Over the years, sea forts have seen a decline in interest, with fewer players paying attention to them, making them feel like forgotten content. However, when they were first introduced, I was personally very excited. When they were marketed as something that could be taken over, I thought it meant we could keep them, store treasure there, or use them in various other ways. But in reality, it didn’t quite feel like we were taking over the fort—more like we were just clearing it and hanging out there for a while, which wasn’t particularly engaging.
So, why not implement a system where players can truly take control of sea forts? I propose using a system similar to the one used in Return of the Damned. Whenever a crew clears a sea fort, they could go to the top and raise a flag for one of the various factions—whether it be the three main trading companies or Athena’s Fortune, The Hunter’s Call, The Reapers, or even their own guild. Once a faction is chosen, the fort's appearance would change to reflect that choice, and a representative of the selected faction would appear on the first floor.
This representative would allow players to manage their sea fort in several ways. Players could purchase decorations tailored to each faction, allowing for customization beyond just the basic look. They could also choose different types of defenders, but I’ll expand on that later. Additionally, the representative would serve as a treasure vendor, but with a twist: instead of receiving payment instantly, the treasure would be stored in the fort’s vault. Similar to the Hourglass treasure greed system, the vault would accumulate both monetary value and reputation the more treasure is stored. Once players are ready, they could embark on a special selling voyage, requiring them to transport their accumulated goods to a specific outpost based on their faction. However, during this voyage, they would be visible to everyone on the map. Upon arrival, all the treasure would be sold at once, with an extra bonus depending on the amount collected.
Returning to the fort itself, a significant feature would be the ability for a crew’s ship to respawn there instead of randomly in the Sea of Thieves, except when within a certain radius, ensuring other crews have an opportunity to raid the fort. This would be one of the main roles of the representative—allowing players to choose cosmetics for their cannons, the fort itself, and their defenders.
The defenders would function similarly to the ghosts that currently guard sea forts, but players would be able to customize them. Using a system akin to Return of the Damned, players could choose between different types of defenders, including various ghostly or skeletal enemies. Since ghosts and skeletons have different movesets—ghosts teleport and perform special charges—there could either be adjustments to ghost abilities or a mix of both enemy types. These defenders would protect the fort’s treasure from enemy crews attempting to raid it.
If an enemy crew successfully defeats the defending NPC captain, the crew that owns the fort would receive a notification that their fort is under attack and would have to return quickly to defend their accumulated treasure.
Lastly, I propose adding Hourglass sea fort battles, where one crew defends their sea fort while another crew attempts to take it over. The attacking crew would win by defeating the NPC captain of the defending side, while the defending crew would win by sinking the attacking vessel. Since defenders would have a natural advantage, a successful attack would count as two ships sunk in their streak and yield extra reputation, whereas an deffending victory would still count as one.
I believe adding these features to sea forts would revitalize this aspect of Sea of Thieves, giving both new and veteran players something exciting to grind for—without creating an unfair advantage over others.
Thank you for reading my suggestion, and I hope you take it into consideration.
