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Is there a way to stop a guild from raiding Caravarns

The first thing that popped into my mind is what is there to do if there is a guild or multiple guilds just raiding all the caravans. Can single players even do anything against a guild, or is it neccesarry to join a guild yourself for protection?
Sorry if any of this sounds stupid or has been asnwered already.

Comments

  • you can hire npcs to help protect it but I'm not sure how much it would cost to hire enough to defend against multiple guilds. Also from what I've read you don't have to be in a guild to join the same caravan as others......with that said I personally would recommend joining a guild as much of the content is supposed to be centered around guilds
  • If I understood it correctly, players will be penalized for attacking players that do not defend themselves. Obviously, larger guilds could just zerg caravans with penalties spread among multiple members.

    I don't know if the anti-griefing system even applies to caravans, but I truly believe it should, as multiple guilds could just camp the most populated roads or (worst case scenario) camp a bridge or path that is the only way of crossing a river or getting from A to B.
  • I think there is no protection from a guild grouped up with a plan to raid every single caravan, except that they would have to be on the same road you choosed to, fully organised and ready to be marked for them self to be killed afterwards, as they will enter the Red(corruption) state. As far as I understand- if you want to carry anything in normal amounts, you need some sort of caravan and that will stand for them as well. So it would give a time for you to group up with other players, guild, to fight back for your resources. I imagine it to be like medieval times- if you happened to be on the road alone it would mean protect it alone. I find it fair, because if they gave some kind of a extra protection for single player caravan or a small group of caravan, it would destroy the purpose to do it in big groups at all. They might think of a system that is less punishing for players to try to do and make the solo runs possible, but can't yet know for sure. So as the solo player you would have to be smart, sneaky and know to which city to go. Smart guilds will always think before stealing from all the traders, as it might lead for people to not go to their city's and look for other Nods to make wealth there. Honestly no matter how it goes, I am excited try it, as we all know high risk=high reward.
  • guys,we can discuss this,talk all we want.. but we wont get a proper answer to that,its too early.. lets just wait and before that, enjoy this hype we have right now.
    i cant be the only one.
  • [quote quote=7139]Can single players even do anything against a guild, or is it neccesarry to join a guild yourself for protection?[/quote]

    Of course it is not mandatory to join for a guild for protection <del datetime="2017-04-14T22:15:30+00:00">dear paying customer</del> friend! Please, let me invite you into this <del datetime="2017-04-14T22:15:30+00:00">dark alley</del> nice tavern of ours to speak about the details of your protection!

    Aside from the joke, caranvans can be looted, no matter what. two things you can do:
    - Make sure, that the node you transport from, is a metropolis, so there will be a lot of NPC's popping to protect your stuff,
    - Join, found, or hire a guild to do this job for you.
  • [quote quote=7139]The first thing that popped into my mind is what is there to do if there is a guild or multiple guilds just raiding all the caravans. Can single players even do anything against a guild, or is it neccesarry to join a guild yourself for protection?
    Sorry if any of this sounds stupid or has been asnwered already.

    [/quote]

    Defend the caravane by yourself (you / your guild / your alliance of guilds) or don't use it because you can't do it safely.
  • I just wanted to point out that if you are in a caravan you will be purple, which means you are flagged for PvP, so no attacker will be flagged red for corruption.
  • i think a huge part of "sandbox" games are, or at least should be, that such things can happen, but as there are incentives to raid merchants, there should be exactly the same, or even higher incentive to be the hero, that supports and secures the caravan. i for myself wish for the possibilty to create a guild around protecting specifically merchant guild and their caravans as a means of income.

    on top of that, creating some kind of contract system, which gives you the possibility to reach out for marauding guilds, to pay a toll to be able to pass without being attacked, could be another way of handling such situations.
  • FatGuy,

    Caravans can be triggered at any time. Plus with no fast travel it will be very hard for a large guild to Zerg a caravan unless you are in that guilds node. Best bet is dont play alone make friends in many guilds and ask your friends to help protect the caravans.
  • I like the idea of a protection system being in place as something hard coded into the game. As a merchant you could petition a guild that is known to attack caravans and pay protection money to allow your caravan access through "their" territory.

    This would have to be done as a game system that the guild needs to accept formally and makes the caravan un-attacable to them for the duration of the contract, either that single caravan or even pay weekly(seasonally) protection money to allow permanent access as long as you have paid your "upkeep".

    Likewise with protecting caravans a system can be made that puts the merchants money in escrow and is paid upon sucessfully escorting a caravan to its destination. Adding caveats that stipulate if the caravan is attacked and you still deliver the caravan successfully you get a bonus to your payment.
  • Caravans are static PVP zones. If you send a caravan it's probably going to be targeted. There will most likely be guild that will specialize in intercepting caravans. There is a few ways you can defend against this.

