I would like to put forth the idea of creating an experience dynamic for a player's captains and admirals. Captains and Admirals would come with random names, and would have their own stats page where their status and progress could be tracked.

~Captains with more experience would get a slight bonus to how fast a ship travels, how well it handles in battles (speed and accuracy bonuses), and possibly even an increased chance to evade attack when a player tries to skirmish their vessel.

~Admirals with battle experience add an over-all attack or defense bonus to their fleet, and admirals with a lot of trading under their belt gain bonus gold on trades their fleet engages in.

~The higher the experience, the greater the bonus, obviously.

~A chance would exist for captains to be lost in battles, with more experienced captains standing the least chance of being lost. Perhaps the captain is only lost when the ship goes down. If a captain could be lost in battle with the ship intact, the player would not need to purchase a new captain; rather a crew member would be promoted to a lvl 1 captain and the ship would be down one more crew member.

~Admirals would not be lost unless all ships in the fleet were sunk. He would be the last to go down.

Perhaps add an option to hire a more experienced captain or admiral at higher cost.

As things are now, captains and admirals are just a financial expense required for each new vessel and fleet. After being purchased, they do not mean anything. The new experience dynamic would make them more important, and the player would be paying attention to their progress. Granted, larger fleets would take time to manage, but not all trade fleets and ships need an experienced captain or admiral. Primary trade routes and war fleets would receive the greatest attention and derive the greatest benefit. Unless, of course, the player wanted to invest the personal time to advance 10k+ captains and admirals in trade and combat. It could be done; depending on the player's personal goals and discretion.

Just some personal thoughts based on my experience with the game so far.

You should review this idea set forth by ADMIN.

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1778&hilit=first+mate

Fantastic! And if I read it correctly, it is already slated for implementation?

Not exactly what I had in mind, but accomplishes the same goals, with a few other aspects I really like as well!

Sir Thalius Hayle wrote:Fantastic! And if I read it correctly, it is already slated for implementation?

Not exactly what I had in mind, but accomplishes the same goals, with a few other aspects I really like as well!

It was slated to be implemented. ADMIN has deviated a tad from their plans and are working on a few items.

It is my understanding that Ships Abilities and Flag Ship are still coming. There has not been mention of the Special Crew and First Mate idea with it for awhile. I can't speak for them, so I honestly don't know if this is still included in that update to come.

One can hope.

And don't over look this idea from ADMIN as well. This was just a suggestion, but plays into the bonuses thing...

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=3028&hilit=pets

Not so sure how I feel about the pet idea. Maybe some fame stat bonuses for well trained pets. The parrot as an informer is great! Cats as a bonus for keeping mice off of ships- maybe a guard against the plague since rats are under control. Not sure.

Hope the special crew and first mate ideas come back to the forefront of the agenda at some point.

After playing the PG for some time now, I can see the idea of having captains and admirals that you follow and customize would get quite cumbersome in time. Not the greatest idea.

I do like the idea of special crew that would lend bonuses to your fleets. I have been thinking in that direction and had some thoughts to offer-

What if you could raise a family? Once married, you would have children occasionally; more often when you keep a good relationship with your wife. Sons and daughters would take time to raise, requiring investment of time (turns) to raise well. Children with whom you have not maintained a good relationship run the risk of running off and eloping when older. Children with whom you cultivate a good or strong relationship would run less of a risk or no risk in running off in their own direction when grown.

Sons and daughters, once old enough, could be sent off with specific trading fleets to acquire trade experience over time, eventually yielding a trade bonus to your merchant empire similar to the special crew ideas put out there already, with more bonuses added to your empire with the increase of adult children with trade experience.

Other sons and daughters could be sent with war fleets to gain battle experience, yielding various bonuses in that area when they mature.

Trade fleets with a child attached that are successfully raided could end in a child being captured and held for ransom. If ransom is not paid, the child can be adopted and raised by the player that captured them- with increased risk the child may run off with age; a risk reduced by more turn being required for development of strong relationship in older years.

Children stationed with a war fleet run the risk of death as well as capture, with equal ransom rights as children captured from raided trade fleets.

The older the child, the greater the ransom price.

Children would take time to raise, and I would not picture a player having an infinite amount of children. 10 or so at most, over a long period of time. I've not lost my wife yet, so am not sure how long a relationship with a wife lasts at this point in the game. With a child dynamic involved, I would assume a marriage could be permanent if the relationship is maintained well. A divorce would run the risk that children could be taken away with the wife when she leaves, a risk that is increased if relationship with the child is poor.

Children would get married at some point. Well raised and trained children would fetch a better spouse, with possible one-time benefits in gold or credits (and of course, fame!) to a player, benefits that would increase the better the relationship and the better skilled the child is in trade or war. If the family dynamic works and is well enough received by the player community so as to be worth the effort- then perhaps fame bonuses with the birth of grandchildren from time to time, though I would not imagine grandchildren would ever enter into use in a player's empire.

Perhaps even arranged marriages between players would be an option? If/when diplomacy enters the game, good relations between the players/nations of the parents could yield benefits for both, leading to strong and mutually beneficial long term alliances between players- alliances that enemies could play on, and alliances that would call allies (family) into support roles for the benefit of all involved.

At some point you and your wife would no longer be of child bearing age, and thus amount of children you could have would be limited.

Players that have children and then become inactive and booted from the game would be considered "lost at sea". Their wife and children would move inland to live with relatives, never to be heard from again by the merchants and pirates of Avonmora. Adult children married to other player's children would continue to yield already acquired benefits.

This would make marriage in the game even more important, and investment in the wife and subsequent children more necessary and with greater benefits to an empire for the seasoned and invested players. It would also bring the special crew aspect of the game into play in a way that led the player to be more invested in their development and in a way that is a natural progression from the marriage aspect already present in the game.

Just some thoughts.