Caribbean - The Multiplayer Dilemma

It has been a while since any news for the Mount & Blade spin-off game Caribbean! had any news posted, and in the latest update the developer talks about the Multiplayer. 

Initially, we only thought of 'Caribbean!' as a single-player game, because at its foundation was our attempt to convey the feelings that gave us Sid Meier's Pirates! in its time. But taking something as template doesn't mean full copying. Mount & Blade's genom, that we got together with its engine, obliged us to focus on a good fighting system as well.

That's why the game's concept sounded like this:"economic strategy + naval battles + war strategy + roleplaying". This is a good, massive foundation upon which we can build so many ideas. So many, in fact, that we have more planned ideas than we can possibly implement. Trading routes? River expedition into the depths of America? Searching for the secret Maia towns? Advanced control of generals and fleet? We'd like to do all of it.

Multiplayer was left for later, as it requires a different approach. And not just different, but an entirely opposite one.

For us the perfect blend of roleplaying and strategy means playing at a pretty slow pace. You can sit and think as much as you like. You can send your squadron to loot a town and drink some tea while your ships cross the Caribbean sea. Multiplayer's having none of it: everything is fast paced, there's a lot of emotion and tension involved and compressed into 5-10 minutes sessions.

Traditional multiplayer, such as the one we did in 'With Fire & Sword', isn't very interesting to make at this point. We think it's time to try something new, but what would it be exactly? Maybe some sort of team deathmatch with set goals? Goals that could be different for each team or maybe for each individual player?

A lot of people ask to add multiplayer. Some of you ask to add co-op. Could you tell us what you mean by 'co-op' for this game?

Before we dig too deep into this, here's an official announcement. If by co-op you imply an ability to play the single-player campaign, but with friends online, we won't be able to make it happen. This game would be titled 'Mount & Blade Online' and our studio of 10 people is not the one for this job.

But perhaps you'd like to suggest your idea for a fun multiplayer mode without resorting to creating another WoW-killer? Let us know what you think.