I do apologize for this long post. I will do my best to keep it efficient.
My ideas are to help with some of the items the developers are looking for - the use of larger ships, the create gold coin burners, and a more seafaring style of play in combat - creating a wider variety of strategies and situations for traders and pirates alike.

I put this out there for discussion, mates - don't just respond; think about it a bit first, and see how we can better serve the game.

My perspective:
The mainstay of the trader is easily done. To make gold coin, simply chose a trade route and go. No turns required. All trade routes are profitable, although some better than others. His risk is the skirmish and losing a bit of swag. Now their is fishing, and while not as profitable, a trader can now eliminate the skirmish if the fleets are set to fishing.

Basically, a trader can be quite passive, and with a few tweaks, and no turns, can create a profit.

The mainstay of the pirate is the skirmish. He may or may not profit on a skirmish, due to escape of the target, He uses turns in addition to skirmish points to execute his profit. His risk is to be attacked and lose more than what he has made. It takes effort to make a profit as a pirate, as well as turns and skirmish points.

With that premise, I have thought long and hard on providing a perk to those who chose the fly the Jolly Roger and creating some tweaks in strategy for those flying national flags (and traders!).

1.) Adjustments to the Skirmish Feature

First adjustment I believe is needed is defender's limit of receiving 5 skirmishes per day. This makes no sense, as a player with 1 fleet can be hit 5 times - the same fleet, vs those with 80 to 90 fleets. The fact that national insurance programs help negate the losses definitely favors the trader with many fleets. I believe the following defender limits should be adjusted to the number of ships they own.

1 to 100 ships - limit of 5 skirmish attacks per day
add 1 skirmish defense for every 20 ships beyond 100 ships. (This is a 1 to 4 ratio).

This means a player with 200 ships would possibly be defending 9 possible skirmish attacks daily.

2) For Those Flying the Jolly Roger

Those flying a national flag will utilize the current system of using turns and skirmish points to attack. They will also use the current DR system.

For those flying the Jolly Roger, they will have two or three options:

1) No turns required. Simply use skirmish points.
- a) The current DR system would apply.
- b) Can use any fleet (flagship fleet or another)
2) Use turns only.
- a) Only applies to Flagship fleet.
- b) DR is +6 if attacker wins (or victim escapes)
- c) DR is +10 if attacker losses (and loses double fame - defeating a pirate in his flagship is a big deal!)
3) Use turns and skirmish points.
- a) Only apply to the flagship fleet.
- b) DR is +4 if attacker wins (or victim escapes)
- c) DR is +8 if attacker loses (and loses double fame)

3) Skirmish Defense

Currently, every fleet has a (20%) chance of escaping in a skirmish. This may be due to the admiral's ability to evade the skirmish attack.

For those with the national rank of Captain or higher:
If one were to double the crew daily upkeep on a fleet, this chance could move up to 25%.
If one were to double the cannon upkeep, there would be a 20% chance that first defending volley would double.

For those with the national rank of Baron or higher:
If one were to triple the cannon upkeep, there would be a 20% chance the first defending volley would double and fire first.
If one wee to triple the crew and cannon upkeep, there would be a 25% chance the first defending volley would double and fire first.

These are simple toggles a player could select as defensive tactics on each fleet.

There is much more that can be added and hashed out here - I do not really like the above options, as I believe there are better ideas out there, but I like the premise of being able to select defensive tactics for skirmishes, and the simpler the better.

As for plunders, leave them as they are - if skirmishes become more active, there may be the need of a voodoo card that will augment the Fugitives of Justice and the Hostile Natives.

Interesting suggestions. I will make some comments as seen from the "skrimisher" side.

Sir Henry Morgan wrote:
1.) Adjustments to the Skirmish Feature

Spoiler: show

First adjustment I believe is needed is defender's limit of receiving 5 skirmishes per day. This makes no sense, as a player with 1 fleet can be hit 5 times - the same fleet, vs those with 80 to 90 fleets. The fact that national insurance programs help negate the losses definitely favors the trader with many fleets. I believe the following defender limits should be adjusted to the number of ships they own.

1 to 100 ships - limit of 5 skirmish attacks per day
add 1 skirmish defense for every 20 ships beyond 100 ships. (This is a 1 to 4 ratio).

This means a player with 200 ships would possibly be defending 9 possible skirmish attacks daily.

This is not really important to a skirmisher - as long as skirmish insurance works the way it does. If I want to hit a specific trader with many ships a lot, I light him up and plunder him. It's not that hard. When I skirmish, I usually spread my attacks deliberately, even with the 5 skirmish limit. I hardly ever hit one player five times in the same day.

