Longasc
Dec 05, 2004, 05:49 AM
Everyone knows that you cannot conquer really large cities with some 300+ soldiers without a force of at least 2/3 the size of the Garrison.
If you want to sack several wealthy cities in a row, you need crewmen, lots of them, as you will lose at least some during the landbattles (inevitable).
The best way to get a decent sized crew is
1.) To have lots of money to keep your crewmen happy
2.) lots of money to attract more new crewmen in Taverns
3.) Friendly Ports and high rank within the Nation of the Port, e.g. you are a Duke, will provice you with more crewmen from the Tavern
4.) Enemy Ports / Settlements rarely give you much crewmen if they do at all.
There is another way: Just board enemy ships and recruit crewmen from there. While not the most effective way, sometimes it is the only way without sailing back several days against the wind!
Simple and probably the usual way: You sail straight into the enemy ship, prevent damage, get the full loot and some crewmen will probably join you.
This works well to Adventurer level, but what will happen if you do this at SWASHBUCKLER?
I assume every strike of your sword hits, and you win as quickly as possible. Yet the more you are outnumbered, say 80 Pirates vs 200 Spaniards, you will lose some crewmen! It is also possible that you got a hit while trying to close in to the enemy ship, causing even more casualties.
Even if you win, you are faced with serious problems:
You got 15 new crewmen, your reputation and money (not too much probably) and the high level just did not allow more. But you lost some 20-25.
Then you have a Galleon or something like that, you will need Crew to sail this ship around, further reducing your crewsize for the next raid.
A vicious circle: You win, yet it is a shallow victory.
A better method: Get a Royal Sloop, Brig of War or the largest Frigate, Ship of the Line you can get and SHOOT THE LIVING CRAP out of the enemy ships!
Start with Round Shots, Trade Galleons have few guns, fire till they have none left. Then switch to GRAPE SHOT to reduce the enemy crewsize till it is considerably smaller than yours or till only a few men are left, they might even surrender without a fight, good for your health, less scars from swordfighting. ;)
Sink the badly damaged ship. If it is a precious, fully upgraded Ship you desire, you cannot apply this tactic of course...
Result: Depending on your Gunnery and Maneuvering skills, you might have been able to
a.) Destroy all enemy guns at once with a full 40 gun Salvo of a Flag Galleon / Large Frigate or even better, Ship of the Line, or 32 gun of the Brig
b.) To outmaneuver the enemy ship, did not get hit at all, and gave it a serious grapeshot pouding (Royal Sloop!)
c.) You had bad winds, had to duke it out and lost crew due to cannonfire and your ship is damaged.
d.) The "usual" outcome: You got minor damage, a few cannonballs hit you, but you scored devastating hits and closed in and boarded the ship before you got serious damage yourself.
If you followed the "My crew is much stronger than yours" principle, your losses during swordfighting or not fighting at all will greatly decrease or be zero, and you will gain crew from fighting.
Note that this applies to Swashbuckler. On easier difficulties you do not need this, this applies to Adventurer+, the higher the level, the more you will like to resort to this approach.
If you want to sack several wealthy cities in a row, you need crewmen, lots of them, as you will lose at least some during the landbattles (inevitable).
The best way to get a decent sized crew is
1.) To have lots of money to keep your crewmen happy
2.) lots of money to attract more new crewmen in Taverns
3.) Friendly Ports and high rank within the Nation of the Port, e.g. you are a Duke, will provice you with more crewmen from the Tavern
4.) Enemy Ports / Settlements rarely give you much crewmen if they do at all.
There is another way: Just board enemy ships and recruit crewmen from there. While not the most effective way, sometimes it is the only way without sailing back several days against the wind!
Simple and probably the usual way: You sail straight into the enemy ship, prevent damage, get the full loot and some crewmen will probably join you.
This works well to Adventurer level, but what will happen if you do this at SWASHBUCKLER?
I assume every strike of your sword hits, and you win as quickly as possible. Yet the more you are outnumbered, say 80 Pirates vs 200 Spaniards, you will lose some crewmen! It is also possible that you got a hit while trying to close in to the enemy ship, causing even more casualties.
Even if you win, you are faced with serious problems:
You got 15 new crewmen, your reputation and money (not too much probably) and the high level just did not allow more. But you lost some 20-25.
Then you have a Galleon or something like that, you will need Crew to sail this ship around, further reducing your crewsize for the next raid.
A vicious circle: You win, yet it is a shallow victory.
A better method: Get a Royal Sloop, Brig of War or the largest Frigate, Ship of the Line you can get and SHOOT THE LIVING CRAP out of the enemy ships!
Start with Round Shots, Trade Galleons have few guns, fire till they have none left. Then switch to GRAPE SHOT to reduce the enemy crewsize till it is considerably smaller than yours or till only a few men are left, they might even surrender without a fight, good for your health, less scars from swordfighting. ;)
Sink the badly damaged ship. If it is a precious, fully upgraded Ship you desire, you cannot apply this tactic of course...
Result: Depending on your Gunnery and Maneuvering skills, you might have been able to
a.) Destroy all enemy guns at once with a full 40 gun Salvo of a Flag Galleon / Large Frigate or even better, Ship of the Line, or 32 gun of the Brig
b.) To outmaneuver the enemy ship, did not get hit at all, and gave it a serious grapeshot pouding (Royal Sloop!)
c.) You had bad winds, had to duke it out and lost crew due to cannonfire and your ship is damaged.
d.) The "usual" outcome: You got minor damage, a few cannonballs hit you, but you scored devastating hits and closed in and boarded the ship before you got serious damage yourself.
If you followed the "My crew is much stronger than yours" principle, your losses during swordfighting or not fighting at all will greatly decrease or be zero, and you will gain crew from fighting.
Note that this applies to Swashbuckler. On easier difficulties you do not need this, this applies to Adventurer+, the higher the level, the more you will like to resort to this approach.