Caravans

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Alpha-2 caravan being escorted to the Miraleth node.[1]

The Caravan System is a major aspect of the economy in Ashes of Creation. While the rewards can be great for moving massive amounts of Commodities and other materials across the world of Verra, players can choose to be Caravan attackers or defenders, making these hotspots for PvP battles.[2]

Caravans are vehicles that facilitate the transfer of cargo across Verra.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]

Caravans are the induction of emergent gameplay, which means you cannot predict the situation you're going to be in when you use a caravan. That's part of the risk: The risk is the unknown. If you could predict it then your ability to mitigate that risk would unfortunately remove that dynamic- that ratio of risk versus reward.[13]Steven Sharif

Caravan types

Tier 5 personal caravan on route from Winstead to Miraleth in Alpha-2. 3D model by Hal Anderson.[26]

There are different types of Caravans in Ashes of Creation.[7][27]

Mayorale karavaans

Een quest om een mayoraal karavaan op pad te sturen.[32]

Mayorale karavaans worden op pad gestuurd door burgemeesters.[32]

Quest driven caravans

System driven caravans (also referred to as Quest driven caravans) are system spawned caravans that are used for trade routes between nodes.[6][7][27]

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  • These are initiated by players with a diverse choice of routes and launch windows, making them difficult to zerg.[33]
  • Initiating a caravan from one node to another will create a PvP objective that players will need to defend while it moves along its chosen route to the selected destination.[12]
  • Roads will upgrade as nodes advance. Different roads will dictate the speed and type of caravan required (off road vs on road).[34]
The caravan system is designed to be initiated by the player. Which means, information of the caravans launch time and route, should be a closely guarded secret. Routes will also be diverse, and the world is large, so it might behoove you to scout the route ahead before a launch. Fast travel in our game is also limited, which means unless the guild had knowledge of your plans before hand, it is likely that they will be unable to organize and travel to a location. As far as mass guilds securing trade routes, there is always a bigger fish in the pond. Also caravans will have limitations on carrying capacity and launch windows that will segment mulitiple caravans by several minutes, which would space out the caravans, making it difficult to "zerg" a defense.[33]Steven Sharif

Personal caravans

Caravan speed is affected by caravan components and the type of roading.[35]

There'll be different variants of each of the components, with the wheels for example, would have variants that will excel perhaps at off-road over on-road and vice versa. So right now we have caravans that are set up more for the on-road portion, but you will travel faster over roads, but that obviously comes with the increased risk of running into other players or monsters that are blocking the road.[35]Chris Justo

Personal caravans of different tiers deployed outside the Winstead node in Alpha-2. 3D models by Hal Anderson.[36]

Personal caravans (also referred to as Self-directed/player-driven caravans) are utilized by players to transport cargo across Verra. These are land-based and water-based (raft caravans) that a single player drives and directs.[28][14][37][29][30][27]

  • Caravan drivers receive a significant defensive buff while they are driving a caravan. This reduces CC effects and increases damage mitigation significantly.[40]
  • The caravan owner is able to grant permissions to allow other players to drive their caravans. If these permissions are not activated by the owner then anyone can drive their caravans. If the caravan driver is killed or otherwise removed from the caravan then any player will be able to drive the caravan for a period of 15 to 20 minutes before the caravan despawns and becomes a wreckage.[40]
    • A caravan will persist in the world for a period of 5 to 10 minutes from the time its owner logs out or is disconnected from the server.[41]
  • Caravans have collision, so other players could jump on the caravan while it is being driven.[40]
    • Players or mounts trying to block caravans will be pushed out of the way.[4][42]

Naval caravans

Alpha-2 raft caravan in the Riverlands biome.[43]

Caravans are capable of transitioning from land to raft caravans. So if you start out as a land-based Caravan and you move to the coast and you want to move into the water there's gonna be a little transition period there; it's gonna be a little construction site: You're not gonna have to do anything it's just gonna be a timer right so that you can't quickly move between land and water. It's gonna be probably in the matter of a minute to two minutes. There's a little bit of vulnerability in that regard.[30]Steven Sharif

Raft caravans (also referred to as Naval caravans) allow the transportation of cargo over the water.[44][45][8][39]

