New technology : Loadmaster (Small)

[Sir Colchian Niveus]

You know, I've been thinking of something similar, Danik. Except instead of as a technology, I though about adding "hull size" as an additional ship stat. Why? Well, this would give traders a reason to level up their ships somewhat, in order to carry more goods. As it is now, most traders are content with level 1 trade vessels, with a higher level tail. Such a stat would change that, I hope. They might still only make level 3 - 4 trade vessels, but still.

Anyway, I think a "loadmaster" might be a good idea. If nothing else, it will increase the payouts for skirmish attacks

I like your idea more than Daniks, Haron. That way Pirates could benefit themselves also by stealing high lvl ships and also getting more gold from skirmish. That would actually bring balance and risk according with profit to traders.

[Haron]

Well, that was one of the reasons I though it was better to increase loads through a ship stat than through a technology. That, and that you'd have to invest in every ship you wanted to improve, rather than a one time investment for all ships.

Also, I think the ships stats should be more diverse. As it is now, it's basically "combat" and "speed". Sure, the rules for combat makes some stats better for some ships than for others, but still, it's basically about improving combat ability or speed. I think other options should be available, and more load seems like the natural choice.

Not sure if this and the "loadmaster" is mutually exclusive. I guess both together would give a big boost, but then again, studying the "loadmaster" would and should be very expensive, of course.

[Haron]

OK, I've been thinking about this, and I've concluded that the best way to do this, would be just like the other ship stats. So, I suggest a ship stat "Hull size", which increases the size of the hull by 2% pr stat, for a maximum of 20% extra at level 10. Then, the technology "Loadmaster" should work just like gunpowder and metallurgy: Each level in this technology increases the "Hull size" stat by 2,5%, for a max of 50% (or perhaps 5%, for a total of 100%).

[Most Lee Harmless]

CJ did mention in a thread an idea for upgrading your ships within their class : example was galleons : you build the basic galleon, then, as you grow/develop you can upgrade your existing ships to Trade or War galleons : Start with merchantmen, upgrade them later to large merchantman : so, the idea of improving existing capacity is already out there in the devs minds. I figured a tech would be a quick implementation of that. I could see making it work like metal/gunpowder is also a useful path. I saw 'Loadmaster' as being a skill your officers could attain which made them far more efficient in their work, thus leading to the capacity gain : I saw it as part of a range of potential skills your officer could gain in the Academy : but an actual physical capacity increase works for me as well.