Dev Team - Flagships

[Shadowood]

Perhaps a "Merchants Flagship" could have the ability to by-pass a "Blockade" when the feature comes out.

What ever fleet the Flagship is in, it has X% chance to sneak through. Could be important to those Gold Bar traders.

Just a thought.

[Most Lee Harmless]

More pie in the sky : I tire of hearing how some future may-be might-be could-be will somehow make todays cold soup any warmer...

[sXs]

To bring the fame component into a bit more clarity you only need to go down the fame list and look for black flags.

Originally, the flagship suggestion was meant to give pirates a direct benefit since at the time all new game updates were for every one else.

Ship attributes was also rolled out for everyone. Yes there are some specific benefits built in here for pirates. But still there is no benefit for a pirate to plunder someones flagship. There is zero profit built in for them to do so and in fact, since they can not sell the flagship it actually puts them more at risk if they do plunder a flagship.

That component needs to change.

Yes, as Shadow and Mel have stated, everyone should be able to get a flagship.

Maybe since they can't be sold a coin bonus should be added if you manage to plunder someones flagship.

MOW flag ship 10 mill bonus
SOTL 9 mill......... on down the line.

The bonus could be based on a fixed basis based on ship type.

Or you base the bonus on the fame of the player you took the ship from. Max bonus of 10 million for plundering the flagship of someone ewith 20 million fame or above since that is the limit set in OP.

CJ and others have stated the need for more flying the black. as written now this will actually have no affect if not the opposite affect. Yes some will still steal flagships, but not as a target, more like a bonus to good well planned raid.

Flagship need to be a prize for someone to work to hang onto and also an even harder prize to plunder. But the reward must be worth the risk and effort.

There must be a significant benefit to sail it and an equally significant benefit to plunder it. Otherwise it becomes another MOW which is rarely seen sailing the seas.

[Sebena]

I read this suggestion couple times and I still can't find it useful not just for pirates but for every other path. As far as plantation goes I don't see any logical reason why plantation would work better if flagship is in the port? If anyone then guards should make them work faster and owner should be able to make his plantation death camp if he wants.

I agree that this has good potential in battle mechanics but those mechanics should be developed in fights. If my snipers aim at ships they should develop better accuracy over the time because they would learn that maybe cannon is drawing to the right so they would add on it and aimd slighter right then directly on target etc...

Not being able to sell is wierd if nothing else then it should fetch greater price since it was flagship of someone. As far as traits some could stay active others not really if we get battle tactics and different ammunition and someone kills entire crew of that ship then exp generated by that crew dissapears so any mechanic involving crew should become inactive but if previouse owner hired best shipwrights to sail that ship an they improved hull strenght that should stay active.

Thing about rum I am not sure that it is reasonable to move ship faster. Granted rum did boosted morale of the crew so instead of increase of speed maybe crew gets small boost in exp gained rather because drunk sailors can't really produce stronger wind to move ship. I mean they can if they fart but there is no way to use fart to increase speed and to be honest drunk captain can steer ship wrong and sink it if he steer it into the rocks.

To conclude this suggestion as it is now I say -1.

This has great potential and can be used as a template but nothing more.

Sincerly,

Wolfie aka Sebena

[Shadowood]

If a Flagship is stolen can there be a feature to "Ransom" it back to the original owner?

Ransom could come in several different forms...

[Dmanwuzhere]

How it will work:

Each player can possess one flagship. To create a flagship you simply pay 25 credits and choose any ship you possess to make it your flagship. This includes everything from Howkers to large frigs


Rules:

⦁ You only can have one flagship at a time
⦁ If a flagship is plundered it becomes a normal ship (more on this later)
⦁ Flagships cannot be sold on the ship's market


So what do flagships get? Well, when your ship becomes a flagship it gets the following traits:

⦁ It is highlighted in gold in 'ships in fleet' on the plunder board
⦁ It's fleet is highlighted in gold on the port gossip page when traveling
⦁ Gains +1 additional ability that can be chosen by the player

The last thing it gets is some abilties / bonuses. From two sources, an experience point system, and fame held by the player

if this is to be enacted then there needs to be an infamy system for those who fight and not worry about fame


EXP:

Each battle, your ship gets EXP and can level up abilities, like any simple RPG game. Each level, a point can be attributed to an ability. The EXP needed for each level would increase.

