I only got to fight the skeleton ships for about a half hour so far. But in my short time against them some concerns stood out immediately. Some I'm hoping will change after the event when they're a persistent threat in the world, but I doubt it. My biggest concerns are:
- The ships appear out of the water. Much like the "kraken" and megalodon, they don't truly roam the seas, they just spawn in when certain conditions randomly trigger them. This isn't so bad with sea creatures under water, but the whole appeal of AI ships is that there's some actual sea traffic in the world aside from the occasional encounters with other players. But with the way they spawn in, it defeats that purpose.
- This one I'm not as certain of with my brief time playing the update, but the ship doesn't seem to actually be controlled by the skeleton crew. I don't remember seeing skellies operating sails, only the cannons and helm. The capstan doesn't function, and it seemed like the ships turning and acceleration etc. all work automatically despite what the crew is doing. This is disappointing for me, though not surprising. I want the AI ships to operate under the same rules players do. I want to board the ship and drop the anchor and kill the helmsman and crew mates operating the sails to disable the ships functionality.
I have other complaints with things like the crew repeatedly spawning and sinking the ship feeling unrewarding when more just suddenly surface, etc. But I'm mainly worried that the first 2 points I made will persist after this event is over. The way the AI ships behave now makes them feel like more another random unrewarding sea creature fight that sponges a bunch of damage and costs a lot of resources rather than what players really want out of AI ships.
