At this moment we don't know very much about MP-Mode, so this discussion is mayby a bit too early.
We know from the interview here in PA, that the MP of AOP has no RPG-Elements, so this part is not important to be secured for cheating.
Leaves Ships, Maps and mayby some Buildings for modding. I think there is no that much danger to cheat there and even if there is precompiled code (i think in interview he told, that AOP shall be as easy to mod as PotC), it sould be easy for Akella to give modders the possibility to build in those items.
The major question for me is how shall the MP-Mode run. Will you have just scenarios with predefined map, ships and positions, like in AOS and PB (we have in SL imo about 700 for each game and there are still situation, none fits) or do they make a map based solution like BF42, where host choose a map and ships seperately. Mayby they go beyond this and add the possibility to use points, given from the host to each player or each side, to choose and invent your ship like in Star Fleet Commander III. This would be my personal favorite, espacially, if you can also name your ship and load up your own flag. Also the possibility to start with a already damaged ship would be nice for event inside a community (in SL we have a campaign called Quest for Gold, in which you sail the carribean and try to struck other ships to get prize-money. Surely you have to pay for your damages <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="

" border="0" alt="smile.gif" /> ).... sorry start dreaming of a perfect game...some ideas, i think i already wrote to Akella, before AOP was anounced, as ideas for an AOS3.
Back to topic:
It would be interessting to get some more information about the MP-mode.
- Does MP will have a pre-game chat?
- How much ships will each player be able to control?
- Will the be a God-View Camera in MP (should be, if you can control more than one ship)
- Will the MP-Mode be based on Maps or Scenarions (see above)
- How does the pre-game situation will run (choosing ships, guns, ship-name, crew, flag)?
- will there be a simple possibility to mod ships, maps and Buildings or bring in new ones?
Some informations, that would be nice to know, if there is any nessesarity to mod the MP mode at all.
Keith bring AOS into this threat and in combination with the discussion about the possibilities about cheating, i like to make a remark.
AOS2 and AOS

B have precompiled code in combination with open text files. Those Files can be moddified for cheating. At SL we tried out and it runs with AOS

B, if the joining player tries to cheat. But there are indications for the cheat, that can be seen. AOS prevent the cheating with a checksum, although it is the older game.