Why the hell i cant use fire ship?

[No Guts No Glory]

Playing the annoying Fireworks mission, finally managed to almost ram the damn ship with my extremely slow prize ship and the stupid button to lit the ship on fire is greyed out. Why?!

*sigh*

I know that i am bad at this game, but seriously this particular mission is driving me more than crazy. I am ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ sick of constantly getting more ships against me the more i do well. I bought "good" 6th rate ship? Better send 3 of them against me in next mission with a literal Ship-of-the-Line supporting them.

[smileyill]

The fire ship crew must have enough moral to light it. If the ship icon is blinking, then they lack the moral.

[No Guts No Glory]

Originally posted by smileyill:

The fire ship crew must have enough moral to light it. If the ship icon is blinking, then they lack the moral.

It wasnt blinking, but i did noticed i guess "sailor" icon above the ship.

Tho i am really curious how i am supposed to use those prize ships then, because it happened after single salvo, and not whole atop of that.

I followed some advice to use one of my own ships as fire ship and just managed to ram the living hell out of Arrogante and lit it on fire. Problem is, the other ships are still around and kicking, or more like sailing.

[smileyill]

In that mission - 3rd try on easy without adaption - I burned the first 2 ships, got lucky and a 3rd ran into the first 2 and burned (2 frigates and I think it was a sloop), then I was able to overwhelm the Arrogante and capture it. I believe I sank the other sloop. I used chainshot until the Arrogante couldn't maneuver well because it's so bloody fast. I then used ball to weaken its armor before switching to grapeshot to reduce its crew to board-able numbers.

Adaption makes the game increase or decrease difficulty based on how well you do. Probably why you are facing 3 Frigates instead of 2.

[No Guts No Glory]

Originally posted by smileyill:

In that mission - 3rd try on easy without adaption - I burned the first 2 ships, got lucky and a 3rd ran into the first 2 and burned (2 frigates and I think it was a sloop), then I was able to overwhelm the Arrogante and capture it. I believe I sank the other sloop. I used chainshot until the Arrogante couldn't maneuver well because it's so bloody fast. I then used ball to weaken its armor before switching to grapeshot to reduce its crew to board-able numbers.

Adaption makes the game increase or decrease difficulty based on how well you do. Probably why you are facing 3 Frigates instead of 2.

I used "Follow the Orders" option or how is it calling. Thats adaptation, right?

Also, How the hell you do that with Arrogante. That thing is able to basically annihilate my ships in single salvo per ship. And it turns godly for something so big.

[smileyill]

You choose adaption when you start the campaign. It's a checkbox. Follow Orders is the easier mode for each mission.

I'll go check what ships I had at the time.

[smileyill]

I had:

6th rate sloop of war
2x 6th rate corvettes
2x 7th rate brigs

If you only had one 6th rate, then that explains it.

[No Guts No Glory]

Originally posted by smileyill:

I had:

6th rate sloop of war
2x 6th rate corvettes
2x 7th rate brigs

If you only had one 6th rate, then that explains it.

I had the starting HMS Ferret (7th rate Brig)
HMS Lark (7th rate Brig), honestly no clue where i got her, probably bought her?
Senora De La Sonodad (7th rate Brig), i got her in second or third mission, not sure.
HMS Thunder (6th rate Corvette), bought

And probably MVP of my squad, some unrated Cutter which rammed Arrogante and lit her on fire (after one of the merchantmen failed to do so due to morale)

Anyway finally managed to beat the mission. HMS Ferret almost sunk and so did HMS Lark, but at the end they managed to sink enemy 6th class which they cornered under the cliff with wind preventing it from escaping.

But all in all, HMS Romulus probably did the most. Bigger cannons were very noticeable.

[No Guts No Glory]

Where have you managed to get so many 6th rate ships? I havent met much of them so far and certainly havent seen them in a shop.

Also should i use carronades on all my ships for now? They seemed to make big difference in my fights as they could punch above their weight class. Really not sure about the guns.

[smileyill]

I'm pretty sure I captured the 6th rates; maybe bought one.

I focused on capturing ships for a long time. I only had Armstrong's guns at that point. I focused on increasing crew sizes, better melee rifles, boarding equipment and gun carriages. I didn't spend money on improving the guns until much later.

I preferred to have more ships in a fight than better guns. Perhaps a mistake, I don't know. Eventually, I went for longer range more accurate guns instead of carronades, but perhaps early carronades are worth it.

[smileyill]

I'm going to play a higher level mission now - with 1st rate, 2nd rate, and 3rd rate ships in my fleet. I am broadcasting it which should be viewable in the broadcast tab above.

[smileyill]

lost your chat :(

[No Guts No Glory]

Originally posted by smileyill:

lost your chat :(

Oh, ok.

I was asking if its doesnt hurt ship performance if u use max crew.

Also nice battle, wish my battles were so organized lol.

[smileyill]

game locked up hard :( I had to save it and close it down. It helps in some ares, but it does increase weight so that has a negative impact in other areas.

[mag8five]

Originally posted by No Guts No Glory:

Originally posted by smileyill:

The fire ship crew must have enough moral to light it. If the ship icon is blinking, then they lack the moral.

It wasnt blinking, but i did noticed i guess "sailor" icon above the ship.

This icon indicates a crew shock, most probable triggered by a rather devastating broadside from your enemy.
That explains why you couldn’t light up your ship.

[Commisar Jon Fuklaw]

Fireworks is the first (and biggest) difficulty spike in the game. Some things to consider:

1.) Try to capture every ship in the campaign up to the Fireworks mission. Regardless of difficulty settings, that should net you at least one 5th rate and two 6th rates. You can wind up with even more 5th rates due to luck with Adaptive or Hard or by buying a second from the Admiralty, but more than 2 should not be needed.

2.) Do everything you can to get at least one 2 (or ideally 3) * veteran crew so that you can load your 5th rate(s) with veteran crew. Taking the rightmost 2* upgrade on any ship will make it far faster and more maneuverable than the Arrogante, giving you the means to wear it down in a maneuver fight. The leftmost 3* upgrade also helps with boarding.

3.) + Speed sail upgrades are your friend for this mission. So are boarding damage and hull repair kit upgrades. Don't go overboard with these, though, as they are rather expensive and you will be ditching your lighter ships fairly soon.

4.) If everything you try isn't enough to capture the Arrogante, consider using carronades to sink her. Even if you don't plan on sinking her, consider using carronades to butcher her escorts. While it's possible to capture every ship in this mission on some difficulties, I would most emphatically not recommend trying, as it requires precise setup which relies on having completed the campaign previously. Oh, and no small amount of luck and patience.

The fire ships provided by the mission are, in a word, terrible. You have to get supremely lucky to actually catch the Arrogante with one. Hell, you had to be supremely lucky to catch the Arrogante with one when it was easy to trick it into beaching itself.