These are the ideas I have either come up with or been told of and modified.
----New Ships----
These are types of skeleton ships (there are many which are indistinguishable from the description)
Skeleton Brigantine
This is exactly what you would expect - a brigantine which has been modified and put into use by the skeletons. It can turn somewhat well, and is incredibly fast when it needs to be.
Boarding Vessel
This is a skeleton sloop, with a twist. The bowsprit has been lengthened and widened to act as a ramp. This ship will pop up around other skeleton ships, making it less of a target while the others fight. Belowdecks, a horde of skeletons waits, some of which may be fired out of cannons at ships (from the cannons on deck). It will attempt to ram ships, at which point the skeletons below will rush up the ramp and jump to the other ship, killing players on board (leaving the ship with both a figurative and literal skeleton crew). It also occasionally shows up to reenforce strongholds if they are completed too quickly, bolstering the wave with a fresh supply of skeletons from another angle. The boarding crew will respawn slower then the other skeletons, and trickle back onto the ship or island slowly, making the threat lowered after. The ship will switch targets if dislodged.
Ramming Vessel
This ship is a brigantine, with very little built on (it doesn't have towers built over it). It leaps out of the water with such speed it can jump over a ship (although it may clip the masts). The sails are constantly acting as if they were in full wind, a result of excessive curses. The ropes can be seen having been torn apart, with some of them being blown along with the sails. The ship cannot stop moving, giving it a bad turning circle. It will attempt to ram other ships at high speeds, dealing heavy damage to both ships, normally sinking both. It will also launch the ship it hits, giving the crew quite the shock.
Explosive Ramming Vessel
A terrifying new addition to the skeleton fleet, this is a normal ramming vessel (the brigantine) which has been packed full of gunpowder kegs, and even a few stronghold gunpowder kegs. The ship is said to be crewed by what was once gunpowder skeletons, now given the ability to create even more chaos an a larger scale. The resulting explosion from one of the kegs being shot or destroyed in a ram (or when the ship goes down, as the captain may try to shoot his personal stronghold gunpowder keg next to the wheel) is enough to completely destroy the ship itself, along with anything nearby, be it a ship, a pirate, or a creature/monster. It will also knock back ships (and pirates) inside the radius not close enough to be completely destroyed, and ships outside of the blast zone. The blast can do damage to pirates and creatures/monsters by the shockwave alone, which can kill you if you are just outside of the actual blast. The radiuses is greatly shortened underwater. The kegs can be stolen from the ship, but it is most likely not a good idea (these were gunpowder skeletons once, and they may be a bit too... eager to wait for the explosion from a ship).
Grappling Vessel
This is a galleon, but heavily modified. It puts some of the other ships to shame, with how much work was probably put into building it. There are 2 grapples on each side or it, on the ends of the rows of cannons. There is also one on the bow and one at the stern, with four extra cannons pointing at diagonal angles (2 at the bow and 2 and the stern) capable or pointing directly sideways or forwards/backwards. The grapples are pulled by two massive stone blocks in the sides of the hull, and one smaller one at either end. They are raised by old capstans, with 2 raising the main blocks and 1 raising the others. The blocks are dropped to pull the grapple inwards. (the grapple is attached to a chain and a massive winch). The ship also boasts another anchor, to stop it from turning as much while pulling. Sometimes it may come out of the water anchored, resulting in an interesting stop where it suddenly is pulled by the anchors at water level. (Note than an additional anchor has also been added on the stern, in front of the captain's quarters door. This helps prevent turning when it is pulling ships at angles.) It can also grapple solid objects (such as rocks or fort walls and towers) to do a bootleg turn, using the force of the grapple and the momentum of the (heavier than normal) ship to swing around the object and turn. This would need some improvements to rope physics, unless the rope is to clip through everything rather than wrap around (I don't think it should be that hard to do)
Skeletal Megalodon
Despite the name, this is not the skeleton of a megalodon, as that (being just the jaw) would be a bit pointless. This is a dead megalodon that tends to appear in fog and occasionally (but not commonly) in storms, alongside sometimes appearing in the place of a normal one during a skeleton ship battle. It is slightly decomposing (I'm sure the art team can make that look something less than nightmarish with Sea of Thieves's art style [maybe with just a lot of really deep wounds, they should all just be gray slashes anyways]), which doesn't tend to attack skeleton ships. It doesn't default target them if a player ship is in range, and is very bloodthirsty. It is more aggressive than any other megalodon in the game, repeatedly attacking with constand bites and tail-whips, and even going underwater and attacking the ship from below (maybe also jumping up and belly flopping onto the ship). Despite not preferring skeleton ships, due to it's constant l**t for battle it will attack them if nothing else is in range. It will also attack them if the ship shoots it enough, whether due to missing shots or the cannons being hijacked. It is faster and does more damage per attack than a normal megalodon, but has noticeably less health.
