Caribean Legend: Naval Combat, Ships, Weaponry, and Tactics

A guide to any and everything to do with sailing and ship combat in Caribbean Legend. Breakdown of all ships, ship guns, strategies, and useful tips. ***Currently Being Updated to include new content from Black Mark DLC and onward.***

Introduction

Guess who's back... back again... Charles is back... tell a friend...



I never thought I'd be redoing the guide I did for Sea Dogs TEHO, but here I am. The influx of new players, old players, and scurvy pirates requires that I resurrect and polish this guide off.

What you can expect to find in this guide:

Descriptions and images of all ships in the game
Important information for owning/using ships
Ship Weapon Stats and Breakdowns
General Naval Tactics
Advanced Naval Tactics
And whatever miscellaneous stuff I come up with

This is NOT a game walkthrough. If you want one of those, I suggest you check this out.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3227894342
At time of posting, this one is currently being actively worked on. Check it out.

THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS***** I plan to update this as I move through my next play through of the game.

***Things to do***
*Finish Rate 1 and Quest Ships section
*Add more tips

Dummies Guide to Owning a Ship

Basically everyone who has been a new player of this game has run into some issue that I will cover in this next section. I consider this to be very important information, which the game doesn't necessarily do a good job of telling you all the intricacies of.

Do I Have My Boating License?

... so no, you don't need a license to operate a boat... at least not in this game. However, you do need to have the necessary skill level to operate the ship you are trying to sail. Ships are broken down into rates which go from 6 to 1. For purposes of explanation, you can use the word Rate interchangeably with Rank or Class. Rate 6 ships are the easiest to operate. At the other end of the spectrum, rate 1 ships require the most skill. If you don't have the necessary skill level to operate a ship, you will suffer massive stat penalties that can cripple your ability to play the game.

If you ever need to know what navigation skill is required for each rank, you can easily look it up yourself. Go to the "character' page in the menu and hover over the "navigation" skill. Right click. That should bring up a table that shows the navigation skill levels required.

Here's the breakdown:

Rate 6 Ships - Navigation Level 1 (A baby could sail this)
Rate 5 Ships - Navigation Level 25 (Starting Ship)
Rate 4 Ships - Navigation Level 45
Rate 3 Ships - Navigation Level 65
Rate 2 Ships - Navigation Level 80
Rate 1 Ships - Navigation Level 95


Here's what the in-game table looks like:



If you don't have the necessary skill level, you will incur harsh penalties of your other stats. This is proportional to how under leveled your navigation stat is.

For example: I have navigation skill 45 and want to sail a galleon. I capture one and swap all my crew and goods to it, sinking my old rate 4 ship (which I could sail with no issues). Instantly I incur a 20 skill point penalty to all my other ship stats. That penalty is determined by the difference between what my navigation rank is and what it needs to be. In the example, a galleon is rate 3 and requires 65 navigation skill, but I only have 45... thus the 20 skill point penalty. I also incur harsh penalties to my base P.I.R.A.T.E.S stats, further crippling my character.

Assigning an officer as the navigator will set your navigation skill level to the same as that officer. This is why it is important to check the officers in taverns and try to get ones as quickly as possible that can handle the higher rate ships. The same stat penalties will happen to the player if the navigator doesn't have enough skill to sail a ship, and that penalty will work essentially the same way as if the game was checking against the player's navigation stat.

Do You Have Enough Supplies?

Before you even leave port for the first time, you should be checking to see if you have enough supplies to survive out there on the open ocean. The following is a list of NECESSARY supplies.

• Food
  
• Rum
  
• Medicine
  
• Weapons
  
• Gunpowder
  
• Ammo
  
• Sailcloth
  
• Planks

Food and Rum:
If you don't have any food, your sailors will die. If you don't have any rum, they'll start to get mad and their morale will start dropping. The menus pretty clearly show how many days worth of rum and food you have left. You will get pop-up alerts in the top right during the last 3 days of food supply, urging you to restock. The rate of consumption for both food and rum, is determined by the total amount of crew you have.

Medicine:
If you don't have any medicines, you can randomly lose crew to outbreaks of disease. You can expect to take a massive hit to morale if you start losing sailors like this.

