So, I'm a naval enthusiast that usually plays World of Warships. With the Hungering Deep out, I'm still waiting for time to be available to play it. However, after watching some videos on Black Flag, I couldn't help myself to ask this:
What if Sea of Thieves had legendary bounty ships?
There would be limited amount of time for players to hunt these ships down (Presumably about a week at most). Their strengths would vary from 'requiring a skilled crew' to 'powerful to the point multiple ships are needed to sink it'.
So here's my idea. There will be three hostile NPC factions, one being 'The Marrow Fleet', which are consisted of haunted ships manned by elite skeletons. This faction specializes in sorcery and magic.
'La Armada Oscura', a Royal fleet of unknown origins aiming to conquer the Sea of Thieves for their nation's greed for gold. The Armada is mostly comprised of large flotillas patrolling the Sea.
The 'Iron Coalition', a group of privateers and scientists with a single agenda of using the Sea of Thieves as their staging ground for making their mad contraptions. The Coalition's fleet is consisted of metal ships that resemble a child between sailboats and steampunk.
To defend the Sea of Thieves, a new guild is formed: the 'Thievish Defenders', who rely on pirates such as us to protect the independence of our beloved sea via bounties on flagships.
The Thievish Defenders' low-level contracts consists of destroying small patrols of two sloops of three factions. As contracts become more advanced, players will be obliged to destroy from bigger groups of small of ships to destroying the slightly more powerful flagship of the group.
The three factions' ship classes are as follows:
-Sloops (the weakest of the ships. Around 6 to 12 cannonballs should be enough to sink one.)
-Frigate (The name says it. It's the fastest of the NPC fleets but has lackluster firepower and armor. Takes a bit more beating than a sloop.)
-Galleon (It's the ship that we're very familiar with. Consider it as the cruisers of the fleet. Pretty bulky, so I suggest about needing 18 to 25 shots to destroy.)
-Ship-of-the-line (The largest ships of the three fleets. They are extremely tough, armed to the teeth with weaponry. Their only weakness is their extremely slow speed. Perhaps flanking would be very useful? I suggest these ships be extremely rare and only available in flagship bounty hunts.)
In the open sea, there will be small groups or lone ships that roam around the three sectors of the sea. The Marrow Fleet ships roam in the Ancient Isles, the La Armada Oscura in The Wilds and the Steel Coalition in the Shores of Plenty. These stray ships are be obstacles for players while they sail from point A to B and a source of resupply once sunk.
THING TO NOTE; Iron Coalition ships will always explode when destroyed.
Now to the big thing: LEGENDARY SHIPS.
Each of the three factions have these extremely powerful ships, each one having unique abilities that match the characteristics of the faction they are affiliated with. I'll try to draw the ships and post it on this forum.
The Marrow Fleet:
-THE CURSED DECEIVER
This haunted ship-of-the-line is well known for being a myth where survivors of the encounters claim that it gives birth to frighten its foes. Indeed, this ship is known to hide itself in thick fog and produce decoys of itself to fool players. Occasionally, the Cursed Deceiver will summon decoys that deal actual damage to players, but will vanish after only five cannon hits. Fortuately, decades of decay has left the hull of the Cursed Deceiver quite weak to concentrated cannonballs.
-THE OSSEOUS WHIRLPOOL
This cursed ship-of-the-line is known to exist wherever a whirlpool is present. In-game, the Osseous Whirlpool occasionally fires cursed cannonballs in the water that generates a whirlpool after a few seconds that acts as a singularity that drags ships into it and impair movement until the whirlpool recedes. As the Osseous Whirlpool's health decreases, the whirlpool cannonballs become more frequent, so be on your guard.
-THE FLYING DUTCHMAN
Perhaps this ship is the most dangerous of all of the Marrow Fleet. The Flying Dutchman has a curse so vile embedded on it that its foes fall victim to its spells. The Flying Dutchman is known to just disappear into ghastly green mist, only to reappear near players' ships after a few seconds. Not only that, once close enough, the damned ship fires skeletons from its cannons which board your ship, giving a pain to a pirate's butt as they attack the crew. Due to the curse of sailing the seas forever, the Flying Dutchman takes additional damage when it hits environmental hazards such as rocks or beaching. Maybe use that as your advantage?
La Armada Oscura:
-IMMORTALITE
Ever since it was assigned to conquer the Sea of Thieves, the Immortalite has struck fear to to pirates and guild members due to how it ravaged groups of pirate ships with only a few dents on its hull. Due to the fear it spread, the Thievish Guild is looking for any bold pirate that was insane enough to sink the Immortalite. In-game, the Immortalite's port and starboard is invulnerable to any form of damage. Its only weakness is the stern, which is completely made up of wood. The bow is also vulnerable, but it is still armored, thus receives less damage. Not only that, the bow is fitted with cannons, so it's best to reconsider going broadside to the Immortalite's front.
