Hey, I rather like the idea of squids and galleons available to pilots lvl > 15...
But it would be more of a nuisance than actual help to disable certain resources. Especially for people who specialised in other classes and basically know what's going on. Lumberjack. H. Flak. Mines. Lochnagar. Harpoon. Incendiary. Range-finder.
Masteries are not needed - skill level advantage is enough for experienced players to crush new players. And then think about how difficult it is even for experienced players to get into competitive action...
Ceresbane: 'This game can be mastered in a week'? I agree it's not particularly difficult to reach a very decent engineer skill level and decent knowledge concerning game mechanics, but... is that enough to master this game?
Few types of ammo, several ships, several guns... you can learn it in a week, if you have someone to learn it from. Is it enough to play against experienced opponents?
Good luck have fun. You know that. And you're not even a competitive player.
About specialisations...
tl;dr dreams
Just think about badges / titles for being good at something. Not necessarily competitive games.
Subforum with many many topics!
Crazy lumberjack shooting, being known for keeping multiple opponents on the ground...
Making the world explode with mines, including two enemy ships and one ally as a bonus. In 5 secs period.
For example, ship specialisations
Elite Junker Commander -> Sammy, Frogger
Master Wizard -> Crafeksterty
Fancy Commander -> Dementio Daniel
Acclaimed by community, appointed by mods, admired by new players!
Based on both in-game and forum discussions. And not unique. Because what's the point if you can't be better than they are?