Capture and loot vessels

[Dick Brave]

Salute Gentlemen!

 

I have some suggestions to the post battle mechanics e.g. with capturing and looting vessels:

 

I don't understand why it isn't possible to send the captured vessel back to the outpost with all its freight aboard (or did I miss something)? I believe it was common practice to do so and so it should be in NA.

Additionally there should be a chance to loose the captured vessel on its way to the outpost which should increase with the damage it got during the battle.

Last but not least sending vessels to outpost or admirality should decrease your crew by the minimum amount of crewman needed to sail that captured vessel. Therefore the crewsize should be displayed also during open world sailing.

 

Sincerly yours

DB

Edited March 29, 2016 by Dick Brave

[shaeberle84]

I think this is a good idea. The devs did not want to have "free shipping" of captured vessels and cargo to a port. If there could be a mechanic that allows the captured ship to be retaken/sunk, that would be good. For example the caputerd ship would exist as an npc fleet in the open world.

Also, I think crew management is in still in development, I think future plans will involve having enough supplied for the crew on open sea, I can die otherwhise etc.

[Galileus]

I don't understand why it isn't possible to send the captured vessel back to the outpost with all its freight aboard (or did I miss something)? I believe it was common practice to do so and so it should be in NA.

 

Additionally there should be a chance to loose the captured vessel on its way to the outpost which should increase with the damage it got during the battle.

 

Last but not least sending vessels to outpost or admirality should decrease your crew by the minimum amount of crewman needed to sail that captured vessel. Therefore the crewsize should be displayed also during open world sailing.

 

- This would allow you to capture a trader, load it up with your own cargo and teleport away - ad infinitum.

 

- This is a "forced damage" mechanic - and that's bad. It adds nothing to the game except for increasing the grind (oooops! you did everything right, but try again because f* you!)

 

- This would force you to sail back home every time you capture a ship, in effect increasing already long travel times and making capturing vessels much less viable - especially during battles in enemy territory

[Dick Brave]

- This would allow you to capture a trader, load it up with your own cargo and teleport away - ad infinitum.

That's correct, and why not? With the risk of loosing the ship on it's way to your outpost, one would think twice which goods he would take with him rather than sending it back with the captured vessel.

 

- This is a "forced damage" mechanic - and that's bad. It adds nothing to the game except for increasing the grind (oooops! you did everything right, but try again because f* you!)

From my point of view it would add more realism to the game. About 200 years ago, when they took a prize they manned it with the minimum amount of a crew and sailed it to the next friendly port. If the ship was heavily damaged and got into heavy weather, there was allways the chance to loose this ship. On the other hand, if the ship reached a safe harbour, they were able to sell all the goods and the ship itself.

What we have now is, that once we captured a ship (e.g. a trader) we could choose for sending our warship back in order to bring all the goods home and sell them or we can send the trader home and destroy a lot of the goods. This is totally nonsense and would never happened in reality (unless it was a matter of survival).

 

- This would force you to sail back home every time you capture a ship, in effect increasing already long travel times and making capturing vessels much less viable - especially during battles in enemy territory

 

That's (partially) correct. Man a Cutter with 60, capture a Brig that could be sailed with lets say 6, you would be able to continue your sail with 54. Still enough for a Cutter to go ahead. And yes, this would be the price for sending captured ships to your outpost. At least it would add additional realism.

[Zargor]

I agree that sending a ship to port with full cargo at a cost of minimal crew would be great. This shouldn't happen instantly but have an average time attached to it. As for having the ship lost while in transit, that would be a good thing to compensate a capture spree - you still can capture lots of vessels and if you are lucky you will have all the cargo but on a bad day you would lose some along with the crew + risk problems due to under-crewing of your own ship. I remember when playing Pirates Gold! this was an ever present trade off - keep the ship and weaken your crew? throw cargo overboard? continue privateering while undercrewed? Switch to the new ship? It worked well however we need proper crew handling for this, at least the basics of losing people to boardings and prize ships.

[Pagan Pete]

If the Send to Port created an AI instance of the ship, with the cargo, sailed to the intended port...

 

Ability for me to steal it… Er… I mean… The chance someone may intercept it certainly exists!

[omniconda]

if anything it should join your fleet of ships as an NPc that would then be dragged into battle with you in its damaged state,

 

if a captain said to 30 of his men here get on that ship with all this expensive loot we just risked your lives for an wait at port for me to come take the gold for it.

He would never see those men again.....

a captain should stay with his prize or risk losing it.

 

 

dragging dmged traders with leaks an minimal crew into battles fully loaded with cargo wouldnt be profitable and you could escort them to port yourself

[Dick Brave]

if anything it should join your fleet of ships as an NPc that would then be dragged into battle with you in its damaged state,

That makes absolutely no sense for me. Esp not for a traders vessel.

if a captain said to 30 of his men here get on that ship with all this expensive loot we just risked your lives for an wait at port for me to come take the gold for it.

He would never see those men again.....

...

Maybe true for a Pirate, but exactly this was common practice in the Royal Navy, the US Navy or the French...

[Zargor]

That makes absolutely no sense for me. Esp not for a traders vessel.

Maybe true for a Pirate, but exactly this was common practice in the Royal Navy, the US Navy or the French...

 

Well, there goes another mechanic to distinguish the pirates - members of national navies would be fine but doing it while Pirate would mean having to endure certain risks

[Dick Brave]

Well, there goes another mechanic to distinguish the pirates - members of national navies would be fine but doing it while Pirate would mean having to endure certain risks

Would be fine for me at least