Can't take this game anymore

Sunless Sea
21

I do agree that what is missing is some activities while zailing.

Originally, I thought your time on the Zee would be broken up by lots of events. (Heard on Deck, Weather, etc…)

But random events didn’t really pan out the way I think a lot of people expected. There just aren’t that many and they don’t happen that often. Likewise, weather didn’t turn out to be something sudden or surprising that required you maneuver a lot. It’s not like a sudden squall pops up and you have to focus on zailing.

So I’d be for more things happening when on the water but…what I don’t want is like a mini game to play to increase speed and fuel efficiency. I don’t really want something added to the game that takes my attention away from the scenery.

22

[quote=Nenjin]
So I’d be for more things happening when on the water but…what I don’t want is like a mini game to play to increase speed and fuel efficiency. I don’t really want something added to the game that takes my attention away from the scenery.[/quote]

This.

I wouldn’t mind long zailing if I don’t have to keep my hand in the same place for so long.

I would definitely be against short trips if it involve mashing buttons non-stop. This is not Puzzle Pirates!

23

[quote=Estelle Knoht][quote=Nenjin]
So I’d be for more things happening when on the water but…what I don’t want is like a mini game to play to increase speed and fuel efficiency. I don’t really want something added to the game that takes my attention away from the scenery.[/quote]

This.

I wouldn’t mind long zailing if I don’t have to keep my hand in the same place for so long.

I would definitely be against short trips if it involve mashing buttons non-stop. This is not Puzzle Pirates![/quote]

Oh definitely. If there’s something we don’t need, it’s minigames!
Also, I’m not too hot on the idea of more low-level beasties that just annoy me without giving me any satisfaction.

Regarding, the civilian ships, I wouldn’t mind more interaction (well, any interaction actually - that wouldn’t be just killing them).
More events of some sort (external or internal to the ship) would be welcome.

24

I feel like the pace of sailing worked better with the early terror rate, where you pretty much had to fine tune your course constantly or your terror would spike thru the roof.

But not its just point in the right direction and most zee beasts are easy enough to avoid if you’re at least vaguely watching the screen.

Admittedly, it’s around the point where you master that that you get better engines, when you’re first playing. The problem is there’s only one way to pass an engine down (pass down the satisfied magician) and it’s still not quite passing an engine down.

The Fulgent Impeller with an Avid Suppressor I thought was plenty reasonable for speed, just, well, it takes forever to get.

25

Hi,
just my two cents here: ;)

I definitely agree that

[ul][li]the current zailing speed is fine. I wouldn’t want it to go any faster![/li][li]more interaction while zailing would certainly be a nice feature - and by that I mostly mean interaction with other ships.
[/li][/ul]Some suggestions for the latter:

[ul][li]What if you could, when you have a Dreadnought and the most terrible weapons, just scare pirates into giving you all their cargo (and maybe 1-2 crew members) without having to fire a single shot? (I’m only talking about the &quotnormal&quot pirates here, not the Unfinished or Faustic Corsairs)
[/li][/ul][ul][li]If you’ve built up strong connections with the Dawn Machine or the Khanate, shouldn’t their ships stop attacking you? I recently got almost sunk by a Khanate Warship, just after helping them to domination over Port Carnelian! How about implementing Flags as an item, that have to be earned by building up connections? So that you basically &quotRaise the Khanate Flag&quot when you see one of their ships - just remember to take it down before you return to London! ;) (Or you could take it to another level and give captains the opportunity to REALLY sever all their connections with London, and make the Grand Geode or the Khanate their new home port.)
[/li][/ul][ul][li]With the civilian ships, I’d like to be able to swap things with them, e.g. Fuel for Supplies, or 5 zailors for an Officer I don’t really need, or Zee-Ztories for Tales of Terror… or maybe they could even help me out with repairs – and to prevent this from becoming too exploitable, sometimes it could be the other way round, i.e. they would approach you for help with things, and if you always refuse you get a bad reputation among other Captains and nobody’s going to help you out when you’re in a tight spot. ;)[/li][/ul]

26

I’ve had this happen, too, and I agree that there should be some way to make a certain faction’s ships &quotfriendly&quot unless fired on, sort of the same way civilian ships work. I don’t know that revamping the whole system is ever going to be necessary, but this little change would help.

[li]

27

[quote=South-Sea Rutherby][quote=phryne]
If you’ve built up strong connections with the Dawn Machine or the Khanate, shouldn’t their ships stop attacking you? I recently got almost sunk by a Khanate Warship, just after helping them to domination over Port Carnelian!
[/quote]

I’ve had this happen, too, and I agree that there should be some way to make a certain faction’s ships &quotfriendly&quot unless fired on, sort of the same way civilian ships work. I don’t know that revamping the whole system is ever going to be necessary, but this little change would help.

[li][/quote][/li][li]
[/li][li]That is one of the things I didn’t like when combat changed - before you could show an item to a Khanate vessel and they would leave you alone.

