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Hey all been awhile! Hope everyone safe and enjoying a little more free time to beta test the game if your lucky. Now to the point I have seen this mentioned a bit before specifically with countries but I wanna focus on admirals and "XP" or experience they would earn after battles while touching on country traits towards the end. I haven't seen anything official through the devs yet but I just thought I'd put my two cents in with this idea. This could hopefully be added after initial release. As of right now there is a flag ship buff but I would like to expand upon this. Hopefully they could implement a system similar to Ultimate: Civil war but instead of army of corps perks we can make fleet perks. I do believe having an experience system would be beneficial in more than one way. For example and experience system would provide a way for players to maybe over come a technological or numerical advantage in the game. Say for example your guy is a "Night Fighter" who's squadron gets a bonus of 5% spotting and accuracy at night you WOULD have a edge, the rest would play into how you play the battle. There already is trainable crew as stated on the website that you will have to pay for as a monthly cost. But having an admiral or country trait as I will get to later could help add a degree of variation in how you spend your money. If admiral traits were implemented I feel strongly they should obviously be tied to a specific person in a specific region. They would then have the opportunity to join the battle if there ship was within range of lets say a major conflict between two ships. The admiral would obviously be located on the flagship of the fleet and would be used in conjunction to the current flagship buff. But this is a double edged sword say you put your admiral out in the front to inspire your men but then your brand new BB takes a torp and sinks, this would result in an moral debuff and an instant loss of all commander traits. This would result in an anxiety in human players being unresolved to commit your flagship completely into the fight because of fear of it That's not to say all traits would be good maybe we have a "Bull" who gets an 10% capital ships call in range for a battle but -10% call in range of screen vessels which would result in maybe your fleet not being as balanced as you like it. Skills List (Names Subject to change) Bull 10% capital ships call in range for a battle but -10% call in range of screen vessels Night fighter 5% accuracy and spotting during night engagements Arctic Warrior 5% accuracy and spotting during combat in arctic storm environments Tropical Warrior 5% spotting and accuracy during tropical storm environments Cool features to add -Maybe and event where your commander gets dismissed for a certain amount of time due to a scandal or maybe for life if he gets a heart attack. -Debuffs for losses i.e. trauma due to failure. -Historical Admirals making an appearance or maybe yourself if you feel you missed your calling in life. -Skills must be earned through actual combat or training. I.E. training a fleet in the arctic would provide a buff in that specific region when fighting there. The skills should be hard to obtain and unique. So someone cant have the arctic skill but also a tropical skill at the same time because they would cancel each other out What I would like to avoid is -Skills that add speed or other buffs that couldn't be applied to training because no matter how well trained your crew is the ship wont go any faster without paddles. -Commanders that wont die as stated above the double edged sword part is key they can not live forever. -Commanders not being able to be dismissed, If you get a bad or unwanted trait on your commander you should be able to dismiss them but you will have to start all over with a fresh commander and take a debuff which could be thought of later I.E. a green commander debuff. Now country traits. For country traits I believe its been talked about but I just wanted to put a list of what I would like to see. I think a country trait should be a trait specific only to them that is with them throughout the game without having to do anything special to initially obtain it. This is just a list of some that might or could hopefully be implemented. Again everyone kind of sees the benefit of a country trait and i'm pretty sure they will be in......hopefully. Japan 5% nation bonus to night battles spotting and accuracy 10% to torpedo accuracy 5% research to torpedo tech Germany -5% torpedo reload 5% research speed to Armour techs 5% research to torpedo tech Great Britain -5% cost reduction of capital ships 5% build speed of capital ships Legacy of the admiralty 10% chance to pick up new admiral traits United States -5% time of building new dockyards and ports -10% time of researching radar and sonar technology -5% time of building cruisers France Quad Turrets Tech This is an incomplete list let me know down below some I could add or your thought's of my thread. Ill try to update as long as this hopefully stays hot.

