Caravanserai

Alpha-2 Caravanserai in the Winstead Village (stage 3) node.

Personal caravan disembarkation radius in Alpha-2.

A caravansary (also known as caravanserai) is a default service building that comes pre-built with every node (of Village (stage 3) or higher). This is where caravans are constructed, prepared for launch, and are unloaded.

• Caravan master NPCs at caravansaries enable players to construct, load, and launch personal caravans.

• Caravan drivers will see a visible perimeter around nodes that represent a disembarkation radius, which is similar to the deployment line. When a caravan crosses this line it will no longer be able to be attacked. Guard NPCs spawning to escort the caravan to the node's caravansary was not shown on the latest caravan preview.

As you approach cities, caravansaries will confer a radius around the node; and that radius will be something visual to you in the world as you're approaching another node; and you will see a line- a disembark line where when you cross that line you've reached the safety zone; and that line cross is outside of the node in a similar distance, but also based on caravansary upgrades, that the placement of the caravan at launch is; and so you only have to make it to that line, and once you do the events surrounding the caravan and the ability to attack that caravan stops and it gets auto-moved into the caravansary. Guards will start to materialize around it. They'll grab the reins of the horse and begin to move the caravan slowly to the caravansary and now you've reached a pit stop; and at that pit stop this can either be your final destination or you can relaunch it again. You don't have to stop at nodes along the way to your destination. If you want to keep going you can keep going: You want to cross rivers, you can cross rivers. You want to go out into the ocean with a little raft caravan, you can do that too; and you can go to a destination and you can stop there and unload there. But if you're running into trouble, if you're under assault, if you're a near attack and there's a node nearby with a caravansary that you can stop at, you can start directing the caravan towards that node and all you got to do is make it to that finish line outside of the node; and when you do the caravan auto will move towards caravansary. – Steven Sharif

• Caravan components can be upgraded while the caravan is parked in a caravansary stall.

• The caravansary building can be upgraded to add additional beneficial features.

• Caravan insurance will not be provided as an in-game system. Previously it was stated that insurance was able to be purchased from a caravansary prior to the launch of a caravan.

Caravan construction

Caravan components

Caravan components and caravan stats UI in the Alpha-2 caravan master UI.

Caravans have these items within them called components; and those act like the gear on the caravan. So they can modify their stats, grant them passive and even active abilities. So you can- if you upgrade your components, you can get powerful caravans. – John Collins

Caravan components and caravan skins both affect a caravan's appearance.

Caravans will take on different appearances based on upgrades and any skins applied to them!

Caravans are constructed from components at caravan master NPCs in caravansary service buildings within Village (stage 3) nodes or higher.

• Caravan components modify caravan stats and grant passive and active abilities to the caravan. Higher tier components will increase a caravan's power and capabilities.
  • There is a tradeoff between certain caravan stats and benefits provided by caravan components.

If you're a solo player and you don't intend on transiting a lot of materials at once, you may not need the large cargo capacity, but instead you want the faster speed because you intend to outrun any potential adversaries that you might face on the roads. That is a viable strategic option for you when constructing your caravan. In addition, you saw that there are a number of different abilities that caravans can be equipped with based on the loadout of the components that you have for your caravan that is also going to influence how you interact with PvP and potential adversaries. – Steven Sharif

• Caravan components obtained from crafters may have stats according to the skill of the artisan.

• If components are missing, default versions with lowest stat values will be applied to the caravan.

In order to construct caravan at the caravansary, you go to caravansary and you say hey I've got all these components and I want to construct a caravan; and the caravansary will accept the components that you have: It will use those components. If you don't have components for certain parts of the caravan it will give you default versions, which will be lowest stat value that that caravan can then have. – Steven Sharif

• Caravan components and caravan skins both affect a caravan's appearance.

• Caravan components can be upgraded while the caravan is parked in a caravansary stall at a node.

• Caravan components can be individually destroyed by directional attacks against the caravan. All components are destroyed if the caravan is destroyed.

• Caravan components can affect the proximity radius for the notification of nearby players of caravan PvP events.

Initiating caravans

Quest driven caravan initiation

Mayoral caravans are system-driven caravans that are launched by Mayors to obtain needed resources from other nodes.

