Treasure Hunt/Exploration Mission

[Gregory Rainsborough]

I'm not sure if anyone is familiar with the X Series but I wonder if it would be possible to apply one of the mission chains to Naval Action.

I'm referring to the "Treasure Hunt" mission chain that you get once you've explored a certain amount of sectors*.

I think it would be fairly easy to create and would force people to know locations by sight rather than teleporting from one port to another but would require a bit of imagination to write up the necessary wording for the quests. It could be done in a number of ways, via message to inbox or like the "last known fleet location". It could be done every quarter of a year, month, week or day depending on how long you made the chain.

So an example.

 

Mission 1

You receive a mail saying:

"Captain, one of our agents received a letter from an anonymous source stating that they had learnt of the location of a rare ship that had become beached. The letter does not state exactly where he is but he has left breadcrumbs for those determined to find this potential treasure. The first step is to meet his agent at the solitary fort between two capitals."

So you go to Fort Baai.

Mission 2

You receive another mail saying:

"We found the source's agent whose name was Captain Cotton. He wants to be paid 10 mill gold for information but during the course of the conversation you learn he lives on an island and that he master lives on an island to the west. We can either pay him for his master's location or try to find it ourselves so we can speak to him"

So you got to La Bermeja

Mission 3

Then you get another:

"You finally find the anonymous source. He asks that you help him decorate his house and wants 5000 gold pieces and some famous 6 Parisian Furniture. Then he will reveal the location of the hidden ship"

You bring it obviously

Mission 4

"The master thanks you for his home improvements and gives you a map, remarkably similar to the one you already have. Unfortunately he has spilt some tea on the part south west of Bermuda. He says that it is around that area".

Off you go to dock at the hidden island and dock up at Rum Cove and you receive a Hercules note, in this instance. First come first served and only one person can complete the chain.

 

You could always make it specific to sights but for the sake of ease I used easy examples that could be found with the map and trader tool but you get the gist.

 

Pros

More people further out to sea, more potential content.

Cons

Lazy people who don't like traveling miss out. Oh noes.

*A walkthrough of it in X3 https://roguey.co.uk/x3tc/help/spike/treasure1.php

[Wind]

Good suggestions, but instead of sectors and mail you will simply need to sail inside regions around the world and sink NPC. Those NPC will then drop missions, maps, chests etc... Opening them will start a mission. 

--------------

They the foundation to run any content like this and this includes daily, weekly mission challenges. All what is required is scripting and narrating persons who will write scenarios. 

Let's say weekly you complete challenges and get an item. Complete 4 weeks and turn them into a rare ship or never loose mod, paint etc... If you missed a week you can go to a premium shop to get the item that you missed or wait for another season.  

I also, remember exploration and treasures were among the first suggestions in Naval Action

Edited May 17, 2018 by Wind

[z4ys]

I like it but I already see the complains:

Way to much sailing + to much thinking + cannot complete quest it's to hard

NA in a nutshell

And quest would have to be different for each player. NA players love ganking and waiting at these locations will be the best meat grinder ever

Improvement: - random quest  locations for every player

Edited May 17, 2018 by z4ys

[Hethwill, the Red Duke]

No discussion about possible complaints.

Discuss the suggestion and how to improve it and make it viable for Developer's consideration.

 

[TrackTerror]

Something like this would add more content which is needed especially for solo players.

+1

[Angus MacDuff]

These long sailing quests are a very good idea.  Something similar was suggested on another thread.  They encourage OW travel which brings PVP.  Even people who don't want to travel will pay for the resulting items, therefor someone is out there gathering.

[Wind]

4 minutes ago, Oberon74 said:

 Even people who don't want to travel will pay for the resulting items, therefor someone is out there gathering.

That is true and that is the whole point on how you get trained people on OS sailing or new guys trying such experience for the first time.  

