Privateer and building a navy

[madscientist]

I am looki g to expand militarily via the ocean. Churchhill marathon speed, on a continanet to myself with some assorted settled island but in contact with all the other AIs.

I have rifling and astronomy, just ready to finish up chemistry which means I can build Galleons/Frigates and privateers. Military science and the ships of teh line are next on the tech menu.

Any suggestions on how to build a navy? Nothing so far except a few caravals and one token transport geely left.

My idea is to build several privateers (most AI have at least astonomy but not near chemistry yet) and start a harrassing/pillaging/blockading assault on the intended AI. Once I set this in motion I plan on building Galleons and Frigates, followed by the assault force. Sound reasonabel.

Also how do you use privateers efficiently? patrolling shores and wrecking seafood resources and occasional caravals? Blockading an enemy port for income? Leading the AI navy on a wild goose chace in order to get rid of the defending navy?

Suggestions appreciated.

 

[Innawerkz]

My opinion is to blockade ports as early as possible. Using one Privateer to blockade two to three cities simultaneously works twofold in your advantage: Weakens their research/treasury and bolsters yours. I start with my biggest adversary for the higher income cities. As the biggest rivals catch up in technology, I shift my fleets to blockade the not-so-advanced civilizations to keep the gold flowing.

After they catch up in tech, I tend to switch roles for the Privateers into a harassment role, as them sitting still and blockading makes them easy targets. Pick off their coastal resources en masse. Where possible, I try and pillage multiple resources simultaneously for greater effect. Break as much as possible to slow the civilization.

 

[Welnic]

The only thing I would do different is not to worry about using privateers only on your intended target. They are meant for everyone. I keep mine in groups of 3 or 4 as if you use them singly caravels will swarm them until they are dead. I promote one as a medic. The others either combat or drill. Find a spot where you can blockade at least 2 cities and set one ship to blockade, you don't gain anything with more than one. Have the rest kill caravels. I pillage everyones resources when I pass by. If you can get up to C3 and set up next to shore then you can survive the first frigate attacks. But once they show up you need to find an area where they don't have frigates.

It some point there are enough frigates around that you need to stash your privateers somewhere until you can upgrade them to destroyers. This is tricky. Your friends can enter your waters and attack them, ignoring your normal ships in the same tile. If you put them in a city, then a foreign unit moving into the city will kill them. Ouch! I had this happen to 8 privateers last night, one of which had C5, he was the reason I could build West Point. On an water map you should be able to stash them in an island city somewhere so that foreign unit won't be passing through. In the future if there isn't an island city I might try to make a canal with forts to an lake and then destroy the forts.

 

[alex sword]

Privateers are VERE MUCH efficient as soon as they're able to, at at least, do 20 turns blockade. The only question is that you should guess when they return to your ports. Too early = too little gains. Too later = they will be killed. One lucky game on Monarch, I had about of 100 privateers... And they do make a profi even with consideratiob of military upkeep!

 

[Innawerkz]

Of course.

Assuming unlimited resources, infinite time and no priority to build anything else: Build Privateers in stacks of 4 to cover every set of ports in the game.

But if you are playing a tighter knit game where your tech lead isn't so vast as to allow time to develop a Privateer armada, start with your highest-scored/sized target that does not have Frigates and rotate around the globe.

 

[alex sword]

"Assuming unlimited resources, infinite time ..."

Man, you've made too many assumtions. I don't know what is the level you are playing on, but starting from noble (this is the lowest level I played, usually I play Monarch/Emperor and sometimes Immporatal/Deity) - there is no unlimited resources as well as no "infinite time". If you - please don't think I am trying to offend you - just don't understnad what we are talking about, this is one story, if you understand and you see REAL arguments - just tell them to us.

You are especially welcome if you have new ideas.

thank you, Alex.

 

[Percy]

Erm, it was irony. In essence, he's saying that most of the time, you simply don't have the resources to blockade every single city with an armada of Privateers. So in most games, the only thing you can realistically hope to achieve, is to be a pain in the side for the strongest opponent (without access to Frigates), and that as soon as they get Frigates, it's time for you to switch to another target.

