Taking over towns

[Bearpockets]

Do you have to join a nation to take over towns? Or can you be basically a pirate and take over towns by force and have them under your control?

[LoneGunman]

Well, technically you pick a country at the start of the game. However, when you actually DO take towns (peacefully or forcefully), you are usually given the option to raise your own flag or the flag of another country (kinda like Pirates!). So, Yes and Yes.

Peaceful takeovers require you to meet certain criteria (90% rep with country in question, 75% of business in the town owned by you, local popularity/rep 90%, and prosperity or better status for the town...might be one I missed). You visit the Viceroy for the country in question (find the "capitol" town and go to the manor/palace) to initiate it and to also check the criteria. If you're eligible to take it over, you'll get the option (it just lists the first town that meets the criteria, you can't really pick). Also, the country can't have less than 5 towns (game doesn't let you wipe out a country).

Forceful is the good old fashioned pirate-like town conquest. Send a fleet in the with the conquest checkbox checked in the fleet screen and it'll ask if you want to attack (showing you the stats for the town's defense). You'll have to sink any fleets in harbor that are tied to the country in question (warships, not traders), if there are any. Then you've got to destroy any emplacements (again, if the town has any) then you can attack the city itself. The emplacements basically cannon your ships while you do the same with your ships, similar to ship-to-ship but without moving. The town attack itself is like attacking a pirate haven (your men + handheld weapons vs their men + handheld weapons). If you win, you're prompted to place your own governor or a governor for a specific country/power.

In either case, if you placed your own governor or peacefully taken over, your flag flies over the town instead of the countries (you're technically administrator for the town even though you control everything in the town now) and you can manage the town (build buildings, embezzel funds, and now with the latest Harbour Master DLC, you can now pay to up the defenses and your fleets in harbor will automatically defend against attack (assuming they're set up as warships of course). You can also build special structures with that DLC like an embassy to have a country send its treasure fleet to that town to pick up goods for the Old World.

[Bearpockets]

Thank you for the response and all the good information. :)