Lack of Diversity in Ships

@genuine-heather Truthfully I'd like a game with all types but that wouldn't be reasonable nor feasible. Especially with SoT's game design. A Turtle ship would look way out of place.

I don't know that it'd fit the current theme.
Though if new and additional biomes were added, with an oriental theme, a Barbary theme etc that might work.
The concept art book has stuff like this, but since the game was rushed out the door unfinished in order to be sold as a "service" it is very likely that it was dropped.
I sure hope it gets added later, although I don't see how "realistic" Chinese junks would stand up to European ship types seen in game as the junks would be around a century or two obsolete by comparison.
The only real naval battles that the Chinese won against the Europeans were using fire ships since even contemporary euro ships like the carrack would absolutely decimate anything the Chinese could muster.
That said, he ships we have are completely made up, but with real world names.

So yeah, as long as the game just goes full fantasy and simply adds other themed ships as a kind of "skin" for the current three, then I could see it working.

@mrmcdoll actually both the Pirate Queeen Ching Shih and the Imperial War Junks managed to hold their own against the Euro ships. Ching Shih won and the Chinese lost only because of Nemesis and the fact that they hadn't maintained an active navy in years. Historically the Chinese had developed powerful warships of their own that were much more advanced than the rest of the worlds but then they stopped because until Ching Shih and then the British few had challenged them from the sea. I've done a bit of research on this.

@mrmcdoll Some Asian theme Biomes would look good though. Plus Asian sea monsters. Several players in these forums have mentioned a need for Sea Serpents. While Chinese dragons are more gods than monsters I could see one messing up a bunch of scurvy pirate blackguards.

I'm now going to research Asian sea monster mythology and suggest that.

@brainship23 said in Lack of Diversity in Ships:

@mrmcdoll actually both the Pirate Queeen Ching Shih and the Imperial War Junks managed to hold their own against the Euro ships. Ching Shih won and the Chinese lost only because of Nemesis and the fact that they hadn't maintained an active navy in years. Historically the Chinese had developed powerful warships of their own that were much more advanced than the rest of the worlds but then they stopped because until Ching Shih and then the British few had challenged them from the sea. I've done a bit of research on this.

You might want to read sources that don't come from the Chinese government, lol.
it's almost unanimously agreed that European and later American navies were the absolute pinnacle during the AoS.
The red fleet never won battles against similar numbers of European ships, they merely outnumbered small pirate hunting expeditions sent by the English or portugese.
Very early on, the Chinese had some fairly advanced ship building techniques such as advanced rudders, rigging and sealable bulkheads, but they were left in the dust by the far better equipped and much more robust European ships well before the 17th century.
A lot of the "woah china was so advanced" stuff has turned out to be a kinda propaganda generated by the current authoritarian government in order to claim some kind of unified uninterrupted history and therefore instil patriotism.

Think about it, if the Chinese had better navies at the time, then how did Europe manage to absolutely dominate the orient?
Especially given the numerical inferiority that the Europeans had?

I'm not against Asian style ships in the game, but like I said it is just an appearance thing.

And also, one other thing is that sea of thieves seems to be squarely focussed on Caribbean Piracy - perhaps only carribean type stuff aught to remain in the game in order to avoid too much thematic dilution.

@mrmcdoll They dominated the Chinese because the Chinese had left their navy to rot. Something I said in my last comment as well as something you said in the beginning of your current comment. You not only, rather bluntly, insinuated my stupidity by claiming I only watched Chinese propaganda, when in fact I watched several american-made documentaries some of whom were made before this current regime, but you also contradicted yourself in the same comment by asking a question for which you had already given an answer. Do you really hate the idea of Asian styles that much?
Also Ching Shih had several fleets at her command beside the Red and even if she never fought them head on it wouldn't disqualify Junks for Sea of Thieves as none of the ships in the game are designed with historical accuracy. Otherwise they would have a lot more guns and need a lot more crew.
It's clear you have a bias against the idea of Asian styles being introduced into the game but nothing you have said automatically disqualifies Junks or other Asian ships from the game. If they wanted to the developers could even put a Turtle ship or an Atakebune in here so long as they could make it fit within the game.
It's a big ocean. No reason for the developers to limit themselves for the sake of historical or cultural purity

@fishst1ck
With this, they could fairly easily incorporate other styles, like asian type sails or cannons.
The base ship would stay the same, just outfitted with enough style elements to make it look different.

@fishst1ck I get it. So instead of adding a junk or a xebec to the game you can just change the cosmetics so they resemble the styles of various cultures. I like it. It would bring in more variety but the developers wouldn't have to design and accommodate a whole new ship type.

@brainship23
An interesting question would be if those cosmetics would be purely cosmetic, or if they could also affect the gameplay a bit.

For example, different sails will obstruct the view differently, leading to minor advantages or disatvantages. Would that be okay?
I would like it if ship customisation could alter the playstyle of a ship a tiny bit, but not enough to make it too different from the default ship.

@genuine-heather
Good point.
Pirates themselves are already very diverse. Some look asian, some nordic or african.
Ships could too.

Regarding time period, I think way down the line it would be cool to see some advances in technology. Imagine a steam or coal powered ship, or even early ironclad ships.
I know right now it's unthinkable, but with new regions and the game being supposed to be sustained for 10 years, I think we could very well venture into the future sometime..

Edit:
As for mechanics, I think it could be really fun to have a ship where players need to shovel coal into some big furnace and regulate the speed that way, or with some kind of valve they need to turn. Everything could have that grimey, oily, dirty look, it would be loud and the ship would leave a large trail of smoke, making it visible from afar..

@genuine-heather
The problem with huge ships like this, aside from the low server pop, is that right now, there are no threats that warrant such a large and heavily armed ship.
It would be overkill to roll up to a fort or an Athena voyage in such a beast.

@nebenkuh Steamships and ironclads might be too OP. They basically ended the age of sails. It would probably make at least the sloop unplayable. Even as much as I might like to see them, even the pre-steam ironclads like the Turtle Ship or the Atakebune would be too much and throw the power balance out of whack. Not that the developers couldn't but if they do they would have to do it in a way that make them less OP so as to fit better.

@brainship23
Yea they'd obviously need to be balanced accordingly. Just style wise I'd love to see those kind of ships in the game.

@genuine-heather @FishSt1ck as a side note because you keep saying it please look up 'Chinese floating fortress' on youtube. If you think a man-o-war is big this will blow your mind.