I think that this whole conversation brings us closer to a series of new rules that can be combined with the long demanded
FLAGSHIP feature.
In my perspective, everyone needs a Flagship, not just Pirates as
the topic by Jessica suggests. Ultimately, before Pirates can get any extra buffs, we need to iron out
a lot of details.
The Flagship cannot be a win-win situation. It needs to come with weaknesses. At our case, drawbacks in case it is lost. This weakness part could be the first to be introduced.
Here is an approach:
-In order to
target other players with voodoo, you must have a sailing Flagship under your control.
-Every player will be able to have 1 Flagship which they will choose at will. At least 7 days must pass before you can change your choice. In addition, at least 48hours must have passed since the last time you targeted someone with voodoo. If you have no flagship, these limits will not apply.
-Special Abilities will be possible at the Flagship (later version - as already discussed elsewhere).
-All flagships will be enjoy sinking immunity (Losing levels will be possible but they will not join Sea bottom).
-The flagship will be visible to other players, at both Plunder page and Spy Network report.
-Whenever the flagship's fleet loses a battle under the control of its owner, the winner will have a chance to plunder a random voodoo card from the Flagship owner (chance rules undefined for now).
-If a Flagship is
stolen, the attacker loses a number of voodoo, relative to the danger points its fleet had at the time of the plunder. The higher the danger points, the greater the voodoo loss (ie 1 card per 36 points of danger, rounded up).
-If a Flagship is
stolen, the ship retains its Flagship status for X amount of days (this can be affected by Flagship abilities - perhaps at least 7).
During this time, the initial owner is assumed as
the owner and the player who stole it, is assumed as
the controller. The following limitations apply to the ship when the controller is different than the owner:
-It can't enter any Private Marina.
-It can't be sold to any market.
-If plundered, the owner receives full intelligence information.
-It's special abilities remain inactive.
Once X amount of days pass, the controller also becomes the owner of the ship and as a result will be able to do what he wants with it. However, in order to activate its special abilities once again, the ship must receive the Flagship mark. If not, it will retain its special abilities but they will remain inactive.
Initial owner, during the X amount of days, cannot choose another ship as his Flagship. He must either retain his Flagship or wait for the days to pass in order to chose another ship.
During this period, the player loses its ability to target other players with voodoo. However, he gains the ability to target with voodoo the controller of his Flagship.
Probable Additions:A mandatory return offer will be in effect once a Flagship is stolen. The offer will be created automatically but controller will be able to adjust the price which will span from 1 gold coin to 50 Millions, as a bounty to return the Flagship.
Initial owner will then be given the chance to decide whether to accept this offer or not from the looter. If the offer is accepted, the following till take place:
-The owner will pay the defined bounty which will be received by the looter (in similar fashion as credits exchange funds are received, to ensure safe delivery).
-Any voodoo active by any player to the other one, will be removed.
-The two players will not be able to target each other with voodoo for the next 7 days (debatable).
-The flagship will return to the initial owner (special delivery, as it happens in Ships Market will be in place to ensure safe delivery).
-A Global event will be created for this action which will also be mentioned in the Biography of every player.
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The idea above should be a good starting point. After the early feedback, we can create the above as a suggestion to explore it further. This does not mean this is the solution we are after. This is just a starting point.
It is also a good starting point in order to create
MORE LIVE BATTLES. We have had quite many so far but since these are too dependent in voodoo, they last a few hours.
We got a good system we can use to increase warfare. We can use other ways to add danger points to fleets than voodoo. What's best than use the ongoing friction between players for this purpose. Something along the lines of side affects or backfire as suggested earlier. Anything that would keep battles interesting to continue and would make live battles more frequent.