On Historical Rewards

[Portsdown]

I'm putting this up here, in its own thread, as I can't re-find the reply that prompted it. Plus it is, I think, something that is relevant to a number of discussions on the forum.

How to split up the loot/exp?

I'm a great fan of starting from, and going back to, the historical situation wherever possible. Many of the same problems we see in the game happened historically, or should do if the rules are OK. Obviously this is not the case with all things, to get that we would have to be back in the 19th Century, floating somewhere on the worlds oceans, but its always, IMHO, useful to go back to the sources.

So how did the Royal Navy split the loot and encourage the behaviours they wanted? Well first off, they did NOT, as the post that prompted this one suggested, allow the senior officer present to decide, usually with most of the cash etc. going into his pocket. Splitting the loot was subject to the Prize Rules, which were actually controlled by law, and Act of Parliament - junior officers could, and did sue their superiors in court if they felt they had been short changed - Nelson was involved in a long court case with one of his superiors over the division of the spoils from one engagement. The law also applied to Privateers - it was how they made their money.

The first thing to note is that any money was split according to shares and that the entire crew (everybody got something) of any vessel in sight of an action got their share. You didn't have to have fired a shot - this was to ensure that ships that, for example, cut off a potential escape route, forcing the enemy into the hands of other ships, weren't short changed.

The shares were as follows:

2/8 of the Prize Money was divided evenly between the Captains and other vessel commanders present
1/8 went to the Admiral under whose orders the ship was operating. This encouraged Admirals to give their Captains opportunities to take prizes. If the vessel was acting directly under the orders of the Admiralty in London then this 1/8 was shared by the Captains.
1/8 was shared evenly between all Lieutenants not in command, Sailing Masters and Captains of Marines
1/8 was divided evenly between the Senior Warrant Officers (Surgeons, Chaplains, Pursers, Carpenters, Boatswains, Gunners, Lieutenants of Marines and Masters Mates (the rank above Midshipman - Ensign in the game at the moment))
1/8 was divided evenly between Junior Warrant Officers, Petty Officers, Warrant Officers Mates, Sergeants of Marines, Captains Clerks and Midshipmen.
1/8 was divided unevenly between everyone else. Able Seamen got two shares, Ordinary Seamen one and a half shares, Landsmen one share and Boys half a share.

In game terms this means, if we assume the total 'prize money' seen in the game is the Captains and Admirals 3/8, that the prize money would be shared between all vessel commanders evenly, regardless of rank or what they did in the fight. If one or more is of Flag Rank or someone who has tasked the group is of Flag Rank then the most senior (the one presumed to be in command) should get 1/3 of the total money awarded.

Captured ships and their contents were not the property of those who captured them. They belonged to the Admiralty. Captains were able to use them for warlike means if required but they were expected to take or send them as soon as was practical to a port with a Prize Court. The Prize Court would value the ship and its contents, deciding the amount of Prize Money to be awarded. Note that, as I understand it, this was the value as the ship arrived in the port, not the value as captured, so any weather damage or damage by the enemy would lower a prizes value.

Theft of what were now Admiralty Stores from a captured ship was a crime. In Pepys time, before the formal introduction of the Prize Rules, an Admiral who had consumed almost all of his victuals and ammunition entered port with his prizes and sold some to pay for more food and powder in order to be able to sail and protect London from the Dutch. He was prosecuted, although politics payed a part in the decision.

Note that this is very different from the situation in game at the moment.

As well as Prize Money for captures Head Money was awarded - five pounds per person aboard a captured Warship (none for a trading vessel). Other sums were also awarded, for example once Slavery was abolished a sum was awarded for every slave freed and for each ton of a each slave ship captured (more if the ship were empty, in order to partially offset the lack of Head Money for slaves). The money for the capture of slavers is not the only example of sums awarded in order to encourage behaviour the Admiralty deemed desirable.

Private shipowners, trade associations and Lloyds would also sometimes make cash awards to captains for protection of trade, recapture of vessels etc. There were also rewards, on top of any Prize Money, for the capture of criminals such as Pirates. These all usually went to the Captain but a wise commander would distribute a proportion to his officers and men, usually in line with the rules set down by the Prize Rules. There were also non-monetary gifts, Lloyds Swords, gifted by the Lloyds Patriotic Fund were famous (and sometime enormously valuable - 100 pounds was a huge amount in those days) and gifts of Plate were relatively common.

Other desirable behaviours were rewarded by promotions, or being moved to a more prestigious post or one with more opportunity for Prize Money, at the same rank rather than money or medals. This is how being the first to board an enemy vessel, taking the lead role in a a fight, some clever stratagem or, sometimes a major feat of seamanship that saved the ship (without the presence of the enemy), would be rewarded. After significant actions it was routine to promote the second in command of all vessels by one rank.

So maybe split the money for captures evenly but give more experience according to how much Captains contributed to the fight, including to those who actually board, with even more to those who board first?

Edited February 7, 2016 by Portsdown

[Galileus]

TLDR:

 

So maybe split the money for captures evenly but give more experience according to how much Captains contributed to the fight, including to those who actually board, with even more to those who board first?

 

As for XP it works like that. You get head-xp, you get dmg xp, everything is in order.

 

As for gold, no. It would encourage first levels in cutters to join big boy's fight and run circles until the skirmish is over - to get an unholy amount of money for doing nothing. We already have a problem with people jumping after a prize tagged by others, you would encourage even more of that