ATLAS world gets bigger (Patreon)

As we enter our second month playing Atlas we've increased the size of the world significantly. Now, instead of 2 regions we have 6 in total, and I've placed the servers around the world to ensure that everyone has a near-local server to play on while still being able to visit anywhere in the game.

A1 and A2 - London

B2 - Frankfurt

C1 and C2 - New York

C5 - Singapore

Having taken a trip through C5 (you get there from C1) this afternoon, even playing as remotely as Singapore is pretty stable - but then the players from Australia and New Zealand knew that already.

The gold rush event was a lot of fun, and I've a few ideas for a second play of the event in the future. The next one however will be a series of yatch races using real-world rules. Again this will be a single session event. To be ready to compete for this event you'll need a partner, nothing else. Ships will be provided for you. The date is to be confirmed.

Faction Changes

Due to various real-life interferences the pirate faction have never become the threat they were intended to be. There's no blame to be attributed here, it's just one of those things. It's pretty damn lonely being a pirate.

During the same period Port Miggins has become much bigger than originally expected. It's now a sprawling shipyard and base of operations for, well, everyone. This is excellent but comes with its own problems - not least of all the amount of lag! When you have 30+ personal residences, all of which have 3 or 4 crafting facilities, it's going to have an impact.

So, what's the plan?

From now, Bad Company members are invited to move on from Port Miggins and establish new ports in other places. It could be in another region, or just a different island, but if 2 or 3 people band together to go establish something new. As part of this move it's going to be worth considering an identity for your new settlement. What's it for, who would do well moving in, how busy is it intended to be? This is important because every settlement will have a recruiting board in Port Miggins which will still be the official welcoming area for new players.

Nobody is forced to split off, far from it, but if you want to settle somewhere else now is a great time to do so. Buddy up, and go make something new and interesting.

When doing so, my recommendation is to form a new company. This will allow further development of factionality in the future to the point where factions can be at war with one another. We're a mostly PVE group, so free for all PVP isn't going to be part of the game we run. Instead there may be designated "conflict zones" from time to time.

The pirates are invited to create their own settlement wherever they wish, and rules regarding piracy are cancelled for now. They're welcome everywhere, just as the rest of us are. If they wish to rejoin Bad Company (which will shortly be renamed Miggins Port Authority) they're welcome to do so.

Overall Philosophy

My aim is to evolve the way we play at a steady pace, offering boarder new opportunities on a weekly/bi-weekly basis while holding single events every couple of weeks.

Everyone is free to play at their own pace, but I'm hoping that every region has its own tourist destination and safe harbor, with each Port Authority Establishing "embassy's" in every new port that emerges. 

We'll see how it goes, but the emphasis is on evolution not revolution.