Idea Make NPC Ships Have A Purpose

Rodrigo Mares

Swashbuckler
Let me paint this:
You row out to your ship only to find an entire ocean of ships just hanging out almost un strategically waiting to be picked on.

That’s it. That’s sailing as it is now. Ships with crews sail from point to point hoping for a Bounty Hunter to show up.

Until we add Merchants and Trading Vessels.

NPC Ships that travel from point to point, Mainly carrying tiers of cargo and loot with some defenses to show for.

Upon attacking any one of these travelling merchants, it’ll attract the attention of nearby patrols.

You could also make this the first NPC faction to use Brigs.

Thoughts?
 
Yes, ships that travel from one island to another, ships that come from the high seas (like the Juggernauts did in potco), merchant fleets, and merchant fleets with navy escorts that have better loot (or at least a better chance for better loot). There are tons of possibilities, you are right that tlopo ships seem to be just sitting there waiting to be attacked and do not seem to be going to or coming from anywhere. I'd also like to see the chances of different types of loot being higher or lower depending on the type of ship, I know there is a little of this but it'd be great if they added more, like higher chance for weapons in general from navy and ghost ships. As an aside, the loot from the current fleets is particularly poor, lol.
 
You kind of see this with Treasure Fleets (https://piratesonline.fandom.com/wiki/Treasure_Fleets), however I agree this would be a cool idea. It would make specific types of ships easier to find, as people could learn what ships / cargo goes where.
Examples of what's possible:

1. A Merchant ship escorted by a squad of 6/8/12 Navy ships (War Frigates, Brigs, a mix of ships?) - All escort ships will engage a pirate while the Merchant ship can either:
  • Take X amount of ships from the escort and flee while the other 4 attempt to sink and/or delay the pirate.
  • Join in the assault with any cannons and broadsides it has in a valiant attempt to protect its cargo.
2. Specific "death squads" - an organized mini-fleet sent out in a coordinated attempt to destroy a pirate ship with a bounty on its head. Spawning these is limited to a few pirate ships otherwise the sea would be a lag-ridden mess of chaos.

3. Similarly to #2, but with Undead ships led by an Undead General. Maybe a chance to implement an Undead warship? Who knows.
 
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