Goblin Squad Member
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Unless GW decides to shuffle around resources on a regular basis, so that databases like this are not useful, I think any mystery about which resources to find where will be lost rather quickly. And it seems unlikely that GW will shuffle them around, since that would just be too much hampering with the political implications of it: also simple geography just makes sense for some resources, such as Wood and Pearls.
I have heard players worry about this, since they hope for information about resources in a Hex to be somewhat exclusive to the nearby Settlement owners, and be able to kept a mystery to a point. That is not going to happen. Only the rate of Depletion is something that probably can not be found on such a public Doc, because those states are too temporary.
Proposal:
So I was wondering, could Gushers maybe be somewhat less consistent in their Hex-location and also appearance, to add a bit more mystery, exclusiveness and intrigue to this aspect of the game? There is a myriad of resources that would lend itself well to suddenly sprout up at an unexpected location.
So for instance, at some point there is a chance of finding a Moonstone gusher in a hex, that usually does not have this resource, but this chance only exists for a few days. This information could be tried to be kept secret by the nearby settlement owners.
Hell, even a cache of Pearls could be found in the mountains, as a hidden stash from an old retired Pirate that had his belly full of the sea. This could be a one off gusher, though that lessens the political implications. I would also expect the regular gushers to appear, for resources that are native to the area.
Rumor and intrigue about unexpected gushers(type for location and having a short appearance)appearing somewhere could add a lot of flavor and gameplay. Think Gold-rushes and Klondike. And lots of battle. I am also a big proponent of "random get lucky" features in a Game, as long as it does not give an unfair advantage somehow, or can be gamed/exploited.
Star Wars Galaxies had a similar feature, where extremely high-quality resources could appear and then be exhausted, sometimes to never even occur ever again (which created huge demand for anyone that had some). Though the latter would probably not be feasible, and make it too exclusive.
I think especially PFO is fit for such a feature since it will create gameplay (spies, Scouts) and more strife. Nothing is ever *truly* exclusive in PFO, because you can go to War about everything.
It also lessens the predictability about where stuff can be found, and though we all want *some* predictability, too much of it is boring.
EDIT: There is one caveat: these "surprise" gushers should not be so plentiful, that they endanger the "transport" business and overall Economy. So I am not talking about every single Hex having surprise gushers appearing in a long random chain.
I am talking more about 5% of the total number of Hexes at any time having a 1-5 days lasting chance(also not predictable!)of sprouting a surprise gusher, per month maybe. This is something that can be easily tweaked imo.
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My thoughts on gushers.
1) Only players with the proper Feat training in Freeholder and the proper Freeholder Implement should be able to harvest them.
2) They should be accessible, and visible as gushers only after they have been successfully harvested.
3) Key each different type of harvesting gusher node with a different "gusher" kit so to encourage further specialization.
4) You shouldn't be able to setup a gusher kit while in stealth.
5) Allow more than 1 PC to access and harvest from any given gusher, as it's unreasonable to assume 1 person can haul back or fully harvest a "motherload" by themselves.
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Goblin Squad Member
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I agree with you Bluddwolf in that all of that is interconnected, but I believe we need access to the supply lines (gushers/caravans) before looting/SADs.
I think looting entering the game is going to be the biggest pull for some groups, more so than the 50$ price drop. Looting will increase the sever I good bit, I do believe.
Having the ability to supply the masses coming in at the 50$ drop and looting, is going to be one we all want.
Is there a "caravan" game mechanic planned?
Because until looting is instituted, no one is going to have a good reason to organize travelers and guard them, will they?
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Goblin Squad Member
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There is, I just don't know when.
They have said in the past that it is part of the formation system, but I am starting to think that its more MVP than 4-6 months down the road. I think what we need is a very basic caravan mechanic, like maybe....
A Figurine of Wondrous Power, Obsidian Steed should be added, it could be made (for a HUGE sum) at the Artificer, and equipped in your wondrous item slot.
Once equipped you see a black horse following the carrier, no ability to ride, no collision detection, just a model following the holder. This figurine could allow the holder to increase his/her carrying capacity by 200 points.
