Deltrex

Upgrade slots should have a different distribution by ship quality. Currently the difference between the ship qualities is way too high. I propose the following upgrade slot layout (Permanent/General): Grey: 2/2 Green: 2/3 Blue: 3/3 Purple: 3/4 Yellow: 3/5 Captured 1/Random This would make all the non yellow ships a bit more competitive while still maintaining a serious advantage for yellow ships since they still have a slight slot advantage and higher quality build in bonuses.

Maybe the test is more to prove that a wooden hull CAN bounce cannonballs rather than prove that live oak hulls are invincible. 172

294 Closed ports would be really nice. More important to me would be to remove ports that can't house guns (some ships have ports on locations where no guns can be fitted) and get dedicated models for the trade ships where the gun ports are completely removed.

24 You would not only have to buy the frigates but also pay the crew. Oh i forgot: In this system you would of cause not get magic gold for fighting battles. You would only get gold if you actually captured and looted the ships you attack or if you are paid by a third party for the sinking of the enemy. So running around and just killing people would cost you money instead of gaining you money.

36 A game where you can have everything, but where it is hard to keep it, is a more endgame oriented game. By your logic (@Xoosch) there is basically no point in playing this game once you reach the maximum level. Also it would be very difficult to keep a first rate ship running if you are using it often, so if you want to spend all your time in game farming money and give it to someone else, so that some newbie will be able to sail around in a Victory class just to prove that it is possible then fine, do that. It will not be game breaking however.

66 We already have pretty good battle AI, I don't think changing the AI behavior in the open world would take that long. There shouldn't be all kinds of 3rd rates anyway so not seeing any 3rd rates on a normal day and only seeing them on special occasions or in special locations would make a lot of sense.

Nobody wants to remove line ships. I just want them to only come out when an actual battle is expected and not be used as general purpose ships. Also the StarCitizen mechanic would work pretty well in Naval Action. 9:1 Npc to player ratio can be easily achieved. The ratio just refers to total NPC versus total players, so with the current NPC swarm sailing around the world map we are almost there anyway. And why not have a reputation system rather than fixed nations from the start. You would just get a reputation bonus with the nation your character was born in and then take it from there. If the reputation system is fairly quick and harsh you would be almost fixed in your nation choice anyway and could only change it with a lot of effort (or you could easily go pirate but would have to work excruciatingly hard to be accepted as a lawful citizen after that). 236 The current fleet system isn't something I like anyway, but since player fleets got removed (good thing) npc need to sail alone more often, because right now it is extremely difficult to fight them unless you bring friends or pull friendly npc into the combat.

There where very little rated ships in the Caribbean. While the British navy (for example) had quite a few rated ships in their force by the late 18th century the great majority of them where stationed in Europe. If you take a trip around Jamaica in game you can sometimes see more rated ships than there would have been in the entire Caribbean. Rated ships are boring because the lack of manoeuvrability leads to less sailing and just broadside combat. The whole idea of rated ships is fighting in a battle line, which is fun now and then but as a gameplay base it is boring. 197

I don't think newbies sailing in large ships would be a serious problem. Large ships will still be sufficiently expensive to not be given to newbies in large numbers and the newbies would not be able to use their ships well enough to cover the running coast of such a large ship. In fact with this system you would see a lot less large ships sailing around and they would only be used if a battle was planned because running a very large ship would be to expensive to just sail around in and not have a specific job where such a large ship is needed. The normal player, who isn't given tons of free stuff by veterans with too much money, will also still have to rise through the ranks, but because he couldn't theoretically use a first rate, but because there will be no way for him to get one and operate it. You could have given any cutter captain command of a first rate in real live, to the same detriment you will get when you give a first rate to a newbie player. Edit: The number in my posts is random and created by something in my browser. It is a bug and I have no idea where it is coming from. 122

106 This really doesn't work in addition to the current system. Just go the StarCitizen way: If you can afford the ship and the crew you can use it. This would, in my opinion, make for a more interesting game world, because in the current system everyone will eventually sail around in large frigates or even bigger ships. Those large ships should not be sailing around everywhere, but only deployed for a purpose.

68 I think the level mechanic is outdated and hinders the game rather than adds to it. Rather than have levels that decide how much crew you can have make crew possible to hire in ports and cost upkeep. With the current system there is almost no drawback to sailing a bigger ship once you have the level to fully crew it. With a crew hire system that also includes upkeep you would need to carefully think which ship to take in order to not hurt your bottom line. You would also have to rehire crew if you lose some, so crew will not automatically refill when you leave combat. You would be able to get a small amount of crew for free (maybe 50?), just so you can still use small ships without problems. Players should never be in the position to not have at least some kind of ship. This level free system together with a system that gets rid of fixed nation alignment in favour of a reputation system (you would still be aligned with a nation, but with some effort you could change the nation you work for or with less effort go pirate) could result in a game with smaller, more historical, ships in general use. Free crew could also be a reward for players who worked to get a name for themselves with their chosen nation and gotten a navy contract or a crown funded trading operation. Pirate crew could work to be cheaper to hire, but be paid in parts of the loot or earnings, so a large pirate crew could cut very deep into your profits. Ships would no longer have a fixed crew number, but rather a minimum crew to use the ship at all, a minimum crew to use the ship at full capacity, and a maximum crew amount that would fit on the ship. Example to the Cutter: Minimum Crew: 20 (12 on the cannons with only one battery at a time being loaded and 8 on the sails), Fully working: 33 or 51 (3 Guys per gun and one or both batteries at a time and 15 people on the sails), Maximum Crew: 60. Having more crew could allow you to activate multiple crew-focus-boni at a time.