Progression of ships đŸ€”

  • Hello my favorite plunderers!

    I would like to talk about the current ships. I’ve noticed that the current manning does not allow players to fully utilize every aspect of the ship class you choose. Let me explain my position.

    Sloops- I spend a lot of time on a sloop, and with two fine sailors, I feel you never are able to continue fire while attempting to maneuver the ship and repairing damage. This takes away a valuable asset compared to brigs and galleons. I would like to see manning increased to 3 sailors to get more out of the gaming experience.

    Brigs- I would love to see 4 sailors as the normal billeting. Rarely are you able to fire both cannons, maneuver and push damage control while engaging other ships. Just trying to move sails without a second mate slows the pace of combat and delegates you to doing long drives past your target, then attempting to readjust the sails alone.

    Galleons- I believe galleons should be upped to 6 sailors. They are at a disadvantaged in maneuvering and you usually never utilize all 4 cannons. At present, not many people fear a galleon and they are considered a hippo of a target.

    The increase in players would accelerate the current battle pace and, I believe, increase the enjoyment of PVE. The increase of players would allow you to maneuver better while losing a player to board an enemy ship and continue firing upon said target. I’m sure it’s more than possible to continue with the current manning, but I believe everyone would benefit across the board with an increase.

    This also allows a better PVE experience for newer crews with the flexibility of not splitting duties as much, and allows faster replenishment and protection for the ship. How many times have you seen a ship coming and you don’t make it to defend because you are crossing the island and get slowed by skeletons. At least you can keep someone close to get the ship moving at minimum.

    Thank you for your time and input.

    V/r,
    Facehuggybear

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  • I feel this would destroy the balance.
    Rare worked hard to make these ships just right. As of now they all have their own strengths and weaknesses.

    If you give me just one more person on a sloop i will be unstoppable. One person can bail water on a sloop and keep it up forever. It would be way over powered.

    Same with the galley. Add one more and now all 4 cannons could be fired while someone drives. They would be much harder to sink with the extra guy bailing.

    Sorry mate. Gotta disagree. Even tho i like the idea.

  • @facehuggybear
    Rare has balanced ships so you have to make choices over what's more important. Do you shoot more, or send someone to repair? Do you man the wheel or watch for boarders?

  • @facehuggybear

    Rare worked for a long time to balance the ships the best they could. Every ship has gone through countless days of work. They tried these crew counts, and none of them worked - ships were nigh unsinkable, and it became hours of one battle of attrition, to see who had the most time or resources. Splitting roles among your crew needs to be done, and you have to decide whether you want that extra pressure with the cannons or that second boarder; that defence against enemy boarders or that extra bailing power. You can keep someone on the ship all the time anyways, you don't need a 6 man galleon for that. Solo is the 'hard mode', so that's your own decision to not be able to (plus solo you can just move the whole ship to the other side of that island with you instead).

  • If you don't believe what these guys have already said, create an alliance and try it for yourself. You'll quickly learn that they are not wrong.

    Besides, you act like you need a guy on cannons 24/7 or that you need every cannon manned. Truth is, you don't.

  • @facehuggybear

    Adding members would make the crews not required to make choices.

    If you can do all the tasks at all times without compromising... the main limit is the amount of actions one can do as a crew and is the way things become balanced. By pressuring a crew you can force a response, which in turn creates opportunities and advantages.

    Examples:

    • Swim next to the ship and the ladders need watching.
    • Puncture the hull repairs are needed
    • They catch more wind, sails need adjusting to match the opponent.
    • Anchor them, it needs raising.

    Ships can pretty much be fully optimized for one aspect at any time with the current sizes, if you want to shift attention or are forced to it leaves other aspects open and that makes it fun and dynamic.

  • I didn’t know they tried out the different sized crews already. I noticed that even with two people in a sloop, you can’t keep up continuous fire while trying to maintain your ship, unlike the brig and galleon. I understand balance. I never thought about endless battles, it just seems that the battle will go the way of whoever gets the jump on the other ship. It would be a bit nicer to have a bit more time to react in various situations in PVP and PVE. Sloops aren’t “hard mode”, but when you’re not shooting back, you’re target practice lol.

    Thanks for the input. 😊

    Back to the drawing board.

  • When did they do all this testing? Before boarding was meta, before the brig, sincere question.

  • @facehuggybear
    Thanks for being open minded about this. Alot of forum users rage out when their ideas get nitpicked.

  • Whole point is that you don't have enough people to do everything. You can bail, repair, fire, steer, board, and angle sails, but you can only do 4.

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