Hijacking ships

Certain ships can be hijacked, destroyed and looted, but the ships themselves cannot be permanently captured.[49][50]

Caravan inventory

Alpha-2 materials inventory user interface.[51]

Inventory for A2 will exist in two categories, spatial and non-spatial. The spatial inventory system will only exist for materials and gatherables. The non-spatial system will be the normal single slot inventory that is used for all completed items IE gear, consumables etc.. The spatial system is intended to provide limitation and progression when everything in the open world is gatherable, requiring players to strategize which things they choose to gather or not. These spatial inventories will be shaped in various ways that make the bag types more conducive for certain types of gatherables allowing players to specialize their capacity. Auto sort is a feature[52]Steven Sharif

Inventory capacity has quantity (stacking) limits based on the type of item.[53][54] Backpacks offer varying stack sizes and/or spatial inventory shapes that are optimized for carrying different items.[55][56]

Inventory is split into two separate management systems. The first is your non-material, non-gatherable slots. Those are your standard single slot, not-space-constrained system that's a standard inventory: you just have a single slot, and you can pull completed items and/or consumables and quest items or whatever into that slot. And then, when you're talking about materials, specifically processed goods and gatherables: those exist within the Tetris type uh inventory system.[60]Steven Sharif
  • Items are placed into the most suitable inventory slots by default.[51]
All those materials actually sorted nicely in the appropriate bags based on your stack sizes.[51]Alex Khudoliy
We want to have very unique progression when it comes to the construction of resource bags; and those resource bags will have certain benefits, like increasing stack size count of particular types of resources; or of having a additional delay time necessary to interface with with your corpse, should a player try to take the resources you might have dropped in PvP; or having passive benefits and unique structures of spacing that makes it more a better bag for wood gathering because woods are three-by-one; or a better bag for mining because mining is always two-by-two. The idea is to make your intent as a gatherer when you go out into the wild specific right not just that you're going out into the wild and gathering everything you can because it's there; and that's what we don't have like a labor system that limits it. We have a space constraint system so when you leave your node and you go out into the wild you need to be conscientious of what you're choosing to interact with and take resources for, because you have a limited space constraint to that degree.[60]Steven Sharif
  • Inventory capacity is subject to quantity rather than weight limits.[53]
In my opinion, and this is of course subjective, but weight management is not a compelling mechanic for players to have to deal with in an MMO setting.[53]Steven Sharif
We want you to know where the things are; and then the meaningful aspect of that thing is traveling to those locations to access some of those things, particularly as it relates to materials and raw gatherables.[68]Steven Sharif
  • Inventories will be able to be sorted.[52]
Q: Why did you go for a spatial inventory system for resources?
A: There's a number of different methods that we can use in an effort to mitigate, or again throttle, the amount of success that players can have in any one trip out in the world. Now, we're using a combination of three things: We are using progression gating through your profession level; so you need to have a certain level to access certain resources. We are utilizing the spatial inventory space as a limitation on how much things you can gather before you need to go back to town. And then lastly we have a tool predicate where you need to have a tool that is relevant for the resource you're gathering; and those tools have a decay value after each use. Weight is obviously an approach that we could take if we wanted to limit. However, the spatial system works in concert with a number of other types of systems. For example, we want to have itemization drop on death specifically as it relates to material items; and we want there to be an additional layer above just weight that introduces complexity; and where there is complexity there is choice and there is strategy and there is planning required on behalf of the player in order to set themselves up for the best possible success in certain situations.[59]Steven Sharif
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  • Mules can carry roughly 10 times more than backpacks. Caravans can carry roughly 10 times more than mules.[69]
  • Caravans will have carrying capacity limits and customizable stats, such as defensive points, speed and number of hired NPC guards.[70]

Caravan components

Caravan components and caravan stats UI in the Alpha-2 caravan master UI.[14]

Caravans have these items within them called components; and those act like the gear on the caravan. So they can modify their stats, grant them passive and even active abilities. So you can- if you upgrade your components, you can get powerful caravans.[14]John Collins

Caravan components and caravan skins both affect a caravan's appearance.[14]

Caravans will take on different appearances based on upgrades and any skins applied to them![72]

