Help for a newbie

[UberAegis]

Hi all.I have been in this game for a week,although I have been following the forums for longer. After getting my privateer handed back to me as woodchips by an Ai cutter thought I d ask for some help. I find myself getting in a turning battle with Ai and they seem to do it better,I try to knock their sails down but as we trade shots by the time I ve done that my hull is not too healthy. So is it better to have half sails when turning,will manual sailing help me make tighter turns.Is it better to focus on sinking ships initially until I get better. I have watched you tube guides etc but their tactics are generally for large slower ships. Sorry for long first post but any help appreciated.regards

[Fuge]

I would forget the Priv until you can easily sink AI cutters with a basic cutter. Given, the basic cutter is free as are it's repair kits - just practise different approaches until you find what works for you.

Also, shop around to find an oak or live oak one - worked for me.

[Bramborough]

In PvE missions vs AI, the primary goal is to inflict lots of hull damage for XP.  In other words, sink the enemy rather than capture.  AI ships are slower than players' ships; reducing their sails isn't really necessary.   So, the 1v1 AI fight is basically a race to see who can destroy the other's hull first...and you've been giving the AI a head-start by focusing on sails first.  Couple this with the fact that AI has an inherent accuracy advantage, and yeah, it's easy to see how you've gotten behind the AI in relative damage.  (Don't worry, we've all been there when starting out   ).

 

So turn the tables on the AI and arrange the conditions in your favor:

 

1.  Start banging away at hull from the beginning; don't give opponent that "head start".

2.  Use carronades.  The AI doesn't use carronades, so this heavily tilts the relative damage output against him.

3.  Keep the engagement as close-range as possible.  Not only to use your carronades to maximum effect, but also to neutralize the AI's accuracy advantage (which is most often felt at medium-to-long ranges).

[The Spud]

Bramborough has it spot on with the carronades. These cannons shoot larger callibre balls, but don't have the distance and accuracy that mediums or longs have, but they are devastating and wen you nail a full broadside you'll see the clear difference between the lighter longs or mediums. Additionaly these reload slightly faster and requires less crew to reload. This means that you could have enough crew to reload two sides simultaniously, and maybe even have some extra crew to add to your sailing crew, which will add to your agility.

 

Other people have complained about the difficulty of the early missions, I think with what Bramborough explained you should have the clear edge on the other cutter, now its down to your sailing and shooting skills good luck!

[UberAegis]

Thanks for the replies.Some really helpful info,I was using Ai to practice for PvP but since Ai seems to have an accuracy advantage I think i will switch to cannonades.thanks again.

[Sea Archer]

Most important is to use the basic cutter and practice aiming. I sailed mine until I could crew a snow. A good training is to tag traders (cutters and lynx) and shoot away their masts before boarding. And it is profitable too.

[HardyKnox]

 I find myself getting in a turning battle with Ai and they seem to do it better, * * * will manual sailing help me make tighter turns.

 

Absolutely learn to use manual sails.  

 

Before taking on an AI warship, practice maneuvering and shooting by going after an unarmed merchantman you target in Open World (OW).  Most times, they sail past populated ports like city buses.  PIck one, target it and practice shooting and sailing around to cut across its stern and shoot up its stern armor and rudder.   Then shoot cannon balls or grapeshot up the stern ("stern rake") and watch the crew diminish.  When the crew goes to zero, it surrenders.  Or, pick out a larger Trader Brig or Trader Snow, stern rake and reduce crew, then practice the Boarding methods until you understand them.  

 

After the battle is over, stay in the Battle Screen, don't return to OW.  Practice turning with manual sails.   Once it is second nature, you'll find your ability to turn both into the wind (tacking) and down the wind (wearing) dramatically improved.  You'll get more shots in, you'll be able to "fight both sides" (fire port broadside, turn and fire starboard broadside while port reloading). 

 

Here is the excellent YouTube video Naval Action : The numpties guide to manual sailing at:

  by Jeheil, who has made dozens of YouTube videos about the various ships, the basics of sailing, trading and crafting, and about naval action combat tactics.

 

Here is his library of Naval Action videos on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAyTtmB_y5mlj8YlUXQEX8vjql7XVjNSz   I highly recommend spending some time with the ones about basics.

