Chain, grape and capture - Demonstration for new players

[jodgi]

So your new here and all you have is a starter ship with 8 or 12 guns. You've tried your hand at fighting bots but they turn and shoot well enough to get you in trouble. You don't have a lot of gold and your ship is fragile... What to do?

 

Capturing ships can help speed up your grind, you can sell them or sail them. I recommend you go out and find a Pickle, it's such a sturdy and comfy ship to level your character up to Jr. Lt. or Lt. Once you're there you can set your eyes on the Brigs or the Mercury.

 

There are many ways to capture a ship. I will demonstrate one way to do it, one that's easy to explain and execute with minimal damage done to your ship and crew. This tactic works for all smaller vessels trying to board a bigger. I've tested this with a Yacht versus a Mercury and it worked but the Merc will make you sustain quite a bit of damage. It can be done with mediums, longs and carronades. I've chosen long guns for this demonstration because they allow you to fight at a safer distance.

 

This is for bot bullying, don't do this against players - They will either run away or beat you silly.

 

We start out downwind for maximum stupid bot fighting comfort, go gunnery mode and load chain:

 

 

Then we start to work on his sails to bring them down and make him pop his repairs. Alternate from side to side. Notice how I stop or reverse my turns as he is firing, it works to throw off his aim and preserve your planking.

 

 

Keep at it for a while and his sails will drop below 50%.

 

 

Now his sails are at 25% and I work my way upwind:

 

 

I'm upwind, he's not happy. Time to change to doubles and smash him up a bit:

 

 

The idea now is to get behind him and take down his stern planking. It could be placebo, but I have the impression it's easier to kill crew by sternraking with the armor down, in any case it doesn't hurt your efforts to take it down. Please forgive my manual sails, it was unintentional. But, hey! It demonstrates how easy it is to deal with a chained bot even if you slip up a bit

 

 

Now I switch to grape and stay glued on his stern. Notice how I mainly use the "T" key for depowering staysails to stay where I want to be. This is probably the trickiest part if you're inexperienced. Watch the crewcount as I singleshoot his stern. after 2 broadsides he's down to 10 guys and I hit "9" to prepare for boarding.

 

 

There! Capped a Pickle almost unharmed.

 

Level up to Lt. in your captured Pickle and repeat the above to get a Brig or Mercury.

 

Good luck!

[maturin]

What's the use of starting downwind? Having the weather gauge guarantees that you can initiate boarding at the moment you choose, as well being able to point your bow at the enemy faster.

[Blackjack Symons]

What's the use of starting downwind? Having the weather gauge guarantees that you can initiate boarding at the moment you choose, as well being able to point your bow at the enemy faster.

 

In a real world with real opponents, yeah. The weather gauge is the deciding factor. The AI, however, will sit contently in your broadside as long as they have the weather gauge. As soon as you're upwind they pull crazy manoeuvres to try and regain it.

 

I.e. you can pound him for as long as you want from downwind of him.

Edited September 4, 2015 by Blackjack Symons

[jodgi]

In a real world with real opponents, yeah. The weather gauge is the deciding factor. The AI, however, will sit contently in your broadside as long as they have the weather gauge. As soon as you're upwind they pull crazy manoeuvres to try and regain it.

 

I.e. you can pound him for as long as you want from downwind of him.

That's one thing. The other is heel makes it easier to shoot windward, as opposed to sitting upwind and having to depower to get shots off. I just tried to get this as simple as possible for new guys.

Hmm... I might have hit a "no more media for you" limit on my post. The two last vids just show up as text, but the formatting is the same. Maybe a mod can split my post after vid 5, would that work?

[jodgi]

Here's the next step going for a Mercury. Note that bot Mercs will disappear, so insert NavyBrig instead. I've cut out several seconds of me lobbing chain at his sails, the important bits are in. Notice how I can sit, sails down, and shoot at him from upwind once the sails are down a bit.

 

[Beres]

I need to get better in fighting... Thanks for your input!

[Jobbie]

Valuable advice, will come in handy when I finally get a commission, Thanks.