Caravan loot

ArchivedUser

Hello everyone

I have an interesting question.

Let’s assume someone succeed on attacking caravan and can loot what is left (I read somewhere that loot contains part of what was carrying in caravan). If players have very limited capacity of carrying materials how can attackers take the loot?
Mules right? Attackers can summon mules to load loot and carry it to city … am I right?

And if yes than is it possible to just pack bunch of mules with all my mats and travel to other city avoiding roads and to put it simply not using caravan? Is it possible to do like this? Are there restrictions to using mules?


Thank you for all answers and good luck to all!

MooZG

ArchivedUser

Hey! I am not sure if attackers can spawn a Mule and load Mules with all the loot and walk away with it but I will show you an answer from Steven to a similar question hope that helps!

<img src="https://i.gyazo.com/771e2b4ef19690c3205672265add3924.png" alt="" />
<img src="https://i.gyazo.com/0e618bb896b67db456015439e3468893.png" alt="" />

ArchivedUser

That’s understandable in mechanic way … but from RPG point of view caravan is full of certificates? :P

It is should work but … it is weird :P

Let me think about about any other explanation or solution ... I believe DEVs can use such discussion for improvements :D

ArchivedUser

Good point.

I'll try to make it through mechanics.
There are 3 questions that need answers:

1:. What happens to the cargo when a caravan gets plundered?
2:. What happens to the caravan when it gets plundered?
3:. What do caravan owners lose when plundered?

It's a long talk, but:
- A percentage of the cargo must be taken by the system to avoid people attacking themselves to split the cargo.
- The mules can be stolen/killed.
- Caravan people shouldn't lose everything after being plundered to avoid them respawning to chase attackers. They should be forced to defend the cargo until it reaches a city.


We will see.
I'll subscribe.

ArchivedUser

Similar topic is when you go for example mine iron ore … let’s say you are at the spot and you mine for an hour … what do you do with your mats? Pack them to mule? And then walk to the city to deposit mats? Or you call for mule and send it by itself to city which would be like auto transfer (I don’t like it ???? )

My opinion is that it would be best if mule or mules walk next to player and if player is defeated killer can take the loot … but it sounds a bit too hardcore and I want this game to be populated and too much hardcore punishing stuff will scare off normal people ????

ArchivedUser

[quote quote=9750]Good point.

I’ll try to make it through mechanics.
There are 3 questions that need answers:

1:. What happens to the cargo when a caravan gets plundered?
2:. What happens to the caravan when it gets plundered?
3:. What do caravan owners lose when plundered?

[/quote]

I imagine personally:

1. The cargo returns to storage in the caravan origin node (minus the loot lost to attackers).
2. It despawns. The caravan is an NPC scripted event isn't it.
3. You summon the caravan, so I imagine you lose the deposit you paid for the caravan. The more you put down, the better protected it is by NPC guards.

ArchivedUser

These are going to be just my divagations for discussion sake


<blockquote>1:. What happens to the cargo when a caravan gets plundered? </blockquote>
Some of it should be destroyed … rest of it can be looted by attackers and we need loot system for it as random players can join in and still they might want to take some loot (or be killed by organized group who attacked caravan first … mwahaha )

<blockquote>2:. What happens to the caravan when it gets plundered? </blockquote>
Caravan is destroyed and should decay after some time just like monster body does.


<blockquote>3:. What do caravan owners lose when plundered? </blockquote>
Hmm … all ? ???? … I know it is hardcore but … that is why you should split your cargo to different caravans … or hire my future transport company ???? ????



<blockquote>It’s a long talk, but:
– A percentage of the cargo must be taken by the system to avoid people attacking themselves to split the cargo.
– The mules can be stolen/killed.
– Caravan people shouldn’t lose everything after being plundered to avoid them respawning to chase attackers. They should be forced to defend the cargo until it reaches a city. </blockquote>
First two I agree and in third do You mean that after battle caravan should still move to the city with some part of cargo and should be indestructible so no other groups can steal what’s left there? Something like that?