Hello fellow sailors this will be a long reading. On the 28 August 2018 @admin posted this at the bottom of page 3 of the patch 26 thread I always had some thoughts about this and now want to share it and explain how I imagine a new officer and crew system could potentially look like. First of all I always thought that crew in this game stays to much on the sideline and has no real value other than being needed to crew a ship. Sure we have to pay a certain amount of reals to replace lost sailors but atm these are peanuts and nobody should have a problem to pay for crew. If you constantly loose first rates it could be expensive but if you constantly sail first rates, fight with them, lose and replace them, then I think that money isn't a real problem for you anyway. What I also mean with value of crew is that we don’t really care about them. We don’t even surrender to lessen their suffering when we are completely outmatched or outgunned. Crew is simply to cheap and easily replaced. And with the new patch we have even less incentives to surrender because it lessens the chance to get your insurance for your ship if your enemy chooses to keep the ship and not sink it. Our crew gloriously die for our cause and nobody even knows their names . Yet they are and should be the ones who make all our accomplishments possible. They load and aim the guns, they follow our (sometimes foolish) order to board and they set the sails and repair our ship. They keep the ship going. So what I propose is in not to make hiring crew way more expensive but kind of a radical approach to the existing system. Mainly the system of ship knowledge and books on which the biggest emphasis lies at the moment and which is subject of many heated discussions. Additionally I also think that it is finally the time to introduce morale and fatigue during the battle and not only during the boarding mini-game. So how do I imagine such a system? The main part is to introduce certain officer roles and make the rest of the generic crew somehow persistent (until they die of course. This is debatable due to many issues but more to that further below) To increase the performance of your ship you need an experienced crew and experienced officers who lead them. The officers and crew gain experience through sailing and fighting and they get better and better at what they do as long as they survive. So in short. Officers and crew take over the role of the current ship knowledge and books system. Basically this should make it possible for everyone who sails and fights a lot and is also successful during that to achieve a high level of knowledge and efficiency. It is not based on luck or plain grinding for rare books. Or paying a fortune to get the rarest and best books. It should level the playing field a bit and make it possible for everyone, even the average Joe and most casual player to achieve this if he wants. The foundation of this is the officer corps of your ship. So in the ensuing chapter I would like to introduce and explain the main officer roles to you and what I think would be their skillset respectively their duties on board of the ship and of course why I think so. Furthermore, as a disclaimer, the whole system shouldn't get out of hands like some skill books obviously do. It is important that a fully experienced crew should never break current existing hard caps on bonuses. Maybe even those caps should be lowered all together. But this may be a whole different topic. Officers: Players can have several officers because we also have several ships and of course need to crew them. We already had the officer mechanic (with name and perks) albeit only for one at a time. This time we get more. Maybe we can even implement some kind of training in the new academy building. So Officers who aren't on a ship can also be trained and gain xp at a smaller rate. I don't think that it should cost reals to hire officers. They get assigned by the admiralty and are also paid by it. No investment for the player here. On the other hand I can also imagine a market for good and experienced officers, so who knows. Lieutenants: The Lieutenants are the only other commissioned officers on board besides the captain. They are watchkeepers and have various other tasks on the ship. For example they commanded a sections of cannons and are in general a role model for the rest of the crew and supervise their work (hence the watchkeeping). That’s why I thought of these traits in the picture above. A very experienced lieutenant knows everything about his craft and naval warfare. He can teach how to increase the reload speed and how to aim properly because he also learned form the best. A very experienced Lieutenant is well respected and trusted. He gets the best out of his men and they do their best to not disappoint him. He keeps a cool head even in the fiercest battle and keeps the morale of his men high. He leads by example. Since there were mostly more than one Lieutenant on the ship I think that their bonuses could add up but give diminishing returns as their number keeps rising. So SOLs will have an advantage over smaller ships in this case but still not as much as simply adding up the bonuses. Below a small table about the amount of officers on board of English ships I found (please correct me if this is wrong). Master: The master’s main responsibility is the navigation and sailing of the ship. To make sure of good sailing capabilities of the ship one of his tasks is to look after the stowing of the hold and the ballast to get the best possible weight distribution --> hence his effect on the roll angle and other sailing