Fast Travel Between Traders

[AtomicUs5000]

Fast Travel Between Traders

This is something that's been mentioned a few times. I know some people have been requesting it recently and I know TFP have been thinking it over.
I haven't really given it enough thought to decide whether or not I would truly like this in the game... but after a little bit of thought, I'm leaning towards no. So, I'm hoping to hear what others think about it and perhaps this will give me some different ways of looking at it.
 
I'll outline my points as to why I'm leaning against it.

• It's another thing that removes the survival aspect of the game and we've already had some major changes over the past few alphas that have slimmed down the survival side of things.
• A lot of people already have a problem with not seeing enough zombies when outside, this would bypass them fully.
• If we have this, then why have all these vehicles, and why bother adding in yet another flying vehicle? (helicopter in future)
• Many, many people want larger maps which may not even be possible. Fast travel shrinks down the map (in an abstract way)
• It sounds like something best as a mod... using trader UI and teleporting a player.
• Time management is a huge factor in the game. Everything would need balance yet again to consider the time gained.
• Later in game, you make your rounds to the traders when they restock. This being an essential part of the game will be enhanced when the trader specializations are fully in place. This experience is cheapened if you can just instantly get to any one of them at any time.
   

[Laz Man]

Nay, fast travel would invalidate so many gameplay mechanics (e.g. vehicles, stamina management, time management, entity threats, etc.)  At the end of the day its a fluff feature that does more harm then good.

 

Now what would be better is a "Leave this map" feature like in SoD where you can take a limited amount of resources with you to a fresh map.

[AtomicUs5000]

1 minute ago, Laz Man said:

Now what would be better is a "Leave this map" feature like in SoD where you can take a limited amount of resources with you to a fresh map.

That would be really cool. I can get into that. Even if it meant that each map was its own biome, perhaps triggered when you reach an edge.

[Ezed]

Nay to fast travel.  I spend time fixing or even building new roads and trails to make my travelling easier.  It's fun for me.

 

I wouldn't mind seeing working workbenches, forges, etc at Traders though as long as it costs a reasonable fee to use them and any materials (raw or finished items) left overnight would be lost to the player (claimed by the trader).

[AtomicUs5000]

4 minutes ago, Ezed said:

any materials (raw or finished items) left overnight would be lost to the player (claimed by the trader).

Ooo... that's a nice twist. 

[Dracula]

35 minutes ago, Ezed said:

Nay to fast travel.  I spend time fixing or even building new roads and trails to make my travelling easier.  It's fun for me.

 

I wouldn't mind seeing working workbenches, forges, etc at Traders though as long as it costs a reasonable fee to use them and any materials (raw or finished items) left overnight would be lost to the player (claimed by the trader).

I miss fixing the roads; I quit doing so back in A18 when the terrain texture stopped updating.

[AtomicUs5000]

4 minutes ago, Dracula said:

I miss fixing the roads; I quit doing so back in A18 when the terrain texture stopped updating.

Yeah, the removal of that was a shame.

[pApA^LeGBa]

Nope, doesn´t fit the game/genre at all.  Gyro does that job pretty well.

[Roland]

1 minute ago, pApA^LeGBa said:

Nope, doesn´t fit the game/genre at all.  Gyro does that job pretty well.

Yeah...add a nice clear runway to each trader compound!

[AtomicUs5000]

31 minutes ago, Roland said:

Yeah...add a nice clear runway to each trader compound!

I like that idea.

EDIT: Aww man, someone voted yes, but didn't share precious thoughts.

[IrishRed]

Nay to fast travel. As been said before, it takes away from the survival aspect. Love the idea of being able to take limited items to new map. And as I'm new to the PC  version of the game, I have not been able to get a gyro yet, but the idea of a landing strip next to a trader gets my vote.

[Boidster]

I voted "don't care", but not because I don't care. It's more that I'm ambivalent. I think there are ways that fast travel could be implemented which would be alright, and other ways maybe not. Between traders would probably be the only waypoint system I could see working, and I'd think both time of day and food should be consumed in the travel. It does unbalance a few things so I'd have to see the details to know for sure. It could work, or it could not.

 

THAT IS MY FIRM OPINION AND I AM NOT CHANGING IT!

