Flags. flags should have more meanings:
1.Pirate means aggressive, and there should be changes to capture a ship or get crate of cannonball/banana/woodplank when you defeat a ship
2.Gold flag/ Myserious flag/ Merchant means you are collecting chests/skulls/animals and cargo. You get a higher change for good loot during voyages of that faction, but everyone will think you have treature when they see your ship.
3.White means peaceful (default). That says you want no trouble. Probably the least rewarding, but you don't get attention that much.
The game should encourage ppl to use their flags accordingly with reward and for some cases, to deceive ppl). For example, you can use peaceful flag until you get close and then raise the pirate flag, but raising flag should take time. Attack other players with your peaceful/faction flag on makes you infamous and your trace after you leave an outpost will be visible for all other players for a day.
Now Fleet. You should be able to start a fleet alone or recruit other ships into your wing during the game, and create a fleet. fleet share voyage, and the gold/rep will be split when there are more than 5 ppl in a fleet.
And now the important part: Fleet ships should be visible on the map for everyone, and their size and their flag will be visible to everyone on the map. For example, merchant fleet may attract indivisual ships who want to do merchant voyage to join in, but also may attract pirates;
For pvp, visible fleets are great as well. Fleets that want a grand pvp will find other pirate fleets to battle. The visibility is what makes skull fort a pvp paradise---everyone sees it, and those want high reward and pvp will rush towards it across the sea.
