If all choices and up having the same gameplay effects and I’m just choosing the color of my icons, then the choice isn’t very meaningful. Two opportunity cards while Zailing would feel like a letdown of a distinction after all the effort it takes to obtain a ship. If you care about BDR, get a Yacht. If not having a zub makes you sad, then get a zub.
Besides, the extra grinding I’m putting on myself for gaining Notability isn’t half as bad as the extra grinding that it took me to get the zub in the first place.
You’re missing the point entirely. A lot of us care about BDR, because of its massive effects in the endgame, and also care about having a zub.
The choice between the two isn’t legitimate because it’s not a choice between two gameplay goals, nor is it a choice between two story goals – it’s a failed hybrid of the two, a choice between gameplay and story.
The point isn’t to have zero gameplay differences – obviously, their opportunity cards are different when you’re at zee and nobody is complaining about that. The point is the massive scale of the difference in numerous areas of the endgame that have nothing to do with being at zee. edited by Televangelist on 8/28/2017
Here’s another way to look at it: if your character is trying to make themselves known and influential, then switching from a zubmarine to a pleasure-yacht would be a completely reasonable RP choice.
I don’t think owning multiple ships at once should be possible. However, it would be very nice if a player who switches ships could switch back for less than full price. Maybe some qualities which track whether you’ve designed a zub or won the card game for the yacht, and allow the player to switch ships for half the cost. Instead of selling your zubmarine you put it in dry-dock and slightly disassembled it to circumvent the Masters’ restriction, or instead of selling the yacht to a stranger you transfer the deed to a friend for safekeeping and pay them to keep the yacht safe.
If one option is numerically better than the other, then it is no longer a choice, but a math problem with an obvious answer. Outside of role playing, there is no real reason to use the zub over the yacht. (Likewise the actions saved from a single extra point of BDR far exceeds the two-three actions saved traveling the zee) edited by Koenig on 8/28/2017
How about a compromise: the zub gets upgraded to be +2 BDR but you have to deal with a menace card for owning one. Gotta be wary of Robert Harris ;D[/quote]
I would enthusiastically support such a compromise. Acquiring a zubmarine was by no means an easy feat, and I think it should have equal mechanical benefits to a yacht. I’d even welcome the menace card, as I was rather disappointed by zub ownership didn’t come up more during that story.
That’s an interesting post.
I started with a zub and truly loved the idea of it. It was, for me, the cooler choice. But half a year ago I switched to the Yacht solely for the BDR.
So I do care about the RP of the Zub and the BDR of yacht. But. I understand the asymmetry line FBG is going with throughout the game, from beginning to end, and… sigh accept this (Cheery Man valuable op card vs. nothing from Last Constable, anyone?) edited by Gonen on 8/28/2017
Allowing multiple ships and switching them with the standard interface would have problems at zee. Since you can change equipment at any time in the game you could swap ships in the middle of a journey to optimize.
If they did allow you to have multiple ships then setting out to Zee from Wolfstack Docks would probably require you to pick which one you’re taking, bestowing upon you a quality to unlock those ship-specific options.
I would certainly be fine with that. It would also be a bit more fun from a role playing perspective, especially if each ship had to be prepared and crewed prior.
Alternatively, don’t owners of the Heart have an option in Wolfstack to switch back and forth between their normal ship and the Heart? Allowing multiple ships would just require expanding on this mechanic. You could only ever have one ship in your inventory at a time but could switch at any time while in London.