new skill- Assess waterline( pirates and privateers)

[Rhyn0]

it's been a few times now that i've wished for a skill that could indicate in some manner if the ship i'm looking at is carrying any cargo.
It doesn't have to show WHAT he is carrying, or exactly HOW MUCH he is carrying, an approximation would be sufficient. It could be both an OS skill and battle skill, or maybe just one of those.
A valid explanation for the skill so it doesn't sound like "magic" would be that an experienced captain knows how a ship sits in the water when loaded with a certain amount.. so by looking at her draft( waterline) he can make a good guesss as to how much he can carry.

Skill could look something like this:

Assess waterline
-30 morale
-5 min cooldown
-same range as run them down on OS
-500 range in battle

It would save quite alot of time for us merchant hunters, and for the merchants some unwanted attention when they are just sailing to a business transaction..

[Adanu]

I like this idea, but i'm not lucid enough to be able to tell you if this would have issues.

[Klaste]

As a person who plays a freetrader, and has been harrassed on an empty hull (and been refused surrender; I assume they figured I was using smuggled cargo?) I would like this skill. And even if I *am* using cargo, it would (most likely) help convince the enemy to accept a surrender. Even with smuggled cargo.. considering that most people attacking me probably don't have nearly as much hull capacity as I would.

[Ravenau deLusan]

Originally Posted by Rhyn0

it's been a few times now that i've wished for a skill that could indicate in some manner if the ship i'm looking at is carrying any cargo.
It doesn't have to show WHAT he is carrying, or exactly HOW MUCH he is carrying, an approximation would be sufficient. It could be both an OS skill and battle skill, or maybe just one of those. ...

This is a good idea. Ask a mod to move it to the Community Suggestions forum. That's where this belongs - if they like it, it gets moved to 'in concept' for more discussion.

[Michael O'Dwyer]

Originally Posted by Rhyn0

...A valid explanation for the skill so it doesn't sound like "magic" would be that an experienced captain knows how a ship sits in the water when loaded with a certain amount.. so by looking at her draft( waterline) he can make a good guesss as to how much he can carry.

While it sounds nice this doesn't work in real life. The ships of the era needed to have a proper amount of ballast, and sit at the proper waterlevel all the time. Otherwise they the wind's force against the sails would have a fair chance of rolling them over.

So in reality a ship with no cargo would haul extra ballast to insure it was safe to sail. Otherwise she would have to reduce sails and go slowly.

[Spinnaker Sam]

Exactly Michael, for it to be in the game it would have to be magic. Since sailing an empty ship without adding ballast would result in a capsize. Anyway, how many merchants do you usually find in a PvP zone to make this a skill worth taking? I am sure there are other skills that are more useful to a privateer/pirate.

[Rhyn0]

like "Devil take the hindmost"??

Ok, the ballast issue stands, i don;t dissagree in that, but i do believe that an experienced seadog could tell a laden ship from an empty one from the way it handled..

Sorry if i posted this is the wrong forum section, if someone with the power could move it to the appropriate area i'd be thankfull.

[Spinnaker Sam]

but i do believe that an experienced seadog

That being the case why would the skill be restricted to only pirates and privateers? Are they the only experienced seadogs around? If that is the reasoning behind the skill, then it should be a general skill, not a profession specific one.

[beltpouch]

While not nessessarily realistic it would be a usefull skill. Sounds good to me :-)

[Rhyn0]

fine by me, make it a general skill, i just thought that since pirates and privateers are the ones that are most often solo in the red zone, actively hunting merchants, it would benefit them the most.