The current ship balance and metaplay is severely one sighted towards speed sails. But also towards bigger ships and bigger mast types. I haven´t sailed the Galleon yet so I will ujust focus on the 3 other ships.
Lets first recap on a few things.
Weight sails add 450, 750 and 1100 for the 3 sizes. Like if anyone actually used those.
Speed sails includes an unknown bonus, but it´s clear the bonus for the bigger sails is much higher than for equal sail force of lower sails. Unlike how it is for weight sails.
Handing sails have a hidden property that it effects the ship turning rate in a quite significant matter. The tool tip and BPs only list the wider wind catch range.
Sail force for small is 1.0, medium 1.7 and large 2.7.
Schooner and Brigantine, despite using the same planks have different HP levels. (5100 vs 6000).
So let´s begin and look on the ships and their configuration first.
Sloop (2.0 sail force limit) is currently the slowest ship, this includes both sail configurations with 2 small speed sails or the faster option of a single medium speed sail. This is the first example on that using 1 larger vs 2 small sails not only saves you 1 crew, but it is also better and less space consuming.
Schooner can be quite flexible, 4.0 sail force that allows for up to 4 masts. However again the current meta evolves around 1 large sail and often 1 small handling or more rarely 1 small speed sail. 1 large + 1 small speed sail is faster than 2 medium speed sails. That again is faster than 1 medium and 2 small. That again is faster than 4 small speed sails.
Brigantine is the fastest of the 3 ships, it allows for a sail force of 8.6 and at least 5 masts. The current meta for Brigantines are either 2 large speed and 1 large handling that not only makes it faster than any Schooner, it also turns faster than any Schooner without a handling sail. Or the pure speed run of 3 large speed sails.
So what we have learned so far is, that not only is the bigger ships faster, they can also be a lot more maneuverable.
However it doesn´t stop here. Schooner vs Brigantine is so offset you almost have to be a poetic fool to sail the Schooner and here is why:
Not only do you gain additional plank HP on the Brigantine vs the Schooner and can sail faster and turn better for the low cost of what is roughly 30% higher cost. You also gain 67% more weight and level up bonuses that ranges from 50 to 150% over the Schooner. And do we have to talk about size, 2 relatively small decks vs 3 quite sized decks.
Sloop vs Schooner vs Brigantine vs Galleon level up.
Weight +60/80/200/300
Crew space +0.5/0.5/0.75/1
Accommodation +0.5/0.5/0.75/1
Study is the only directly balanced metric with 2.5% per level.
Accommodation is outright silly, this essentially dictates the cost of the crew with less relevance on bed count. So in any means a Brigantine is cheaper to run per level up than a Schooner. and a Galleon is yet again even cheaper.
Crew space you can easily argue about size of ship.
Weight increase the Schooner is the loser again. The Sloop increases it´s weight per level over base with 1.765%, Schooner 0.089%, Brigantine 1.333% and the Galleon 1.035%
Personally I would recommend getting the accommodation to the same value on all ships. Equalize the plank HP on same planks types as well.
Increase Schooner eight to 10500 and/or increase Schooner weight per level to 120/125. Increase Galleon weight per level to 350.
Balance handling and speed sails so more sail force and extra crew is better like weight sails. Example with Schooner would be that 4 small speed sails should be faster than 1 large and 1 small that again should be faster than 2 medium. Just as weight in those cases would be +1800, +1550 and +1500 (Expect I think sail force may still be broken there).
The current ship balance and metaplay is severely one sighted towards speed sails. But also towards bigger ships and bigger mast types. I haven´t sailed the Galleon yet so I will ujust focus on the 3 other ships. Lets first recap on a few things. Weight sails add 450, 750 and 1100 for the 3 sizes. Like if anyone actually used those. Speed sails includes an unknown bonus, but it´s clear the bonus for the bigger sails is much higher than for equal sail force of lower sails. Unlike how it is for weight sails. Handing sails have a hidden property that it effects the ship turning rate in a quite significant matter. The tool tip and BPs only list the wider wind catch range. Sail force for small is 1.0, medium 1.7 and large 2.7. Schooner and Brigantine, despite using the same planks have different HP levels. (5100 vs 6000). So let´s begin and look on the ships and their configuration first. Sloop (2.0 sail force limit) is currently the slowest ship, this includes both sail configurations with 2 small speed sails or the faster option of a single medium speed sail. This is the first example on that using 1 larger vs 2 small sails not only saves you 1 crew, but it is also better and less space consuming. Schooner can be quite flexible, 4.0 sail force that allows for up to 4 masts. However again the current meta evolves around 1 large sail and often 1 small handling or more rarely 1 small speed sail. 1 large + 1 small speed sail is faster than 2 medium speed sails. That again is faster than 1 medium and 2 small. That again is faster than 4 small speed sails. Brigantine is the fastest of the 3 ships, it allows for a sail force of 8.6 and at least 5 masts. The current meta for Brigantines are either 2 large speed and 1 large handling that not only makes it faster than any Schooner, it also turns faster than any Schooner without a handling sail. Or the pure speed run of 3 large speed sails. So what we have learned so far is, that not only is the bigger ships faster, they can also be a lot more maneuverable. However it doesn´t stop here. Schooner vs Brigantine is so offset you almost have to be a poetic fool to sail the Schooner and here is why: Not only do you gain additional plank HP on the Brigantine vs the Schooner and can sail faster and turn better for the low cost of what is roughly 30% higher cost. You also gain 67% more weight and level up bonuses that ranges from 50 to 150% over the Schooner. And do we have to talk about size, 2 relatively small decks vs 3 quite sized decks. Sloop vs Schooner vs Brigantine vs Galleon level up. Weight +60/80/200/300 Crew space +0.5/0.5/0.75/1 Accommodation +0.5/0.5/0.75/1 Study is the only directly balanced metric with 2.5% per level. Accommodation is outright silly, this essentially dictates the cost of the crew with less relevance on bed count. So in any means a Brigantine is cheaper to run per level up than a Schooner. and a Galleon is yet again even cheaper. Crew space you can easily argue about size of ship. Weight increase the Schooner is the loser again. The Sloop increases it´s weight per level over base with 1.765%, Schooner 0.089%, Brigantine 1.333% and the Galleon 1.035% Personally I would recommend getting the accommodation to the same value on all ships. Equalize the plank HP on same planks types as well. Increase Schooner eight to 10500 and/or increase Schooner weight per level to 120/125. Increase Galleon weight per level to 350. Balance handling and speed sails so more sail force and extra crew is better like weight sails. Example with Schooner would be that 4 small speed sails should be faster than 1 large and 1 small that again should be faster than 2 medium. Just as weight in those cases would be +1800, +1550 and +1500 (Expect I think sail force may still be broken there).
