Ship building

Ships are going to also have classes. Those classes are going to dictate the type of of attachments that can be applied and in what quantity. A military vessel type may have more capacity for weapon based attachments. A transport ship might have more capacity for defensive based attachments. And then you'll have more versatile ships that can share across those types. So in that sense you are constructing a componentized ship for the types of activities you intend to do: Are you a raider? Are you a mover of goods? Are you an adventurer? These types of things are going to inform your decision of what the attachments you're going to have in those three categories.^[2] – Steven Sharif

Ship building can be carried out by any player in possession of the right components, recipes, and an advanced enough node, coastal or not, with a harbor.^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]

Various professions can craft ship components.^[4]^[5] These components can be sold to other players.^[7]

Ships may only be crafted or upgraded in harbor ship workstations that are unlocked by the advancement of nearby nodes.^[3] Previously this was stated to be coastal nodes.^[4]^[7]^[8]^[9]

Players can choose which "joints" get populated with either offensive weaponry, defensive, or utility attachments they want on their ship prior to construction completion.^[2]^[10]^[11] The types of attachments that are available are dictated by the ship's class.^[2]
- Movement, Durability, Speed, Turn rate, Hit points, Defensive and Damage abilities.^[12]^[7]^[13]^[14]
- Weapon slots.^[12]
- Aesthetic customization.^[15]^[14]

Ships will likely not have closed spaces or internal compartments such as Captain's quarters.^[16]

We are trying to stay away from internal compartments within the ships because that presents a whole different type of user interface and flow that can be a bit cumbersome and problematic, especially in combat and in closed spaces. So we're trying to stay away from that under deck aspect and keep things all on deck for better readability on the player side.^[17] – Steven Sharif

Ship workstations

Naval concept art.^[18]

Ship workstations are crafting stations located in harbors.^[4]^[7]^[8]^[9]

Ships may be crafted or upgraded at ship workstations by any player with the required ship components and recipes.^[4]^[7]^[8]^[9]

Ship workstations are unlocked by the advancement of nearby node.^[3] Previously this was stated to be a nearby coastal node.^[4]^[7]^[8]^[9]

Different professions are responsible for creating different components of the shipbuilding process. And then at the harbor, you will interact with a unique workstation based on having the recipe or the blueprint for the particular ship that you're attempting to build and the components that are then derived from multiple professions to then finally create the ship item.^[4] – Steven Sharif

Ship repair

Ships may be repaired but it will be a lengthier process than in other games.^[19]^[20]

Ships can be repaired at sea if players have the correct materials.^[19]

Ships that are completely destroyed will incur great costs to restore, and may only be re-launched from land.^[19]^[20]

Harbors

Alpha-1 harbor early preview concept.^[21]

Harbors that are located in specific areas around the world along the coast and those are points of interest that get adopted by a node when they reach certain levels in proximity to that harbor, or if the node gets vasseled by a parent or sovereign node in relationship to their vassal owning that harbor.^[22] – Steven Sharif

Harbors are initially dilapidated points of interest that appear in coastal areas.^[3] Harbors have a significant amount of influence over the waters.^[23]

Harbors are where ships get built and launched and harbors are essentially dilapidated points of interest that progress when a node nearby, coastal or not, adopts that point of interest or that harbor. Then the node can contribute towards building up the harbor; and players who may not be citizens of that node can still go to that harbor and access its services.^[3] – Steven Sharif

A nearby node, coastal or not, will adopt the harbor point of interest and will contribute to its progression.^[3]
- Ship building, ship upgrades, and other services offered by the harbor can be utilized by citizens and non-citizens of the node.^[3]
- Previously it was stated that harbors would be controlled by a nearby Village (stage 3) (or higher) coastal node.^[24]^[23]^[7]^[8] It was also stated that ship workstations are only unlocked by the advancement of that coastal node.^[4]^[7]^[8]^[9]

Harbors have a disembarkation zone that merchant ships can cross to be guided into the harbor.^[22]
- Merchant ships can only be launched and received at harbors in a similar way that land caravans can only be launched and received at a caravansary.^[22]

Harbors will grant quests that are related to naval content.^[23]^[13]^[8]

Coastal nodes are not directly siegeable by sea. Instead, harbors offer objective-based naval gameplay during node sieges.^[24]^[25]^[26]

Naming ships

Ships will be able to be named.^[27]^[28]

Ship names may potentially appear on the ship's hull or as floating text above the ship.^[29]^[28]

Emblems

Banner 3D renders.^[30]

The user interface will allow emblems, logos and symbols to be designed in-game.^[31]^[32]^[33]

Guild emblems.^[32]
- Flags.^[34]^[31]
- Guild halls.^[35]
- Mount barding.^[35]
Ships
- Sails.^[36]^[31]
- Emblems may potentially appear on a ship's hull as a decal, along with the ship name.^[29]
Character
- Shields.^[31]
- Cloaks.^[31]
- Armor attachments.^[34]^[35]

Q: Do nodes provide their citizens some kind of clothes or ornaments, capes, tabards, or something that they can basically represent their node?

A: I mean technically the node does have a sigil or insignia and there will be certain armors that you can customize insignia and/or symbols on, so yes you could probably achieve that.^[34] – Steven Sharif