Why don't merchant caravans use waypoints?

[Aaron Ansari.1604]

Does it matter? If we can agree that there's a difference between a pirate and a privateer, we can certainly agree there's a difference between a privateer and a merchant. The fact that a single pirate/privateer/bounty hunter/whatever you want to call Sayida has obtained an airship doesn't mean it's a viable option for your average trader, which was the point that spawned this tangent.

[VAHNeunzehnsechundsiebzig.]

back on topic. There might be a very easy reason why neither merchants nor armies use the waypoints:

chaos

See, waypoints more or less dump everybody on the same spot. Heroes don't have a problem with that. They are alone and they don't get crushed.

But nothing kills an army faster than chaos. Now try to move an army via waypoints. Single soldiers appearing and having to be shoved away from it as fast as possible, before the next steps right on top of them. Utter chaos. It would take days to sort everything out afterwards. Days while you are as vulnerable as a freshly molted crab. Same for merchants. It might be nice to shorten a route. But being trapped under a dolly is probably not worth it. Or the dolly running away while you are porting...

[Dawdler.8521]

@"VAHNeunzehnsechundsiebzig.3618" said:back on topic. There might be a very easy reason why neither merchants nor armies use the waypoints:

chaos

See, waypoints more or less dump everybody on the same spot. Heroes don't have a problem with that. They are alone and they don't get crushed.

But nothing kills an army faster than chaos. Now try to move an army via waypoints. Single soldiers appearing and having to be shoved away from it as fast as possible, before the next steps right on top of them. Utter chaos. It would take days to sort everything out afterwards. Days while you are as vulnerable as a freshly molted crab. Same for merchants. It might be nice to shorten a route. But being trapped under a dolly is probably not worth it. Or the dolly running away while you are porting...Not to mention I would imagine that there is a certain element of exponentially increasing margin of error with the increased mass introduced to the waypoint system.

Alas, half a dolyak falling on a bookah would still flatten them. Asuran gates have safety systems in place to avoid this by sending the dislocated material in parallel out of the gate with the main subject, vertically at a much safer and slower pace, as to not cause any accidental flattenings and still provide a 100% successfull throughput. Well, in several parts.