Ships need a Health System, to promote better Naval Combat.

  • Belugadon
    Seafarer
    Insider

    After all my time in this game, after countless PVP sessions, boardings and planks and bananas, i realized that the Naval Combat in this game is very flawed. A ship should not be able to take this amount of punishment and still float,period. I propose a health system for ships, where planks only keeps it afloat, but the health degrades the more shots it takes.

    Hear me out. The meta in this game is now to board a ship and guard the holes after a few shots, or even a barrel. Using cannonballs is not to sink the ship, as most players are more than capable of repairing until the cows come home. If you never board a ship, it wont sink.

    How would a health system work?

    A ship spawns in at 100% health, simple. In battle, one cannonball could do a set amout of damage, making it so the ship degrades regardless of how many holes you plank up. When the ship is really low on hull integrity, the crew has 2 choices:
    1: Go into a repair state where the boat needs to be stopped and can be repaired by 1 crew member. This repair should take a good amount of time, and only be done when you know you will be safe for a few health repairs to be made. As soon as the enemy ship starts moving in for more attacks, stop the repair state and get moving again. When you actually manage to SINK the enemy ship, you are free to repair all the way back up to 100%, as your ship is safe for the amount of time it takes.

    2: Risk it and keep going, one of you will eventually sink as the hull reaches 0%.

    This will promote more accurate NAVAL combat, and less of the spamming with barrels and boarding, as a players on the cannon is 10 times more worth than the one boarding their ship, as he cannot damage it directly. Sure he can still do the hole guarding, but him beeing on their ship gives them one less cannon to fire for damage.

    Basicly what im saying is, i wanna see a REASON to keep constantly shooting and beeing good with the cannon, not just to prepare for the boarding and spawnkilling to make their ship sink that way. It gets tedious, and we all know that tactic is the best, and probably wont go away either. I love using the cannon, let me sink their ship with my cannon, or atleast fend them off due to their hull starting to fall apart.

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  • SansSariph
    Lord
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    At first I wasn't on board because it gave a feeling of inevitably losing your ship even if you were doing really well over a long period, but I think having a crew member action to repair the hull converts this to a good idea.

    I agree that something feels off about 1-2 people on plank duty being able to keep a ship going almost indefinitely until they run out of supplies. It turns most long battles into grindy attrition fests that get swung by a decisive barrel and boarding attempt where cannons are more suppressing fire than actual contributions.

    As a sloop yesterday I nailed a galleon below the water line something like 9 times back to back after they slammed into a rock, but it was depressing because I knew I was probably hitting the same two holes multiple times and not actually doing much. With one guy planking and another guy bailing they could easily survive - and they did.

    An alternative idea I have would be - each time the same hole is torn open it takes longer to plank (or more planks), so the attrition war starts to scale in your opponent's favor as you take more hits.

    edit - I explore this idea a bit further here: https://www.seaofthieves.com/forum/topic/51198/penalty-for-planking-same-hole-multiple-times

  • Belugadon
    Seafarer
    Insider

    @sanssariph That is exactly my problem. You can be the absolute BEST cannoneer at this game, but it means nothing right now. I wanna know that my good shots actually damages their hull, and soon they will have to stop their ship to start repairs, or they are going down. Same goes for me, if my hull is down to 10%, its time to find a safe spot and do some quick repairs before i go at them again.

    Im just so sick of the constant long fights without actually boarding them and guarding their holes. Atleast give me the ability to rip their damn planks off then? I have a g******n shotgun, let me blast them planks off if i cant sink a ship with another ship.

  • ByF8thThruGrace

    @sanssariph said in Ships need a Health System, to promote better Naval Combat.:

    At first I wasn't on board, but I think having a crew member action to repair the hull converts this to a good idea.

    I agree that something feels off about 1-2 people on plank duty being able to keep a ship going almost indefinitely until they run out of supplies. It turns most long battles into grindy attrition fests that get swung by a decisive barrel and boarding attempt where cannons are more suppressing fire than actual contributions.

    As a sloop yesterday I nailed a galleon below the water line something like 9 times back to back after they slammed into a rock, but it was depressing because I knew I was probably hitting the same two holes multiple times and not actually doing much. With one guy planking and another guy bailing they could easily survive - and they did.

    An alternative idea I have would be - each time the same hole is torn open it takes longer to plank (or more planks), so the attrition war starts to scale in your opponent's favor as you take more hits.

    I was of the same opinions as you, I didn't like this idea, then i read it and realized it has some merit. you guys might have something here.

    I like your idea about how the same hole takes longer and longer to repair. maybe combining this with the OP idea that you can fully repair your ship (perhaps at an outpost) i think would make naval combat something more dynamic and fun, - rather than as you guys say, an attrition of supplies and spawn killing.

  • Belugadon
    Seafarer
    Insider

    @byf8ththrugrace said in Ships need a Health System, to promote better Naval Combat.:

    @sanssariph said in Ships need a Health System, to promote better Naval Combat.:

    At first I wasn't on board, but I think having a crew member action to repair the hull converts this to a good idea.

    I agree that something feels off about 1-2 people on plank duty being able to keep a ship going almost indefinitely until they run out of supplies. It turns most long battles into grindy attrition fests that get swung by a decisive barrel and boarding attempt where cannons are more suppressing fire than actual contributions.

    As a sloop yesterday I nailed a galleon below the water line something like 9 times back to back after they slammed into a rock, but it was depressing because I knew I was probably hitting the same two holes multiple times and not actually doing much. With one guy planking and another guy bailing they could easily survive - and they did.

    An alternative idea I have would be - each time the same hole is torn open it takes longer to plank (or more planks), so the attrition war starts to scale in your opponent's favor as you take more hits.

    I was of the same opinions as you, I didn't like this idea, then i read it and realized it has some merit. you guys might have something here.

    I like your idea about how the same hole takes longer and longer to repair. maybe combining this with the OP idea that you can fully repair your ship (perhaps at an outpost) i think would make naval combat something more dynamic and fun, - rather than as you guys say, an attrition of supplies and spawn killing.

    yeah i like that idea of planking taking longer and longer in the same spot, atleast hitting with cannonballs actually means something. Hitting at the same spot over and over takes alittle practice, rewards us for it....i feel like im wasting supplies in battles now, as i know theres one little b****r in there planking like crazy and i cant stop him unless i board and kill them all.

  • SansSariph
    Lord
    Insider

    I started a separate thread on the multiple/longer planking idea because I think your suggestion of a full blown hull health system has its own merits and I don't want to derail it too much. Would love to see either of these ideas explored by Rare.

  • Belugadon
    Seafarer
    Insider

    @sanssariph said in Ships need a Health System, to promote better Naval Combat.:

    I started a separate thread on the multiple/longer planking idea because I think your suggestion of a full blown hull health system has its own merits and I don't want to derail it too much. Would love to see either of these ideas explored by Rare.

    YEah i saw, thanks alot! I really belive the ships need some for, of "Hull Integrity", and your ideas for the Tier based holes for plank repairs. Shooting a ship as it stands now, is almost pointlessif they ahve 1 guy on plank duty. You cant sink them.

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