Changes to Docking and Undocking

[Chris Johnson]

Several changes have been made to how docking and undocking work.

1) Docking Cancellation has been implemented , details are as follows:

Docking can be cancelled as long as there is at least 3 or more turns until docking will be completed. If there are less than 3 turns to docking finishing then the process can not be cancelled.

Docking cancellation is an event seen by all people on the same boat (but not inside cabins or docked boats)

If Docking is cancelled the boat is left moving at the same sp[eed and direction as it was when docking started.

If docking is cancelled then the only docking target immediately available will be the original docking target . The crew will have to wait for a normal sailing processing (and be moving) for all docking targets to be come available.

Docking is cancelled from the Locations Page

2) Notification of a boat about to dock has been implemented as follows:

All characters in the location which a boat is docking to are notified that the docking is taking place 2 turns before the docking finishes and again 1 turn before the docking

If the Location is a Coaster Harbour or Landing Stage then all characters in the main town are similarly notifed.


3) Undocking from boats at sea has also changed as follows:

No docking direction is possible when undocking at sea - You now undock to the same location as the parent ship

The parent ship is not automatically available as a docking target immediately after undocking - You will have to move you ship and wait for normal sailing processing before you can redock


4) Undocking from land has changed in that you no longer presented with a long undocking distance (10 pixels) if a short (5 pixel) one exists


5) Docking now generates and event

When docking is started all characters on that boat see who started the docking.

An In-game announcement will be made directing players to this post.

[Doug R.]

3) Undocking from boats at sea has also changed as follows:

No docking direction is possible when undocking at sea - You now undock to the same location as the parent ship

Oh well, there goes my grand idea to instantly travel between islands using a massive flotilla of evenly spaced longboats... I thought it could be a wonder of the world...

[Phalynx]

The announcement on the character page has suddenly become Polish!

[Doug R.]

And you're posting about it here...why?

[Phalynx]

I will rephrase..

The announcement telling people to look here for the changes was in english, it disappeared and returned in Polish, so perhaps people will not see this thread and know about the changes...

[Chris Johnson]

The message has been rewritten again in English

3) Undocking from boats at sea has also changed as follows:

No docking direction is possible when undocking at sea - You now undock to the same location as the parent ship

Oh well, there goes my grand idea to instantly travel between islands using a massive flotilla of evenly spaced longboats... I thought it could be a wonder of the world...

... I would have thought it would have been a PD issue myself

[Maelstrom]

Wow. I mean, wow, these are not minor changes, at all.

Here's my input / complaining, and also indirectly a very useful guide to those who want to kill characters using the new and ....just new, boating system.

Several changes have been made to how docking and undocking work.

1) Docking Cancellation has been implemented , details are as follows:

Docking can be cancelled as long as there is at least 3 or more turns until docking will be completed. If there are less than 3 turns to docking finishing then the process can not be cancelled.

Docking cancellation is an event seen by all people on the same boat (but not inside cabins or docked boats)

If Docking is cancelled the boat is left moving at the same speed and direction as it was when docking started.

If docking is cancelled then the only docking target immediately available will be the original docking target . The crew will have to wait for a normal sailing processing (and be moving) for all docking targets to be come available.

Docking is cancelled from the Locations Page

I'm all for docking cancellation, but this implementation makes me uneasy. Murder rates on boats just went up, though, that's for sure, as the active player (not character) gets a decided advantage during a struggle for control of the docking. Once cabins come in, even moreso.

2) Notification of a boat about to dock has been implemented as follows:

All characters in the location which a boat is docking to are notified that the docking is taking place 2 turns before the docking finishes and again 1 turn before the docking

If the Location is a Coaster Harbour or Landing Stage then all characters in the main town are similarly notifed.

Seems fair. You shouldn't be able to 'sneak' a galleon into town, and sneak it out. People should notice that.

3) Undocking from boats at sea has also changed as follows:

No docking direction is possible when undocking at sea - You now undock to the same location as the parent ship

The parent ship is not automatically available as a docking target immediately after undocking - You will have to move you ship and wait for normal sailing processing before you can redock

This is by far the most far-reaching change.

