Ship battle tactics

[Melusina]

How?

[SmugPlatypus]

1. Enter combat

2. Close distance (repeat as many times as needed)

3. Prepare to board

4. Play a normal battle

[marc5477]

Havent bothered with normal boarding combat. I enjoy poking holes in their boat and sinking them.

Early on. Place both cannons on the same side so you can fire both at the same time. Make sure you have at least 2 cannoneers assigned. With the starting cannons, move to about 250-300 distance, turn so that your cannons face the bad guy... fire. If they are tough, take out their crew sails with grapeshots. If they are not too strong, just sink them with normal cannonballs. During cooldown, dodge with full speed movement until you can fire again. If you want better accuracy, stop the round before you fire. Its easy.

[ppscurry]

Here's how I farmed all the ships. Buy 4 imperial long guns. Buy the 1000g+ sail that gives combat speed. Buy the 1000g+ hull that gives +5 hp. Top up on repair supplies and profit.

 

Enter battle->maintain low 500 range to be optimal or less/more depending on situation->move to starboard -> fire cannon (if cannoneers high level enough. If not, hold position for one turn to boost accuracy) -> move to port (if distance is too far) or move to starboard( if distance is too close)-> retreat/advance as needed otherwise move to port/starboard-> fire cannons on the other side of your ship -> repeat till dead.

 

If you suffer some kind of affliction eg. hull on fire etc etc. -> fire cannons -> jibe-> report to positions-> fire cannons-> jibe-> report -> fire cannons.

Edited May 13, 2018 by ppscurry

[Noctaem]

The way I would set up the ship in the early game would be to have one side of your ship dedicated to 0-300/400 M range and another for the 300-600 m range.  That way, depending on what distance you're at, you can shoot. 

 

Also, find that sweet spot for your cannons.  Meaning, if you have one side of your ship with Wyrmtongue cannons that have 0-400 M range, and the other side has Imperial Long Guns at 300-600 m range.  Your sweet spot is the range of distance where both sides meet.  So for this example, the sweet spot is anywhere between 300-400 M of range.  Both sides are within their ranges to shoot.

 

Start of combat, move into your sweetspot range ASAP.  Once you get there, turn your ship so that you can use your imperial long guns (if you use the same weapons in my example or whatever long range weapon).  When you turn the ship, you get penalties to shooting.  Brace here to protect yourself from cannon fire and remove the penalty to shoot.  The following turn, fire the cannons.  If the opponent decides to continue to approach, turn the ship around so that your 0-400 m Wyrmtongues are in range.  Then remember to brace/hold position to remove the penalty to shoot and fire the next turn.

 

Now for the ammo and advanced tactics.  If you know the type of guns the opponent is using, you can know their ranges.  So when the enemy ship turns to show their close range weapons, you can shoot their sails to stop them from being able to move, then move out of range and use your long range weapons to finish off the enemy ship.  Remember to use the ammo type that attacks the sails specifically.

 

Crew targeting can be useful against ships with low crew counts.  Not being able to fix the problems that show up because of cannon damage is a quick way to lose fights especially when it comes to taking on water.  However this is useless to soften up the enemy crew before boarding.  As of the writing of this post, you could lower the enemy crew down to 1 and yet still face 20 enemies when boarding.  Go figure.  Boarding is fun though but kinda unbalanced right now.

 

Standard ammo is great.  0 hull means a win.

 

As for the crew, mix and match properly based on the slots.  Put a crew member with a bonus (indicated by a mark to the left of the position on the crew member himself) to match the intended slot.  Yes, you can teach crew members all of the positions over time by putting them into slots they don't already have experience in.  But you should try to match them properly.  Sharing money with the crew is a great way to boost moral at first.  Once you have lots of moral it's not as needed.  Put crew in every slot ASAP.  Watch out for Malicious types though, they can cause mutinies if your moral is too low.  Don't trust em' personally.

 

Hope this helps.

 

EDIT:  PPscurry has decent advice, but I personally found that jibe might not be the best use of your time unless there's a cannon range concern.  It's usually best not to move out of position and just go directly to report / brace / fire once you get into your sweetspot / whatever distance works.  Does movement cause a penalty to accuracy on enemy attacks?  Not sure.

