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Check out general Announcements here to see the latest news on Ashes of Creation & Intrepid Studios.
To get the quickest updates regarding Alpha Two, connect your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Pimp My Caravan (Ideas for Caravan quests & Mechanics)
Kilion
Member, Alpha Two
Hello there!
Since we haven't seen much of the caravan system since A1, I'd like to discuss some possible design ideas how to make Caravans engaging, more interesting and worthwhile for raiders and defenders alike, as well as designing rewards in a way, that it ensures even players of higher levels might consider taking up an escorting request of a lower level player.
Let's dive into it.
See the Wiki about Caravans for further context because obviously I don't want to reset the whole development process but much rather add to what is already planned or propose small modifications.
Scenario of what I imagine: Boonie, lv 30 player, is a highly proficient weaver and has crafted a lot of valuable lengths of fine silk that he want to sell a few Nodes over to the religious Node as their recent demand for cloth armor has been high, due to their Node promoting and that starting an event where undead wizards flood the surrounding land. Unfortunately the way for the caravan is rather dangerous, many have been raided recently by high level Highwaymen.
Boonie puts up a request for a Caravan escort of 5 people. He probably doesn't have as much funding as a Lv 50 player but since the goods in the Caravan are very valuable at the destination, to which they are supposed to go to, the reputation reward is pretty decent, also helping lower level players rewards the defenders with some bonus reputation from the city Boonie is a citizen of.
Boonie requires the leader of the party to be a Rouge Archetype, so the Caravan can be augmented for stealth. With these preparations Boonie's Caravan launches and successfully reaches its goal as the defenders was able to avoid one group of raiders and fend off another. Additionally they found a small chest by the roadside with a small amount of extra loot.
Caravan leaders are the leader of the group that is put in charge of defending a Caravan. The Leader of a Caravan group cannot change once the quest/event starts, it cannot be changed from the requirements someone has made on the quest board. Beyond just being the group leader, they could be the source of the augmentation that is applied on the Caravan. If so, they become a greater target for raiders to disable the augmentations, as such it makes sense to increase the reward share they receive at the end of a successful escort quest. On the other hand there should also be a increased death penalty or a increased drop in reputation if the caravan quest fails under ones leadership.
As far as I am aware this is not a thing currently, but one that could add some interesting spins and information to Caravan quests, both for raiders and defenders. The point of being able to augment a Caravan is to increase the chances that it reaches its goal, but this will not come for free, there should be some sort of material costs associated with that or additional risks.
How to modify the Caravan?
There are 3 options I see for this:
I think independent of the options mentioned above we can take the archetypes as a guideline to come up with a few ideas how a Caravan can be augmented. So here are a few examples. A caravan should be limited to 1 or with high investment costs be allowed 2 augments of the same archetype
Bard
> In formation (aura; passive buff): Increases movement speed of allies near the caravan 10%; reduces to 5% during battle
> Call for Help (active): Double the objective range for the Caravan for 2 minutes. Players who decide to join as defenders will be rewarded with extra experience points as well as bonus reputation with the Bards Node (of which he is a citizen). Players who join as attackers will lose more reputation with the Nodes associated with that Caravan.
Cleric
> Holy Mission (aura; passive buff): Increases the maximum life points of defenders near the caravan and reduces the received magic damage by (something like) 5%
> Radiant light (active): A blinding light that reduces enemy accuracy and provides a 20s lifesteal buff to allies
Fighter
> Deadly squad (aura; passive buff): Increases the chance for critical strikes and the base physical damage done.
> Execute (active): The Leader of the defenders can execute one target player enemy with less than 10% HP. If he does, it demoralizes the all nearby raiders, reducing their damage output by 5% for 1min.
Mage
> Arcane presence (aura; passive buff): Increases the mana regeneration near the Caravan by a flat amount per second
> Chaotic eruption (active): The Caravan cart emits a wave of destructive magic that damages and knocks down nearby raiders.
Ranger
> On the lookout (aura; passive buff): The defending party receives a warning when players decide to attack the Caravan. The notification will be given as a menacing sound and a visual indicator of the rough direction from which the attackers are approaching
> Rope trap (active): Allows each party member of the Caravan to throw a net on an enemy once. An enemy hit by such an attack will have reduced movement speed and reduces evasion for 10-15 sec
Rouge
> Deathtrap (aura; passive Buff): As soon as the first raiders does damage to the Caravan it emits a poisonous cloud that deals high poison damages nearby raiders. The deathtrap will not disappear upon the defense leaders death.