Caravans are constructed from components at caravan master NPCs in caravansary service buildings within Dorp (fase 3) nodes or higher.[14][8][15][16]

  • Caravan components modify caravan stats and grant passive and active abilities to the caravan. Higher tier components will increase a caravan's power and capabilities.[14]
    • There is a tradeoff between certain caravan stats and benefits provided by caravan components.[73][74]
If you're a solo player and you don't intend on transiting a lot of materials at once, you may not need the large cargo capacity, but instead you want the faster speed because you intend to outrun any potential adversaries that you might face on the roads. That is a viable strategic option for you when constructing your caravan. In addition, you saw that there are a number of different abilities that caravans can be equipped with based on the loadout of the components that you have for your caravan that is also going to influence how you interact with PvP and potential adversaries.[73]Steven Sharif
  • If components are missing, default versions with lowest stat values will be applied to the caravan.[8][15][16]
In order to construct caravan at the caravansary, you go to caravansary and you say hey I've got all these components and I want to construct a caravan; and the caravansary will accept the components that you have: It will use those components. If you don't have components for certain parts of the caravan it will give you default versions, which will be lowest stat value that that caravan can then have.[8]Steven Sharif
  • Caravan components can be individually destroyed by directional attacks against the caravan. All components are destroyed if the caravan is destroyed.[76]
  • Caravan components can affect the proximity radius for the notification of nearby players of caravan PvP events.[73]

Initiating caravans

Caravan initiation in Ashes of Creation may refer to:

Burgemeesters

Burgemeesters zijn de leiders van een node's regering. Hij controleert de voortgang van de node.[78]

Alleen burgers van de node kunnen verkozen worden tot burgemeester.[81]

Je kan burger zijn van maar één node per keer.[81]Steven Sharif

Burgemeesters krijgen nieuwe bevoegdheden en verantwoordelijkheden wanneer hun node vooruitgaat.[84]

Leadership powers

Leadership powers may refer to.

Trade routes

Mayoral caravan launched by a mayor to establish a trade route with another node.[7]

For example: this node over here might have access to cotton as a resource and when that node processes that cotton it might be some very nice type of linen that only that node, or very rarely nodes would have access to. So when you initiate a trade route, you're bringing its supplies that the mayor has requested because they're trying to build, let's say a specific type of service building, or they're trying to unlock a blueprint that they have access to now to build up their node.[86]Steven Sharif

Trade routes in Ashes of Creation refer to.

  • Roads for the transit goods via the caravan system.[87]
    You might have a mountain pass and during winter that mountain pass is always closed and so the trade routes on land change with caravans and that's something that can not only exist on a cyclical level but also dynamically based on player activity.[87]
From a diplomatic standpoint the ability for the mayor or citizens to set up NPC routed trade routes between nodes as a trade agreement or as a diplomatic process.[86]Steven Sharif

Roading

Road blocked by an environmental hazard due to a caravan event in Alpha-2.[21]

Our road system in-game is essentially driven by pre-placed routes that lead to this main artery of what was once the ancient highway system of Verra; and from there there are roads that become exposed when nodes advance; and we call those veins. They come off the main artery and then as nodes advance there are points of interest as Jeff was discussing earlier. These POIs that exist around the world and some of them share coverage with multiple nodes, but depending on which node advances to the stage that activates the point of interest it'll create these capillary roads so to speak that then stem off of the node itself. So you go from the main artery ancient road that's large- that runs through different zones and whatnot- and that breaks down into the veins that lead to the specific encampments and villages and towns that then spawn off separate capillaries that lead to the points of interest in these areas that are hunting grounds. Those are not exposed initially and they come online as players advance the world.[90]Steven Sharif

Roads adjusting to adjacent node progression.[91]

As nodes advance, these pre-laid road spots that exist connecting every possible route between certain node structures is going to adjust and adapt, both its material presentation, the type of roadwork that's present: It'll move from dirt road type, to perhaps a brick road, to perhaps some super ornate beautiful metropolis style road that will adjust around the world according to how these node structures begin to populate and advance.[91]Steven Sharif

Roads in Verra are both pre-generated and player influenced.[90]

