Anyone use Privateers?

Privateers are a handy way of making sure that AI invasion fleets don't reach your or anyone else's shores. I use them to protect my naval borders against aggressive neighbors' naval incursion -- in a recent 20K cultural game, playing as Russia on an archipelago map, I happened to have an island next to the Japanese. The Japanese kept dropping off samurai to attack my cities. After two back-to-back wars, I started sinking every Japanese ship that came near my borders with my privateers, to prevent them from dropping off more troops and starting another asinine war.
 
I play vannila, there I used Privateers once in a game where I was trying to stay away from war. I thought I could use them to sink the IA without geting any hits on my rep, this is not true. However it did a good job of preventing any expansion from the IA's. if you place them in the good coastal water ways you can really stop any movement from the IA and expand.

As soon as the IA got better ships though they were blown out of the water.
 
bambam190 said:
I play vannila, there I used Privateers once in a game where I was trying to stay away from war. I thought I could use them to sink the IA without geting any hits on my rep, this is not true. However it did a good job of preventing any expansion from the IA's. if you place them in the good coastal water ways you can really stop any movement from the IA and expand.

As soon as the IA got better ships though they were blown out of the water.
Click to expand...

For the record, its AI: Artificial Intelligence.;) Just so you know. :)
 
frigates are better units - privateers, however, are hidden. With enslave, a stack of privateers can really help keep you safe without the worry of war.
 
I've been using them to harrass the AI ships without starting a war I don't want. Especially when I get to the point where my coastal cities have nothing else I want to build available.
 
Never really used them before. I built one a while back and some civs ship sunk it immediately, so I never really bothered with them - until now after reading this thread.

Have a campaign going against Portugal and Mongels. Had to clear some forest to irrigate and didn't want to waste the shields, so - what the hell, build a privateer. So I built just one.

Sent it over toward Portugal and ran into a couple of gallys. In one turn, I had 4 privateers (popped 3, 2 got damaged). After healing the two up, I sent all 4 roaming the coast of Portugal, picking off their navy randomly.

Next thing you know, I have about 40 of these. Apparantly, Portugal likes to build ships, and I just tee-ed off on them. They were even sinking carraks and frigates, although I lost quite a few on those ships.

What a way to cripple the AI's navy without waging war.
 
What a way to cripple the AI's navy without waging war.
Click to expand...

Not that the AI's naval tactics are all that impressive to begin with. :lol:
 
They do have a use, that nobody has mentioned....

Do you have the problem of trying to expand into the only empty island of the game? Has the cheating AI built a Galley 100 turns ago, and now is slowly moving towards that empty space with it's cargo of a settler? Simple - build some Priviteers, and have them guard that space for you! When playing as the Chinese on a RW map, I managed to keep all the foreign devils away from Australia, using this method.

Aegis - I did once see a good AI naval tactics. 4 Carriers, 6 Battleships, 10 Destroyers and 5 of your namesake. It was escorting 5 transports. In two stacks. Right by my capital. :sad:
 
Well, Spain started building ironclads - and that is ending my privateering reign of terror.

Although, by this point - I probably have a hundred of them, but those ironclads are sinking them fast.

As for naval tactics - I was playing a couple of civs, one being the Zulu. Not a tremendous seafaring civ, but they - from the other side of the planet, early in the game sent 8 caravels full of units and landed them (declaring war the next turn) on a small island where I had 4 settlements.

Wow - what luck that they were navigating with that size naval force and stumbled on the only spot that I had that was under defended.

:rolleyes:
 
The AI always knows where you're weakest cities are but you can often use that to your advantage. Simply keep your troops moving from city to city using your road network and keep them completely confused. Of course, it doesn't work so swell when the AI go amphibious but they do that too rarely IMO.
 
The Civelopedia states that the privateers can bombard (with a 3), however I don't have a bombard button. Am I missing something?
 
It is a defensive bombard, just like the Archer->Longbowman->Guerrilla->Tow Infantry, when a stack containing a unit with a bombard rating is attacked, that unit gets a chance to take 1 hp away from the attacker before the battle starts.
 
The above is done simply by giving the unit zero range.
 
Gosnork said:
It is a defensive bombard, just like the Archer->Longbowman->Guerrilla->Tow Infantry, when a stack containing a unit with a bombard rating is attacked, that unit gets a chance to take 1 hp away from the attacker before the battle starts.
Click to expand...

Ok, that makes sense. They get a first-shot off when attacked, in a stack.
 
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