Played this game when it first came out, and still occasionally play it today. 3 ship sizes is a nice start but come on.
We currently have:
-
The Sloop, a 1–2-man single mast, one sail ship with two cannons, one port, one starboard. The length of the sloop is roughly 20 paces. The width is roughly 5 paces. There are
a total of four decks (technically). -
The Brigantine, a 1–3-man dual mast, three sail ship with four cannons, two port, two starboard. The length of the brig is roughly 27 paces, The width is roughly 5
paces. There are a total of two decks. -
The Galleon, a 1-4-man triple mast, eight sail ship with eight cannons, four port, four starboard. The length of the Galleon is roughly 40 paces, the width is roughly 6 paces.
There are a total of four decks.
What we could have:
The Corvette
A 1-man single mast, single sail ship (triangle shaped instead of square, for identifying reasons) with one cannon on the bow (forwards), one cannon on the aft (backwards). The
length of the Corvette Could be roughly 18 paces, and the width roughly 4. There could be a total of two decks. This would make the Corvette the shortest and narrowest
ship, allowing it to make very tight turns, more so than the Sloop. Which is important, since the cannons are "chase" cannons, not broadside like the current ships. Naturally,
the Corvette would be overall slower than the other ships in most scenarios. The exception being sailing into headwinds, being faster than the brig and the galleon, but slower
than the sloop. The Corvette would also be more fragile than the Sloop, relying on its nimbleness to avoid damage. I dont expect a Corvette to be able to sink a fully manned
Galleon, but it would be very difficult for the galleon to shoot a good Corvette Captain, that's for sure. The special feature of the Corvette, being a true solo ship, would be
having retractable ladders, making boarding difficult, but not impossible. The Corvette would be sitting very low in the water compared to its larger counterpart, the sloop.
Meaning you could still get on board if you were good (timing the waves to grab the edge of the boat, similar to a row-boat). Oh and the Corvette would have two harpoons,
facing port/starboard. There would be no row-boat attachment. Below deck there would be very limited space, so there would only be a map table, quest table, ammo crate,
weapons locker, one wood barrel, one cannon barrel (vertically stacked), one grog barrel, one food barrel (vertically stacked), a water pump and a cooking station. No vanity
chest/pet chest/equipment chest or brig (naturally since you're the only crewmember).
The Ship-Of-The-Line
A 1-8 man triple (large) mast, 12 sail ship. The length of this ship would be roughly 50 paces, and 7 paces wide. With a total of 5 decks:
- The helm, Similar to a Galleons, except it has a single cannon facing backwards.
- The main deck, complete with four ladders, two forward two back as well as a larger Captains quarters. Additionally, there would be two spots for row boats to attach, one
port, one starboard. Also, a full staircase to the lower deck. On the front of the ship (where harpoons currently are for the other ships) would be two cannons with the
same field of range as the previously installed harpoons. Placed adjacent to those cannons would be the harpoons, but they would be port/starboard facing. - One deck lower (the gun deck) is where you would have four cannons sticking out of portholes (if you wanted to get real fancy, you can even make these cannons moveable
slightly and the portholes close/openable for bad weather so water doesn't get in). Ammo storage, Weapons locker, and Cannon barrels would be on this deck. This deck
doesnt cover the entire length of the ship though, there would be two half stairs (both port and starboard) leading down to the next deck (sloop style). - One deck lower (the chart room) is where you would, obviously, have your map and quest table. You would have a half step in the middle leading down to the next deck.
- One deck lower (the bottom deck) is where you would have your cooking area, cosmetics area, wood and food storage, grog, water pump, and a large brig at the front for
the unruly scallywags on your ship.
Now, naturally, the Ship-of-the-line would be overall slower than any of its counterparts under most scenarios. BUT what it lacks in speed, it makes up for with durability, storage capacity, crew capacity and the ability to fire from any angle. I also suggest that in the captains quarters would be a safe that could house exactly 1 chest or item. The key to this safe would spawn with the player that is currently in the 1st position on the crew ledger. The key can be handed off to anyone, but if its not in a players inventory it will eventually de-spawn (like treasure in the water does). A duplicate of the key can be bought from the shipwright npc. Additionally, for the pirates out there, if you want to break open the safe, doing enough damage to it would "crack it open". What does this new mechanic do? It allows big ships like the ship-of-the-line to protect rare loot, like Athena's chests, etc, from pirates just climbing on board and jumping into the water with it. It would force "tuckers" or boarders to either kill the crew, OR bust open the safe, both of which are loud and take time. But, thats just my two cents on how to add a new flavor to the game that seems to be slowly dying.
