Question about allied ship's ammmunation type

[Spicy Sailor]

I noticed during sea battles, if you have allied ships, there is no option to give orders to them to change ammunation type.
They have cannon balls by default. How do I force them to have or change for example to chainshot and then to grapeshot during a fight?
Is this not a thing?

 

[Grey Roger]

No, as far as I know, allied ships will always use cannonballs. Enemy ships may switch to chainshot if their morale is low and they're trying to slow you down so they can escape. Allied ships won't even do that.

 

[Spicy Sailor]

What happens if I out only chainshot in their cargo hold? Still cannon balls? Do they consume cannon balls instead? Do they have infinite ammo? I have to test a few things.

 

[Grey Roger]

All ships use ammo. Allied ships always use cannonballs. So, if the ship has no cannonballs, it won't fire. (You sometimes see this with enemy ships, too. Merchant ships sometimes have little or no ammunition. If the captain decided not to carry ammunition so that he could carry more cargo instead, he won't be able to shoot at you.)

 

[Spicy Sailor]

Thank you Gray, I now know that any other type of ammo in my allied ships is wasted cargo space. I was wondering if they can shoot without gunpowder (to be even greedier and space extra cargo space)

 

[Grey Roger]

Not unless you've disabled "Gunpowder for Cannons" in the "Options" menu, which would mean no ships use gunpowder. Otherwise allied ships will need both powder and cannonballs to be able to shoot.

I generally put other ammo types in allied ships anyway. They might not use chain or grape but I do, and if I run out, I won't be able to get more from captured enemy ships.