Overview
The information that we have received about the Naval System in Ashes of Creation has been a slow roll system. Ever since the Kickstarter in 2017 we’ve known Ashes of Creation is going to have a Naval System. A few years into development we found out that there would come in three different sizes:
Small: Crew of 1-3 used for solo content
Medium: Crew of 8 (a party) used for group content
Large: Crew of 40 (a raid) used for raid content
During the Feb 2022 livestream we also found out about different classes of ships, military vessels and transport ships were both mentioned as well as more versatile ship category. The type of ship is going to dictate the type of attachments that can be applied to a ship and in what quantity.
What we know from hard and fast facts about the Naval system is that boats are destroyable, but we don't know how they get restored. We also know that ships cannot be summoned at sea which is going to make naval fights more meaningful. If you are engaged in naval combat and you get your ship destroyed, that is it. You are going to have to swim towards land in order to summon a new boat.
We also know players will have a Mariner skills tree. The more often they do different jobs on the ship (navigation, gunnery, repair) the more proficiency they earn in that skill and the better they get.
When sailing out in open waters (non-coastal) wind is going to be a contributing factor to your ships speed. If this is like Archeage and is always static in one or two directions, or if it changes based on the day, time of day, season, etc we do not yet know.
Sailor Skilltree
We know there is going to be some sort of sailoring skilltree, that allows horizontal progression in terms of navigation, rigging, weaponry, ship repair, so the more time you spend doing these tasks on ship, the more proficient you will become at them. As of right now, this is the extend of information that we have.
Ship Attachments
There are three categories of ship attachments: Offensive, Defensive, and Utility.
As mentioned during the Feb 2022 livestream, a military vessel will have more attachments for offensive type attachments, and a transport vessel will have more attachments for defensive attachments. There are other vessels that will be more versatile and can share across a wider selection of attachments.
Naval PvP
As it stands right now we know very little about how Naval PvP will function. If it is more a boat vs boat vision or if it is more boarding the boat and killing the crew (i.e. Archeage), we do not yet know.
Using Ships During Castle and Node Sieges
It has been specifically mentioned that ships will not be involved in Castle Sieges. When it comes to Node Sieges, if you are sieging a Costal Node, and that Node has a harbor, then you will be able to utilize ships in both the siege and defense of the harbor.
Flags, Crests and Sails
Intrepid does not plan on having flags that can fly on the ships. They are planning on having a crest editor that you can use to put a crest on your sail, potentially even loading UCC (User Created Crests). There may also be parts of the hull where you can put ship names and decals.