Weapons:
Arms like pistols and cutlasses for the regular crew to use in combat. Not having enough will make the crew ineffective in boarding or fights.

Gunpowder:
Necessary for the cannons to actually fire. Can also be used at the cost of 200 gunpowder for deploying a floating mine. Overloading the ship with gunpowder can cause it to both randomly explode if shot, and can turn it into a fire-ship or brander. There is a perk that allows you to sail a ship into a cluster of enemies and detonate it on purpose. This does loads of damage.

Ammo:
What, did you think I'd let the crew shoot pesos out of the guns? You need ammunition for the ship's guns. The options are Cannonballs, Knippels (Chainshot), Grapeshot, or Bombs. Cannonballs are average and have the longest range of firing. Knippels are used to shred enemy sails. Grapeshot is for close range, and is used to cull the enemy crew for a boarding action. Bombs are used to utterly destroy an enemy ship, and do the most hull damage.

Planks and Sailcloth:
Necessary to be able to repair the ship mid-combat. You will need the combat repair perk unlocked, either for yourself or your shipbuilder officer. I would prioritize sailcloth over planks. If you can't catch the wind to maneuver or sail away, you are dead in the water and screwed. Mobility and positioning is everything in ship combat.

Do I have Enough Crew?

You need to have crew to actually sail the ship. Without crew it will be hard to even move the sails or load the guns... and forget about defending from boarding. You can hire crew in the taverns. You may also see sailor npcs wandering around the streets of towns that want to enlist in your crew. These often have buffed stats, and will help improve the skills of your whole crew. And yes, your crew has a skill rating, which you can see on the same page as their overall morale. This skill improves overtime as you higher more skilled crew, or do the actions that the skill represents.

There will be a section on your ship stats that shows you the minimum crew, current crew, and max crew levels. Without the minimum crew, it is often impossible to appoint an officer to command a ship, or even leave to the world map. Max crew is the total amount you can take on with no penalty. However, you can overload your crew (to around 25%). This can help you win when boarding, but does come with penalties in the form of quicker morale decrease, and higher rum/food consumption.

Rate 6 Ships

There is no nice way to say this. The Rate 6 ships are cheap and utter garbage. If you have one of these in your fleet, it is most likely for purposes of a quest or special event, and not because you chose to have one.

Longboat:

This thing doesn't even have any guns...

Tartane:

Rate 5 Ships

Rate 5 is where you'll most likely begin with sailing. In the main story, your starting ship will always be a lugger. These ships don't have a lot of hull strength (HP), firepower, or crew capacity. However, several of them are speedy and sail really good against the wind. Trying to fight anything over rate 4 with one of these would be foolish.

Lugger:

Fast and reliable. Your first ship. A very steep sailing angle against the wind will allow it to flee from engagements against the larger, heavily armed ships that have to sail with the wind. Very useful for courier missions, sea races, and missions with extremely steep timelines. This and the courier lugger are the only ships that can be used in the Regatta sailing race.

Courier Lugger:

Very similar to the standard lugger in practice. This can have higher caliber guns, but often has less of them, or a lower capacity in general.

Sloop:

Not as speedy as the lugger, but better suited for fighting. Sloops carry more crew and guns, and usually have a greater deadweight. The mission "A chief of ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥" has a naval battle that requires you to either use a sloop or lugger.

Barque:

A slow tub that is fitted to be a trading vessel. Not very maneuverable. You're going to struggle to make a profit as a trader with this vessel because of the low deadweight in comparison to the trading ships available in the later rates.

Rate 4 Ships

The 4th rate ships have better weapons, deadweight, and crew capacity than the 5th rate and will start allowing you to take some risks and win more difficult engagements.

Brigantine:

A combat oriented ship with a decent amount and size of guns and good sailing capabilities for chasing down ships against the wind. Good for raiding small trade convoys and winning early-game sea battles

Brig:

Very similar to the Brig, but with sails that are designed for sailing with the wind rather than against. Slightly less desirable than the brigantine, because you'll often want an against-the-wind advantage to get away from larger, more destructive, ships.

Schooner:

This fills a "middle" role in this rate of ships. Capable as both a trader and a fighting ship.

