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I would like clans to be able to declare a home port (one they control or a free port) and that port then be a guaranteed outpost for their clan members. Clan members of that clan will still be able to chose the normal amount of outposts + then also have the home port outpost.

One thing that has bothered me for a long time is the lack of immersive life and meaningful activity in the OW. What I'm going to propose is something that will hopefully make even those "dead" NPC traders interesting to OW hunters, and at the same time something that may appeal to the aspiring merchant mogul. Traders all know the bore of sailing for a long time in the admittedly rather dull OW of Naval Action, and OW hunters all know how unsatisfactory it is to capture NPC traders even if they carry valuables, simply because it has no impact on enemy players, therefore I propose hauling contracts in three different variants: Internal hauling contract: The Player will use own ship(s) and crew. The ship(s) will be fully controlled by NPC on the OW from point A to point B as well as in potential instances. External hauling contract: The Player puts up a contract for goods to be transported to a specific port. Time limit as well as class range of ship(s) required specified by the Player. Ship(s) provided and controlled by the taker of the contract. Contracts can only be taken by same nation players having the specified ship class (and fleet) ready; you can't leave port without the right configuration. Payment on delivery. Upon failure, the contract taker will pay a compensation specified in the contract - the contract can't be taken if this amount is not owned. Escort hauling contract: The Player provides the hauling ship(s) from his own dock with his own crew. Time limit as well as escort class range of ship(s) required specified by the Player. Escort ship(s) provided and controlled by the contract taker who is to lead the hauler(s) to the destination. Contracts can only be taken by same nation players having the specified ship class (and fleet) ready; you can't leave port without the right configuration. Payment on delivery. Upon failure, the contract taker will pay a compensation specified in the contract - the contract can't be taken if this amount is not owned. Now, all of this will be very handy for the traders and crafters, but it will be a boon for the OW hunters as well. Instead of players being limited to one trade run at a time they can now delegate to NPC and other players willing to do the hauling/escorting. This will mean more traffic in the OW, and meaningful traffic at that. No longer will the hunters pass by those boring AI traders without a second thought - perhaps they're carrying a precious load sent out by an enemy player! Furthermore, this addition would benefit from some changes to outpost management - these have already been partially requested - but I shall briefly outline how I envision it: All outpost warehouses, docks, and production buildings can be managed from anywhere - even at sea. This may sound unrealistic or immersion-breaking etc. but if you consider it for a while: does production stop when the owner is away? Is there no staff at hand that can see to it that it is kept up? We must imagine that the Player doesn't only control his navy officer (or equivalent) but also his estate and dock managers etc. It should also allow you to make hauling contracts anywhere, so you can get produced goods hauled from far away outposts without personally going there. Another thing that is connected to this is the "tow ship" mechanic. I think this has to be rethought. Either it should be the hardcore way, meaning it has to be sailed, if not by you or another player, then by NPC (similar to the hauling contracts with the possibility of a strong escort, while not having to do it yourself). The moderate version may be to make it take a very long time to reach its destination, though the more mechanics we have that bypass the OW, the more dead it will be. A hurdle to get past is of course the NPC pathfinding on the OW, but I have every confidence that this can be solved by the developers, and even that it is something that they intend to improve in any case. I'd love to hear your opinions on these suggestions.

It would seem to be helpful for strategic and tactical reasons to know who all owns outposts in a particular port. Would it not be possible to view such a list when you are in that port?

My biggest grief at present with this game is that I can no longer be connected a minimum of 5h / day and follow were the hotspots and action zones are moving on the map. In fact I'm often travelling for work so mostly connected on WE only right now. And when I see that I need to close down an outpost up north because action is now down south, and that moving ships, goods and getting there is going to take me hours, I get discouraged and switch to another game. A simple solution would be to add at least another 2 outposts to the current limit so that crafters (thank you the Fine Wood introduction!) can have their crafting outposts and their PVP outposts. My 2 doublons....

Hello captains, for a while now, I have been annoyed by the fact that I have to use the "feature" of capturing a trader and sending my warship "to outpost" if I want to move a warship from one of my outposts to another. You could argue that this is not intended use of the "send to outpost" feature and that moving assets around the map SHOULD be a chore. I, personally, disagree because moving assets is just a time sink with very little positive effect on the gameplay experience. I do not enjoy sailing around warships for hours just to store them in another outpost. Since everybody seems to be using the AI trader capture method more or less frequently, lets talk about a more "legal" way to move your ships from one outpost to another. My suggestion would be to 1. allow deliveries of ships between any of your outposts. 2. exclude the cargo hold from the delivery (ship+equipment only, for obvious reasons) 3. make it somewhat costly (between 30.000-50.000 per ship, maybe?) 4. make it time consuming (I could even live with 4+ hours for the ship to reach the destination to avoid mass movement of fleets) Obviously, these would be my preferences but you can freely chose from many other options in the poll. Let the voting begin! Cheers, Hugo