Cartographer

[Colyx]

Smiffy2204 suggested here a new feature to recycle unwanted adventures maps:




I'd say I'm a lore guy and I really like to have a somewhat consistent universe that has some logic within itself. Currently, map fragments can be used to buy adventures, or let’s rather say maps how to reach other islands. The merchant trading these maps for fragments probably isn’t the one drawing them – he must be buying them from someone else. I’m quite sure there is a cartographer somewhere, mapping the locations of different islands, then selling those maps to merchants so we can buy them.

Instead of shredding unwanted maps into fragments, why not let us have our own cartographer on our island? We could give him map fragments he will turn into adventure maps - due to his skills he can puzzle them together into a complete map. And we could give him adventure maps and trade them for other maps he has in his possession. Also a third option would be also shredding maps into fragments for those who really want to have map fragments.

This is how it could be designed:



First selection: any map will be turned into fragments

Second selection:
a) any map can be traded for a random map
or
b) certain maps can be traded for certain other maps, e.g. 3x VTV for 1x BK

Third selection:
a) a certain amount of fragments can be glued together to get a certain map
or
b) a certain amount of fragments can be glued together to get a random map

What I like about the cartographer in general: a new building that works similar to Bookbinder adding an additional option to trade with fragments (merchant will still sell maps). The difference is, the player can decide to trade fragments directly with merchant, getting the desired map in an instant – or he uses his own cartographer which is cheaper (less fragments for one map) but will take some time to produce the map. It would also allow to use glue buffs on another building. More importantly, there would be the suggested option to recycle maps.

Now, not sure what is better: give out random maps or allow the player to decide what he wants to trade for. If the latter, then there need to be fixed prices or some kind of recipe that defines how much fragments are needed to receive certain maps (just like merchant), but also how many maps of type A are needed to get map B in return.

Maybe the system could use the map level, as well as adventure type and difficulty – maybe something like: 2x lvl 26 = 1x lvl 36 map or 2x 4/10 difficulty = 1x 8/10 difficulty or 2x solo map = 1x two player map or a combination of these. There are different ways to solve this, the easier the better.


Maybe also add paper and nibs for balancing reasons. It would introduce a secondary use for these resources, actually adding a more complex chain to the current paper production chain.

Any thoughts on this?

[Peajay]

If adventures that were not being played was investigated and some changes were made to the adventures, these suggestions wouldn't be so common.
Reducing the amount of bandit camps, increasing the loot, adding a rare item to the loot. There are so many ways to fix the problem.

[Xibor]

I like the idea Colyx. I would suggest the results be random however, I think it would be too much to set up an exchange rate (and would probably not be reasonable values anyway). It's worth some thought imho.

[Colyx]

I agree, random maps would be the easiest way to solve this - and I somehow like it, since (using game logic) the fragments could be from any map. Also trading a map for another random map makes sense: the cartographer has a huge archive and he is too busy to look for certain maps so when the player wants to trade another one, the cartographer just gives him the first one he can find.

This is how I would make the cost in general:

1. map fragments + simple paper + nibs -> random map

2. any map + gold coins (just a small fee) -> map fragments

3. any map + gold coins (just a small fee) -> random map


Also each process should take a certain time. Recycling maps into fragments should be the shortest (since it is not a really complex task), then map exchange should take a bit longer (searching the archives for a new random map) and finally piecing fragments together to new random map should take longest (complicated task, very time consuming).

I'm not sure about durations yet, but I think manuscript timings for "fragments into random map" could be applied here (lvl 1 = 2d12h, lvl 5 = 12h), or maybe even longer. With glue/resin buff these can be shortened.

Taking duration (production time) into account, needed resources and gold fees plus number of fragments needed should be about the same price as if the player would buy maps from merchant. For example, if an adventure is sold for 95 fragments: cartographer should be (x fragments)+(simple paper price)+(nibs price)+(production time) = 95 fragments.

Not sure how this can be balanced right. The cartographer should not replace the merchant or any other ways to swap/trade maps. The cartographer should be an additional option, allowing a more resource based (paper, nibs, gold, time, fragments) approach to get new maps.

[Alsh]

I really like this idea, and it's very well presented. It's been suggested in various forms before but not as well as this. I wouldn't begrudge a Cartographer a building license on my island!

[fishslice]

+1 Awesome

[topgearfan]

random adventure thing already exists - its called mysterious adventure box.

[Colyx]

random adventure thing already exists - its called mysterious adventure box.

Yes but that is just trading fragments for a random map. That is one of three options I suggest with the Cartographer.

You don't have to like my idea, but saying something similar is already in game isn't helping. So what you want? Different options? No Cartographer at all? Give me something I can actually work with

[Lady_Roxy]

Nice idea +1

I have tonnes of adventures i don't want so it'd be nice to do something with them rather than just deleting.