War Schooner:

Has more guns than the schooner and can hold it's own with the brigs and brigantines.

Barkentine:

A direct 'upgrade' to the barque... Still wouldn't be my first choice for a trading vessel. Decent deadweight.

Fleut:

Actually a decent trading ship. You can start turning a profit on trading ventures with a ship like this.

Snow:

Has less cargo room than the Fleut, but seems to be easier to maneuver... big plus is that it actually can come very well armed for a ship of this rate. Not a bad ship at all.

Rate 3 Ships

The Third Rate ships offer tons in in-rate variability. You have three ships tailored for trading: Caravel, Pinnace, Carrack. You have three ships that are suited for combat and raiding: Corvette, Polacre, Xebek. And finally, you have the iconic galleon, which can fill the roles of trader or fighter.

Caravel:

Can feel awkward to control, but has a large deadweight. Should really only be for trading only.

Pinnace:

Average compared to the other trade ships in this rate. Nothing really stands out.

Carrack:

Can have a very capacious hold, but poor sailing stats.

Galleon:

Can be used both for attacking other ships or ferrying cargo. Not really the best at either category, but you will encounter plenty of these in the game.

Corvette:

Relatively speedy with the wind. Enough guns and crew to beat down other rate 3's and lower. Not my first choice in this rate... but to each his own.

Polacre:

NOW THIS!!! THIS IS A SHIP. WHEW LORD. Good cargo capacity, good guns, good crew. Excellent sailing stats and angle to the wind. This is perfect for catching up to enemy ships, boarding, and stealing cargo.

Xebek:

Very similar to the Polacre, but with slightly different angle to the wind. A lot of the stat ranges between these two ships overlap... All around excellent.

Rate 2 Ships

These are large ships, with large crew capacities, and many-many more guns than the ships in the previous rates. You should be cautious when engaging with any of these ships in battle, as they often have the hull and firepower to engage in heavy fighting. You'll probably have been chased down by heavy galleons at least a few times while playing the game.

Heavy Galleon:

You will get tired of seeing these. Large crew capacity, tons of guns, surprisingly quick with the wind... Will be very dangerous for you for a long period of the game. Not the best maneuverability, and very susceptible to having the sails shredded and being unable to move.

East-Indian:

Can have a very high deadweight and an impressive number of cannons. Has good sailing characteristics for a trading ship. When attacking fleets, prioritize shredding the sails on these, otherwise they can easily escape.

Navio:

Basically a heavy galleon without the same number of guns... in my experience, it tends to have less overall deadweight. You'd honestly probably be better off with a true heavy galleon or east-indian.

Frigate:

Good sailing characteristics and a ton of guns. Truly a military ship. Typically comes with cannons in 20lb or 24lb, or with 18lb coleuvrines.

Heavy Frigate:

More guns than the regular frigate. Can have up to 32lb guns. Very strong ship for combat.

Rate 1 Ships

These ships are all massive, have tons of guns, and are very expensive to maintain. Your crew costs alone are going to be very high. Don't forget, you'll have to have enough foodstuffs, rum, and medicines to sustain such a crew. Even if you get one of these early in your playthrough, it would be wise to moor it with the harbormasters until you have the economy (and/or navigation skills) to support one of these. None of these ships can be purchased from a shipyard. You have to find and 'liberate' them from their captains.

Lineship

The generic rate 1. Stolen ship and hot raid quests can commonly have these at higher levels. These can also be randomly encountered in colony siege fleets, and are present in many late game quest fleets.

Nation-Specific Rate 1's

The following ships are nation-specific. What this means, is you can only find them naturally under the command of the nation listed below. You have a random chance to find one of these leading a colony siege. You could steal one of these ships... but you should know that you will not be able to fool the nation whose ship it is. They will recognize it and forts will start firing at you.

I'll give an example. I attack a french siege fleet with a Warship as the flagship. I steal it. In addition to taking a relations hit with france, I also will be unable to take that ship to ANY french port without being recognized and attacked.

French Warship

Around 66 guns. Fairly good sailing stats for a ship this size. Looks really cool.

Dutch Battleship

Nearly 80 guns. Not as slow as the manowars, but still fairly bulky.

