Pirate Flagship

[Xepshunall]

Hmm not sure if its still on topic.
Could you potentially raise the attribute cap for a pirate, so keep the hard cap for the ship at 60 attribute points still but maybe raise the individual caps to 12 for instance so that pirates could gain a slight advantage and the cost of something else. Could add more diversity than 2 60stat sol fleets squaring off, if each ship in the fleet had its attribute points spent slightly differently then you would be able to make interesting combos and by going over battle logs come up with the best combination for taking down enemy fleets.

That's an excellent idea. There could be far more mistakes made by pirates and far fewer risks to the rest of us. The only problem with this post is the likelihood of a pirate getting more than one of these. There's not much opportunity for correcting an error until the "Ship Refitting" voodoo card gets made. I think the card should be hot on the heels of the ship. Especially if this is the buff.

I think that the pirate flagship when going into battle should have a lot of luck going on (a lot of rolls) Like rolling for first hit and rolling for extra damage and avoiding a final blow and pulling off incredible victories but it should not automaticlly be as strong or expensive as a mow. it should also have a chance to fight off a leviathan. It should be like the black pearl which is a rlly good example for a ship like this

That's actually not a bad idea if these chances are moderate. If pirates didn't have an edge, they wouldn't work so hard and take such risks for their pay.

Also, making a pirate able to compete a full war fleet won't help in the right direction. As I have said to Skyhawk in private, pirates are already able to conduct some fast damage to any advanced player by just attacking the merchant fleets. Said players, should maintain the upper hand in full combat.

I'm thinking a good base to use to design the ship would be one that makes the following equation true:

The chance of victory of a fleet with 4 Large Frigates and one of these, having the same number of attributes (42 is easy enough to work with and is the average)on each ship, divided equally between all of the upgrades (7 on each)
=
The chance of victory of a full fleet of SoLs with 42 attributes on each ship spread evenly between the upgrades.

[Shaydo]

I'm thinking a good base to use to design the ship would be one that makes the following equation true:

The chance of victory of a fleet with 4 Large Frigates and one of these, having the same number of attributes (42 is easy enough to work with and is the average)on each ship, divided equally between all of the upgrades (7 on each)
=
The chance of victory of a full fleet of SoLs with 42 attributes on each ship spread evenly between the upgrades.

If each pirate was given one then i think this could be a good idea. Would it only have the an = chance against sol fleets though, or would it be equivocal to a sol fleet in all areas against any other fleet?

If pirates only had one it would allow for the fact that they were needing to use one fleet that was ideally easily replaced, cheaply and quickly so that they required less of a trade network if any at all to support there exploits.

[Hawk]

Giving such a ship to pirates could be the tombstone of any tactics in merchant fleets.Most just pull 5 weak large merchantmen but I know a selected few that have invested/investing into creating escorts for their trading fleets.

Also, making a pirate able to compete a full war fleet won't help in the right direction. As I have said to Skyhawk in private, pirates are already able to conduct some fast damage to any advanced player by just attacking the merchant fleets. Said players, should maintain the upper hand in full combat.

However, I really find interesting the idea of giving a special ship to pirates. I just don't agree with this setup.

For example, I would find with a Brig of War (that strong) that would have cheap upgrades and would impossible to target when level 1 by leviathans a much better option AND a fair deal.

Well it would be weaker than the Man O War and if pirates can only have one it would hardly allow us to stand up to Merchant war fleets. I just want a flagship, brigs work fine as is.

Rather then making exceptions for leviathans why don't we just fix the card? I noticed you were worried about your Man O War in another topic, perhaps now you will agree that it is just to quick and easy to deal a ton of damage with that card. Advanced warfare is now just mindbar, leviathans, and serenity/purify to beat the first.

[Black sparrow]

A cheap flagship will be more convenient than a strong but expensive one, I would think. Always while trying to think as a pirate.
Making it completely immune to leviathans will not be needed when upgrades are too cheap; pirates will still have room to make profit in this way.

The equation Xep proposed would require a ship stronger than a SoL and probably stronger than a Man o War too. Sure, who wouldn't want a really strong ship? Especially if you are a pirate. But again, giving a strong ship to pirates, you make any attempt to use escorts on trade ships pointless. This has to be encouraged not discouraged. I am not speaking on behalf of personal motives. Personally I still don't use good enough escorts to beat a lvl 10 brig of war in my fleets.

Leviathan is a good weapon, I want it in the game. It would ruin many strategies I have thought of if it was to be removed. I think that the suggestion I proposed on the other thread is passive enough and suitable for a ship that cannot be recovered, like a special ship such a Man o War. Setting special rules for special things is fine in my book.

I like RoiLeon's approach. Shaydo's suggestion is also really good. Perhaps this specific ship could be advanced beyond level 10. Or Pirates could pick one of the existing ships as their flagship and advance them beyond level 10. Perhaps this can be based on number of battles the ship wins allowing up to perhaps a level 20.

Now this would be far more interesting than just handing a super ship by default. If one is going to have his escort ships being wrecked, at least it should happen to some pirates who have invested their time on their flagship and not just to anyone. Of course I would support immunity to leviathan or some protection from leviathan at the very least for this concept.

[Shaydo]

I like the leveling up style you suggested Black Sparrow, being able to advance it beyond 10 however, due to the game mechanics wouldn't a lvl 20 version be able to single handily sink most fleets due to hit point increase etc if its base stats were to powerful? Instead of raising the level if just the attribute caps were increased beyond 60, and the only way to level it up wasn't by spending gold(i'm sure some people could max level it in a blink) but by achieving so many victories in battle as you suggest, maybe to slow down leveling could be resitricted to X amount a day, then time=reward, also a starting pirate could take a low level ship as his flag ship and as he increased in notoriety and wealth upgrade his flagship for a new one?

[Black sparrow]

Edit: Ships do gain hit points when you level them up.

[Shadowood]

Bump

[Vane]

This is one of the features I have long awaited. Can't wait to see it implemented!

[Vane]

My thought on a pirates flagship:

A pirate can name any "Frigate" His flag ship. (Can only name/have one Pirate Flag Ship at any time) Once a Frigate is named his Flag Ship, a boost is given to the ship.


New Stats for a Named Pirate Flag Ship

[*] Speed Class = Very Fast
[*] HP = 1,000 at level 10
[*] Crew = 200
[*] Cannons = 44
[*] "IS" leviathanable down to level 1. (like an MoW)
[*] Cannot be commandeered. (like an MoW)
[*] 5% boost to attack strength on attack roll. (a permanent bless, stackable with 2 x bless)
[*] If plundered by any other player it reverts back to "Frigate" stats and name.

This will make the ship maneuverable, strong enough to beat merchant fleets with escorts most of the time, strong enough to compete with a SotL 1v1, but not able to walk through a solid war fleet of 2-3 x Sotl's plus other ships. It will also benefit from "Advanced Piracy" as it is a Frigate.

[Haron]

Or
* Plunder class: Plunder increased by 50%.