Problem:
Large established traders are using SOTL's as escort ships effectively allowing them to trade without fear of attack. Pirates wanting to attack them would have to use strong, more expensive ships risking any "profits" being nullified by Leviathan cards. It's not clear if the 10% increase currently gives any significant advantage.

Proposal:
- Amend Bless cards to increase the ability of lesser raiding ships (Frigate, Flag Galleon, Brig of War) to take on these fortified fleets.
- On their own these Bless cards should not give enough advantage to smaller raiding ships but will have to be used together with Gunpowder, Metallurgy and Spanish Galleon research. This will encourage potential raiders/pirates to do this research.
- These Bless cards should not be available to players with with 50 or more ships.

-1

If you do it right you can have sotl's and not take any loss on them they aren't that expensive

Right now, the amount of players that use SoLs are declining. In fact, we are looking for ways to make possession of these ships more significant than they are now. Not the other way around.

You can take fortified fleets easily with the usage of other voodoo,after all.

I run a bunch of sotl's and still plan on making a few more

Take it that means no. Thanks for the quick reply.

Re original idea statement. -1. Just raid with sonething stronger.

Re demand for SOTLs
I Love SOTLs, however building them is risky. Its a very expensive ship. If you have bad luck and end up with an under 40 att SOTL you have spent a lot of money on a fairly weak ship. If you make the possible Att range during building 1 higher for Large Frig, SOTL, and MOW. The possible final Atts would better fit the cost of building these ships. And the resulting ships would be worth more.

Another Idea would be a shipwright voodoo card. I cast on a ship builder it gives say 10 percent chance they will get an extra att on any level of any ship the upgrade while the voodoo is active.

Or you could add a tech in academy that increase percentage a ship builder will get an extrs att for each academy level

William one eye wrote:Re original idea statement. -1. Just raid with sonething stronger.

Re demand for SOTLs
I Love SOTLs, however building them is risky. Its a very expensive ship. If you have bad luck and end up with an under 40 att SOTL you have spent a lot of money on a fairly weak ship. If you make the possible Att range during building 1 higher for Large Frig, SOTL, and MOW. The possible final Atts would better fit the cost of building these ships. And the resulting ships would be worth more.

Another Idea would be a shipwright voodoo card. I cast on a ship builder it gives say 10 percent chance they will get an extra att on any level of any ship the upgrade while the voodoo is active.

Or you could add a tech in academy that increase percentage a ship builder will get an extrs att for each academy level

Not weak at all it just needs some different settings and you can always pay someone whom you trust to cast MC card

Even low att sotl's can be useful you just lose a few levels on it and rebuild it

Redish wrote:Problem:
Large established traders are using SOTL's as escort ships effectively allowing them to trade without fear of attack. Pirates wanting to attack them would have to use strong, more expensive ships risking any "profits" being nullified by Leviathan cards. It's not clear if the 10% increase currently gives any significant advantage.

Proposal:
- Amend Bless cards to increase the ability of lesser raiding ships (Frigate, Flag Galleon, Brig of War) to take on these fortified fleets.
- On their own these Bless cards should not give enough advantage to smaller raiding ships but will have to be used together with Gunpowder, Metallurgy and Spanish Galleon research. This will encourage potential raiders/pirates to do this research.
- These Bless cards should not be available to players with with 50 or more ships.

I dont see the need for this amendment : pirates have other means to weaken such guardships : Worms, Call the Kraken and Fireships can all be used to nullify such strong ships : as few merchants use more than one per fleet, and they are not normally the better ones, a decent Large Frigate, backed up with a couple of frigates, will mince such fleets easy enough. So, a wise merchant would still fear attack, but only from pirates willing to do the work to gain their plunder. The pirates who think flying a black flag qualifies them as fearless fighters and that merchants should just hand over their coin to any under-armed sloop, well, they tend to not succeed anyway : nerfing Bless cards will be of little help, even to them.

Losing levels and rebuilding, not to bad on a frigate or flag. Kind of costly on a SOTL unless you have a bunch of expedition