But as Ulf said.. With cannons might come guns... I'd quite enjoy guns for the first week or so.. But then it'd start to get abit erm..
Guns.. In UO... Wow..

Skip the cannons (even though I like them). But introduce cannon-like weapons for this naval expansion, but would keep powder weapons out so peops feathers don't get ruffled, is a weapon seen in WoW but only as deco itself (like cannons in UO) and is historically a real weapon in medieval & ancient times.

Wheeled (for land) and ship-mounted balistas! A balista is sort of a cross between a giant crossbow, cannon, and catapult. It shoots tipped bolts (like an arrow) ranging in size of spear to a large tree.

Just an idea.

Thats what I said Great minds think alike

usually naval ballistas did not shoot large arrows or spears... they shot glass or clay pots of flamable oil.

But the main tactic of naval warfare in the dark ages or medievil was to board and takeover an opponent either taking her a prize or demolishing her.

True Cade. They fired LOTS of things.

That's the beauty of this idea. The UO Team does -not- have to implement Caribbean pirates. Pirates have been around as long as there has been a way to float on water, in all parts of the world. Even the ancient Greeks and Romans had to deal with piracy.

Just like other aspects of UO being UO-styled twists on multiple cultures and times... a nautical expansion could be tailored to fit within the UO world, including all the locations found on Tram, Fel, Ish, and Tok facets. Malas might be the only facet without because it has no oceans... just open space and sky.

Something to ponder.

I would like to see a barrage of different sea warfare weapons. the easiest being arrows and bolts fired from player weapons. Rock slings, onagers, and ballistas are also great but i think should require a lot of crafting and limited use. Cannons would be devistating and fun if used occasionally. More than cannons I would like to see flame rounds. maby a rock ablaze could be tossed as a ship putting long lasting fire fields around the deck making player movement a bit dangerous. Of course I like the idea of house boats so there should be a difference between boats for battle and that of living. Of course implementing them together is nice but loosing an entire ship to other players which you stocked with all your possessions would suck so upon aquireing a ship you could choose whether it be for a home or battle. (maby somthing to do with guild possession and factions?)

I also like the idea of more ocean monsters. Some that are so hard you need an armed vessle and a crew to man its weapons.
I would love! Just love to see a guild out on a large ship exploring the ocean looking for NPC (tram) or Player (fel) ships to destroy or pirate, then get attacked by a giant squid.

Large ships would be good for pvm and pvp. maby these ships would need no tillerman as you would need to double click the anchoring gears to raise or lower anchor, then double click on the mast to raise or lower sails. You would then have to have your gm carpentor (stone craft) craft some stone balls for your catapults which require a player to have gm tinkering, carpentry, and blacksmithing to create. Maby the added use of alchemy using explosion potions could make these rocks flamable. then to create ballistas you would need a gm carpenter, tinker, and fletcher to create the device and its ammunition.

Sea battles could make use of naval weapons. Maby a ship could have hp that when gets to low would no longer be able to sail thus making it able to be bordered and captured. A carpenter would be needed to make repairs to the vessle as well as other crafters to repair its weapons. maby you would need a tailor to make new or repair the old sails.

give me some feedback and critique on this idea.

For some reason they prefer adding more useless colored stuff instead

Cade they should put you in charge of developing the next expansion!

A naval expansion certainly piques my interest. There are so many ideas and concepts that could be put to use it's rather staggering.

Well I did write for a few games westwood did as well as produce a few expansions for Valve and Gearbox software...

id like to see a new landmass not actually being land. Instead a town with room for player houseing build upon a sytem of docks. Anyone remember that town build on the ocean in the movie waterworld? I think this town should be rather small about the size of a regualr town with a few spots for player housing as well as plenty of room for player owned boats/boat houses to pull up and anchor next to a dock.

This town should be the center of interest for marine hunting and treasuring. A grand expansion of sunken ship exploring is a must. Instead of pulling up a chest with a few shells and pillows how about being able to purchase addons for your ship one being a pully system and nets. You can locate sunken ships and drop hooks to pull up whatever you may find.

This type of expansion would in its self be small and would add better things to the already current things we have. There would of course be a huge aquarium movement. Fishing would have increased rewards along with increased risk. Big finds no longer require the lone fishermen but instead a ship with a nuatical crew.

But if EA ever considered an expansion like this I think the most valuable would be the new boats along with house boats.

I like it.

sorry for the incorrect spelling and grammer I get excited when I type. usually when I write my short stories and such I have an editer go through since spell check on computers reall dont do well grammer wise.