Darkslinger
Notorious Pirate
High-seas expansion
What I'm about to propose is a large set of ideas that should be implemented in the game's future. The ideas could be merged together serving as a large high-seas expansion update. The details of the update will be explained below.
Are the ideas realistic (in terms of development)? Many are, many aren't. But with hard work and persistence many ideas can come to life.
Why should this update happen? The update will serve as a stepping stone for future content to come. This update would allow for more content and features to arrive to the shores of TLOPO. Not only would it ensure the games longevity, it would also give pirates all across the Caribbean much more to do.
1. High-seas (size) expansion
The high-seas are in need of a literal expansion — this would allow for more enemy ships to battle, as well as new features and updates that will be mentioned in this thread such as territories, trading and more.
The simplest way this could be achieved is by shrinking the ship and character model sizes to a much smaller scale so that pre-existing high-seas and islands would look much larger in comparison.
This would allow the high-seas of TLOPO to be populated with a large amount of enemy ships, sea creatures and fleets. More importantly, this would lead to an overhaul in ship spawning and refined enemy territories.
2. Territories
There are two types of protected territories - NPC territories and Live territories.
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NPC territories are controlled by either the Navy, EITC, Undead (ghost ships), rebel Pirates or the Doomed. These territories are scattered across the high-seas and contain different sectors. You'll find that the ship difficulties vary depending on which sector of the territory you're sailing in. NPC territories will be placed in predictable areas.
Navy territory surrounding Port Royal, Kingshead, and Cuba
EITC territory surrounding Padres del Fuego, Devil's Anvil and Isla Perdida
Undead territory surrounding Raven's Cove, Cutthroat Isle and Isla Cangrejos.
Rebel territory surrounding Tortuga, Rumrunner's Isle and Driftwood Island
Doomed territory surrounding Isla Tormenta and Outcast Isle
New enemy factions:
Rebel Pirates
Rebel Pirates will look like the enemies you'll fight on Isla Escondida, with varying ship designs similar to those of bounty hunters.
The Doomed
The Doomed will be visually similar to the enemies you fight on Isla Tormenta and are Davy Jones' henchmen. New barnacle-covered ship designs will be implemented alongside The Doomed.
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Live territories are controlled by player Guilds and contain a non-customizable Guild stronghold (island) containing a tavern, shipwright as well as clothing and weapon vendors. There will be 4 live territories across the high-seas.
Guild members will be responsible for patrolling their territory to ensure its safe from a foreign invasion. Guild ships, flags and islands will all display the Guild Emblem of the occupying guild when on patrol.
These live territories are areas of Open SvS and will be strategically placed in the edges of the high-seas to prevent low-level or unintended ships from accidentally sailing there and sinking.
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Unprotected Territories
Empty territories at the edges of the high-seas rumored to house legendary creatures.
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3. New Islands
After the high-seas' expansion in size, we will no longer be limited to 16 islands. Future islands such as Isla Escondida, Jolly Roger's Island, and the 4 Guild strongholds can be integrated into the larger high-seas. Even more islands could be squeezed-in in the future!
4. Trading
Sea trading involves either sinking ships and returning the required materials or delivering materials from point A to point B safely... These activities will require pirates to modify and adjust their routes through the different territories and weathers accordingly to prevent being sunk. Losing the materials by sinking or dying will lead to a deduction in trading points. Completing trading quests successfully leads to an increase in trading points.
The higher trading points a pirate has, the more lucrative the deals they receive from traders all across the islands are. A pirate could be sent on a land trading quest on a islands to find or loot certain materials, be tasked with escaping multiple warships or even be offered a large reward in return for sabotaging large enemy fleets to disturb the Caribbean's economy. Weekly and monthly challenges with exclusive rewards can be implemented alongside trading to add another competitive flair to TLOPO.
Reaching a certain amount of trading points will allow pirates to trade weapons, clothing items as well as Gold. Trading marketplaces contain storage sheds that can be purchased to store any excess items when the inventory is full. Multiple storage sheds can be bought, however the items you store are only retrievable from the storage shed you initially stored the item in.
Upon dropping anchor, there could be a button prompting you to "Send to storage shed".
5. Weather system
In order to make things more challenging, a new sea weather system can be introduced. One that directly impacts battles and affects your odds of success. Weather alerts in certain territories can be seen across the high seas map making traveling from one island to the other or simply plundering a complicated and tactical affair in which pirates have to avoid certain routes. Confident and risk-taking pirates can sail through the unrelenting storms while less experienced ones can take advantage of the clear skies.
The different weather types are clear skies, fog, heavy rain, storms and blazing heat. As the weather changes, visual alterations take place and different limitations and stat boosts take place for both pirate and NPC ships. (eg: Storms lead to 10% extra thunderbolt damage and a 10% decrease in ship speed)
6. Enhanced wave physics
Waves that vary in sizes and shapes (depending on the weather) can be added into the high-seas. Large waves would lead to some shots missing the target, thus making naval combat slightly more challenging and forcing players to anticipate the next best location at which they can take their shot.
Waves can also slow down ships or speed them up if they are utilized correctly.
7. Proper ship immersion
This is a simple, yet much-needed update. Ships appear to be hovering above water. If the ship models are slightly "dipped" underwater, they will look like they are actually floating above water.
8. In-depth ship customization
Further ship customization can be introduced to the game. Players can edit how their separate ship parts look in terms of design and color. Some of the editable components could be the wheel, ship steps, masts, cannons, and figureheads.
In the future, cabin upgrades and crew-quarters can be unlocked - leading to changes in factors such as cabin storage as well as cannon and cargo amount.
9. Ship of the Line implementation
The implementation of the SOTL class has been a controversial topic, as a large amount of players are against its release into the high-seas due to how overpowered it is.
What if, to prevent players from "exhausting" the ship population, lower level or tier ships were made less lucrative towards SOTL tier ships? This could be manipulated through significantly lower rep rewards and only crude-to-rare loot drops.
Basically, normal ships wouldn't be rewarding or worth the time (and effort since they're considerably shorter than the SOTL). Do you ever go out of your way to sink a Navy Ferret in your war-class ship? Exactly.
SOTL-class ships will be primarily used in Guild patrol, sea invasions, as well as to battle much higher level ship classes and types that could be introduced later on.
10. Sea Invasions
Sea invasions can be introduced to TLOPO. In order for the enemy to be able to invade an island on-land, they must first sink the ships surrounding the island. The islands prone to sea invasions are Port Royal, Tortuga and Padres del Fuego. Waves of enemy ships spawn in the surrounding territory and are fought against by pirates; there are 7 waves in total and each wave consist of ships of varying difficulty. The last few waves consist mainly of SOTL-class enemy ships as well as Warships. Participating pirates are rewarded at the end of the sea invasion.
New loot (made for the update) and sea items can be rewarded exclusively after the sea invasions.
IF THE SEA INVASION IS LOST, PIRATES MUST BE PREPARED TO FIGHT THE ENEMY ON-LAND.
Port Royal is prone to sea invasion by the Undead, Rebel Pirates, and the Doomed.
Tortuga is prone to sea invasion by the Navy, the EITC, the Undead, and the Doomed.
Padres del Fuego is prone to sea invasion by the Rebel Pirates, and the Doomed.
Guild strongholds are prone to sea invasion by other online pirates.
11. Guild Fleet & Events
Check out this thread I made a few months ago for more details on Guild fleets, special events, and leaderboards (if you're interested!).
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