Hello everyone,
After discussing my ideas about crew and level ideas with my clan, they suggested that I post here. Some of my clan mates feels that they’re good ideas that can complement or replace current systems in Naval Action.
Player Ranks:
The current system with crew members should be cut. Any captain could successfully crew a ship given the money, however they would be limited by the officers under them. Therefore, it would be best to have player ranks limiting the amount of officers one can command rather than its crew. To expand on this, if each low ranking officers (e.g. Midshipman) can only command 20 crew, and you’re limited to having two midshipmen’s, then the maximal crew you could command efficiently is 40. However, you could still take command with a Privateer of 60 crew, however your crew efficiency would be limited to only 67% (much like the up and coming patch, therefore the efficiency number is the same thing as crew). Advanced explanation: Your 60 crewed privateer who would have two midshipmen that are specialized would have two departments not impacted by the efficiency, e.g. if you have 1 gunnery and 1 rigging midshipmen, then those areas would be running at optimal efficiency if you only need 20 for each. The additional 20 crew members you would command would not be specialized, giving them a significant penalty to wherever they're tasked on the boat.
The Officers:
As one would progress through the ranks, they would gain further ability to successfully command more officers. A low ranking sea captain, might only be able to command 2 or 3 midshipmen’s, whereas a truly ranked captain could command multiple commanders, lieutenants, and midshipmen’s. Therefore, these officers would have a hierarchy, to where the Captain (you), might have 3 positions under him, as you progress through the ranks, you’ll be-able to command higher and higher ranking crew members (better stats/abilities?).
Example: you start the game, and you immediately hire (start with) 2 midshipmen. After gaining your second level, you unlock a 3rd position under you, therefore allowing 3 midshipmen underneath you. On your 3rd level, you gain the ability to have one of those midshipmen be promoted to a lieutenant, of which he can command 2 more midshipmen, giving you a total of 4 midshipmen, and an effective crew of 80. After you would progress a few more times, you would finally unlock commanders, of which each commander would have two slots for lieutenants, and each lieutenant having 2 midshipmen.
Every officer would have a specialization, such as gunnery, sailor, marine, rigger. With that in mind, each tree that goes underneath you should reflect these specializations. E.g. you don’t want a midshipman gunner under a lieutenant rigger.
In my honest opinion, I believe that having officers in this manner adds a human element to the game, which it currently lacks. Lastly, officers would not have a quality, but rather experience themselves, as they level up they gain more ability (hidden or skill-tree?), but are capped by their rank. E.g. you can't have a Lieutenant who's as capable as a Captain.
The Crew:
Since this is a hypothetical post, why not expand it! Since we discussed having officers under you, why not have crew too? Crew could be the enlisted members of your ship, not directly impacting the stats of a ship, but rather being detrimental in nature. E.g. if a crew member is trained as a gunner, and you use him as a rigger, there would be a penalty. Furthermore, having the ability to pick every crew member could be quite tedious, therefore an option could exist to send your officers to town and hire crew (and automatically assign them). Each crew member of lowest quality (e.g. basic seaman rank), would cost nothing up front, but then would cost a daily wage (something small, but gets way costlier when you man your 1st rate!). If you wish to hire better crew members (e.g. able/leading seaman, petty/warrant officers), it’ll cost you a bonus payment in port (e.g. 5gold+ per depending on quality) plus their daily wage, which would also be higher than their basic seaman counterpart. Additionally, if you wanted to min/max (as many hard-core players would), you could specifically go to port and select each and every member of your crew (my god!), with ports limited on how many crew members of higher quality it can create per game day.
In this system pirates would have to share their spoils with their crew, rather than paying a wage. E.g. If you capture a trader and sell the trader, your share might be 60%, and the remaining 40% would be distributed amongst your crew. Failure to adhere to your pirate standard would demoralize your crew, surpassing it would improve morale.
Specializations:
In my idea, there are four key specializations, Marines, Gunners, Riggers, and Sailors. Each are fairly self-explanatory with the exception of sailors, who are jack-of-all-trades. They can fulfill or complement any crew area with minimal detrimental effects. However, if one were to move a gunner to a rigger, there should be a substantial penalty for it. Lastly, future additions such as a Chaplain, Surgeon, and/or Cook, could give bonuses to the crew as a whole. E.g. Chaplain can improve morale, Surgeon reduce death chance, and Cook boosting morale as well.
Conclusion:
I feel as if these additions could really bring about a human element to the game, especially if they can die! (or at least have the chance of dying in combat) Please do not slaughter my idea, as it is just that, an idea.
Sorry guys, I just realized I got lazy on the officer structure diagram, please don't bash it.