Topic: More orders

[Zuul]

Came up with a few ideas about orders:

Expand search order:

When you click on search order you should be able to choose what to search for.
Ships - As usual (or even split up Merchants/Pirates/Warships).
Food - Fetch food either by fishing as sea, hunting at land or pillaging farms.
Other cargo - Fell trees to get lumber, or pillage plantations for sugar/spices/cotton.
Quest - Look for buried treasure or similar.
[Could be improved by special crewmen and skill.]


Repair Order:
Add a Repair ship while at sea (or rather at coast/shore) order.
Would take longer time than repairs at port, only repair up to half of max, but cost less or nothing.
Would probably need lumber and tools (might be buyable)
[Could be improved by special crewmen and skill.]


Tell my what you guys think about this.

[Lyanheart]

I like your ideas for more "Search" options, but I don't think you need to specify pick what to search for- I like random outcomes, I guess. When you hit Search, randomly generate an outcome from a table of possibilities. You might come across another ship, as is the case now, or maybe you'll sail by a derelict ship or wreck and find a random amount of cargo left on it. Maybe there will just be a few crates of rum floating in the water. When we have Special Crewman, they could add to the possible outcomes. Have a Fisherman? Your search may find a few units of Food he caught. Have an Expert Navigator? He finds you a better route to your destination you get 2 moves this turn.

I would also like to be able to do some repairs while at sea, if you have a Carpenter special crewman. Use 1 unit of lumber per 1 unit of damage to the ship, but loose your Move for that turn.

[Cantora]

I agree with Lyan,

the concept, Zuul, is pretty good - searching allows you to find other things, not just ships, but random would be better - maybe even including (for more difficult levels) storms, etc which damage the ship.

Back to one of your ideas..., touching on a subject you mentioned below about burried treasure, would be the ability to buy a treasure map from the tavern - like on rare ocassions. Sort of like the "Rumor" function which when clicked brings a ? mark against the location it relates to. A Treasure map would bring up a X against the location and a seach function in that location would reveal the treasure. Maybe having a feature in this which costs you food or men while searching for it, etc, to make it more even.

[Zuul]

Strategy does not like too much randomness in the game, such as random events (that are not triggered in a logical way).

[Cantora]

This could work in the same way the Teasure Galleon works - with the same logical values.  But instead of it being linked with the Rumours, it would be linked to it's own button option.

[Lyanheart]

Strategy does not like too much randomness in the game, such as random events (that are not triggered in a logical way).

Strategy games rely on randomness- usually in the form of dice rolls. The search option is a voluntary random action that adds variety. Right now, there is not much reason to ever perform a search action unless you are playing a vicious pirate that is out hunting for kills.

I've spent a lot of time developing, writing, and playing Pirate/Caribbean themed pen & paper RPG campaigns (one of the reasons this game interests me), so I guess you could say I have a good bit of experience with this subject matter.

[Zuul]

Oh but I meant the developer of this game - "Strategy".

[Strategy]

I'm pretty satisfied with the orders system at present. A few players may find the limited number of actions boring, but too many actions are really not an advantage in a mobile game.

I do not think adding directed actions that provide resources (especially not looting stuff) helps the trader side of the game, which I think is currently the least balanced game approach. It's also not very historical (though Pirates did plunder fishermen... though perhaps not the most glamorous activity to put in a game...  ). Many of the others suggestions mentioned are already planned. The Carpenter (specialist crewman), will be able to do repairs while at sea. The Search action will be used together with jobs/missions (e.g., for buried treasure or ships), much as it is used with the treasure galleon today. Storms will be added in the game also as an event. But if you have suggestions for events, feel free to list them. I will eventually get around to adding more "things" that can happen while you are sailing... it just takes time to write the stuff, implement it, and test it.