How can I kill more pirates?

[Rogue]

I've been playing for about 10 hours and as Andrew, I've sailed around Africa and made about 300K. I had a two ship fleet that could take down single or even double pirate ships but three ships seems to always take out my second ship pretty quickly. I thought adding a third ship to my fleet might help but they just float around in circles and are scared of fighting I guess...I don't know.

I also just upgraded Andrew's shipbuilding to level 3 but ship modification in shipyards is pretty underwhelming. I upgraded to hard wood armor and added a ram but that doesn't seem to make a big difference.

I would think I could just buy better cannons and sink these rapscallions but the shipyards I've been to don't have them. So what do I have to do to be a better pirate killer?

[CluelessWonder8]

If you're just fighting pirates, especially at such an early point, you may be better off stashing the rest of your fleet in a port, and just going out with your flagship.

For better cannons, I would recommend the Long Barreled ones, but they require you to do a ★commission in Buenos Aires for 10 ★Sisal.

[Jathby Dredas]

For pirate-hunting, there are a few ways to go about it.
When it comes to ship modifications, the main thing is going to be Gunrooms (you can have up to four, your frame allowing). Each of these adds an additional cannon of the type equipped to your ship. Additionally, they allow the appointment of Gunners, which will decrease the load time (and increase the firing rate) of all guns on the ship.

Second, look into mounting Bow Guns. The Outdated Bow Guns on most ships aren't great, regular Cannons deal twice as much damage. I personally use Shrapnel Guns, but I'll get to that later.

Stern Guns only come into play while in Close Combat (clashing swords above the ships), but can be useful if you go that route, though I recommend an Aftercastle first for this.

Sinking is usually a quick and effective way to go, if you are good at maneuvering. However, taking out the enemy crew and leaving the ship intact nets bigger (and undamaged) rewards. For that, high Leadership and a full crew with fresh Morale is best, use Shrapnel on your Bow and Stern slots and keep your nose pointed toward the enemy at their 5 or 7 o'Clock point and get close enough to start close combat (or not, if you just want to shred the crew with your foreguns).

Last bit of advice: your other ships will not engage if they aren't assigned a Captain.
Firing and Low Hull are best as Boarding Captains don't have the best sense of self-preservation. Unless you build really heavy ships and support them, boarders will get chewed up by the enemy.

[Rogue]

Originally posted by CluelessWonder8:

If you're just fighting pirates, especially at such an early point, you may be better off stashing the rest of your fleet in a port, and just going out with your flagship.

For better cannons, I would recommend the Long Barreled ones, but they require you to do a ★commission in Buenos Aires for 10 ★Sisal.

Thanks, I'll try going with just my flagship. I didn't know I can store ships. Or did you mean sell the other ships until I need to expand my fleet?

[Rogue]

Originally posted by Jathby Dredas:

For pirate-hunting, there are a few ways to go about it.
When it comes to ship modifications, the main thing is going to be Gunrooms (you can have up to four, your frame allowing). Each of these adds an additional cannon of the type equipped to your ship. Additionally, they allow the appointment of Gunners, which will decrease the load time (and increase the firing rate) of all guns on the ship.

Second, look into mounting Bow Guns. The Outdated Bow Guns on most ships aren't great, regular Cannons deal twice as much damage. I personally use Shrapnel Guns, but I'll get to that later.

Stern Guns only come into play while in Close Combat (clashing swords above the ships), but can be useful if you go that route, though I recommend an Aftercastle first for this.

Sinking is usually a quick and effective way to go, if you are good at maneuvering. However, taking out the enemy crew and leaving the ship intact nets bigger (and undamaged) rewards. For that, high Leadership and a full crew with fresh Morale is best, use Shrapnel on your Bow and Stern slots and keep your nose pointed toward the enemy at their 5 or 7 o'Clock point and get close enough to start close combat (or not, if you just want to shred the crew with your foreguns).

Last bit of advice: your other ships will not engage if they aren't assigned a Captain.
Firing and Low Hull are best as Boarding Captains don't have the best sense of self-preservation. Unless you build really heavy ships and support them, boarders will get chewed up by the enemy.

This is great advice, thank you! I'll try to get a gun room and try to get shrapnel guns. Also, Andrew has level 4 brawling and I have never once gotten a boarding to happen. Does it need to be higher or is that just how it is?

[Chrisme]

You can just store your ships at the pier, no need to sell them. The brawling stat is only relevant for sailors (boatswain position) not your main character as he is in a fixed position (captain of the flagship) and therefore only requires the leadership skill.

[Rogue]

Originally posted by Chrisme:

You can just store your ships at the pier, no need to sell them. The brawling stat is only relevant for sailors (boatswain position) not your main character as he is in a fixed position (captain of the flagship) and therefore only requires the leadership skill.

Very helpful, thank you. Kind of disappointing because I dumped a few levels into Andrew and I don't think I can get that back. Good to know for next campaign though!

[Chrisme]

Originally posted by Rogue:

Very helpful, thank you. Kind of disappointing because I dumped a few levels into Andrew and I don't think I can get that back. Good to know for next campaign though!

Yeah, it's superduper misleading because all the main characters are good at something and you'd think it's a great idea to build upon that foundation (I fell for it too...). But those stats only really matter when you complete a game because the main character then becomes available as a normal crew member in future runs.

On the bright side, those other stats on the main character can also be used to translate books in a library or during exploration events. So they are not a complete waste.

[Rogue]

Originally posted by Chrisme:

On the bright side, those other stats on the main character can also be used to translate books in a library or during exploration events. So they are not a complete waste.

Speaking of that...what's the best way to go about building up characters to translate books? I've noticed the skills required for the books are all over the place...like, humanities, music, geography, etc. and not much overlap with other books. It seems like skill points from level ups are not exactly plentiful and I'm finding it difficult to choose between a specialty skill and a single skill just for translating.

[Chrisme]

Originally posted by Rogue:

Speaking of that...what's the best way to go about building up characters to translate books?

I haven't really made an effort on the matter yet. I'd suggest to use sailors but unfortunately these cannot be leveled up which makes them a bit limited (like 3 or 4 points in a specific skill usually) and they can also not equip items which limits them even further. But you can hire translators to save up on the language books at least.

Therefore using side-characters for this job seems like the only good solution. However... Items alone can already greatly enhance specific skills - additionally some items give extra bonuses to specific characters. Skilll books can further be used to push skill levels up on one character. But these books are rare - as well as expensive - and therefore it should be considered carefully who gets to read them.

Max level is generally 9 and via equipment you can usually boost a stat by a couple of points already. If you get someone who starts with 3 or 4 in a stat that you need then it shouldn't be terribly difficult to get close to the 9 without much investment. Really problematic are checks that require several useless skills at once. I hate those...

Better not to waste skill points on useful characters like Joyce. Good thing the game has a ton of side-characters (candidates like that scholar from London).

[CluelessWonder8]

While I used hireable sailors quite a bit in my first game, at this point, I really only get them to translate books with rare or unusual languages... like Hebrew, for example. Just having them in your crew while in the library is sufficient, you don't need to use them for translating parts.

Loading a character up with items is usually sufficient, especially if that character has a strength in one of those skills to begin with. The Treasure skill is, particularly when combined with anything else, a common sticking point for me. I typically build up Yun Mu for that now, but if Andrew's your first character, she's not available to you yet. William and Lu Liyuan can also be good generalists for book translations.


Ah. A side note: hiring a sailor who speaks Ancient Egyptian is not sufficient for that flag... (I've tried it, and it didn't work.) You have to buy the language scroll and use it on someone for that event to happen.