Close Quarter Combat

[asuspiciousbear]

I have seen this around the forums in a couple places and really liked the idea and thought it should be floated here. Give the marines a use outside of boarding, have them be able to shoot from the deck of your ship at enemy ships and crew if you get within 50 meters or so. Maybe a new crew priority option to man extra muskets or swivel guns to give a bigger bonus. I think this would give a new depth to marines and boarding crew that would make for interesting dynamics.

[Capt Jubal Early]

Been discussed multiple times

[Slim McSauce]

Been seriously discussed once recently. It was a good idea, it's actually already been featured and the devs could add it back in with a snap of a finger.
Only thing it needs is some indicators (sound, puffs of smokes, etc.) to bring it up to snuff.

Edited April 23, 2018 by Slim McSauce

[StaleMemes]

On 3/22/2018 at 10:44 AM, Capt Aerobane said:

I was just thinking this yesterday because people were crying about princes camping right next to SOLs where only 4 or so of the larger ships cannons could hit. (Actually a pretty legitimate complaint, unfortunately they were crying about getting penned and wanted the princes to just bounce off even at 0m range.)

 Here is what I think would work.

*When ships get close to each other, ~100m or less, they start taking small amounts of crew damage to crew in the rigging and on deck from musket fire and small swivels etc.

*Increases if one of the ships is in boarding mode (lots of crew on deck, lots of men firing and aiming for enemy crew) (Both take more damage due to more targets, but the side not in boarding takes LOTs of damage eventually.

*Increases as the ships get near each other, more damage if ships have very little movement relative to each other (More if running side by side, less if twisting and turning due to crew having to move around to keep getting shots, and difficulty aiming.

*Taller, more heavily crewed ships stronger than smaller low and less crewed ones.

*If ships are very unequal and stay within 100m, the weaker vessel will start suffering from rigging shock (as rigging is cleared of crew) and eventually crew shock (only for ships with less than 2 decks, due to all the crew on the deck guns being killed. Eventually one ship clears the other's decks and crew of rigging. (At this point, allow traditional boarding.) Perhaps have a warning/crew shock type "Decks cleared" that means the decks have been cleared of crew and they can't come back from below decks because the enemy has overwhelming amounts of muskets and cannons aimed at all hatches to below. The ship needs to separate (even just 50m or so )or get help (Think fighting Temaire rescuing victory at Trafalgar)

*Musket fire effectiveness increased with certain boarding modules and skills, and ship positioning. If they are bow or stern on to your broadside your crew has better angles and more of them can fire, increasing your damage while decreasing theirs.

Strong increase: Marines, Muskets and Pistols, Boarding Cannons.

Slight increase: barricades, hammocks (only because more crew) boarding parties (while not boarding they would be firing their muskets and pistols) Nassau boarding/Nassau fencing

No effect: Boarding ladders/ropes, Melee training, Boarding axes, 

Decrease: Grog rations (crew can't hit anything)

This solves a couple problems I have, first of all the binary nature of boarding right now. Its either 100% boarding ships lashed together fight to the death, OR its nothing at all your marines are just sitting on the asses. Ship-to ship musket fire and crew suppression at close range makes boarding setups more interesting and gives boarding benefits without having to actually board.

More importantly it stops small ships from abusing the above mentioned lack of realistic mechanics. In real life if you parked a schooner next to a 2nd rate your decks and rigging would be completely swept clear of crew within minutes, if not seconds. This, in combination with more generous penetration mechanics for small ships, will make them more realistic and fun for both sides. Also if small ships want to be able to fair better while sterncamping, they can use boarding modules to stand a better chance/have longer before rigging shock sets in. They would never be able to go toe to toe with SOLs or frigates, but they could give themselves enough time to pop in and out and do some damage or get a good stern rake.

Didn't include the book of five rings because I despise that abominable blight upon boarding in this game.

 

[asuspiciousbear]

On 4/23/2018 at 1:51 AM, Slim McSauce said:

Been seriously discussed once recently. It was a good idea, it's actually already been featured and the devs could add it back in with a snap of a finger.

Why did it get removed? id like to know the @admin view on it. If this does return I hope its not so overpowered graping becomes redundant, crew shock from musket fire should take a long time to get to. I feel it should happen gradually, loosing only a few every couple seconds so it adds up after a while, not the immediate loss of a grape loaded broadside.

Edited April 27, 2018 by asuspiciousbear