Edited May 17, 2018 by Wind

[Wind]

30 minutes ago, z4ys said:

 

And quest would have to be different for each player. NA players love ganking and waiting at these locations will be the best meat grinder ever

 

They already have random mission or shipwreck spawn system in place. Locations would be random every time. I do not see difficulty here. Like I said before, sail around the world, sink NPCs and collect mission drops from killed npc ships. Loot drop is what we need, loot similar to bottles (already implemented). 

Sink a boat around Havana region and get a letter. Open it and it will tell you approximate mission location that only you will know. Figure it out and start the journey. Is it hard to implement Sea of thieves riddles here? No .. its a piece of cake, but requires more navigation tools inside world map. If riddle says search around D5 A4 sectors then you will know where to sail or if it says 10 miles west off X island. 

I will write a separate suggestion thread about this eventually. 

Edited May 17, 2018 by Wind

[Angus MacDuff]

1 minute ago, Wind said:

They already have random mission or shipwreck spawn system in place. Locations would be random every time. I do not see difficulty here. 

Indeed, and because the events are randomly spawned, OW hunters need to cover a wide area in order to find these people.  Or cover choke points...either way, now the hunters can be hunted. 

[Grundal]

Good idea.

For true exploration it would be great to have a fog of war map and only shows areas once you have explored them or purchased / obtained a map of an area.  The play area would have to be random as well.

 

[Gregory Rainsborough]

Aye, it'd be difficult and wouldn't be for everyone but who cares!

[EdWatchmaker]

Great idea. I for one would love it. Let's keep this thread alive to get the Devs attention.

Thanks and fair sailing all.

[Guest]

In addition, there might be: a "Captains Adventure" port tour mission. Once chosen, you are given a list of 100 Global ports to visit (at the players leisure)and collect an Inspection or Passport stamp from. There are smaller tiered rewards for 10 ports visited, 25, 50, etc. Once all 100 Ports are visited - you receive a Santa Cecilia, 5 million gold, 2 rare upgrades. Can only be done once. This could also be made an element of a more rare book acquisition like the present "Art of ship handling" or even another "Naval Clock".

Edited May 17, 2018 by Guest

[Gregory Rainsborough]

@Headless Parrot I love the idea of a reward, the Santa, for visiting every port on the map or something like that. That would be good fun and give me a reason to go everywhere! 

[Gregory Rainsborough]

See, no-one dislikes the idea at least

[Macjimm]

This type of suggestion really leaves nothing to dislike.  Those who are not interested don't have to participate.  The  players who are out sailing around seeking treasure are fodder for those looking to sink or destroy them.  Players who are bored of firing broadsides all day can escort treasure seekers. 

It would add an immense amount of content if locating the treasure was finished from within a search instance, rather than from OW. 

• Sailing slowly should increase the chance of locating a sunken ship or wreck. 
• Anchoring in near shore could allow a crew to go ashore, and after some time they would return with a report on what they had found.
• Players would be vulnerable to attack from inside the instance.
• Attackers would spawn at a max distance from the ship that initiated the instance.
• Escorts could assist the search ship from inside or in OW.
• Treasure could be wrecks, hidden loot, rare resources, precious gems/minerals.
• Perks and upgrades could include crew members and equipment that can make searching more successful.
• Loading the treasure into the ship should take time to create more opportunities for attackers.  I can image the suspense while waiting for the crew to load treasure and an enemy warship is sighted approaching.  The treasure seeker has a choice; keep loading or flee.  Because it is within an instance, and the ship is not a speedboat, timing and patience would be important.  Leave too soon and the enemy obtains the rest of the prize.  Leave too late and the enemy obtains ... you.

Some of these quests could be created by the Devs and woven into a step by step quest.  Those quests with more detail and greater number the steps would have a bigger reward.   But much of it could simply be various deposits of valuable goods, located outside of the ports.  I can envision groups of players teaming up for a piece of the pie on the bigger epic quests, some to transport the goods, some to escort and provide combat support, others as lookouts or screens.

This would be a fantastic addition to the game.  Long sails are a good part of the game.  This idea would give us more reasons to make long sails.  The players  who hate sailing can lay in wait to sink or capture the treasure seekers.   Players that have left, but like sailing and travel, might return to the game.