Ship Towing and Warship Storage Improvement

[Tenet]

1. Give everyone Ship Towing ability: Fleet Control Perk change: 

New extra feature: Ship Towing - transport multiple uncrewed ships at once (limited to tier 5, see explanation)

Dock Storage change:

Existing: 5+3+3 etc. Ship Slots that can accept any ship

New: 5 extra slots that can accept ONLY Tier 5 Warships.

Optional: Only Light Frigates and below. Their storage can be restricted to only accept repairs (to avoid affecting slot balance).  

Explanation:

1. Ship Towing is needed to promote OW PvP as a way to prepare for longer PvP sessions on front lines. This function of the basic Fleet Control will allow a heavy ship to tow multiple smaller ships out to an outpost.

Towed ships do not show up in battle (or if they do, they can't fight back).

If the towing ship gets destroyed or captured, they get lost. (both these points can be adapted)

Each ship will have a new number - Tow Size. Only ships of 5th rate or lower can be towed. 

Example: Constitution = 6; Suprise = 2; Snow = 1;

Constitution can tow 1 Constitution or 3 Surprises or 6 Snows; 

Surprise can tow 1 Surprise or 3 Snows;

Snow can tow 1 Snow; 

You will be able to bring multiple ships out to a remote outpost and then use them to fight against enemies, allowing you to prepare for an evening of fighting with less sailing around.  This will be risky - if you get intercepted you can lose a fortune in ships. (Whether they can be captured or just sunk or sold is a balancing question. I am uncertain). 

For this suggestion to truly shine, the Docks need a similar themed expansion: 

2. Docks Storage will have 5 expanded slots exclusive to 5th rate or below Warships. Perhaps it can be further limited to ships of a certain Tow-size, making it available for light frigates but not the heavier ones. Perhaps that storage could be configured to accept no items except Repairs. 

What people didn't realize is that when we lost Ship Durability, the size of our Docks was effectively proportionally reduced - now to achieve the same # of lives we have to have 5 time the ships in most cases. 

This update will provide you with 5 slots exclusive for 5th rates or lighter ships to engage in OW PvP with more zeal and aggression, not fearing a prolonged down-time and rewarding people that prepare replacements. 

Feedback and Questions about this suggestion are welcome!

 

Edited June 28, 2017 by Tenet

[z4ys]

No towing. The removal is one aspect of 10.x that really improved the game. Even the removal of tp to Freetown was really great. I even hope tp to national ports get removed as well.

The game got a total new aspect with 10.0 ... logistics. Which is an awesome new feature and content.

[AngryPanCake]

TP seems to have been a source of great debate among the PvP population, I am sure due to multiple possibilities for "exploit". However, these issues do not affect the game play on the PvE server.

I was asking PvE'ers on global chat recently and an overwhelming majority seems to favor a TP to and from OP's in National, Neutral and Free ports. If it's not too much asking, would it be possible to maintain the current OP TP to/from National/Neutral ports on the PvE server, even if it is removed from PvP? and maybe add TP to/from Free port OP's as well?

[Tenet]

8 hours ago, z4ys said:

No towing. The removal is one aspect of 10.x that really improved the game. Even the removal of tp to Freetown was really great. I even hope tp to national ports get removed as well.

The game got a total new aspect with 10.0 ... logistics. Which is an awesome new feature and content.

Why are you talking about teleports. You are not even responding to the topic written out.

The ships in my suggestion have to be physically be moved to another port - perhaps with prize crews that don't have the manpower to fight back, but enough to raise sails and follow. 

Previously we could move 5 durability at a time, and teleport (which is the part you understandably dislike).

Previously we could dock 5 durability per slot (which is the part of this suggestion you also didn't address). 

Now we have to sail 2 ship at a time in most cases out to outposts instead of 5-10 dura as before, and the frequency of PvP declined in areas where sailing distances aren't tiny (outside the pirate islands). 

Edited June 28, 2017 by Tenet

[Hodo]

You can find images of ships being towed during the age of sail, and there are none of a single heavy frigate pulling 3 5th rates.   

Most of the time if a victorious captain took a combat vessel prize he would assign a junior officer to command it, and have it set sail with a minimum crew and a guard detail to transport the ship and its prisoners to the nearest "friendly" national port.  Where they would have the vessel turned over to the prize court and the crew would be sent to prison as POWs, and the junior officer and the prize crew would await till their vessel returned to port or catch a ride on a schooner headed to join that fleet.

[Tenet]

2 minutes ago, Hodo said:

You can find images of ships being towed during the age of sail, and there are none of a single heavy frigate pulling 3 5th rates.   

Most of the time if a victorious captain took a combat vessel prize he would assign a junior officer to command it, and have it set sail with a minimum crew and a guard detail to transport the ship and its prisoners to the nearest "friendly" national port.  Where they would have the vessel turned over to the prize court and the crew would be sent to prison as POWs, and the junior officer and the prize crew would await till their vessel returned to port or catch a ride on a schooner headed to join that fleet.

