Star chart maps for pirate legends

  • So during all of my time sailing and leisurely star gazing on the cold breezy nights I’ve thought about something cool for experienced pirates only. Star chart maps extremely rare or random maybe even the one in a million message in a bottle with one? So the idea was that you would hold the map up and use the holes in the map to line it up with the stars or constellation that would lead you to your treasure, maybe the map could have very broad clues, where like if you knew enough about the game you could just know.. or figure it out without too much distress. But new players would have no clue what’s going on which I think would be cool and make being a legend feel more legendary. Give the legends another chance too pass on the knowledge or hold on to it.. You would use the pocket watch to know when to look at the map, maybe a time stamp on the corner or a little hint. Then the compass to get your baring after finding the constellation and a-lining it with the map.
    I think I would be cool if the phases of the moon had something to do with it.. (like the elvish.. elven? .. not trying to be disrespectful to “them”..like the elf door in lord of the rings and one in the hobbit. More like the hobbit in how maybe the map is so rare that you can only read the map on one date and if you miss it then that’s it try again next time it’s a full moon) maybe even secret clues when on the island to lead you to chest like glowing moon runes that can only be seen or glow in the moonlight or when the map is near.
    Idk I feel like it’s potentially a good idea but well.. one, I wanted to share the idea with more people than the pirates I talk too and meet on the seas. Two, I really hope rare sees this. I was so mad I wasn’t a founder I want to make it up with a good idea and possibly a cool edition to the game. Please comment and let me hear thoughts and other ideas.

    I think this could be cool like hell maybe there could be star chart maps that lead to boss battles or something lol moonlit glowing ghost skeletons lol no.. prob too much lol.

    Enjoy, and would love to see this blow up.
    (Edit:) other people may have had similar ideas but I’ve been spewing this spiel since first week game released. I came up with the thought, but I mean it’s not like other people couldn’t have thought of the the same general thing it happens all the time (or heard it from me out on the seas lol jk well kinda I do talk a lot). But that’s the beauty of this community and that’s why I’m sharing so the idea is there in the open so people can pick and choose and change or build on the idea however they see fit, I just want to see it happen in the game (preferably in my vision but hey you can’t always get what you want.. starts singing). I should have made a post a while ago but that just shows that I’m a lazybeard. But the reason I’m ranting is because I love this game and the community and I figured being more involved and talking to people with similar ideas would prove to be a good thing. So yea rant over)
    (Lol not entirely)
    I admire the attentiveness that Rare shows its fans and I love how they do the weekly Video.. I’ve always said since the beginning it’s not for everyone but the people who like this game love this game and it nice seeing the community grow and see people actually try to get involved and give their input. Rare is awesome for making a game for the fans and not only focusing on what they want.. it’s beautiful and seeing what the game is growing into is great. I look forward to other people who had the same or similar ideas to come out and I really hope to see something like this in the game eventually. I just think that that sky and the ocean and the game is so visually pleasing to look at and think that being able to look up actually at one point be able to go “huh where’s the North Star.. oh ok .. we gotta go that way..” Rather than even having to use the compass, you know like some real pirate legend wayfairing stuff you know? Like I know so many legends who know where they are without the compass or the map.. this is for them.. so someone can read a riddle that says” look to Orion for assistance” and you look up line up the holes not the map like some one eyed willy stuff and be on your merry ol’ way.. maybe thunder in the distance lol. idk however merry or sinister the vibe of the quest ahead may be.. Idk I get excited thinking about it I feel it could be extremely immersive.
    Storms clear, it’s midnight.
    Pulls out ‘strange map’, it’s blank with some holes and tears through it..
    The moonlight seems to be affecting the map.
    The scroll burns with mysterious green glow and symbols and riddles beggin to appear.
    “When the clock strikes two, don’t look down
    Look to Orion quickly or ye’ll have a frown.
    time moves quickly, and so should you.
    Take too long and you’ll have to wait until two.”
    Basically like you can only read the map for a duration of time, the holes only line up for so long and the stars are only out for a few hours until you have to wait again.. ahh jitters.. I’m a nerd it would be awesome very mysterious lol. I picture this for the pirate who’s tired of binging and wants an interesting and fun adventure with a decent amount of loot at the end of the rainbow in whatever shape that loot may come in whether it be crates stacked up in a cave on a hidden island or .. (idea) Maybe instead of just a chest it could be a small special event thing like kill the crew and get the skulls from them and the location of their loot hideout.. ooh. (*just so you know I’m thinking this as I’m typing so if it comes out bad or I have to edit it I’ll do that tomorrow.. I just really want to get my vision of this idea across)
    Lol sorry I look up and I basically wrote another post lol. Done for now. ❤️
    (After this point indefinitely some ideas may or may not be influenced by others in feed because I mean well I’m seeing the inspiration and I have had a lot of ideas since the beta and now I’m just having this rush of energy so thanks for chatting and i hope that we get to keep spitballing ideas)

