EXPLOIT or BUG???? Great game buster!

[Soylent_Greene]

I may have found the best exploit I've ever seen in a game like this!

Playing the Dutch, we are all up in the Bahamas. War starts with Spain, the Viceroy wants Havana.

I get enough ships to take Havana. War is still on so I sail for Spain's Viceroy city, Maracaibo.

In a previous war between Spain and England the English took Coro. So I am using it as a repair and refit base.

(NOTE>>> playing with Escorted Convoys, so every merchant give me cargo and their escort. Ok, maybe not a gift, but mine to take)...

So with flaming arrows hitting their escort Galleon it's immobilized, grape shotted to boarding levels and taken.

With six war fleets sitting off Maracaibo at least two are either in Coro or on the way there with captured vessels.

So, here's where the exploit starts.

I create new convoys in Coro called Holding 001, 002, etc...
I move the captured/damaged vessels to the holding fleets. Use the shipyard to repair the fleets, leaving them in port (couldn't move them anyways, don't have a captain able).

So as my damaged fleets come into port I am swapping out ships and crew.

War ends (Of course when I have Maracaibo at 80% captured --- Gonna find that thieves guild and pay them to take out my Viceroy!) so I move all my fleets back to Coro. Switch out ships with my fleets, but I ended up with 2 fleets (HOLDING 001 and HOLDING 002) sitting in Coro. Each has 10 Galleons costing me a fortune.

Got my trade routes back to work, so I forgot about Coro for a few minutes.


Then the Dutch and English go to war. My fleets in Coro don't have Captains so they are in port with a warring power.

NOTE>>> I dumped all my sailors into these fleets, so they are full or nearly so.

Then I get notices about fleets attacked. I go to Coro, and the HOLDING fleets are being attacked by military fleets.

They are kicking ass as the game auto resolves. After each fleet is attacked by 3 full military fleets they are both down one galleon. The six military fleets are smoked.

The Viceroy tells me he loves me! Good job, didn't even see the quest.


So, if you can afford to leave a War Fleet sitting in somebody's harbor they attack it. Somehow I win the battles.



IS THIS AN EXPLOIT, BUG or UNDOCUMENTED FEATURE?

[Deschamps]

It seems a bug to me. A military convoy without captain shouldn't be able to engage in combat, imho. Those uncommanded ships forgotten in an enemy harbour should've decommissioned by the city administrator when war was declared.

[Onefingerman]

Originally posted by Deschamps:

It seems a bug to me. A military convoy without captain shouldn't be able to engage in combat, imho. Those uncommanded ships forgotten in an enemy harbour should've decommissioned by the city administrator when war was declared.

although a fleet consisting of 10 wargalleons with 1k Soldiers , heavily armed, drunken on rum, smelling like a wet dog would probably not give up if they get attacked "bEcaUsE mr.CapTAIn iS MiSSssIN".

Decomissioning 1k+ Soldiers and wargalleons or -Whatever the hell even pricier ship he has- would be an stupid thing aswell, why destroying a players investments. Remember, those ships probably are only there because of the game design limitations "10 captains, 8 Fleetpoints max (and it takes years to get up to 8!)" !!! Id rebalance those things, so we dont get in situations with unusable stacks of fleets first.

[69Inanna69]

Sounds like fun , thanks.

Might be able to swap my Wargalleons currently camped in my lighthouse..
And camp them in a 10 wargalleon fleet, docked in another nation's port. And wait for the next war..

I have enough spare cash to pay for the sailor costs atm.

Sounds like too much work though, just to steal some resources.. can you actually blockade with the docked convoy that you cant move due to not enough command points ... when war breaks out?

**Edit > Actually pretty sure you cant start a blockade, without enough command points / so only good for a bit of resource stealing ... and that would barely pay for the sailor costs.

[Deschamps]

Originally posted by onefingerman:

Decomissioning 1k+ Soldiers and wargalleons or -Whatever the hell even pricier ship he has- would be an stupid thing aswell

Maybe the game rules should be changed so you were not permitted to enrole "soldiers" in a military ship without captain.

So, leaving abandoned war ships on foreign harbours is done at your own risk, mate.

[Soylent_Greene]

I put the crew aboard the HOLDING 001 & 002 by the lighthouse fleet management.

The ships in port were Galleons, only had two War Galleons, and I kept those with me.

When you are hitting escorted merchant fleets they almost always have Galleon escorts and maybe a frigate or corvette.

My war fleets have at least 4 to 6 warships, and at least two large merchants for extra crew. Replacements for those lost in combat.



This brings out two points that I think would improve the game...

Allow friendly fleets to trade between themselves at sea.

Allow creation of new fleets instead of sinking extra vessels! Just assign a prize crew, send the extras to the nearest friendly port.