so help me out here with this decision.

[Merciless Mark]

gah! im stuck here in my thoughts. im not quite shure what to equip my beloved frigate with.

ive come down to two options, 24 pounder culverines and 12 pounders.
lets see the arguments for the two.

12 pounder Culverines:
+ fast reload time, 1 minute 10 seconds
+ is just as effective as any caliber against sails
- lacks considerably in firepower against an enemy hull.

24 pounder culverines:
+ effective against sails as is any caliber.
+ hits hard and while not matching 24 pounder cannons it has range to make up for it.
- reload time is quite extensive, 1 minute and 50 seconds.

just because im bored, 24 pounder cannons:
+ greatest firepower around
- can not outrange the 24 pounder culverine
- lenghtiest reload time, 2 minutes

so as you can see, i do have quite a dilemma, the 12 pounder culverines would allow me to shoot the sails to shreds on most enemy ships, however, it is very weak against hulls and dosent stand much a chance in a outrigh pounding match. the 24 pounder culverines while they take a long time to reload they can outrange enemy ships equipped with cannons.

 

[kaydra]

I personally always outfit my Companion ships with Culverines, because they seem not to know where their going msot of the time and have a hard time keeping up, so they bombard my enemy's from far away on a safe distance.

If you like fighting on your own, i'd recommend Cannons.

Whilst culverines do have a great range and are excellent for disabling enemy ships, their accuracy diminishes with range and the "sail to" feature kind of makes up for the cannon's lack of range.

Bombs naturally have a range handicap as opposed to cannon balls. Loading up cannons with bombs, then using the "sail to" function turning broadside and firing at your target has devistating effects.

A tactic I enjoy using is to use cannon balls and go into max range if my enemy is using bombs.

I use bombs when my enemy is using cannon balls or knippels.

Knippels have no meaning VS a player, due to the Sail To function.

Culverines are incredibly useful for bombarding forts, because their in-accuracy actually enables you to hit multiple fort cannons and the forts have a harder time hitting you.



This is my advice: If your ship is a class 2 - class 1, go cannon and take on enemy's head on.

If your ship is a class 3- 5, use culverines to out-manuever your adversaries.

Your companions should ALWAYS use culverines when you plan on taking over forts.

IF u like a balance, have your heavier ships use cannons and your lighter ships use culverines.


That's my 2 cents <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

 

[Ropblad]

i prefer culverins since my man o war with culverins loaded with bombs sinks evry ship with two boardsides altho it may take more to sink man o war

 

[Merciless Mark]

the sail to function in my opinion is almost like a cheat, and should be range limited, <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/whistling.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="whistling.gif" />

using it destroys a bit of the experience, real captains never had any sail-to function <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/razz.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="razz.gif" />
to bad akella didnt make the cannon loadouts realistic, then i could have the lower gundeck armed with 24 pounder cannons and the upper gundeck with 12 pounder culverines.

btw, how effective are 12 pounders when it comes to grape shot?

 

[kaydra]

My Man-O-War sinks *any ship* including other Man-O-Wars at point black, with only 1 salvo of bombs.

If I have a ship on the port and starboard side of my ship, point blank, both are gone in 1 shot.

The secret: Cannons.