[/li]

28

Along the lines of &quota lot of time spent zailing,&quot even with the fastest engine I do find myself visiting a cluster of ports and then treading water for a long while to trigger &quotSomething Awaits You&quot before I dock.

I understand the delay keeps you from spamming events in one place, but something about jogging back and forth in front of a new port for a while feels silly.

Perhaps after visiting London, each time you arrive at a new port for the first time that trip it could auto-trigger SAY. Once you’ve visited a port once though SAY could function as normal, and the auto-trigger won’t happen again until you’ve returned to Fallen London.
edited by Ginneon Thursday on 4/7/2015

29

[quote=Master Polarimini][quote=Estelle Knoht][quote=Nenjin]
So I’d be for more things happening when on the water but…what I don’t want is like a mini game to play to increase speed and fuel efficiency. I don’t really want something added to the game that takes my attention away from the scenery.[/quote]

This.

I wouldn’t mind long zailing if I don’t have to keep my hand in the same place for so long.

I would definitely be against short trips if it involve mashing buttons non-stop. This is not Puzzle Pirates![/quote]

Oh definitely. If there’s something we don’t need, it’s minigames!
Also, I’m not too hot on the idea of more low-level beasties that just annoy me without giving me any satisfaction.

Regarding, the civilian ships, I wouldn’t mind more interaction (well, any interaction actually - that wouldn’t be just killing them).
More events of some sort (external or internal to the ship) would be welcome.[/quote]

I don’t think what you guys want is incompatible with people who want more interactive sailing, you wouldn’t ‘need’ to do those things, they would just give a benefit.

30

[quote=Ginneon Thursday]Along the lines of &quota lot of time spent zailing,&quot even with the fastest engine I do find myself visiting a cluster of ports and then treading water for a long while to trigger &quotSomething Awaits You&quot before I dock.

I understand the delay keeps you from spamming events in one place, but something about jogging back and forth in front of a new port for a while feels silly.

Perhaps after visiting London, each time you arrive at a new port for the first time that trip it could auto-trigger SAY. Once you’ve visited a port once though SAY could function as normal, and the auto-trigger won’t happen again until you’ve returned to Fallen London.
edited by Ginneon Thursday on 4/7/2015[/quote]

I just modded the SAY interval down to 30 seconds because just sitting in the harbour waiting for it to tick gets even more boring then your thirtieth trip from London to venderbight

31

Nanako wrote:

Journeys do not need to be sped up. They just need to be filled with more things to do

Journeys could be better if more of these officers talking event appear. I don’t think I want journeys to be more complicated, however - letting us spend more time on island would add to the satisfaction of actually reaching land.

This is my biggest problem with the game - if what I gather is the main idea is that the sea is lonely and scary, and land is safe(r) and less lonely, then the lack of content on most islands really kicks me off. I spend so much time sailing to get to a place to get to do two things there, and see all these glittering locked content things that aren’t gonna be open until I’m not a beginner in the game (which seems like I’m never NOT going to be). So for a beginner, and for the interesting-ness of the game I feel let down sometimes. Not to say that I don’t love the game, but I only play every once in a while to keep from getting bored (and I know content is a thing that happens over time and you can’t release it all at once etc etc). The other thing that really helped me enjoy the game more was fixing the stuttering bug - because it would take 30 minutes and 5 tanks of fuel to turn into Whither sometimes and that was super frustrating.

32

I agree partially with this sentiment. I like the game, a lot, but I find it’s such a huge investment of hours that I&quotm wary of sitting down and playing it, and yes, it’s because there’s so much dead time in it. I can grind through another 15 ports for a voyage but that’s what, two hours if I’m making sure I get all the &quotsomethings waiting&quot adventures. That said, it definitely sets the mood, being in a vast dark ocean with your lifeline ticking down to zero is what makes the game sunless sea.

I think the solution has already been mentioned: add more things to do. More ports, more encounters at sea, more to do in general.

33

I just lost the first save where I was actually doing okay, because the blind bruiser murdered me after I came back to London without a crate of souls.

The thing is, the damn game doesn’t make it clear there’s a time limit. In a previous game I went back to London carrying a crate of souls, got them confiscated by customs, and the blind bruiser kills me, fair enough. But there’s zero indication that the blind bruiser is going to murder you if you stop in London to refuel before you’ve even COLLECTED THE DAMN DELIVERY or even found out where the hell you need to pick it up from, so to die that way- because the game doesn’t provide you with the basic information about what’s being expected, like “when do I need to have this done by” isn’t the second or third question you ask- that feels like shitty programming rather than the game being “unforgiving” or anything.

34

[quote=DeserterKalak]I just lost the first save where I was actually doing okay, because the blind bruiser murdered me after I came back to London without a crate of souls.

