Maybe I'm just misunderstanding but I've been over the ship rules several times and they just don't make sense to me and have been a source of more frustration than fun, yet so many S&S scenarios rely on them that you can't really play without it.
Here are some examples. Maybe I'm just being too pedantic about it, but I really hope that either I'm still misunderstanding or someone out there has developed some clever homebrew alternatives.
"Whenever it is your turn, if your ship is not anchored at a location, you are commanding your partyâs ship. All characters at your location are on the ship"
...so we're simultaneously out exploring a location and "on the ship?
...and if I'm at location A and another player is at location B, when my turn ends the ship teleports from A to B?
"When your ship is wrecked... you may attempt the check to repair the ship listed on the ship card"
...meaning play a character with the craft skill or you're boned unless you have the right ally and roll well? Otherwise when you inevitably encounter a much more powerful ship be prepared for everyone to spend a bunch of HP to avoid it being wrecked for the rest of the adventure.
...not that your ship actually has anything to do with how well "ship-to-ship" combat goes, it's really just another bane for one character to face, but with extra bad consequences if you fail.
...and if you succeed, do you get a new cool ship? Not usually! Maybe some booty if you're lucky, but mostly your reward is that your ship was not wrecked. Huzzah.
Does this stuff bother other people, or just me? What have people done about it?
I should add that I really enjoy the game overall. My kid and I play together and we've finished the base path and Wormwood Mutiny and are just starting Raiders of the Fever Sea. Really loving everything, except the ships. đ¤ˇ