How to win battles in your first ship - 'Yacht'

[Ned Loe]

Player vs NPC Guide

 

 

Here is a guide for those who think that Yacht is a weak ship. Yacht is a very deadly and maneuverable ship. If it is used right you will destroy and capture any ship up to Mercury size. I am a Potbs veteran and spent years in pvp. So, I decided to try same strategy in Naval Action and it works. 

 

Here is what I do:

 

1. Full speed at the enemy ship. Load Sail shot. Get close and take one enemy broadside with your ship bow.  *Remember count reload time and right before NPC fires show bow! No matter how many cannons ship has only few shots will hit and the rest will miss due to much smaller target and ship movement. (Measure length of ship in side view and measure length of a ship placed with bow towards you, that's 1/4 or less). 

2. Work sails and get them down to 50-55%, then switch to ball and destroy rudder. *Remember to always stay on enemy ships stern!

3. Once rudder is broken and sails at 50% switch to grape and rake that stern hard! You will see crew dies in packs 20-30 per broadside. Use 'Space' to carefully place each shot inside captains cabin in 'straight line'. 

4. You will be sailing in circles following enemy ship stern while it is trying to flip through the wind. 

5. Once crew is at 10 or less of what you have ex. (your crew - 50 then make enemy crew - 40). Prepare boarding and wait until it's at 100. Wait until enemy ship is trying to flip through the wind and at it's lowest speed. Get close from the stern side and slow down, then press G to board. 

6. When in boarding unload full broadside and attack. Fire muskets and you will have a new ship in less than a minute. 

 

I use fine reload mod, turn and boarding mods. I also use 12lb cannonades, with reload mod they reload almost the same as stock.  

 

PS - always keep ship speed at 50 or less and when you see enemy guns are about to aim at you use full speed to escape behind enemy ship. This will take some time to master. Just imagine a 90 degree arc that is pointing from ships side. All you have to do is stay away from that arc. No repairs used. 

 

Enjoy and practice with small targets first!

 

Happy hunting

[OlavDeng2]

Just a couple notes:

 

1. shoot off all rear armour of enemy ship first

 

2. you can face anything up to a frigate in the yacht(personally captured a cerberus) however i would not reccomend for new players, but it is easy using the above method

 

3. the use of carronades using this method is almost absolutely vital, not against ships like cutter and such, but if you face a snow or a cerberus(or even a frigate) youl be extreamly satisfied with the carronades

 

4. dont forget them doubles at close range, youl be able to stick so close all the time the extra damage is worth it

 

this is just from my personal experiance, so may be different from person to person.

Edited September 17, 2015 by OlavDeng2

[Yankee jack]

Great advice Capt. Olav,

 

I used to Chain first.  Your idea works better..........  I just capd a cerb in my yacht!

thx

[Maxer der Grosse]

Thanks for the advice. 

 

I have recently joined the game and obtained my first ship (a yacht). I have participated in two battles already and have not yet been sunk. I am not trying hard enough? Still, I will attempt the strategy mentioned above and come back with the results. They are bound to be positive!

 

All due respect for my senior officers!

[Maxer der Grosse]

Dear Wind,

 

Your advice turned out to be useful. After leaving my home port of Kingston /Port Royal on the Isalnd of Jamaica, I sailed to Haiti, where I was constantly dodging large French vessels. Every time I would find a trader ship, there were simply too many large French navy vessels to attempt an attack. Being nearly surrounded by French vessels I stopped at the neutral port of Jeremie on Haiti. I saw one British frigate and decided to attempt a crossing back to Jamaica. Directly North of Jeremie I saw a lone French Trade Cutter. In a battle lasting 30 minutes, I finally sank her. Coming out of the battle I was again surrounded by French naval vessels, so I turned North to Cuba (Guantanamo Bay to by exact) where I saw a lone Spanish Cutter. As the battle commenced, I saw my lone Spaniard accompanied by two other Spanish ships. Two cutters something else small. I started firing upon all of the vessels, but they were well organized and only out of luck, was I able to break one ship off from the others and I sank her. By that time the other two Spaniards really wanted to sink me. With 1/3 of my cannons gone on both sides I then ran for it, leaving the fight when I was ahead. I continued onto the Port of Baracoa and saw that it was a Spanish port, so I returned to Jeremie on Haiti, where I repaired my ship. Having only 300 gold before the battles, I now have over 22 K gold and I have been promoted from Midshipmen to Ensign. 

 

Sincerely, and with all due respect, 

[Aussie Pastor]

Very useful tips guys.

I'm an old PotBS player too.

I played when we had an Australian Server plus tried the "pay to win" not long ago.

Are the more experienced guys into grieving the newbies?

Where are the big PvP areas?

[VictusB]

I must have quit PoTBS too early, I played just after 'launch' and remember it being TERRIBLE...more like WoW than a ship game.  Never looked back. 

 

If we have people using real ship strategy here sounds like they changed alot.

 

Though pointing ones bow into the enemy cannon should NEVER be a sound tradeoff.  Even with fewer hits a single cannonball bouncing around a ship lengthwise is a recipe for disaster. 

You can find in these very forums much more educated people than I to describe how the British in the battle of Trafalgar were/were not using this tactic when they headed directly into the enemy formation...from what I understand short of it was the British ships did it in such a manner that they were not infact taking broadsides to the bow, but maneuvering until they got between the enemy ships and began decimating them with bow/stern shots.

