Similar to that of most rpg games where you can socket gems in to swords to make them stronger.
You can socket weapons and machinery to ships to make them stronger, examples below.

How it works
Each type of ship have different max socket slots numbers.
Howker - Sloop of War (1 slot)
Galleon - Merchantman (2 slots)
Trade Galleon - War Galleon (3 slots)
Frigate - Flag Galleon (4 slots)
Large Frigate - Ship of the Line (5 slots)
We could have tech or voodoo that increases the max slots limit or decrease it.
You can spend 20 credits to buy 1 random object for socketing.
You can sell them to the game for 10 credits each.
You can remove them from a slot with 5 credits.
You can earn them by completing achievements, winning a fight against a npc fleet, plundering ships that has already a socket.
You can't remove a socketed item from a ship that is in a fleet with 3 or more danger.

Examples of the weapons and machinery :
Greek Fire
Max number on a ship : 1
Increases damage of dealt by ship by 10%

Silk Sails
Max number on a ship : 3
Increases travel speed by 5% and increases chance of evade shots by 1%
Max stack bonus : Increases travel speed by 5%

Steam engine
Max number on a ship : 1
Increases travel speed by 10% and increases chance of evade shots by 5%

Hmm, I hope I didn't miss anything.
That's all I think.

While I do play other games an enjoy "socket" gear on my Dark Elf Ranger or Badass Orc Warrior, I don't see this here just yet.

Ship Abilities should cover some of this and should come first. Maybe after that update something like this could be explored, but really think Ship Abilities is the way to go

I liked diablo. But dont think that socketed items would fit well in this game

I think this could relate the the artifacts suggestion in Pieces of Eight made by Hell Fire. This would just be an alternative to it. Look at Pieces of Eight and we can work together on the ideas if you wish

PFH wrote:I think this could relate the the artifacts suggestion in Pieces of Eight made by Hell Fire. This would just be an alternative to it. Look at Pieces of Eight and we can work together on the ideas if you wish

Now that I look at that idea, it does looks almost the same. And sure, we can work together.

it's a good idea for the future but as of now no

Bump
More examples :
Harpoon
Max number on a ship : 1
At the start of a battle, instantly deal 200 hitpoints of damage to enemy ship.

Chinese Rocket
Max number on a ship : 1
Increases shots accuracy by 5%.

I think we need to focus on ship abilities and not attachments at this time. This is why I stopped on artifacts for now.

After abilities, I believe we can then add more balanced items to ships

Bump, agian.