Game Mechanics Pirate Invasions Should Be Post-Mech

[ArcerHMR]

Pirate invasions really should only start happening post-mechs. They're just not balanced for anything before that and if an invasion occurs early on in hardmode, it's incredibly tedious and unfun, especially on expert and master where most of the pirates can two to four shot you. Pirate captains are especially bad. They've got high health for this stage of the game, fire extremely fast, and deal extremely high damage. They're also difficult to stunlock without very fast weapons. The pirates work well later on and can actually be a lot of fun, but early on they're just awful. The mech boss spawns work well since they can be avoided and end when you die. Invasions, on the other hand, have to be completed. If you get one, you can't avoid it, you have to grind through it.

 

[Jakepeng99]

I disagree. Let players have more exciting things pre-mech

 

[Baconfry]

I disagree. Let players have more exciting things pre-mech

If dying over and over in the exact same way for an extended amount of time sounds exciting to you, then maybe we should take a few steps back and think about what the word "exciting" even means

 

[Aceplante]

While the root cause of this is that invasions just dont end even if the player is getting repeatedly spawncamped (to which I say add a way to lose an invasion)...

Why not do this too? Complete support!

 

[HotAirBalloon🐿️]

The problem with this is that all of the pirate invasion drops are already not very good (aside from decor), so they would all need a big buff to be serviceable with all the other mech drops. I also think that the Solar Eclipse already serves as the "post mech" invasion, so maybe just nerf pirates instead of switching its place.

 

[TWillyH]

The problem with this is that all of the pirate invasion drops are already not very good (aside from decor), so they would all need a big buff to be serviceable with all the other mech drops. I also think that the Solar Eclipse already serves as the "post mech" invasion, so maybe just nerf pirates instead of switching its place.

another thing would be to maybe add some more weapons to the invasion, the cutlass is the only weapon other than the pirate staff and the staff is like a 1/2000 drop
maybe a spell tome from pirate captains based on the pirate curse, or unique drops for the flying dutchman like the weapons from the martian saucer

 

[Coleyohley]

I agree, they can be extremely overwhelming if you aren't geared up and invasions can often degenerate into walling yourself in and waiting for minions or sentries to slowly whittle them down. I've never been a fan of unprovoked invasions anyway, especially if I'm trying to build something or just sort and craft in my base, but an invasion this strong is even more egregious, especially at the beginning of hardmode where there are new NPCs to build houses for and an explosion of new items to sort through.

I think the Pirate Map should still be accessible before the Mechs are down for people that actually want to fight them early but I don't think it should spawn naturally until the player is significantly geared, and I think a mech boss down (or any hardmode boss down, really, including Queen Slime or Duke Fishron) is a good way to check for that.

 

[Snickerbobble]

Just finished a master mode playthrough and pirates were by FAR the most difficult part of the entire game. A big part being how hard it is to see bullets, as well as how fast they move, giving you little time to react.

Pumpkin Moon, Frost Moon, martians, fighting the pillars, and even fighting Moon Lord were all a piece of cake compared to pirates. Pirates killed me more than all of the above COMBINED.

I'd probably fix them by lowering the fire rate of the captain and deadeye. And make parrots add to completion, since they don't add any. Gate them with an altar being destroyed and having at least 30 defense maybe. Altar smashed and, oddly, 200 HP, isn't enough for checks. Some pre-hm bosses use a defense check, so why not pirates? But allow the map to be used whenever (which would also help out with skyblock with water from sinks).

 

[Warm Water]

Here’s a compromise: they cannot naturally spawn until a mechanical boss is defeated, but a treasure map can be dropped without any defeated in hard mode

 

[Aceplante]

Here’s a compromise: they cannot naturally spawn until a mechanical boss is defeated, but a treasure map can be dropped without any defeated in hard mode

thats what coley said, but yes this is probably best

 

[ArcerHMR]

I agree, they can be extremely overwhelming if you aren't geared up and invasions can often degenerate into walling yourself in and waiting for minions or sentries to slowly whittle them down. I've never been a fan of unprovoked invasions anyway, especially if I'm trying to build something or just sort and craft in my base, but an invasion this strong is even more egregious, especially at the beginning of hardmode where there are new NPCs to build houses for and an explosion of new items to sort through.

I think the Pirate Map should still be accessible before the Mechs are down for people that actually want to fight them early but I don't think it should spawn naturally until the player is significantly geared, and I think a mech boss down (or any hardmode boss down, really, including Queen Slime or Duke Fishron) is a good way to check for that.

Yeah, I think having them unlock after any hardmode boss is a good idea. You'll still be on hardmode ore armors rather than hallowed at that point.