My ship ideas for POTCO

[Basil Dreadflint]

If we are talking ships here, then there is one type of ship that is SO obviously missing from the game that I can't believe it.

All the ships we see are fighting ships. Where are the true CARGO ships? The Freighters? Let's be honest, during the 'golden' age of piracy, the pirates didn't attack the heavy miilitary ships, they went after the ones that had tons of cargo. (Loot and Plunder.)
Also, most of the shipping of the time was just that, cargo ships.
Disney needs to add a fleet of ships that are not armed, or only very lightly armed but are heavy in cargo. And a very few of those should be true Treasure Ships. A single ship with at least 6 royals on it.

The ships would look similar to Galleons, but only a few light cannons, or none at all, and would be relatively slow moving. (Heavy with plunder.)

Now, to work them into the game, they would not travel alone, they would be accompanied by an escort fleet. If you attacked one, the attack would trigger a counter attack by ALL of the surrounding Navy and EITC ships. The cargo ship WOULD NOT attack you, but would run away from you while the escort ships would be defending it and sinking you.

The cargo ships would normally travel 'shipping lanes'. Predetermined routes from island to island. Not always straight line, either. Tortuga to Port Royal might be by going around Driftwood, for example. Or PDF to PR by going around KH.

The other thing is that they would be totally random in when they show up. No schedule, and no respawning. You can't just sit somewhere and wait for them. Pure luck, the way it was with most real piracy.

The ultimate would be the "Treasure Flag Ship". 10 or more Royals on it, but a twist from normal. It's a flagship, so you must board it, just like any other flag. The differences: The escort ships continue to fire on you all the way until you have landed a grapple. You may disable it, but not get to board beacuse you have sunk while trying to maneuver into grapple position. Once you have landed at least one grapple hook, the other ships will stop shooting. Then, after you have boarded, once you return to your ship, at least one of the enemy ships will begin to fire on you again. Not the instant you land on your own ship, but within 5 seconds of such. So, now you have to make your escape or go down and lose your booty.

This becomes a true test of both the crew and the Captain.

[MacIronhawk]

Now that's an idea Basil!

I think it'd be cool to fight a fleet of enemy ships. Also, prehaps let us start our own fleets? Enemy ships will be drawn to us and the two fleet ships protecting us will help fight off the enemy ships. The gold will come from the captain. He/she will out the cargo on the ship and if you make it from one island to another, depending on how far you sail, your gold will either be doubled, trippled, etc... The more cargo you add into the ship the more enemies that will try to attack you.

Just trying to add on to your idea.

[Basil Dreadflint]

Adding some detail to my idea.

The cargo ships don't go by the standard ranking system of levels. They rank as only 4 different types.
Type one is the lowest, and is escorted by guard fleets of Sentinels, Corvettes, Bulwarks, etc, other ships of that level.
Type 2 is a little bigger, and is guarded by Marauders, Ironwalls, Centinels, etc.
Type 3 is the biggest, and is guarded by Man-O-War, Warlord, etc.
Type 4 is the Cargo Flagship, and has a mixed fleet of guard escort ships.


Each type is appropriate for the level of attackers and the plunder is also.
This way, someone with a regular frigate can still attack a cargo fleet, and get the appropriate loot. No sense having them attack a Cargo Flaghip that gives 12 Royals, when they can only carry 9 max.

If you already have some cargo plunder when you attack the Cargo ship, any royals the cargo ship gives up automatically replace any lesser plunder you may already be carrying.