Has docking a moving boat been changed, i.e. to not be cancelled just because the boat is moving?

If not, it's now next to impossible to dock a moving boat. You'll have to sail until you're atop them to do it, correct? Yikes! Was this the intent? Was this part discussed?

It also makes coordination between vessels at sea virtually impossible, at the least horribly impractical, and since cabins still aren't implemented, there's no hope for ship-to-ship radio.

This particular change is very, very bad. Why was it done?

All those at sea may now rest easy, except those who've been dragged out of town to be murdered on a boat. You shouldn't rest easy because the odds of you being saved are now so close to zero as to effectively be so. Those doing the killing, however, you, yes, you can rest easy. After washing off all the blood of course. Wouldn't want it to dry.

4) Undocking from land has changed in that you no longer presented with a long undocking distance (10 pixels) if a short (5 pixel) one exists

Minor, but good to know.

5) Docking now generates and event

When docking is started all characters on that boat see who started the docking.

An In-game announcement will be made directing players to this post.

Could you make it so you know who touched the controls on a boat when the direction is changed? It's something that should be observable as well, instead of wondering which of the 19 other people on deck suddenly tried to take control of your ship.

The link doesn't work using Firefox at least, CJ. Found this post with a search.

-Mael

[Chris Johnson]

Has docking a moving boat been changed, i.e. to not be cancelled just because the boat is moving?

If not, it's now next to impossible to dock a moving boat. You'll have to sail until you're atop them to do it, correct? Yikes! Was this the intent? Was this part discussed?

It also makes coordination between vessels at sea virtually impossible, at the least horribly impractical, and since cabins still aren't implemented, there's no hope for ship-to-ship radio.

No other docking feature has changed - nor has the fact that you have to be close to a moving boat to dock to it. The only thing here is that a boat undocking from another is not flung out up to a days walking distance from the parent boat.

The only docking which is not immediately possible is back to the parent boat - under the old system you could start docking at once but the docking would 3 or 4 turns upwards - now it can be achieved in 1 or 2 turns. Other docking targets within range will be available for docking as normal .

[Marian]

Well, normally I'd say all these changes are good things, but they just had to come along at the worst time possible for me...I'm sure pirates will love being able to cancel docking though.

[SekoETC]

I think these are all good changes, even though it was nice bouncing from ships at sea. I understand that could've lead into an unrealistic bridge between islands and so great that it was changed before someone had time to abuse it. You can still dock to a pirate boat if you manage to undock on the same turn and choose the right direction. Now that there are no double directions, there won't even be a question of "which of these is the long one and which a short one?" I never found that out personally.

[Black Canyon]

3) Undocking from boats at sea has also changed as follows:

No docking direction is possible when undocking at sea - You now undock to the same location as the parent ship

The parent ship is not automatically available as a docking target immediately after undocking - You will have to move you ship and wait for normal sailing processing before you can redock

I hate this one.

[Sho]

I like these changes. For the most part they seem to be fairly balance-neutral; changes 2, 4 and 5 improve playability without giving anyone a major advantage, and change 3 should eliminate an exploitable loophole without really making redocking much easier or harder. Docking cancellation does have the potential to (as Maelstrom says) cause messy fights for control, but it's probably still better than the old system.

[The Industriallist]

I am a bit sad to see the ability to slip into unwatched harbors go away, but I can't say it's unfair or unreasonable.

The 'coundown to dock' information should be given to characters aboard the boat in some form. It doesn't seem right for people in town to know exactly when the boat lands, but people on the boat to have to guess.

[Doug R.]

It's pretty easy to figure out when your boat lands.

75% = you'll land next hour
55% = in two hours
43% = in 3 hours
Etc.

[Chris Johnson]

It's pretty easy to figure out when your boat lands.

75% = you'll land next hour
55% = in two hours
43% = in 3 hours
Etc.

You do mean your boat don't you - because these figures depend on the type of boat and how much it is carrying and how far it was from the docking target when docking was started - They are not universal