[2019] Being griefed? A guide to self-defense!

Hi guys!

We are aware that early game griefing is currently a major talking point for players. While we look into options of how to combat this, I have made a guide on self defence which will hopefully help you use our existing tools to protect yourself!


https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IVrtZgQEcwppNAwj4hgxiJddboS8y3gXlLjoAVeSVQA/edit?usp=sharing

We are always looking for feedback on the early game system, and early game PvP or griefing is a big thing we're looking at. So, if you have any feedback, constructive criticism and so on, please respond below!
However I'm going to make one thing very clear; toxicity of any kind; towards Bossa, other players or me will not be tolerated. I understand this is a sore point for people, but when replying please write in a concise manner; your feedback will be much more useful that way. Also, before posting a reply, consider these points;

- If you're suggesting a new defence mechanic, pretend you're a griefer for a minute. How would you exploit this in your favour?
- Consider yourself a legitimate attacker, a pirate boarding an enemy ship. They are using your suggestion against you, does it feel balanced?
- PvE is not possible. This is a physics based sandbox, without making everything 100% indestructible it is impossible to have a PvE environment.
PvE is now confirmed to be happening. HOWEVER, the above still stands; you can still be killed by the environment as a result of other players actions (eg, dropping a tree or panel on you). Direct damage (pistols/cannons) will not work.


(Finally, I want to point out that while I work for Bossa, this guide is 100% unofficial and written with my experience as a player in mind. I've got over 1000 hours in the game including Alpha, so I'm always happy to try and help out new players)

Originally posted by StealthyMatsuda: I get that PVE isn't possible, but I want to be able to know I have a ship to come back to when I log off. It seems that people are just able to take whatever they want when you're off for less than an hour. I've lost 4 ships this way and it's really killing the game for me.

Hi StealthyMatsuda,

We have a mechanic that keeps ships safe when you log out, but there's a few things to know about it. Firstly, you must be registered to a personal reviver on your ship - this marks the ship as "yours". Then, check these three criteria are met;
- All players registered to the ship have logged out
- The ship is not docked
- No players are interacting with it (including grappling to it or standing on the deck)

Assuming all three of those criteria are met, your ship will log out from the world. It's a good idea to fly away from an island so people aren't going to find it in those 3 minutes for the third criteria.

Hope that helps you keep your ship safer! I will add this to the guide, thanks for the feedback.

Originally posted by Hawk: Do you plan to allow players to run their own servers? PvP kills the game for us, but if we can run our own server, then it isn't an issue.

Unfortunately, personal servers aren't really possible. The game runs with a new special server system called SpatialOS. It's quite complex, but in a nutshell it's effectively a cloud server which dedicates resources as needed to run the world. It's nearly impossible to run the world on a single server, even for only a small number of players.

Originally posted by Nitefall Of Tristan: How about the developers take their fingers out their ears and listen to the customers, PVE servers rather than this lame attempt to push pvp on everyone resulting in only the griefers having a fun time in the game.

It's not that we don't want PvE servers - they're simply not possible. We can disable cannons and pistols easily enough, but because of physics it's pretty much impossible to stop other players killing you in a whole host of different ways. Removing your pistol would only stop you being able to protect yourself.

Originally posted by Aurien: Why not Just PVP MODE ON/OFF. Those who OFF PVP immune to damage, those who initiate an attack on player or ON PVP aren't?

This would be abused endlessly. A player would turn off PvP then, for example, use an Atlas Lifter to drop a tree on you and kill you.

Originally posted by Neokolzia: --snip--

This is some really useful feedback Neokolzia, thanks! I'm going to pass your post onto the team. We know that the first hour or so in-game is the most critical and our education for players is really lacking here - which is why I wrote my guide. Generally speaking if a new player DOESN'T shoot everyone they see, they'll have a much better experience, but it's hard to tell them that currently.

As for your balances section;
The helm thing, this was actually changed in a patch earlier this year. When a ship is docked, anyone not registered can't do ANYTHING. They can salvage, but cant interact with anything on the ship at all, and salvaging takes a long time. On top of that, while you are docked you will get a notification if someone salvages anything on your ship. I'll add this to the guide :)

Salvage wise, the material and quality play a big role here. A q10 high HP material will take a very long time to break into. However, this could be re-balanced somehow, because early game is where you need this kind of protection the most.

_______________________________________________

This is some very useful feedback so far guys! I've got a meeting tomorrow night, so please keep it coming and I'll get as much of this over as I can. Obviously anything we do will take time to implement, so make sure to familiarise yourself with the guide for now anyway, but rest assured this is an issue we're looking into :)

Hi @Noxeron,

What you are talking about is actually against our terms of service - spawn-camping revival chambers is harrassment and insulting other players in that manner is a breach too. Please report the players here:
https://support.bossastudios.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=201105

Make sure you include your username, any of their usernames you remember and the time and server it happened on.

Thanks,