ArchivedUser

[quote quote=9750]
1:. What happens to the cargo when a caravan gets plundered?
2:. What happens to the caravan when it gets plundered?
3:. What do caravan owners lose when plundered?
[/quote]

1. Some of it should be destroyed … rest of it can be looted by attackers and we need loot system for it as random players can join in and still they might want to take some loot (or be killed by organized group who attacked caravan first … mwahaha )

2. Caravan is destroyed and should decay after some time just like monster body does.

3.Hmm … all ? :P … I know it is hardcore but … that is why you should split your cargo to different caravans … or hire my future transport company to transport and protect all your goods :P:P

ArchivedUser

When I think about for a little bit longer it is quite difficult … it needs to be done the way it works and not ruin the game … caravans are something (next to flagging system) that lured me here lol ... so if there can be any feedback ar ideas I can add to that system I'll do my best :D

Ok … how about something like this:

- Let’s say city tier 4 sends 4 caravans every day to every city it shares zone borders with. This way we know the time when caravan (even empty) sets off.
- Caravan is send to another city when it reaches full cargo capacity … or when setup by game time comes up …
- Reward for guarding caravan depends on its load
- If players fill cargo capacity to max it sets off earlier and we can call it an extra caravan this day (after it starts next caravan is spawned and it waits for normal time to set off)
- Another option would be that player can pay to set off caravan with his cargo earlier … again as extra caravan this day …
- It should be hidden what others put into caravan … but cargo limit should be visible
- When caravan is destroyed some of cargo is destroyed and other part can be looted by attackers
- How about we call that if NPC can transport cargo in caravan than other NPC (imagine them :P ) can transport looted cargo from destroyed caravan to whichever city is nearest (destiny or starting city) and attackers can loot certificates which allows them to receive their part of loot in city (and transfer it to theirs city cargo hold or something)
- Load of caravan should also be visible when it travels … let’s say empty caravan to 20% of load is same amount of cars … and then every next 20% of capacity adds more cars … this way attackers can see if caravan is juicy and worth to attack if heavily guarded :D
- Amount of guards also depends on load of cargo


PROS:
Easier for people to sign up for defense
Solo players can easily join to bigger caravan
Easier to set up ambush for daily caravan
It is still possible to send caravan at weird time to increase its security
Players will know when there are going to be battle ongoing :P
If someone wants security it is possible to pay for private caravan
Increase value of spies as information about juicy caravan is valuable

CONS:
Too many caravans can ruin fun of attacking them as most of them would be empty
Point above leads to: low risk of attack and of losing cargo decrease value of defending caravans and makes this system just an obstacle to move resources and not very fun system to play around it and create economy with it … sorry to say it but it needs to be BALANCED very well :D




Please discuss … more heads are better than one :D

ArchivedUser

I was under the impression that a player pays to spawn a caravan from a node and sets a destination node for it to travel to. The NPC protection is based on factors like node level etc. During the route the caravan can be attacked and if the force is up to the task then the caravan despawns and a portion of the cargo is awarded to the attackers in the form of a certificate. I assume this will be split between the attackers and each receive a certificate for 1/n % of the loot, where n is the number of attackers. An even better mechanic would be that the attackers involvement in the attack is scaled to their proportion of the loot. I also assume the remaining cargo that isn't available for loot will automatically return to storage in the starting node. As such the player attempting to move the goods would lose their deposit for the caravan and a % of their cargo. There may be a cooldown on how often caravans may be launched from a node, I guess that will come up in testing if it is just caravan spam.

I believe this mechanic works perfectly fine in rewarding cargo poaching. I would hope that the NPC escort is reasonably tough and requires more than 2 or 3 people to jump a level 5-6 caravan.

ArchivedUser

Nice thoughts. We'll see what devs have already done.

And please, I know your idea is the best idea, but <strong>keep it simple</strong> at least while you are trying to explain it. I really like the first post because it is clever, short and makes a point.
Keep it readable! :)

Thanks for the replies! Love the proactivity!