[maturin]

 

 

You can find in these very forums much more educated people than I to describe how the British in the battle of Trafalgar were/were not using this tactic when they headed directly into the enemy formation...from what I understand short of it was the British ships did it in such a manner that they were not infact taking broadsides to the bow, but maneuvering until they got between the enemy ships and began decimating them with bow/stern shots.

Well of course they were heading at the enemy formation directly. There was no other way to do it, and the approach lasted hours.

 

 

The bow of a ship is a narrow target, and it's easy for shot to glance off the thick bulwark there. Raking fire has to be at relatively close range to be effective, and it still requires a lot of accuracy and discipline, just like in the game.

[Aussie Pastor]

Also the Brittish relied on faster reload discipline than accuracy.

They where the first to be concern with DPS! LOL

[Stix]

Very informative, thank you!

[Ab Alcatraz]

i will try it as i have lost 2 battles now

[gt10]

I must have quit PoTBS too early, I played just after 'launch' and remember it being TERRIBLE...more like WoW than a ship game.  Never looked back. 

 

If we have people using real ship strategy here sounds like they changed alot.

 

Though pointing ones bow into the enemy cannon should NEVER be a sound tradeoff.  Even with fewer hits a single cannonball bouncing around a ship lengthwise is a recipe for disaster. 

You can find in these very forums much more educated people than I to describe how the British in the battle of Trafalgar were/were not using this tactic when they headed directly into the enemy formation...from what I understand short of it was the British ships did it in such a manner that they were not infact taking broadsides to the bow, but maneuvering until they got between the enemy ships and began decimating them with bow/stern shots.

Coming from a guy who played for about 5 years, it got much, much better. At the beginning, no one really knew how to play it. The skill increased drastically over time, once everyone started hitting level 50 and figuring out strategy for PvP

[Warrax]

Bernard Cornwell's book, Sharpe's Trafalgar, the account is pretty vivid.

i recommend it highly.

[Didacus]

Can we apply this strategy to Basic Cutter aswell?

[OlavDeng2]

Can we apply this strategy to Basic Cutter aswell?

yes

[surfimp]

.

Edited January 30, 2016 by surfimp

[Cubus]

Hi Guys,

I tried this a couple of times and each time lost badly. It seems by the time I'm done with sails I'm almost sunk.

The turns the opponent makes seem to make me unable to keep within its Stern shadows.

I tried it with Cutter and Pickle carronades.

Any tips?

[Herrick]

I'm with Cubus. Is this still valid advice after the recent patches?

[surfimp]

I previously asked the same question as the two posters above and then thought better of it.

 

But now, having 2nd Lt. in my sights and quite a few more battles vs small ships (my Cutter vs enemy Cutters and Lynxes), I have been finding:

 

1) For Admiralty Missions, it's more helpful - against armed AI opponents - to go for their stern armor and rudder first, then - if I want to board them - work the sails a bit with chain before proceeding to grapeshot stern rakes to whittle down the enemy crew. If I just want to get them to surrender to get the Gold & XP for completing the mission, I keep hammering them with ball.

 

2) Against traders (Trader Brig and Trader Lynx) I capture in the Open World, I find I need to make sure to approach as close as possible while maintaining a downwind position in the Open World, so that when the battle instance loads I will be downwind and able to catch them. I use chain to bring the sails down ASAP so that they can't run away, then use ball to reduce the stern armor and rudder, then grape to kill the crew.

 

In both cases above, once I get to grape, I keep graping till the enemy crew is down to 10-15 or so (and I hopefully still have 35+). This makes the boarding take even less time, and if the enemy's sails and rudder are gone, you can pretty easily grape stern rake all day if you want. Make sure to remember to do the "prepare for boarding" action before you try to board!

 

Once it's time to board, I get to the downwind side of the enemy ship and then slowly round them up into the wind - the AI will usually try to avoid collisions. Once speed gets below 5kts and both ships are pretty even matched (neither is accelerating / decelerating relative to the other) the boarding [G] will usually show up.

Edited February 20, 2016 by surfimp

[Ned Loe]

This strategy still works. Recently was able to stern camp Constitution in my Renommee. Manual sailing is the Key. 

 

Good luck. 

[Shannonman]

Hi all,

I have a Yacht in harbour, but it says I need cannons, but when I try to load cannons on the ship I can't.

Is there a size limit or something to the cannons that will go on the Yacht.[ I was buying small guns ]

So for now I stick to the Cuyyer.

Thanks.

[OlavDeng2]

Hi all,

I have a Yacht in harbour, but it says I need cannons, but when I try to load cannons on the ship I can't.

Is there a size limit or something to the cannons that will go on the Yacht.[ I was buying small guns ]

So for now I stick to the Cuyyer.

Thanks.

Since i am lazy, i did my best to explain it in this video:

 

[Captain Boneboys]

Hi all,

I have a Yacht in harbour, but it says I need cannons, but when I try to load cannons on the ship I can't.

Is there a size limit or something to the cannons that will go on the Yacht.[ I was buying small guns ]

So for now I stick to the Cuyyer.

Thanks.

Here you are...

http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/5912-ship-gun-class/#entry112469

 

Medium Cannon 6pd should do the job (best all rounder), if I'm not mistaken.

Edited February 27, 2016 by Captain Boneboys

[OlavDeng2]

Here you are...

http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/5912-ship-gun-class/#entry112469

 

Medium Cannon 6pd should do the job (best all rounder), if I'm not mistaken.

Looking at that, it would seem it is outdated(although it is correct for the yacht and some others), the ones on the unofficial wiki i try to keep up to date at all times personally.