Midow Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 (edited) I really love the idea of boat chains and have tried to make them work multiple times, but in practice they feel far too clunky to use. Making even a slightly sharp turn often causes follower boats to trail off into nowhere. Adding more magnets to help them keep up just creates a different problem, with boats smashing into each other and constantly springing leaks. At one point, we actually got an entire Klei server to join a boat train. Conceptually, it was incredibly fun. In reality, the constant babysitting, repairing, repositioning, and waiting for boats to catch up turned it into a chore very quickly. At the moment, I’m not really sure what the Nautopilot is meant to enable beyond novelty setups like carousels. A few changes I think could make boat chains more viable: Crab bumpers being immune to collisions with other boats that also have crab bumpers, similar to how they don’t take damage when bumping into land OR Some form of light “repelling” or spacing between chained boats, creating a small buffer that prevents constant collision, but can still be overcome at high speeds to punish sudden stops Or perhaps I'm missing something on how to use them currently? If anyone has more insight about how to put them to use, I'd love to hear your thoughts! Edited January 16 by Midow 4 Link to comment https://forums.kleientertainment.com/forums/topic/169523-what-is-the-point-of-nautopilot/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
DegenerateFurry Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 The point of it is boat trains and being able to have a mobile boat base, but yeah, the way they're done is just not practical for all the reasons you've said. They need several buffs. I think with how resource-intensive and impractical having several of them is, it'd be fine if crab bumpers were the solution to the boat collision issue, but they also need to suck less at keeping up when you turn (or even when you're just going decently fast). 1 Link to comment https://forums.kleientertainment.com/forums/topic/169523-what-is-the-point-of-nautopilot/#findComment-1848878 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jakepeng99 Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 Them needing wires is kinda dumb. Why are these random trinkets randomly a crafting item? Link to comment https://forums.kleientertainment.com/forums/topic/169523-what-is-the-point-of-nautopilot/#findComment-1848910 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ohan Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 Before bootleg getaways were a thing i used two linked boats to transport Antlion glass sculptures across the map to my base . thats the only time ive ever used it. 3 Link to comment https://forums.kleientertainment.com/forums/topic/169523-what-is-the-point-of-nautopilot/#findComment-1848915 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dingle Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 It was fun to use a nautopilot to make goose form woodie haul a boat for us. Once. It was very impractical, though. If woodie got a bit too far, the link would break completely. So yeah, we used nautopilots once for this and never bothered again. They're just really weak, like the devs were afraid that they'd be too useful. If they were a bit better + bumpers prevented damage against other bumpers, it would be fun to have an extra boat for long term sailing. 1 Link to comment https://forums.kleientertainment.com/forums/topic/169523-what-is-the-point-of-nautopilot/#findComment-1848923 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Reptile Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 Try having an active nautopilot on a boat with a normal and a malbatross mast equipped. I might be wrong, but It seems to actually boost the sailing speed Link to comment https://forums.kleientertainment.com/forums/topic/169523-what-is-the-point-of-nautopilot/#findComment-1848929 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike23Ua Posted January 16 Share Posted January 16 I believe they had been intended so that the player can have 1 boat cluttered in “base structures” and another boat that was strictly for fighting enemies on, I am not sure how well the game works with KB+Mouse point & click controls but for Xbox/Playstation Controller players: doing any action on a boat cluttered with structures/junks can be deadly. You’ll do things such as for example: Fuel campfires with your weapon instead of switching weapons, you’ll ignore boat leak patching because of course your character will try to perform some other action. And so the Nautopilot was born! However: this “gadget” was replaced by cheaper alternatives such as for example: Just using grass rafts instead, or even better: the Year of the DragonBoat mini-Boats. Link to comment https://forums.kleientertainment.com/forums/topic/169523-what-is-the-point-of-nautopilot/#findComment-1848940 Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamehun20 Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 On 1/16/2026 at 4:31 AM, Midow said: If anyone has more insight about how to put them to use, I'd love to hear your thoughts! I just use them to auto park my boat 1 Link to comment https://forums.kleientertainment.com/forums/topic/169523-what-is-the-point-of-nautopilot/#findComment-1848991 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edible Coal Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 11 hours ago, Mike23Ua said: I believe they had been intended so that the player can have 1 boat cluttered in “base structures” and another boat that was strictly for fighting enemies on, I am not sure how well the game works with KB+Mouse point & click controls but for Xbox/Playstation Controller players: doing any action on a boat cluttered with structures/junks can be deadly. You’ll do things such as for example: Fuel campfires with your weapon instead of switching weapons, you’ll ignore boat leak patching because of course your character will try to perform some other action. And so the Nautopilot was born! However: this “gadget” was replaced by cheaper alternatives such as for example: Just using grass rafts instead, or even better: the Year of the DragonBoat mini-Boats. is probably for winona mains having a full boat of catapults Link to comment https://forums.kleientertainment.com/forums/topic/169523-what-is-the-point-of-nautopilot/#findComment-1848992 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty_Mentos Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 I sometimes use it to make a boat truck in order to carry more knobby nuts and not worry about a raid or shark and less space to run around. I also use it for treasures because those add a ton of loot and clutter. Link to comment https://forums.kleientertainment.com/forums/topic/169523-what-is-the-point-of-nautopilot/#findComment-1848994 Share on other sites More sharing options...
douan33 Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 (edited) This The docks aren't done yet but it takes 2 minutes from going one side of the map to the other side. Here's how to do it. Edited January 17 by douan33 1 Link to comment https://forums.kleientertainment.com/forums/topic/169523-what-is-the-point-of-nautopilot/#findComment-1848997 Share on other sites More sharing options...
StankyTheKlown Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 There should be a way to permanently set the distance on the magnets for sure or they should just keep boats barely touching eachother Link to comment https://forums.kleientertainment.com/forums/topic/169523-what-is-the-point-of-nautopilot/#findComment-1849009 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fill-Lips Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 Mmmm, Carousel. But yeah, they don't have much use otherwise. I'm not even sure what should be changed, as their intended use is kinda bad? Link to comment https://forums.kleientertainment.com/forums/topic/169523-what-is-the-point-of-nautopilot/#findComment-1849012 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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