One hundred crates of cargo on my boat. Five thousand galleons in cargo. Knowing this was a dangerous cargo run, I invited my friend to help me out. He sailed at my ships side, helping to scare off anyone hoping to hunt me, or attack for my value. It was this run that I looked over at my friends ship, and I saw what he was doing. Sails up! Sails down! Sails up! Sails down! Constantly raising and lowering his sails just to stay near me and sail at my side. And it was this moment that compelled me to write this.
Fleet Sailing System
When sailing alongside someone you are in a party with, any member with a faster ship should be able to sail up next to their slower member, and slow down to match speed. Party members would be able to do this on either side of the host ship, and could even fleet sail onto someone who is fleet sailing another host, as long as they are faster than the host.
Extra Details On Function
This could be added as an option near the “toggle sails” or “ramming speed” buttons.
I have two main ideas for how this mechanic could functionally work.
Idea One
When you enter fleet sailing, you could be hooked to the host ship, to their side and slightly behind them. This would allow the fleet to sail in a V formation.
Similar to this image in terms of function but not exactly.
For a visual idea of how this would work, it is incredibly similar to the “Sky Children of Light” hand holding mechanic. (Link Below)
Holds Hands in a Group of 8 Players - Sky: Children of the Light - YouTube
As you can see in this video, there is one person actually controlling how everyone moves, this is the person in the center with a read cloak. Everyone else is hooked onto this person by holding hands, and therefore just follow the movements of this ship.
In terms of ships and fleet sailing, the red cloaked individual would be the host ship, and the people directly to his left and right would be those fleet sailing onto him. More people could fleet sail onto fleet sailing individuals, etc.
Idea Two
When you fleet sail, the speed of the faster ship would be lowered to the host. You would remain full control of your ship, you would just move considerably slower so that neither ship outruns the other.
Both
No matter how it functions, you should be able to cancel fleet sailing with the same toggle button as you used to enter.
Why This Should Be Added
Friends, Allies, and Clans would all benefit from this addition. Back to my intro story, if there was a fleet sailing system, my friend could much more easily have stayed by my side to protect me, without constantly putting up and down his sails. A clan could feel more confident sailing out in a fleet to where they need to be. A clan could scare away more potential threats, and if anyone were to attack, stay more closely knit and break off only when necessary.
Even a common player not interested in PvP could enjoy this. Sailing into the dark seas with a friend would be much easier and feel much better if you could guarantee they’d stay right next to your side. Or even just sailing island to island together.
No matter how you slice it, having to put sails up and down constantly to stay next to another ship is incredibly annoying, and I truly believe this could be a great multiplayer quality of life addition. Thank you for your time.
Inspiration
-Actual Ships in a fleet
-Sky Children of Light
-The end of the story, when you fight off a Ravenna sailboat because a “fleet” is after you, and you see several ships sailing together