You know the skeleton ships. They are in high numbers, can't bucket out water, can't be anchored by hand, can't break their masts and have a lot of loot on board. It's already been 5 years since they rised from the depths and were then never touched ever since (so far as i can tell). It is time to give them a little bit of a update to them. The first thing should be that we the capstan, sail and wheel are interactable by the player. This could lead yo some advantageous positions if you have hijacked the ship. Second thing is, and complain all you want, they should bucket water out of their vessel. I know this'll make the fights a bit more difficult, but skeleton ships should be a way to practice naval combat and head-to-head combat. Ever seen a ship that doesn't bucket out water out of their ship? Propably very rarely, but you get the point. Third thing should be that we can use chainshots to break their masts, wheel and capstan. This way we can practice using chain shots with that giving us a possible advantage. Fourth thing should be that when their captain dies, the crew will be less efficient then usual. The first mate will be the one on the helm, but the others will be in trouble. They'll fire cannonballs slower, repair slower, bail out water slower and will perform worse in head-to-head combat. This'll make crews prioritze the captain first to permanentely destabalise the skeleton crew itself for an easy sink. The fifth thing should be hijacking the ship and forcing them to obey you as your captain. This would propably not be included in the Thieving Seas, but imagine it. Sailing with a crew of skeletons that obey you, taking out other crews and having a celebration over winning battles. Of course the balance here is that all the trading companies, except the Bones of the Reapers, do NOT want to interact with you because of you being a captain of a skeleton ship. It would make sense as the skeletons are not only from Flameheart, but also terrorized the outposts back in the day. So you will be unable to sell, buy supplies, pick up voyages, etc. The Bones of the Reapers will be impressed by your feat and will offer you a quest, which leads to the fifth thing. You will be given a voyage by the Flame Servant that requires you to hunt down an AI Athena vessel manned by phantoms loyal to the Lord of Pirates. They would just be a copy of the skeleton ships, but they have two weapons at once, like the original phantoms that haunt the islands. Some will have a blunderbus and a cutlass, a flinlock and a blunderbuss and maybe on rare occasions an Eye of Reach. When sunk, they will drop a lot of loot that the Reapers are interested in. Especially ne of them, being the Box of Legendary Riches. This box will give you 25 000 gold when sold to the Flame Servant and will obviously unlock cosmetics dedicated to skulls and bones, similair to the Bone Crusher set.
Thank you for your time, pirates.
I bid you adieu.
With friendliest reggards
Captain Sif
