[Crew experience and ships sinking]

I love and wholeheartedly agree with this idea. Instead of treating the crew of our ships as an expendable throwaway like we all do now, we should be encouraged to think first of all about the safety of our crews.

[Resource distribution, the economy, and giving players a reason to sail]

I like the idea of in-game currency being a good that must be transported - and therefore capturable. No more sailing around with millions of gold and not a care in the world.

[Gun-Powder smoke should stay longer and cannons should roll back while firing (like it was in RL)]

What if the ability to show extra crew and guns and such was limited only to your own ship?  Like, make it a client-side only deal, where the only extra guys you see running around on a ship are the ones on your own ship (because who cares about other ships, right?).  That would solve most of the FPS issues I should think, since it's not like anyone's GPU would have to render more than a few hundred crew at a time, and they could be low-res sprites or something at long distance.  I for one would be willing to pay extra money for a DLC to add crew running around on my ship, just cuz it would look cool.  If it tanks my FPS, then that's on me, and I can either choose to live with it or turn it off, but no one else would be affected by it.

[Ship role, comparisons of vessels and wind strength]

I wonder, relating to wind strength, if there is any chance we could possibly see a comeback of the stormy battle from Sea Trials?  That was one of the most amazing experiences I've had playing any computer game, watching entire enemy ships vanish from view behind giant 20-foot swells, having to time the shots of my ship from wave-top to wave-top.  I'm not saying that every battle fought in high winds should be fought on seas as rough as that map was, but hopefully the wind strength could have at least some sort of effect on the smoothness of the ocean.  Maybe have light winds have almost no heel at all, and relatively few small waves, medium wind could basically be like the game is now, and high wind could be much more of a roller coaster ride on the high seas, not extreme waves mind you, but at least something to have to factor in when firing and sailing.  Just this one change I think would be awesome and add so much more to the experience of sailing and fighting in this game.

["Such is a lord" - Simple politics and alliances part 1 - HEAVILY MODERATED]

Short inspirational guide on the differences between lords

The baron wears a cap with 6 pearls. The Viscount wears a coronet of which the pearls are without number. The Earl the coronet with the pears upon points mingled with strawberry leaves. The Marquis one with pearls and leaves. The Duke, one with strawberry leaves – no pearls. The Royal Duke, a circlet of crosses and fleurs de lys. The Prince, crown like that of the King but unclosed.

 

The Duke is his Grace; the other Peers their Lordshps. Most honorable is higher than right honorable. Lords who are peers are lords in their own right. Lords who are not peers are lords by courtesy. There are no real lords excepting such as are peers.

 

This might be mostly a matter of semantics, but the United States Constitution, Article 1, Section 9 strictly forbids the granting of titles of nobility. I like akd's suggestion of modifying the titles slightly for at least the US faction of the game to somewhat of a less noble-sounding variety, albeit with exactly the same functionality. The same could be done for other nations into more faction-appropriate titles, but again, this is merely a minor quibble.

[Too much room to hide: narrowing down mission ports]

Speaking only for myself, it's not that hard to find where players from other nations are running their missions. National capitals are popular of course, but if you just follow enemy players around, especially in an area they consider "safe," they will lead you right to a mission and not even see you stalking them. Then just jump in on the other team and go to work.