Prize Crews

[Eruanno]

I have to say that since the last time I played PoTC the build mod has come a long way! I am deeply impressed. My only quam is simply that the way of capturing ships has stayed the same - the said ship becomes part of your 4 ship fleet which must be sailed back to port.

For me this leads to the problem of not getting 10 miles before I catch 3 galleons which I must then send back to Redmond and spend a few days unloading, stripping, and selling. Not that I mind the dablooms or anything <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/par-ty.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="par-ty.gif" />

However, this is not quite accurate. Naval captains who were on cruises in the Carabbean and particularly the East Indies could not afford to be running back to port everytime they captured a vessel - they needed to stay out on patrol. Naturally they would assign a low -ranking officer and about 5-10 men to take the ship quickly back to port to be berthed until the captain came home to take care of the sale of the prize.

My idea is that we change the system for taking prizes. An officer and crew are assigned to a prize and it is sent back to a designated port automaticly. Obviously unless crew is captured along the way a ships company will dwindle, as will the ammount of capable officers - but if you increase the amount of hireable officers - adding cheap ones such as midshipmen, purly for commanding prizes - then a successful cruise could consist of 11-15 prizes instead of 3.

I was just reading one of the famous Patrick O'Brian novels and there is a few pages discribing the aftermath of Jack Aubrey's most successful cruise his Brig the HMS Sophie. It talks about how the entire bay of Port Mahon was <i>filled</i> with prizes. Port Mahon can in reality house +30 medium size ships (schooners, cats, and the like) - that is a lot of ships to send home before your even done with a cruise.

Anyway, forgive my ramblings, but this is somthing I would really like to see occur. It would make far off cruises much more feasable.

 

[Juan del Foppo]

but they were some month on sea while we can reach the next port in some days <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="wink.gif" /> but its a good idea. i also dont like to sell every ship i captured. and im at the fourth book <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="smile.gif" /> the mauritius disaster <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="smile.gif" /> i havent finished it yet.

 

[Eruanno]

I am on The Nutmeg of Consolation, so I can't quite remember happens in that book, but I know that there is a string of depressing problems for both Jack and Stephen - things are only now looking up again.

Anyways, I did not mention that I know there would be a need for a new menu system - I have no idea how complex it would need to be.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Is this mod a good idea? Certainly! But it would be lots of work and there probably is nobody around who would mod it. I know I, for one, wouldn't be able to if I tried. Heck; there aren't even enough knowledeable people aorund to do some serious bugfixing. <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="sad.gif" />

 

[Eruanno]

Is there an easier way to circumvent the process that would take less expertise? How about, if you simply want to sell the ship and it's contents then you can click a button at the capture screen which turns it into some kind of item - with a value calcualated by the ships price and the total cost of the cargo. These your captain can hold until he returns to port. Is that simpler?

 

[horationelson]

First, let me say that this is a truly brilliant idea.
I think that would be good, but you should delay the time, so you don't get the prize money immediately, but you have to assign a portion of your crew and an officer as prize-master, and you get them back after about a week. That would be VERY realistic.