qualities of the ship. For navigation purposes his task is to calculate the position of the ship. So I would finally introduce a feature that makes it possible to get the players position on the map. For gameplay purposes and the possibility of gaining experience in this trait I would say the position should not be pinpoint exact but with good accuracy. Thus the accuracy increases with experience. I think the position on the map should be updated once per in game day and maybe the player could demand a rough position whenever he likes (maybe also only once or two times a day?). His other traits derive of the fact, that he is responsible for the sailing and supervision of sailing maneuvers. Since one of his tasks is also the provision and condition of the sails and rigging, he could share some traits with the boatswain/bosun (further below, debatable!). Surgeon: sorry, no picture here Our beloved surgeon. His tasks are clear. Treat the wounded and amputate extremities. I would say his only in game skill should be that he affects the effectiveness of the rum usage. Though I would change rum to something more medical like bandages and bone saws or whatever I also have an idea for a new casualty system but I will explain it further below when I come to the rest of the crew. Gunner: The gunner. An important person for us players who like to fight. He is in charge of the main guns and the rest of the armament and gunnery tools including the ammunition and the powder room itself. So a greater experience in his work will lead to better maintenance of weapons and ammunition. For example sharper cutlasses, cleaner and more accurate muskets/swivels. Well maintained cannons, tackles and cannonballs including well calculated powder charges (by experience) and their perfect composition for round shot, double shot and double charge will lead to better accuracy, penetration and reload speed. As he gains experience his supervision of the powder room makes it less likely that a catastrophic mishap will happen. Carpenter The carpenter’s duty is it to keep an eye on the condition of the ship. The maintenance of the hull, the seams and the caulking, the masts and the yards is his responsibility. During battle he and his mates will fix leaks and if possible take care of repairable damages. Boatswain/Bosun A very important person on the ship. His main tasks include the inspection of the ships equipment and supervising the work that is done during the daily routine. He supervises the sailmaker and the ropemaker and is also responsible for maintenance of the sails, rigging and cordage. He is also responsible for the discipline of the ordinary crew in fulfilling their assigned tasks. During emergencies he coordinates the firefighting or other emergency procedures. Marine Captain/Seargent Another major change that I would like to see. Every warship has a certain complement of marines. No matter what and no extra books needed (we can talk about pirates who didn’t have them. Maybe everyone of them is a berserker ). I found some tables for the royal navy that showed the usual marine complement for every rate but I also think we could settle on some realistic values after a good debate. Back to the commanding officer of the marines. He is responsible for the training of his men to make sure they are the best at what they do. This includes offensive and defensive training with muskets, cutlasses, grenades and the deck cannons. A highly trained marine also has a higher morale and is a fierce fighter in a boarding action. To not make books absolutely obsolete I can think about a slot for every officer where you can choose a duty specific book or perk but I am not really a fan of this. Bonus Purser: I had no real idea for the purser but with the new patch and the introduction of doubloons I can think of one thing. Maybe the purser can hide a fraction of the looted doubloons during a cruise because he knows some place to hide it and in general is a sneaky bastard. This way there is always a part of your loot that is safe from the enemy in case you get captured. The rest of the crew: Now to the rest of the crew. Contrary to what I said earlier, we don’t need to know their names . But they are the most important people on the ship. They are the ones who fulfill the task that were assigned to them by their superiors. They should also gain experience with battles they survive and get better at what they do. I would say very small percentages that will add up if you are really successful and take care of your men. Now comes the difficult part. How does the game keep track of unnamed sailors? How do we manage that without killing the database with too much information? How to keep track if a part of the crew dies and then the player decides to change the ship, let’s say from frigate to SOL, where he now has new crew with different xp additionally to the remaining crew from the frigate. I couldn’t find a simple and satisfying solution for that. Is it even worth to make such huge efforts to keep track of nameless sailors? Although I would really want a totally persistent crew, I can't really think of a system that wouldn't be a huge pain in the ass, overly complex and a giant strain on the database. Perhaps you have some great ideas for this? So maybe we simply leave them as no-names and just make their performance dependent on the officers’ experience? But then I would still implement a morale and fatigue value for the ordinary crew. The morale of the ship’s crew is important for their performance. With decreasing morale their performance also decreases. We could argue if this should affect the speed of