[Psychodabble]

Too much of Fallout has already invaded this game. No, thank you.

[AtomicUs5000]

1 hour ago, Boidster said:

I voted "don't care", but not be cause I don't care. It's more that I'm ambivalent. I think there are ways that fast travel could be implement which would be alright, and other ways maybe not. Between traders would probably be the only waypoint system I could see working, and I'd think both time of day and food should be consumed in the travel. It does unbalance a few things so I'd have to see the details to know for sure. It could work, or it could not.

 

THAT IS MY FIRM OPINION AND I AM NOT CHANGING IT!

Not to try to change your mind... but if you think time of day should be consumed, how do you meet that requirement when playing multiplayer?

[Boidster]

13 hours ago, AtomicUs5000 said:

Not to try to change your mind... but if you think time of day should be consumed, how do you meet that requirement when playing multiplayer?

"HEY RICKY, STOP FAST-TRAVELLING ALL OVER THE PLACE! WE'RE TRYING TO FINISH THE BASE BEFORE THE HORDE STARTS!!!"

It is possible I did not think that idea all the way through... 😕

[Kalen]

I dont think I've ever seen a poll on this site be so one-sided in its results.

[AtomicUs5000]

8 minutes ago, Kalen said:

I dont think I've ever seen a poll on this site be so one-sided in its results.

Yeah, I was thinking that earlier.
It was very unexpected. A few people were requesting this in the Dev Diary and quite a few people were asking for it during several of the A19 dev streams. I was expecting a 50/50 split and a lot of debate.
It might be a case where the NO votes came in fast and everybody who wants this is seeing that and remaining silent.

[pApA^LeGBa]

@Kalen Polls on this forum have less votes overall than a funny screenshot has likes within a few hours on a not offical 7 days facebook group. They are never representative anyways. 

 

[Kalen]

20 minutes ago, pApA^LeGBa said:

@Kalen Polls on this forum have less votes overall than a funny screenshot has likes within a few hours on a not offical 7 days facebook group. They are never representative anyways. 

 

Oh don't get me wrong, I wasn't trying to imply that it meant anything..... just that it was unusually tilted in one direction.

[uselessjunkaccount]

It would take away too much progression. Vehicles, at least for me, are a huge focus the first few weeks. I don't really feel content until I have a motorcycle. Beyond finishing a horde base, I don't think there's anything more satisfying in this game than plopping down a fresh new vehicle you just crafted. And there's a lot of pieces for the first three that you have to make some effort to get at that stage of the game.

 

Although I do hope the coming vehicle mods add speed because I do not relish the traveling itself. I'm also very glad trader spawn locations were changed to be close to civilization in this alpha. Only when I get a gyro does travel actually become a pleasure... until you want to land or take off in a tight space.

[Laz Man]

On 8/13/2020 at 4:07 PM, Roland said:

Yeah...add a nice clear runway to each trader compound!

Guess I need to add that onto my next trader POI...lol...

On 8/13/2020 at 5:38 PM, IrishRed said:

Nay to fast travel. As been said before, it takes away from the survival aspect. Love the idea of being able to take limited items to new map. And as I'm new to the PC  version of the game, I have not been able to get a gyro yet, but the idea of a landing strip next to a trader gets my vote.

welcome to PC.  😃

[FileMachete]

No answer for how to make it work in MP, but for SP I'd actually like something achievable for later game that would reduce the "making the trader rounds" thing.

 

Taking the Skyrim approach, chews up the clock, ok. Not great, but late game when I might just be looking for that one item, I might use it.

 

But would prefer something like; 'Distant Trader Accounts'

 

You travel to a distant trader and open an Account. Deposit Dukes in that Traders vault.

Now at any other trader you can open any distant traders menu that you have an account with and buy items from them, plus a Shipping & Handling Fee (15%?).

Goods take a day to arrive at the trader you were standing in when you purchased.

 

Could only allow depositing more Dukes into your account when at a given trader.

 

This basic mechanic seems pretty self governing. Early on I don't have enough dukes to deposit 10-15k at several traders. And when I am flush later on I've probably already been to each trader at least a couple times, so the drive itself isn't anything new.