EXP for Battles won by Flagship's fleet:

⦁ Versus another Flagship fleet, Win: 30XP Loss: 5XP
⦁ Versus any Player fleet - Win 10XP Loss: 1XP
⦁ Versus any NPC fleet - Win 1XP Loss: 0XP


Abilities:

Overseer - Increase production rate of plantations by X% at the port your flagship fleet is at.

as for the plantation patch if traders are allowed this they can not choose a trait that includes a battle type trait ie they can get hulls or sails etc and if being enroute to two ports gains the bonus in both something just as powerful needs to go to non plantation holders

Battle Tactics - Plus X% defense bonus for flagship

Rum - Rum on board is consumed at 1 crate per hour. While there is rum stocked on your flagship, your flagship fleet travels X% faster when sailing to any port.
Also, if you have the pirate flag your ship receives a small bonus to speed in combat. (Not applicable for MoW's or SOTL's)



Voodoo Specialist - X% Chance to block voodoo. (That target the flagship only.)

Pirate-only abilities (Also not available for Ship of the Line or Man of War):
no mows or sotls for traders either since pirates cant have them as flags that gain the abilities set for their ship

Dead Men Tell No Tales - X% chance to kill the crew of the last ship in the losing fleet. Your fleet gains X% less danger.

Survivor - After losing a battle, X% chance to escape without paying ransom.


Fame Bonuses:

Based on the amount of fame you currently hold, your ship gets the following bonuses!

if there is no infamy then fame should not get a bonus

Nation players - Plus X port goods buying price, at the port your flagship fleet is at. If traveling, affects both ports.
Your name is know far and wide in the merchant world, you can sell goods at a higher price.

Pirate flag players - Plus X% attack bonus for flagship. (Does not apply to MOW's or SOTL's)
Your infamous name instills fear into the crew of the enemy.


Numbers estimates:

At the top level, lets say a player won 1,000 normal battles worth of EXP, and put all the points into a single ability. The following stats should look something like this:

At 1,000 battles:

Overseer - Increase production rate of plantations by 25% at the port your flagship fleet is at.

Battle Tactics - Plus 20% defense bonus for flagship

Rum - Fleet travels 200% faster. Decent speed bonus in combat for non-SOTL or MOW flagship owned by pirates.

Voodoo Specialist - 95% Chance to block voodoo. (That target the ship only.)

Pirate-only abilities (Also not available for Ship of the Line or Man of War):

Dead Men Tell No Tales - 90% chance to kill the crew of the last ship in the losing fleet. Your fleet gains 50% less danger.

Survivor - After losing a battle, 70% chance to escape without paying ransom.


Remember, these numbers are if all points are put into a single ability. For best results you would normally diversify.


Fame Bonuses:

It should be very hard (but not impossible) to raise these bonuses by much after after 20,000,000 fame. At 20,000,000 fame:

Nation players - Plus '4 gold' port goods buying price, at the port your flagship fleet is at. If traveling, affects both ports.

Pirate flag players - Plus 20% attack bonus for flagship (Not SOTL or MOW)


Now the coolest part.. Plundering a Flagship!
If you plunder a flagship it retains everything, it is just deactivated. So you can still see the EXP bonuses, extra ability, and who's flagship it originally was. All that stuff is just deactivated and not counted. (Effect of Loyal crew would still work for the previous owner)

Plundered flagships:

⦁ Perks are deactivated
⦁ Still cannot be sold at the ship's market
⦁ Still are highlighted in gold for "trophy status"

Now here's the nice part. Lets say I plunder a powerful flagship. And I currently don't have one. I can choose that ship as my flagship! The extras are "reactivated" since the ship once again has flagship status. I can do this as much as I want, but have to pay the 25 credits each time.

