I like Sea of Thieves a lot, what it has right now, and what is to come. But, I felt like something was missing, and I though, 'Curses!'
While I feel like there may be other scenarios in which a curse might be applicable, I could only think of the bounty skulls. I felt like bounty missions have the conflict end too soon, and that they should have the risk prolonged until you get rid of that skull.
What I was thinking was that, while having a bounty skull on-board your ship, it would place a curse, its threat level being changed with the increase in skull value, that would impede your progress as the skeletal pirate Captain isn't done with you.
Some curses may involve having sharks constantly swarming your ship, lanterns on your ship flickering on and off, the wheel turning without a helmsman, the masts lowering and raising without you touching them, and your main map being blank for some time. All the while having the skulls be worth the trouble they were.
Having the skulls being worth a lot would encourage pirates to go through the trouble of collecting them, and hostile pirates to not use them as something to give them an advantage in a fight, but to try to keep them to trade them in later on.
Welp, those are just my thoughts. Do you have any ideas for curses? Or anything in my suggestion that you disagree/agree with? I'd like to hear them both!
