Please, before commenting here, please wait for the rest of the ideas, plus the main article. It is going to take some time.

A captain will be activated at each ship as a person you can give orders on ship behavior.

Ships currently have separate hit-points for Hull and Sails. Each ship has different values. This happens since forever. These values will be published and will be revised.

The initially proposed orders set is:

• No specific orders (default option)
Ship just shoots what it cans. It gives no priority to either the hull or masts.

• Aim for the Sails
This ship will attempt to wreck the Sails, for the duration of the combat.

• Aim for the Hull
This ship will attempt to wreck the Hull, for the duration of the combat.

• Aim for the Crew
The ship will attempt to kill off enemy crew with permanent effect.

• Aim for the cannons
The ship will attempt to destroy enemy cannons with permanent effect.

• Suicidal Mission
[Expansion, to give you an idea options we have/will have here]
At a 50% chance, affected by crew experience, the captain will order a suicidal mission.
-If you win the flip, the ship will attempt to crush at enemy ship with devastating permanent damages (not only for the battle duration, these damages to the enemy ship will be kept till the other player repairs them). Damages will span up to 99%
-If you lose the flip, the ship defects to the enemy limbo [a place where the enemy player will choose within a specified time frame whether and when to accept the incoming ship].

Feel free to suggest additional orders.

"Aim for the Crew
The ship will attempt to kill off enemy crew with permanent effect."

Oh no.

I presume @2 results in sinking if sucessful, if so which ship, we fight fleets, rarely individual ships and the rult is rarely decided by the 5th ship.
@ 1 slows them so you can board and comandeer like pirates, with out voodoo, crew to crew combat?
I'd suggest a #6 based on many of my battlws, "Just hit the bloody thing!"

Captain Jack wrote:

• Aim for the Crew
The ship will attempt to kill off enemy crew with permanent effect.

So how would this effect minimum crew requirements to sail a ship? Can only so much crew be killed or can all crew be killed? If all crew can be killed, what happens to the ship?

Would be interesting if you kill all the crew, you plunder the ship, regardless of gc on purse or ship position in fleet.

As well, if you do kill crew, I would suggest that plundered ships do not come with crews. A portion or all of the existing remaining crew could abandon ship forcing the new owner to transfer sufficient crew to man the ship from the capturing fleet.

I would apply the crew rule to shipwrecks as well. To take possession, the fleet must transfer sufficient crew.

If a ship that is travelling, has its crew zeroed/below the amount, it will still reach destination. After this, common rules apply.
Added "No Specific Orders" option, as Kangaroo proposed.

An explanation is needed here:

Right now, to sink a ship, both hull and masts must zero. Obviously, with the above options, this has to change. Feel free to propose the diversity. We will present our idea to this later.

+100

good directional improvement for the game, adds more variables and strategy.

Some of the flavor of proximity battles but just done as preset.

New options, "Immobilized", "Commandeered"

If a ship "Sinks" thats would be a result of excessive hull damage during battle, and in this event should be lost to see bottom, not as it is now.

"Immobilized" would be a loss of masts, cannons, suicide damage, or no order given option where the ship loses and results are as they are now in, receives damage and remains with the owner after the battle.

"Commandeered" would be a loss of crew, where the ship is then plundered at the end of the battle and goes to the victor. (attacker or defender) whomever wins.

So if you select aim for Hull only and completely destroy the hull the ship will only be 50% damaged as the mast is still entact?

Technically, yes - it might sink, or at least begin sinking as the crew would stop to address the breach. It might take the ship out of the battle.

Taking out sails would eliminate speed factor.

I see it as one can have captains on each ship target specific elements of the enemy ship.

It no longer means frigate always beats war galleon, or 43 point sloop beats 39 point sloop. This puts the attribute strengths into a more critical role in ship leveling.