Recent discussion about ships that have no traits has gotten me thinking.

If a player has no ships, they can receive a ship (cutter) from the game at no cost. The "free" ship has no traits. This has been said to be by design, and does make sense since it is a "free ship"

In the same thinking (of ships without traits), a ship that is sunk has been damaged and is no longer seaworthy. During salvage operations, the ship is brought from the depths and made seaworthy. Salvage operations should bring forth a risk to the traits of a ship. There should be a chance that the salvaged ship loses a trait or traits.

I think the idea is worthwhile a discussion and thus why I am presenting it here.

One has to bear in kind that salvage ships can already suffer penalties : I have reclaimed many lvl1's with very low atts left and also the dreaded '1 coin' ships which have lost all value due to lost levels before sinking.
Adding a lost trait makes the 12 hours spent hopefully dredging one up even more of a lottery. Given the high rate of howker/sloops often found as well, not sure lost traits will do much to encourage salvage which I find increasingly marginal as an activity already.

I wouldn't want a guarantee that a trait is lost, only a chance.

If it was either/or on all the 'penalties' then maybe.. but 12 hours fleet time to find a 1 coin ship with 2 atts and no traits is kinda taking the poohdah...

It does increase the ratio of negative to positive outcomes... that's assuming you even find a ship to start with.. then it might be a low value sloop or howker, then it might have no trait, or lost atts, or lost value.

Thats my concern... making the odds too stacked against finding value just kills the activity for most.

Yeah, I used to run a couple of salvage fleets. I enjoyed it from a role-playing perspective, but it very rarely ever paid off. So I pursued other means of income.

And I agree with Danik. Typically, they are howkers, sloops, cutters, or sub par.

This is only vaguely related, has any thought been put into "recycling" salvaged ships. Similar to selling it to the shipwright, but instead just receiving a portion of the materials required to make it. I know that 70% of the cost is recovered when a player sells it to the shipwright.

Danik wrote:If it was either/or on all the 'penalties' then maybe.. but 12 hours fleet time to find a 1 coin ship with 2 atts and no traits is kinda taking the poohdah...

It does increase the ratio of negative to positive outcomes... that's assuming you even find a ship to start with.. then it might be a low value sloop or howker, then it might have no trait, or lost atts, or lost value.

Thats my concern... making the odds too stacked against finding value just kills the activity for most.

All very valid points bar one. The ship is still seaworthy and can be used. May not have sale value but that does not mean it has no value.

Didnt say no value.. said low value. Sure some folk salvage to fill their own fleets but it can still be argued that increasing the number of low value finds negates the fewer better value finds to the point the time the fleet is engaged in finding the salvage may be better utilised just plain fishing. Which is fine if there is a mood that salvaging needs to be curtailed but that's not what the OP seems to intend.

The value is a traitless howker, cutter, large fluyt, etc is as tails on trade fleets, or an entire Armada of them...if you can find enough - running garbage skow Armada with a low/non-existent treasury makes it highly unprofitable to plunder.....

There is a use for the 'worthless' but seaworthy ship.

A limited use for a few players taking that path. Most salvage to, hopefully, make some coin above and beyond what that fleet could earn doing something else. Thats my concern, keeping the activity worthwhile for most players and not only useful to a niche sector.

Its just my personal opinion on the proposal. If it went through it would be another reason not to salvage, in my view. Again, if that's the intent then crack on, if not, it may be an unintended consequence so maybe think again.

I was just throwing my two cents in. I never said they were worthless either, I just said that is not good for me. I'm also not a merchant