The thing is, the damn game doesn’t make it clear there’s a time limit. In a previous game I went back to London carrying a crate of souls, got them confiscated by customs, and the blind bruiser kills me, fair enough. But there’s zero indication that the blind bruiser is going to murder you if you stop in London to refuel before you’ve even COLLECTED THE DAMN DELIVERY or even found out where the hell you need to pick it up from, so to die that way- because the game doesn’t provide you with the basic information about what’s being expected, like &quotwhen do I need to have this done by&quot isn’t the second or third question you ask- that feels like shitty programming rather than the game being &quotunforgiving&quot or anything.[/quote]

Actually the game states quite clearly that the blind bruiser may be upset if you come back to London without his delivery.

35

After picking it up, sure. If I’d stolen the delivery or lost it, that’d be a different matter. If he really murders every captain who stops to refuel in between attempting to find the distant, eternally-shifting island he wants a delivery picked up from, then it’s a wonder there’s any left.

There wasn’t even an opportunity to sell the stuff in my hold or turn in the three high-paying quests I’d come back to London to complete, so I could pay him off. Much more cost effective for him to just kill my crew and let my successor inherit all my money, apparently.

It’s dumb and lazy programming for the game not to recognise the difference between &quotpicked up the cargo and then returned to Fallen London without it&quot and &quothasn’t collected the delivery yet and it’s only been like a day since the deal was agreed&quot.
edited by DeserterKalak on 5/5/2015

36

No, SERIOUSLY. The Blind Bruiser VERY clearly states that &quotif you return without it, i might have something to say about that&quot. In perfectly understandable plain English.

The only reason you could ever have missed that very clearly laid out condition of your contract would be if you did NOT LISTEN to him. Means, if you did NOT BOTHER to READ THE TEXT.

Your typical professional criminal will NOT care WHY you did not meet YOUR end of the bargain. That is NOT how you work in THIS line of business.

If you’re not comfortable with this way of doing deals, you should NOT DO them.

That is why most of us borrow their money from a bank, and not in the East End.
edited by Reshemin on 5/6/2015

37

There’s no need to fight about it; people are allowed not to like the game. The Blind Bruiser is unequivocally a twitchy, dangerous, entirely unreasonable murderer, but it might still come as a surprise just how twitchy, dangerous and unreasonable he is, the first time he murders you. Either you enjoy that sort of gameplay or you don’t, but we can still be polite and courteous about it when we’re chatting here!

38

Huh, I did not feel like being impolite, and do not really think I was (well, paradigms differ). The major point I’m about is that they seem to be complaining about the murderer (I beg to differ on the ‘unreasonable’ part. In fact, he seems to be more reasonable for his ilk than is the norm :)) reacting in just the very way he already has told them, in no unclear words or terms as far as I’m concerned, how he would react.

And I will gladly admit I do have a problem of understanding with that type of complaint. Be that in a computer game, in a mall, or on the moon.

39

Without quoting any one commenter (there were many great ones), I could disagree more with that the ships are too slow. I definitely felt that way with the engine you start with, but I found that “best deck gun for sale in London” and “fastest engine for sale in London” were easily the highest-return investments on my earliest funds.

Enhancing available cargo space or hull strength is a MUCH more expensive and nuanced investment, and upgrading my ship initially created some problems with resource management - quite reasonably, however.

Buying an engine designed by a Master (but equipping said engine to your starter ship) resulted in a screamingly fast ride, and the ability to make a quick run to Whither or the Carnelian Coast in a couple minutes.

I agree that if OP is trying to get from one to the other and do nothing in between, that he’s trying to grind a deliberately slow storylet. Maybe’s Daughter is searching the ENTIRE unterzee for her mother, and eventually confronts even greater danger in search of fulfillment. Your little quest is a major chapter in what could be considered her Ambition. Best to go about your business, collect port reports, ply your trades and work her stops into your schedule. Carnelian Coast from a stop at Mangrove Colelge? No big deal. Whither if you’re already westbound from Mt Palmerston? Just a couple minutes and maybe a single tank of fuel out of your way.

On the topic of message board etiquette, tone is very difficult to discern in this format. OP was expressing frustration, which can be difficult to do respectfully but compellingly. And their approach to the game isn’t that weird - it’s just not how THIS game happens to work. They would be similarly unhappy if they were trying to “grind” their Ambition, which tends to require vast travel, amassing of wealth for barter, the building of ship capable of killing powerful zee-creatures, and some serious stat checks. Not exactly straightforward, and the pursuit of any one of those aspects can feel like a lengthy quest unto itself.

What I’d like to point out about the Blind Bruiser is that he pays VERY well compared to your earliest options, but not that well compared to what else you can do (on either side of the law) once you have routes figured out that cover the whole map and are properly equipped. If you’re dealing with the Bruiser, your character is probably not wealthy, and everything about the character is menacing. If you saw a warning that said "this character is secretly insane and 2.5% likely to murder you every time you speak to him, people probably would avoid him unless they were pretty desperate. Instead, he just warns you that he won’t accept excuses or delays. I will usually take a few jobs from him with a new bloodline, but refuse his help if I have even a few thousand echoes in seed money. I don’t mind breaking the law, but I value my life too highly to deal with him.