  • The largest roads are referred to as arteries. These are remnants of what was once the ancient highway system of Verra.[90]
  • As nodes advance smaller roads, referred to as veins, connect the arteries to the nodes.[90]
  • Depending on the stages of node advancement, capillary roads will stem off the node to connect to points of interest.[90]
  • Roads or pathways are not worn into the landscape by repeated traffic over the same area.[90]
  • The quality, safety, and maximum transportation speed of roads is influenced by node building upgrades, policies, relics, and the level of nearby nodes.[92][45][34]
Q: Could you upgrade roads in the node to upgrade the roads and speeds of caravans?
A: Absolutely. So that buff that you saw is a buff that can be changed in the world based on the world state. Some of those world state interactions include certain types of relics that the nodes which govern your area might have access to and might be actively employing. Some of it might have to do with policies: You might be able to extend the guard influences across the road radius further out for certain nodes if you have certain policies. You might be able to enhance and empower those guards through itemization choices that are granted by building upgrades that the node selects to build.[92]Steven Sharif

Different seasons and events may affect access to various roads.[93][22][94][95]

  • Pathways that are open during summer may be closed during winter.[93][95]
  • Seasonal affects may cause obstacles or blockages to the transit of goods via caravan.[93][22][94][96]
  • Caravan events can cause roadways to be blocked off or hostile mobs to spawn to attack the caravan.[21][22]
    • Obstacles may present barriers on roads that players must remove or bypass to allow transit of goods.[21][93][95]
  • Water turning to ice in winter, enabling players to walk over the water but blocking access to what is underneath.[95]
    • Ice will make roads bumpy and slippery.[97]

Underrealm routes will open or close dynamically (based on node states).[98]

  • The location of Underrealm entrances throughout the world is focused around natural geographic choke-points that exist above ground. This provides alternate subterranean routes that can be used by caravans, raids, and other player activities.[99][98]
  • Not all entrances to the Underrealm will be open at the same time. This can shift dynamically (based on node states) that cause different routes to open up, which may be more or less advantageous than other routes.[98]

Caravan components can be utilized to improve on-road or off-road speeds of caravans.[35]

You will travel faster over roads, but that obviously comes with the increased risk of running into other players or monsters that are blocking the road.[35]Chris Justo

Freeholds may not be placed in close proximity to roads.[100]

Caravan PvP

Caravan PvP in Alpha-2.[3]

One of the most important aspects of caravans is that there is no reward without significant risk in Ashes of Creation; and the caravan system is of particular risk, because it is how materials and commodities are transited within the world of Verra; and it's difficult to navigate the world of Verra: It's a large world and the terrain is not always kind, especially to large vehicles like a caravan.[101]Steven Sharif

Caravan PvP party icons
Friendly Defender IconAlpha.png Friendly defender
Friendly Attacker IconAlpha.png Friendly attacker
Enemy Defender IconAlpha.png Enemy defender
Enemy Attacker IconAlpha.png Enemy attacker
UI message when opting in to join the defenders of a caravan PvP event.[102]

Caravans create an objective-based PvP event in the open-world that players can choose to attack, defend, or ignore via a UI window.[102][17][18][19]

