When is it best to occupy, raid, raze or establish a pirate cove?

[Walrus Clan (Wally)]

Im having a hard time figuring out when each option is best to do. Like should I always~ be raiding and not occuping things if im playing the raiding lady? Only having ships and the main capital? Or is it better to establish a normal empire as well?

[rlee87]

occupy settlements you can defend (focus on one province at a time), sack/raze settlements you don't need, and establish pirate coves in coastal settlements far away (difficult to defend if you decide to occupy).

[8-The-General-8]

Above is good advice, also only ever establish Pirate Coves in settlements that are at least over 1000 income. As costs seem to get progressively higher and force you to find fatter juicier targets which are not common.

As a side note; I thought I'd try and exploit this feature upon a thread suggestion the other day.

I currently own two settlements and have nearly got rank 1 as pirate. Many Pirate Coves I established got rolled and exposed though, so that's heavy investment down the drain. Pirate Coves have a 10 turn cooldown or you gotta pay the price.

[TVMAN]

Originally posted by King Midas:

Like should I always~ be raiding and not occuping things if im playing the raiding lady? Only having ships and the main capital? Or is it better to establish a normal empire as well?

Best thing about the VSea is that you can do both. You can either stick to one settlement and build coves everywhere, or paint the map like a traditional race. It's ultimately up to you.

I like attacking settlements and establishing coves vs. paying for them, because what right-minded pirate would actually pay for something? Same with capturing settlements.

I'm playing as Noct and I've only taken Sartosa as my other settlement so far. Everything else gets a cove if it's a port, or sacked if it's a settlement without a port.

[8-The-General-8]

Yep, true, good advice, I thought I'd try this out (what I wrote above) as an exploit experiment but good luck getting a Pirate Army to successfully besiege an H.E. city ($$$$$$$!!!) in semi early game....

A 6k investment that is guaranteed to work recovers your money in under 6 turns, that's a better deal than risk of losing an army to H.E. which are a real opponent for Pirates as I discovered on a mission battle the other day... 900/3500 losses.. And, an army can also be tasked to other endeavours.

The settlements that generate the real money are the hardest to take by force early game. You need to get an army (or three!) there too, first...

[Darth Wadewilson]

Usually in my campaigns I aim to paint the map. Even if I try to consolidate properly and expand slow I will be like "I will do that after I take this.. and that one.. let me complete this province.. that settlement has a cool landmark..etc etc"

But vampire cost have finally provided me with campaigns where I don't do that.

I am in turn 120 and all I own are vampire coast, galleons graveyard, saratosa and tilea. I have got coves all over lustria, ulthuan (mostly made after attacking and looting the settlement) and a few select cities in naggaroth.

I don't feel they are the kind of faction that can hold a lot of territories as easily as others. Every faction hates you. You need corruption to buildup. your army is mostly light and ranged. Doesn't mean you cant paint the map. It's just the pirate way is more fun. Kinda getting a good feel of horde and settlement mechanisms.

You take a few key settlements that you can hold. Even if enemies want to attack, you can control where they will attack. And you can be a constant thorn in their side.

[Rys]

Originally posted by TVMAN:

Originally posted by King Midas:

Like should I always~ be raiding and not occuping things if im playing the raiding lady? Only having ships and the main capital? Or is it better to establish a normal empire as well?

Best thing about the VSea is that you can do both. You can either stick to one settlement and build coves everywhere, or paint the map like a traditional race. It's ultimately up to you.

I like attacking settlements and establishing coves vs. paying for them, because what right-minded pirate would actually pay for something? Same with capturing settlements.

I'm playing as Noct and I've only taken Sartosa as my other settlement so far. Everything else gets a cove if it's a port, or sacked if it's a settlement without a port.

See, this is something I would really love to do, however you cannot really win the campaign this way. The requirements there are for occupying most of the racial capitals :/

[TVMAN]

Originally posted by Hawky:

See, this is something I would really love to do, however you cannot really win the campaign this way. The requirements there are for occupying most of the racial capitals :/

Are you talking about the Mortal Empires campaign or something? You can absolutely win the Vortex campaign this way. Vortex campaign doesn't have any occupation requirements for the VSea to win, only collecting the shanties and winning the last battle.

[Vrost]

i too have trouble with the vcoast faction, the freedom of possibly doing anything is kind of disturbing me, but in a good way, i like it but it overwhelms me and i dont now what to do after a few turns.

[Bhelen]

I've found I make alot more money occupying settlements and building my slave trade than I do off of pirate coves. But pirate coves are a quick way to get easy income without the hassle of holding down large swaths of land and dealing with public order. I think they're both useful early game - to supplement your income until you get enough stacks for conquest, and late game - when you have the wherewithal to establish coves in high income ports like Lothern or Marienburg.

[Saint]

Can we all get together and decide on what to call the Vampire Coast? I've seen VC, VSea and Vampirates.

[TVMAN]

Originally posted by Shaitan:

Can we all get together and decide on what to call the Vampire Coast? I've seen VC, VSea and Vampirates.

VC is already taken by the Vampire Counts and VSea has fewer letters than Vampirates, so VSea gets my vote.

[kekkuli]

Just spam them coves to any settlements with 800+ income.