However, with a change in the "skirmish insurance" system, this change would be meaningful and add a new element to raid strategies. I suggest we change the insurance so that it is not paid immediately, but at the following server update. That means that the target will TEMPORARILY lose the gold. This means that skirmish can play a part in ship stealing strategies, which again means that traders with huge fleets need to carry more gold to keep their big ships safe, which again means more gold when those traders are lit up and plundered.

Today, many traders run with relatively low purses, as they do not need much to protect themselves. I have several times heard the argument that "pirates need phat merchants". Well, a rich merchant and a medium merchant keeps around the same amount of gold on hand. If the big guys are forced to keep more gold, this statement would actually become true.

Sir Henry Morgan wrote:2) For Those Flying the Jolly Roger

Spoiler: show

Those flying a national flag will utilize the current system of using turns and skirmish points to attack. They will also use the current DR system.

For those flying the Jolly Roger, they will have two or three options:

1) No turns required. Simply use skirmish points.
- a) The current DR system would apply.
- b) Can use any fleet (flagship fleet or another)
2) Use turns only.
- a) Only applies to Flagship fleet.
- b) DR is +6 if attacker wins (or victim escapes)
- c) DR is +10 if attacker losses (and loses double fame - defeating a pirate in his flagship is a big deal!)
3) Use turns and skirmish points.
- a) Only apply to the flagship fleet.
- b) DR is +4 if attacker wins (or victim escapes)
- c) DR is +8 if attacker loses (and loses double fame)

There are several things to say about this. First: Special rules for the "Black Flag". I am not sure I like this. I'm not sure I dislike it either; I'm still undecided. Being a Naval Combat Solutions Provider, we dabble in various fields. Keeping a flag may be important for several reasons. I think other "privateers" think likewise. Being a "pirate" and flying the black is not necessarily equivalent.

1) is the suggestion that would have the largest impact. I know absolutely certain that I would be lighting up more players if this was the case. As it is, I'm spending a huge portion of my turns on skirmish. If this no longer cost turns, that would change dramatically. Bear in mind that this makes the Skirmish Tech much more valuable than it is today, though. This would be a very effective change to get more piracy. Is it too much? I suggested a much more limited change, where the skirmish storage is increased with increasing skirmish tech. This would NOT give the pirate more total attacks, but it WOULD at least make it more possible to take a day or two to do certain more "spectacular" actions, without having to count in the lost skirmish points.

Like I said, this would be a major change. Perhaps it is just what is needed? Not sure I want it only for those with black flags, though.

2) Turns are more limited than skirmish points. This makes skirmishing a very "easy" option, though. Perhaps too easy? I could easily see myself doing only skirmish if this came into play. First, use only skirmish points with my regular fleets, then, use my daily 144 turns (not counting any buying of turns) to do an extra 36 skirmishes with my Flagship fleet. Is this desireable? Or might this lead to more "boring action" (skirmish) instead of the more interesting plundering and raiding? I think while suggestion 1) would give MORE of the "fun" action, this part might actually lead to less.

3) Danger schmanger. If you fear danger, you're not a real pirate. No way I would ever do this when the other two alternatives are so much better.

Sir Henry Morgan wrote:3) Skirmish Defense

Spoiler: show

Currently, every fleet has a (20%) chance of escaping in a skirmish. This may be due to the admiral's ability to evade the skirmish attack.

For those with the national rank of Captain or higher:
If one were to double the crew daily upkeep on a fleet, this chance could move up to 25%.
If one were to double the cannon upkeep, there would be a 20% chance that first defending volley would double.

For those with the national rank of Baron or higher:
If one were to triple the cannon upkeep, there would be a 20% chance the first defending volley would double and fire first.
If one wee to triple the crew and cannon upkeep, there would be a 25% chance the first defending volley would double and fire first.

These are simple toggles a player could select as defensive tactics on each fleet.

There is much more that can be added and hashed out here - I do not really like the above options, as I believe there are better ideas out there, but I like the premise of being able to select defensive tactics for skirmishes, and the simpler the better.

As for plunders, leave them as they are - if skirmishes become more active, there may be the need of a voodoo card that will augment the Fugitives of Justice and the Hostile Natives.

I think this is an unneccessary amount of changes for a very small effect. The only thing that really matters here, is the increase from 20% to 25% in escape probability. Having the defender fire first or fire slightly more has a very minor effect. There are extremely few instances where a skirmish is a relatively even fight. Either the attacker defeats the target without a problem (the usual situation), because he has no escort or a too small one, or the target is already too hard to defeat (typical for certain gold traders, when the skirmisher is not prepared for this).

As much as I like tactics and the ability to choose strategies to go against each other, I do not think this is it. Putting more emphasis on combat is usually not the way to go, in my opinion. The combat mechanisms are very seldom of much importance. Usually, one side is clearly superior anyway. It's how and when you attack, usually with voodoo, that matters. The total fleet setup and gold on hand, for a defender.