-INCUBUS and SUCCUBUS
When the Armada Oscura split into three smaller fleets widen their attack, two sister ships-of-the-lines known as Incubus and Succubus began to reign terror at The Wilds of northeast. The two ships are known to attack without question at anyone who dares to confront the might of the Armada. In-game, the Incubus and Succubus have different statistics, where the former is specialized in enforcing and punishing tactics while the latter in hit-and-run and support. The Incubus is more bulkier than its sister ships and powerful ramming. Meanwhile, the Succubus is faster than the Incubus and fires mortars like a bomb ketch. Moreover, the Succubus has one trick up her sleeve, which is to fire harpoons at players' ships and pull it behind her to let the Incubus fire at the unfortunate pirates as they struggle to free themselves. If one of the two ships are to be foundered, the surviving one starts to become aggressive. So be on your guard.
-EL LEVIATAN
The El Leviatan is the most powerful ship to be present in the Armada Oscura. It is responsible for being the flagship of the largest group in the Sea of Thieves. The massive ship-of-the-line is always surrounded by escorts, thus all attempts to take potshots at the El Leviatan failed. Perhaps experienced pirate with good relations with others could stand a chance...?
In game, the El Leviathan will always be surrounded by 4 sloops, 3 frigates and 2 galleons. It is up to the players to decide whether to wither down the fleet or take the risk to directly attack the flagship. The El Leviatan has a low rate of fire, but its cannonballs are high-explosive, so be on guard of multiple holes after one impact. I suggest multiple ships to cooperate to effectively sink this legendary ship.
The Iron Coalition:
-THE STEEL SWAN
With the arrival of the Iron Coalition in the Sea of Thieves, pirates and the crew of the Armada Oscura fell aghast at the ships of iron and steam. The Steel Swan was one of the primary fear factors of the Coalition, which made pirates compare it to a beehive due to how the ship deploys smaller boats to attack its enemies.
In-game, the Steel Swan acts like a modern aircraft carrier, but instead of launching planes, it deploys two sloops to attack players. The mothership's metal hull makes it difficult to deal damage to. Accompanying the hull armor are two rotating main turrets that fire high velocity shells at targets that are too far for the sloops to be effectively deployed. Fortunately, the ship has weaknesses that can be exploited, with the most prominent are the two sloop docks on the broadsides of the Steel Swan. Focusing fire at those spots will stun the sloop deployment for two minutes. Moreover, the main turrets have a minimum range, so fighting at extreme close range is an effective strategy, too.
-NAUTILUS
Ever since five brave pirates defeated the Hungering One, the inhabitants of the Sea of Thieves thought they were safe, until they saw a shark of iron bring carnage to four pirate galleons since the first sighting of the Iron Coalition. This unidentified ship voluntarily sinks itself to fool pirates in thinking that they sank it, only to resurface to ram them from the other side after raining a hail of cannonballs. Coalition prisoners captured by pirates say that it is a new type of ship called Nautilus, which they say that it's something called a 'Submarine'.
In-game, the Nautilus is a Submarine inspired by Jules Verne's 20000 Leagues Under the Sea and the Hungering Deep expansion pack. The deck of this ship is riddled with light cannons that seem to do little damage to galleons. However, what makes the Nautilus feared is the spiked ram at the bow if the ship, which can make multiple holes in one impact and push away player ships. Its attack pattern consists of submerging to avoid visual contact, surfacing to fire its broadside cannons while circling its target and eventually moving at full speed to ram. Fortunately, players can cancel the ram by performing a saturated cannon volley at the conning tower. As the Nautilus takes more damage, it will start to deploy smoke during its broadside attack to impair vision.
-THE ZIZ
Among the legendary flagships that the Iron Coalition had deployed on the Sea of Thieves, nothing shocked the pirates and the Armada more than the Ziz, a flying ship that rains lead and iron to its foes from above. Some pirates even thought that this ship was built by the Coalition in cooperation with the cursed Marrow Fleet, as flight is considered impossible. Whatever the ship might be, the Thievish Defenders put a palace-worth of bounty on the Ziz to any mad pirate captain who loves a seemingly impossible challenge.
In-game, the Ziz is an airship that floats about fifty meters above sea level. It is a ironclad ship-of-the-line of the Coalition suspended by rigid balloons on its broadsides. Its keel has three bomb bays that drop incendiary bombs when directly above its target. Far away, the Ziz fires its hail of broadside cannon that deal great punishment to any pirates stupid enough to stay still. Its weaknesses are its bomb bays, where a lucky cannonball can deal significant damage to the Ziz and stun that bay for a minute. Its second weaknesses are the balloons, which upon damaging it can ease players' life by taking more damage. When destroyed, any unfortunate ship right below the falling wreck will be destroyed, with all of its crew sent to the Ferry of the Damned.
So! These are my suggestions. I'll think about the upgrades players can apply to themselves. In the meantime, what legendary ship is in your mind? I would appreciate it if you would share and give feedback comments!
