early-mid game crew/naval/diplomacy strategy?

[Sofa King]

I have 50k money, and 2 ships: a Xebec and Carrack. I'm kind of unsure what the best strategy is at this point though. Should I get a lot of fodder crew so I can have extra ships? I can't seem to handle much in naval combat. Should I focus on building up a port? Is it worthwhile to try to capture enemy ships? And who counts as enemies? What consequences would there be for attacking a trading fleet of another nation? I'd just like a little guidance so I don't overinvest in something and give myself a headache because I'm attempting it too early or I'm coming at it from the wrong angle.

[McFrugal]

Well having at least three ships is a good idea IMO for basic naval combat. Capturing enemy ships gives decent profit, but probably not as much as you'd like. Attacking fleets reduces your Favor with that nation, but you can attack neutral fleets, pirates, or seaslither fleets with no consequences since they aren't part of a nation you can ally with.
Establishing a port is a long term investment, since you have to wait like two weeks between payments. You can do it whenever you have disposable income for it.

[frowningmirror]

Having lots of crew on one ship to increase turns or having many crew on little ships are both viable navy strategies. What you dont want to do is fight people who have more ships than you, with minimum party on each ship, even if you have one or two bigger boats. The risk is too great

[Sofa King]

Originally posted by frowningmirror:

Having lots of crew on one ship to increase turns or having many crew on little ships are both viable navy strategies. What you dont want to do is fight people who have more ships than you, with minimum party on each ship, even if you have one or two bigger boats. The risk is too great

Wait, more crew = faster turns? How did I not know this

[frowningmirror]

Originally posted by Sofa King:

Originally posted by frowningmirror:

Having lots of crew on one ship to increase turns or having many crew on little ships are both viable navy strategies. What you dont want to do is fight people who have more ships than you, with minimum party on each ship, even if you have one or two bigger boats. The risk is too great

Wait, more crew = faster turns? How did I not know this

No, it gives damage bonus on weapons. Apparently, you can find this out from gossip but I learned it from other players in discord

[SpiralRazor]

how many extra crew do you need to get the bonus? Say a ship that has 4 crew normally....or is it one extra crew per item slot of the ship?

[frowningmirror]

Originally posted by SpiralRazor:

how many extra crew do you need to get the bonus? Say a ship that has 4 crew normally....or is it one extra crew per item slot of the ship?

No clue, as I said I saw the developer confirm this on discord but I didn't get into the specifics. I would assume you get it right away, naval combat is basically the one thing I haven't explored a lot of

[game-zerox]

Minimum crew is the number of crewmember for a ship to move without any penalty. Ships can hold any extra amount of crew (you won't lose people if you lose a boat for example.) Your cannons will deal an extra damage per concious crewmember on a ship up to 8 of them.

[SpiralRazor]

ty, thats helpful. So minimum to keep costs down, and then go to 8 when you start really going after fleets and big monsters.

[Matrik]

Huh, that's why my identical ships/cannons were doing different damage. Dang. Wish I knew that before I finished the game. Would have had way more naval combat. Next run it is!