You are right, and that part of the suggestion can be reworked - it's there for balance options not realism.

Perhaps the assigning of prize crew will be a sufficient limit - I want some middle ground between "unable to move ships around" and "ships follow in fleet and fight for you". I need the "moving" part without the "fighting" part of the perk, and to be able to move more ships than can fight. 

I also think moving ships in prize crews that can't fight back (for balance reasons) should be available as a basic ability for all captains. 

I want to hear an argument from someone who doesn't like the actual idea of being able to prepare for PvP by moving larger groups of your ships out to an outpost, and storing them there for fighting. 

[z4ys]

11 minutes ago, Tenet said:

Why are you talking about teleports. You are not even responding to the topic written out.

The ships in my suggestion have to be physically be moved to another port - perhaps with prize crews that don't have the manpower to fight back, but enough to raise sails and follow. 

Previously we could move 5 durability at a time, and teleport (which is the part you understandably dislike).

Previously we could dock 5 durability per slot (which is the part of this suggestion you also didn't address). 

Now we have to sail 2 ship at a time in most cases out to outposts instead of 5-10 dura as before, and the frequency of PvP declined in areas where sailing distances aren't tiny (outside the pirate islands). 

I see what you want. You want endless harassing of enemies. Like before. You couldnt win a war that way because of the steady stream. Now you can win by destroying the enemy. Then the enemy is gone for a while. Maybe he dosent show up later. But at least we have a result.

[Tenet]

15 minutes ago, z4ys said:

I see what you want. You want endless harassing of enemies. Like before. You couldnt win a war that way because of the steady stream. Now you can win by destroying the enemy. Then the enemy is gone for a while. Maybe he dosent show up later. But at least we have a result.

The harassing, if any, still involves sailing from a friendly port into enemy waters with each ship.

If you don't want the "expanded warship docks" option in Free Ports, you have a point and that can be an exception.

If I sail out of Pampatar to attack De Espana I have to spend 15-25 minutes depending on the wind getting there, then finding the enemy, then fighting. If I lose, I still have to sail back in a basic cutter, and sail out again, spending 30-50 minutes to reset even if I had a ready ship waiting. If I win, the enemy in home waters refits a store ship in minutes. 

The repeated showing is already in the game, so my suggestion is just a minor quality of life improvement. 

The real way to make someone stop attacking is to break their morale or running them out of time - that's the real cause of any result you get. 

 

[Hodo]

34 minutes ago, Tenet said:

The harassing, if any, still involves sailing from a friendly port into enemy waters with each ship.

If you don't want the "expanded warship docks" option in Free Ports, you have a point and that can be an exception.

If I sail out of Pampatar to attack De Espana I have to spend 15-25 minutes depending on the wind getting there, then finding the enemy, then fighting. If I lose, I still have to sail back in a basic cutter, and sail out again, spending 30-50 minutes to reset even if I had a ready ship waiting. If I win, the enemy in home waters refits a store ship in minutes. 

The repeated showing is already in the game, so my suggestion is just a minor quality of life improvement. 

The real way to make someone stop attacking is to break their morale or running them out of time - that's the real cause of any result you get. 

 

What I am seeing is a tactics problem more than a mechanics problem.   If you attack someone near their ports, and they can come back out and find you and attack you, well you were to close to their port OR you stayed in that spot TOO long.   

I rarely see any REAL counter to anything I have done, and the few that have tried were in the wrong types of ships to get the job done.  

[Tenet]

41 minutes ago, Hodo said:

What I am seeing is a tactics problem more than a mechanics problem.   If you attack someone near their ports, and they can come back out and find you and attack you, well you were to close to their port OR you stayed in that spot TOO long.   

I rarely see any REAL counter to anything I have done, and the few that have tried were in the wrong types of ships to get the job done.  

Right, I'm actually playing devil's advocates and explaining exactly how this is not an issue.

He is saying people constantly popping out with ships will be a bigger issue with my suggestion. I think the "problem" already exists but is no real problem, as you said. 

My suggestion is purely quality of life - I want to spend less time transporting my spare ships out to the frontline - transport and store more of them at a time without these new handicaps while still being possible to intercept in OW. 

Edited June 28, 2017 by Tenet

[Hodo]

19 minutes ago, Tenet said:

Right, I'm actually playing devil's advocates and explaining exactly how this is not an issue.

He is saying people constantly popping out with ships will be a bigger issue with my suggestion. I think the "problem" already exists but is no real problem, as you said. 

My suggestion is purely quality of life - I want to spend less time transporting my spare ships out to the frontline - transport and store more of them at a time without these new handicaps while still being possible to intercept in OW. 

Unfortunately due to the nature of the game design there is no way we can come up with a "perfect" solution.  

Ideally the perfect solution is we have a MUCH smaller map, and we only sail around in real time in a  "battle" instance that is the size of Grand Bahama.  No one will ever leave that instance unless you are in dock.