Can't advance in the Cerberus

[Timothy Bonaparte]

Bonjour

I recently grinded my way up to the rank that allows me to crew 200 people, and instantly bough myself a Cerberus, armed and crewed it, and sailed out. 

I took my first mission, the easiest one I can acquire for a rank 5 vessel and when I sailed out and entered the combat order I noticed I was up against a Renommee. I engaged it, thinking that since this mission was the easiest available it oughtn't be too difficult. We exchanged volleys and I began to notice that there was no way I could defeat a ship so much more powerful than me so I ran away, not willing to lose my newly acquired vessel. 

I thought this must have been just bad luck so I took another mission and the same thing happened again. I then tried one of the fleet combat orders, supposing it would pitch me and a few AIs against a fleet of AIs, thinking that would be an easier thing to accomplish. Yet to my surprise, when I entered the combat order on the open sea, I found myself alone against a large fleet of other Cerberuses, Renommees and Frigates, and nobody on my side. I immediately ran away.

So my question is, how the hell am I supposed to gain xp and money in the Cerberus when all missions available to me are impossible. And why is it that I always have to fight against a more powerful ship, with an AI that never seems to miss their shots, and that manouvres like a god (perhaps I should also mention that the Renommee captains I was fighting had the "devil" rank)?

What am I doing wrong and why has the game suddenly become so impossibly unfair? What can I do aside from "joining a clan" to advance?

Regards

Tim

[Cetric de Cornusiac]

On 8.12.2017 at 4:08 PM, Timothy Bonaparte said:

I then tried one of the fleet combat orders, supposing it would pitch me and a few AIs against a fleet of AIs, thinking that would be an easier thing to accomplish. Yet to my surprise, when I entered the combat order on the open sea, I found myself alone against a large fleet of other Cerberuses, Renommees and Frigates, and nobody on my side. I immediately ran away.

This has not been addressed yet in the answers.

I figure you had ships with you with too high class for the fleet combat mission, so they were automatically omitted. Happened to me once when I had an Indiaman with me for support and this ship simply did not show up when going into battle.

Also it can happen with merchantman type ships they will flee instantly when faced with purebred war ships. No reliable assistance.

[Anne Wildcat]

You don't need missions to gain XP.  If missions are too difficult, try hitting some ships on the open world.  Yell out in nation chat to see if there are others who want to do missions with you (there are plenty of people doing missions, hopefully someone will be nice enough to let you join in).