I was reading the GoldRoseKnight's post on ramming (Very good post) when a boatload of ideas hit me. Here it begins. There could be a new companion page. What I mean is, you have your companions that do all the close range fighting and then you have your ship crew. Your ship crew helps out with all your shipping needs. Here are the epic talents I thought of.
Ship Repair, increases the speed of your ship healing.
Quick Cannon, increases rate of cannon fire.
Looting, Increases chance of getting good loot and increases the amount of loot you get.
Eyesight, increases range of your cannon fire.
Speedy Sails, increases the speed of your ship.
Fast cooling, decreases the waiting time for your horn and other attacks to cool.
Iron Shot, increases overall damage.
Tricky, Increases ship dodge.
Dead on, increases accuracy.
Steel Armor, increases armor.
*Whew*, I know that was a lot but here's more. I said a boatload, remember?
New ship equipment
Turrets, another set cannons. Do 1/4 the damage of cannons but reload faster. They are also less accurate.
Musketeers, 6 of your musketeers on your crew fire at the opposing ship. Do 1/8 the damage of cannons but reload faster (Even faster than turrets) They are the most accurate.
Grenadiers, Throw mini grenades close range. Does slightly more damage than cannons but can only be fired when you are at very close range. Not accurate.
Tail Bomber, Drops kegs of explosives behind your ship. (You can utilize this by placing explosives in the path of the opponents ship.

New Ship commands, (Ever want to order your crew around on the middle of a ship fight?)
Split Fire, Focus your damage on two ships
Blitz, Attack your opponent with everything you got! Increases damage by 1/16 but lowers your armor by half.
Turtle, Increases armor by half but lowers attack damage and attack rate by half.
Ram, Rams an opponent ship and does devastating damage. Does 1/4 as much damage to your ship.
*Pant*Pant* Almost *Pant* Done.

Over the course of the game you get a couple ship crew companions for free but you mostly get them by buying them on the docks of a world. When you buy them they are the same lvl as your nautical lvl. They level up with your nautical level as well.
Lastly, there are new classes.
*Corsair-Does the damage
*Freebooter-Does the defensive stuff
*Mechanic-Heals
*Ranger-Does accuracy and range

There we go! All done

Nice ideas.

Virtuous Dante Ramsey