I was thinking, in the event of naval battles, or even land-to-ship attacks, there should be a way to sink boats.
What I suggest is something similar to the Empire at War system for capital ships fighting. The ship has a total HP, and it is split across several parts (Balista Turret, Catapult Turret, mast, bridge, stern, bow, etc.) and in most cased (turrets, masts and the like), when damaged, it damage's the ships HP. When a portion is destroyed (for example, a Balista turret), the ship (untill repaired at say, a dock) can not recover the HP lost from the turret. Sinking can be done from several things:
A: Blowing all ship systems up. Everything from mast to Balista turrets destroyed, the ship begins to sink.
B: Blow the bow and/or stern. Take one or the other out and the ship sinks, so naturally these parts have way more HP.
This would improve the feeling for the server, especially when, at long last, we see some Ship-to-Ship action.
If it is to hard to script, I wouldn't mind it being simplified so it can be scriptible, but I do like the idea of being able to sink ships at some point in the game.