  • Only the caravan owner and those in the caravan's raid group will be able to see it on the world map.[103][104]
You will only be able to see the caravan if you are a member of the caravan's raid or if you are the owner of the caravan on the map. If you are not one of those, then you will not see it on the map. If you come within proximity of the caravan you'll be prompted through an event UI to participate if you wish as a defender or an attacker.[103]Steven Sharif
  • Players that choose to attack or defend the caravan will be flagged as combatants.[20]
    • The UI notification will include the caravan owner's name and guild.[105]
    • The proximity that the UI window appears is determined by the player's performance as either a defender or an attacker in previous raids.[17]
    • Once registered as a defender, a player can't switch to attack the caravan.[106]
    • The proximity radius for notification of nearby caravan events can be increased or decreased based on the caravan's components or a player's progression in the highwayman system.[73]
At a certain proximity to the caravan, any player will receive the event notification to participate either as an attacker or as a defender. That proximity radius can be augmented either through players advancement within the Highwaymen system, which is for defenders or attackers you can increase the radius, but also the components can increase and or decrease the radius of that event notification as well.[73]Steven Sharif
  • Players can be registered participants in a caravan event involving multiple caravans.[107][106] It is not possible for a player to participate in more than one caravan event at a time.[108]
As a player you can participate in events that have as many caravans collocated as you want. So if you have 20 Caravans that you're trying to move all in a single caravan raid with all of your players you can join all 20 of those caravans into the same caravan defense group; and that is that is the intent of the system. The same is true for the attackers. The attackers can join against all of those caravans.[107]Steven Sharif
  • Players or mounts trying to block caravans will be pushed out of the way.[4][42]
As it stands currently it would be difficult for players to be able to block the caravan. Now that's not to say that certain types of effects cannot be applied to the caravan through ability use, such as slowing effects, or pause effects, stun effects, against the caravan itself, not the rider. But right now we do have a collision priority system which means that vehicles move players and mounts. Mounts and players cannot stop vehicles from moving the vehicle. Its collision has priority; and then ships have the ultimate priority. Nothing can move ships or block ships.[4]Steven Sharif
  • If a caravan's driver is killed or otherwise removed from the caravan then any player will be able to drive the caravan for a period of 15 to 20 minutes before the caravan despawns and becomes a wreckage.[40] A caravan will persist in the world for a period of 5 to 10 minutes from the time its owner logs out or is disconnected from the server.[41]
  • There is no limit to the number of times caravans can be commandeered or the number of times caravans get destroyed and replaced.[110]
Q: Will there be a limit on the number of times a caravan can change hands if successfully taken over during a journey from one node to another?
A: No. There is no limit a caravan can be destroyed. That caravan can be destroyed. The Caravan thereafter could be destroyed. The driver of the Caravan can be killed and commandeered; and done as many times as is permitted through the situation. That is player driven.[110]Steven Sharif
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  • A group will be required to successfully attack a caravan.[11][70]

Mercenary NPCs

Mercenary NPCs can be hired to participate in objective-based situations.[112][113][114]

  • Varying tiers of mercenary NPCs may be unlocked based on the investment made in their progression. Highest tier NPC mercenaries are referred to as heros.[115][116][112][113]
  • Players can assign mercenary NPCs, but won't micromanage them, in a similar manner to pets.[114]
There are mercenary NPCs that can be assigned to players. We've discussed about that before and those will follow generically... a pet system even adopted majority of the pet system with the added bonus of objective based points of interest that you can assign them to. But we don't want to inundate the field with these mercenaries they'll be few and far between. They'll be assigned specifically like let's say for example as the mayor of a node during a siege you'll be able to assign these two specific players that are citizens within your node and then they'll have those they'll spawn during the during the node siege; or vice versa and the castle siege guild leaders can assign mercenaries that are available based on the progress of those subsidiary nodes around the castle siege whether or not you have those available to your defense or your attack.[114]Steven Sharif

PvP seasons

Performance in various PvP systems (such as Caravans, Arenas, Guild wars) is measured over the course of 6 month PvP seasons. At the end of each season, a player's cumulative score may unlock various rewards.[117][118]

Gear enhancement rewards

Gear enhancements are possible both during and after an item is crafted.[120][121]

There is a combination of systems that take an item to its max potential. Players will need to contribute in a certain number of these systems to reach max. Some of the systems are an either/or situation.[120]Kory Rice
The contribution of materials to crafting an item results in advancing the rarity of that item. Now, that doesn't exclude players who don't have the legendary or the higher quality contributed resources from progressing their common item up the rarity tree through enchantments such as scroll enchanting or through tempering the gear. Both of those can affect the quality and the rarity of the gear that you produce, but by contributing the resources during the crafting process you are getting a head start with the higher quality item and now are less dependent on those other avenues to achieve that, which might be again a different vertical space of progression that you don't have as good of access to.[121]Steven Sharif
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Caravan destruction

Caravan destruction in Alpha-2.[130]

This caravan was loaded with a combination of, it looks like commodity crates and material crates.[130]John Collins

If a caravan is destroyed or it despawns it becomes a wreckage that contains a portion of the cargo it was transporting.[131][130][132][76][11][133][134] The remainder of the caravan's goods are sunk (lost) when the caravan is destroyed.[132][135]

