instead of having to fill up a progress bar very slowly to unlock stuff, you fill it up relatively quickly for research points, and each upgrade costs 1
give research ideas.
NOW!!!
also i had some “ship modifications” in mind that give stat-based buffs and debuffs but can also give just stats, i have yet to dive into this concept enough
ooh i like this idea, here’s some stuff
first upgrade - fleet raven, unlocks 3 branches (could also be 2-3 upgrades before the branches, or it starts with the 3 branches and the fleet raven is the first for fleet, rowboats first for ship, and flare gun first for utility)
first branch - fleet upgrades
second branch - ship upgrades
third branch - utility upgrades
fleet upgrade branch - upgrades like decreased ship damage, increased task efficiency, more task levels, cheaper maintenace, etc
ship upgrade branch - upgrades like rowboat attachments, skyship, diving bell, permanent boosts, feature unlocks (me and 48 had an idea to give the gem-rack a purpose that would let you socket 1 of each jewel and give different ship upgrades at different milestones and mostly magic storage for the ship, and also a bookshelf for storing books and such), and for the frigate you could possibly unlock special decorative options for the interior since vetex said it’d be customizable
utility upgrade branch - things like the flare gun, ship respawn timer (when sunk) decreased, possibly extra lives for dark sea, and maybe a feature like taking drachma from your fleet to automatically restore ship durability/food and supplies if needed
i really like this