That suggestion was probably written often, but I guess it's time for a new one.
We already got tons of new stuff to fight with, magical canon balls, harpoons and many balances for the fight pirate vs pirate, but it starts to feel stale. You already know how to counter the normal sword, you know what to do against the blunderbuss and you can ignore the sniper guy, he is never gonna hit you anyway. It's time for some new winds in that.
And yes, I know, you want to keep it simple for the younger Pirates and it must be balanced and in a way realistic. But that should be possible with:
Boarding-Axes: Heavy, slow and every strongly bearded pirates best friend. I would recommend a wide angle attack pattern, slower than the sword but with more damage and slightly higher knockback and just a 2 hit combo. The heavy attack could be a strong vertical cleave with a long charge time but heavy damage. (Maybe with the option to destroy parts of capstan and steering wheel).
Rapiers: The graceful weapon for every pirate who paid too much gold for fencing school. That pointy blade would be most efficient in an honorable duel, since it's attacks are going straight forword with no/less damage angle. I would make it (slightly) faster as the sword, but with less damage. I'm thinking of a 3-4 hit combo. The strong attack could be either the charge similar to the sword, or a poke attack forward with a dodge-jump back to get some savety-distance (or to run away more easily).
Daggers: We already use them to vote for voyages, so why shouldn't we vote for our victory against the enemy? With a shorter range and less damage than the sword (and the rapier) it could sound useless, but with a higher attack speed and a 4-6 hit combo it would be a fearsome weapon for ambushes from behind (maybe with extra damage when attacking the back of a pirate, but I'm not sure if the engine can do such a thing). I would also say that it attacks can be interrupted and you can attack back with a bigger weapon to eliminate the possible problem of stunlock. I have 2 ideas for the heavy attack. Either a charged stab attack from above with high damage (maybe instant kill if used from behind or against a pirate who hasn't equipped a weapon). Or you throw the dagger towards (or behind, if he runs away) your enemy for the last hit, with a medium charge time and damage. The "reloading" of it would be an animation for searching another dagger on the back of your pirate. Either with unlimited daggers or with a limitation of that like with bullets. Than I would say 3 daggers are enough. (Pirate joke incommung: Hold the thiev, he has my dagger in his back!)
With these 3 new melee weapons we could face the problem of boring land fights and grand the game a new sort of excitement and variety. For everyone who's with me, raise your weapon and yell Aye!
