Allow crew to equip fun but mostly ineffective "fluff" items.
Just things which make the crew seem more like people than avatars of non-stop ship-ship war or give "idle" animations and the like. Examples:
- Flintlock pistol: Firable by the individual rather than the ship. Does, at maximum(if any), the damage of a single gat shot.
- Grappling hook: Activate when falling from the ship to pull yourself back aboard.
- Watering can: How else did all those potted plants survive?
- Falconry glove: Call/Release a bird of prey. Make it hunt down a gull for added effect.
- Cleaning bucket: Scrub the deck with use. Throw increasingly dirty water on enemy ships (just for humor).
- Book: Crouch down and read a page, local pc can generate spam styled text. Add in an "I wish I could read" quote or like.
On the note of that point: character voices would be nice (especially for things like captain changing "priority"). "Macro voices" has been suggested elsewhere too for audio yells for those without a mic for things like "Balloon down!" or "Man starboard guns!".
Depending how far you can go with the age rating there is ofcourse:
- Cigar/Ciggarette/Pipe: Just for look, fairly staple steampunk. Use lights/stows.
- Moonshine: Generic game drink effect. Just make it a slight blur to it's not too much of a hinderance.
- "Contraband": Every crew has it's vice, plays with contrast/gamma/etc. Particularly common dystopian feature.
- Sweet memories: Briefly pull out a picture of a steampunk styled pinup.
Edit: This whole section:
Bigger ships would be awesome though smaller(3 and less crew) would be very awkward to ballance to a playable level.
Bigger ships could pull in up to 8 man crews for capitol ships/flagships used in scenario/"asymetric" matches (hey, fun doesn't always mean equal teams)
Simply big ships in the 6 man area would be more managable for skirmish
Ballance could be interesting, offsetting tremendous firepower and armor for becoming more akin to an angry terrain feature.
Large guns having separate "turn speed" and "reload speed" hit locations could make engineering them more awkward while simple fear of being in arc makes them an area denial. Basic gun ballance can be extrapolated from current weapons by increasing projectiles/second with an increased bullet life and/or reduced bullet drop, some weapons could even be given continuous fire (fire rate slowed by damage).
The boiler room idea could work maybe even make it never have enough power to siginificantly power everything at once: forcing the tough decisions of fight or flight for the cumbersome giants.
As is the galleon feels to me like it's in an awkward palce, overgrown and clumsy for a 4 man ship yet too stunted to be a terror of combat that would justify a "heavy" placement.
On an aside, large weapons that would be interesting to see on some of these bigger ships: (probably wouldn't be affected as much by special ammo though)
Baloon mines: Think inverted sea mines, fire from a mid range cannon, reload and clip size prevents too many being around before their baloons fail. (Genuine area denial/cloud trap)
Superheavy mortar: Only fires at distant locked enemies, fires a very high arc shell at the enemy landing several seconds later, devestating the local area. (Flush enemies out)
Bolas: (could possibly fit this to current mid-size) Functions much like the harpoon but binds 2 other ships together.
Ball and chain: Fire a harpoon at a ship with a heavy weight attatched, generally messing with their momentum and turning (possibly sinking)
