Need boarding mechanics clarification: Crew numbers

[Teacher]

I'm seriously confused about the crew numbers listed in ship battles. Seeing a ship with 4/16 crew, I thought it might be nice to test the boarding function and see how it works expecting there to be 4 crew members on there. However there were more, about 3 times more.

 

Here is the example: Pre-boarding, Pre-boarding, Boarded

 

So... how does this work? Is 4/16 just the number of people running the ship and they could have a million hiding in cargo? Is 4/16 a guesstimate of the Navigator that gets better with more experience?

 

I'm staying away from boarding at all costs now that I've seen what they could spring up on you. Any info on this would be helpful!

[Wintermist]

I was a bit surprised after a hard boarding battle that I didn't get to keep their ship I just assumed if you managed a boarding, it would be yours lol

[algroth]

In my first and so far only confrontation so far, what I opted to do was to injure all of their crew and then board the ship - yet that didn't seem to have much effect when I boarded as they all seemed to be on full health and bearing no injuries or other penalties. I felt that most of my work there had been for nothing when all was said and done.

[AlphaShard]

Same happened to me as well, I did significant damage to their ship, thought they only had four crew but they had a lot more as well. 

[Clerith]

The enemy ship "crew" is the people manning the oars and cannons. Not the people who show up on the deck fighting you if you board. Which makes no sense, but that's how it is. Killing the enemy crew is only to cripple the enemy ship so you can sink it easier. If you want to board, the best tactic seems to just go lightweight and ram asap.

[Shakyr]

Hopefully they make some changes to this, as it's currently quite misleading.

 

It'd be nice if the crew number listed was the number of people who spawned. Especially as only our party + 3-4 of our crew spawn (not even the whole crew). Then it would be easier to selectively pick off easy ships for loot

[Wormerine]

They WANT you to think that there are only 4 of them. Yeah, creating a connection between ship2ship and boarding would be my no. 1 priority in improving the system. Right now you want to do one or the other. Preferably, both could be combined (weaken a really tough crew and finish them off in melee combat).

[Rulin]

I almost lost my first seabattle because of this. Really weird...

Maybe the ship size/type on the world map is an indicator how well defended its crew will be, or the boarding strenght correlates simply with difficulty settings?

Edited May 12, 2018 by Rulin

[hippofant]

FWIW, if you have a full slate of companions, they all show up on your ship during boarding but they don't show up in the crew numbers either. So if the AI was boarding you, they'd be running into the same problem!

[Keledron]

From what I can gather, the crew number is JUST the crew they have on the top deck. If we sweep some grapeshot on there and take a bunch out, they will start bringing up crew from the hold. I took them down to 0 and as I was sailing towards two came from below deck. took them out too. When I boarded I only had 5 or so to take care of. 

[Maxzero]

From what I can gather, the crew number is JUST the crew they have on the top deck. If we sweep some grapeshot on there and take a bunch out, they will start bringing up crew from the hold. I took them down to 0 and as I was sailing towards two came from below deck. took them out too. When I boarded I only had 5 or so to take care of.

Interesting.

[AgainPyromancer]

There is a distinction between "above board" and "below board" crew. The above board crew are the ones manning the sails, helm, cannons, etc. If you cripple those crew you turn their ship into a lame duck. Grapeshot targets the above board crew. 

 

The below board crew is where the soldiers are. The number of below board crew is shown as a number under the enemy captain's portrait. You can injure these crew members, sometimes, when firing at the enemy ship's hull with normal cannonballs.

 

Hope that helps.

[CarrO]

There is a distinction between "above board" and "below board" crew. The above board crew are the ones manning the sails, helm, cannons, etc. If you cripple those crew you turn their ship into a lame duck. Grapeshot targets the above board crew. 

 

The below board crew is where the soldiers are. The number of below board crew is shown as a number under the enemy captain's portrait. You can injure these crew members, sometimes, when firing at the enemy ship's hull with normal cannonballs.

 

Hope that helps.

 

That's very clearly wrong and not the case, just by looking at OP's screenshots. Under the captain's portrait it says "3" but I count 13 soldiers on deck when boarding.

 

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/936064627081528283/6FD0AFB56964D9B8E1277B75845EABBD79060158/

 

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/936064627081528603/16CC387C5B57D6599E5E849B68EB02A8B036BD07/

[flamesium]

I believe this has been confirmed as not working as intended.

[Sotnik]

Do you lose the loot of you sink their ship? In this case are cannonballs even an option?

[omgFIREBALLS]

 

There is a distinction between "above board" and "below board" crew. The above board crew are the ones manning the sails, helm, cannons, etc. If you cripple those crew you turn their ship into a lame duck. Grapeshot targets the above board crew. 

 

The below board crew is where the soldiers are. The number of below board crew is shown as a number under the enemy captain's portrait. You can injure these crew members, sometimes, when firing at the enemy ship's hull with normal cannonballs.

 

Hope that helps.

 

That's very clearly wrong and not the case, just by looking at OP's screenshots. Under the captain's portrait it says "3" but I count 13 soldiers on deck when boarding.

 

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/936064627081528283/6FD0AFB56964D9B8E1277B75845EABBD79060158/

 

https://steamuserimages-a.akamaihd.net/ugc/936064627081528603/16CC387C5B57D6599E5E849B68EB02A8B036BD07/

 

I think the 3 is the captain's character level as well as an indication of the level of their minions.

[Teacher]

Do you lose the loot of you sink their ship? In this case are cannonballs even an option?

 

You do lose loot if you sink the ship, about half the loot at least if not more (one ship I sunk first/boarded after load had 3 times the loot including legendary gear). Stuff like flags and cannons also usually disappear when sunk. If you board though, you get half the crew experience since the captain takes care of everything :D

[omgFIREBALLS]

If you board though, you get half the crew experience since the captain takes care of everything :D

Tell me more, please. Half the crew combat experience or half the crew sailor experience?

[Teacher]

 

If you board though, you get half the crew experience since the captain takes care of everything :D

Tell me more, please. Half the crew combat experience or half the crew sailor experience?

 

 

I'll just post the screenshots of one battle done both ways.

 

Sink

Board 1 - Board 2 - Board 3

[omgFIREBALLS]

Ah, interesting. Science is grateful.