A cool addition to the game could be a Wind Waker (Or any alternative artifact that allows you to control the direction of the wind.)
For balancing, a few notes:
~1) The Wind Waker could be a treasure that you find either washed up on a beach or perhaps in a collector's chest. It'd be fairly rare, at least to a point where you're unlikely to come across it twice in a 4 hour session.
~2) It would be one-use only, then vanish.
~3) It could alternatively be sold to any of the companies for a modest sum of gold, maybe in the 500 - 1000 range?
How would it affect gameplay?
-- Are you fleeing a different ship type and would have an advantage with a change in the wind? Use it to change the wind in your favor and get some distance.
-- Are you chasing a different ship type and they're using the existing wind to their advantage? Use it to change the wind in your favor and close in on them.
-- Are you just impatient to get where you're going? Use it to go faster if you don't care about the potential gold.
It's not the biggest change to the game, but I think it'd add one more way that players can interact with the world and add one more neat trinket to find on the seas.
