defending from mast sniping

[raff]

o7 everyone,

it often happen to me to be demasted in the very first minutes of the battle. Apart from using mast upgrades, can you suggest me a tactic when i see my enemy is aiming at my masts? Can i restore mast hp BEFORE they go down? 

 

[Liq]

1 hour ago, Captain2Strong said:

a ship with 2 masts is still pretty manueverable and can win a battle, and masts are not the most important if you're running out of hull hp!

yeah, no.

If you're missing your foremast, say goodbye to sailing close hauled / turning upwind / let alone tacking

If you're missing your main mast, you'll be as quick as a turtle, waiting to get raked or hugged to death

Mizzen mast is not as crucial but then again it rarely gets focussed.

1 hour ago, raff said:

it often happen to me to be demasted in the very first minutes of the battle. Apart from using mast upgrades, can you suggest me a tactic when i see my enemy is aiming at my masts? Can i restore mast hp BEFORE they go down? 

As others said, try to sail at an off-angle, so that you kind of still don't expose your sides but also don't give a clear shot to your masts. Worst thing you can do is either crossing at 90° so that your opponent can mastrake you, strike multiple mast hits in one broadside and possibly even get a mast or two. You also should not sail parallel to him, that way masts could be sniped efficiently.

Also, as said by others, as there is no mast-HP indicator, you kind of have to "count" the mast hits and estimate yourself how many more masthits you can take. That task becomes easier over time with experience, for example in the shallow waters, I know if my Surprise has taken 3-4 hits of 32pd carronades close up, it's time to repair.

Often, when people are going for your masts, especially mast-sniping, and they see the enemy using a rig-rep after scoring a couple mast hits, they get impatient and use the left-over shots on the hull - That's your chance to counterattack

[AeRoTR]

when you feel like they are gonna go down, hit repairs, only solution for a short time.

[Captain2Strong]

52 minutes ago, raff said:

o7 everyone,

it often happen to me to be demasted in the very first minutes of the battle. Apart from using mast upgrades, can you suggest me a tactic when i see my enemy is aiming at my masts? Can i restore mast hp BEFORE they go down? 

 

you can angle it in a way that will make most of the balls hit one mast so you lose only 1(or 0) instead of all 3 for example - avoid sailing directly at the ship, sail a little behind it or at the direction where it's sailing at (make sure not to overdo it, because if you do your hull might get damaged too much and in some cases it might be worth more than the mast!)

a ship with 2 masts is still pretty manueverable and can win a battle, and masts are not the most important if you're running out of hull hp!

or you can repair it every 10 minutes if you can afford rig repairs

Edited December 29, 2019 by Captain2Strong

[Never]

If you see them shooting your mast, hit sail rep before your mast can break, it resets mast HP. You can try to get some distance, it's easier to demast you if you're very close. Try not sailing too slow when you get close, if you make a slow pass by them, you give them as easier target. Generally just try to keep turning as to not give them an easy target and change your angle. 

But if someone is very good at demasting, your mast will come down eventually

[Captain2Strong]

11 minutes ago, Never said:

But if someone is very good at demasting, your mast will come down eventually

or if your middle hull bar gets a bit too low

23 minutes ago, AeRoTR said:

when you feel like they are gonna go down, hit repairs, only solution for a short time.

but if you do it at more than 90% sails you can end up wasting the opportunity to repair hull in terrible condition!

Edited December 29, 2019 by Captain2Strong

[Never]

11 minutes ago, Captain2Strong said:

but if you do it at more than 90% sails you can end up wasting the opportunity to repair hull in terrible condition!

Yes off course :'D
I suppose it's a matter of experience. Knowing your ship and how strong it's masts are and what it takes to bring them down. Knowing the enemy ship and which guns it's carrying and knowing at what range they can pen your masts, etc. 

[raff]

47 minutes ago, Never said:

If you see them shooting your mast, hit sail rep before your mast can break, it resets mast HP. You can try to get some distance, it's easier to demast you if you're very close. Try not sailing too slow when you get close, if you make a slow pass by them, you give them as easier target. Generally just try to keep turning as to not give them an easy target and change your angle. 

But if someone is very good at demasting, your mast will come down eventually

this is interesting! i asked in the help chat and was told that rig repairs do not restore hp of damaged( but not fallen) masts. Cause in my experience once i lose a mast, i became such an easy target that the other two masts will go down very fast, so preventing the first mast to go down in the first place would be very useful

[Captain2Strong]

5 minutes ago, Liq said:

yeah, no.

If you're missing your foremast, say goodbye to sailing close hauled / turning upwind / let alone tacking

If you're missing your main mast, you'll be as quick as a turtle, waiting to get raked or hugged to death

maybe in some very unlucky case!
captain 2strong has seen a lot worse things!

5 minutes ago, Liq said:

Mizzen mast is not as crucial but then again it rarely gets focussed.

if you say so then it might be a good idea to make them shoot at the mizzen mast!

Edited December 29, 2019 by Captain2Strong

[Captain2Strong]

8 minutes ago, Liq said:

Worst thing you can do is either crossing at 90° so that your opponent can mastrake you, strike multiple mast hits in one broadside and possibly even get a mast or two

or they can shoot hull through the front if the cannon is powerful enough and the ship is fragile enough
this way they can do a lot of hull damage and get a chance of destroying a mast too!

[raff]

thank you all guys, you are very helpful

Edited December 29, 2019 by raff