How to shoot more accurately

[Barbarossa Bey]

I keep missing trade ships.. the one with the 23 crew.. although we are nearby or sometimes they are placed very far away at the start of battle.. they just vanish in a moment..
and when i shoot chain with my 6 pound longers... i keep missing.

Apart from traders.. whenever i shoot ball or grape in general.. i never seem to aim accurately.
Is there any special recipe towards proper shooting?

[Mansen]

First of all it always helps to reduce your sails - Less sails mean less wind tipping your ship to either side, lifting or dragging your cannons down suddenly. I often go down to Battle Sails (shortcut: B) when I'm in a "going round circles" duel with someone for the most part.

Consider your choice of cannon as well. Carronades have really short range, ammo type also matters a lot. Grape shot drops really fast, and since chain has to hit each sail, you're forced to aim higher than you expect to even get up there in teh first place.

Aside from that - Let the sector spread calm down a bit (white lines) so they match within the enemy ship's model. That means you at least shouldn't shoot to either side of it.

And finally - how high? to hit a target at range. That just comes down to practice really. Ideally you'll want to hit enemy ships just around the waterline (but without hitting a wave) for maximum damage and potential flooding. This isn't always possible at range, so you may have to settle for a deck hit or two.

Watch some combat videos and see if you can copy what they do.

[Volkira]

That shooting Arc.There is also a darker section that is the single shot arc of the current gun prepped for shooting.This will change so if single shooting adjust your aim according to this thinner arc.
The wide arc is the broadside spread area.Best used in close range.The longer you aim at a ship the narrower the arc will get and more accurate because of it.

Grape is different.You are trying to spray the weather deck.So best is too shoot at a view that has you looking over the deck at a 45 degree angle slightly ahead looking back or slightly behind looking forward..Aim for the bell.Sometimes you'll get good attrition and many times no attrition.You have plenty of time so don't expect grape to kill crew in a couple shots.It can take a while.
If you aim at the hull you'll get no crew attrition.

[MadMac]

1) Get the side armor down to 1/3d with ball before firing grape. It helps knock down the barricades.

2) Tap the spacebar to fire each cannon individually. Watch where each shot goes, and move your pointer to compensate.

3) Track alongside a trader going the same exact course. Do not get in a turning match with them. Do not get too close initially.

If you are passing them, drop a sail, breathe, and you will slow back. It takes time.

If they apss you, keep your parallel track, just add a sail. You will hear it unfurl, and you will gradually speed up. Patience. This will give you the best possible angle/setup to shoot them.

[Barbarossa Bey]

Traders always run like crazy.. at the best time i took 5% sail damage with lucky far away shot.. but always they run quick.


anyhow thanks for advice everyone

[Mansen]

Your position and orientation on the overworld map as the timer expires is pretty important. Try to get right behind the trade ship, and preferably not upwind so you can't catch up once in battle.

Aside from that, you can only really hope to keep up in speed and slowly gain on most of them. It isn't uncommon to spend a good 20-30 minutes simply catching up in a slow ship. As long as the NPC traders don't get too far away, they won't escape.

[Galileus]

Originally posted by Mansen:

As long as the NPC traders don't get too far away, they won't escape.

False. There is a timer counting down since last time you either got damaged or caused damage. It's 1:40 IIRC? At any rate, as long as it's not 0, both sides are locked into battle.

Its crucial to take a shot at enemy trader once in a while. Especially if you're far away and slowly gaining, you might not want to - since you need to turn and loose speed and distance makes it unlikely to get good damage in - but it's crucial to go for it nevertheless.

At long distance it might be a better idea to target enemy sails with ball ammo - as chain has lower range and more dispersion. Even though damage to sails will be lower, it's much more likely to score a hit and thus reset the timer. It is also worth noting that ball shot deals more damage to masts, and demasting a ship cuts it's speed and maneuverability drastically.

[Mansen]

Not false at all - I challenge you to attack a trader and just tag along behind it. If the distance is below a certain threshold, the ship will never trigger the escape sequence.

That doesn't mean you should make an attempt to de-sail such a ship, or take down the crew if given the chance - But you're in no rush as long as you can catch up to it.

But get too far away and it will definitely escape.

[Galileus]

Originally posted by Mansen:

Not false at all - I challenge you to attack a trader and just tag along behind it. If the distance is below a certain threshold, the ship will never trigger the escape sequence.

That doesn't mean you should make an attempt to de-sail such a ship, or take down the crew if given the chance - But you're in no rush as long as you can catch up to it.

But get too far away and it will definitely escape.

My bad, it's not false, it's incomplete ;) Both timer and distance play a role in locking combat.

[Belinik]

the 1 min 50 sec cooldown is to escape from players, no damage taken 2 minutes, no damage dealth 2 min = free to leave

[Galileus]

Originally posted by Belinik:

the 1 min 50 sec cooldown is to escape from players, no damage taken 2 minutes, no damage dealth 2 min = free to leave

It does affect NPC traders as well, doesn't it? A few times when I was far, far from trader and missed my window it would escape right after the timer ends...

[Mansen]

Yep. Trader NPCs can use it too.

If you approach the ship poorly, you may not be able to catch up before it can (and will) use the escape ability.

[Belinik]

well i been chasing a npc for 5 min, mind you slowly gaining on him and he never just vanished for me

[Mansen]

You were close enough to prevent it from using the ability - I've been in a few trader capture battles where I spent the better part of an hour chasing it.

I wasn't far away, but far away enough to not be able to shoot its sails. My speed was something like .1 knots faster, but on account of waves and turnings, it just dragged out forever.

[Barbarossa Bey]

Traders always escape after 2 minutes.. and shooting them with chain is why i made this thread.. where and how to aim to score a shot on their sails before those rats get away..

next thing i will try is world map position before battle.. maybe its similar to potbs where you must be agaisnt wind when battle occurs

[Galileus]

Originally posted by Alexander Extazy:

Traders always escape after 2 minutes.. and shooting them with chain is why i made this thread.. where and how to aim to score a shot on their sails before those rats get away..

next thing i will try is world map position before battle.. maybe its similar to potbs where you must be agaisnt wind when battle occurs

OW positioning is important mostly when you go against square rigged ships. These have to go at a much more shallow angle, and thus its easier to position yourself on their path. Square rigs can go either way (left or right from wind) so positioning is much less important.

As for shooting from far away - as mentioned above, until you close in, use ball shot for added accuracy and reach.