'merica! Hell yeah!
You misconstrued my statement. It won't be a pirate game, it will be an Age of Sail game, which includes every aspect of that age in realistic proportions. Navies, merchants, privateers, pirates, smugglers, etc.
Sailing square riggers is fun. I do it a lot, and it never gets less fun. A sailing simulation (can be toggled) would add a lot to the gameplay. There isn't much of a difference between pirates and the navy in the area of playing styles. (Except for the fact that everyone is trying to kill you if you're a pirate, including most other pirates.)
I'm not going to try to sugar-coat this, but it is not my intention to offend anybody.
I think that we can avoid cliches and make a truly good game. If you want cliches and arcade gameplay, I feel that there are plenty of other games for that. We have a chance to make something truly unique here, and I think that we should take that chance.
I absolutely agree as to the division between a "realistic simulation" (a phrase I endeavour to avoid as it brings to mind dull flight and train simulations) and an "arcade" sort of game. This area of history has gone largely unexplored, and when it is touched upon it tends to be pirates of the Caribbean arcade-y style (Not at all to toss stones at such games, chief example of this can be seen in Sid Miers Pirates! which I hold dear as one of my favorite games of all time) gameplay. I think that there exists a void for a game that is realistic, almost educational in it's precision while still remaining fun. I love games where i'm able to glean information as well as amuse myself.
However; despite the work of masters such as C.S Forrester, Patrick O'Brian and my personal favorite Dewey Lambdin the reality is that age-of-sail conquest when examined as a whole could be considered quite boring. Engagements could take days, crossings months and tropical disease existed as a far greater hazard to Jolly Jack Tars than the prospect of battle (consider the statistic that during the Napoleonic War, something around 10% of total deaths were caused by actual battle. The rest of the fallen were taken by Yellow Jack, Malaria, Dengue Fever and sepsis)
Considering all of this some liberties are going to need to be taken with History. Be they slight alterations of the truth (with great bloody fleet engagements every other day) or blatant untruths (buried treasure and swinging from ship to ship upon pieces of damaged standing rigging) such fantasies I see necessary. The skill lies in balancing these extremely exciting bits of fiction and weaving them into history as to make the player see them as one while not compromising the realistic nature of the game..
Anyways, wee bit off topic but it's exciting to see a group of individuals of the same mind as I.
-B
