Gioepyon

i think the player as a character should not be limited by EXP or else, but for his skills. Of course, this call for a need to realism far beyond of what we have now. Captains at the time didn't handle the sails by themselves, they order others to do it. So, why are we pushing the buttons to raise/lower/ move the sails when this should be an order that we give to our crew? My point is that it shouldn't be the Captain/player to be limited by Exp, but the crew. the more exp your crew has, the more efficient they are. The more they do something, the more they are good at it. Then there is the issue of how trader, explorer or warmongers get experience differently. My solution is simple and complex at the same time: Courage. everybody can learn how to sail, navigate, reload a weapon etc, but only the once accostumed to battle can do it under pressure (or under iron balls flying around). Courage can be one of the attributes crew members can have. It can be a natural attribute, or it can be "learned". A trader crew can be good at sailing and navigating and other stuff, but i think they would shit themselves as soon as the cannons start shooting, hence they become less efficient because they are not used to it. So, if a trader wants their crew to be efficient even when attacked, he needs to enter combat more often with his crew, or hire naturally courageous sailors. This can seem like warship captains have an advantage because they are always sailing and maneuvering and fighting and everything, but hey! people die in battle, so they need to refill their ranks more often AND his upvetted crew members have seen shit, so they require more rum as a result of PTSD. captains should pay just once to hire crew members (just to not make it a burden), but everyone of this members is a single character. They have specializations (carpenters, gun especialist, medic, stuff like that, you name it), they can be trained (do you want more marines? hire one and make him train other sailors), they can be tempered in battle, and THEY CAN DIE. Also, to make it more challenging, i would suggest to pay for supplies everytime you sail for everyday you are out there. Ships shouldn't be sailing forever, they are not nuclear powered and space for food is limited. i could go on but it is late and i don't want to write down a bible with no-one being interested in this path. if it gets support i could write more ideas.