Goblin Squad Member
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As playable areas of the map increase there are many hexes that are nothing but water. There has been discussiona bout docks and/or wharfs as PoIs, yielding fish for food, and other things like pearls, trade goods, herbs and essences.
In an early blog post called "Player-Created Buildings and Structures" (Feb. 29, 2012) Ryan wrote:
"We also envision the ability of characters to... erect docks which will permit watercraft access to rivers and lakes, and to build bridges to allow roads to span those rivers."
So, 2 1/2 years after this post I thought it would be fun to rehash some earlier comments and thoughts about waterborne adventuring in PFO.
There are several bodies of water in the River Kingdoms, mostly rivers, hence the name (<-- This is genius at work, if I do say so myself). But there are also a number of lakes as well, including Glow Water Lake, Silvershade Lake, and five (5) more that are unnamed (as far as I know). Plus, the West Sellen River which is regularly 4 to 5 hexes wide (4-5 miles. Now that's a big river!)
This gives GW and players plenty of opportunities to design (GW) and adventure in (players) waterborne areas, and eventually even underwater. We all know there are many creatures and races of humanoids that primarily live in the water, not to mention the additional opportunities for commerce and piracy.
In addition to normal water areas, small stream, natural ponds and settlement constructed millponds might be available. How awesome would it be to construct a working gristmill run by a water-powered paddle wheel. Or a sawmill operated by a paddle wheel turning the saw blade. Lots of possibilities there, and these constructs would require many different high end crafting skills to complete the project.
Swimming is another opportunity created by bodies of water. Of course swimming should be a trainable skill, and advance swimming skill would allow the character to hold their breath longer and swim faster, perhaps even carrying a burden under water or swimming with armor on. There are lots of opportunities for adventures in the water and the swimming skill would be the difference between success and failure in most of the underwater type adventure scenarios.
Docks being built give players an almost unlimited chance to explore the larger bodies of water by building different types of watercraft, and settlements adjacent to any of the larger bodies of water might even be able to field a small navy. Certainly as the playable game area expands this seems more and more likely. Time will tell but it is a great opportunity to look forward to.
Some of the different types of boats that might be available once docks and boatbuilding becomes available:
Smaller boats
Canoe, rowboat, outrigger, barge (pole or horse drawn), fishing trawler, sloop, skiff, sailboat, ferry (pole or horse drawn), jon boat, dugout, punt, raft, fishing boat, coracle, junk, knarr
Larger boats
Schooner, longboat, corvette
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Goblin Squad Member
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In the first video blog on the map, I believe, the distance to cross hex was four hundred some meters from hex side to hex side or or six hundred something from point to opposite point.
Consider the South Platte River(Colorado, Nebraska), a mile wide (1.6 km) and an six inches (15 cm) deep; too thick to drink, too thin to plow. (Or something like that).
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Goblin Squad Member
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So the West Sellen is 4-6 hexes wide (if the map remains as it was represented in the blog earlier this year), giving it a width of from 2.8 to 4.2 KM wide. That is a big, big river with plenty of room for some of the larger watercraft, and many aquatic civilizations (not to mention loads of space for underwater adventuring).
It does beg the question though about what would become of the long strip of land running north and south on the west bank of the West Sellen. That's a lot of unused land and hexes if it is not available for settlements and exploration.
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Goblin Squad Member
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...if it is not available for settlements and exploration.
It's a lot of safer-than-usual territory if we can settle there. Good luck floating siege engines across, or launching surprise attacks when one can be seen coming over such a long distance.
I could see Settlements, there and elsewhere, paying for their lookouts to have the best video-cards possible, to run all the view-distances as far out as GW builds into the engine :-).
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Goblin Squad Member
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It would be odd that the full map has ~350 land hexes on the west side of the river, if they don't intend to allow us to cross.
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Goblin Squad Member
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I dunno about the geographical wall thing. I understand limits on the terrain and explorable territory, but it IS the River Kingdoms. Seems a little silly if there were no rivers to navigate. Granted the tools are not likely to be in for a long time yet, but there is a lot of untapped potential in the water for so many games it seems a shame not to use that space.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Navigable rivers and player-operated boats were a significant part of Vanguard's potential, but alas they never really developed it.
Seems to me that the Sellen being included is more of a way to cover their bets and leave the door open for really cool stuff like that down the road. Having a river that's several hexes wide is fantastically exciting to me. I'm glad I'm patient :)
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Goblin Squad Member
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Your watercraft shall not be safe from my awesome flying Steampunk Guinea pigs.
Nobody is safe from Flying Steampunk Guinea pigs! Our chief weapon is surprise...surprise and fear...fear and surprise.... Our two weapons are fear and surprise...and ruthless efficiency.... Our *three* weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency...and an almost fanatical devotion to the !raffle.... Our *four*...no... *Amongst* our weapons.... Amongst our weaponry...are such elements as fear, surprise....
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Goblin Squad Member
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I am specifically interested in the expansions of the PFO map, and what role the various waterways will have. By default the rivers separate the area into distinct zones, and the construction (by appropriately trained and skilled engineers) will allow bridge construction in the right places. But rivers that are miles wide will probably not have bridges that are miles wide and will require fjords at the very least, ferries, or ships in the widest areas.
The PoIs that can be placed in water hexes are, I presume, floating fishing villages, wharfs, or docks for ships and ship construction, ferries for transport to other sites on the same body of water, and maybe an oyster farm if implemented. That's about all I can think of, but they add an interesting variety to the PoI possibilities.
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Goblin Squad Member
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I am specifically interested in the expansions of the PFO map, and what role the various waterways will have. By default the rivers separate the area into distinct zones, and the construction (by appropriately trained and skilled engineers) will allow bridge construction in the right places. But rivers that are miles wide will probably not have bridges that are miles wide and will require fjords at the very least, ferries, or ships in the widest areas.
The PoIs that can be placed in water hexes are, I presume, floating fishing villages, wharfs, or docks for ships and ship construction, ferries for transport to other sites on the same body of water, and maybe an oyster farm if implemented. That's about all I can think of, but they add an interesting variety to the PoI possibilities.
Fjords ? With ice and stuff ?