Suggestion to fix Captaincy Issue

As is life, he had to step away for a little bit to eat and let his dog out.

Happens.

AFK for too long the game boots you out

Indeed

Upon his leave, he timed out and the banner came up that "the captain has left the ship."

Yup, seems about right

When he returned some 10-15 minutes later, neither of us caught that there was no banner that said "the captain has RETURNED to the ship."

Because he no longer the Captain once you left the ship. Uncaptain ship. Besides...10-15min later? yeah at that point no saving it.

Assuming this is not a thing, it NEEDS to be.

No it doesn't.

The sovereigns did not take any of our loot because we were "not sailing a captained ship."

Soo...Sell the loot to where it belongs? You can still do this.

longest walk to sell and more potential to have ships roll up.

Wow...you gotten to comfortable using the quick selling feature as a Captain, you forgotten about the Fear of death :p

sure we can agree, that's not ideal as a grade 5 anything.

Risk=Reward, We all agree on this.

Please keep in mind the original captain WAS on the ship,

"Was" not any more.

Again, this was an issue for us because we couldn't sell loot very quickly and were forced to sell at the tavern.

Again, you got too comfortable at selling Loot quickly and forgotten the leg work at selling 'normally'
It not an issue with the game, it an issue with players gettting to use to "easy features" once something goes wrong..its always the games fault. Never the player

BUT, taking the timing to harpoon all the supplies to sell to Sovereigns to then realize that we have to sell as we did in the old days produces a large risk for other ships to come.

Again, seems to be a Player problem for not realizing, "Captain has left" Oh that means our ship is no longer Captained. So no quick/easy selling. Better not do that :p

Digging deeper, if we were continuing our voyages after this and wanted to stock up on more supplies, would we not be able to buy supplies from the Shipwright because we "are not on a captained ship?" Or buy/propose captain quests? The issue can go deeper.

Not an issue...Merchant can still sell you supplies (for a better price might add) and okie so you can't do Capt quests? so? Not an issue, just a player problem.

Suggestion: As long as someone remains on a Captained Ship, the ship should retain Captain status

But if the original Owner of the Ship isn't on board, how is the Ship...someone elses? You didn't name it, or decorate it. They did.

Upon the return of the original captain, their status of captain should be return.

Or that captain can just set sail on a new ship? Okie think of this...Some Capt dont like to have dmg on there ship, or like to keep it. What if the "new" captain made it worse or fixed everything? That isn't fair to come back too. "because they were the new Captain"
What if as the New Captain, the old capt didn't return for Hours and you Unlocked new Trinkets for "Your ship" Will they be unlocked for the Original Captain or Just you? By your logic, Only the Captain should earn those...but once the original captain returns.....you see the issue?

My recommendation: Captaincy should be retained with the ship. When the person is aboard the ship that purchased captaincy, they shall retain the title of captain.

They do...once they "Set Sail" again with there ship from the Menu

Make Sovereign selling available to all players.

Nope, strictly Captain Perk. See this the issue with Soverein atm. People getting to comfortable with it and once they lose that perk "because" captain left, they get bent out of shape because they can't use it (going back to boring old, yet better) Turn in to proper Faction.

No, why would the ship gain milestones when the owner isn't there either for the whole session or for an hour or however long or short ?

I wouldn't like it if I set sail next session and find out that the my ship has gained milestones that I don't partook in or might not even like.

They should fix that sometimes when the Captain gets a beard error (except Lazybeard) or a disconnect and they return in a timely fashion Captaincy is lost.

What if the Captain is away for a long time - should his spot be kept open or should a friend (or stranger) be able to join, who then has to leave when the Captain returns ? Great, now his efforts go down the drain ...

Captaincy transfers to another person ? Great way to exploit milestones, you might get milestones linked to your ship for turning in loot without ever sailing a mile. People have stated they have trouble with their crew who gets to be Captain, this will only enhance that not at the start of a session but every time during a session when someone wants to get a higher value for their milestones.

I know it may be convenient, but adding all or some of such features takes away from the crew and their ship, and that's what Captaincy should be about.

Why didn’t he just rest something on his arrow key / controller to run in circles in your ship?

Can’t get booted when you are technically active whether it’s you or that paperweight resting on your keyboard.

Work smart not hard haha

One of The few times I agree with @burnbacon

They said all I wanted to say so pretend like I said the same thing.

@BurnBacon Let me try and clarify my point again since it seems it was missed. I get the feeling you all, especially @BurnBacon think I'm a lazy pirate on the seas, with a sense of entitlement to the newfound perks. Not that there is any bearing in this conversation, but I have been sailing the seas since day one. I would not consider myself a lazy pirate by any stretch and I've certainly put in my fair share of turning in loot the original way. I do not feel that it is beneath me to do that whatsoever. If the initial post made it sound that way, then I apologize because it takes away from the point I am trying to make here. And that point is this: I believe that Captaincy and the roles within it need to be tweaked. With this new update, if you pay for a ship and name a ship, you get to partake in Captaincy perks and milestones and level up your ship’s legacy. One of those perks being the ability to sell loot quickly with the Sovereigns. My understanding of how naval chain of command works, is that when a Captain leaves, the first mate assumes command like he was the captain. If something happens to the ship or something changes, etc. consequences, good or bad, fall on that first mate and ultimately onto the actual Captain of the ship. Upon his return, the Captain resumes his leadership of the vessel and the “perks” of his captaincy along with it. My argument is that that should also be the case for Sea of Thieves. The hypothetical argument of whether or not you want someone to earns milestones and commendations for your ship when you are away is a topic for another conversation and a point I think takes away from the true meaning I attempted to convey in the initial post. To further, @BurnBacon if someone doesn’t like damage on their ship but the “first mate” saved the ship by running (in-game talk here) from an enemy, taking damage in the process, you really going to be mad or grateful…? That kind of stuff happened LONG before Captaincy. Damage on a ship is part of the game. If you want to be that picky though, I guess that is your prerogative. In my experience, I have never met anyone on the seas that picky.
Getting back to the point: Point is, if the captain leaves for whatever reason (@Shadow20642 let’s say power goes out, he get’s it back on and rejoins the crew; I think that’s reasonable for everyone to understand) and comes back, his captaincy and his perks, i.e. selling to Sovereigns, should be reinstated since it is his ship he is coming back to. As is stands, this is not the case right now, at least it wasn't in my playthrough last night. If the captain leaves for ANY reason, perks are stripped until he resets a server. I argue that that isn’t how captaincy should work and thus needs a tweak. Re-assumption of command (and therefore perks) should be a thing
With the disagreement from you guys that did respond, which I appreciate your responses by the way, why not have a setting that you can turn on or off to disable milestones, etc. if you leave the ship? You have the ability to turn off your crew's ability to change cosmetics, so why not have it to where your ship doesn't progress unless you are physically present?

@galactic-geek Your comment was informative, constructive and I think adds great value to the discussion. Thanks for sharing your opinion! I can agree with the certain aspects being carried over and I think that is a great suggestion. I just made a big response above and I think that your response sort of mirrors my example of first mate assuming role until Captain returns, if Captain returns.