Leader Ship Crew Capacities and handling larger vessels

[FieryCross]

Thought that you could only sail a ship that you had the crew capacity for in leadership.

 

However I was informed in game, you can basically sail what ever ship you want. So with that in mind what can or cant you do, or expected nerf. 

 

or

 

If you do this, with the talk of the crewing patch will you then have a ship that you cant sail.

 

 

[OlavDeng2]

You can sail whatever the ship you want, however you can only command the crew which is stated for in leadership, so at rank 1 you can crew 40 crew, so you can command a santisima but with only 40 crew, wont do much good.

[FieryCross]

So you can basically sail around but if problems you have had it.

[Vernon Merrill]

Yes, and the penalties are HUGE in this game...  It would take a few mins to get the sails unfurled if you tried it with 40...  And forget about turning or shooting.

[Jean Ribault]

....then add Marines and you're doubly screwed. 

[Vernon Merrill]

Damn lubbers...  All they do is sit there and watch the crew work!

[The Spud]

As far as undercrewing goes, some people used to consider 80% or up as acceptable. However this was before the fires and leaks were increased.

Extra hamocks are always a good investment, since they have been buffed they can make a big difference and might potentialy save your ship in a nasty situation.

 

I would still use the don't go below 80% rule as a standard. If you do missions use carronades or mediums as they require less crew, reload faster and do more damage.

Recently some upgrades came out that reduce the crew required for sailing etc. don't know all these details but they might help too.

 

The dangers from undercrewing is that you can't afford to lose allot of crew, this will make you both vulnerable in boarding situations and especialy in survival situations.

If you don't have spare crew to stop the leaks or stop the fire you are prety much done.

So try not to lose crew, protect your stern and choose better armoured ships over fast thin ships. As less penetration means less crew loss.

 

Because you are undercrewing, and are at higher risk of losing your ship, you are better of sailing cheap ships so you don't risk losing allot of money.
Some types of ships are overproduced (like the frigate) and will be offered very cheap, maybe sometimes even close to the NPC price for a better quality ship.

If you buy NPC ships, even if you lose every fight in that ship you will almost cerntainly make a profit, don't go sailing around in expensive gold ships like the ingermanland or consti.

Always remember not to massively undercrew a ship, 80% crew will be the very minimum.

 

I have succesfully undercrewed a frigate at 250 crew and a consti at 350 crew, PvP is to be avoided but missions are perfectly fine.

[FieryCross]

Many thanks for the reply and a bit more of the mechanics that are taken into account.