One of the minor complaints I have so far about this awesome, awesome game, is that the crew dynamics are somewhat similar through the ship roster.
Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the subtle (and not so subtle) differences between staffing a Galleon and a Spire, and I know things must be done very differently. However, the actions themselves are the same. You either pilot, fix stuff, or fire. Despite the many shades of these three actions, I am sometimes left wishing there was a bit more.
So I was thinking about other airship games and the old Skies of Arcadia came to mind. In it, ships were somewhat similar, but each had a "special" ability of some sort. The first ship you got could fire a massive harpoon cannon, for example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwihuf51Gvo&feature=player_detailpage#t=148s It required a lot of resources and had a long cooldown, but you can see how cool that was.
Of course, that's too anime-y and over the top, but I was wondering how/if it could be translated to GOIO.
So, I thought it would be cool if every ship had a subsystem exclusive to itself. Another position that can be manned, destroyed and repaired, which gives said ship a tactical advantage related to its role. Maybe this is redundant with player skills, but let me put some examples for fun:
Pyramidon: Steam boiler: There is an open steam boiler near the engines that can be manned by anyone. When manning it you can feed more coal to it in the form of a minigame. If you do it right the engines get much faster, but if you overshoot you end up damaging them. Goes well with the ramming theme.
Spire: Balloon Decoys: By heavily damaging your balloon (you're extracting gas), and a limited number of times per game, you can inflate decoy balloons and release them around you (similar to the training dummies) to act as cover and distraction.
Galleon: Lower Deck Shield: You can man a rotating crank which, when activated, lowers wooden planks that cover your side guns. This way guns will not be damaged and damage to the lower deck is reduced (of course you can't fire). Since Galleon guns usually have a long cooldown, I think it fits the theme.
What would you think of systems like these? (not particularly the ones proposed, but the core mechanic in itself).
If this sounds too extreme, maybe I would just be happy with more things in the ships to interact with. Little touches like levers that change the position of a ladder, a sliding panel here and there to offer more or less protection to a particular system, and so on.
