The new system changed a lot. For now, close to board rewards are too low compared to cannon battle. 

 

I tested it with 2 very hard combats against avenger ships of pirates and Huana. My team is about lvl10, and the pirate avengers are like lvl19 with legendary weapons. Their abilities deal 80+dmg, 20+dmg roll + 60%SneakAttack + 60%Legendary weapon + 30%overpen. However, after a hard won melee combat, I only got a few exceptional items and 1 superb pistol. Meanwhile, cannon combat was much easier. And I got many superb items. So whats the point of harder melee combat? Cannon combat generates double exp for team and sailors.

This is the melee combat loot

 

And this is the cannon loot. The networth of cannon loot is much higher than the melee loot.

 

 

Whats more, sometimes unique items could be lost as a result of melee combat.

This is the melee loot of Huana Avenger Ship, 0 unique item, and only a few normal items.

 

And this is the cannon loot of the same ship. A unique shield, and some enchanted items.

Hello robovoid_dev,

 

Thanks for the post! I'll bring it up to the devs that its more cost and time effective to do ship SIs rather than boarding to fight.

 

Best,

 

-Caleb

• All non-unique legendary equipment data has been set to "Never Drop As Loot".

 

This might be the reason behind it. High level enemies equipped with legendary items which  "never drop as loot". As a consequence, cannon loot would be much better than melee loot