Deadeye_Rob

I must admit, I do take pleasure from driving off aggressive players. I still have no issues against that kind of behaviour on the high seas. It is a survival game after all and if players think they can earn a little gold from piracy, so be it. We just have to have the bigger stick. Ive had two hostile encounters on my travels, I drove off a pirate vessel by firing some gunpowder barrels; striking a direct hit in the process. It didn’t kill the player on board but it crippled their sails allowing me to sail away. The second was less honourable, I landed on the island of an obvious new player and offered to hand over some resources to get him started. He seemed to be the hesitant sort who didn’t reply much and paused often, so I made sure I had my trusty Bolt-action Rifle in my hot bar. Sure enough, he drew a corn-gun and aimed it right at my head. I mirrored his actions with my superior firearm and ordered him to lower his weapon. He took a potshot at my head (offering minimal damage). Not willing to risk another shot like that considering the value of my inventory, I blew him away. Next thing I know I’m ejected from the map!

I’ve only had two hostile encounters during my time playing the new exploration. The issues regarding the barrier I hope will be resolved or replaced with a more robust mechanism in the next update. My barrier still remains unplaced and kept in my inventory. I have not experienced a game-resetting “time out” yet and I hope I never do if I’m honest! Best thing to do to counter troublesome visitors is to build your base on a single player map or make use of the Password protection features. That way, you won’t need to worry too much with placing a barrier. Someone also reminded me that as a map owner, you have full use of the /cmdlist, including the ability to turn the whole map into PVE (and in extreme cases, ban players). If you don’t want to resort to admin commands or password protections, my flatline solution would be to build something with enough guns/cannons to make visitors think twice before attacking! “Speak softly, but carry a big stick!”

It’s not up there yet, but it will be.

Hi guys! I'm in the process of constructing a small friendly Trading post for other players to visit. It's constructed from a series of blueprints that I have designed and exported from editor. It's still a WIP but I have a working warehouse for unloading cargo, as well as a Harbor Master's Office. -Karnaca Harbor Authority. It functions as the town's vault as well as administrative base for myself as governor. -The vault itself, I have the coffers fully stocked from my adventures and trading with others! -Another view of the Vault. Notice the triple layered bars on the windows for protection! -Harbor Authority interiors. Still a WIP but I am pleased with how the lights turned out. I'm also using it to display my collection of items! -The main warehouse. I use this to moor my ship as well as to offload cargo. The dockside is still under construction and i will build a pier to allow visitors to dock at will! And thats it so far guys! I hope you like it and come and visit me soon! Thanks! Rob AKA FlintlockRob, Governor of Karnaca Trading Port

Another rainy day at Karnaca! We now have ourselves a well-known drinking establishment up and running to receive weary travelers! The famous- Viceroy Club!

You’ll laugh, but I was actually inspired by the train used in the film: ‘Wild Wild West’! After a bit of research into Victorian Pullman train coaches, I had enough concept material to make some gorgeous internals. I must admit, I feel like Ive really hit it with the Mk3 Dauntless. It’s the ship I currently use for 1.5 at the moment.

I did indeed buddy! It’s the second version of my line of steamboats.

So far the main Pier is comming along nicely and we also have the first of many player-owned shopfronts! Stay tuned! PS A very sincere thank you to the multitude of visitors I have received over the last couple of days! Your support -And resources- have inspired me to make Karnaca Trading Post into the first Exploration Player-Hub in the history of the game! -No grandstanding of course!-

Sure buddy! Will do, I was blown away by Zarwils current ship project!

@spiritchaser28 that’s exactly the approach I’m going for. There are a lot of overlapped blocks so it’s not the friendliest for processing power, but I’m pleased with how it’s turned out. I’m going to start converting an early template of The Viceroy Club into a blueprint soon! @zarwil, I’ll look you up tonight. You would be most welcome! Anyone know how I can make a map in effect; a sharegame? I would like certain people to visit even when I’m not online. ?

I’ve been on the hunt for a pair in exploration for a while with no success. Has anyone managed to find them? I’ll be happy to meet up with sellers on exploration for a trade!

@Adam Snellgrove, great to hear! Can the Superior Pistols be currently acquired from a random encounter or NPC merchant?

I’m after the ‘Superior Pistols’ (I forgot the name!) Ive collected a ton of unique skinned items now but those flintlocks are eluding me.

It will be the house that I shall build for my island base on 1.5. It will not be available for public download at the moment.

