Stagecoaches a Fast-Travel Middle Ground
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There are a great deal of folks that are wishful of a fast travel system. One big reason for this seems to be the boredom of travel. I think I have a solution that solves the boredom without violating the fast-travel rules of the game. My idea, player run Stagecoaches. This isn’t fast travel exactly but the travelers can basically ignore things until their stagecoach arrives at its destination (perhaps announced by a sound)
Keep in mind that this is a rough idea but it would work something like this: a player would be able to build a stagecoach and then sell tickets for travel anywhere that they are willing to haul passengers. The passengers would pay a fee (set by the stagecoach operator/player) to be transported from one place to another and could walk away from the computer during travel. Travelers are guaranteed arrival at their destination, however, if the stagecoach is attacked and defeated they lose a portion of their inventory, but only a portion of their inventory.
It is just an idea and needs a lot of refining and tweaking, but it would make a great way for some folks to earn money and others to skip the boredom of running from place to place.
Of course this could also be run by NPCs.
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I am personally fine with some fast travel mechanics but I would be careful to not add too much of them. It is okay if fast travel encourages players to explore and group up with friends for example. The system should not be benefical from trading point of view and the costs needs to scale with the value of items and resources that players carry. That being said, it is time to examine more closly OPs suggestion...
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@StormBug I am not against this kind of system but I fear that it can be more a roleplaying thing rather than actually a working player-driven business. It is hard to say tbh and like you said it is just rough design at this point so it needs more flesh anyway.
However, perhaps the NPC-system would work better, and it could be part of the town tech as well, meaning that some kind of transport station needs to be build before transports can start or end to this specific town, and perhaps needs contracts agreed between towns as well.
Ashes of creation is creating a PvE - PvP system around wagons which are transporting players' goods from cities to another. Perhaps some ideas could be loaned there to develop this idea further.
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YES!!!
I posted something almost exactly this idea somewhere, sometime in the past, no way I can find it now.
But basically my idea was more to do with resting; two or four players hook up their horse to a wagon and three of them ride passively (ranged combat if attacked? boarding party mechanic like in old john wayne movies?) so that only one player needs to be active at any one time and only one character, so the other characters don't lose energy because they are in a constant state of resting. players can switch drivers if their character or themselves need rest.This could also include increased speed: more 'horsepower' more carry weight etc. and any mechanics could be easily transferred to boats. (PLEASE ADD BOATS!!! as in ones that you actually control, for rivers and coastlines. also FISHING!!! as in fishing in boats at sea with nets and stuff)
The only problem is that the usefulness of this sort of system, mine specifically, is dependant on players moving across the map frequently instead of travelling to a certain place and never going back; just working their way around the map playing as they go or wanting instant transport to a distant place.
My idea came out of really wanting to see trading caravans in the game; despite all the advertising, I didn't see a lot of it in Albion (the short time I played) and the need for it wasn't really there.
Fractured however, having 'heavy materials' makes trading caravans more necessary and requiring of more planning, but the market system and resource availability mean that players are more likely to just bring goods to the nearest town and put them on the market there for players that want those items to come and buy them, rather than actually having different markets for different goods in different areas, allowing travelling merchants to make a living by buying where goods are cheap and selling where they are costly.See my other posts about the economy/market system.
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You know an idea is good when the only people discussing it are (some of) the people whose posts you find yourself looking for
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What's wrong with harbours?
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@Ablabla Harbours work, but the 'loading scene teleportation' method of travel isn't liked by everyone. Not to mention it adds to a game to have multiple options; sometimes you want to get there fast and are willing to pay more, sometimes money is more important than time, sometimes you just want to take the scenic route.
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Trying to understand.
So, a Player, aka someone who spent money to play, would essentially be paying to be a stagecoach driver. And the people inside could then in theory go do dishes whilst someone who is paying player drives them around the continent.
My question would be thus. Why would anyone pay $25 minimum to drive a stage coach?
Now, NPC driven coaches that would deliver people to player cities via a loading screen similar to harbors, or driving them to harbors would be doable and very beneficial. There's would need to be a building added to the city planning so that the city would be registered to the line, perhaps even locked behind research. I would be all for legit, era-appropriate fast travel. We have horses, we have wagons. Not a big leap to passenger wagons. Being able to go from Broken Hills to FFA in a moment would be awesome. Except we have harbors for that.
There's some problems with this however. First of all the D-Squad aka the griefers and gankers are already screaming bloody murder because good and neutral don't drop any gear. Which is how it should be. Now we take away their ability to spawn camp harbors and low level areas.
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I don't like fast travel mechanics in any game.
However.......
If you hired a stagecoach (buildable in player towns), which then automatically travelled via waypoints to other towns etc then I would actually like this idea.Basically it would make travelling easier (but not erode the travel/time investment) and also double up as a gold sink, which the game is currently lacking.
Not a bad idea as long as it is basically just a taxi feature. It should also still be attackable though. So there is risk involved.
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@DarthJafo Actually, there are quite a few players who would pay to play, and then become professional Stagecoach drivers in game for some extra in-game resources like Gold, or other goods. There are already those who want to build Caravans, complete with guards, where passengers would have lower risk, but the goods and Drivers/Guards are possibly gonna get ambushed by 'Bandit' players.
There is a whole dymanic of Players that like this kind of thing. Not saying I'm for any kind of Fast Travel other than the Harbour system, but that doesn't mean it is not a viable concept, as there are already people clamoring for something like it.
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First, my use of “fast-travel middle ground” was never meant to imply anything like the harbors. With my idea the amount of time to travel from place to place would still be the same, however, you as a player simply would not have to be present the entire time.
The stagecoach would offer folks the chance to rest their eyes, use the restroom, and grab a drink or a snack and so on.
Some thoughts:
Should be attackable, absolutely. How this might work (if it is an automated system) is that the game uses each characters stats to figure out how they fared in the attack and whether or not the lost any or all of their personal items, including gold if they are carrying any. I don’t think that equipped armor or weapons should be at risk. These are my ideas; what are yours?
The stagecoach should be of limited access. Only one per city and once it travels out it must travel back again before it is once again available. This will prevent everyone from traveling this way constantly.
I am still undecided about whether players could or should drive them or if it should be done strictly by NPCs. Like I said in my first post though this is just a very rough idea.