their actions like reloading guns, setting sails and turning of the yards or if it should only play a role in case of a boarding action. But I would prefer the former solution. The morale of the crew is affected by shock events on their own ship like rigging shock (maybe only when a mast actually falls), reload shock, and crew shock in a negative way but also in a positive way if the player inflicts a shock event on the enemy ship. Leaks, high fatigue and heavy losses decrease the morale. A crew/ship that initiates a boarding action should receive a very small additional bonus to morale hence they are the ones who take action and actively attack. In the case that an already heavily losing player initiates a boarding as a last desperate move, the small boost wouldn't really matter because he already lost so much more before. A loss of an officer also has a small negative impact on morale. Maybe you guys could think of more ways to affect morale, like being outnumbered, outgunned or gaining on the enemy but kind of complex and maybe just too much. Very important: Low morale should never lead to auto-surrender. This should always be in the hands of the player/captain. Maybe morale should also never reach 0 during the battle. Some kind of lower limit for this value. Fatigue should definitely affect the speed of the crews actions. Fatigue should start at 0 every battle and slowly increases over time. Very slow in the beginning and at an increasing rate the longer the battle lasts. With every reloading cycle of the main guns the crew gets more and more tired and reloads slower and their accuracy gets worse (Ok, impact on accuracy is maybe too hard). Every yard turn and setting of sails increases the fatigue level and lowers the speed with which these task are performed. Handling fewer sails could decrease the rate of fatigue gain. Pumping and repairing (emergency repairs) increases the value. Wounded soldiers returning to duty are more tired than fresh and healthy sailors (more to that below). A very high fatigue value also affects the morale of the crew (some kind of threshold that needs to be reached in order to trigger this). Both morale and fatigue should decrease/increase very slow at the beginning and should only have very small effects. With severe loss of morale and high fatigue levels the effects should increase dramatically. Morale loss and fatigue should also be a function of crew and officer xp (less if more experienced and trained). Now to the part which I already mentioned during the description of the surgeon. A new wounded state is introduced. Sailors can not only be killed and then magically brought back to life by rum but the casualties should be divided into dead and wounded. Only wounded can be treated by the surgeon and maybe return to duty. Also in case of a crew shock event like a very good rake, a part of the lost crew during that should slowly come back over time. I see no way around RNG here to determine how many are only in shock or just took cover and return to duty. The rest is either dead or wounded. Even better would be to have three states. Dead, incapacitated and wounded. Only a part of the wounded can return to duty in a battle. Incapacitated sailors can only be brought back after a battle. But, this is just a bonus. So how is this achievable? The way I understand our current crew loss system is that if a crew hit box is hit there is a probability calculation of how many are actually disabled. I don’t know if it is that simple to just add another probability calculation to determine if a man is dead or wounded. It would be a lot of rng and I know you guys don't like it but as I see it this is already the case when it comes to crew loss calculations? For officers I think that a similar mechanic could be used. If this image below of the hit boxes on the ship is still accurate then I would propose that at the start of a battle the officers are assigned randomly to certain hit boxes that are likely positions of the in a battle. Maybe add a few extra hit boxes because right now it looks like there are only hit boxes behind each gun (again, if this is still an accurate depiction of hit boxes). For example the surgeon down below in the ship, though it should be very unlikely that he gets hit there. Or assign the gunner to the magazine. A bigger hit box amidships where master and maybe (or maybe not) a lieutenant can be. And because this isn't complex enough already, we need another probability calculation on top for the officers which determines if an officer assigned to a hit box gets hit and killed/wounded. The chance to lose and officer due to enemy cannon fire is of course way lower than for the average sailor. But it can happen. So why all the fuss? Mainly I would like to get rid off almost all skill books this way (please don't stone me to death). With a sophisticated crew mechanic every players has the possibility to get a good working and effective ship. On the other hand the crew and their officers have more value than simply a bit of gold. Maybe there also develops a better connection of players to their officers and crew. This is for all the roleplayers out there. A surrender is a more likely option to safe the crew and prevent their total loss. This is where I come to my final point. Surrender. A historic aspect and probably the most likely outcome of a battle back in the day. What happens after a surrender? After a surrender the remaining crew and officers are safe. No dead officers equals no hard earned experience is lost, which would be the case if the ship sinks. Maybe you lost a few officers but that’s still better