When a caravan gets destroyed it creates a wreckage. That wreckage will have a number of the supplies that the caravan was carrying; and when stolen by attackers those supplies become essentially stolen glint, or corrupted glint, and stolen resources that the caravan was hauling. If they are commodities they can maintain their commodity type, and players will have to summon a caravan from a nearby node that would be empty in order to haul those crates back. You can also break into the crates or the cargo itself instead of hauling the cargo as a completed shipment. Doing so reduces the number of total resources that you can gather from the crate. So a portion of it is sunk to the system; and then a portion of it gets sunk further if you choose to break open the crates versus attempting to haul them back.[132]Steven Sharif
  • Anyone may loot a caravan's wreckage.[135]
Q: What is the reason for requiring the destruction of a caravan by the attackers as opposed to the attackers gaining possession of the caravan?
A: With caravans we really want to emphasize this idea of not necessarily stealing the vehicle, but being forced to achieve victory through destruction; and when you do, you then have the logistical issue of how you're going to transport those goods on your own rather than servicing the transport of that by just hijacking.[142]Steven Sharif
  • In an earlier design iteration, prior to the introduction of cargo crates, it was proposed that destroyed caravans dropped certificates for heavy goods that were redeemable at the origin node for a portion of the goods.[143][134]
  • There is no limit to the number of times caravans can be commandeered or the number of times caravans get destroyed and replaced.[110]

Artisan supply chain

AshesOfCreation Screenshot 009.jpg

Artisans within Ashes of Creation must choose a path in their artisan skill tree. This inter-dependency establishes a supply chain from raw materials to finished product.[144][145] Each stage of the chain may require caravans to transport goods from one artisan to another.[146]

  1. Obtaining raw materials:[147]
  2. Refining the raw materials with the Processing profession.[145]
  3. Crafting the finished product using its crafting recipe.[145]

As a crafter you're going to want to know where certain recipes can be fulfilled; which nodes have the capability of creating what you've processed material that you've gathered for; and then you're going to want to plan out your route to either transit the goods there or make sure that you're situated in the area so that you can go out collect and build in that area as well. So there's a lot of planning that's going to be necessary.[150]Steven Sharif

Castle nodes

One of the 5 guild castles is located on an island, depicted with its 3 adjacent castle nodes.[151][152]

Should you be deft enough to take a Castle, you’ll now be responsible for managing it. Castles will have their own Nodes associated with them, and developing and defending those Nodes will determine the state of your Castle during the next siege. If you’ve done a good job managing your kingdom, then you’ll have more and better options available for deployment during the next siege. If you let your populace fall to ruin, you may have to rely solely on your own devices.[153]

Guild castles have three adjacent castle nodes in close proximity.[154][155] The guild must develop those nodes to enhance the defenses of the castle.[154] It will be possible, but very difficult for a single guild to fully develop these nodes. They will likely need assistance from the broader community.[156]

Once the castle is owned by a guild that's when the supporting castle nodes start to come online and spawn each week prior to the fourth week castle siege. They'll have to form alliances, they'll have to get support, they'll have to get resources, they'll be able to allocate funds that have been collected through taxation in order to strengthen the defenses as well as hiring additional NPC mercenaries.[112]Steven Sharif

Castle nodes are leveled through questing by the owning guild or alliance guilds.[155]

  • Levelling castle nodes is a hastened process compared to regular nodes.[158]
  • At the end of each week leading up to a castle siege there is a period of time in the weekend where NPC generated caravans start moving toward one of the castle nodes carrying castle taxes from the nodes that fall under the castle's purview.[159][160]
    • During this time it is incumbent upon the owning guild, its allies, and citizens of the nodes to escort these caravans to the castle node.[159]
    • The enemies of the guild have incentive to attack these caravans to reap the rewards from the caravan and to sabotage the tax collection, which will reduce the defensive capability of the castle nodes and hence the castle itself.[159][155]
    • Citizens of nodes that fall under the purview of the castle are automatically registered as defenders of these caravans and may not participate in attacks against them.[159]
  • Completing these quests unlocks services and functions that are useful to the occupying guild and its allies as well as boosting the defenses the castle.[155]

