So today I’ve finally become a Pirate Legend after 6ish months of playing the game. Yeah!
But that’s not why I’m posting here. See, I’m aware of how unique Pirate Legend content is a bit lacking at the moment, and I’ve come up with an elaborate idea to add some new dynamics to the game to make the Pirate Legend grind more interesting and also get other non-legends involved. It would even improve on the existing alliance structure to make it more interesting and engaging.
So, here are the details of my idea:
Legendary Crew server cap
The number of Pirate Legend crews per server should be capped to, say, 2 or 3 (I’ll explain why a little later)
The Unused Forts
What I think should happen with the unused forts is they should become a mechanism to allow a Pirate Legend to claim an entire sea as their territory. I’ll go into detail about that later, but here’s what I’m envisioning for the unused forts:
- A contestable fort will show a cloud resembling the logo of the specific sea it is in. This can be seen from anywhere in the world. Captured forts will have a reasonable grace period before they are contestable again.
- When attempting to claim an unclaimed fort in this manner, you will battle skeletons; just like the existing forts. Once the captain is defeated, it will drop the key to the vault.
- Inside the vault of the unused forts is an object that allows you to claim the sea as your own if you are a Pirate Legend. The fort will then fly the flag of your legends alliance (more on that shortly).
- When attempting to claim a previously claimed fort, there will be no defenders. The vault will be left unguarded, and that’s when Pirate legends need to forge alliances with other crews to help them protect it. Instead of using a key to open the vault, pirates must instead destroy the vault door using explosives (cannons, gunpowder, etc.)
- One explosive cannot destroy the vault door. It will take several.
- Only a Pirate Legend can claim a fort/sea. Non legends cannot, but they can take part in the battle, even for unclaimed forts (which could lead to sneaky conquest by a rival alliance).
Perks of Sea Ownership
When a Pirate Legend claims a sea as their territory, they receive a ‘tax’ on any items turned in to the trading companies at the outposts within that sea (effectively protection money). This allows mass accumulation of wealth, naturally. I’m thinking this could also (slowly) raise Athena’s Voyage XP.
This ‘tax’ will also flow through to any alliance members (but at a lower value naturally; similar to the current weightings when turning in loot whilst in an alliance).
You’ll know which alliance lays claim to a sea based on the flags being flown at the outposts in the specific sea.
Alliances
A Pirate Legend will always fly a pennant which represents their specific alliance (referred to here as a legends alliance). This cannot be taken down. By default, any non-Legend can join a legends alliance, but they can only join one at a time (as with current alliances, crews can leave/defect at any time).
Legends can merge alliances temporarily, but taxes from loot turned in at outposts do not flow through to other legends alliances. Taxes only flow through the legends alliance that claimed the specific sea as their own (with the lion’s share going to the Legends crew).
Intentions
My intent with this idea is that it would encourage Pirate Legends to engage with non-legends and form a small number of large-scale alliances. I’m thinking if there are three Legends crews for instance, then there might be three major alliances and that would lead to some epic ship battles and territorial disputes that have server-wide implications as legends compete for territory. Specifically, I would hope this would lead to epic alliance vs alliance battles for forts, and even two alliances uniting to take on another alliance.
This would also address the fact that at present there is usually one server-wide alliance where everybody wins, whereas this will promote the possibility of forming rival alliances.
What I could see happening is legends alliances trying to coerce other non-affiliated crews to turn in loot at their outposts so they can claim the tax and potentially deprive their rivals. This would lead to competition between alliances that could escalate to all-out war on the high seas.
To that end, the number of Legend crews would need to be capped to roughly the number of existing seas (which is now 4, but there are only three unused forts). This would allow every legend the chance (which still may not always present itself) of claiming a single sea without contest, and would act as a springboard for large-scale battles between alliances.
This would also probably require the ability to merge an alliance. That would allow two legends alliances to work together, and would allow a non-legends alliance to join a legends alliance with ease.
I’m open to any extra suggestions. Would people be keen for this to be added to the game?