than all of them. Doubloons are assigned to the captor and all captains that did damage to the ship. The captor additionally gets a monetary reward for the remaining enemy crew and their officers. The value is determined according to their experience. This is simulating the ransom for the prisoners of war, which the enemy nation would have to pay to get their officers and sailors back. The captor gets a part of that from his admiralty. I don’t know if the captain who surrendered should be punished with a small real payment somehow. I would say no. It is debatable. Maybe the returning of the crew is delayed until he can pay his part (this would only make sense if we really track the xp of the ordinary crew, but see the problems above). The winner and captor is always paid immediately. An additional scuttle mechanic could also be interesting. Ship gets abandoned and set on fire while the crew escapes into the ship's boats. Crew is still captured but the ship is sunk. Maybe if close to friendly ships/forces the crew doesn't get captured. Then all doubloons would be safe. Interesting but I can also see a lot possibilities to troll and grief here. If this crew loss system is too harsh because you always lose all your experience when you sink we could talk about the possibility that a part of the crew and officers almost always survives via RNG. For example even if a ship sinks some swim away and get rescued by friendly or enemy ships (prisoners in that case and ransom/reward for the enemy). A small summery: Pros: the best possible ship performance isn't limited to players who have all the rare books bonuses aren't over the top if they are capped at reasonable values potential to make ship performances more equal or at least the difference between both extremes not so large even the best sometimes have to start at zero again crew has a real value and purpose a new incentive to surrender books can be wiped too at release (sorry) Cons: hard earned and grinded books become useless and all the work was for nothing too complicated and performance intensive harsh impact on database maybe frustrating if you lose too often and never really gain experience and knowledge many more I can't think of right now but I bet you can So this was a wall of text but I wanted to get this idea out. It is here to discuss and debate. I am not demanding this to be implemented. I often have some complicated ideas that might not really work or simply wouldn’t be fun in the long run and I just don’t see or realize it mainly because I have no clue how a game is developed or how hard to code it is. But nobody prevents me from posting it right? In my mind this all works best with my other idea thread about new gunnery mechanics and maybe even with an overhauled ship damage/hit box/penetration system (perhaps I will write something about this too some day)

I made this Perk Calculator/Emulator, just to make an idea how your units will end. It could be helpful when deciding which Perks you want for a given Brigade. Ultimate_General_Civil_War_Perk_Emulator_v0.4.xlsm Usage: click the cells and chose options from a list. Feedback would be appreciated. I hope it helps.

With the initial limited release of the open world, I began considering how the large scale map would affect things like navigation, realm vs. Realm, hauling, and so on. Furthermore, I wondered how many niche groups would find their way into NA and be satisfied. Surely there would be those who come to the game looking for a well-developed combat system, however there may be other interested in the Age of Sail economy and trade that is planned to be present. The ability to specialize one's skills and abilities can create a dynamic community, where each player can perform a specific job, promoting group collaboration and cohesion: the Idea that either you could do one thing spectacularly, or do a number of things at a somewhat decent level. The key here, however, is to make sure that skills that can be learned and focused on do not create an unbalanced combat or even travel systems: there will not bonuses or magical skills that allow for a 200 yard further cannon reach, or adjustment of accuracy/reload rates by percentage. the skills and ideas here are strictly to allow captains to follow a path of gameplay that they find most enjoyable and fulfilling, whether that be sinking ships or cornering a market. Skills: Skills will encompass basic assets that allow the use of or access to various items or mechanics that will later lead to more specialized gameplay or improve a variety of the captain's abilities. All skills are accessible to all captains. Navigation: This used to determine the player's (or NPC's) ability to accurately determine location on the open world, correctly use navigation equipment (sextant, compass, etc.). Higher levels of navigation result in faster and more accurate navigation readings, as well as allow for the (correct) use of more complicated navigation equipment. This also allows you to chart very basic maps. Persuasion/Personality: The ability to have others agree with you or find you approachable. This affects one's ability when dealing with NPCs or even other players. This effects interactions such as opening trade or recruiting crew: the higher your persuasion, the easier it is to have them agree. (So higher persuasion results in easier recruitment, more trade options, etc.). Trade opportunities with local traders can be accessed, but any trade with the larger Companies will be restricted and profit in ventures with them will be difficult anyway. The higher this skill, the more taxes in a port can be