Port Towns, Ship Travel, Ship Combat and Piracy

[Bluddwolf]

You can probably see where I'm going with the title....

Are there any plans for ship travel, ship-to-ship combat and piracy?

[Drakhan Valane]

This is something TEO has been discussing. I don't know if they'll go to the effort to start with ship combat in the game, but maybe that will be added later. As far as ships go . . . I really want to see them. I want to help BUILD them.

[Andius]

There isn't going to be an incredible amount of water in the original map though it will contain a river and a few lakes.

I hope we start out with swimming and fishing, and gain rafts, fishing boats, river boats, and underwater resouces/dugeons as time goes on. If we ever make it to large lakes or seas then there should be a MASSIVE naval expansion for the game.

[leperkhaun]

i dont think there will me much water where we are at first, i think there is a large river but thats it.

On the other hand I love the idea.

[Jameow]

Hopefully we eventually expand to a sea. I can see this game has absolutely massive potential for land expansion!

[Dakcenturi]

The problem is while the River Kingdoms make a perfect setting for an MMO it becomes a bit more difficult when expanding out to the other regions unless they skipped the I between and just add a whole separate unconnected area like The Shackles or The Shodden Lands. Personally I would love to see the Mwangi Expanse :)

[Jameow]

I don't see why we couldn't diverge from the lore in an organic fashion and expand into other territories, they'd just be much bigger, tougher npc factions to consider in the process!

[DM_aka_Dudemeister]

They could go east to the relatively undetailed Iobaria.

[Dakcenturi]

NW to Numeria I think would be a good next logical expansion.

[Zidash]

Seeing as the game is Sandbox, one would have to consider that in developing Expansions (thinking waaay ahead) Goblinworks won't be having to spend time putting together a host of new theme park content. I imagine this means if there's enough demand for it, they'd be able to upgrade gameplay with stuff akin to this.

[Jameow]

I image it would be more like "your neighbors have noticed the increased activity in the river kingdoms and they're getting edgy. Big empires are taking notice. Have fun!

I'd expect npc armies and more capture able territory, new ways to capture things (why raze a capital when you can seize its throne?) new resources, new skills and more cultural themes.

Much easier than adding sandboxy content, you just make the scale bigger and add more environments, which means the players have to come up with new strategies.

[Dakcenturi]

Zidash wrote:

Seeing as the game is Sandbox, one would have to consider that in developing Expansions (thinking waaay ahead) Goblinworks won't be having to spend time putting together a host of new theme park content. I imagine this means if there's enough demand for it, they'd be able to upgrade gameplay with stuff akin to this.

The problem is, being that it is a sandbox, if they want to stick close to lore without breaking it noticeably they are limited to where they can expand. Some of the above mentioned would make sense and work but not everything, especially near the area.

Back to the OP the best areas for pirates and ship battles would be The Shackles or The Shodden Lands and they are far to the south on the other side of the continent so I doubt there would be a progressive expansion to them. It would make more sense to have a completely separate area for that.

[Zidash]

Dakcenturi wrote:

The problem is, being that it is a sandbox, if they want to stick close to lore without breaking it noticeably they are limited to where they can expand. Some of the above mentioned would make sense and work but not everything, especially near the area.

I dunno that river's pretty wide. Besides with the training system it should be possible to make ships incredibly rare so they don't clutter up all of the water space. You can limit them to only owners of ports as well. They wouldn't be everywhere but with expansions it would be great to see port owners setting their sights on commerce with other ports (and as such pirates setting their sights on said ships).

[Dario]

I don't know about piracy and ship warfare, but rivers are historic trade routes. I wouldn't mind seeing the ability to ship goods via river.

[Keovar]

Go to this 'Google Map' of Golarion and look at the menu on the right. Click on 'Castle Urion', and you'll be taken to the NW corner of our starting PFO territory.

Castle Urion Is on the River Kingdoms and Numeria border, and the RK extends east and south from there. Though a lot of Numeria is poorly-controlled if at all, I doubt we'll be expanding that direction any time soon, since it essentially has robots from a crashed spaceship, somewhat reminiscent of 'Tale of the Comet'. There's plenty more of the River Kingdoms to develop before we start seeing mecha-scorpions, hopefully.

As to piracy:
"The River Kingdoms of northeastern Avistan have long been a haven for inland pirates, anarchists, exiles, and anyone who can't seem to make it in more civilized nations. The Kingdoms are by no means a unified nation, but rather a constantly shifting group of city-states and fiefdoms, each at war with the others both to gain more power and to prevent their own demise."
The River Kingdoms at PathfinderWiki

[Nihimon]

Or look at this map of Echowood, which is the best map we have so far for Pathfinder Online.

From Designing Thornkeep.

[Dakcenturi]

Keovar wrote:

As to piracy:
"The River Kingdoms of northeastern Avistan have long been a haven for inland pirates, anarchists, exiles, and anyone who can't seem to make it in more civilized nations. The Kingdoms are by no means a unified nation, but rather a constantly shifting group of city-states and fiefdoms, each at war with the others both to gain more power and to prevent their own demise."
The River Kingdoms at PathfinderWiki

The key there is inland :) so maybe river pirates, but I would think the bast majority would be caravan pirates.

[Keovar]

Nihimon wrote:

Or look at this map of Echowood, which is the best map we have so far for Pathfinder Online.

From Designing Thornkeep.

That's fine if the game never expands, but people were talking about expanding until we hit an ocean. Even if Lake Encarthan (a great lake or inland sea) is oceanlike enough for you, we'd have to conquer Razmiran or Ustalav to get to it, and that's not a feat a gaggle of petty city-states is likely to pull off.

[Nihimon]

Keovar wrote:

That's fine if the game never expands, but people were talking about expanding until we hit an ocean.

My apologies.

[Keovar]

Dakcenturi wrote:

The key there is inland :) so maybe river pirates, but I would think the bast majority would be caravan pirates.

This is a regional trait appropriate to any riverland or marsh:

Quote:

River Rat
You learned to swim right after you learned to walk. As a youth, a gang of river pirates put you to work swimming in nighttime rivers and canals with a dagger in your teeth so you could sever the anchor ropes of merchant vessels.

Benefit: You gain a +1 trait bonus to damage dealt with a dagger and a +1 trait bonus to Swim checks. Swim is always a class skill for you.

There are plenty of bandits in the RK too:

Quote:

Bandit
Since you were young, you’ve been a member of one bandit gang or another.

Benefit: Choose one of the following skills: Escape Artist, Intimidate, or Stealth.

You gain a +1 trait bonus on that skill, and it is always a class skill for you.

[AvenaOats]

I could see waterways as very good for hauling lots of materials a long way (buoyancy) but also with risks (sunk ships = all lost goods). That big river on the West of the map for eg.