Santisima or L'Ocean for PvE?

[Ahoy H.R. Matey]

So I have a Victory, but also enough materials piled up to build either of those. Can't do both though. People sailing Oceans have been complaining since the last patch that the ship has taken several nerfs and in fact maneuvers worse than the Santi. I guess it's supposed to be somewhat tankier though?

Anyway, I can't decide. I had a Santi pre-wipe, but it wasn't an optimal build and I didn't really like it. Any advice?

[OneEyedSnake]

either is fine if you build it as a tank for pve. the ocean is a better tank, so id probably go with the ocean. its also slightly cheaper.

but if you hate a sluggish ship then the santi has a larger broadside weight and does turn better than any other 1st rate right now. 

[victor]

Actually Victory is hands down the best PVE all around 1st rate if fitted properly (and I'd add that, for chasing IAs, a tanky bucentaure would be even better).

But ... if you want to try another "big one", go santisima: the firepower is amazing and it handles good now

Mods: british sail refit, bridgetown + one upgrade of your choice depending on your playstyle (if you like close combat slap on a cheap basic hull for more HP, if you like staying at bay - advisable to avoid tricky boarding at low speed - use a penetration mod - i like more french gunners than guacata/almeria powder - or a thickness mod if you can afford it).

woods: if you like close quarters combat white/white is the way to go, if you stay at range live/white could be better for thickness. 

Some more tips:

Fit a complete set of LONG cannons: they are precise and penetrate better big targets

if you do more missions than IA chasing then go live/white and try to keep IA at medium range (the firepower of santisima + thickness of live oak will let you melt NPC much faster than they damage you)

if you like chasing around IA rather than missioning, then white/white and try to close in at (almost) point black, but be aware that small targets will be lower than your cannons so you have to adapt the distance to the kind of ship you are targeting.

Knowledge slots: first knowledge slot is for hammocks (better overall performance of ship + avoid boarding of some nasty NPCs), second slot for rum rations (reload and turn, dispersion is not a problem with longs); third slot for optimized rudder (turning is very important in big ships fights), the last two depend on your style (i'd go further turing and reload, but that's my taste)

 

Edited December 30, 2017 by victor

[Ahoy H.R. Matey]

Victor, that is a very detailed answer. Somewhat related: how would you fit a Vic? The one I have is lo/wo, and has a full set of longs already.