What are the top 3 ships for "Privateering"?

[Vampiresbane]

Some might call it pirating, but we all know better.

I'm just wondering what ships typically are used to raid convoys or battle fleets?

War sloops?
6th rates?
Corvettes?
5th or 4th rates?

I'm guessing something with speed over size, but firepower is a must as well as ship hull. That probably leaves out 1st, 2nd rates as well as galleons as they're more whales than anything, but it's hard to gauge maneuverability unless there's a list outside the game of ship stats.

[Sinsling]

The game tells you right on the ship stats in the shipwright. Honestly, to me, after taking into account seamanship, talents, and ship add-ons, the difference between corvs/frigates and manila/1st sotl is negligible. My first rate has a top speed of 32 sailing with the wind and turns sharper than any ai vessel can.

I've played other games where there are huge differences in speed/manueverability for the top warships and the "interceptors" as it where. The corvette for B&G, however, is only 2 points faster and I see no point in that for the loss of firepower and crew size.

[Jaman]

IMHO it´s the Light Galleon. Has enough cannons, it can get up to 32-pounders in the lower deck (24 in the upper), has 5 possible upgrades, max crew not too large not too short, excellent cargo capacity (which also means lots of ammo), it´s quite cheap to repair...

Also once upgraded, if the player knows what they are doing and have adecuate perks (Gunner, Sixth Sense and so on), it can take on a 1st Rate or a Manila and win.

[Vampiresbane]

That's wild that ships that were whales in other games and in real life are just as nimble in this game. Pretty surprising really. I honestly hope they change that; it would break immersion a bit for me.

I'm asking out of game; checking those stats ingame is pretty easy, but I don't have access to it at the moment.

Course if you include talents, seamanship, and ship add-ons, I imagine the "interceptor" type ships are extremely quick and fast. For me it's not about how fast are you compared to slow AI targets, but even the fast ones. For instance, if I use a War Sloop, it'll be more deadly than any other War Sloop AND take on larger vessels with its superior speed. But you do give up on hull health, crew size, and cargo space.

[Sinsling]

Personally I just see no reason to using a smaller ship unless you are trying to challenge yourself. A two point difference between a 1st sotl and a corvette just doesn't do it for me. I would probably think about it if say... a 4th frigate had a speed of 19 and a corvette had 21.

As far as using a ship to raid convoys goes, I use a first rate for the firepower (I can kill 120-200 crew per broadside) and cargo enhanced manilas for their 225 cargo space. Using smaller ships to raid convoys just gives you a smaller cargo hold for all the loot you can find.

[Clovis Sangrail]

I think that more important that what is best overall is what is best for the particular stage of the game you are at, and what ships you can access based on your fleet master skill.

I think only one male background (Dastardly Pirate) and two female backgrounds (heiress and pirate's daughter) start with any points in Fleetmaster, so if you don't give any to your character, you could be limited to Rank 0 boats -- armed boat, sloops and cutter -- at the start. About the only thing that can be said of sloops and cutters is that they are better than that crappy little armed boat.

If you get 1 point in Fleetmaster, you can use Rank 1 schooners and a snow. None of these are any great shakes as pirate ships, either, but if you are starting as a convict or indentured servant, you take what you can find.

I always gave Dread Pirate Kevin a couple of points in Fleetmaster, which allows him to command rank 2 ships without penalty. These are the brigs and brigantines, and they make pretty good convoy raiders and pirate hunters early on. They have decent armament and speed, and though their cargo holds are small, they are bigger that the rank 1 ships. Rank 2 also allows you to captain barques and fluyts -- cargo ships.

Dread Pirate Kevin is partial to war brigs at this stage of the game, so he starts raiding smugglers and robbers and pirates, grabbing better and better ships until he gets his war brig. In a nod to Jack Awbrey, he names it Sophie. Because of the small cargo hold, for convoy raiding he usually pairs the Sophie with whatever smaller cargo ship he can snag. The down side to the brigs is they don't have a lot of hull points, so it doesn't take a lot of damage to send them back to port for repairs, but they are fun little ships.