Some of the following information has not been recently confirmed by the developers and may not be on the current development roadmap.

Players can initiate quest driven caravans (via a NPC) with the following parameters.

• The resources it will carry.
• If it is initiated for a specific quest in a nearby node.
• If the goods are intended for trade or warehousing in a regional market.
• The recipient of the caravan (e.g. a Temple within the nearby node).

When you initiate a caravan you're going to be able to determine the resources of the caravan is going to have in it. You're going to be able to determine whether or not this caravan has been initiated for a specific quest in a nearby node. You're going to be able to deliver goods for trade or to just warehouse in a new region, so that you have access to that local market. – Steven Sharif

• Caravans may not be initiated from warehouses during a siege declaration on that node.

When you're in a nearby node that you need to drive caravan to... you're going to have an option from the NPC within a nearby node to dictate the caravan launch as a recipient of the temple yeah. – Steven Sharif

Personal caravan initiation

Personal caravan deployment radius in Alpha-2.

Deploying a personal caravan in Alpha-2.

It's important for me to find a place that's relatively obscure so as not to attract any unwanted eyes. – Steven Sharif

Personal caravans prepared and launched at caravan master NPCs located at caravansary service buildings that are present at Village (stage 3) or higher nodes.

When you want to launch a caravan you have must first have a caravan that's constructed at the caravansary. – Steven Sharif

• Once a caravan is constructed it will be hosted at that caravansary. Players will be able to select from a list of available caravans via a UI screen, which will show the available storage compartments for each caravan.

• Cargo for shipment is stored at the caravansary, not in a player's inventory. Stored cargo is visible via the warehouse UI.

• All types of cargo can be shipped in caravans. The only constraint is available size (in the Tetris inventory system).

• Once a caravan is constructed and loaded with cargo, it is in a launch-ready state and can be launched in the caravan master UI whenever the caravan owner is ready. Launching the caravan will place a caravan item in the owner's inventory.

You're going to have a little caravan item and when you right-click it you're going to be in deployable mode for you to be able to place that- it's a representation that you're summoning the caravan so that people around you know that you are launching a caravan. – Chris Justo

• Once launched, caravan owners will see a visible radius around the node, beyond which the owner can begin deployment of their caravan. Deployment takes approximately two minutes by default, but can hastened through upgrades to the caravansary building.
  • Previously the concept for launching a caravan involved an overhead map UI of the node. The developers moved away from this in favor of a more immersive in-world approach.

• Personal caravans can also be summoned in the open-world from caravansaries in nearby nodes. This will also begin a deployment process that will take an amount of time based on the distance from the caravansary, the caravan's components, and any benefits or buffs from upgrades, node policies, or relics.

• Personal caravans are capable of transitioning to/from raft caravans.

• Previously it was stated that personal caravans can be launched from any point of storage.

Naval caravan initiation

Alpha-2 Raft caravan initiation in the Riverlands biome.

Alpha-2 Raft caravan initiation in the Riverlands biome.

Raft caravans are capable of transitioning to and from land caravans at the point of intersection of land and water.

• There will be a delay of "a few minutes" while the caravan transitions while a conversion structure spawns. This introduces a small window of vulnerability.

Part of this transition process is again the risk that you're introducing for the reward of having greater flexibility in movement through the land and that risk is basically you're a sitting duck here for lack of a better term. – Steven Sharif

• The conversion structure does not benefit from damage mitigation points of land or raft caravans, so it's a very weak position to be in.

There's two kinds of methods to crossing rivers: One of them is with bridges, which are constructed by mayors and players, but the other method is via a transformation into a raft... It'll make you a little bit of a sitting duck while you're transitioning. Once you're in the water you'll get a nice speed boost from the currents; and it's a alternate means to getting stuck on the choke points that are bridges. – Chris Justo

Skill	Icon	Base skill
Convert to Caravan		Allows the raft caravan to turn into a vehicle that can traverse land.[ citation needed ]
Convert to Raft		Allows the caravan to turn into a vehicle that can cross calm waters.

Visuals

- None -

See also

• Caravans
• Node buildings