It’s a long way off completion but this design won’t be uploaded. Once I’ve build it you will be able to see it at my private residence on 1.5 ?

Update -Outside view overlooking entrance courtyard. This will eventually lead down to a simple dockside for visiting ships. I've decided to be very detailed in my construction. In order not to break the blueprint I may have to break the whole completed construction into several individual parts! Nevertheless, here's my work so far. I hope the level of detail is enough to impress! -Corridor with embedded custom bookcases. Due to the precise details and style I want. I have decided to custom-build a lot of furniture. As I am using a lot of normal blocks in their design, they will automatically be present in the blueprint! That's all for now. Merry Christmas guys!

Hi guys, @Aleš Ulm @Adam Snellgrove So far I’m really impressed with 1.5 and it’s safe to say that My attention to Ylands feels rejuvenated! Following on from this weeks Dev Diary update I have collected a long list of things that could be improved with the game. These suggestions are the culmination of approximately 2000hrs worth of play time on my part and range from large to small-scale changes and additions. I hope you like them and if anyone of them specifically jumps out as a good idea, please comment! Quality of Life Improvements Spotlights are great for illuminating specific objects with a shaft of coloured light. However the bulb/lense of the spotlight will always shine a yellow tone regardless of the colour. Can the colour of the lense match the spot of light? This would be great for traffic light based formats. On that note can we have white as a colour too? -Suggestion partially Implemented! Tree Bark & Oak bark are classified as different categories, which sometimes causes inventory clutter. Could we remove it so that they can be stacked? Tool boxes should be able to accept knives, chisels, screwdrivers etc. -Suggestion Implemented! A secondary function of pens could be to change the name of an item when equipped. Sacks could be labelled as ‘Grain Sack’ and doors could be renamed to ‘Robs house’ for example. Decorating houses with freeplaced items is at the core of exploration culture. It also clutters a players ability to interact with objects. A tool that could ‘Weld’ items to remove the ability to pick them up would be very welcome. Energy & Power We have small Steam Generators, lets have some larger ones that run for longer. Steam could be a cheaper alternative to ylandium to power base grids. Higher tier upgrades to workstations could incorporate powered crafting stations that could craft faster or process materials with a higher yield. An energy powered lumbermil that produces more planks than a saw for example. Power packs are fantastic for storing energy, stationary batteries would be the next logical step. Furthermore, power packs could definitely have a greater use. Energy weapons. Following on from the last point, energy weapons are a logical evolution and also controversial due to the theme. Power packs would be the ammo. Minecraft has Pistons, Starmade has rails. Maybe Ylands could have something inbetween for mobile blocks? Renewable energy generation. We have wind turbines. We could also have watermills and maybe even solar? Barrier Generator Its already been highlighted, but barriers could have mechanisms to allow players to share building space. The original owner could decide on certain permissions such as terraforming and construction. Mechanisms could be made to reduce or increase barrier influence Vehicle Improvements With ships playing a critical role in 1.5, lets introduce some more diversity. I would like to see more ship components including oriental/Arabic designs from the renaissance. Same suggestion applies to car components. Alchemy, Food & Potions I would love to see more potion recipes. Invisibility, health regeneration, water walking etc Poisons would be very useful, when applied to swords and arrows would deliver effects like reduced movement, blindness, health drain. Introduce a late-game ability to cultivate and grow Magic Blossoms. (Note, reduction in value when selling to NPCs to prevent excessive profit) Beer brewing by subjecting wheat to fermentation in barrels. Would produce initial positive effects followed by drawbacks from excessive consumption. This would also introduce the potential for players to create taverns and points of social interest. Food-specific workstation variants. Mechanised sausage machine, fish smoker, pizza oven. Crafting at a reduced time and produces higher-teir foods with positive effects. NPCs & Creatures More sea life capable of producing a useful resource for exploitation. Sharkskin leather, whale oil fuel etc. Whales in particular would have an exceptionally high health but would drop a huge quantity of food and oil. They would be passive in nature until provoked. With enough gold accumulated through mining or trade, a player can purchase an NPC merchant. The merchant can be stocked with goods to sell or instructed to buy specific items. An NPC merchant will allow visiting players to trade indirectly with the host player. Misc Improvements Make as many uncraftable assets craftable. (Gold Coins, Blank Sign variants etc) Introduce editable blank books to write extended notes. Introduce Paper/leather scrolls. Scrolls can be sealed with resin and can only be opened by the intended recipient. Resin can also be used to authenticate letters. Thats about it guys! Please take a look through them and let me know what you like. Some of these can be easily done through adjustments and tweaks whilst others would require a shift in development. I hope this offers some fresh ideas and that you guys at Ylands Development will get a kick out of some. cheers guys! Rob

