ShereKhan

Patrols, COULD BE, with limited ship entry, the perfect mechanism for the lone player or small group to participate in PVP, well organized Clans are not punished by limited entry, there is plenty of content for them in the way of raising hostility, and PB's.(content that lone players may not have access to) Being well organized shouldn't necessarily mean that you have priveleged rights over EVERY aspect of content in the game. What I keep hearing in this thread is......we want to gank....we deserve to gank.....we're organized and it's our game, we will gank. I myself, and imagine many more players as well, would not be a good clan member. I play this game when I find spare time. I cannot plan to participate in a scheduled PB because i don't know when i can play tomorrow, or in 2 days etc. what i keep hearing is play OUR way, or find a different Game(a lot of players just might) Patrols could fill a void, and with limited ship entry allow smaller combat formations and maybe, just maybe allow some PVP without the Big boys stomping the s*** out of you. Come on dev's how bout something for the little guy?, It wouldnt' exclude ANYONE, but would give the little guy an opportunity.(check my earlier post for a very simple suggestion)

How bout we forget BR for the patrol missions and just count ships. Ship A tags ship B, 3rd ship in picks team A or Team B, 4th ship goes to smaller team or chooses not to join, and so on........ being on the wrong side of a 5 to 1(or worse) Mollywhop is no fun and a waste of gaming time.

How bout this..........NO Duplicate ships in a PB.....1 Santi, 1 victory, etc.....(prolly with the exception of 5th and below, bring all the brigs you want)...this creates a role for all the ships ........

What's the Fatal Flaw?

Smuggler Flag could allow players to circumvent taxation.......at least for sales transaction in any port. Maybe only allow smugglers to be attacked by same nation clans that own the port that smugglers are trying to enter.

More PVP? I think the penalty for losing a ship in combat is too steep for a lot of people to risk PVP Combat. The grind up is hard and a ship loss can be a huge setback, even a mid level PVP minded person is out of action for a period of time while re-tooling.(consequently, willing PVP' er not PVP'ing) In other PVP warship games, you lose, but not your ship. People will fight PVP more if it's not a full time job replacing ships. Maybe no dura's on ships, or certain ships, is an answer. Now before the flaying begins, I understand this eff's up open world some and I know a combat only game is coming soon, but I think if you want more PVP in the open world the penalty for losing in battle needs to be dramatically smaller.

Having read/skimmed most of this thread, would like like to drop my 2 cents....... I would hope that War Co's would be limited in size, at least no more members than a clan.... I would hope that Taxes would have some sort of game regulated cap..... I would hope that complete access to ports map wide would be limited to trading vessels, who the hell wants a group of bad guy Connies popping out of port the minute you try to start a trade run... I would suggest to developers that 'Free' Port could be 'Tax Free' port, where trading between players would obviously be tax free, allow a base, but no production of any kind. I think that could open lots of interesting possibilities.....

What if............Blockade zone required ships attempting to leave blockaded port spawned into battle (Blockade instance) instance, Blockade instance would need to be traversed to enter blockaded port? Successful entry or escape could be considered as blockade running and would affect the accrual of hostility points.(should also be lucrative in some manner for blockade runners). Spawning ships would initially be protected by towers or forts (that prolly should be immune/protected from attack during Blockade instance), allowing defending fleet to assemble and challenge blockaders or merchies can attempt to escape to complete its blockade running. All of this activity would inspire an interesting mix of ships and plenty of PVP both in the Blockade instance and out side as ships congregate to collect/intercept/protect blockade running(pirate smugglers??)

I really like the concept presented by OP. I imagine a blockade consisting of a battle instance with an undefined duration, that ship's entry or exit to the port would pass through. rewards could be given for successful blockade running in the form of inflated prices for goods delivered or something similar. Maintaining a blockade could lead to hostility increases or PB for the port in question (i'm personally not very fond of entire regions changing hands from one PB) I imagine the blockade could last as long as the blockading nation players were willing or able to maintain the blockade with warships, or the defending nation is able to defeat disperse the blockading fleet, or some other goal for each side is met

I like this thought, let the timer roll with the tide schedule. Two high tides a day, always rolling a little every day.

I'm simply offering up a suggestion on what I see as a flaw in the Game, in my opinion(OPINION), I don't see the point in free ports at all. to me, it's a mechanism that allows aggressors to stage assaults with impunity. If you were to remove Free Ports, people would have to sail exposed to stage attacks deep in indian country. If a free port existed similar to my proposal, players can repair/refit ships far from home and have fefuge but not be able to magically appear with an entire fleet. And this might actually help factions establish borders and encourage PVP combat to expand your holdings, and with a reason to have more traders about, you have the temptation to take said trader, the necessity to protect or convoy the trader, etc .........

I LIKE this a lot.........no more teleporting fleets into otherwise secure areas. Free port would equal free trade, and here are a couple thoughts/possibilities - any one can leave a contract at a free port for, wait for it, FREE....no fees no conditions(i would think anything you could produce or craft, with the exception of armed ships,would be acceptable) - even more interesting would be to require game crafted currency for transactions(coins) as well as any acceptable swap of goods to the parties involved. - with the exception of goods in contracts waiting transactions, no storage. EVERYTHING comes and goes from a freeport on board a vessel - in my mind I would think any vessel armed or trader would be able to utilize a free port for repairs etc. people just might want to escort their traders This model might create a trader environment with ships worth protecting and prizes worth fighting for, ships with cargo and coin.