Hailstormz

Love the idea... I've often found it a bit frustrating/disappointing that when I try to zoom in to my ship in OW I can't see anything because the mast/sails are in the way... I'd be happy with the ability to see through masts and sails when zoomed all the way in, or change the zoom in point to the crows nest or somewhere higher in the rigging.

Perhaps instead of having Pirates unable to capture ports, have the number of ports they can hold at any one time limited. For example, they can only hold, say 15 - 20 ports at once, but can hold ports anywhere on the map, so they as a faction could choose to strategically capture and hold ports, and if they were already at the limit would have to decide in some way (vote?) which port they wished to abandon before capturing another one. I like the OP idea of Pirates being able to raid ports, and in this example if they were to abandon a port, the port could be reverted back to a nation with severe production penalties that would take time to get back to normal levels, as if it'd been ransacked prior to the pirates leaving town. Not sure how best to determine what nation the port would go to, possibly just whomever the pirates took it from? Out of the ports they are allowed to hold, they could designate 3 or so of them that could not be captured by nations. Alternate/Additional idea - Maybe Pirates could capture any port, but only hold it for a limited time depending on the development level of the port, (ie type and number of buildings built by the original controlling nation) The Pirates could have use of all buildings there, but are unable to build new/improved ones of their own. Over time those buildings would either be destroyed or simply lose efficiency to a point where the Pirates would need to move on to a new port. Then when the port reverted back to the Controlling Nation, players would have to re-invest in the port to get the buildings up and running again. - This may be a bit outside the scope of what the developers have in mind for the game, but just tossing it out there. Currently there does need to be some sort of re-balancing for pirates... as they should not be able to trounce another nation so badly that they have only one port left... As currently the British are held to on PVP #2 USA. This is not an argument that pirates are over-powered, I don't really believe that, simply that the game style and goals for pirates are different than many who play for a nation. There will be many players who play for a nation and want to primarily be a trader, so will be less likely to partake in battles of any kind, and certainly wont be looking to find one. Pirate players however aren't looking for trade routes, and aren't just sailing from port to port looking to make a profit. They are looking for a fight, each and every one of them. Therefore they will always have the upper hand if no limitations of some sort are placed upon them, as every one of them is looking and willing to fight. Whereas up to 1/4 of nation players would go out of there way to avoid a fight, and another 1/4, while not avoiding a fight, aren't necessarily going to go out of there way to join one either. (yes I am making up these percentages but I believe the point is still valid) While it is currently possible for one nation to beat another down to only one port, it is much less likely, as they too would have a higher percentage of players that are primarily looking to trade, so the number of fighting sailors would be more even. The problem is if the pirates (or any faction) are able to completely dominate another, it will kill the game as there will be no room for new players to come in and learn, explore and have some feeling of accomplishment. Instead they'll run into the pack of Pirates sitting outside their only port, and stop playing. (or join the pirates, but if only pirates are left, who will they attack?) I believe that my above suggestion would allow pirate players to continue to hunt anywhere on the map and conquer ports without feeling overly limited, and still allow for areas of the map where nation players can continue to trade and sail in relative safety.... at least for a while. Sorry for the long post... but thanks for reading.