BadVoodoo

This is where Mount and Blade's character creation was great. They had already accommodated for those experiences. You had options like blacksmith, poacher, bandit, even a street urchin. If you selected any of these 'origins' it would not let you select a house banner. I think we could make adjustments to NA's timeline with ease. For example; Nationality (select): British, French, Spanish, Dutch, German, Colonial. Your father was...: Noble, Merchant, Mercenary, Serviceman, Farmer, Criminal, Gentry. Your early life...: Farmer, Shipwright's Assistant, Midshipman, Delinquent, etc. Adulthood: Lieutenant, Shipwright, Merchant, Pirate, etc. The choices above would then set your starting circumstances, connections and reputations. As far as I'm aware Primogeniture was common law for inheritance but in your specific example as the son of a 'rebel' you would gain all the assets and wages owed to your previous character (but not the company ship). These starting options offer ways to start closer to what you think you will enjoy, without locking you in. Likewise some options are handicaps that players will want to place on themselves purely for the challenge. Family crests could be swapped for personal colours (lower class would be exempt from either unfortunately - but could potentially have an option to earn them). This would be a custom flag that flew below the nation you represent. Pirates or those that turn pirate status later in their career would also have the option to customize. Players could then glass a ship and know immediately if they were up against a notoriously dangerous player or someone unknown. I don't follow your last point SirWili, re: changing ships/jumping centuries.

I agree with player skill being a principle factor; ignore the mention of stats from my original post. Maybe I should have said 'perks'. There seems to be a lot of people supporting the idea that a mirror match should depend solely on skill, but warfare is a game of leapfrog is it not? Asymmetric engagements are the norm not the exception (not trying to create a realism argument). In game terms, if an opponent decides on carronades, shorts or longs, that is a tactical decision. If he made his ship out of hardwoods or softwoods(if you could do that), that is another form of decision making. If he paid for a full crew and hired skilled officers should he not have an advantage over young bloods? If we were to say "No combat related skills whatsoever" what would the point be of having a Master Gunner or a Sailing Master. People have said on some other threads that non-navy shipyards shouldn't be able to build SoLs higher than 3rd rate. An example perk could be- Naval Officer (some rank): Service to the Royal Navy has deemed you worthy of England's greatest ships. You can now order the construction of Victory/ St Lawrence/ Britannia at the shipwright.

Thanks for the responses so far! To clarify I'm not suggesting adding the MnB style 3D characters just the UI style and its functions. I see what you are saying about peripheral depth Grim and I'd agree. Its effect on the players own sailing experience is indirect. I'd settle for player death to be optional, something you selected on character creation similar to XCOM's Ironman, or D3's Hardcore mode. The example you gave of being the sixth descendant within a year does highlight an absurdity that could occur. But, not that this directly address your point, i think the chance of death would be a few percent, so that out of say 100 battles, maybe 2-3 you could of died. You could also have a specific set of circumstances like running out of supplies in a doldrum.

Hello gents, There is a lot of talk on the forums about how the Open World will work, whether or not players will have skills or progression and questions of how many ships we will be able to own. I've pondered some of these things and would like to share a few ideas of my own. Families: Imagine this, you've loaded up Naval Action and hit New Game. You are taken to a screen where you choose a name, a family crest and set a number of parameters (e.g. wealthy family, midshipman as a youth, joined a Navy) that determine your starting stats and skills (for those who have played it think Mount and Blade). This character now becomes your Patriarch/Matriarch, as you play the relationships you create, reputation you earn or deeds you achieve all factor into the standing and power of your Family. When you die, whether through combat, illness or age. You can continue playing as a descendant of your original character, perhaps even earning a starting bonus (you'd expect the son of a Naval Officer to have more familiarity with the Service for example). Alternatively you could retire the Family which would enter it into a Leader board/ Hall of Fame. I know some people will flinch at the heavy RPG elements I'm suggesting but I would put forward that as fantastic as sailing around is, adding a human element would ultimately enrich the gameplay. Both for player agency and allowing player narratives into the game. Additionally, I think a system like this offers some recompense if NA goes with a more 'hardcore' core model. (i.e. No insurance of any ships, player death possible). Fleets and Open World: Addressing the idea of owning multiple ships. To me, the less restrictions placed on the players the better. But there are no free lunches. Players should have one active ship, the one they are sailing, which they pay upkeep/maintenance on. For every additional ship you pay upkeep/harbour fees/ supplies/ wages and so on relative to the size of the ship. Depending on which port you call home those fees will change, decreasing proportionately with how safe the Port is to hostile nations and pirates and perhaps things like Forts, the number of cannons, the size of the garrison. So what is the point of owning more than one ship? Well, I suggest that players would be able to set automated trade routes. (Whether by specific way points or a simple Boston>Nassau>Boston with a buy/sell order attached). You would buy the supplies, prep the ship, and it would sail off. You'd be told the number of days expected for the round trip and that would be it. This information would then go to a server and if a self-styled pirate (Player 2) was patrolling somewhere between Boston and Nassau the server would spawn in Player 1's ship loaded with sugar in real time. Not only would these ships be driving the economy of the world but they would physically be apart of it. You could negotiate player contracts to escort the ship, form patrol fleets and if you wanted to, sail with your own trade vessels to guarantee their safety (hopefully). They would also be affected by storms or unfavorable winds and could be lost at sea. I think by doing this you can create a more organic Open World. One where you would need to watch for sails on the horizon and gauge the wind to take a prize or run from a fight. Where the need for instanced battles or nodes is reduced as the likelihood of ships being on a popular trade route would be high. Ultimately all this still comes back to the core gameplay loop of sailing and... naval action. Thoughts, questions, queries? Regards, BadVoodoo p.s First post, let me know if I stuffed anything up you seadogs.