ignored. Mettle/Fortitude/Courage: This was the hardest one; the idea with the skills is to in no way give any player an advantage in battle. But I did want something that denoted a Naval profession. Here’s what I came up with: this skill determines how well the Admiralty sees you fit for duty. The higher this skill, the more lucrative naval missions will be offered to you. When this skill is initially unlocked, skills will be simple: escort missions, handling local affairs/patrolling around ports, dealing with pirates, smugglers, sometimes dealing with other navy vessels. This skill will also(possibly) give you access to more specialized (although more expensive) ships: ships that would have more Naval-Geared modules: more focus on heavier guns and planking(?). The idea here is that players who did not wish to follow the “Navy” skill-line would still be able to have ships of the same caliber, but the Navy Shipyard would only make it more convenient for those who had access to it. General Farming/Mining: (mining and farming being 2 skill trees): This is a general understanding of the very basics of farming/mining. This allows you to set up farms that harvest only basic crops such as wheat or corn/ mines that allow you to extract only basic metals, such as stone. This also gives you a limited number of responses to natural disasters that can affect farms/mines, such as droughts or floods, bad harvests. Crafting: This skill allows you to craft some of the more basic items (Mostly utilizing the basic raw materials listed above). Beer and bread are some staples that can be made. Simple containers such as barrels and crates, and simple modifications, such as common planking and mast upgrades. The higher the skill, the greater the quality/amount of goods can be made. You can set up some basic shops for these to be crafted at. Observation: This is the ability to make note of discrepancies or details in the world around you. This can be anything from the movement of clouds/wind, smell of the air (noting the possibility of a storm), etc. This could determine your overall distance/ability to sight ships as well. Scavenging/Salvaging: This skill determines what can be used/taken from a captured/sunken ship after battle. The higher the skill results in a greater percentage that a module or repair kit that was on an enemy vessel survived for you to claim. Also increases the ease with which flotsam/jetsam can be salvaged. Specializations: Here is where a player really comes into their own and decides how they want to play. Specializations require high levels of prerequisite skills to use/unlock. Players can have one primary Specialization (allowing the payer getting 100% proficiency in said specialization), and one secondary Specializations (allowing for 60% proficiency, this number can be debated, but the idea is that it is lower than the primary skill) Navigation -> Cartography: This skill allows you to make accurate charts of the waters and lands around you. The higher this skill, the more detail goes into the chart, and the more accurate they are. Higher skill results in charts with trade routes, prevailing winds, port ownership, port description, Navy/Pirate presence, identifying coves, shallows, reefs, etc. Also will allow custom markings: be able to mark your favorite/safest passage, custom notes (i.e. Beware: Pirates!/Reefs!, SLVF Hunt here) Persuasion/Personality -> Speculating/Marketing: You’ve proven yourself to be good at making a profit. All local trade opportunities are available, you can now conduct trade with, and even sign on with, any of the trading companies (if you have decent standings with their respected nation), and larger world trade opportunities are available. Mettle/Fort/Courage -> Prestige: You’ve made a name for yourself among the upper ranks of the Navy. More Rewarding (yet more dangerous) missions are now available. These missions will have you targeting rival navies more often, and call for more direct action, General -> Specialized Farming/Mining: This skill 1st: allows you to select a (few) cash crop(s) to be able to farm, such as Sugar, Cotton, Bananas, Tobacco, Coffee, etc./ precious metal(s) to be able to mine, such as Gold, Silver, Copper, (Iron? Or should this go under basic metals), etc. and 2nd: allows you to set up more organized/effective farming/mining setups (so you could keep harvesting basic crops at a higher rate if you wished.) Also unlocks better responses to disasters. (Quicker recovery time, less product lost, etc.) Crafting -> Manufacturing: You now have the ability to craft finer items, such as Rum, Brass, Textiles, etc. Greater grades of craftable modules are also available, as well as larger factories for manufacturing. Observation -> Botany/Biology: This skill allows you to successfully identify the various flora and fauna of the new world, or, if discovering a new plant/animal, dictates how much information you can draw from the new species (for this, if someone with low Bot/Bio skill discovers a new species, they will only record the most basic info. Someone with a higher Bot/Bio skill can come along and expand the information, also giving them a reward for doing so.) Scavenge/Salvage -> Plundering: (Not compatible with Prestige) This is the Pirate’s Specialization. This skill allows for a greater income of booty: higher rates of module/kit survival, as well as a higher gold income rate. Mind you, these are all just initial suggestions, but they show how the flow should go. Players should be able to play the way they want to without hindering their ability to fight, should they need to. Cheers. – William Drummond, the Drake