    1. You can hire NPC guards and hope that traveling players choose to defend the caravan for the bonus reward they get when it reaches it's final destination.

    2. You can hire a protection guild (I'm assuming there will be some of them) for a fee. They will most likely set up times where multiple people requests transport to maximize their profit. This will be very time dependent.

    3. You can join a for profit merchant guild. A merchant guild would most likely be the best option if you want to play mostly solo. They would probably require little communication outside of transportation route, time and wealth of cargo. They probably require a fee for joining them that has to continuously be paid.

    4. You can join a proper guild with interest in your merchanting skills. They would protect your caravan. This could be free of charge as they would receive a reward upon the caravan reaching its destination. This will be the most reliable and low cost method of transportation.

    To sum it all up. If you wish to play solo, you will have to pay to have your cargo securely transported. This will severely decrease the profit you will make. You can join a guild to receive a more reliable way of transportation for maximum profit. You can also pray to the gods that your cargo will not be intercepted and adventuring players choose to guard it. This will be the option with the most risk and unreliable.
  • Lot's of good times to be had.
  • I see caravan's as a great system to both promote PvP as well as interesting twist to crafting.

    This is a game where you are going to benefit from having friends. I can't wait to see the huge guild-run caravans. For those who played Archeage Alpha pre-cash shop, you may remember the giant armadas of trade ships going to Freedich and the massive amounts of PvP that generated.

    That meant that doing a trade run had to be kept as secret as possible (which was nearly impossible), it made having security important, and it made people need to adapt. This I feel is a question best answered on a case to case basis. How does one stop a guild from raiding their caravan? TBD.

    Honestly, the caravan system is one of the things that excite me the most about AoC.
  • Caravans should be something like "if X players/npcs defending, that's the amount of attackers allowed".
  • I could imagine the npcs getting some defensebuff when they are outnumbered, but what you all seem to forget is that there is no fast travel. You will literally have to sit on your hands all day to intercept the caravan somewhere, while you have to ignore all the 20 other caravans with a different rout or in some other place in the world.

    So I imagine you would want to target caravans specificly going to "that" node, which probably means there is some guild feude going on which means you should have backup from others. Or the guilds that have set up their area in that node will want to protect caravans heading there, since losing them would mean that people will lose interest in coming to that node and wander off.
  • 4 A.M. caravans for days.

    Seriously though, if everybody is a raider then would that mean that they'd need to split the rewards? Something could be done to disincentivize zerging a caravan. Having rewards scale out or in favor of the underdog side, whether that be the defenders or raiders, could help balance things out. I doubt an entire guild would want to camp a road if they would need to split a single shipment between 20 people.
  • Caravan protection sounds very similar to tradeship protection in AA, heh.
    Bring some friends and be prepared for PVP, in other words.
  • Can you do decoy caravans?
  • Somehow this gives me the AA vibe where guilds have nothing better to do then sit there doing nothing 24/7 until a easy target in the form of a trading player comes along.

    One thing I really don't like about the new wave of MMORPG's lately is that they all force everyone into PvP one way or another.
  • [quote quote=7148]If I understood it correctly, players will be penalized for attacking players that do not defend themselves. Obviously, larger guilds could just zerg caravans with penalties spread among multiple members.

    I don’t know if the anti-griefing system even applies to caravans, but I truly believe it should, as multiple guilds could just camp the most populated roads or (worst case scenario) camp a bridge or path that is the only way of crossing a river or getting from A to B.

    [/quote]

    I agree with this. It should be part of the penalty to attack Caravans. Of course, the system can change overtime with feedback during actual play testing.
  • The caravans are meant as small, mobile PVP-areas. To me that says: "NPC defense is not enough if someone really goes for it". So there shouldn't be a penalty for attackers...

    But in case a guild is constantly raiding one caravan route, then maybe you can go the long way around it with caravans? Or it will have an impact on so many people that at some point they will join forces and drive the raiding guild away. Or you just make a tradedeal with them... The amount of possibilities is what makes this system so cool.

    Also: You could actually heavily damage another crafters/merchants position on the market by interrupting his caravans...which could allow for really interesting conflicts over ressources and goods...looking very much forward to it. :)
  • From my understanding... Caravan runs are something big. When you start one, it's visible to everyone on the map so i really doubt if a single player (unless super rich) will afford to run one. Even if he does, he should be aware that there will be enemies around.

    I honestly don't think a single player should be able to control a caravan run. It must be a team effort.
  • I personally think there should be different sized caravans. And people can get together and move stuff with their friends. They all just split the cost of the caravan. This is give people an incentive to do them together.

    However i wouldnt mind also being a guild that for a fee we will make sure your caravan makes it to its destination or your money back.:p

    For every "evil" guild there will be a good one.
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