Nice, i can't wait to try this out!

New Pirate decks ordered!  

Changes:

• Fixed a couple Bonus abilities in the standard deck to have options that were applicable to the advanced game.
  
• Fixed wind direction to be more visible on the Sea cards
  
• Added random Exploration, Passage, and Event effects!  See below for list
  

Exploration Effects:

• Taíno Village
  Hostile Size 1 Village
  
• Broken Mast
  No wind bonus until docked
  
• Stranded Pirate
  Take an unused Captain hostage
  
• Survivors
  Pick up 2 crew cards
  
• Treasure Map
  You find a treasure map
  
• El Dorado
  Evidence of the lost city gains you +2 riches
  

Passage Effects:

• Sirens
  Lose a crew card if you stop here
  
• Strong Wind
  Extra Move this turn
  
• Ghost Ship
  Attacked by top discard if a storm within 1 location
  
• Rough Waters
  Lose a crew card
  

Event Effects:

• Derelict Ship
  A random ship at a random location is found adrift
  
• El Nino
  Storms include adjacent locations next round
  
• Prosperity
  Every player gains +1 riches
  
• Mutiny
  Most infamous player loses half their crew
  
• Pestilence
  All cargo and crew of random nationality must be discarded
  
• Gold Rush
  Place a random treasure at a random location
  

I've gotten lots of great feedback from you guys when we've played, and among the most requested features were:

• More exciting combat
  
• Better ship upgrades
  
• Ability to command a fleet
  
• Better pacing
  
• A Pirate Hunter
  

For the past while, off and on, I've been revising the rules and cards to achieve these goals.  I think some of the changes will make for a much different game!

Probably the biggest change is ditching the poker deck restriction.  I think people were getting confused by the same card meaning six different things.  Well, now each card has only one purpose.  Instead of a poker deck, we have these smaller decks:

• Ships - Each base ship is its own card, with stats and a story (see samples attached)
  
• Captains - We already had these, but now you place the captain on one of your ships.  Also, I think I'll be getting rid of the flaws.
  
• Bonuses - These are for your hand, to be played on your ships.  They include custom ship upgrades, officers with special skills, or just plain luck.
  
• Locations - Same as before: islands, seas, etc.
  
• Damage - Each time a ship takes damage, you draw one of these cards and place it on that ship.  Every ship has its own maximum number of these cards before it sinks.  Damage cards can come with random negative effects.
  

Crew and money are tracked with tokens (using coloured cubes like Lords of Waterdeep).  Each ship shows the maximum number of crew tokens it can carry, and the ship is derelict if it runs out.  Crew are lost in combat or special events, and hired at ports using money tokens (1:1 exchange).

Between battles you can move your crew, officers, and captain between ships in your fleet.  You can also move damage cards around (by cannibalizing one ship to fix another).  Damage cards can be removed in port using money tokens.  The price will be on the card.

There's still a lot to nail down, but I think these are some positive changes.  I've had a few different ideas about how to implement the Pirate Hunter.  My favourite thus far is if the Pirate Hunter is chasing you, you can "spend" one of your luck cards to give him the slip and set him upon another captain of equal or higher infamy.

Here's what you can do to help!  Attached is a spreadsheet I used to generate these new ship cards.  If you're feeling creative, please download and edit the names of ships, and write a little history for them in their blurb column.  You can make suggestions for special abilities, but be aware I expect that to be pretty rare.  It's harder to balance, and everyone will be playing their own special cards on the ships anyway.

The numbers are all designed to be relative, but generally, 1 cannon = roughly 5 physical cannons per side, and 1 crew token = roughly 40 people.  You don't need to change the numbers, but it might help you get a feel for the size of the ship.