I'm in the missle of taking pictures of each ship i come across in game, i take 2 pictures per ship. The first is the detailed screen showing her stats the second is a picture of her with full sails sailing out of the harbour. I have catagorised them into classes so as to make it easier to know which ship belongs to which class, this is slow now since i have done all the common ships, i have only come across 1 Black Pearl and there are 2 types in COAS so i might have to start with the other one in order to take her pictures. So far ithink i have took pictures of 3 Frigate types, Chase Frigate, Frigate and Coastal Frigate, i like the Chase Frigate's layout as its a nice design, i don't remove the ugly ships from my game because i like to have alot of veriations for battles that way i don't become accustome to the ships and in my own apinion each ship offers a different tactic when fighting her, like the Black Pearl has only 36 cannons but is still a hard hitter and can take a pounding her self, not to mention she isn't exactly slow. Then there's say a Salamander pictures i took of her are bellow, she is about the same speed as the Black Pearl but has 8 more cannons, not too many but deverstating damage can be taken if under estimated, so the Black Pearl might be weaker approaching from either side than the Salamander but both can still do alot of damage. However the Black Pearl is weaker going against the wind and thus starts to show her weaknesses, and for that reason its easy to fire into the front of the ship with grapeshots killing many crew members before bording, the Salamander on the other hand isn't as slow so this tactic (if started) needs to be done from further ahead of her, which means she could react and turn broadside on you, so like many fast but deadly ships i come from the rear and fire grapeshots into her stern.
For example in my new game (yes i restarted again lol) i was in the Heavy Lugger Pictures bellow.
She's a class 6 ships capable of carrying a little more cargo than the slightly smaller Lugger, anyway my cannons was 16 calibure Culverins which i had 12 of, not many. I saw the French was in a battle with the pirates so i thourght since i have yet to improve my cannon skills this would offer me the chance and advantages i need to be safe whilest still able to improve the skills i need. Well the pirates had 2 ships, a Interceptor (faster than me and more cannons) she sailed passed, i was not more than 200 yards away from her and she only fired on me once and most shots missed. The other ship was a Galleon, she was heading into the battle while the Interceptor was trying to flee, i could see why becuase chasing her was the French Corvette a 30 gunner, the Galleaon of the pirates had the French Interceptor and a Galleon to contend with all on her own. I watched as the French Galleon parked behind the pirate Galleon while the French Interceptor came across the front of the pirate Galleon, this made my mind go tactical thinking, i was in a very small ship could easily be sunk and was carrying cargo destined for Saint John'sfrom the merchant at Port Of Spain, so i couldn't afford to take too much damage and not come away with anything from the battle. I decided to appraoch the battle, i came straight in from the south heaqding directly for the stern of the pirate Galleaon, i figured if i can park just to the left of the Galleon's stern i could take advantage of her and fire a few broadsides of grapeshots into her and then board her, she must already be quite weak anyway.
Well that was my plan but when i got there the plan took on a new light, first off i had forgotten to change my shot type to grapeshot which ment i had to wait a long time for the gannons to reload, and to make matters worse the Interceptor of the Fench fleet which was originally crossing the bow of the Galleon was now about to turn broadside to broadside with the Galleon which ment the Galleon had the chance to set sail, i fired my broadside of chainshots into the rigging, one or two shots hit the other's all missed (my gunner crews need to be more patient and learn to aim) i then hit grapeshots command and decided i would risk everything, i timed it so the Galleon fired her broadside into the Interceptor allowing me to pass on that side with less chance of taking a full broadside myself which worked due to the wind changing direction just at the right moment. I managed to pull infront of the Galleon and fire 1 broadside of grapeshots into her before she boarded me, i had only 105 men, she had much more from the looks of things, i fired my long pistal and began swinging away at anything that came near me and my men, trying to make it so the enemy troops would fight my men leaving me to hit them from behind or other weakened area and thus letting my hit with as many deadly swings as i liked without having to block anything ment i was free to kill a fair few of the troops and slowly give us the advantage. In the end only myself and 1 man on board was till alive yet after i killed the captain and took the Galleon over handing command of her to a fellow officer of mine i had 69 men left, enough to crew both the Galleon and my own ship. I couldn't use the Galleon myself the stats was all red -1 was all the stats so i put the Galleaon into storage ready for when i am able to use her.
So there is my tactics at play, had the Galleon not been blocked by the French i would never have attacked her and that ment i would never have captured her. So patients can play a big role in tactical battles, i would rather use a ship of lower class and attack ships of much higher and far more powerfull both in cannons and ability to take heavy damage, than i would to use a ship of similar standings. I love the Constitution yes, but mine are alway's put into storage and used when i want to have the advantage on my side (in this game however i don't have any, YET) anyway the new Flying Dutchmen will offer something new compared to the Black Pearl which i come across alot while i have only ever come across a Flying Dutchmen twice, first time had no other plan of action but to flee, the second time however i had a Caravel and was able to board the Dutchmen and win the battle and is the time when i captured her. I can't remember much of her only that she was covered in sea weed etc, the stats on the other hand i can't remember, i can't recall how many cannons she had or how big the cargo hold, how strong the hull was etc.
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