System driven caravan initiation

Mayoral caravans are system-driven caravans that are launched by Mayors to obtain needed resources from other nodes.

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Players can initiate quest driven caravans (via a NPC) with the following parameters.

• The resources it will carry.
• If it is initiated for a specific quest in a nearby node.
• If the goods are intended for trade or warehousing in a regional market.
• The recipient of the caravan (e.g. a Temple within the nearby node).

When you initiate a caravan you're going to be able to determine the resources of the caravan is going to have in it. You're going to be able to determine whether or not this caravan has been initiated for a specific quest in a nearby node. You're going to be able to deliver goods for trade or to just warehouse in a new region, so that you have access to that local market. – Steven Sharif

• Caravans may not be initiated from warehouses during a siege declaration on that node.

When you're in a nearby node that you need to drive caravan to... you're going to have an option from the NPC within a nearby node to dictate the caravan launch as a recipient of the temple yeah. – Steven Sharif

System driven/mayoral caravans

System driven caravans (also referred to as Quest driven caravans) are system spawned caravans that are used for trade routes between nodes.

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• These are initiated by players with a diverse choice of routes and launch windows, making them difficult to zerg.
• Initiating a caravan from one node to another will create a PvP objective that players will need to defend while it moves along its chosen route to the selected destination.
• Roads will upgrade as nodes advance. Different roads will dictate the speed and type of caravan required (off road vs on road).

The caravan system is designed to be initiated by the player. Which means, information of the caravans launch time and route, should be a closely guarded secret. Routes will also be diverse, and the world is large, so it might behoove you to scout the route ahead before a launch. Fast travel in our game is also limited, which means unless the guild had knowledge of your plans before hand, it is likely that they will be unable to organize and travel to a location. As far as mass guilds securing trade routes, there is always a bigger fish in the pond. Also caravans will have limitations on carrying capacity and launch windows that will segment mulitiple caravans by several minutes, which would space out the caravans, making it difficult to "zerg" a defense. – Steven Sharif

Trade routes

Mayoral caravan launched by a mayor to establish a trade route with another node.

For example: this node over here might have access to cotton as a resource and when that node processes that cotton it might be some very nice type of linen that only that node, or very rarely nodes would have access to. So when you initiate a trade route, you're bringing its supplies that the mayor has requested because they're trying to build, let's say a specific type of service building, or they're trying to unlock a blueprint that they have access to now to build up their node. – Steven Sharif

Trade routes in Ashes of Creation refer to.

• Roads for the transit goods via the caravan system.

  You might have a mountain pass and during winter that mountain pass is always closed and so the trade routes on land change with caravans and that's something that can not only exist on a cyclical level but also dynamically based on player activity.

• Economic relationships between nodes established by Mayors or node citizens.
  • Agreements are established to trade commodities that are unique to particular nodes or node types via NPC-driven caravans.

From a diplomatic standpoint the ability for the mayor or citizens to set up NPC routed trade routes between nodes as a trade agreement or as a diplomatic process. – Steven Sharif

• An aspect of naval content.

Roading

Road blocked by an environmental hazard due to a caravan event in Alpha-2.

Our road system in-game is essentially driven by pre-placed routes that lead to this main artery of what was once the ancient highway system of Verra; and from there there are roads that become exposed when nodes advance; and we call those veins. They come off the main artery and then as nodes advance there are points of interest as Jeff was discussing earlier. These POIs that exist around the world and some of them share coverage with multiple nodes, but depending on which node advances to the stage that activates the point of interest it'll create these capillary roads so to speak that then stem off of the node itself. So you go from the main artery ancient road that's large- that runs through different zones and whatnot- and that breaks down into the veins that lead to the specific encampments and villages and towns that then spawn off separate capillaries that lead to the points of interest in these areas that are hunting grounds. Those are not exposed initially and they come online as players advance the world. – Steven Sharif

Roads adjusting to adjacent node progression.

As nodes advance, these pre-laid road spots that exist connecting every possible route between certain node structures is going to adjust and adapt, both its material presentation, the type of roadwork that's present: It'll move from dirt road type, to perhaps a brick road, to perhaps some super ornate beautiful metropolis style road that will adjust around the world according to how these node structures begin to populate and advance. – Steven Sharif

Roads in Verra are both pre-generated and player influenced.

• The largest roads are referred to as arteries. These are remnants of what was once the ancient highway system of Verra.
• As nodes advance smaller roads, referred to as veins, connect the arteries to the nodes.
• Depending on the stages of node advancement, capillary roads will stem off the node to connect to points of interest.
• Roads or pathways are not worn into the landscape by repeated traffic over the same area.
• The quality, safety, and maximum transportation speed of roads is influenced by node building upgrades, policies, relics, and the level of nearby nodes.

Q: Could you upgrade roads in the node to upgrade the roads and speeds of caravans?

A: Absolutely. So that buff that you saw is a buff that can be changed in the world based on the world state. Some of those world state interactions include certain types of relics that the nodes which govern your area might have access to and might be actively employing. Some of it might have to do with policies: You might be able to extend the guard influences across the road radius further out for certain nodes if you have certain policies. You might be able to enhance and empower those guards through itemization choices that are granted by building upgrades that the node selects to build. – Steven Sharif

Different seasons and events may affect access to various roads.

