User blog:Rannulf Fritzwilliam/An Intro To Ship Customization

Ahoy there me hearties!

I have been on test solid since the ship customization hit test. Here is my basic guide as to what live will have real soon. First the basics:

Ship materials are obtained from ships sunk at sea. Any Warship can drop a materials chest. Bounty-hunters drop a regular materials chest, and Warships drop Rare materials chests. One chest dropped per ship sunk.

Ye will have to collect these to upgrade ye ship. Regular chests contain pine, canvas, and iron. Rare chests contain oak silk and steel. No idea about grog yet for sure, but me thinks a rare chest.

Ye can customize ye sail colors and add emblems if ye wish. These both cost only gold and the prices vary. Ye can change emblems and sail colors as often as ye have the gold to do so. The emblems come in either black or white. Two have no options, the black widow and skeleton snake. If ye choose to purchase a new sail emblem, or sail color the old emblem or sail color will be lost.

Ye can also upgrade ye rigging. Rigging upgrades are applied to ye sail skills when ye are on the helm of the ship with the upgrade. Ye can only get a maximum of a +2 skill boost from rigging. Each upgrade path changes the color and texture of the sails. There are three options in rigging upgrades they are: 1. Take Cover 2. Full Sail 3. Open fire

Open fire and take cover require iron, canvas and gold at rank 1. Full sail requires canvas and gold. Rank 2 open fire, and take cover require silk and steel, and gold. Rank 2 Full sail require silk and canvas.

There are three upgrade paths for ship hulls they are: 1. Reinforced (Armor) 2. Cargo 3. Streamline

These upgrades each bestow three levels of benefits. They are denoted by Roman Numerals. I, II, III

Each upgrade path requires gold and ship materials. The armor path requires a lot of iron at first, then steel. The cargo, and streamline paths require a lot of pine, and then oak. the amount of gold and materials required varies depending on ship type and ship class. For example it costs the least in gold and materials to upgrade a Sloop, and it costs the most to upgrade a War Brig.

Once ye choose an upgrade path ye can change to another, but with limits. The limit is ye can only change to an adjoining path. Example: Ye have armor II and want to change paths. The only path ye can switch to is cargo. Or lets say ye have a streamline I hull and want to choose another path. Ye can only switch to cargo I. So in a nut shell if ye are not sure what ye want choose cargo, because ye can switch to either the armor or streamline path.

When changing paths the cost is the same as going from the previous in that line. Example. Ye change from cargo III to armor III. The cost is the same if ye were upgrading from armor II to armor III

If ye change paths or downgrade from one to a lesser all materials and gold are lost.

You can only take one upgrade path for ye ship. As ye upgrade the stats of ye ship increase and decrease in certain categories. The categories are:

1. Armor 2. Speed 3. Turning 4. Cargo

As upgrades are applied the percentages change on the above categories. A basic hull ship start at 100% in each category. So here is how the stats change for each upgrade:

Reinforced Path: 1. Armor: I = 118% II= 136% III= 154% 2. Speed: I = 95% II= 95% III= 90% 3. Turning: I, II, III =100% 4. Cargo: I, II, III =100%

Cargo Path: 1. Armor: I= 110% II= 114% III= 120% 2. Speed: I, II, III =100% 3. Turning: I, II, III =100% 4. Cargo: I= 125% II= 140% III= 160%

Streamline Path: 1. Armor: I, II, III =100% 2. Speed: I= 110% II= 120% III= 120% 3. Turning: I= 90% II= 100% III= 110% 4. Cargo: I= 85% II= 85% III= 100%

The level IV hulls each have a unique name, and allow ye to fire a percentage of a special broadside. The level IV hull options are offered at the end of each upgrade path. The are:

1. Armor: Skull and Cross Bones(fury), Copperhead(explosives). 2. Cargo: Treasure Hunter(firebrand), Skull and Cross Bones(fury), Firestorm(firebrand). 3. Streamline: Stormchaser(thunder), Firestorm(firebrand).

Here are the stats: Copperhead: 1. Armor 150% 2. Speed 90% 3. Turning 100% 4. Cargo 100% 5. (atm) 5% explosive broadside chance

Skull and Cross Bones: 1. Armor 125% 2. Speed 110% 3. Turning 100% 4. Cargo 100% 5. 15% Fury broadside chance

Fortune Hunter: 1. Armor 120% 2. Speed 110% 3. Turning 110% 4. Cargo 150% 5. 10% Firebrand broadside chance

Firestorm: 1. Armor 100% 2. Speed 114% 3. Turning 120% 4. Cargo 100% 5. 20% Firebrand broadside chance

Stormchaser: 1. Armor 100% 2. Speed 120% 3. Turning 110% 4. Cargo 100% 5. 15% Thunder broadside chance

Once ye have a level IV hull ye can either go back to the level III or go up or down in the level IV choices. the order is: 1. Copperhead 2. Skull and Cross Bones 3. Treasure Hunter 4. Firestorm 5. Stormchaser

So for example if ye have a Fortune Hunter hull and wish to change it ye can chose either Skull and Cross Bones or Firestorm.

Here is what ye can not do: Ye can not pick what ever color ye want for ye hull. The color scheme is tied to what hull type it is. This is set in stone.

And the bad news: If ye chose to sell an upgraded customized ship the gold value is the same as if it had no changes made to it. Also these upgrades are not cheap. A Copperhead War Brig will cost around 225,000 gold. That does not include the War Brig its self at 80,000, or colored sails, an emblem and rigging to level 2. This can add another +/- 100,000 gold.