Johnny Rotten

I would say not if it's a nat capturing another nats ship, that would be sanctioned if at war. But yes with the pirate ships. I quite like the idea of a repercussion for taking a ship that your nation isn't currently at war with. It would make it more of a impactful decision for RP.

That would give nationals the choice to keep it though, which they wouldn't have done in the first place. Capturing a player pirate would be a tactic for buffing up a fleet if you spot one on your way to your battle. I say this as a pirate knowing full well i'm making myself a target.

After being in battle against a national (both in pirate frigates) I thought how pirate mechanics are supposed to offer a different gameplay - but a pirate only ship (pirate frig), through game mechanics can be sold for gold or w/e, which means the chance (certainty) that a national will be purchasing one. I suggest : When you are pirate - the armaments on your ship changes to the upgraded fit when you dock, unless it is already pirate statistics. Such as the pirate frigate vs the frigate. Same ship - different cannon fit, sail/speed bonus or whatever (the bonus/statistic change is not really relevant to the suggestion, no flamewar plz) An example of how it works: -capture a ship from a national/AI -dock at a port -captured ship then updates to its pirate statistics This can also work the opposite way if you are a national capturing a pirate: -capture a pirate ship from a pirate -dock at port -captured ship reverts to its civilian/navy statistics This would allow you to temporarily use a pirate fitted ship until you next dock, after which it reverts back. This way the nationals wouldn't be able to sail our ships whenever they want, because they would have to be a pirate to get access to the alternate fitting for the ship, or capture a pirate ship off a player and use it until you next dock. The ships would look exactly the same, but have better class, more crew, or whatever the bonus is for the ship based on how pirates used the ship differently, or w/e. No flame :^)

I have stopped playing a few patches back - aside from keeping my craft hours ticking over and lvling up craft xp. Just seems silly with all the U-turns in combat mechanics. Srsly, devs need to sort out war and peace mechanics like we all voted for! Not changing combat mechanics - it's annoying!

How was it an unnecessary poll? What the hell! Option 1 : auto-follow and remove teleport Option 2 : auto-follow and increase teleport timer Option 3 : no auto-follow feature Option 4 : no auto-follow and remove teleport

Ammended

Would it not be feasible to add an "auto-follow target" feature in OW? I'm not talking like a precise 'intercept' button that can chase down evasive targets, more something to allow you to follow an AI fleet in the OW in your trader. I talk as a player who does little actual sailing in a ship transporting things around, namely because i'd rather just jump into small battles before everyone logs off. I'm not playing naval action to carebear but it's necessary just because of the sheer price of ships on the market and ease at which said ship can get stolen in such a short amount of time after purchasing. So yes, as a crafter it's really easy to have a cluster of 3 outposts and one far away for sole purpose of getting the mats. I TP before logging off, back online the next day, farm the mats and TP back to capital with mats. Kinda feels like cheating... I would propose a sort of auto-follow button that lets you afk by following an AI fleet so at least some part of the journey you know you would be moderately safe and you can afk till you get to the final stretch. Sure it's risky as there may happen to be an unfriendly fleet cross you by chance but hey - there has to be some risk! And they also have to fight through the AI fleet. This isn't an intercept button per-se, rather a less maneuverable follow button so you could still use it when travelling in a fleet (the leader would have to sail within the turn rate of the follow function to avoid stragglers) Also, possibly remove TP function or double the timer. It's such an obvious way of making money with little to no risk involved and means that those ships will never sail in the OW apart from the 120 seconds it takes to TP back to your capital avoiding dangerous waters, fully laden with goodies.

Pirates and Neutral should be the same faction - no special pirate-only mechanics with flags. Your reputation with each nation determines weather you're a pirate or not, each nation would have their own opinion of you so it's up to you to choose how you play. Letters of marque would just allow you attack a nation without a reputation penalty. If a nation likes you enough - you can sign up to the navy, hence joining that faction. So leaving the faction would require becoming a pirate to that nation (did captains have the option of leaving IRL?) If were talking realism and fun - the game needs one less nation.

would you be able to press-gang crew from a port for free?

May way around losing crew would be to just sell my 1 dura ship (or break up) if crews are limited/expensive EDIT : selling to port as no one wants to buy a 1 dura ship because they wouldn't want to risk the crew

letters of marque - a barbary nation would just be a port anyway

If you had letters of marque - and piracy is based on national opinion, you could be a privateer for example to one nation, yet a pirate to another. Being pirate wouldn't be so definitive that way. Ofc, if you're a pirate to all nations - thats when it will get hard as you would only have a few places to dock without being sunk!

Yes, that would be great - I've not thought of a solution to if those two nations you have a LOM with declare war on each other, though. The navy missions would have to pay substantially more (ofc you wouldn't be able to capture a port if you're a privateer, only navy). I'd like to see disguised ships as a module - like disguise yourself as english then attack a lone player, raising your custom black flag as you sail in. The hard bit would be getting back out to safe waters.

Everyone should be in the Neutral faction unless they have a Letter of Marque from a nation. Being a pirate would only be specific to that nation (unless allied with a nation that considers you a pirate). Aren't we all supposed to be privateers anyway? Joining the navy on a permanent basis would involve grinding nation opinion for that nation. Just my two cents, unless it's been said before?

Letters of marque is priority

Brig is awesome! Can take down a snow easily. Just use its maneuverability to not get hit, it has a really low profile!

as of last patch - xp isn't lost on your character upon deletion. Only craft XP and items/money/ships/etc

Maybe just make the friendly fire xp loss greater? You can have a minimum level you can't fall below (and minimal xp loss when you friendly fire below that) like rank 3 - before Marauder rank. Would come into play as well if/when they implement the letter of marque system and rework the pirates. As it stands, levelling up past 3 is crippling. I'm in the situation where my only income is that of capping traders in a basic cutter. Maybe a rework of the mission rewards and making all rank missions below current rank accessible. Those trader snows take AAAAGES! Yar!

I'd prefer to get a different ship as an alpha bonus to early access keys instead...