 

[Datian]

As they stand, privateers are a bit overpowered, since the AI doesn't counter them as it should. You just need a stack of two, put it in its territory, have one blockade, the other one slowly erode the armada of caravels : as long as your hunter rests on the same tile of the blockarder, caravels won't dare to attack, even if the AI has 12 of them on the next tile.
Which means gold for a looooooooooong time, and one or two GGs without having to do war.

 

[alex sword]

On Monarch\Emperor privateers rush works as expected. Higher levels are problematic ones, at least with my strategy. But at least one game it works.

It does not mean though this strategy is good. I just had not any another.

HE/SE/CE - did anyone perform good math analysis of these aproaches? I am trying to perform one \but what if the question has been already mathemised?

 

[popejubal]

A couple of things I noticed while using Privateers:

1: Strength 6 is a whole lot better than strength 4 (Galleons), 3 (Caravels) or 2 (Trireme and Galley). Don't be afraid of anything that your opponents have, just try not to leave a Privateer alone when there is a stack of 4-6 Caravels nearby.

2: You can attack your allies. I love being able to cozy up to Mansa Munsa and trade techs with Gandhi while pillaging their seafood and plundering their trade routes. Killing their naval vessels is not only fun, it also promotes your ships and gives you Great General points.

3: If you have significantly more strength than your opponent, but they have significantly greater numbers than you, the promotions that you want are Drill, Drill, Drill and Medic. If you send your Privateers out on the hunt , send them in pairs. One gets Combat 1 and Medic. The other gets Drill I, II, III and eventually IV. Until your opponents build Frigates, these pairs are pretty much unstoppable. After your opponent builds Frigates, the Combat I, II, III and IV wouldn't have mattered much anyway.

4: Having just 1 more speed than your opponents is a big deal if you are trying to catch them of if you are trying to run away. If Privateers are part of your overall strategy, try to be the first to circle the globe. Also, now that Work Boats can cross the ocean once you discover Astronomy, getting a 50% movement rate boost on the Work Boats is a big deal for being able to develop your overseas coastal colonies.

5: Even after one or more of your opponents discovers Astronomy and Chemistry, you still can get a lot of good use out of Privateers. They can escort your Frigates and Galleons to act as another layer of shielding for your units on the Galleons and the Privateers with can even heal your units while they are sitting around on the ships waiting to invade (or recovering from an invasion).

6: Don't forget that not everyone discovers Astronomy and Chemistry at the same time. If Mao has Frigates and Isabella doesn't, go ahead and blockade Isabella's cities. As long as Mao's Frigates don't see your Privateers, they'll leave you alone. With enough Drill promotions, you'll even survive a an occasional Frigate attack.

7: After you click the Blockade button, click on the Privateer again. That will show you how much area the Blockade covers and will tell you where to place your next Privateer. Blockades cover a fairly large area, so you can usually park your ship outside of your oppoent's cultural waters so that they can heal faster after being attacked. Don't forget to use the Blockade ships to swoop in and attack Work Boats and Triremes, etc. when they sail past along the AI coasts. You can often get back into position and resume the Blockade with your remaining movement.

 

[alex sword]

The problem with 4-6 caravells stacks is that often they are starting from the city without preliminary notice just as a horde of sharks. If, for example, my people knew about their start in advance, I would tell them to move to some different country, but... no notice! I told them to write a petition in Apastolic palace. That's just not acceptable to attack with huge stacks without notice.

 

[Innawerkz]

Man, you've made too many assumtions. I don't know what is the level you are playing on, but starting from noble (this is the lowest level I played, usually I play Monarch/Emperor and sometimes Immporatal/Deity) - there is no unlimited resources as well as no "infinite time".

One lucky game on Monarch, I had about of 100 privateers

Certainly had a lot of both for this game!

Erm, it was irony.

It may have been mildly satirical. Thank you for getting my point. Text isn't always the best way to convey tone!

 

[alex sword]

And don't forget privateers could be upgared to destroyers. So, after a frigate age comes, move your at least most experienced privateers somewhere to be kept (it makes no sense to save them all, because if you build a really large fleet, upkeep will be too high when they stop blockading). The problem is that AI can attack them even on your own territory. Fort sanctuary which you can build somewhere deep in you land is a great help for this purpose.