Make Crew work like Work hours for better game balance.

[Aetrion]

I think the number of crew-members you have available to crew ships should work similarly to how work hours work in the game right now. A number that replenishes over time, and has to actually be shared between ships. (Maybe you would always have 100 men, so you can't ever be completely unable to get back out there)

 

When put to sea you would have the option to assign a number of crew members from that pool to the ship you want to sail. You would also be given the option to overcrew a ship, and have the additional crew members come on board as marines. (Maybe this would reduce your cargo hold to represent it being taken up with troops)

 

Troops that are taken out with grapeshot would not always be dead, your ship would have a chance to heal them after the fight depending on the quality of your surgeons and equipment. (Part of future crew expansions?)

 

The reasoning for this system is fourfold:

 

1. It makes the loss of a large vessel dangerous no matter how many of them you may own. If you go down in a Santisima you simply won't be able to crew another one right away. This would counteract people's ability to just zerg in big ships as long as they have them stockpiled.

 

2. It would introduce a cost-balance element to ships that cannot simply be broken by grinding and stockpiling. Everyone would have a reason to limit the number of crew members they are risking in a fight, so smaller ships would have more of a place in any battle.

 

3. The ability to overcrew small vessels and turn them into troop ships that carry dangerous marines will introduce an additional means for small ships to be useful, and also make ranking up and earning a big crew maximum more desirable for people who like small ships. 

 

4. Since preserving crew will actually have value it will create a reason to surrender before your entire ship is lost with all hands.

Edited March 3, 2016 by Aetrion

[Hethwill]

I actually like this a lot. Can be a placeholder for future crew hiring and supplying.

[kumisz]

More options in ship composition, more diverse gameplay and no magical crew refill. +1

[Tomms123]

I like the idea, but how would this work in practice? Like I crew a Santisima with 1050 crew. I got in total able of 1200 (due to the highest rank(I dont have that rank but just for the sake of point)). I dont sink in battle but I lose 240 crew. Let say 60 is saved by surgeons.

 

So 1200-1050= 150 crew in reserve. That isnt gonna fill in to cover the lose of 180 mens life. So how is it gonna work (from your view) to get back crew? Is it gonna be like labour hours that there is a fixed number of crew which come back every IRL hour or do you spend gold to recruit more crew?

[Aetrion]

I like the idea, but how would this work in practice? Like I crew a Santisima with 1050 crew. I got in total able of 1200 (due to the highest rank(I dont have that rank but just for the sake of point)). I dont sink in battle but I lose 240 crew. Let say 60 is saved by surgeons.

 

So 1200-1050= 150 crew in reserve. That isnt gonna fill in to cover the lose of 180 mens life. So how is it gonna work (from your view) to get back crew? Is it gonna be like labour hours that there is a fixed number of crew which come back every IRL hour or do you spend gold to recruit more crew?

 

It'd be like labor hours, where you get a certain number back every hour. The ticks might happen faster, maybe every minute, so that it doesn't turn into a long wait when it's relatively small losses. A Santisima would be difficult to keep fully crewed if it suffers significant losses, but that's part of the point of the system. Maybe the top rank could offer something like 1500 crew instead of 1200, because with this system crew max has a value beyond just determining what ships you can crew, so there is a good reason to raise it even beyond the limits of what your ship may need.

[Francis Tabernac]

I wouldn't usually like an idea that would limit someone's gameplay options, per se, but as a method of encouraging play with smaller classes of ship just to see a little more diversity it could be worth a try. Easy enough to get rid of the mechanic later if it turns out to be a dud.

[Quineloe]

wouldn't that put you eventually in a position where you can't play anymore for the rest of the day and would have to log out, ie Zynga Farmville gameplay? 

I already strongly dislike this aspect of the game as a shipwright. 

[Hethwill]

wouldn't that put you eventually in a position where you can't play anymore for the rest of the day and would have to log out, ie Zynga Farmville gameplay? 

I already strongly dislike this aspect of the game as a shipwright. 

 

Maybe resort to privateers and frigate types and keep reserve roster for the big ships if the need arises.

[Quineloe]

I don't see small ship crews being excluded from this rule. If you have no crew left, you have to quit the game. I don' think such a mechanic has any place in here. It's bad enough that I am now limited to clicking one button per day as a shipwright and any other "economy" gameplay is now capping traders.

[Aetrion]

wouldn't that put you eventually in a position where you can't play anymore for the rest of the day and would have to log out, ie Zynga Farmville gameplay? 

 

It could have a system where the last 100 people of your crew are never lost, so you always have access to a 7th rate at least.