> Quiet now! (active): The Caravan and its defenders become camouflaged, but their movement speed is reduced. This effect lasts for up to 1min if not cancelled by the leader. (The timer would obviously depend on the degree to which camouflage can actually hide the cravan)
Summoner
> Never alone (aura; passive buff): 2 (or maybe 3) additional NPC guards accompany the Caravan; they don't count as summons, hence they don't reduce the Summoners overall power, but he also cannot directly control them. They type of NPC depends on the region from which the Caravan sets off.
> Stampede (active): Summons 4-10 local beasts to aid the Summoner for 15 sec (number of creatures depending on the number of attackers).
Tank
> Install safe (aura; passive buff): Reduces the amount of resources lootable by 5%; increases physical resistances of nearby defenders by 2,5%
> Hold the line! (active): Transforms the Caravan into a stationary building with increased defense, that attacks the enemy with the lowest health (like a spear thrower standing on top of the Caravan). This state can be maintained for 1 min, unless the leader decides to cancel it.
There would be other things possible as well, e.g. have the caravan hide 1 particular (or random) good that is loaded in it; or have lay down traps that slow down enemies pursuing it; give it a "sprint" type ability and so on.
I would hope that depending on the situation in that region it makes sense to pick different augments for a particular escort mission. e.g. When you are transporting something through a densely populated area having a Bard with call for help would be more useful, while having a Mage in a party of people with low mana pools would do them a much greater service.
So why defend a caravan in the first place? Let me start by saying that at any time anyone should be able to see the rewards before accepting the escort mission. These are the kinds of rewards I could imagine (of which some are already confirmed):
The Highwayman is someone who specializes in Caravans. Like the Bounty Hunter, I regard it as a way to focus on a specific playing style. In this case: PvP around Caravans.
The main feature of the Highwayman "lifestyle" (of which you should only have 1) would be that 10% of all reputation gained would be transformed into Infamy within a ZOI. Infamy will reduce prices with certain traders, grant you access to better outdoor camping equipment, camouflage items for surprise attacks, non-purchasable cosmetics and access to an information dealer in taverns, who will tell you against payment things about where to find the most caravans, established trading routes or even the time when a caravan may launch so that you can target caravans for specific goods.
Thanks for reading!
Since we haven't seen much of the caravan system since A1, I'd like to discuss some possible design ideas how to make Caravans engaging, more interesting and worthwhile for raiders and defenders alike, as well as designing rewards in a way, that it ensures even players of higher levels might consider taking up an escorting request of a lower level player.
Let's dive into it.
See the Wiki about Caravans for further context because obviously I don't want to reset the whole development process but much rather add to what is already planned or propose small modifications.
Scenario of what I imagine: Boonie, lv 30 player, is a highly proficient weaver and has crafted a lot of valuable lengths of fine silk that he want to sell a few Nodes over to the religious Node as their recent demand for cloth armor has been high, due to their Node promoting and that starting an event where undead wizards flood the surrounding land. Unfortunately the way for the caravan is rather dangerous, many have been raided recently by high level Highwaymen.
Boonie puts up a request for a Caravan escort of 5 people. He probably doesn't have as much funding as a Lv 50 player but since the goods in the Caravan are very valuable at the destination, to which they are supposed to go to, the reputation reward is pretty decent, also helping lower level players rewards the defenders with some bonus reputation from the city Boonie is a citizen of.
Boonie requires the leader of the party to be a Rouge Archetype, so the Caravan can be augmented for stealth. With these preparations Boonie's Caravan launches and successfully reaches its goal as the defenders was able to avoid one group of raiders and fend off another. Additionally they found a small chest by the roadside with a small amount of extra loot.
Caravan Leaders
Caravan leaders are the leader of the group that is put in charge of defending a Caravan. The Leader of a Caravan group cannot change once the quest/event starts, it cannot be changed from the requirements someone has made on the quest board. Beyond just being the group leader, they could be the source of the augmentation that is applied on the Caravan. If so, they become a greater target for raiders to disable the augmentations, as such it makes sense to increase the reward share they receive at the end of a successful escort quest. On the other hand there should also be a increased death penalty or a increased drop in reputation if the caravan quest fails under ones leadership.
Caravan Augmentation
As far as I am aware this is not a thing currently, but one that could add some interesting spins and information to Caravan quests, both for raiders and defenders. The point of being able to augment a Caravan is to increase the chances that it reaches its goal, but this will not come for free, there should be some sort of material costs associated with that or additional risks.
