4Game

While I'm absolutely loving the entirety of Valheim to this day since launch, my favorite biome is by far the ocean. I absolutely love everything about the feel of sailing in the game, and serpent hunting is my absolute favorite activity to do. However, as the devs have stated the ocean is a relatively undeveloped biome and will receive a large update in the future directly intended to expand significantly the depth of the game in the region.

I think they'd love to have something more challenging than the serpent as a monster in the ocean, and I think something bigger and more menacing would be awesome – especially with a twist on the game mechanics that makes you think more closely at how supply transport is done. I think a fantastic gameplay mechanic tied to a challenging foe in the ocean would be a welcome addition to make things like roads more feasible as the relative safety may be something considerable if future plans are made.

Enter: The Kraken! A large creature that actually threatens even the toughest built ship. These foes would be very rare to encounter – if any random vessel is sailing upon the sea. You'll be highly unlikely (from zero chance to nearly non-existent) to see one if you're just starting out upon the ocean – because you're just getting your first taste of other continents, and your hulls are light!

However as the game progresses, the obvious mechanic intended by the developers was to have the ocean be the method of transport for moving metals back to your home. With the portal restriction (which I'd actually argue should be even stricter – organics only…but I think that nerfing a popular ability is not what anyone wants except for those who want a more complex and challenging game) of no metals through portals, the developers wanted the ocean to be traversed. It's faster when used correctly, and carrying heavy loads of strictly iron / silver / black metal is generally the best way to progress to the next phase of the game.

As such, I propose that the game constantly calculates the weight of the ship as it sails. This includes: any players on the ship, any weight in the ship's hulls, any carts, or animals on the deck. At a certain weight threshold, encountering a kraken is possible. As a first thought on how much weight: I'd say approximately 1/3rd full hull of iron or so. However, it's a pretty small chance – maybe 1%. But as each unit of weight is added, the chance for seeing a kraken is significantly higher…up to maybe 10-20% chance to see a kraken with a hull full of iron.

Of course, more weighty metals like silver become even riskier to transport (and thus much more valuable, giving silver a great opportunity to need to be required in higher-end items for later biomes) as they weigh more, causing the kraken to have like a 30-50% chance of attacking with a hull full of silver.

The added risk of having a potential sinking event from a Kraken should be significant enough for people to consider either making runs with less metal, or going in convoys to spread the weight out (thus encouraging grouping!)

Kraken hunting would become a top-tier encounter – and incredibly risky because while you're going to get some of the best items in the game:

-Kraken Blood (6-8) (floats)
-Kraken Meat (8-10) (floats)
-Taintacle (hi :D) (sinks)
-Kraken Beak (sinks)
-Kraken Trophies (5% chance! sinks)
-Anything else the devs want to add

…you're risking a hulls full of high-end metals in order to have a chance at killing it. If you fail, you lose a massive amount of resources – but if you win, you get the best foods in the game (serpent 2.0) and some other items useful in crafting high-end gear, food, and other items.

Anyways, just a sorta mildly-thought out thing I'd love to see in this game I love. If you read this, I hope you like it! If not, no worries!