Spanish Manowar

Around 100 guns. Slow as hell, but deadly

English Manowar

Same as the spanish, but slightly more guns. A truly monstrous ship.

Quest-Exclusive Ships

The following section covers unique ships that can only be earned through completing quests. In each game there is only one of these. If you sink these, there is no way to get them again. A lot of these are overpowered compared to the ships in the same rate.

Folks that have the Vile Little God DLC will need to sacrifice one of these ships to Aruba in order to complete the entirety of that overpowered quest line. You'll get the opportunity to get several different ships on list during the main story playthrough, so I'd suggest picking one of the weaker ones to sacrifice.

The Dutch Gambit

Any one of these is an excellent rate 4 ship. Which is best comes down to personal preference. Due to changes with the subsequent companion quests, you can now get TWO quest ships from the English Route. (See below)

Meifeng Light Xebek (DUTCH) - Rate 4

The Meifeng is extremely fast and agile with a sharp angle against the wind. Armed with 20lb cannons by default. A great ship.

Mirage Privateer Ketch (ENGLISH) - Rate 4

The Mirage is fast, well armed, and extremely capable. Personal preference would call this the best ship you could get out of the Dutch Gambit.

Chimera War Ketch (English - Long Shadows of Old Sins)

What happens when you take the Mirage, upgrade everything about it, and slap the capacity for 24lb cannons on it? You get this monster. Hands down the strongest ship in the 4th rate. You can earn this ship by besting it in boarding and accepting a 100k English Bounty. (Yikes)

Valkyrie Patrol Brig (SECRET ORGANIZATION) - Rate 4

Also a speedy sailor with 20lb cannons. Doesn't sail as steeply against the wind as the other 2 options, but is still a great ship.





Flying the Jolly Roger

El Casador Spanish Galleon -Rate 3

Extremely strong ship. A true boss fight. Very difficult to obtain if not engaging with a rate 2 ship or multiple rate 3's. Comes with 24lb cannons, and can equip up to 32lb cannons. I believe this has the highest deadweight of any Rate 3 ship, and has decent sailing stats too. Again, be warned. Can be a very difficult fight.

Torero Heavy Polacre -Rate 3

A Polacre itself is a very capable ship. This heavy polacre comes with 24lb cannons and great stats. A beneficial angle of sail makes this among the strongest ships that can sail against the wind.



Caleuche

Flying Heart Warship -Rate 1*

A monstrous ship that inspires fear in sailors everywhere. Comes with around 56 36lb cannons. While it is rate 1, patch notes claim that you need 100 navigation skill to sail this ship. Despite being so large, it is rather speedy. The ship can be taken to master Alexis at Isla Tesoro and "cleaned up" for a nominal fee. The new model is stunning.



Defense of St. Pierre

Griffondor Light Frigate -Rate 3

A speedy sailor with numerous guns. Feels outclassed by the existence of the Torero and El Casador. The ship doesn't have any issues, but by the time you get it, you'll have better options, or will need something bigger to get you through the coming fights.



The Guardian of Truth

Fortune Fast Frigate -Rate 2

In my opinion, the absolute strongest ship in the game. Buffed from it's appearance in TEHO, the Fortune comes with numerous guns, extremely good sailing stats, and a massive crew capacity. This can go toe-to-toe with any other ship in the game and come out victorious. The only ships with more crew are the absolute largest rate 1's. The only thing I would not use this for, would be long-range fort bombardment. The manowars would be better suited for such a job.



Black Mark DLC

Principio Pink -Rate 5

An interesting new addition to the lineup of ships. Bridges the gap between rate 5 and 4 and is a menace to smaller ships. Can be gotten fairly early and before the Dutch Gambit. For folks with the Vile Little God DLC, this ship is rejected as a sacrifice to Aruba unless you do several of the smaller tasks for him (check the documents tab for details on Aruba's list).

Ships Pack DLC:

Late in 2024, a new DLC was released and it's only part 1 of 5 DLCs that will include new ships. To be clear, these ships are OPTIONAL SUPER BOSSES. As more details get added and these DLCs get released, I'll add the necessary information here.

