So as this game comes closer and closer to actually launching I have started to really think about the general aspects that this game will present to the players on release. One of the aspects in consideration is the crew size that will be used when you are playing the game. As far as I am aware, in the alpha and beta versions of the game the crew size has remained to be 4 people (adding the exception of one to two-man crews with a smaller ship). However, I have noticed that whenever I am talking about this game with people or even just thinking about playing this game with people, I find myself thinking about the idea of playing it with at the very least 6 people and then quickly remembering that the crew sizes are that of 4 people (yourself and three other people). I am curious if this is something that Rare is actively looking into or discussing with the community. If this is something that has already been discussed on a major scale by Rare themselves I would ask the reader to please point me in the direction of this answer so that I may see the light of my situation.
General Crew Size
@plague-doctor0 I dont have the quote, but i believe they did try out different crew sizes and found 4 had the best feel for communication and team work.
I personally would like to see bigger crews at some point, however with the amount of complaining threads i see about 4 mans bullying 2 man crews or solo i dont think my poor brain could handle it aha.
So hopefully Rare can figure out a better way to implement it.
@knifelife I do see how that could become a problem of sorts. Perhaps Rare could find a way to separate large and small crews onto servers that generally fit the number of players you are rolling with (by generally I mean giving or taking one or two people). For example, if you were playing by yourself you may only come across other people playing by themselves or at the most find 2 man crews. The only issue I foresee with this is the possibility of servers seeming rather dry because of the lack of small crews.
@plague-doctor0 said in General Crew Size:
So as this game comes closer and closer to actually launching I have started to really think about the general aspects that this game will present to the players on release. One of the aspects in consideration is the crew size that will be used when you are playing the game. As far as I am aware, in the alpha and beta versions of the game the crew size has remained to be 4 people (adding the exception of one to two-man crews with a smaller ship). However, I have noticed that whenever I am talking about this game with people or even just thinking about playing this game with people, I find myself thinking about the idea of playing it with at the very least 6 people and then quickly remembering that the crew sizes are that of 4 people (yourself and three other people). I am curious if this is something that Rare is actively looking into or discussing with the community. If this is something that has already been discussed on a major scale by Rare themselves I would ask the reader to please point me in the direction of this answer so that I may see the light of my situation.
As seen here towards the end, the developers talk about the possibility of expanding the crew size up to a possible 6, but stated that they don't think they would ever go higher than that number. This is an older source of information, but hopefully can shed some light on the fact that they are well aware of concerns and are looking to further expand the possibilities for the game.
EDIT
I'm not 100% that the information is towards the end, but I believe it to be. It's been a while since I watched this.I actually don't have any sources to back this up but I've read some things on the forums about implementing a 3-player option for the 3 man parties, as an adjustment to the galleon.
the other way round I've read that Rare was thinking about an option to up your crewsize on the galleon to a max of 6 players, but haven't read it recently. Most recent things I can find about the subject is that is unconfirmed.
Let's hope the lift of the NDA shines some more light on the subject. It's near! :D
It seems like crew sizes beyond 4 would be a logical add later on in the game, not right now. Anything beyond like 4 players would take either a lot of experience or communication (really, both) to pull off efficiently. I think in time, the game will curb towards larger crew ships as experience is gained and players learn their roles in solidified crews.
What I mean is that in a (example) 6 man crew, most players know what they are doing and can recognize by the situation what they should do in any given moment because they know what everyone else is going to do without needing to communicate much. Additionally, "pro crews" will likely use short call-outs for things that save time and allow for larger crews.
But we have to take it in baby steps (both for us as players and for the game itself to develop). We have to learn how to master our given roles on the given ships with the smaller crew types. I expect larger ships with larger crews in the future though. Most games introduce their "raid" type mechanics later on, not right away. I would think of a man o' war type ship as being "raid worthy."
My guess is that rare is probably already considering this. We just need to keep in mind that not everything can (and should) come out on launch.
@conal-cuan said in General Crew Size:
They are also limited by XB party size, which is a max of 7, I believe. While I could be mistaken, the max they could go would be 6, to keep the numbers even. 4 is workable on a Galleon with a semi-experience crew, 6 would be the sweet spot. 3+ on a Sloop just sounds boring for one of them.
To be fair 2 man crew on a sloop is boring for one of them, a sloop most of the time can be managed single handedly and is such often leaves one of the crew members twiddling their thumbs. They found really do with aging a middle ship 2 masts to make it to difficult to manage single handedly for the 2 and 3 man crews.