It would take damage like a normal item upon death, and if you lost it you would be stuck in place with what ever you gathered. Although, if looting is in place it could be looted, or your corpse after they killed you. This would make you a huge target, but it could be a place holder for a more robust system.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Is there a "caravan" game mechanic planned?
Because until looting is instituted, no one is going to have a good reason to organize travelers and guard them, will they?
Absolutely, it is one of the things I am most looking forward to. It is basically the counterpart to there being Bandits and their ability to Stand and Deliver people. They are 2 opposite sides of a future Faction too, I believe. Merchants and Robbers.
There are many quotes about caravans. It is a complicated feature though that will need several assets, one of them being a lot of art probably.
I think we will see fast Travel before caravans though. Fast Travel could at least get some light-weight Transport going on. Whenever I mention fast Travel, I just add the quotes from Stephen with it, saves people asking what the current ( or at least last) envisioning of that is.
Quote 1:
I should have clarified what was meant by Fast Travel. We'll basically have two stages of Fast Travel.Whenever we get the minimum implementation of the system online, you'll pick up a horse at a stable building that connects along roads to some other stable building. It'll work similarly to speeders in SW:TOR; you'll go fast along the ground (not sure how fast at this point). Unlike TOR, it will be possible to knock you off of your horse if someone can catch you (and then you have to walk the rest of the way); one way to do that will be with Blinds.
Eventually, when players have mounts they can drive precisely, there will still be various incentives for following roads as far as speed, so a Blind that knocks people off their personal horse will still be useful. Unlike stable-based travel, you'll probably be able to get back on a personal mount and resume fast movement once you're done with the bandit encounter.
Quote 2:
The early "talk to a stablemaster to get a horse to a specific point" fast travel will probably exclusively use roads to traverse those points. Once we have player-controllable mounts, you'll almost certainly be able to ride them anywhere at faster than you could walk, but they may achieve their best possible speed on roads.Quote 3:
We haven't discussed it in much detail, but 4-5x is probably WAY faster than we plan on. Right now, your standard "hustle" speed feels pretty fast if you're not encumbered, and 4-5x that would feel crazy fast. We're thinking right now about not more than double your fastest running speed for the fastest mounts, but we'll have to see how fast that feels once we get that far.But, with those numbers, probably not much less than a minute to cross a (current) hex even with the best fast travel options with an optimal route.
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Goblin Squad Member
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My thoughts on gushers.
1) Only players with the proper Feat training in Freeholder and the proper Freeholder Implement should be able to harvest them.
2) They should be accessible, and visible as gushers only after they have been successfully harvested.
3) Key each different type of harvesting gusher node with a different "gusher" kit so to encourage further specialization.
4) You shouldn't be able to setup a gusher kit while in stealth.
5) Allow more than 1 PC to access and harvest from any given gusher, as it's unreasonable to assume 1 person can haul back or fully harvest a "motherload" by themselves.
1) Gushers will only respond to deployment of a harvesting kit
2) This is already intended in the mechanic3) Not sure if there are different harvesting kits or not, but doesn't seem unreasonable.
4) Doesn't matter much. The gusher itself, when exploited, will instantly attract extra mobs to the area, so there will be lots going on.
5) Other people can definitely help carry and defend the site, but the gusher will only function for the person that found it in [2] above.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Would you care to comment on your negative vote, Caldeathe? I am curious because I may be missing important implications that my proposal could have. When you are enthusiastic about an idea it is easy to overlook some of the implications that could be unwanted.
I was composing my comment as you composed this.
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Goblin Squad Member
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I noticed, and I appreciate it a lot. :) Thanks. I agree it could mess with the Economy if overdone or the algorithm is not good enough and unexpectedly favors an area too much. I have indeed seen Lee's threads about the spread of resources and how much of each spawns and they make my head spin.
I think they will have to tweak a lot as it is. Maybe, once they get a good grip on this, and the game is taking off, they can start iterating on it and add this feature.