Hi guys! In the words of Mr Charlton Heston, Jeff Goldblum and others; “You son of a b*tch you did it!” Yesterday evening I changed my Steam review to recommending Ylands. Whilst doing so I’ve also noticed an influx of favourable reviews since 1.5 arrived. To me, Exploration 1.5 represents the first positive step to Ylands in a long time; and what a step it is! The ability to explore an infinitely generated world has improved the potential of the game ten-fold. Let me explain why. The obvious advantage is Multiplayer. I have visited a number of inhabited islands to trade, converse and share my blueprint designs. I’ve enjoyed sharing stories, haggling over resources and bartering goods, which brings me on to my next topic. Playing in legacy Exploration still has its charm and I would like this to remain as it’s own game mode. That being said, thanks to 1.5’s infinite worlds, resource scarcity is no longer an issue. Coal was a resource that I highly prized for crafting foundry-based items. I would never use it as engine fuel (charcoal was an effective substitute). This concern has been eradicated so long as I exploit new lands and forge NPC trading routes. In previous suggestions I have expressed a desire to make certain random encounter armour variants craftable. With 1.5 however, the chances of discovering an encounter with a unique armour variant/weapon is now far more likely (although still elusive sometimes!). Overall, 1.5 is the first update that has delivered (if not tantalised) upon the desires of the majority fan base. Whilst it had some major bugs at the start, I commend the team for rectifying it quickly. It is now my hope that the steam recommendations continue to justify to the developers that this is indeed the right course of improvement for the game. Exploration has the momentum, and it must be maintained with further diaries, improvements and features. We as players can also get involved, bug reporting, Exploration community harbour projects, there’s so much we can do to show newcomers that this is the Survival Sandbox game to play! Let’s get involved! Thanks for reading my ‘rattle-on’ review. If you’re an established Ylands player, I hope this review agrees with you. If you’re new, welcome to potentially, the most charming, expansive, and promising Nautical Castaway Survival you’re likely to play for a while! Cheers! Rob

Welcome back buddy! Great to see more of the former established fan base return! They've introduced a ‘Toolbox’ into the game. It’s made from iron ingots and nails. You can store your tools there with exception of a chisel and screwdriver. Hopefully, Ylands is back on the up and up!

Tea Leaves are a little fickle from my experience. I frequently obtain seeds by breaking herbs. If this is done with tea leaves, no seeds are yielded. The only way to obtain tea tree seeds is from directly crafting them from the menu. Im not sure why, maybe it just needs a quality of life tweak.

That's good to hear! As it so happens, during my adventures today I realized that Spotlights now in fact show the colour they're set to. So that's now been achieved!

I’ve been spending some solid time playing Exploration now, I’ve met so many people on my travels. I’ve noticed a lot of them are new to the game, which is a good sign! I even partook in a little sea combat for the first time! Someone opened fire on me without warning! They were a bit surprised when I started to fire gunpowder barrels back at them!

Well said @Aleš Ulm. I must admit, over the last 6 months preceding the release of 1.5, I was terribly concerned about the future and viability of the game. It was disheartening to see Exploration being reduced with each update as more elements were stripped without warning. Aside from the current bug-associated ‘growing pains’ I think 1.5 has made the first dramatically positive step in the right direction for a very long time. I have had an absolute blast building my ship, visiting other biomes and meeting other players. I’ve even taken to chronicling my adventures when it’s too foggy to navigate! Now is the time for the Current player base to jump in, assist in bug detection and maybe even form a few community-friendly ports that we can all visit? Well done to the Ylands Dev team for recognising and rebuilding a potentially successful and unique survival experience! Thanks guys! Rob

Heads up guys! I found a workaround! I left Exploration. Then instead of rejoining, I deleted the map I was on. Then I selected a map I had been on before and I spawned in with my ship, the key worked this time ?

First serious game breaking bug I’ve encountered (except for starvation of course). Im currently playing on ‘Sinking Ylands (US-NYC 1)’ I did sailed my steamboat to shore and did my usual routine of padlocking my helm. Once I returned to my ship, I was surprised to find that ‘The Key Does not match’ error. I definitely have the correct key in my possession. The only thing I can think of is that on entering the map, my padlock has had its Lock ID value reset maybe? I am currently in possession of a ship that I can no longer edit or control.