There would a cool down of around 48 hours for naming a flagship. And there would also be an EXP penalty on the flagship every time it is plundered.

this whole statement sucks and needs to be reworked


End
p.s.
over all a trader flagship should not be enhanced in any way other than trade aid meaning no fire assault no levi etc...

maybe you need a scale from trader to pirate to decide perks





there is the very basics of what is wrong with your current proposal so i added a few notes as i refuse to have to draw up a design because i come to play
i expect the dev team to make projections based on the wants of what it is they are creating and since the flag was for pirates i find they failed here as this benefited traders and plantation owners only with a very small gift to pirates lol they could watch traders roll around with a mow or an sotl flag but they couldnt or some of their bonuses didnt even apply and the fame knocked it even further down ...... be real and favor what the ship was wanted for instead of hidden input from others.
this is the reason i didnt like a dev team to begin with at least the +1 -1 system was in the open and everyone had input

[Hawk]

Regarding fame, these were the flavor texts and thoughts behind the bonuses:

Pirate
Your infamous name instills fear into the crew of the enemy.

Trader
Your name is know far and wide in the merchant world, you can sell goods at a higher price.


Fame is indeed a widely fluctuating stat. But having a single bonus off of it for the flagship didn't seem too bad imo.

Maybe since they can't be sold a coin bonus should be added if you manage to plunder someones flagship.

Hm.. well they can still be sold to the shipwright according to this suggestion. A bonus is definitely appropriate, maybe put it there, if not also when plundered.

[Dmanwuzhere]

Regarding fame, these were the flavor texts and thoughts behind the bonuses:

Pirate
Your infamous name instills fear into the crew of the enemy.

Trader
Your name is know far and wide in the merchant world, you can sell goods at a higher price.


Fame is indeed a widely fluctuating stat. But having a single bonus off of it for the flagship didn't seem too bad imo.

Maybe since they can't be sold a coin bonus should be added if you manage to plunder someones flagship.

Hm.. well they can still be sold to the shipwright according to this suggestion. A bonus is definitely appropriate, maybe put it there, if not also when plundered.

infamy and fame are opposites and currently there is no measure of infamy..... fame in no way represents infamy and since fewer ships can not achieve fame the current system with your suggestion is rigged and void of benefit ...... unless you are a trader with a lot of fleets

[sXs]

this is the reason i didnt like a dev team to begin with at least the +1 -1 system was in the open and everyone had input

This is similar to a point I made to Dez quite a while ago. I do see a place for the development team though. For several reasons.

#1 no proposal gets 100% support. Everyone has suggestions based on their chosen style of play. The dev team should take these suggestions, look at opinions and ideas from both sides of a proposal, take the ideas that get the most support no matter which side they are on, and come up with a final product.

The issue I see with this iteration of Flagship is it completely abandons the original intent. On this point I agree with dman 100%. As written, this benefits pirates the least and the original idea was proposed as a pirate perk.

Plantation owners get a benefit. Kings and vets with high fame get a benefit, Privateers get a benefit, any benefit to pirates is outweighed by all of the above making actually a disincentive for pirates.

Also, one specific point, why advertise flagships by making them standout in port gossip? This makes no sense at all.Why would i risk my one and only opportunity at a flagship and risk it if everyone and the red headed step sisters can see it in port gossip page. Especially those players with alot of Fame. Why would they sail them at all? It is like a big arrow pointing at yourself saying I am a target and here is my prize. no work involved, no strategy involved to find a ship that is supposed to be a prize but actually isn't.

I would make this suggestion. Go back and read the conversations with the original flagship proposal.Take to heart the reason it had such support and follow the reasoning when putting together a plan to implement it.

[sXs]

Regarding fame, these were the flavor texts and thoughts behind the bonuses:

Pirate
Your infamous name instills fear into the crew of the enemy.

Trader
Your name is know far and wide in the merchant world, you can sell goods at a higher price.


Fame is indeed a widely fluctuating stat. But having a single bonus off of it for the flagship didn't seem too bad imo.

Maybe since they can't be sold a coin bonus should be added if you manage to plunder someones flagship.

Hm.. well they can still be sold to the shipwright according to this suggestion. A bonus is definitely appropriate, maybe put it there, if not also when plundered.

Everyone gets one flagship, if they are sold to the shipwright how long will flagships be around? Or can you rebuild a flagship if you lose yours? If you can, then why is a flagship special at all?