Sniper Vessel
Made from a galleon, this is a class of skeleton ship which does not have specific cursed cannonballs which it fires (although it does fall under the cannonball variety ability), but has another focus. This ship has 3 large towers built up on the deck, and a slightly expanded crows nest. One tower is the normal one at the bow, and one is a similar one with an open space beneath it and a larger base at the stern. The third tower is in the middle, built up along the mainmast. It has yards going off of the sides of it with more sails to make up for the ones taken off of the mainmast, with one on each side. The tower goes up to the bottom of the topmost sail, the only one still on the mast. The Eye of Reach skeletons manning the towers have some very annoying tendencies, however. First, they will fire specifically at players holding gunpowder kegs if in range, with about 1 in 4 shots going that way. About 1 in 5 of those shots will be aimed at the keg itself, rather than the pirate holding it. They will not shoot at dropped kegs unless multiple players are near them (or one if very few pirates are nearby), unless a large amount of kegs are in a similar place (to prevent them from shooting the kegs out of your crows nest).
----Skeleton Flagships and Modifications----
These are the current modifications for all known skeleton flagships.
The Hated Glare
This is a skeleton flagship, a sniper vessel with platforms built onto the front and back masts, between the sails (similar to the normal skeleton galleons having platforms on their mainmasts), and a hugely expanded crows nest reaching about 3 time the distance of a normal crows nest. There are also bridges connecting them all, making for quite the interesting silhouette.
The Bomb
Not much to say about this. This skeleton flagship (which somehow can repair itself to that degree) is effectively a very large version of the gunpowder ramming vessel, except as a man o war (it will be changed to a galleon or other large ship if that doesn't make it into the game). It has the added ability to drop skeletal rowboats with a couple of gunpowder kegs and one stronghold gunpowder keg. The explosion is far larger than the normal gunpowder rammers, and the kegs are not exposed on deck.
The Cursed Forge
This is a Man O War (or similar large ship) which uses all types or cursed cannonballs, but very rarely uses the more devastating ones (such as the ballastball and peaceball). It is entirely it's own wave and battle under a skeleton ship cloud. It is also a skeleton flagship.
----Abilities and Attributes----
The skeleton ships could use some new abilities and some changes. Here are some of my ideas:
Full Wind - The skeleton ships seem to be able to have full wind in their sails at will, allowing them to quickly run away for no apparent reason when a new ship enters the area. It also is randomly used sometimes. I suggest lowering the speed increase this gives them and making them use it as an occasional boost and to get away if they take too much damage quickly.
Dive - The skeleton ships will dive into the water if there is nothing for them to do or their time is up (Cursed Sails event). This could be used to escape if heavy damage such as a full barrage of cannonballs is inflicted upon the ship.
Subsurface Travel - The ships, after diving, would have the ability to quickly travel under the surface of the water to a new location, where they could rise back up.
Subsurface Ram Sometimes the skeleton ship will, instead of running to safety while underwater, choose to resurface on another ship. This can deal heavy damage to both ships, and kills anything on deck of the skeleton ship.
Cannonball Variety - The skeleton ships would occasionally (very rarely) shoot a random type of cursed cannonball. This would also apply to skeletons on island-mounted cannons.
Barrel Stocks - The cannonball barrels of a skeleton ship would contain several cursed cannonballs of the type the ship uses, and occasionally another random cursed cannonball.
