Best ship to raid traders?

[Ruthless4u]

Now that I have turned pirate, I am curious as to what ship is best to raid traders. It was not something I participated in before, mainly using a snow when I did.

Can't remember what my pirate rank is( changed yesterday) but my old national rank was master and commander.

 

[seanjo]

So you turned because you thought the Caymans would be taken...

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

13 minutes ago, Ruthless4u said:

Now that I have turned pirate, I am curious as to what ship is best to raid traders. It was not something I participated in before, mainly using a snow when I did.

Can't remember what my pirate rank is( changed yesterday) but my old national rank was master and commander.

 

@Ruthless4u You'd be a Raider with a crew size of 250.

Snow is still the best shallow water trader-raider available. Sabicu built. You want bow chasers to chase down prey AND stern chasers loaded with chain to keep hunters from catching you.

In deep water, Surprise is real good.

[Ruthless4u]

7 minutes ago, seanjo said:

So you turned because you thought the Caymans would be taken...

No idea what your talking about. Is that on EU server? I'm on global

[Hagen v Martius]

Ideally something that can run away from everything it can't out-gun.

Before the reset the obvious choice would've been the Rattlesnake, after the reset me and a few buddies had surprising amounts of success and fun in Pickles and Privateers.

 

As for the Snow, as tempted as I would be to mention it, I am not sure at all that it's a viable choice to outrun a fast Surprise or Reno. Just based on how many legions of those ship I see around when we go out to have some fun.

Comparing the sailing profiles will tell you.

 

 

 

Which in summary only means: if you have access to a ship that can easily get away from a Reno and/or Surp, use that one.

Edited June 23, 2017 by Hagen v Martius
spelling is hard

[seanjo]

Just now, Ruthless4u said:

No idea what your talking about. Is that on EU server? I'm on global

Oooops...sorry...

 

[seanjo]

In that case Aaaaaaaaar have at em....

[Ruthless4u]

7 minutes ago, seanjo said:

Oooops...sorry...

 

No worries

[Hodo]

I dont know why you went pirate to raid traders.  I do it and I am british, I did it while US.   

You use a ship you can afford to replace.  The cheaper, fastest, best ship for the job is the one you can sail the best.

I prefer the Lynx or the Privateer, Snow, and Rattlesnake.   Others like the Surprise or Trincomalee.

 

[seanjo]

1 minute ago, Ruthless4u said:

No worries

Friday Evening mead...

 

[Ruthless4u]

7 minutes ago, Hodo said:

I dont know why you went pirate to raid traders.  I do it and I am british, I did it while US.   

You use a ship you can afford to replace.  The cheaper, fastest, best ship for the job is the one you can sail the best.

I prefer the Lynx or the Privateer, Snow, and Rattlesnake.   Others like the Surprise or Trincomalee.

 

I did it to be able to fight all the nationals, but I never really bothered raiding traders, so figured now is as good time as any.

[Lordicious]

Essex is my fav for NPC trader raid, in pvp something small and agile. 

Edited June 23, 2017 by Lordicious

[Hodo]

3 minutes ago, Ruthless4u said:

I did it to be able to fight all the nationals, but I never really bothered raiding traders, so figured now is as good time as any.

As good a reason as any.

Well good luck, being pirate can be fun, but boring also.  It may as well be a nation just with a black flag.  

[Ruthless4u]

6 minutes ago, Hodo said:

As good a reason as any.

Well good luck, being pirate can be fun, but boring also.  It may as well be a nation just with a black flag.  

Thanks, crossing my fingers and hope it gets fleshed out to be different than the nationals.

[surfimp]

My core purpose in Naval Action is to hunt player traders and all my other activities support that goal. I am a solo player so that means I have to provide for everything I need: money, ships, upgrades, etc. So take that as my perspective for the comments that follow.

Trade ships up to and including the LGV can be captured with any of the 7th rates (Lynx, Privateer, Pickle, Cutter). The trick is having a very fast ship, and one that gives a good balance of performance between upwind and downwind sailing. The Lynx and Privateer are fastest upwind, the Cutter somewhere in the middle, and the Pickle gives up a bit on the upwind but has the best downwind performance of the group. I suggest to try them all and pick the one you like to look at and/or sail the best.

I do not prefer the Brig or Snow for raiding because they have very limited upwind sailing capabilities and it's quite possible you won't be able to outrun a speed-fit interceptor (eg. Surprise). Same goes for the larger 6th rates (Mercury, etc.). With a fast fore-and-aft rigged ship, you can have more flexibility and a better chance of escape... I am basically untouchable in my Lynx or Privateer.

