Ship Themes- An Idea for Furthering Ship Customization

  • One of the most important things to any player of Sea of Thieves is the appearance of their ship and pirate. Completing a cosmetic set for your ship and becoming one with the aesthetic is what drives the much loved role-play aspect of the game, however, the cosmetics of ones ship (excluding wheel, capstan, and cannons) are not very visible from the ship which makes the immersion not as strong as it could be. There are many players that will play loyally toward a certain trading company and have their entire play-style/in-game interactions based off of that trading company. So in this post I would like to present a concept for a ship customization that can really bring a uniqueness to each ship

    Ship Themes
    Ship themes are a decoration to the hull ranging from the deck to the railings of the ship. This customization will allow the crew on the ship to be able to become more immersed with the theme of their ship and offer a more decorative appearance. Because this is just an idea at the moment I have come up with ideas for the different trading alliances, though I do imagine every cosmetic set could receive its own theme.

    An example of a ship theme that is actually in the main game would be the ferry of the dammed. On the ferry you can see candles lining the edges of the ship and by the wheel, there are also other decorations around that further the atmosphere of the ferry of the dammed. That is how I imagine the themes to work.

    ! None of these themes will offer any gameplay advantage. The designs would be created in a way in which they can not cause any exploit (pirate tucking/loot hiding)!

    GH, OS, MA
    For the gold hoarders theme, there would be various sacks of doubloons scattered around the deck of the ship, as well as bars of gold stack along railings by the wheel and the sides of the ship. Finally, some shovels lying against walls as if you are prepared to dig up treasure at any moment.

    An Order of souls ship can have skeletal remains throughout the deck of the ship as well as an occasional full skeleton body lying dead against a wall. In addition to that there can be various vials of potions and dark-relic looking items laying about.

    The merchant alliance theme would have many pieces of parchment lying around and attached to walls as well as spyglasses laying around and pretentious light blue ribbons hanging around the deck.

    Reapers Bones, Hunters Call, Sea Dogs
    A Reapers Bones theme could potentially be my favorite. This theme would have various pirate flags (not emissary) scattered around the deck looking very torn and burnt as if you have brought many ships to their doom. I imagine there would also be cutlass’, axes, and daggers stuck in the wood of the ship deck.

    The Hunters Call theme would have fishing nets hanging over the sides of the ship and laying about the deck. There would also be fish bones lying around the deck and railings of the ship.

    Finally, the Sea Dogs theme would be similar to both the Reapers Bones theme and Merchant alliance theme. The Sea Dog theme would have many weapons stuck within the wood as if fresh from a fight, however there would also be weapons that look like they are propped up and prepared for battle as well as the occasion pile of cannon balls. To match the merchant alliances, the ship deck would be dressed in ribbons matching the colors of the sea dog faction to show their gloriousness.

    Where would it fit?
    I would like to think that this kind of content would fit best with a captaincy update as it allows the player to further customize their ship. “Ship Themes” could also be great rewards for emissaries. These themes could require a large amount of gold, completion of a commendation, or even both; either way they should not be easy to get.

    This is an idea I have thought about for a while and wanted to share with the community, any feedback or suggestions are much appreciated and I would love to hear the ideas of others for more ship themes!!!

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  • The ships are already themed and thankfully, uncluttered. The only real additions needed are the ability to customize the ship's harpoons, lanterns, and rowboat.

  • @galactic-geek the deck of the ship is not themed, it is plain painted wood with no other decorations, and as you said, uncluttered. But this could be an addition that many people would love. If you don’t want the clutter than don’t equip it.

  • @jojo-gyro said in Ship Themes- An Idea for Furthering Ship Customization:

    @galactic-geek the deck of the ship is not themed, it is plain painted wood with no other decorations, and as you said, uncluttered. But this could be an addition that many people would love. If you don’t want the clutter than don’t equip it.

    Some decks are colored - it depends on the set. For example, my Wailing Barnacle set is fully painted over - including the deck.

  • @galactic-geek yeah that’s true but I was thinking something more than just painted deck, for example, a wailing barnacle ship theme will make the deck of your ship covered in barnacles with hints of seaweed. It just gives the ship a little more character and gives the player more to look at.

  • @jojo-gyro said in Ship Themes- An Idea for Furthering Ship Customization:

    @galactic-geek yeah that’s true but I was thinking something more than just painted deck, for example, a wailing barnacle ship theme will make the deck of your ship covered in barnacles with hints of seaweed. It just gives the ship a little more character and gives the player more to look at.

    ...and would make the geometry harder to navigate if it was an addition to the physical model, or clip horrendously if it wasn't. And if it's just a texture, than it would look awfully flat.

  • I really love this idea! I would love to have bags of gold littered around my deck 🤣

  • @jojo-gyro Yes please! I need a bone crusher theme with leather straps and cages, and ropes, and skelly bones as the railings!

  • I've been using the Shining Pegasus ship set for a while, and while I love the newer cosmetics that have been thrown at us, the main hull of the ship always seems off.

    As the models for the wheel, cannons and capstan get more detailed, they're increasingly becoming less a part of the ship itself. I'm not entirely sure how to describe it other than feeling like they are 'plugged in', which I'm sure is nice for the mix-and-match customisation , but I tend to roll with a full get up.

    The Pegasus set has clouds right down to the base, then the hull of the ship is simply a shade of yellow and that cloud motif isn't carried through the rest of the ship, and feels disconnected. The art team are going some length to make ship parts look stunning and unique, but then the hull is always a recolour, which also highlight that the ship models haven't really been altered since adding harpoons.

    I don't want clutter the ship with unnecessary faff, (staying with the Pegasus example) but adding clouds and gold décor to the handrails, lanterns, harpoons and tables would help make it feel more like a solid vessel. Same application with other sets too. I think having deliberate unique models for the ship itself (just the visuals, not altering the physical shape) would go a long way to help personalisation.

    I get why they don't do that. Its a lot of work and we get by quite happily with what we already have. Its just messes with my feng shui when I fit a new solid gold figurehead to a spray tanned sailor sloop.

  • @galactic-geek I think the idea of clipping shouldn’t be important. Our characters clip with a lot of movements anyways. As long as it’s not a physical object I wouldn’t have a problem with it.

  • I really like this idea! Although I think it be more doable to customize the lanterns, ship’s compass, harpoons, and ladder. I feel like with those 4, ships could look pretty different.

  • @ninja-naranja said in Ship Themes- An Idea for Furthering Ship Customization:

    @galactic-geek I think the idea of clipping shouldn’t be important. Our characters clip with a lot of movements anyways. As long as it’s not a physical object I wouldn’t have a problem with it.

    Clipping always involves physical objects - that's what clipping is! 1 solid object passing through another when it shouldn't!

  • I've always wanted this. Let me really take my ship's customisation to the furthest levels.

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