If they fail to to level up those nodes or complete those quests within the three prior weeks before the declaration week, then the castle will be at a disadvantage.[155]Steven Sharif

Being a member of the occupying guild automatically makes you a garrison of the castle nodes and castle itself.[154]

  • Only members of the occupying guild are citizens of these nodes.[161]
  • This citizenship is different to normal node citizenship. Castle nodes don't operate like normal nodes.[161][157]

Caravan skins

Caravan skins ("Pimp my caravan") were available in the cash shop (cosmetic store).[163]

You'll need your own creature and caravan hooked up to each other, and then the caravan cosmetic skin goes over all of them to make it look like what's pictured. you're not able to split out separately that caravan mount skin, hence why you'd want the separate mount skin if you wanted to ride it independently.[164]Sarah Flanagan

List of caravan skins

Zergs

For every play, there should be a counterplay. We often see Castle Sieges turn into zerg-fests, which really doesn’t capture the epic, back-and-forth battles we wish to see in Ashes of Creation. One of our key pillars is that Choice Matters[168], and that applies to tactics and strategy as well. A well-formulated battle plan should win out over stat sheets and bodies. Zergs will generally be difficult to pull off, and will be eminently counterable through siege weapons, traps, and other battlefield tricks.[153]

Zergs are empowered by fast-travel. Meaningful travel times are intended to prevent zerg play from being so much of an influence.[169]

Encounters are designed to have meaning in terms of how boss skills and abilities relate to group compositions, tactics and strategies. Zerging is not experiencing content.[170] There are different ways to make a fight more difficult for larger sized groups without relying solely on stat buffs or making the boss a "damage sponge".[171]

  • Raid and dungeon bosses have specific mechanics and abilities that players need to learn and react to.[171] Zergs that are not aware of these mechanics or react to them appropriately will be wiped.[170]
  • There may be environmental hazards and AoE effects that cause more damage based on the number of players present.[171]
  • There is a give-and-take for guilds that want to see a larger number of members as opposed to a more focused group that may be a part of an alliance.[172]

We're very cognizant of the fact that we don't want to see zerging be a mechanic that's utilized by guilds to accomplish content or just to steamroll over sieges... There are specific mechanics that we are working on that will be seen through the testing phases that relate to a degree of understanding of certain systems that can't just be overrun with numbers.[172]Steven Sharif

Mechanics that encourage political intrigue will play a role in destabilizing zergs.[173]

The best way that I found in games I played previously to take down a zerg is to cause drama from within... It's that conflict inside of the politicking that happens in that big organization. If we provide opportunities for division to occur then it also provides stability to keep a server healthy away from that zerg mentality also... If we approach the castle siege and we've destroyed the walls and we're in the throne room and we're about to cast on the penultimate thing and I at this time am just so excited from what's happening that I'm like "screw it I'm gonna go for it". It's gonna be mine. I'm gonna take the taxes for the next month. I'm gonna take all the gear from the castle. I'm gonna take everything... We want that political intrigue to be present in the game.[173]Steven Sharif

Objective-based game play helps to balance the zerg mentality.[174]

I always feel that if you balance based on groups that in your balance focus is to incorporate features that play well from a player versus player perspective as well as a player versus environment perspective: Having support classes, having DPS and tanks that can obstruct movement and/or create bottlenecks on the field and stuff like that. I think a well-rounded raid it will perform better against a non well-rounded raid, however then you incorporate the second aspect of numbers; and that's where again mobility, organization, leadership tactics. Having objectives in gameplay that make those important helps to balance the zerg mentality that a lot of guilds can tend to have.[174]Steven Sharif

Instancing doesn't play a major role in limiting zergs, due to 80% of content in Ashes of Creation being open-world.[175]

  • There may be instanced locations within castle and node sieges where specific groups can participate in certain objective-based waypoints.[175]

Zerging is always a problem in a lot of these MMORPGs where you really can't control the number of participants in certain open-world systems; and in that sense instancing is a great tool that designers can sometimes use to curate a particular number of participants that you want. But the predominant amount of content within Ashes of Creation, over 80% of which is is open-world content, so instancing is very limited.[175]Steven Sharif

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