How to modify the Caravan?
There are 3 options I see for this:
- a class based item in the Carpentry recipe book, that can be added to a Caravan cart as a permanent active or passive option
- The leader of a Caravan defense team can augment the Caravan
- one consumable item (like an enchantment scroll) can be used per caravan quest / or one per set amount of distance travelled
I think independent of the options mentioned above we can take the archetypes as a guideline to come up with a few ideas how a Caravan can be augmented. So here are a few examples. A caravan should be limited to 1 or with high investment costs be allowed 2 augments of the same archetype
Bard
> In formation (aura; passive buff): Increases movement speed of allies near the caravan 10%; reduces to 5% during battle
> Call for Help (active): Double the objective range for the Caravan for 2 minutes. Players who decide to join as defenders will be rewarded with extra experience points as well as bonus reputation with the Bards Node (of which he is a citizen). Players who join as attackers will lose more reputation with the Nodes associated with that Caravan.
Cleric
> Holy Mission (aura; passive buff): Increases the maximum life points of defenders near the caravan and reduces the received magic damage by (something like) 5%
> Radiant light (active): A blinding light that reduces enemy accuracy and provides a 20s lifesteal buff to allies
Fighter
> Deadly squad (aura; passive buff): Increases the chance for critical strikes and the base physical damage done.
> Execute (active): The Leader of the defenders can execute one target player enemy with less than 10% HP. If he does, it demoralizes the all nearby raiders, reducing their damage output by 5% for 1min.
Mage
> Arcane presence (aura; passive buff): Increases the mana regeneration near the Caravan by a flat amount per second
> Chaotic eruption (active): The Caravan cart emits a wave of destructive magic that damages and knocks down nearby raiders.
Ranger
> On the lookout (aura; passive buff): The defending party receives a warning when players decide to attack the Caravan. The notification will be given as a menacing sound and a visual indicator of the rough direction from which the attackers are approaching
> Rope trap (active): Allows each party member of the Caravan to throw a net on an enemy once. An enemy hit by such an attack will have reduced movement speed and reduces evasion for 10-15 sec
Rouge
> Deathtrap (aura; passive Buff): As soon as the first raiders does damage to the Caravan it emits a poisonous cloud that deals high poison damages nearby raiders. The deathtrap will not disappear upon the defense leaders death.
> Quiet now! (active): The Caravan and its defenders become camouflaged, but their movement speed is reduced. This effect lasts for up to 1min if not cancelled by the leader. (The timer would obviously depend on the degree to which camouflage can actually hide the cravan)
Summoner
> Never alone (aura; passive buff): 2 (or maybe 3) additional NPC guards accompany the Caravan; they don't count as summons, hence they don't reduce the Summoners overall power, but he also cannot directly control them. They type of NPC depends on the region from which the Caravan sets off.
> Stampede (active): Summons 4-10 local beasts to aid the Summoner for 15 sec (number of creatures depending on the number of attackers).
Tank
> Install safe (aura; passive buff): Reduces the amount of resources lootable by 5%; increases physical resistances of nearby defenders by 2,5%
> Hold the line! (active): Transforms the Caravan into a stationary building with increased defense, that attacks the enemy with the lowest health (like a spear thrower standing on top of the Caravan). This state can be maintained for 1 min, unless the leader decides to cancel it.
There would be other things possible as well, e.g. have the caravan hide 1 particular (or random) good that is loaded in it; or have lay down traps that slow down enemies pursuing it; give it a "sprint" type ability and so on.
I would hope that depending on the situation in that region it makes sense to pick different augments for a particular escort mission. e.g. When you are transporting something through a densely populated area having a Bard with call for help would be more useful, while having a Mage in a party of people with low mana pools would do them a much greater service.
Caravan Rewards
So why defend a caravan in the first place? Let me start by saying that at any time anyone should be able to see the rewards before accepting the escort mission. These are the kinds of rewards I could imagine (of which some are already confirmed):
- Player reward: A player putting up the request should be allowed to put up anything they want as a reward. e.g. A weapon smith should be allowed to put up a nice sword as a reward. On finishing the quest it would "drop" like it would have been looted from a mob, so it will be lootable according to the loot rules set by the leader.
- Recipient reward: The defenders of a Caravan should be rewarded with EXP based on the distance travelled, encounters survived and nearby enemy nodes. Additionally there should be a reputation rewards based on the market price of the goods transported.