• Pathways that are open during summer may be closed during winter.
• Seasonal affects may cause obstacles or blockages to the transit of goods via caravan.
• Caravan events can cause roadways to be blocked off or hostile mobs to spawn to attack the caravan.
  • Obstacles may present barriers on roads that players must remove or bypass to allow transit of goods.
• Water turning to ice in winter, enabling players to walk over the water but blocking access to what is underneath.
  • Ice will make roads bumpy and slippery.

Underrealm routes will open or close dynamically (based on node states).

• The location of Underrealm entrances throughout the world is focused around natural geographic choke-points that exist above ground. This provides alternate subterranean routes that can be used by caravans, raids, and other player activities.

• Not all entrances to the Underrealm will be open at the same time. This can shift dynamically (based on node states) that cause different routes to open up, which may be more or less advantageous than other routes.

Caravan components can be utilized to improve on-road or off-road speeds of caravans.

You will travel faster over roads, but that obviously comes with the increased risk of running into other players or monsters that are blocking the road. – Chris Justo

Freeholds may not be placed in close proximity to roads.

Caravan PvP

Caravan PvP in Alpha-2.

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. – Steven Sharif

Caravan PvP party icons

	Friendly defender
	Friendly attacker
	Enemy defender
	Enemy attacker

UI message when opting in to join the defenders of a caravan PvP event.

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

• Only the caravan owner and those in the caravan's raid group will be able to see it on the world map.

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. – Steven Sharif

• Players that choose to attack or defend the caravan will be flagged as combatants.
  • The UI notification will include the caravan owner's name and guild.
  • The proximity that the UI window appears is determined by the player's performance as either a defender or an attacker in previous raids.
  • Once registered as a defender, a player can't switch to attack the caravan.
  • 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.

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. – Steven Sharif

• There will be visual hints relating to the cargo being transported on caravans, but players will not be able to see the exact contents of the caravan. Cargo is represented in this way even if a cosmetic caravan skin has been applied to the caravan.

• Players can be registered participants in a caravan event involving multiple caravans. It is not possible for a player to participate in more than one caravan event at a time.

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. – Steven Sharif

• Caravan components can be individually destroyed by directional attacks against the caravan. All components are destroyed if the caravan is destroyed.

• Some defensive abilities may be effective against blocking projectiles from hitting caravans.

• Basic attacks will not slow caravans, but certain slowing abilities may be able to do so.

• Players or mounts trying to block caravans will be pushed out of the way.

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. – 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. 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.

• There is no limit to the number of times caravans can be commandeered or the number of times caravans get destroyed and replaced.

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. – Steven Sharif

Niektóre z poniższych informacji nie zostały ostatnio potwierdzone przez programistów i mogą nie znajdować się na aktualnym planie rozwoju.

• A group will be required to successfully attack a caravan.

Mercenary NPCs

Mercenary gear set. 3D model by Jan-Allen Cauton.

Mercenary NPCs can be hired to participate in objective-based situations.

• Varying tiers of mercenary NPCs may be unlocked based on the investment made in their progression. Highest tier NPC mercenaries are referred to as heros.
  • Mayors are able to allocate treasury funding to hire mercenary NPCs to defend their node during sieges.
  • Nodes can invest in upgrade paths that give a greater selection of roles and quality (gear level) of NPC mercenaries used for caravan defense.
  • NPC mercenaries can be hired to participate in castle sieges based on the allocation made by the governing castle and how successful they have been defending their castle nodes.
  • These mechanics are subject to change based on testing and priorities.
• Players can assign mercenary NPCs, but won't micromanage them, in a similar manner to pets.

There are mercenary NPCs that can be assigned to players. We've discussed about that before and those will follow generically... a pet system even adopted majority of the pet system with the added bonus of objective based points of interest that you can assign them to. But we don't want to inundate the field with these mercenaries they'll be few and far between. They'll be assigned specifically like let's say for example as the mayor of a node during a siege you'll be able to assign these two specific players that are citizens within your node and then they'll have those they'll spawn during the during the node siege; or vice versa and the castle siege guild leaders can assign mercenaries that are available based on the progress of those subsidiary nodes around the castle siege whether or not you have those available to your defense or your attack. – Steven Sharif

Caravan destruction

Caravan destruction in Alpha-2.

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

If a caravan is destroyed or it despawns it becomes a wreckage that contains a portion of the cargo it was transporting. The remainder of the caravan's goods are sunk (lost) when the caravan is destroyed.

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. – Steven Sharif

• Commodities crates are marked with a green symbol. Materials crates are marked with a black symbol.

• Anyone may loot a caravan's wreckage.

• Unsealing crates (by breaking open sealed crates) yields less value than transporting the sealed crates for unloading. This is in addition to the value already lost when the caravan was destroyed.

• Caravan components are destroyed if the caravan is destroyed. Previously it was stated that components may drop when a caravan is destroyed.

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. – 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.

• There is no limit to the number of times caravans can be commandeered or the number of times caravans get destroyed and replaced.

Caravan types

Tier 5 personal caravan on route from Winstead to Miraleth in Alpha-2. 3D model by Hal Anderson.

There are different types of Caravans in Ashes of Creation.

• Personal caravans.
• Mayoral caravans.
• System driven caravans.

See also

• Caravans
• Artisan supply chain
• Economy