i have noticed playing since this game out, there is no real reason to show your ship is on fire, although the animation itself is there.

why not add a "limping" effect to general damage. like in NF1, if your ship was in red health, it moved slow, and burned untill it either sank, or put out the fires to repair.

so to elaborate as best as i think i can.

*general DP scale of 0-10, 0 being sunk 10 being full health.

ships dp is 60k for example.

1: under 5k dp, 2: under 10k dp, 3: under 15k dp, 4: under 20k dp, 5: under 30k dp, 6: under 35k dp, 7: under 40k dp, 8 under 45k dp, 9 under 50k dp, 10: being 60k dp

*max speed about(23 knots no class specified) at full dp

10 - 8 :  full health no problems here.

7 : ship loses 2 knots, accuracy of guns - 0.50% (maybe an animation showing sparks for re-weldings, tiny bit of smoke).

6 : repairs arent so great, - 5% to your repair speed, ship speed loses 3 knots (a bit more smoke, some more sparks)

5: repairs are slowing down greatly, but still repairing - 8% to your repair speed, turning, accuracy reload and range decrease -5%, ship slows 5 knots (2 more than *6)

4 : repairs - 10% your repair speed, turning, accuracy,reload and range decrease -10% ship slows by 7knots (2 more than *5). current fire animation kicks in

** about now most players want to survive and try to fall back to heal. max speed is 16 knots of  23 knots, player still able to retreat.

3 : repairs slow 15%, ship turning, reduce 15% accuracy, range, reload remain at -10% speed reduces 10 knots (3 more than *4). fires and smoke amount increases

2 : repairs slow 20%, ship speed reduces 14 knots (4 more than *3) turning reduces another 5%

** player is in trouble, ship is near fish in a barrel. travelling at 9 knots max speed, with -20% repairs. -10%to accuracy, range and reload. ship turning is -20%. smoke takes dominate over fires, but fires still shown, but not as much.

1 : repairs slow 50% your speed, turning -60% max speed becomes 5 knots, enough to slink away, with escort from team.

0 : GG 

notes - matainence could become really useful, as it could add resistance to my examples above, improve chances to extingush fires, and restore the repair rates to normal, as dp rises, accuracy, reload, turning, range.. restore aswell.

could add new items to shop like:

fire fighter crews, extra engineers, seemless seals (most ships at time used rivets?), the list goes on and on.

all in all a damage system much like NF1, where the more damage you have taken, the worse your ship gets. fires add to damage over time, matainence to extingish fires faster, not just to beef up ship defense.

also if your at a friendly controlled island.. fires, repairs could be dealt with easier.. more use out of islands other than line of sight or 1 flag players ability?

please remember all percentages are just examples, the idea is there, not sure about the math :p