- The friend of my friend...: If a player with a citizenship has put up the caravan quest, the player should be rewarded with some reputation with that city for productively engaging with one of its citizens. Additional reputation should be given if the player is considerably weaker than the defenders (e.g. 5% per 10 level difference).
- Extra encounters: Being part of a caravan can become a bit boring at some point so I would like it if there were occasional encounters with hostile NPCs (PvE raids basically), rare mobs crossing the way of the caravan or small but useful treasures spawning along the route of the caravan. Maybe even scripted events that introduce quest lines. Again, I wouldn't want there to be a special event of sorts on every caravan quest but maybe a 15-20% chance of something happening would be nice.
The Highwaymen
The Highwayman is someone who specializes in Caravans. Like the Bounty Hunter, I regard it as a way to focus on a specific playing style. In this case: PvP around Caravans.
The main feature of the Highwayman "lifestyle" (of which you should only have 1) would be that 10% of all reputation gained would be transformed into Infamy within a ZOI. Infamy will reduce prices with certain traders, grant you access to better outdoor camping equipment, camouflage items for surprise attacks, non-purchasable cosmetics and access to an information dealer in taverns, who will tell you against payment things about where to find the most caravans, established trading routes or even the time when a caravan may launch so that you can target caravans for specific goods.
Thanks for reading!
The answer is probably >>> HERE <<<
5
Comments
That's a lot of details, let's pin down some key details:
Rewards:
Highwayman:
Caravan augumentation is a hard and flat no all across the board, it limits the possilities and demands a lot of ingame development. Also, super against having suggestions about escort size, composition and roles. Everything that creates limitations in people's play styles is not ok.
The caravan npc encounters is a must have, since it brings more action and it's not crazy full of details.
I am in for anything that brings more freedom and creativity.
Is it possible to create a public courier request without specifying the hauler?
It's important not to worry about who will be hauling the items, and anyone who wants to take on the job should be able to see the request and pick up the items from anywhere.
When multiple people request courier pickups, will each crate containing their items be generated separately?
It would be ideal for each crate to be created, so the hauler can easily distinguish and manage them within the wagon. This would allow the hauler to pick crates from all his neighbours, from the node and then travel to where he has to deliver those crates. He should be able to hop in his wagon and pick crates in multiple places and then deliver each crate to their multiple destinations. Should be able to deliver crates to multiple storages (including freeholds) in the same travel.
Will delivery crates exist and be transferable?
Yes, they should exist, and the hauler should have the ability to transfer the crates from one wagon to another or to storage. If the hauler needs to take a break or wants to complete the delivery at a later time, they should have the freedom to do so. Additionally, there may be situations where a hauler wants to take the crates to their own freehold or for other reasons, and they should be able to do so.
Is there a collateral for each crate?
Yes, clients should specify a gold amount for each crate, and the hauler who accepts the job should have their gold held by the system until the delivery is complete. Once the crates have been delivered, the gold should be returned to the hauler, and they should receive payment for completing the job.
Can I split my goods and create 3 different courier jobs to delivered to 3 different places?
I should be able to do that and the hauler who takes the jobs should be able to have all 3 crates in the wagon/ship and deliver one by one along the way.
A system like this would enable your guild to use a single storage unit as a distribution center and deliver the crates when they deem it appropriate.
This may not matter, because odds are caravans are only used for low value high volume goods that are common in certain biomes and rare/non-existent in other biomes: Iron, hardwoods, wheat, berries, etc. Rare gatherables, probably not. I'm not sure where refining fits in there, but I'd guess refining value-ups stuff while also lowering bulk (IE, 10 iron ores->1 steel bar)
Collateral is a money deposit, which is deposited by hauler beforehand, if the hauler can deliver the goods then he gets his money back. If the hauler doesn't deliver the goods then the deposit will be transfered to the client instead. The hauler could pretty much steal the goods for himself, but then he won't receive his money back.
This is what makes sure the caravaneer will not even consider running a scam caravan, he will do his best to protect the goods, he will bring friends, alts, do intel, have scouts, etc. He will do everything it takes.
Well, the only risk at the momment is scoring those bandit points, Stephen told about this in a stream in 2022. Between you and me, we know this puts pretty much nothing on the table.
So, if we look around then there's this weird corruption system that is a spiritual punishment for a crime, but people can freely attack caravans and it's ok... no bounty hunters will come after bandits.
I think I should win the lotery this week and then I will take a plane, visit Intrepid in person and bring some PvP insights to them! Just hire me as intern for 100 dollars a month and give me a game design position.
