Lynx/Privateer - The Pirate's Little Helper

[William the Drake]

The Lynx

 

 

The Lynx is a small Two-Masted Topsail Schooner modeled after an American Privateer of the same (who is reported to have originally been a double topsail schooner). Now while she is has the smallest payload of all ships in the game (thus far) with only 8 guns (4 each side), the Lynx can be a cunning foe. She is slim, sleek and well built for her historic job: harassing shipping (preferably English). Let's look at why.

 

First off, lets talk about her hull. Like most of the other smaller classed ships in Naval Action, the Lynx has a very low profile, making her somewhat difficult to hit. And while she is not altogether wide, meaning timing stern or bow raking shots difficult, she is rather long, appearing to be just a tad bit longer than the Cutter, so there's a little give-and-take here. 

 

Not altogether unique for Fore-and-Aft rigged ships, the Lynx is superb for sailing at any point from Beam Reach (that's perpendicular to the wind) onward to closely hugging into the wind (Close Hauled), managing much better than her larger Square-rigged foes at these points. she can prove to be very swift and maneuverable, should you manage to master her properly. 

 

However, where the Lynx excels is the number of crew she can carry. In comparison to other small ships, especially under crewed traders, the Lynx can carry much more crew. The Lynx can carry at least 50 crew which,  for such a small and low-tier ship, is both impressive and deadly. Again this is 10 more crew than the Cutter, and is the first armed ship available to be optimally crewed after the cutter. The increased crew allows for a stronger force and presence when attacking and boarding merchants, who tend to have smaller crews than their regular armed counterparts. This means that the Lynx is the perfect small vessel for the burgeoning pirate who's ready to learn the ropes of boarding.

 

• The Lynx replica setting sail, "Tall Ships Philadelphia" 2015
• Lynx Stern/Nameplate

 

 

 

 

The Privateer

 

 

The Privateer takes the same model as the Lynx, adds guns, bumps up the crew, and slaps on a sleek and stylish red and black paint job.

The Privateer adds four guns raising the armament to 12 guns (6 each side) putting the Privateer on par with the Cutter payload wise. However, the crew has been increased to 60, increasing the Privateer's potency as a small ship boarding monster.

 

In numbers, both the Lynx and Privateer can be very imposing, and should be considered as a vital component to any Pirate fleet. Their small size, maneuverability and relatively large crew numbers for said size makes them a great guide for a player's introduction to boarding. 

 

Check out my other short ship synopses

• The Snow - A Pirate's Best Friend
• Brig/Navy Brig - The Good Teacher

 

Cheers,

Edited May 16, 2016 by William the Drake

[Anne Wildcat]

Nice! You sold me on those ships.

[Prater]

Diamond Rattler, American Privateer. See, it even has a name on the Billethead.

[William the Drake]

Diamond Rattler, American Privateer. See, it even has a name on the Billethead.

 

Either they have removed this little detail or those of us playing on the lower settings cannot see it  (Playing medium settings myself and it's not there)

[Prater]

Either they have removed this little detail or those of us playing on the lower settings cannot see it  (Playing medium settings myself and it's not there)

 

It was a mod I made that only affected graphics on my screen, that is, before Game Labs made it a lot harder to mod the graphics of the game.  Shoot, I shouldn't have shared that I was able to mod the graphics

 

Anyway, this weekend I took a few (player) Privateers in my Lynx.  I attacked a lone Rubli Brig but he was too scared and had to call in a player Mercury and another player Brig. 

 

With help I was able to take a player Trader Lynx who had ai cutter escort and player privateer escort.