Best Use For Pirate Ships

brewgod

brewgod

Prince
Joined
Feb 7, 2006
Messages
403
Location
Jet City
Hello Fellow Die Hard Civ V Fans:

Mods: please redirect this post if it has already been discussed.

What is the best use for Pirate Ships in BNW. In Civ IV you could steal money at harbours and destroy other vessels without declaring war. You can't do the later in Civ V. So I wonder why build them.

Thanks.

Brew God
 
I'm sure the others will fill you in more thoroughly but keep in mind that PIRATEER is fundamentally different from a PRIVATEER. The former is more of a terrorist working for its own agenda (though sometimes hired for a nation), while the other works exclusively for a nation never hiding its flag.
 
To capture other ships. A couple frigates and a single privateer can turn an enemy navy into your navy.
 
In addition to being able to capture ships, I believe privateers(and probably destroyers, too)earn gold when attacking a city, even if they don't capture it.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
 
brewgod said:
What is the best use for Pirate Ships in BNW. In Civ IV you could steal money at harbours and destroy other vessels without declaring war. You can't do the later in Civ V. So I wonder why build them.
Click to expand...
As others have mentioned, historically there is a difference between a pirate ship and a privateer. Unfortunately, the privateers of Civ IV were more akin to pirate ships, waging war against all comers. The privateers of Civ V are somewhat historically accurate: they are an auxiliary force to wage war on a nation's wartime foes.

Historically, privateers preyed upon shipping. Selling captured merchandise was profitable, and the rewards often worth the cost of engaging in battle. There was little to be gained from tangling with an enemy's warships, and typically the cost was very high.

In Civ V, privateers primary purpose is to capture the ships of a wartime foe. There is also a small cash reward for attacking a city (The amount of gold is based upon the amount of damage inflicted.)
 
El Caballerion said:
I'm sure the others will fill you in more thoroughly but keep in mind that PIRATEER is fundamentally different from a PRIVATEER. The former is more of a terrorist working for its own agenda (though sometimes hired for a nation), while the other works exclusively for a nation never hiding its flag.
Click to expand...

The unit in Civ IV dubbed "privateer" acted more like your "terrorist".
 
Heerlo said:
In addition to being able to capture ships, I believe privateers(and probably destroyers, too)earn gold when attacking a city, even if they don't capture it.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
Click to expand...

They start with a promotion that grants this. All melee naval units can get it but the Privateer starts with it (Sea Beggar starts with the second rank).
 
Sending privateers to isolated islands where barbarians is the king will translate into a big navy for you because chances is that there'll be a bunch of ships for you to capture and bring home to upgrade them into up to date ships that you are using.
 
Callonia said:
Sending privateers to isolated islands where barbarians is the king will translate into a big navy for you because chances is that there'll be a bunch of ships for you to capture and bring home to upgrade them into up to date ships that you are using.
Click to expand...

Yes but I don't think you get any cash bonus for capturing a ship, which seems odd: just the ship, that as you say can be upgraded (useful); and the ship maintenance (not so useful).
 
Walter R said:
Yes but I don't think you get any cash bonus for capturing a ship, which seems odd: just the ship, that as you say can be upgraded (useful); and the ship maintenance (not so useful).
Click to expand...
I wonder if privateers, upon capturing a ship, should be given an option: take the ship into your own navy or scuttle it in return for gold? The latter option would represent goods plundered from the ship before sinking it. Sure, in the current setup you can sell the ship once back to home territory, but the maintenance cost along the journey pretty much cancels out that benefit.
 
householder said:
I wonder if privateers, upon capturing a ship, should be given an option: take the ship into your own navy or scuttle it in return for gold? The latter option would represent goods plundered from the ship before sinking it. Sure, in the current setup you can sell the ship once back to home territory, but the maintenance cost along the journey pretty much cancels out that benefit.
Click to expand...

There's a second option, settle a distant useless town where to sell your captured ships to. Basically like six barbarian ships there.. you settle a island near them then start capturing them and sail them back to the island port you have and sell them there instead of in your homeland.

After you're done with that useless island city, give it away to some weak ai.
 
My main purpose of building Privatters is to capture coastal cities. (I always build them in my designated military unit city which by then has an Armory & a Barracks and usually Heroic Epic) This 30 XP means they start with Coastal Raider III. (If playing the Dutch; 2 attack as well)
I pre build Frigates as the first naval ranged unit and use those to bombard city defenses first.

Now if the AI actually has a naval fleet I must first clear; my Frigates will red line them with my Privateers finishing to allow enslavement.
Pillaging a trade route and also the gold while attacking a city is just gravy.

I also will upgrade these to Destroyers; they'll keep the enslavement promotion.
 
joncnunn said:
My main purpose of building Privatters is to capture coastal cities. (I always build them in my designated military unit city which by then has an Armory & a Barracks and usually Heroic Epic) This 30 XP means they start with Coastal Raider III. (If playing the Dutch; 2 attack as well)
I pre build Frigates as the first naval ranged unit and use those to bombard city defenses first.

Now if the AI actually has a naval fleet I must first clear; my Frigates will red line them with my Privateers finishing to allow enslavement.
Pillaging a trade route and also the gold while attacking a city is just gravy.

I also will upgrade these to Destroyers; they'll keep the enslavement promotion.
Click to expand...

LOL "enslavement" :lol:
 
It's not enslavement, just... friendly coercion. They're on the winning side now anyways, they should be grateful! :D
 
I use captured ships to draw fire from cities, while my Frigates pummel the defenses down to nothing. Once the city's hp has been knocked down enough, the Privateers swing in for the kill.

If i get a privateer up to Logistics, I'll work in a melee attack or two from it (or if I'm sure the privateer will survive a round of return fire). Nice to gain a few bucks while capturing.
 
brewgod said:
What is the best use for Pirate Ships in BNW. In Civ IV you could steal money at harbours and destroy other vessels without declaring war. You can't do the later in Civ V. So I wonder why build them.
Click to expand...

As folks have pointed out, privateers and frigates do serve different purposes --- privateers capture cities and other ships, and frigates are ranged units for bombarding. So if you're doing a naval attack on a coastal city and you want to capture it, you need both.

However, other than that one other benefit of privateers is that they don't require any special resources. I normally like to build frigates as soon as I can, but if you're low on iron, then you can settle for privateers.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

brewgod
Hero's Should You Be Able to Aguire Them?
Replies
4
Views
748
pokiehl
pokiehl
brewgod
Cultist - Best Way To Use Them?
Replies
4
Views
2K
bbbt
B
brewgod
Wonders for Civ Leader Pass / Civ 7
2
Replies
38
Views
2K
Zaarin
Zaarin
brewgod
Inheriting Hero's
Replies
0
Views
532
brewgod
brewgod
brewgod
Great Bath
2
Replies
38
Views
3K
iammaxhailme
iammaxhailme
Top Bottom