(Note: With a Fleetmaster of 2, you can also captain a sloop of war and a small corvette, but these are (a) harder to find, and (b) harder to take over than war brigs. They usually travel with larger faction fleets, whereas the brigs are usually alone in a Patrol or a pirate fleet.)

At this point, Dread Pirate Kevin and the Sophies generally spend some time hitting smugglers and pirates, building up their bank account and levelling up. Since you cannot join a faction or by a letter of marque until you are a lieutenant, it is best to not overly antagonize the factions. But for some reason, Dread Pirate Roberts always has a negative reputation with the Spanish, probably from spending too much time in Brotherhood ports, so if he sees a nice Spanish galleon, he may cut it out and convert it to his own use.

Once he reaches Fleetmaster rank 3, Dread Pirate Kevin goes looking for a small frigate, like a nice 6th rate. And if he has John Kirk or another companion with a fleetmaster of 4, he will try to grab a medium galleon for cargo. If no companion with a fleetmaster of 4, Dread Pirate Kevin will settle for a nice pinnace or small galleon. Since at this point, he is either a member of the Brotherhood or the holder of a letter of marque against the Spanish, these aren't too hard to find. Sometimes the Sophie is a casualty when cutting out that frigate, but that's OK. It's going to get sold anyway.

One of Dread Pirate Kevins favorite things is sailing around the Caribbean in his 6th rate (Surprise) and medium galleon (Cacafuego) raiding Spanish shipping. It is very profitable, but one does not live by raiding alone. One must eventually acquire for one's self a port. And for this, one needs at least a 4th rate, for those extra guns come in handy for a sea siege.

A 4th rate requires a Fleetmaster of 4 and is a little harder to get than a 6th or 5th rate. The Spanish don't usually have 4th rates, so we have to steal them from the French. Or the Dutch. Or the English. Dread Pirate Kevin prefers the French.

Once you can run 4th rates, you have a good general purpose warship that has the firepower to run sea sieges (especilly if you upgrade the guns) and the speed and maneuverability to raid convoys. And you finally have a ship that adds a decent number of sailors to your boarding parties. Dread Pirate Kevin loves 4th rates and is currently commanding a fleet of three -- Lively, Leapard and Boadica.

At this point, when Dread Pirate Kevin gets a couple more points in Fleetmaster and a couple or three ports and can start commanding ships of the line or the biggest galleons, it gets just too easy. Those big ships can reduce the crew of smaller ships to zero, or even sink them, with one broadside, and because of the way ship movement is programmed, they are as speedy and maneuverable as a corvette. Way too easy, so Dread Pirate Kevin loses interest and starts over.

[Vampiresbane]

I was lucky enough to snap both a 6th rate and a Sloop of War from the Brotherhood when one of their leaders had reduced his party to 10 with a fleet of 4 ships in a fight against the Spanish. Unfortunately I now need to figure out how to raise my reputation with the Brotherhood back to 0 (at -3 currently). Then at some point I might go buy myself a letter of Margue and bug the larger factions (mainly Spanish let's be honest).

I'm going to try the Sloop of War only. I realize you can use 1st rates like they're interceptors once your Fleetmaster skill is high enough, but that just seems SO wrong. As a result, I'll roleplay using a more flexbile, maneuverable ship even if it has less hullpoints and less guns.

I've always read you don't want to bring multiple ships to a fight because it dilutes your main party when boarding. Though one extra cargo ship may not be a bad idea since then it would only reduce it by half; as long as I grapeshot the target ship to heck and back 1/2 my crew vs a small crew of theirs should still be fine.

[Clovis Sangrail]

Publicado originalmente por Vampiresbane:

. . . I realize you can use 1st rates like they're interceptors once your Fleetmaster skill is high enough, but that just seems SO wrong. As a result, I'll roleplay using a more flexbile, maneuverable ship even if it has less hullpoints and less guns.

