Vangaurd - FAQ's Transportation

13.1 Vehicles

13.1.1 Will there be boats or ships?

Yes, both NPC-controlled as well as player-controlled and owned.

Player-owned ships will need to be crafted by the appropriate crafting classes.

Various types of player owned ships will be available, including 'coast hugger' ships, as well as ocean going vessels, some better for defense, some better for hauling equipment, etc...

Players will, just like with their residences and their horses, be able to both store goods in their ships. They will also be able to enhance their ships by equipping them with items.

13.1.2 Will there be anything to do on boats?

We believe travel should be fun—it’s a basic part of the adventure. With that in mind, encounters and other events can and will occur while on board boats and ships. Sea monsters will be able to attack not only the characters on a ship, but do damage to the ship itself. This is also the case with pirates.

A vast empty ocean, devoid of land, is unlikely. Expect to see lots of islands or archipelagoes en route to your destination.

13.1.4 How will you deal with teleportation?

The trick, we think, is to make travel a part of the adventure too. Sitting on a ship doing nothing isn't fun -- it's downtime at its worst. But what if traveling from one location to the next was challenging, exciting, and fun in and of itself? If we can manage that in Vanguard, extensive or egregious use of teleportation should not be necessary.

That said, some means by which to teleport will be present in some cases (e.g. likely within dungeons only).

13.1.5 Will there be horses? How will they work, how important will they be, and are they just a status symbol or integral to the game?

Horses are integral to ground-based travel. We expect characters to own a horse fairly quickly to help with travel. Horses will also be able to store goods and even be enhanced with certain items, just like your character and/or your ship.

It is also possible for combat to take place while on a mount, or even while on board ships

13.1.6 Can my horse or ship 'die'? If they ‘die’, and I've equipped them with valuable items and/or am storing valuable items on them, what do I do to recover them?

Think of your horse or ship as an extension of your character. Your character can 'die', but it really only generates a corpse with your items.

Healing a horse will undoubtedly involve skills similar to those used to heal or revive a character. Repairing ships, on the other hand, will involve the crafting sphere. Once you have completed your healing or repairs, you may not only retrieve your items, but your horse and ship are also 'brought back to life' and made usable again.

13.1.7 Will I be able to name my ship, horse, or any other vehicle?

You will be able to name your ship and your horse and any other persistent vehicles.

13.1.8 What if I die while in transit on my boat? What if you die under water? Will your corpse just float to the surface? What if you die inside a building under the water? Will it still find its way to the surface?

Ship flotsam (corpses) and character corpses will float on top of the water and not move/drift. Doing a corpse retrieval on the water will be functionally the same as anywhere else.

If you die underwater in an area marked as an adventure area or some such (say, a sunken city), your corpse will stay underwater where you died.

As for currents and such, it may be unrealistic, but right now we’re assuming one won't want to track one's corpse and flotsam around the oceans of Telon (e.g. gameplay & fun > realism)

13.1.9 Ships never seem to work in other games-- they always lag and kill the passengers and losing a body in the ocean is not fun.

This shouldn't be an issue based on how much more we now know, the better tech, and the fact that we built Vanguard from the ground up knowing that ship travel would be an integral part of the game, as opposed to an afterthought.

13.1.10 How does one control the speeds at which your ships can sail?

We know this isn't exactly what you guys are talking about re: druids, but it made us think of the other day when we were testing pilotable ships and messing with wind speed and direction -- it occurred to us how cool it will be to have a druid on board to help you influence the wind to your favor and perhaps even increase its speed via higher level spells... Concepts like this are what we feel distinguish Vanguard from its competitors.

13.2 Will travel be meaningful, but hopefully not tedious as well?

That is our goal, yes. The journey to your destination should be challenging and fun. There will be content along the way. Horses and other means of faster transportation will also become available as characters become higher level and need to travel further. We sincerely believe there shuold be fun in "getting there".

13.3 Will you attempt to make distant lands really feel distant?

Yes. The world of Telon is huge. Travel between lands will take some time, but again, we believe the travel in and of itself should be fun. We are including "assistance" items such as a Compass and Travel Journal to help players deal with the size of the world.

13.4 How will you deal with mapping, navigation, compasses, and the like?

There will be a compass as well as a navigation system. The latter will be largely based on where you've already explored at least once, combined with a few other variations we're working out.