 

On amount of early dukes; I've read posts where players are getting massive amounts of dukes very early on. I kinda doubt that will always be a thing, but who knows. Would fall into the 'don't use it if you don't like it' pool for me.

 

Only thing I can imagine 'exploitable' would be a bit silly; opening accounts early game with just a few hundred, couple thousand dukes in each, used to buy several traders cobblestone or food. Though Food could be non-shippable 'because it would spoil', or, to avoid that bag of worms, deem it "Fragile" so not shippable.

 

Edit: just to clarify, I find repeating the same drive multiple times quite boring. I understand why we can only drive at ~13 m/s, but it's so slow that even a couple klicks feels like a slog.

Which is one of the reasons I've advocated for adding a Dirtbike. Make it actually -fun- to drive offroad, fast up hills, able to get air, now driving between towns could be enjoyable.

 

If it were possible to travel really fast on paved roads, even if the first time you'd need to stop and wrench cars/carts out of the road, I wouldn't desire something like 'Distant Trader Accounts'. I'd have fun dodging zeds in the road at 75 MPH.

[AtomicUs5000]

16 minutes ago, FileMachete said:

No answer for how to make it work in MP, but for SP I'd actually like something achievable for later game that would reduce the "making the trader rounds" thing.

 

Taking the Skyrim approach, chews up the clock, ok. Not great, but late game when I might just be looking for that one item, I might use it.

 

But would prefer something like;

 

You travel to a distant trader and open an Account. Deposit Dukes in that Traders vault.

Now at any other trader you can open any distant traders menu that you have an account with and buy items from them, plus a Shipping & Handling Fee (15%?).

Goods take a day to arrive at the trader you were standing in when you purchased.

 

Could only allow depositing more Dukes into your account when at a given trader.

 

This basic mechanic seems pretty self governing. Early on I don't have enough dukes to deposit 10-15k at several traders. And when I am flush later on I've probably already been to each trader at least a couple times, so the drive itself isn't anything new.

 

On amount of early dukes; I've read posts where players are getting massive amounts of dukes very early on. I kinda doubt that will always be a thing, but who knows. Would fall into the 'don't use it if you don't like it' pool for me.

 

Only thing I can imagine 'exploitable' would be a bit silly; opening accounts early game with just a few hundred, couple thousand dukes in each, used to buy several traders cobblestone or food. Though Food could be non-shippable 'because it would spoil', or, to avoid that bag of worms, deem it "Fragile" so not shippable.

I can see something like that working for SP or MP to get things shipped from one trader to another.
If instead of the account thing, missions make you the delivery person between traders from time to time, it not only shows you how this is possible, it gives you the sense that there are other survivors out there somewhere also doing odd jobs to make ends meet. Just like how someone out there must be restocking vending machines.

If these missions actually unlocked this, then in MP either everybody can take a turn accepting the mission over time, or simply make one person the designated inventory manager. A lot of the times, only one or two people in a group perk in barter and end up doing all that anyway.
Much better than fast traveling!

[Ttocs]

Tough one, as pure fast travel id say no. If you had to pay for travel say 6hrs per travel or pay a resource toll maybeee. Still lean towards no though but am overall undecided so didnt vote 

[FileMachete]

Not sure how TFPs imagine the 'Trader Discovery Quests' (or if these are already in; I'm not questing in a19 yet) but maybe 'Delivery Quests' would make more sense?

 

Also forgot to mention the huge fugly fly in the ointment; the distant Traders are in distant chunks, so they'd have to figure out how to simulate loading those chunks for the trader/s to update.

 

(dim lightbulb lighting) wonder if there's any way to leverage those Player Vending Machines for 'Buy' orders in SP, and somehow tie them to discovered distant Traders?

 

So put in a 'Buy Auger Qual5 or better' order at a vending machine. Deposit Dukes. not sure how to do this part. put in an excessive amount and you'd just pay the trader price plus fees? probably would need to be pretty straight forward at this stage in developement, so no bidding.

 

I don't know, thought just popped into me head. Likely been mentioned before.

 

Whole thing is almost certainly too late/expensive/non-critical now. Oh well, maybe in 7dtd-2 🙂