I build my raiders out of fir/fir and apply modules, skill books and captain perks to suit the task.

The most relevant (IMHO) captain perks:
- Prepared
- Area Control
- Fleet 1
- Rigging Specialist

Recommended permanent upgrades:
- Copper plating
- Gazelle figurehead
- Bovenwind refit (probably overkill)

Skill books:
- Optimized ballast
- Marines
- Boarding parties
- Melee training
- Survival books

The goal I aim towards is a ship that has a speed of 15kts in the port window, with boarding and survival upgrades to taste.

Beyond that, hunting and tagging is a skill and it simply takes practice. Traders are nowhere near as helpless as many would like you to believe, and many try to fight back and/or run. It's great sport, I hope you enjoy. Good hunting to you.

[Lonar]

Actually the Snow can in theory outrun the Reno and Suprise at 180 if the wiki Profiles are still correct   question is of course like always how close is the enemy already and how do your sails look and what mods do you have.

[surfimp]

Sailing at 180 means you let them stay on a broad reach, where they are fastest and may very well have the ability to shoot your sails while they pursue you. A lot (as always) depends on the tag and how your Snow is fit (and more importantly, the fit and mods your pursuer(s) may have). The Snow is a great ship for what it is but I prefer more versatility... what if you get caught against a lee shore?

Edited June 23, 2017 by Sansón Carrasco

[Jack Spencer]

1 hour ago, Sansón Carrasco said:

The trick is having a very fast ship, and one that gives a good balance of performance between upwind and downwind sailing. The Lynx and Privateer are fastest upwind, the Cutter somewhere in the middle, and the Pickle gives up a bit on the upwind but has the best downwind performance of the group. I suggest to try them all and pick the one you like to look at and/or sail the best.

Which cannon (mediums, long, carronades) do you favor for hunting traders?

[surfimp]

4 minutes ago, 38gbear61 said:

Which cannon (mediums, long, carronades) do you favor for hunting traders?

4lb longs

I'm not being sarcastic or trolling. They have almost the same damage and penetration as 6lb mediums while weighing only slightly more than 4lb mediums, and being more accurate and having better range.

Maybe it's a bit too radical for some, but it makes perfect sense for me. And works supremely well.

Edited June 23, 2017 by Sansón Carrasco

[MikeCK]

mikeCK  51 minutes ago 

Renommee or Surprise hands down. I'm partial to the Reno because of its aesthetics and great turn rate....makes it so much easier to board. BUT, in reality, of the two, the Surprise has the edge. It carries a lot of firepower for its size and - the biggest advantage over the Reno (besides more guns)- has 2 bow chasers. It's 4 stern chasers and speed at all points outside of close hauled make it able to escape if you are in over your head

Anything smaller than a Reno makes taking down Gros Ventures a problem. Not that you can't but you lose a lot of crew and such. I sure as hell wouldn't attack a GV with a privateer escort in a Pickle.

Anything bigger than a surprise and you start getting into turn rate and speed issues. The larger ships that start having issues when trying to board a Snow, Lynx or Pickle. 

The Essex (my favorite overall) has no bow chasers. The Frigate is slow. The Trinc can't turn.

I'm big on turn rate because even with good manual sailing and an enemy at 50% sails, it can be tough to board smaller trader ships.

If you choose the Reno, don't put any guns on the weather deck. It only carries 3 6-lb cannons per broadside up there and it saves a lot of weight....so MORE speed.
I would recommend carronades (32lb) if your just taking on traders

So, in my opinion, considering hold space, speed, turn rate and damage potential, the Surprise is the best suited for that with the Reno a good second choice

[Hodo]

20 minutes ago, 38gbear61 said:

Which cannon (mediums, long, carronades) do you favor for hunting traders?

On my Lynx and my Privateer I run 6lb longs, I prefer a bit more firepower and I run double charge.  Which is great for snapping off masts on ships that try to run or the careless frigate that thinks it can run me down.

 

17 minutes ago, MikeCK said:

Anything smaller than a Reno makes taking down Gros Ventures a problem. Not that you can't but you lose a lot of crew and such. I sure as hell wouldn't attack a GV with a privateer escort in a Pickle.
 

Never had an issue in taking down a LGV in a Privateer or Cutter.. the Lynx is a bit more challenging but still VERY possible.