AI delivers your ship

[Captain Comery]

I think that it would be a good idea to see an AI driver one of our ships to a port in order to save time trying to remember the route to the port.

This idea would cost gold and take a few hours to do plus the ship COULD be partly damag as a kind of deter ant for over use.

This could save the freelance of having being sunk and no ship at the port saving your teleport. We want players to stop using teleport too much anyway right?

Leave opinions in the comments.

[OlavDeng2]

I wouldnt mind such a system, however there needs to be some requirements for such a system

 

1. the AI would take your ship through the open world

 

2. it would say on the ship that it was owned by such and such person and that it is currently being hauled(which makes it a target)

 

3. it would be weaker than sailed by its captain(due to maybe it being undercrewed or something)

 

4. it would be expensive

 

5. it would take a lot of time(depending on distance, say from fort zoutman to oranjestadt which for a player takes 1-2 hours depending on ship, it would take the ai 4-5 hours depending on ship)

 

6. you can only send a ship from a port that you are in(just like the deliveries currently), or you have a currier system which sends a letter to retrieve the ship(however this also has a certain chance of getting sunk)

 

This is what i would like to see if such a feature were to be implemented, it would be nice and all, but should be risky businesses as you are putting your boat at the hands of other people and also risk pirates and privateers, however it is usefull if you have a bunch of ships in a port that is being attacked that you want to evacuate. 

 

edit: this might be a bit harsh, so it might need some tweaking.

Edited December 18, 2015 by OlavDeng2

[lohi]

I was wondering about that one as well, so when you board and capture a ship you send it to your port/outpost etc. Is that ship sailing on the OW?  That would be a really good thing not only that it sails on the OW where it can be attacked but it should be slower(since it contains only prize crew) and the travel time should be as for any player operated ship. It should identify as a player so if you encounter it on the OW it seems like another player ship, however if you attack it it should have a decreased fighting potential since it is undermanned. Also is there an option to escort that ship by yourself to the desired port? 

 

So after you go trough all the fighting to take one you still cannot count your blessing since unless you want to escort that ship back to your port you have to take your chances with the delivery option.

[Captain Comery]

Iohi, I think you got the wrong end of the stick. The idea is that the AI delivers the ship from one port to another.

For example, imagine I just lost in combat and I want my Snow from Mortimer town but I am put in a random neutral port. The idea is that I can place an order for my snow to be delivered to my port in a set amount of time dependent on the distance the ship must travel. When the time is up my Snow will arrive in the neutral port. During the time between delivery the AI sails my ship on the OW but has the message "AI sailing snow for Captain Comery" and like usual my Snow can be attacked and captured. If my Snow arrives I can sail it directly from the neutral port instead of getting in a yacht and sailing all the long distance back to Mortimer town then back again.

This idea could very well replace the teleport system.

I do however like your idea as it sounds more authentic. Perhaps we can also have an option to add a captured ship to your fleet permitting your rank allows it.

NOTE: for the AI delivery idea to work we could make it so that we have to create an outpost in the port for the process to work.

[lohi]

Oh well that is a good idea, do you know if there is any plans of using the same mechanic for transporting goods with a ship? If i am a trader and have a ship in port and goods in warehouse i can place the order for the AI to transport those goods from one port to another providing i have a warehouse there to store said goods? Of course it should also be vunerable to attack from other players but maybe not NPCs..something to think about

[AKPyrate]

For that matter, I'd also like to be able to put cargo in my fleet.