The Caravan Interview

Talking Travel with Sigil's Vince Napoli

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There's been a lot of speculation about modes of travel in Vanguard. We know that travel will play an important role in the game, and that instant travel will be extremely limited. We also know that Vanguard will have a unique caravan system. There's been a good deal of speculation about how the system will work, so we cornered Sigil to get the official word on caravans. Game designer Vince Napoli answered our questions.

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[Vanguard Ten Ton Hammer]: Caravans seem to be one of the more mysterious and least understood travel features in Vanguard. We know that caravans will allow groups of players to remain together even when some of those players are offline. Can you explain the basics of how the caravan system is intended to work?

[Vince Napoli]: The caravan system is rather simple. Through a tiny element in our UI, group leaders will be able to form a caravan by inviting their members to join them much like they do to form a group.

Once you have accepted an invitation to join a caravan, you are free to log your character out at any location you desire.

When you return to the game, you will be presented with two options:

1. Log in exactly where you logged out previously, or
2. Log in at your caravan leader's bind point.   

 
[VTTH]: Tell us more about offline players--are they vulnerable to attack when the online members of their caravan are attacked? Could an offline player log in to find that he's a corpse?

[VN]: This will depend on the concentration of Indians and Cowboys in any given region. If your caravan leader runs into a large band of Indians, and is low on ammunition and salt steaks, you may risk losing both food, and some of your ox. Travel is not to be taken lightly.

In all seriousness, you cannot die while offline. In the case of a caravan not reaching its destination or the leader dying, you have the option of returning to where you logged out in addition to your caravan leader.

 
[VTTH]: Brad McQuaid said, "...the caravan system will help greatly in keeping group/guild members together." Does this mean that a large number of characters can belong to a caravan, or at least more characters than would make up a full group?

[VN]: Currently, caravans can hold a maximum of 6 players, which is the size of a full group.


[VTTH]: We know that caravans will likely have a level restriction, meaning that the players banded together in a caravan will need to be within a certain level range of one another. What other restrictions will be placed on caravans to prevent exploits?

[VN]:We are testing out a few restrictions based on the feedback from our initial implementation in beta. A level limit is likely by release, as is some type of restriction on where your caravan may be "docked." We are also toying with "unlocking" areas before you may caravan to them.

 
[VTTH]: To quote Brad McQuaid: "At first...we thought it would be cool if the Caravan Leader, when he is on the move, was depicted as such-- perhaps a covered wagon; honestly not sure yet. [We're] focused on getting [caravans] in and tweaking the mechanics right now; visuals later." Has anything new been decided about visuals? Will we see wagons racing across the burning deserts of Qalia?

[VN]:We have decided to focus more of our art time on individual mounts. This includes more fantasy-inspired ground mounts, as well as flying and aquatic mounts. This means that by release we are not likely to have a visual representation of caravans, but we have not discarded the idea entirely.

 
[VTTH]: Since offline travelers with a caravan will log in with the option to join the game at the spot where they logged out, or to travel to the most recent outpost chosen by their caravan leader, what if a caravan leader forgets to bind at an outpost before logging off? What happens to offline caravan members?
 
[VN]: You will always have the option to return to your caravan leaders bind point. If a caravan leader does not accept a new bind point before logging off, your option will default to wherever his prior spot was. Note: This particular mechanic is still being tweaked and tested; it is subject to change.

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