Cause EVE has the best damn courier system among all games ever period, no other system comes close. I literally made a living just by moving items around for random people and selling extra cargo.
"Is the caravan system intended to be similar to the EVE Online courier system?" might get it further.
Yeah, if I was going for the official momment of sending the question, I would try to make as good as yours. You wrote the final and perfect version.
It would give more work to BHs and justify their existence even more. The bandits would have a risk related to their attacks, cause now they'd be hunted if they're successful (which would also decrease the potential abuse of the bandit system).
Something good could come out of this.
This depends on the game's design core for that. We don't know enough to say if it would work, but that's like a Tier 4 consideration so it shouldn't take priority over lower ones.
Example: This is the consideration 'hierarchy/pyramid' in Elite Dangerous.
Tier 1: Without some threat to trade hauling, there is no risk-reward. A player must be attackable while hauling.
Tier 2: Without some threat to attacking traders, there is no risk-reward, a successful pirate must build up some negative status or be restricted to a particular area to avoid this.
Tier 3: Without some specific resource deterrent to the attacker, players will manipulate the system by successfully attacking Traders and then letting others defeat them to claim the bounties.
Tier 4: Without some built up negative to the Bounty Hunters, there will be no players willing to be pirates long-term.
Tier 5: Without some limit to the positive effects of Bounty Hunting (or a strong negative effect for Piracy), players will manipulate the 'Nodes' system of that game by building up bounties on alts and then having Node-allied forces claim those bounties.
Bandit Route would end up more similar to their solution for Tier 4, which is that the Anarchy Factions in the 'Node' build up hostility toward the Bounty Hunter. In this case it would be 'Bounty Hunters building up hostility toward Bandits', by your suggestion. They'd be trackable at minimum, attackable without penalty at 'Maximum', without actually needing to be Red. They would just have a bounty on them.
The failpoint would probably be 'what does the Bandit lose, in order for the Bounty Hunter to get the reward'.
In Elite, you lose cash equal to your Bounty when you are finally taken down. Someone had to spend time earning that, or that character is 'basically lost' unless someone puts in all the time after.
In Ashes, I don't think it would be fair for a Bandit to lose gear or similar because they got a high bounty and were good at raiding caravans, but that would be the only equivalent that people wouldn't 'just disregard. Except ofc Arya's usual suggestion of 'Off to the gulag with you!' for that character, which I tentatively support.
90% of the problems inherent in open world games that try to simulate RL economies and interactions come from the fact that 'hardened criminals' mostly get to just keep going, all the way to the point where the only solution to them is to grief THEM and then you're in trouble.
I don't think the currently known (what little there is) design core for Ashes would really 'support' the idea of Bounty Hunters going after Bandit Raider players without a massive increase/commitment to the Bandit side's loss.
If Intrepid already have some good risk planned - great. If they don't - well, there's my current suggestion, have BHs involved in some way.
I can't recall how Elite Dangerous functions and I disliked the game due to its lack of substantial content.
Let's compare real life to games?
In gaming, you have the freedom to commit any offense you desire and die, only to be reborn in the next second with barely no limitations on your actions. Consequently, the effort the victim invested in collecting and manufacturing items over several days can be lost or ruined in mere seconds, with the criminal simply respawning to continue their unrestricted behavior.
Why is it ok having days of work destroyed and the criminal stays zero seconds in jail?
No game ever implemented a Justice system, but at least in Ultima Online, I have been sent to jail multiple times and it was fun.
In AoC there's bounty hunters... but the bounty hunters are pursuing spiritually tainted people
Let's imagine there are orbs of many colors, green, blue, yellow, pink, etc. The stagecoach, should have on top of it or on the side of the rider, something to place these orbs... these orbs would look like crystal balls... but they be colored and glow
That's all, the reinman (wagon driver) would change this ammo... could be a consumable or could be an item
This could give the augumentation you desired, but this system would be free of the limitations imposed by archtype
I might say that I don't want any of the extra defense for the Caravan to come for free. It should cost quite a bit to have a camouflage caravan, but since those would be costs one has to put in upfront, it will turn into reduced profits if the caravan would have reached its goal without incident.
Furthermore, the Highwaymen should allow players to mitigate the risks of attacking a caravan, maybe have some options to counter specific augmentations or by having the option to acquire more loot from a caravan + extra EXP.
I want this to be worthwhile for both sides.
