Caravan PvP

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Caravan PvP in Alpha-2.[1]

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.[2]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.[3]

Caravans create an objective-based PvP event in the open-world that players can choose to attack, defend, or ignore via a UI window.[3][4][5][6]

  • Only the caravan owner and those in the caravan's raid group will be able to see it on the world map.[7][8]
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.[7]Steven Sharif
  • Players that choose to attack or defend the caravan will be flagged as combatants.[9]
    • The UI notification will include the caravan owner's name and guild.[10]
    • The proximity that the UI window appears is determined by the player's performance as either a defender or an attacker in previous raids.[4]
    • Once registered as a defender, a player can't switch to attack the caravan.[11]
    • 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.[12]
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.[12]Steven Sharif
  • Players can be registered participants in a caravan event involving multiple caravans.[16][11] It is not possible for a player to participate in more than one caravan event at a time.[17]
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.[16]Steven Sharif
  • Players or mounts trying to block caravans will be pushed out of the way.[20][21]
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.[20]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.[22] 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.[23]
  • There is no limit to the number of times caravans can be commandeered or the number of times caravans get destroyed and replaced.[24]
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.[24]Steven Sharif
info-orange.pngSome of the following information has not been recently confirmed by the developers and may not be on the current development roadmap.
  • A group will be required to successfully attack a caravan.[25][26]

Caravan PvP incentives and risks

There will be incentives and risks for both caravan attackers and defenders.[27][28] These will be tested and refined during the alpha and beta testing phases.[29]

There is a level of risk that comes with the attacker. We have progression paths that exist for bandits and that exists for defenders; and if you choose to opt into a caravan attack- you sign up for that attack and you fail that attack- it is detrimental to your path of progression down the bandit area. That's one thing: Two is of course you have gear decay. You have degradation that can be suffered if you die. That is a cost. And then you also have a reputation; and if your reputation precedes you when you want to transit goods across the world; and you see somebody who's doing it and you want to participate as a defender or a participant, they might say hey screw you, you were just murdering my people last week and I saw that you're like on the top of the bandit list for killing caravans. So it has repercussions in the sense that it locks you out of certain player groups. It provides decay to your armor. It has deleterious effects on your progression, and the attacking- and the bandit progression of caravan attacks or defense.[27]Steven Sharif
  • Other incentives and risks are social and are created (informally) between players.[27][29]

Highwayman system

A highwayman system tracks a player's performance in caravan PvP.[12][27][28][29]

The caravan defender role is going to have its own progression questing and rewards associated with it that are going to attract a certain subset of players and then vice-versa wise we're going to have incentives that appeal to the more highway brigand type players; and you might not always be on one side or the other: that might change depending on what your interests are in the at the time. But obviously those types of systems need to have robust consequential type rewards and benefits associated with them in order to compel the player; and that's something obviously we're going to test in alphas and betas and see how performant it is in actually attracting players to participate and make sure it's not just one-sided so-to-speak.[29]Steven Sharif
Q: Talk to me a little bit about the intended interaction of hunting caravans. What does mean? Can you progress in that? Can you identify these caravans from a distance? Is it intended to be diegetic or is it aided with mini-map?
A: Hunting a caravan is tending to be a lot more diegetic: You plant spies in other guilds, you build your information network in the world of Verra through whatever means you can. Now, there is progression paths involved with attacking and defending a caravan that can aid you in doing so, either with better equipment for it, faster ways to open crates, more yield from crates, and if you're a defender better components for your caravans, stuff like that.[8]John Collins

Caravan destruction

Caravan destruction in Alpha-2.[34]

This caravan was loaded with a combination of, it looks like commodity crates and material crates.[34]John Collins

If a caravan is destroyed or it despawns it becomes a wreckage that contains a portion of the cargo it was transporting.[35][34][36][18][25][37][38] The remainder of the caravan's goods are sunk (lost) when the caravan is destroyed.[36][39]

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.[36]Steven Sharif
  • Anyone may loot a caravan's wreckage.[39]
  • Caravan components are destroyed if the caravan is destroyed.[44][18] Previously it was stated that components may drop when a caravan is destroyed.[45]
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.[46]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.[47][38]
  • There is no limit to the number of times caravans can be commandeered or the number of times caravans get destroyed and replaced.[24]

Visuals

See also

References

  1. Video, January 31, 2024 (5:22).
  2. Video, January 31, 2024 (2:19).
  3. 3.0 3.1 Video, January 31, 2024 (9:17).
  4. 4.0 4.1 Interview, March 27, 2020 (16:19).
  5. caravan UI.png
  6. Livestream, May 22, 2017 (40:40).
  7. 7.0 7.1 Livestream, January 31, 2024 (1:10:03).
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 Video, January 31, 2024 (10:15).
  9. caravan zone.png
  10. Livestream, October 31, 2023 (1:32:54).
  11. 11.0 11.1 Video, October 31, 2023 (37:16).
  12. 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 12.6 Livestream, October 31, 2023 (1:11:26).
  13. Livestream, January 31, 2024 (1:15:05).
  14. 14.0 14.1 Video, October 31, 2023 (29:36).
  15. 15.0 15.1 Livestream, January 29, 2021 (1:25:14).
  16. 16.0 16.1 Livestream, October 31, 2023 (1:32:04).
  17. Livestream, October 28, 2022 (1:36:10).
  18. 18.0 18.1 18.2 Livestream, October 31, 2023 (1:08:22).
  19. Livestream, October 31, 2023 (1:33:48).
  20. 20.0 20.1 20.2 Livestream, October 31, 2023 (1:30:52).
  21. Livestream, April 28, 2023 (1:21:29).
  22. Livestream, October 31, 2023 (1:27:50).
  23. Livestream, July 25, 2020 (55:32).
  24. 24.0 24.1 24.2 Livestream, February 29, 2024 (1:27:36).
  25. 25.0 25.1 Livestream, May 15, 2017 (45:20).
  26. Livestream, May 22, 2017 (40:41).
  27. 27.0 27.1 27.2 27.3 27.4 27.5 27.6 27.7 27.8 Livestream, June 30, 2022 (1:14:52).
  28. 28.0 28.1 28.2 28.3 28.4 28.5 28.6 Livestream, August 27, 2021 (1:22:56).
  29. 29.0 29.1 29.2 29.3 29.4 29.5 29.6 Livestream, February 26, 2021 (1:16:21).
  30. Livestream, September 24, 2021 (1:22:46).
  31. Interview, July 18, 2020 (16:34).
  32. Livestream, December 22, 2020 (1:13:51).
  33. flagging.jpg
  34. 34.0 34.1 34.2 34.3 Video, January 31, 2024 (6:47).
  35. Livestream, January 31, 2024 (1:07:42).
  36. 36.0 36.1 36.2 36.3 Livestream, October 31, 2023 (1:18:33).
  37. Livestream, December 15, 2017 (1:04:25).
  38. 38.0 38.1 Interview, April 15, 2019 (26:59).
  39. 39.0 39.1 Livestream, April 30, 2021 (1:04:23).
  40. roshen-crates.png
  41. roshen-stolen-resources.png
  42. steven-stolen-glint.png
  43. Interview, September 10, 2023 (53:47).
  44. Livestream, January 31, 2024 (1:05:07).
  45. Interview, April 15, 2019 (28:28).
  46. Livestream, September 30, 2022 (1:17:13).
  47. Certificates.jpg