Amen to that, Cap'n V. 1st rates are for destroying big French fleets, not raiding convoys. And sea sieges. I keep mine moored except for those situations.

As for raising your reputation with the Brotherhood, they are usually at war with the Spanish, so pirating a couple or so Spanish convoys should do it. Don't do too many without a letter of marque, or you will lose reputation with the other factions because . . .. pirate.

[The Prophet of Bog]

I do hope they make the first rates and the big ships the big lumbering beasts of the seas they were in real life, so there can actually be some real trade off

[Sinsling]

Publicado originalmente por Van Darkholme:

I do hope they make the first rates and the big ships the big lumbering beasts of the seas they were in real life, so there can actually be some real trade off

Seconded, Thirded, and... oh wait I'm just one person.

[Vampiresbane]

Have any of you guys tried putting the "heavy" upgrades on a 1st or 2nd rate?

Would probably slow the ships down considerably while making them feel like a floating fortress.

(Fortified decks - +5% hull hit points, max caliber +1, -10% maneuverability, -10% max speed)
(Reinforced frames - +10% hull hit points, -10% maneuverability, -10% speed)
(Sideboard Iron Plating - +30% hull hit points, -30% maneuverability, -30% max speed)
(The magazine - -15% damage to hull, -10% cargo hold)
(Auxiliary sails - +5% max speed, +10% rigging hit points, -10% maneuverability)
(Silk ropes - +30% rigging hit points, +5% maneuverability)
(Deck Webbing - -10% damage to crew, -3% maneuverability)
(Infirmary - -10% damage to crew, -30% killed in action sailors, -5% cargo hold)
(Life boat - +20% salvaged cargo, -3% damage to crew, -10% cargo hold)
(Heated-shot furnace - +10% damage, +30% chance to set target on fire, -5% cargo hold)

Would end up giving this on a 1st rate:
+60% hull (effective), +40% rigging, +23% crew resistance (effective), +10% damage, -30% cargo hold, -58% maneuverability, -45% speed)

Which equates to this:
(need 1st rate base stats to do the calcs first)

At any rate, it might actually feel like a true first rate with this setup. Just a mean, brute of a ship that can't turn well at all and truly needs accompanying ships to survive a 1v1 with a very mobile, agile pirate ship.

(hell combine that with "Sixth Sense", "Gunner", "Journeyman gunner", "Battery commander", "Firestarter" and you'd get another -10% hull damage, ~+23% damage, and your chance to set ships on fire by 3x... 90% chance to set ships on fire? Boy you could go 1v8 with a first rate like that...as long as you don't let ships get on your bow or stern.)

[Clovis Sangrail]

I put fortified decks on a manilla, then beefed up the cannons. Checking the ship speed and maneuverability in the party screen showed that it did decrease both. And a full broadside was awesome.

It handled like a pig, but that may be just because I wanted it to, so that is how I perceived it.

Then I got the thought that I was looking at it wrong. Rather than adding it to big ship, what does it to to a smaller ship. So I tried it on a 4th rate.

A 4th rate with no improvements has a max speed of 17 and a maneuverability of 17. Add copper plating and a steering wheel, which add 10 percent maneuverability and speed, and it goes to 18 speed and 18 maneuverability. Then add reinforced decks, and it drops back to 18 speed and 17 maneuverability. Not a substantial hit.

But that 4th rate now has 42-lb cannons on deck 1 and 32s on deck 2. The difference in damage between a 32-lb demiculverin and a 42-lb cannon, using the damage figures for round ball and hull, is an additional 15 percent damage. The difference between a 32-lb culverin and a 42-ln cannon is only little over 6 percent. Percentages are similar for chain and grape.

So if you have culverins anyway, you are effectively losing 10 percent speed and maneuverabiity potential and getting only 6 percent more cannon damage (plus a slight increase i hull hit points).

Next I may try it on a war brig or a 6th rate just just if the damage increase percentages are higher.