Hello Fellow Pirates ;D
First i am really Sorry if my english is bad i am not a nativ english speaker, i am from Germany so please be gentle with me on that.
Now I had an Idea just this evening. At the Point now we have 3 Ships the Sloop, Brigantine and Galleon for a maximum Crew size of 4 People with the Galleon. And i really Like how they Funktion and how these 3 are Balanced from what i experience until now. :D
But i am not really that much of a PvP specialist and i actually am more hyped about the sailing and questing factors of the Game or to put it in other terms i am PvEing in the Game with joy.
Now on to my Idea we have 3 good ships and balanced around PvP really good BUT we also have Trading Companies and PvE.
I would Love a Line of Ships with more limited Fighting espects but therefore more speed when kept in a straight Line and easier to Store Loot in the lower Decks of the Ship, also it should be harder on these ships to be pushed off of them (like from a Cannonball hit or PLunderbomb).Like some sort of Merchant-Ships.
I am aware that for Gameplay purpose these ships should not be able to just Run away under every circumstance, meaning it should be a thing which of the current ships ( i will refer to them as PvP-ships from now on) is chasing the Merchant-Ships ( i will call them PvE-Ships from now on).
Let´s First get some Ideas on How this could look like and function:
For the 1-2 Player Varient i would still go by some sort of Sloop but more like the later Single Mast Varients with protected sides these would naturelly Limit not only the upward angles of the cannons but also the angels it could be traversed to the sides, therefore limiting the Fighting capability. i would also make them a little longer than the one we have with a full on below deck and a higher up little deck to let the Rudder be a little bit higher. to Compensate the limited usefulness of the weapon this PvE Sloop should get a Jib-Sail giving it more possibel speed but to the balancing i will come back to this later.
To make my Idea a little clearer here is a picture for a possible Hull for this.
The Grid in the middle could be some Door to open/close to fast store Chests and stuff in the Deck below.
For the 3 Player Ship i could imagine just a Slight adjustment to the current Brigantine, Like with the Sloop i would love protected Sides also limiting the cannons Fighting capability. For the Purpose of recognition and visability from a far i would reverse the current Mast Layout meaning the Mast with 2 Sails in the Front, the Mast with one Sail in the Back and a Jib-Sail for that slight possible extra speed.
Also some sort of Door to Fast Store Stuff and a Higher up short Deck in the Back for the Rudder are in my Vision of this
some picture for the possible Hull-Layout :
For the 4 Player Ship i really struggle to just change up the Galleon a little bit and be fine with that, so i Would like to introduce a complete new Shiptype:
this Type is Called the Pinassship.
It has a Main Deck with One upper Deck in Front and 2 in the Back. The Deck layout below the Main Deck could be quite simular to the Galleon. It hast 3 Masts which would go on the Same as the Galleon BUT the cannons are inside the side skirts meaning limited in the same way like mentioned on the other Vatiants. I would also reduce the amount of guns per side to 3.
Like before a Grid in the middle like a Door to Fast store the collected Stuff in the Lowest Deck would be nice. That would essentially mean you have to leave a part open in the first lower Deck to just throw chests and stuff down to the lowest Deck, to not accidently fall down there when on the first lower Deck there could be some sort of railing preventing u to fall but also making u use the regular way to walk down there. For the Sail Layout it could be simular to the Galleon with a Jib Sail or if Rare would like to play a little more with the Sails then they could Implement the original Sail Layout looking somewhat like this :
as for the Balancing:
These ships are not great at Fighting in ship to Ship Combat, they may not be unarmed but they are defenetly outclassed by the current ones in Terms of Guns.
To make up for that these ships should be slower to sink overall compared to their direkt counterparts. Giving their crew a little more time to repair and Bail.
Also these Ships should be more about Running then Gunning, I would Love them to Outclass in a Way like This :
Being Slower in a Headwind than the Sloop
Being Slower in a Broadreach than a Brigantine
Being Slower in a Tailwind than a Galleon
BUT getting just a little extra speed when kept inside a 3-5 degree deviation from a straight Line but massively bleeding out on speed when performing a Turn or wiggling to much from side to side.
I also don´t think it would be a good idea to make the speeds of all three PvE-Ships Different, They should all be at the same Speed to not offset the speed balance to much.
meaning they are meant for fast Traveling and getting PvE Loot than for Fighting in PvP Battles but it also Means they are a Valuable Target for PvP players because they are more likely to have a good load of treasures on board, and if they make a mistake or you push them to turn or evade an island in a haste they are yours to take !
Also don t forget the higher Side skirts may help the PvE player stay on the Ship and repair or Steer.
But that also means if an enemy boards you he isn t easily pushed off either and he needs to Die. These Skirts may help you with some problems but they also can stab you in the Back.
I would love to hear your Thoughts on this Idea and if it is any good or if it just sounds good in my head!!
Have a nice Day and Good Hunting on the Sea ;D