Skeleton Flagships
Skeleton flagships are named (and sometimes specially modified) skeleton ships, which can appear as the captain ship during a skeleton ship raid, or the skeleton siege/defence gamemode. The original crew from Cursed Sails and the additional ones mentioned in the Cursed Crew commendation list (ballastball and peaceball ships) also count as skeleton flagships (Wanda reported ships rising back out of the water and repairing themselves after sinking). From a lore standpoint there is one of each skeleton flagship and various unnamed skeleton ships which either fire a particular type of cursed cannonball or none at all (other than the cannonball variety system).
Bootleg Grapple Turn
This ability applies only to ships which have grapples. The ship would grapple solid objects such as rocks or fort walls and towers to do a bootleg turn, using the force of the grapple and the momentum of the (heavier than normal) ship to swing around the object and turn. This would need some improvements to rope physics, unless the rope is to clip through everything rather than wrap around (I don't think it should be that hard to do, it shouldn't ever go slack if the ship is pulling on it as well)
Skeleton Ships and Their Relation to Their Figurehead
Some have questioned the skeleton ship's ability to seemingly control itself, as even without the captain and crew, they can sail perfectly (or a little less than). Now those people are getting an answer. It seems, that the curses of the ships have spread to their figureheads, afflicting them with something similar to the Curse of the Damned. The figureheads can move, looking around slightly and open and close their jaws. They also sometimes emit loud birdlike screeches. They appear to be acting as the eyes and ears of the skeleton ship, and may be controlling all of it's movement as well.
----Ambient Occurrences----
these are ideas for new types of occurences that could be found around the world.
Beached Remains
Due to the well known frequency of the new ambient skeleton ships ramming into the land and beaching themselves, (maybe it should be a normal event). You can go to an island and find a skeleton ship which has rammed into an island and become heavily damaged, and all of the skeletons are still there. There would be more skeletons than on a normal skeleton ship, but they would respawn slower (obviously with the added factor of ambient skeletons from the island). You would have to be careful, as the cannons still work and are happy to fire at ships and nearby players alike. It would have the same amount of treasure as put on a normal skeleton ship, and the skeletons would eventually stop spawning and the ship would collapse and the remains would slide back into the sea, at which point they would slide down and despawn. It would add some more liveliness and chance to the islands.
On Skeletons and Spiders
A crew once found a wandering skeleton ship and decided to attack it. As they approached, they noticed it was not firing back. They saw some strange rope-like material attached to some of the things on deck, and hanging off of the yards. Upon boarding the ship, they found it devoid of skeletons, and the rope-like material covering some of the deck and trailing from various objects seemed to be some kind of spider web-like material. As they went down the stairs, it was completely dark, as the light from every other entrance and hole was covered. Raising their lanterns, they went through the web-covered interior of the ship, past trapped skeletons which wiggled as they attempted to reach their weapons or the pirates, and in the bowels of the ship they encountered a giant spider, which had made the entire ship into its nest. They fought it in a great battle and took the ship, taking everything on board before sending it to the depths. The ship has picked up this spider from some island on it's travels, at which point it trapped the resisting skeletons and webbed everything, feeding off of pirates who ventured onto the ship. You could fight it, and retrive the treasure stuck in the webs and from pirates who boarded it, or let the ship continue sailing itself until it dives, killing the spider and leaving the skeletons stuck on board until their binds wear away. The ship would move as a normal skeleton ship does, following and occasionally ramming you, but not firing. You can retrieve some treasure (trinkets and skulls, even mermaid statue gems) from the webs and take whatever is on board by just taking the surface objects and cutting or shooting the webs to get through. Alternatively, sinking the ship would cause all of the treasure to drift up, where it could be retrieved. The treasure would be cobwebbed treasure (like ashen treasure for instance), and sinking it rewards you not only with the skeleton captain's treasure, but also a spider's eye, a rare gem which the spider drops on death. You may cut the skeletons free, and they will attack the spider (which will reweb them) and free their friends, in whatever order they want to. They may attack the player if the spider is not close enough to them. The spider (which could also be found in groves of trees) does not like light and will not come out on deck or get on the top deck stairs.
Skeletal Shipwrecks
Skeleton ships will sometimes pose as shipwrecks, diving down to stick partially out of the water. There are skeletal birds overhead, giving a wary crew the advantage over the ship, knowing what it truly is.