That is exactly what I don't want. This "Anyone can do anything" design rubs me the wrong way; I can see that it makes sense with armor classes and gear, but it doesn't do so when it comes to specialized skills. I want people to make conscious choices about the defenders they hire based on actual differences between the options from which one could choose. And I want attackers to see "Oh, the caravan is led by a Rouge, we need a rouge ourselves so we can disarm the trap." or abandon the raid. It is also valuable information for the ones trying to attack a caravan, which is why I absolutely think that there should be a connection between what caravan augmentation one can use and the archetype of the leader.
I would guess that in case this would turn out this way, we would see primarily guilds do personal caravans or create a logistics sub division OR we would see Caravan Guilds popping up which try to create a positive reputation for themselves so that they get exclusively hired in some way to protect the caravan.
Especially the latter case would be hilarious. Act like a group of random people near a caravan, hide nearby and when someone attack you join in on the defenders side. Heck you could even lure people in by spreading news of this valuable caravan to bait some poor Highwayman into a trap.
It is the dilema of agnostic and non-agnostic systems, by the way AoC is quite agnostic, a caravan that has augmentations based on ammo and not archtype just fits AoC perspective. If the actual game design philosophy is followed and they had to choose between augs by archtype or ammo, the devs would pick ammo
Other example of agnostic stuff in AoC:
Not all classes can use all skills.
Race seeds your base stats and enables race augments.
There is clearly a line regarding the modular system and everything points to the line being class identity + abilities. Hence, I don't see Intrepid as designing a game where anyone can do anything or being "agnostic" about it, there is a very clear design philosophy there.
My suggestion was to have the defending team or initiator of the caravan choose a specific player to be in charge of it. Since that chooses a character with a distinct class identity, the features should also be based and limited by that character identity.
Sure if one would design this to be a series of general features for attackers and defenders to make the encounters a bit more varied, we can dispense with the position of the leader and just make this part of the recipe books of artisans.
It's not a dilemma, it's just a simple choice. And i personally think that choosing the character bound approach is better, to avoid having Rouges suddenly cast cleric abilities or have Tanks turn Caravans invisible. Of course it comes down to the abilities one would gain by modifying/augmenting, but I don't see a reason to break with character identity at this point.
I probably don't need to tell you that I didn't make it through the full thing, but I did try...
As far as augmentation goes, is that not what the Caravan Components are for?
"Caravan components obtained from crafters have stats according to the skill of each artisan.[5][24][5]
Armor rating (damage mitigation).[5][23][24]
Capacity.[26]
Hit points (health).[5][23][24]
Maneuverability.[23]
Movement speed.[23][26]
Turning radius.[5]
Turning speed.[5]"
https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Caravans#Caravan_components
See? Intrepid took one more agnostic approach, I love this
In terms of stats for the vehicle it would be but I suggested abilities that modify the event/PvP objective that a caravan + guards represents e.g. having a Cleric protect the Caravan means that Cleric can use a special ability based on his archetype during the escort mission.
Ah ok, fair dos.
- Hey, strengthen the protection of the caravan.
- What will happen to the robbers?
- I don't care, let them try to break through the buffs of the caravan lol
The idea .... unusual in a good way, but don't you think it's fair to give the same buff to the leader of the robbers? Then the question is: Is it worth complicating this system? Wouldn't it be better to leave everything as it is? There are guards, there are robbers, please fight xD If the caravan wants a buff, then let them take special classes in the party, and they will do it.
So you think that the perks of being a Highwayman wouldn't be good enough to take on the defenders?
Especially the "i don't care" part rubs me the wrong way, because my goal would be to create MORE incentives for PvP around caravans by offering more variety in the encounters and additional tools for attackers to use. Maybe the attacking side would also need some more tools, sure. Again, the idea is to have more encounters and more variety to them.
> Same buffs for attackers
I honestly would think it would be a bit boring to see both sides using the same tools because there are things attackers would profit more from rather than the caravan leader skills I proposed.
Another point is - the buffs for the defenders disappear with the fall of the caravan leader, so the idea was to create a PvP objective within the Caravan defense group for attackers to focus on to have greater impact on the fighting spirit of the defenders.
> Is it worth complicating this system? Wouldn't it be better to leave everything as it is?
Would it be interesting and motivating to have the same sort of encounter apart from group composition every time? I think it wouldn't be very motivating in the long run, so that was the reason I wanted to spice the thing up without making to big of a change to what has already been planned. Could become a chore rather than fun game play.
In no way do I want to say that your idea is bad, but I think it needs to be thought through a little