 

Good sailing!

 

~ HK ~

[Billy Budd]

Naval Action is a long learning curve for anyone who has never played this or other similar type of game before. I have been playing for about seven weeks now and always play in the PVE server. This is because I prefer to play alone, rather than multiplayer. Even if your intentions are to play multiplayer, starting off in PVE is the best way to learn the game, without getting attacked by more experienced players.

 

There are many ways to enjoy this game besides fighting other ships. You can do trading, by visiting different ports, buying goods and then selling them on for a profit. You can also click on the fish button whilst sailing in the open world, which will catch you lots of fish. Right click on the fish you catch that you will see in your hold and convert them into fishmeat. You can then sell this for as much as 99 gold per portion, which will increase your gold reserves. Sugar & Tobacco are the best two resources to trade as these fetch the best profit, 50% if you buy at 400 for sugar and sell at 600. Tobacco buy at 500 and sell for 750, these are the lowest buying prices and highest selling prices you will find for these. When trading, sail with the Smugglers flag enabled, as this will allow you to enter all foreign ports. Use different size trading ships which have different sized holds. The Traders Brig is the best small ship, because it has the largest hold of the small traders and can enter shallow water ports. The two largest Trader ships are the Le Gross Ventre and the Indiaman, which has a whopping large hold and can carry more than any other ship. Beware though, that these two ships can only enter deep water ports and stay clear of shallow areas of sea, with these, or you won't be able to travel very far.

 

Next is crafting and I won't go into that here, because all this has been explained by The Spud, Bramborough and others in a few of the Help threads when I first started playing the game.

 

Look for threads. Help Please, under Guides and All Ports Visited in General Discussion, where you can read all about getting started with crafting. 

Edited September 27, 2016 by Billy Budd

[UberAegis]

firstly thanks again to you all for taking the time to reply with some really informative posts. I do tend to stay in battle screen to practice my gunnery and sailing,are manual sails effective on a one masted ship.I read somewhere the suggestion that they weren't req'd but maybe that was for tacking and not tight turns. Thanks again.

[Billy Budd]

Absolutely learn to use manual sails.  

 

Before taking on an AI warship, practice maneuvering and shooting by going after an unarmed merchantman you target in Open World (OW).  Most times, they sail past populated ports like city buses.  PIck one, target it and practice shooting and sailing around to cut across its stern and shoot up its stern armor and rudder.   Then shoot cannon balls or grapeshot up the stern ("stern rake") and watch the crew diminish.  When the crew goes to zero, it surrenders.  Or, pick out a larger Trader Brig or Trader Snow, stern rake and reduce crew, then practice the Boarding methods until you understand them.  

 

After the battle is over, stay in the Battle Screen, don't return to OW.  Practice turning with manual sails.   Once it is second nature, you'll find your ability to turn both into the wind (tacking) and down the wind (wearing) dramatically improved.  You'll get more shots in, you'll be able to "fight both sides" (fire port broadside, turn and fire starboard broadside while port reloading). 

 

Here is the excellent YouTube video Naval Action : The numpties guide to manual sailing at:

  by Jeheil, who has made dozens of YouTube videos about the various ships, the basics of sailing, trading and crafting, and about naval action combat tactics.

 

Here is his library of Naval Action videos on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAyTtmB_y5mlj8YlUXQEX8vjql7XVjNSz   I highly recommend spending some time with the ones about basics.

 

Good sailing!

 

~ HK ~

 

 

Excellent advice from Hardy Knox.

Learn how to use Manual Sails inside the battle Screen. All ships perform more realistically inside the Battle Screen and do not sail as fast as they do in the OW. They take much longer to turn like they would in real terms. Try and avoid getting stuck in irons, which is when you are head on to the wind and you can't move if you are on auto skipper. Use the manual skipper (sails) when you are in the Battle screen.

 

Ships don't sail realistically in the OW. The OW is just a means of getting from one place to another much quicker. If you were to sail a ship at realistic speeds in the Open World, it would take you several days in real time, to sail half way across the map.

[Mrdoomed]

Vs ai warships dont bother with thier sails. Just sink them.