Fragments of the Devils Shroud
Old tavern stories tell of parts of the Devil's Shroud which break off and drift through the Sea of Thieves. This is a particular fog which can be identified by the occasional pulses of green or red light going through it. When entered, it causes hallucinations which will linger for a short time upon leaving it, slightly extending based on how long you stayed in it. The hallucinations vary between being specific to one pirate and shared between all in an area. It also affects skeletons, as they will attack nothing and fire at random areas, also running away despite not having taken damage. The hallucinations affecting pirates appear to be the same as those in the Devil's Shroud itself.
----New Cursed Cannonballs----
Ideas for new types of cursed cannonballs, sticking to the things we have and the way they work.
Blue Cursed Cannonballs
This is a new variety of cursed cannonball: a blue one. These produce an environmental effect, leaving marks on ships and islands alike. For instance, the Lavaball leaves lava flows on both ships and islands, which makes it less like either of the other types (only ships [purple] or only creatures/monsters/pirates [green])
Yardball
"Take it slow!"
This is a type of purple cursed cannonball which angles the sails against the wind. It would be used instead with the riggingball or anchorball to slow down fleeing ships, or to leave a longer lasting effect (as it is less noticeable).
Fireball or Burnball
"Yer flamin hot!"
This green cursed cannonball sets a damage over time effect to any monster, creature or pirate in it's radius, along with a fire effect on the edge of the screen and on the thing on fire. It is also given when hit near-directly with a volcanic rock and when touching lava, and is ended early by touching water. The curse effect does not stop in water.
Lavaball
Why don't you go with the flow?
As the name implies, a blue cursed cannonball which spawns lava on your ship. The lava has the appearance of pouring through the deck, and damages and prevents movement through the area beneath where the cannonball hits. The texture on the deck would just be the lava flows in the Devil's Roar, and some effects of it seeping through the cracks in the deck. It also spawns lava flows on land, if shot there.
Inkball
The kraken be wanting to give ye a gift!
This blue cursed cannonball gives pirates caught in the radius the effect of the kraken's ink (normally gotten when damaging a tentacle while in close proximity). It also leaves pools of it on the ground, which dissipate once the curse has lifted. Be careful when using these in large amounts, or the actual kraken may pay you a visit to see what is going on...
Boardball
Planks? Haven't seen em!
This blue cursed cannonball removes all planks covering holes in it's radius for a short period of time. It has a relatively small radius (about a third of the diameter of the average green cursed cannonballs), making it not too powerful (although something like this will always be complained about probably).
Hallucigenball
Be careful what you believe...
This green cursed cannonball causes a short bout of hallucinations, such as seeing ships and creatures which aren't there (Skeleton ships, player vessels, megalodons, the kraken, skeletons, and other glimpses of things), hearing sounds which aren't being made (such as shanties and gunpowder keg fuses), and seeing objects that aren't there (things like rocks, islands, and fog banks). It could also alter things you do see, such as seeing your own crew as enemies or skeletons, thinking your chests are lit gunpowder kegs, or seeing your own ship as a skeletal vessel. The effect would last longer than most cursed cannonball effects, but not as long as some other methods of having hallucinations.
----New Modes and Areas----
These are new gamemodes and areas of the map related to this idea.
Skeleton Defence or Skeleton Siege
This is a mode where you are set in a fleet or on your own (varying in difficulty based on ship count and crew count), Where you are placed in one of two scenarios:
You are either placed in the middle of an area varying between rocky and open stretches of sea, and are sieged by skeleton ships for as long as you can last.
You are sent to attack a large skeleton fort (around four times the size of the normal ones) Heavily defended by skeleton ships, defended outlying islands (basically very small islands with stronghold-esque defences), and even minefields made out of gunpowder kegs (watch out, a stronghold keg could be lurking in there as well). The fort itself has very few gaps in the walls, and has large gates which require cannon fire or gunpowder kegs to open (unless someone can survive long enough to turn the capstan above and open it that way). It would have a large amount of normal offshore towers and a few larger ones sprinkled throughout. They would be better stocked, having all of the slots occupied by cannons rather than missing some (the entire stronghold has been repaired and restocked with everything). Inside the walls is a system of trenches, small walls, towers, and miniature forts (a small roofless building the skeletons can shoot over), some of which may have kegs strewn about (and the occasional cannon).The main tower would basically have more layers added on to it, almost like a normal one stacked on top of another structure. It would have small bridges connecting it to towers similar to the offshore ones. (The names could both work for either one, which is why these are not separate)
Skeleton Infested Area
This is a new area of the map, most likely to the South by Southwest. The possible lore is that when the Shroud opened up again the skeletons took the chance, rushing in and infesting the region, building forts, and commonly patrolling with their ships. The Shroud closed behind them, allowing them to do this undisturbed in their own little pocket, hidden by the Shroud. Pirates excited for a new region to plunder would be in for a surprise, though depending on who you ask it could be good or bad.