Edited May 13, 2018 by Noctaem

[CAlmond]

I generally like to use jibe, because I can basically shoot nonstop. so the order would be:

 

1. Get into proper range

2. Turn port/starboard

3. Hold Position/Brace if required

4. Shoot

5. Jibe

6. Go back to step 3 and repeat until enemy dead.

 

Where this strategy won't work is if you are completely outclassed on all areas by the enemy ship. In those moments I just try to close in and board them instead. 

 

Personally I've been hiring crew based on potential combat ability rather than sailing ability because I like boarding them and getting a lot more loot.  Birta can make short work of most enemy sailors and acts as a tank too.

[QuiteGoneJin]

This; 

[Climhazzard]

Personally.  I use the Berath Blessings sail upgrade and mash the 1 key until I can board...  It works for every ship opponent in the game, you'll take a lot less damage and injuries than if you use the automatic board option too.

[Juodas Varnas]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkZ7V8LYFaM

[freche]

So far normal boarding combat have in my opinion been the easiest and most resource efficient way to deal with ship combat, but don't pick the initial boarding option, because that will hurt your crew and you will take more damage then just start combat normally and then Full Speed towards them until you can board them.

 

As for the text based ship combat. There are imo two ways to equip your ship.

1. If you have a small one that have a one turn jibe, you can equip it with all round cannons with a 4-5 reload time on both sides, fire -> jibe -> brace -> repeat.

2. If you have the bigger ships with 2 or 3 turn jibe, jibe will become less efficient since your shot after a jibe will most likely happen on the round your previously cannons are finished reloading. So here I prefer to place one side with the short range cannons and one side that have can shoot farther. 

 

My go to cannon is the normal Iron Thunderer, decent damage and reload. The Aedyr Channel Gun and Imperial Long Gun does a lot less dmg per turn for just an extra 100m and you normally start at just above 500m apart from each other.

 

Another thing that makes jibe and turning less wanted on the bigger ships are the fact that they lock you a few turns where you can do nothing to respond to what is happening, no report, no brace, etc.

 

Also to note is when your cannoneers become more experienced they can start shooting accurate outside the ideal range, my rank 3 can make a guaranteed hit with a Wyrmtounge at 470m if both ships are standing still.

Edited May 16, 2018 by freche

[pstone]

As for the text based ship combat. There are imo two ways to equip your ship.

1. If you have a small one that have a one turn jibe, you can equip it with all round cannons with a 4-5 reload time on both sides, fire -> jibe -> brace -> repeat.

2. If you have the bigger ships with 2 or 3 turn jibe, jibe will become less efficient since your shot after a jibe will most likely happen on the round your previously cannons are finished reloading. So here I prefer to place one side with the short range cannons and one side that have can shoot farther.

Bigger ships can benefit from jibe if they use Double Bronzer (8 turn reload, 12-15 damage) on one side and normal guns on the other. Fire Double Bronzer -> jibe -> normal gun -> normal gun -> jibe -> double bronzer to finish off (if not already dead).

Edited May 16, 2018 by pstone

[Judicator]

1. Close distance

2. Ram them.

3. Murder everyone.

[Veevoir]

I have a very sophisticated tactic.

1,1,1,1,1,1,2.

[freche]

 

As for the text based ship combat. There are imo two ways to equip your ship.

1. If you have a small one that have a one turn jibe, you can equip it with all round cannons with a 4-5 reload time on both sides, fire -> jibe -> brace -> repeat.

2. If you have the bigger ships with 2 or 3 turn jibe, jibe will become less efficient since your shot after a jibe will most likely happen on the round your previously cannons are finished reloading. So here I prefer to place one side with the short range cannons and one side that have can shoot farther.

Bigger ships can benefit from jibe if they use Double Bronzer (8 turn reload, 12-15 damage) on one side and normal guns on the other. Fire Double Bronzer -> jibe -> normal gun -> normal gun -> jibe -> double bronzer to finish off (if not already dead).

 

 

That is true, I have not tried the Double Bronzers myself, you could get some good dmg out of that.

However you need to take into consideration that you need a more specific range and have less turns to respond to events that happens, flood/burning etc. But a higher dmg output = less time in combat = less chance bad events will happen. So can probably be worth it, now I need to try it

[bsolar]

My strategies are basically:

 

- Never board with the menu: too much unneded damage taken.

- If I’m outgunned, spam 1 and board normally

- Otherwise, I get into ideal range and keep shooting cannonballs, jibe, hold still if necessary, repeat.

