I really think there should be a way to signal an approaching or fleeing ship with a flag to show your intentions of engagement. A white flag to signal surrender and let the enemies board for peaceful resolution. A black battle flag to signal a retreat will be futile. A yellow flag to signal an interest in trade, like trading chests for cannonballs, bananas, or planks. I think this could be an additional interactive point back by the captains wheel that has no affect on sails, kind of like a light. These would not be customizable and every ship would have the same 3 flags. What do y'all think?
Flags for ship status - Switch at a moments notice - Surrender/Prepare for battle/Signal for trade
@supashrpsh00ta this is a pretty good idea, although i feel people will take advantage of the "White and Yellow Flag" just as they do the outpost now....
@supashrpsh00ta Not a bad idea.
In some of the Dev videos when they're playing the game they use the lanterns to signal the other ships they encounter. So everybody needs to learn Morse Code.
I definitely like the idea, but I'm sure sailors would abuse the trustworthy pirates. What if flags indicated loot though?? Kinda like the darkzone in The Division. If a player had loot, they had a yellow pack on them. In the same way a flag could show that a player has loot or not, making the battles more "pick and choose" instead of "attack everything on sight". Not sure if that would help or make things worse though.
Another idea would be flags depicting what type of quest you're doing, if one at all. That could lead to merchants trading, gold hoarders plundering each other, and skull hunters teaming up maybe.
Thoughts?
@dudemanguy1 I feel like it would encourage usually peaceful players to get aggressive for their loot or vice versa with said crew with treasure will be more aggressive and on the defense, knowing others know they have loot.
I do like this flag idea, though. It's just up to the players whether this feature will actually be useful. I've initiated trade before, have banded together a crew of 9, and even had wages between crews with sword fights, and whoever won took the others loot. It was fun, had some expected salt, but fun nonetheless.
@dudemanguy1 said in Flags for ship status - Switch at a moments notice - Surrender/Prepare for battle/Signal for trade:
Another idea would be flags depicting what type of quest you're doing, if one at all. That could lead to merchants trading, gold hoarders plundering each other, and skull hunters teaming up maybe.
Thoughts?
If this sort of mechanism was an automatic mechanic, I could see it working. If you leave it up to the player to set flags, they'll use them to mislead and deceive. I would essentially ignore flags, because I wouldn't trust them; and then what's the point?
However, if upon accepting a voyage from a guild, their flag is automatically placed on my ship until I've completed or turned in; that piece of info would be useful. It could also save some people from what they deem an unfair attack. I've seen a number of complaints by people along the lines of "why did that galleon pursue us for 30 minutes? We didn't even have any treasure on board!" As it stands right now you have to attack someone to find out if they even HAVE something worth stealing. This sort of system would remove that sort of uncertainty. That said, uncertainty might be what they're going for.
This is nice, but I don't ever recall a pirate utilizing the surrender flag of it's actual purpose. I will have to look into the history of it, but the best thing to know if a Pirate is aggressive or not is if you see a cannon ball coming at your face.
It would still be nice to have just in case, but I am sure alot of bamboozlers will be out there.
@labarge28 good point. I think they should be automatic. And I also think there should be an additional flag for people who just pvp. Like an actual skull and crossbones kinda deal. I see three scenarios:
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You don't have a quest. You have a white flag and just go around exploring and maybe you manage to find a chest or two and get to sneak it back to an outpost because you're a "white flag" ship right now.
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You begin a quest. You are now a "gold flag, purple flag, or red flag" ship (or however they'd indicate each faction). You look out for other ships and other ships look out for you for trade, treasure, and battle. You're also on the lookout for the infamous...
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"Black flag" ships. These crews have recently attacked 2 or more ships. This flag could be below the quest flag if they have a quest and could have a timer of some sort that gets reset each time they initiate an attack.
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Yeah, maybe if you're flying a particular kind of flag it's have a HUD element, to make it a little more evident. And to the people who say, "It'll just be abused and people will lie.", Uhhhhhhh Pirates? Kinda comes with the territory. I think it's a great suggestion. Of course we can let the "Kill on sight" players have a red flag if they want to indicate that they don't care what flag you're flying, they'll just do what they want a any given time.
I don't think its a bad idea, but i'm fairly sure it will have no impact on the game at all. Saying "I come in peace" does not indicate to any extent whether someone actually comes in peace.
As for the status indicator @DUDEMANGUY1 suggestions, its a bit too gimmicky for my liking. Like a creature comfort, something that makes the game more comfortable, safer and more predictable. For me that would take away the tensions, the suspense, the relief when you finally get out of a situaiton alive and well.
To retain a strong 'pirate' theme, I generally think the game should avoid any 'creature comforts'. Anything that indicates anything with a guarantee. Sure give the players a white flag, but they get to choose when to hoist it and not the game system. But generally, it has no impact. If you want to show a lack of hostility, just approach without firing.
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