still that port 100% explored. I dont know its bug or not. Just want to share it.

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Late Reply: It is not active - Cpt Jack