Firstly, it appears that you can approach the shipbuilders at any of the capital ports and ask about information on these ships. They'll give you some limited knowledge or tips about them. The ships travel around the islands and visit ports. You can actually meet the captains in towns and talk to them to see if you can gather information. When meeting one of these on the world map, it has a different ship icon. SEE BELOW:

Be warned that these ships don't fight fair. Expect insane firepower, maneuverability, and dirty tactics. (mining and branders)

Holy Mercy Royal Galleon -Rate 3

The first of the new DLC Super Bosses. This thing is insane. Absolutely ludicrous sailing capabilities compared to the standard galleon. It can spin so fast that it will make you dizzy. Enjoy the awesome music while it shreds you to pieces.

Ship Gun Statistics

You can look at your ship information screen to tell what size and number of guns can be mounted on your ship. These are the values to the right of the "Amarment" section. It gives you a gun port size (20 pound), and a number (20). In this example, you can mount up to 20 guns that are at the maximum 20 pound cannons. You cannot mount more guns than 20, and you cannot mount any larger calibers. Ships come with a range of calibers that you can find them equipped to handle. For example, you find a heavy frigate and capture it. It may come with a max caliber of 24, but you can find them up to 32. The total number of guns can vary somewhat too.

When you steal a ship at sea, it comes with guns installed on it. It is possible that it may have some spare in the cargo hold, but it is also possible that in the combat leading up to getting captured, it had some get destroyed. Any ship that you buy from the shipyard will come with NO guns installed. Thus it is important to know how to install guns on your ship. Pull open your ship menu and look at the bottom. There should be a hotkey (default S) that lets you open up the guns page. Here you can assign and remove guns from your ship, and view the arrangement of them. You CAN NOT assign guns of two different calibers. They all have to be the same caliber. It is recommended to use this screen to remove and re-install your guns every so often to avoid defects. Repeated use of guns without doing this will lead to failures and they will rupture and explode due to wear and tear. Quickly resetting the guns is something you can do whenever you land in port, and doesn't take much time or effort to do.

There are two types of guns. Cannons and Couleuvrines. Generally speaking, Couleuvrines have longer ranges than cannons of similar weight, at the cost of doing less damage. All ship guns can be purchased at shipyards except for 36 pound cannons, 42 pound cannons, and 36 pound full-couleuvrines. These can only be found on 1st rate ships that you capture, or as loot from destroying a fort and winning the landing fight.


The above table has three sections. The first depicts range of the guns. This range should be based on standard cannonballs. The second section shows a damage multiplier next to the caliber that matches that multiplier. It's worth noting that 12 pound cannons and 8 pound couleuvrines (demi-couleuvrines) share the same damage rate, along with 20 pound cannons and 18 pound coulevrines. The final section shows the default reload time for each caliber.

A quick note in case you are confused on on thing in particular... I have a pound rating listed next to the Coulevrines. This refers to the caliber gun port that is able to accept those weapons on your ships. For example, you would need 18lb or greater to take standard couleuvrines. One thing that has changed very recently in this version of the game, is that the 36 pound full-couleuvrines, can no longer fit in a 36 pound port. They have to be equipped on the full sized 42 pound ports.




















Lastly, here is the actual deadweight taken up by each unit of guns. If you find yourself running out of room on your ship, you have the option to switch to a lighter set of guns and reclaim some deadweight. One particularly interesting example involves the 20 pound cannon and standard couleuvrine. These weapons have the same damage multipler and similar reload times. The coulevrines weigh significantly more, taking up 32 units per gun, compared to the 20 pounder's 20 units per gun. If you are sailing around with a gun that can take these calibers, it's worth asking yourself if you need the couleuvrines superior range, or more available deadweight.

Naval Tactics, Theories, and Tips

The next sections of this guide has miscellaneous tips, strategies, and play-styles, which I hope will be beneficial to you. Some of these are very opinion-based, and at the end of the day, whatever methods work for you, are the best methods for you to use.

The Slugger and Sniper Debate

You can pretty easily split ship combat in this game into two categories. I dub them, Slugger and Sniper. By my definition, a Slugger sails up close to the enemy and tries to maximize damage done by every volley. Alternatively, the Sniper engages the enemy from a distance, out-ranging them when possible, and hopefully weakening them over time.

