Skeleton Forts : How to make the experience less repetitive, and more unique and dynamic (UPDATE : 11/09/18)

Very good post. It clearly shows you've put some thought into this. While i didn't read every single post; I did read most. Seems most players have an issue between it being too easy or too hard and also depending on size of the crew. I myself have mostly played solo....i can tell you that sometimes its taken me 30 min and other times its been over an hour (with having to fight off other people as well). I like your idea of having unique captains that fight in different ways....and their crew should fight differently too, depending on their captain. So my proposal for the "phase" aspect is to make each phase yield a key, however, after each phase is completed, you can trade in that key for the next phase and so on (start with a wooden skull key, then bronze, silver, gold, etc...) as the waves get progressivelyharder....that way its a gamble....it allows solo players to cash in early (say bronze or silver) and make off with some treasure in a hurry (because they notice other ships coming in) and other larger and more experienced players can climb to the final wave for a huge payout.