Crew kills during boarding

[Bulwyf]

I and I am sure many others have enjoyed the pleasure of sitting behind or beside a boarded enemy ship pouring ball or grape into them and killing large amounts of their crew. One of the strange things about this experience, is that somehow my grape and balls selectively kill my enemies whilst leaving my friendlies totally alone, unless I happen to hit the friendly ship. While fun this seems to be a magical effect since neither grape or ball were all that accurate even if  you could see to differentiate between foe and friendlies which given hull and smoke you can't.

 

I would suggest that such fire should hit the crew of both the boarded and boarding ship (given that a large proportion of the boarders crew are on board the defending ship) I haven't researched this but I would be very much surprised if any friendly ships historically fired into boarding actions. Generally firing into your own troops was frowned upon unless the situation was truly desperate.

Edited August 5, 2016 by Bulwyf

[Stukkie]

It would definitely be more realistic but also adds quite a bit of complexity:

 

• One could opt for defending their ship and not board the enemy ship (whilst being boarded), there would be no friendly crew on the enemy ship
• Ratio enemy / friendly forces should be depending on the actions chosen in the boarding game
• In early stages of the battle attackers would mainly be on the upper deck, slowly working their way down to lower decks (although a small portion would probably enter through gun ports)

 

Furthermore it could imply changes to the boarding mechanics

• Select objectives for attack (e.g. part of the boarding party would be assigned the task of damaging the enemy's rigging)
• Select more specific point of attack (e.g. the starboard bow)

I do like the idea however =) 

[Hethwill]

Absolutely.

 

Well brought up Bulwyf. Indeed a most needed change that adds a bit more of realism credibility without messing with game fun.

[Bulwyf]

It would definitely be more realistic but also adds quite a bit of complexity:

 

• One could opt for defending their ship and not board the enemy ship (whilst being boarded), there would be no friendly crew on the enemy ship
• Ratio enemy / friendly forces should be depending on the actions chosen in the boarding game
• In early stages of the battle attackers would mainly be on the upper deck, slowly working their way down to lower decks (although a small portion would probably enter through gun ports)

 

Furthermore it could imply changes to the boarding mechanics

• Select objectives for attack (e.g. part of the boarding party would be assigned the task of damaging the enemy's rigging)
• Select more specific point of attack (e.g. the starboard bow)

I do like the idea however =) 

 

In reality I don't think people did this at all, like I said the fire wasn't that accurate. So I think you don't really need to complicate it but just give a percentage chance of hitting either crew. That would dissuade people from firing in the first. place. If you did want to make it more complicated simply base the hit chance on the percentage of crew left. 

 

Though to be honest I think even in its simpler form it would not be an issue because people wouldn't fire into a melee unless they were jerks (yes I know there are plenty around but you choose  your friends and allies ) This would also discourage people attacking outnumbered and relying on friendlies fire to win the fight for them.