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  • @daddyo265 omg addition not edition I’m an idiot

  • @daddyo265 I like it! Also I just wanted to let you know that you can edit your post by clicking on the helm in the bottom right corner of your post and just click edit! :D I really do like the idea though! I like anything that has to do with different ways of hunting treasure. The more variety the better!

  • @daddyo265 nice idea ... could maybe introduce sextants

  • Yea what a Great idea, i like it!!!
    Gimme such a starmap but Rare ;))

  • Sorry to be the one to burst the bubble but this has been suggested before.
    I do like the idea but it's about three months late to be an "original" idea.

    You have however, perhaps built on it somewhat.
    In the original we came to the conclusion of holding the map to the sky and it would glow like finding a clue in a riddle.
    Then drop the anchor and dive deep for a shipwreck otherwise not disclosed by circling birds. We didn't think of the new map type leading to a dig spot but that would also work well. Hold the map up to the sky (aligning it with the stars) and an X appears on the ground.

    I think that if it were intended for PLs then don't put them in bottles for just anyone to find. Or make it dependent of whomever finds the bottle. Non PLs would just get a regular message and PLs would find the star maps at random.

    I have suggested similar using the sun to reflect off a specifically placed bottle or jeweled trinket at a certain time of day. The riddle would tell you which island, where to find the reflective source and where to place it (such as on a landmark). Then at a certain time of day the sun would reflect off the item pointing precisely where to dig.
    The same method could be done using the shadow of a tree or the bowsprit of a washed up shipwreck to point to the dig spot at a given time of day.

  • @averageheroz thank you and I just did a pretty big edit lol

  • @admiral-rrrsole The only problem is it would still be extremely difficult, even for PLs. It would take extensive knowledge of sun/moon/star patterns in SoT in order to solve star charts. Possibly if there was some kind of introductory method to this (via a PL-unique npc or something), it would work.

  • @admiral-rrrsole I didn’t mean to come off any kind of way but I did conjure The idea without any outside influences. But I wouldn’t be surprised if others had the idea as well its not like unseen Thing. I mean you can say the words “star chart” and just get caught in the storm of ideas. So yea.. but anyway thanks for the heads up I appreciate it Admiral (clicks heals and salutes). I hope that those people see this or really I hope that rare sees any of it so we can get some more stuff in the game lol. See you out there.

  • @becausescience1 my idea was that it would be a rare thing even for the legends like the pirate legends message in a bottle is kinda my perspective. And it’s ment to be hard with very minimal explanation at first like Nike “just do it” drop em in then add an event later to explain it oooh maybe a xmas North Star event or something like that idk I just read a post lower down in the suggestions about something Xmas that could be cool. Maybe a small non announced npc who kinda like what you said but hide him like merrik with like a standing telescope lol that be funny he just says little things and hints towards something interesting coming haha.. im trying to hard lol. But the point is for it to be challenging like for the legendary pirates who know where they are without the map or even using the compass.. the wayfinders who know the islands like he back of the hands, the ones that could put their minds to it and undoubtedly find a way. I know a few who just know the islands literally by the look of em. I mean how couldn’t you after “the legendary binge” to become a pirate legend, you start to remember the water falls and the beaches and oh this island is north of here because you just know. Rambling I checked in and figured I’d reply lol goodnight