 

With the larger ships double bronzers are the way to go. With smaller ships I’d rather load faster cannons to get an improved rate of fire.

[theBalthazar]

This mini-game is a shame. One of the most bad thing of this game. 90 % of reviews/tests say that, I say that since the beta 2-3. It is awful.

 

Everyone skip all of turn by turn approach with a rush directly for a "normal" battle.

 

End of the game. Ideally, DLC should be COMPLETELY REPLACED (Or supressed ?) all of this by a complete new system of battle ship... Ideally.

Edited May 16, 2018 by theBalthazar

[Logos]

 

 

Everyone skip all of turn by turn approach with a rush directly for a "normal" battle.

 

 

 

What are you talking about. I spend all my time hunting down ships right after leaving Port Maje because they drop great loot and with the right tactics you can take out enemies 10+ levels higher than you. You can sell the loot for better ships and ship upgrades, which allows you to accumulate even more loot even faster, until you're level 7 and your entire party is decked out with superb and legendary gear and you have the best boat in the game. And I'll tell you one thing, you can't do that by immediately going for boarding. 

 

Personally I like the long range cannons. I advance to the 500-450 range, and then just blast, jibe, hold, blast, jibe, hold, blast, and then usually the ship is sunk. Sometimes the ship will try to flee, especially if you're in the 600-500 range, and sometimes you have to spend a turn sending deckhands around instead of holding, but that's about it. Super easy. 

[bsolar]

Everyone skip all of turn by turn approach with a rush directly for a "normal" battle.

I only board if I’m outgunned, otherwise it’s much faster to sink the ship with cannons.

[theBalthazar]

You are the only one. This tactic is boring. Battle turn by turn is boring.

 

You have better loot with a direct approach. Frankly, you think this is interresting to do that every time ? (One or other anyway, rush or cannons)

 

When you compare that to gwent for example ? With the gwent, I have the same pleasure each time I begin a game. Here "rush rush rush". "Quick to a true battle."

 

Extremely deceptive and disappointing for me.

Edited May 16, 2018 by theBalthazar

[Logos]

You are the only one. 

 

No I am not. These forums and the internet in general is full of people playing this minigame. Your intentional withdrawal from reality doesn't change that at all. 

[theBalthazar]

I see a lot of people who put theses battle to the defect number 1 of this game. It is a fact. Perhaps not for everyone but visibly there is a problem for a LOT of people.

 

Personnaly I tried to see if I have missed something ? An option ? But no it is bad, mechanical and boring. It is not fun, there is no strategy.

 

circumference of all of this is OK (xp, items, functions of each crew members) But the mini-game himself is a fail. (to me)

Edited May 16, 2018 by theBalthazar

[bsolar]

You are the only one. This tactic is boring. Battle turn by turn is boring.

He’s not alone, I like the turn based combat and I like hunting ships for loot/bounties. You have to accept there are players who like this aspect of the game just like I accept there might be players not liking it.

[Veevoir]

 

You are the only one. This tactic is boring. Battle turn by turn is boring.

He’s not alone, I like the turn based combat and I like hunting ships for loot/bounties. You have to accept there are players who like this aspect of the game just like I accept there might be players not liking it.

 

 

But if you hunt ships for loot.. Boarding is the best way to do it anyway. Boarding gives more loot than just sinking the ship as far as I understand the tutorials.

 

And with ship having onboard a few hired adventures built for ranged destruction (I personally use bleak walker/rangers with custom AI spamming FoD/Wounding shot) you can also punch above your level in boarding.

Edited May 16, 2018 by Veevoir

[bsolar]

But if you hunt ships for loot.. Boarding is the best way to do it anyway. Boarding gives more loot than just sinking the ship as far as I understand the tutorials.

Boarding gives more loot but takes more time. With a larger full double bronzer ship you can sink most targets in a couple salvos.

[Tommy1984]

 

But if you hunt ships for loot.. Boarding is the best way to do it anyway. Boarding gives more loot than just sinking the ship as far as I understand the tutorials.

Boarding gives more loot but takes more time. With a larger full double bronzer ship you can sink most targets in a couple salvos.

 

 

For me boarding is faster. But I have set my combat speed to the highest setting and have proper AI settings for my party. Killing the enemy crew normally takes 10-30 seconds. Doing the canon minigame takes more time.