How a Man o' War Update could work

  • The Man O' War is a long-requested feature for sea of thieves that was added in season 13 in the form of the burning blade. Although it was a great update, a large portion of the community still wants a larger ship with more crew slots that can set sail when you want rather than having to be claimed in the open world.

    but there are 2 main issues with this request:

    • Balancing
      a bigger ship that is not a world event crewed by many players; balancing is out the window
    • Server stability
      remember the season 13 server stability issues? ships as big as the burning blade with more players would be an even bigger upset.

    My solution is simple:

    Man O' Wars are on separate servers to all other ship types, with the ship limit being 4 6-man crews

    Also, the alliance flag does not exist on these servers.

    I think this would create a really cool server dynamic; with "game mechanic alliances" out of the question all player interactions shift... Parley and peace talks are even more intense, and battles are full on regional wars with sea forts becoming crucial pirate infrastructure for massive conquests.

    This way of playing the game is not 5 ragtag crews of pirates all with different motives and goals, it's 3 pirate superpowers that have little reason to collaborate, yet a sea big enough for them to live in peace far away from each other.

    This would be an even better update if a "Claim Sea Fort" feature was added to these servers, allowing for real territorial gain: claimed forts have ghost ships patrolling around them and the aim of the fort cannoneers are much better.

    But still, PvP is not the only option, your crew can still just do normal voyages and mind your own business, just knowing somewhere else on the sea there is a force equal to yours who may not have peaceful intentions.

    Also Hourglass. Hourglass would be awesome with Man 'O War fights.

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  • @spectergames706

    Since the server limit currently is 6 ships, and 16 players, it would mean a private server dedicated to these 2 ships that have 8 players each on them. It doesn't matter how many players are actually there, if each ship holds a maximum of 8 players, the server has to hold those spots.

    "Little reason to collaborate,"??? With just 2 ships on a server, you don't need a flag to make an alliance. "They're going to farm FotD, we're going to do world events." is all it takes. If you want hourglass with such a large crew, how is this any different than a galleon? What would be the point of spending money, time, and resources into developing this when galleon hourglass already exists? They take 3 sea forts, we take 3 seaforts. Now what? Also, if pvp were to occur and they sink, are we merged into another server with another ship or do we have our own private server now? If we get merged, what happens to our 3 sea forts we own? If we merge to a different server after successfully defending them by sinking that other crew, we're out now as well.

  • @europa4033

    Ideally this update would allow for 3 six man ship crews, I merely listed the alternative to display the flexibility of the idea presented.

    In retrospect, you make a good point 2 eight player ships would probably just do their own thing away from each other, a third is needed to make the dynamic the iconic “sea of thieves unstable”

    That being said, the devs have stated they are trying to make the servers able to handle more players, it’s possible (best case scenario here) 3 ships each with 8 players could happen, unless my math is off.

  • @spectergames706 There is an issue with the 8 players crew though. I don't know if you have checked the LFGs queue recently, but it is hard enough to find decent players for a gally of 4; can you imagine what it takes to assemble a crew of 8?

  • Good point.

    looks like multiple six man crews are the best model.

    adjusting the original post to have these new numbers now

    appreciate the feedback you guys, my crude concept was forged into a fine proposal thanks to it.

  • Man O' Wars are on separate servers to all other ship types, with the ship limit being 3-4 6-man crews

    No thanks. It be fun for streamers and after first few months. Nobody joins the server.

  • @spectergames706 said in How a Man o' War Update could work:

    Good point.

    looks like multiple six man crews are the best model.

    adjusting the original post to have these new numbers now

    appreciate the feedback you guys, my crude concept was forged into a fine proposal thanks to it.

    So now it's 3 ships per server? At 6 players each, as of today's date, it's still not feasible with the player cap being 16. Even then, it's an incredibly empty server, or again, crews have their own alliance server and all profit from it, since pvp isn't the main objective here. It's almost like you're creating a B-side of the main game here, where everyone wins as long as they don't sink each other (to include earning achievements that require other crews' participation), staking your claim to sea forts is pointless when there's better gold and rep to earn by going out and doing it (or everyone helps each other by capturing/losing each other's sea forts), and attacking other ships only hurts you with a server merge, so don't bother. I still don't see the point of, "Alliance servers but on large ships," and it just seems it's now an expensive-to-create TDM server.

  • @Europa4033
    with all due respect, I already stated the solutions to the main two problems you mentioned

    @spectergames706 said in How a Man o' War Update could work:

    That being said, the devs have stated they are trying to make the servers able to handle more players, it’s possible (best case scenario here) 3 ships each with 8 players could happen, unless my math is off.

    Also, the alliance flag does not exist on these servers.

    you were right when you said some form of agreement even with the absence of alliances as a feature would be much too easy for two Man o' wars, so I changed the idea to 3 or 4 ships, to make a dynamic like that borderline impossible. I also proactively stated this would MAYBE be possible with the server upgrades the team are making, but not with the current infrastructure.

    No In-game alliances, no 50% cut. just 3 or 4 big boats. so no "Alliance servers but on large ships". yes alliances could happen, but they would be a lot less steady without the in game features.

  • @spectergames706

    So a seperate server for 3-4 big boats for you to sail around on, with the possibility of pvp?

  • yes.

    I imagine the suspense of multiple massive powerful ships all on the same server would create a kind of Pirate Cold War... whenever no active fights are happening everyone is nervously checking the horizon, not sure whether a covert rowboat-based attack is about to occur. enemies distant, and yet too close at the same time.

    when fights do break out...

    it's all-out war.

  • It's called The Burning Blade.

  • @spectergames706 said in How a Man o' War Update could work:

    yes.

    I imagine the suspense of multiple massive powerful ships all on the same server would create a kind of Pirate Cold War... whenever no active fights are happening everyone is nervously checking the horizon, not sure whether a covert rowboat-based attack is about to occur. enemies distant, and yet too close at the same time.

    when fights do break out...

    it's all-out war.

    Isn't this the synopsis of the game on High Seas though? The only difference is less ships on bigger boats? If they're able to get it where the game allows us to have 24 players again in order to encorporate this, surely High Seas will benefit as well?

  • Indeed! It’s really just an alternate version of high seas balanced for larger crews.

    I probably would never use it, but over the years on this forum I’ve seen people asking for bigger ships that can hold more players, and I wondered how this could be added into the game without throwing balance off.

  • @spectergames706 said in How a Man o' War Update could work:

    Indeed! It’s really just an alternate version of high seas balanced for larger crews.

    I probably would never use it, but over the years on this forum I’ve seen people asking for bigger ships that can hold more players, and I wondered how this could be added into the game without throwing balance off.

    The solution to that is, you don't. Having to maintain a seperate server just for players to sail a bigger vessel, takes players off of High Seas even more.

    The only solution to this, is by subscribing to Safer Fleets (which are coming!), where you could invite everyone onto a single sloop if you wish, and hold events, contests, challenges, etc. so it's going to be interesting!

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