The area would be home to a large amount of Strongholds, although most are never truly active. Every island has been fortified, ranging from a small island which cannot be seen through the fort itself (there is a lot of stuff there) or a large one with just some towers and a wall. There are also dry docks with partially built skeleton ships often found, and some completely build but uncursed ships (complete with banners, towers and sails). Some strongholds do go active, (and a great many for the size of the region), but one is different. It is far bigger than the other active strongholds, and rarely is active. About two rotations of all other strongholds being active and this will go up. It has a huge central tower, heavily fortified walls with gates that need to be cannoned or kegged to open (unless you are up to the task of getting over the walls with cannons and lifting the capstan), a secondary inner wall system, trenches inside, and outlying miniature islands and sandbars (shown on the map as part of the island) with a great variety of fortifications. There is also a main harbor, which should never be used while it is active without clearing the several cannons with view of it (although the easiest to access and largest gate is there).
Name suggestions for this area would be appreciated.
The Effects of Hallucination
This is a list of the known effects of hallucinations, from curses and prolonged stay in the Devil's Shroud. They can be seen by either an individual pirate or all in an area.
Visual
- False skeletons
- False ships (both skeleton [random cannonballs/fleets] and player ships [random cosmetics])
- Seeing own crew as skeletons or enemies, and other crews as skeletons
- Seeing own ship as skeletal vessel or ship akin to The Ferry of the Damned
- Seeing cannons, sails, wheels, and capstans in states they are not in (angled, raised/lowered, loaded/unloaded)
- Seeing cannonballs as cursed cannonballs and vise versa
- Not seeing skeletons, pirates, creatures and monsters despite them being there
- Seeing rocks and islands which are not there, or not seeing them when they are there
- Seeing creatures and monsters which are not there or not seeing them when they are there (megalodons, sharks, animals, kraken tentacles, etc.)
- Seeing shipwrecks which are not there or not seeing them when they are there
- Seeing fog banks when they are not there
- Seeing cannonballs flying towards you or your ship from random directions
- Seeing chests as lit gunpowder kegs and others in proximity as unlit kegs
- Seeing gunpowder kegs as unlit
- Not seeing treasure or seeing it when it is not there
- Seeing stronghold or skeleton ship battle clouds over areas where they do not exist
Audible - Hearing cannon and gunfire when there is none
- Hearing skeletons, creatures, and monsters when they are not there (megalodons, kraken, snakes, any other added creatures/monsters)
- Hearing gunpowder keg fuses when they are not there
- Hearing gunpowder keg explosions when they are not there
- Hearing water filling the ship when it is not
- Hearing skulls whispering when there are none nearby
- Hearing sword fights when there are none nearby
- Hearing parts of ships changing when none are happening (sails turning, capstans turning, wheels turning)
- Hearing thunder and rain when there is none there
- Not hearing water when it is nearby
Gunpowder Skeleton Captains
This has been a background thought of mine for a while, but what if the captain of an Order of Souls mission or a stronghold had a gunpowder keg? Before Shrouded Spoils, this was pointless, as you gained next to nothing from killing it normally, aside from the meager reward of obtaining the keg as well. But with Shrouded Spoils came the new stronghold gunpowder keg, and the idea came back. The captain would have a stronghold gunpowder keg instead, if he were a gunpowder skeleton. This would be a rare occurrence, but it would happen every now and again, and be an interesting surprise. You are left with the decision of kill him with it and not waste time on normal fighting and risk the explosion (an unpredictable danger in itself), or kill him carefully and obtain the keg? It would certainly make for an interesting dynamic.