It would be helpful if you use spoiler boxes for parts of the quoted text like this:
(you can see SHM's heading you but don't need to look at the whole quote if you don't want to)

Sir Henry Morgan wrote:1.) Adjustments to the Skirmish Feature

Spoiler: show

First adjustment I believe is needed is defender's limit of receiving 5 skirmishes per day. This makes no sense, as a player with 1 fleet can be hit 5 times - the same fleet, vs those with 80 to 90 fleets. The fact that national insurance programs help negate the losses definitely favors the trader with many fleets. I believe the following defender limits should be adjusted to the number of ships they own.

1 to 100 ships - limit of 5 skirmish attacks per day
add 1 skirmish defense for every 20 ships beyond 100 ships. (This is a 1 to 4 ratio).

This means a player with 200 ships would possibly be defending 9 possible skirmish attacks daily.

Post now edited as per your request :-)

Sir Henry Morgan wrote:1.) Adjustments to the Skirmish Feature

Spoiler: show

First adjustment I believe is needed is defender's limit of receiving 5 skirmishes per day. This makes no sense, as a player with 1 fleet can be hit 5 times - the same fleet, vs those with 80 to 90 fleets. The fact that national insurance programs help negate the losses definitely favors the trader with many fleets. I believe the following defender limits should be adjusted to the number of ships they own.

1 to 100 ships - limit of 5 skirmish attacks per day
add 1 skirmish defense for every 20 ships beyond 100 ships. (This is a 1 to 4 ratio).

This means a player with 200 ships would possibly be defending 9 possible skirmish attacks daily.

Just imagine how many times CDV will get skirmished. 5 + 607, that would be 612 times! Wow!

I alone gets 5 skirmishes which is max, everyday!

Grimrock Litless wrote:

Sir Henry Morgan wrote:1.) Adjustments to the Skirmish Feature

Spoiler: show

First adjustment I believe is needed is defender's limit of receiving 5 skirmishes per day. This makes no sense, as a player with 1 fleet can be hit 5 times - the same fleet, vs those with 80 to 90 fleets. The fact that national insurance programs help negate the losses definitely favors the trader with many fleets. I believe the following defender limits should be adjusted to the number of ships they own.

1 to 100 ships - limit of 5 skirmish attacks per day
add 1 skirmish defense for every 20 ships beyond 100 ships. (This is a 1 to 4 ratio).

This means a player with 200 ships would possibly be defending 9 possible skirmish attacks daily.

Just imagine how many times CDV will get skirmished. 5 + 607, that would be 612 times! Wow!

Hmm. Assume 1100 ships. That would give 5 + 1000/20 = 55 skirmishes. Sure, it's alot but way less than 600.

Haron wrote:

Grimrock Litless wrote:

Sir Henry Morgan wrote:1.) Adjustments to the Skirmish Feature

Spoiler: show

First adjustment I believe is needed is defender's limit of receiving 5 skirmishes per day. This makes no sense, as a player with 1 fleet can be hit 5 times - the same fleet, vs those with 80 to 90 fleets. The fact that national insurance programs help negate the losses definitely favors the trader with many fleets. I believe the following defender limits should be adjusted to the number of ships they own.

1 to 100 ships - limit of 5 skirmish attacks per day
add 1 skirmish defense for every 20 ships beyond 100 ships. (This is a 1 to 4 ratio).

This means a player with 200 ships would possibly be defending 9 possible skirmish attacks daily.

Just imagine how many times CDV will get skirmished. 5 + 607, that would be 612 times! Wow!

Hmm. Assume 1100 ships. That would give 5 + 1000/20 = 55 skirmishes. Sure, it's alot but way less than 600.

Waking up everyday to 55 skirmishes sure looks fun, I wish there is gonna be a limit like maybe 20 max instead of limitless, cus waking up to 100+ skirmishes sure looks like it would suc-- I mean, sure looks like it would be a drag for CDV.

Only to find out that half of them actually gave the attackers nothing.

Well, you - I mean, CDV - can already wake up to 200 plunder attacks, if someone just casts 3 FFJs on him. And plunders usually gives a better profit against big players, because their tails always lose a level.

However, if there was no skirmish insurance, then those 55 skirmishes (of which 20% or 25% would fail) could play a critical part in the attack, and actually matter quite a lot.

I do not think we should be able to plunder someone with skirmish, I believe the fleet should have to be lit up with Danger before a large-scale plunder attack can take place..

I guess unless there is a situation where there are many people skirmishing one guy to the point to where he has nothing left then it would make sense

doesn't skirmishing only take the cargo out of the fleet and cause the person skirmished to lose only the crates on those ships even being skirmished 1 time a day per fleet that I have wouldn't make to much of a dent in my profit.