  • @dooby that would be cool when your at the map table. Maybe a like second layer of the map that like is transparent so you can still see the ocean and islands through it but it has the stars and shows the way everything is moving over the map... But I feel like my part of this would just make it too easy it’s supposed to be complicated. “Why’d you have to go and make things so complicated”.. I see the way... nobedtired ugh .. no, no Avril Lavigne right now.. So yea, goodnight lads enjoy the seas i must sleep..

  • @Daddyo265 Really like this idea. It also gives the pocket watch and compass additional use cases. Perhaps it could work as a Gold Hoarders quest variant, similar to Cargo Runs for the Merchant Alliance.

    What I like about it is that due to the use of current tools and the world around us it makes it inherently immersive. Hopefully something like this makes it in game eventually.

  • @daddyo265

    Great idea! Lack PL content is going to become critical very soon.

  • @daddyo265 said in Star chart maps for pirate legends:

    @dooby that would be cool when your at the map table. Maybe a like second layer of the map that like is transparent so you can still see the ocean and islands through it but it has the stars and shows the way everything is moving over the map... But I feel like my part of this would just make it too easy it’s supposed to be complicated. “Why’d you have to go and make things so complicated”.. I see the way... nobedtired ugh .. no, no Avril Lavigne right now.. So yea, goodnight lads enjoy the seas i must sleep..

    I was thinking more that you have to use a sextant to make sure you are at the correct location. The map/riddle/whatever could say that when a certain star (indicated by the star chart) was at a given bearing and elevation you would be in the right place, the sextant is what gives you the angle between the horizon and the star (or sun, or moon).

    It could be made part of a 'smugglers' mission, the booty being anchored offshore, so once you are in the right place you have to swim down and either grab it, or cut the rope anchoring it to the bottom so it floats up to the surface.

    Not sure if the stars move in game or not, if they do it could be you need a certain time of night as well.

  • @becausescience1 said in Star chart maps for pirate legends:

    @admiral-rrrsole The only problem is it would still be extremely difficult, even for PLs. It would take extensive knowledge of sun/moon/star patterns in SoT in order to solve star charts. Possibly if there was some kind of introductory method to this (via a PL-unique npc or something), it would work.

    It could be that you are given a chart with a pattern on it, and it says something like 'look to the east sky', when you hold it up in vaguely the right area it starts to glow, or highlight the actual stars in the sky, so you know you have the right ones.

    That would just be the first bit, then you have to work out where you need to be based on bearing and elevation (or maybe just bearing to two stars)

  • @dooby that’s kibda what I had I mind as you lined the holes up with the stars it would glow or a little tune or ohh maybe the stars could actually brighten more than the others for a moment. It would be cool I’d like they made their own constellations like based on in game pirate lore you know? Like a hook for the legendary no handed pirate blah blah blah or a turtle or something you know it would be cool and once you’ve done a mission you’d remember where that constellation was and could always look up lol star gazing would be a real thing in SOT lol. Maybe the aurora in the sky could be parts of it like idk like the colors get vibrant when you finish the mission or another idea.. remember the mummy? how they couldn’t even find the location of the tomb until the sun was up? That would be cool like you know which way to go maybe find an island and then the sun would give you the next hint. I believe that’s kinda like what the admiral said in like the third or forth comment.

  • So, I did a bit of experimenting last night, using the North Star, and checking its height when at the north and south of the map, and it seems like the star field is pretty static.
    It also appear like the other stars may be in constant positions relative to the player.
    To be able to do anything using stars for location, it would need to move relative to your position.
    If the star field moved, preferably with it rotating around the north/pole star over the course of the in game 24hours, but also moved relative to your position in the world then it would open up possibilities for using them for navigation.
    Honestly I would just really love to have a sextant to use in the game for something.

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