How to defeat a pirate base or any base?

[EyeBeat]

I am looking for tips because I have not been able to. What do I shoot? How do I go about it?

[Gary]

If it's a Sea Fort, you sail into it and can either target the Mega Mortar - destroy that and they'll surrender (as long as it's not Cultists occupying it) - or wipe out the crew from range or a boarding action.

If it's a Coastal Defence (it's on an island) then you can't attack it directly - but if you wipe out a faction in the map, it'll vacate the Coastal Defence.

[ShredZ]

I still dont understand this, I went around and around a mega mortar, firing at all the points of interest never seeing anything happen damage wise... I kept going until my ship was destroyed, no damage done by me.

Please be specific, where do you aim, which mortar, how many shot should it take... ?

[Gary]

If you were at the furthest range, unless you had an Advanced Crow's Nest you wouldn't be able to see the health of enemy sections which would be why you couldn't see any damage occurring.

It's the inner ring you need to aim for - once all 4 parts are reduced to the red it'll surrender (unless it's occupied by Cult forces) - and the shots will depend on the weapon you use. Catapults and Lobbers are ideal for this.

[barmie]

Just get to the inner ring and have your men jump onto the fort, they become super easy with this tactic

[grayfaced mike]

How do you destroy the cultist ones? Can destroy the mega-mortar. But without the ability to board forts, can't do enough damage to crew to outpace their healing. Can destroy cannons but they keep repairing them.

edit: you implied it's possible to board forts? How?

[Gary]

Get to within boarding range and move the crew across like you would boarding a ship.

[Baboon]

Should you have a certain ship or certain upgrades (e.g. resistances for each section) before you attempt this?

I just had another go with the ship I've had from the start, roughly half upgraded and got battered...

[Gary]

I'd personally give a performance upgrade to the masts section, other improvements would help but I wouldn't say are essential. The Sea Fort Mega Mortar can't fire at you at boarding range so it's imperative you close the distance ASAP (unless you have the firepower to outgun it).

[Baboon]

Getting into boarding range as quick as possible worked for me. Jumped onto the fort and hacked them all to pieces. Thanks!

[Startome]

I've been taking these down without any issues this time around, where they tore me up pretty badly previously.

This time I've been doing a strike build. I started with chain, grape, and net guns.
But. leading up to the first boss, upgraded to berserk and tackler guns with a sniper to boot.
The berserks can keep up to four enemies occupied pretty consistently, once you get used to the targeting. I use the tacklers for knocking down non-berserk crew and sometimes kicking them off the fort. I have the sniper focus on berserk gunners first, to kill them off and remove their reload bonus from the battle.

The build also worked pretty well for the first boss with a couple of mortars.

Let me know if anyone else has found good fort builds :)