Slugger

Advantages

• High Damage Output
  
• Easier to initiate boarding
  
• Can take advantage of "blindspots"
  
• Quick and Decisive fights
  
• Easier to hit the opponent

Disadvantages

• Get hit more often (crits)
  
• In range of enemy bombs
  
• more likely to get boarded
  
• hard to escape if things go poorly
  
• Gets "Ganged up on" in squadron battles

The goal of this playstyle is to get as close as possible and do the most amount of damage to the enemies. Being so close makes it easy to do high damage to enemy crews, and then initiate a boarding action. Alternatively, the same is true against you. Battles end up being quick and decisive because more shots are hitting their targets. There is a method to reduce the enemies ability to fire on you by taking advantage of "blindspots" (See Next Section). In my experience, this playstyle can help at the very beginning of the game when your stats are terrible. Any long-term fighting is going to end up with your ship destroyed or crew shredded, and your accuracy is terrible. You can get in close, get off a volley or two of close range grapeshot, and initiate boarding. Towards the end of the game, when you start having to face well equipped enemy squadrons, you can solo entire fleets with the right ship, if you get into close quarters combat and press your advantage. If you're going to adopt this strategy, do yourself a favor and use a gun that will do decent damage. I would not suggest this with anything less than a 20 pound cannon. 24 pounders have just enough range and x4 damage multiplier, making them well suited for such a strategy. Of course, the larger calibers are great too.

Sniper

Advantages

• Can engage enemies outside their firing range
  
• Prevent escape by shredding enemy sails
  
• Longer effective range of grapeshot
  
• Can easily escape

Disadvantages

• Longer fights, high gunpowder and ammo usage
  
• Still needs to approach for boarding
  
• Less damage per volley due to range
  
• To be optimal, requires a high cannons and accuracy skill

A sniper is going to engage the enemy from a distance. While doing less damage, this opens up the player to less chances to receive damage themselves. You can chip away at the enemy's sails and hull slowly, while taking little damage yourself. Unfortunately, you will still have to give up the range advantage if you wish to board. If you are going to use this play-style, you really should use a Couleuvrine style of gun. Even if you can only use the 8-pound demi-couleuvrines, those match range of the longest cannon caliber (24 pound). 18 pound couleuvrines are the standard starting point for this strategy to be effective. The full-couleuvrines mounted on large ships, while rare, are perfect for this type of gameplay. The massive distance and high damage can ruin many enemies before they even get in range. Also, they are perfect for destroying forts while staying away from the fort's "killing zone"

Why even go this indepth on this discussion? The whole point of this section is to encourage you to try different ways of playing and see what works for you. Understand this, you have different options when it comes to the guns you have on your ship, and the way that you choose to use them. Not doing enough damage? Trade out couleuvrines for higher damage cannons. Getting picked off by the enemy? Switch to a couleuvrine to match their range. Warehouses in capital city ports make changing out ship guns a very easy process. Frustrated that your heavy frigate is both slower and has less available deadweight when picking off traders? Consider switching to 18-pound couleuvrines or 24 pound cannons. The ONLY weapon change that I would caution against, is swapping 18-pound couleuvrines out for 20-pound cannons. Both deal the same damage, while the couleuvrines have a much larger range, albeit at the cost of taking up more deadweight.

[lord_admiral_viscount_nelson]

I think the range for the 42 pounder is changed, it's only 550 for range. Got those from raiding weak Spanish colony.
Seem to be more ship will be added for futured DLC. So far i managed to get the Holy Mercy which is a Royale Galleon, fully upgraded with 32 pounder cannon.

[Kaiser1417]

Yep, there's a few new additions currently in game or coming, as well as some changes to some of the base ships. I'm planning to update this to add the new ships and then again when the new update with the ship characteristics overhaul is implemented.

[lord_admiral_viscount_nelson]

The DLC black mark questline has a unique ship, a "pink" class ship name Principio. Reason to capture it:
1/ The uniqueness as the only ship sail in the Caribbean.
2/ Easy to acquire. Your starting ship is enough.
3/ The ship with history that Aruba requires you to provide, this ship fit the bill.

[Cachorro Gamer]

Good job sir

[Geandily]

thxu

[Lord Haart]

Nice1