So, with the fact that we have a new ship inbound I figured I would start up a topic about this, because honestly it would be nice to see some more types of ships out on the seas. Based on the details available it seems like a pretty strong chance that the new ship type will be a 2-3 man Crew size ship with two masts/sails that rests between the Sloop and Galleon in the spectrum of things. This would be great, because it opens the door via the overlaps for the potential to make a system that allows us to dynamically add and remove members from our crews live in the game (possibly restricted to at Ports so the ship swap can be more seamless as opposed to at sea or on a random island). However, I think this three tier system can actually still see some expansion. So, here is what I am thinking:
1-2 Crew Size
Sloop: The current ship of this category.
Cutter: A single Mast/Sail ship that is directly known to have a different configuration from a Sloop in look, and can also be equipped with a Triangle Sail so that this can fall in line with the other alternates that I have suggested so that we have some common themes to work off of when approaching the concept.
2-3 Crew Size
Brig: A dual Mast/Sail ship that featured a Square Sail setup which would make it a perfect fit to be the next ship type we have released to us in the already confirmed spot (since Square Sails are already a thing, and it sets up a new Crew Configuration). These guys should feature four cannons (two facing each side) and fall somewhere between the small and large ship classes regarding speed and maneuverability and ability to utilize the Sails/Anchor.
Junk: This would be the Triangle Sail variant ship for this size range, and it also has a varied general construction as well for the Hull compared to a Brig. This would make it a nice distinction option for this grade to help add some more variety to the world at large and establishing a style for your Crew.
3-4 Crew Size
Galleon: The current ship of this category.
Frigate: These tend to have a design that sits them lower in the water compared to a Galleon, and tend to have a generally flatter main deck (the helm is raised normally, but it doesn't feature that front section like on a Galleon). They can feature either Triangle or Square Sails, but I propose this one go with Triangle since the Galleon uses the Square helping to further visually distinguish them.
The differences between these ships would mostly be cosmetic in nature to support the idea of keeping level playing fields (so all 1-2 Crew Size ships feature 1 Sail, 2 Cannons, and similar general setup with a different look to them). This adds some diversity to the seas while keeping things kosher. When you launch the game, you essentially just reverse the order we select options in: First you select the desired Crew Size, and then you select the desired Ship based on that size next, before Crew setup and finally Setting Sail.
In the end, the way I see it, we could still have a game that features 6 different types of ships while still only really maintaining 3 types of Crew sizes to keep in line with the desire expressed by Rare to keep 4 the largest Crew size in the game. Of course if they wanted to get really crazy about it and have to worry about balancing factors they could also try to make each of the ships somewhat different from one another so that you also get some tactical option when making your ship selection regardless of Crew Size, but that is a completely different box of worms that would be much harder to get working in practice (and is beyond the scope of this thread as I have worked it out).
Anyways, chew it over.
