Hello, some of you may know me from my in game antics, I am also known as TopsideClover19, an accidental mistake of creating an entirely new xbox live account rather than my main account to have signed up for the alpha tests (woops, there goes my title.). As a result I've been practicing different strategies when it comes to sinking other players, over the tests I've found one weapon that outshines the rest, Gunpowder barrels.
After having developed multiple strategies on both sloop and Galleon I've found that can take you're double edged sword and put it to your advantage, maximum boom with minimal self destruction. Both ships have pro's and cons for using gunpowder so I'll start by giving you my list of do's and dont's for each.
Lets start with the sloop.
Pro's
.Agile and maneuverable, as a result it makes dodging cannon shots and angling up your ram much easier.
.when gunpowder detonates on the bow of the ship, you will only receive maximum of 2 to 4 holes in the front of the ship, once detonated (assuming they survive the explosion) a single player can quickly repair these and be on their merry way.
. Much easier to plop holes in the lower two decks of a Galleon. the gunpowder punches between 4-5 holes in each deck it reaches if you ram them in the middle.
Cons:
. When fighting a Galleon they have a height advantage on you and players can shoot the barrels with guns before you get close.
. When going against a Galleon odds are the explosion from the gunpowder won't kill as many people on the top deck, meaning increased chance of return fire/repairs after the detonation.
Tips for Gunpowder when using a Sloop.
Storage: First thing's first, always put your gunpowder in the crows nest! it's the farthest from your ship and if it detonates it will do the least damage to your ship. Just like chests, don't store them in your captains cabin, or heavens forbid below deck. If you do you are begging to be sunk by a skeleton on a cannon (there accuracy is far superior to most players.) if it's in the captains cabin and detonates, congrats you just killed your Helmsman. Common sense rules folks.
Placement of Gunpowder: Now this can be done as a solo player but it is best utilized with a two man crew. in a sloop versus sloop scenario place the gunpowder up against the rim of the bow where it can't be seen or shot by bullets, DO NOT PLACE ON THE BOWSPRIT! one they can see it, and two it's vulnerable, any Pirate worth their salt will shoot it far before you reach them.
When going against a Galleon have it placed mid way below deck about where the grog barrels are, if you are facing them head on there cannons are far less likely to reach your gunpowder, once you to close for their cannons, move gunpowder to the bow of the lower deck then detonate upon impact. If you ram them in the center of there ship you will knock about 4-5 holes each of the bottom and mid decks. The more gunpowder barrels detonated, bigger the explosion, bigger carnage, stuff gets hilarious. (if you place a barrel up topside then you can hit some folks on the top deck as well however its less likely to kill a large number of people and leaves you open to being detonated early.)
How to Detonate: once placed using a blunderbuss or pistol tends to be effective, try to shoot the gunpowder from the staircase of the sloop so place it in a spot where you can hit it from there, it will spare you and you can immediately get on repair, you may take half damage so be sure you are full on health. Blunderbuss increases your chances and on a sloop the distance isn't out of reach of the blunderbuss, with the ship rocking from impact it would be the most likely to work.
Recovery: With a two man crew(if going against a Galleon), once detonated have the Helmsman steer the ship away and the detonator (Assuming they survived) immediately board the enemy ship. Their crew will likely be down at least one man, others will be wounded, and focused on repairs giving you a relatively easy clean up with the mass confusion. Stop the repair man as quickly as possible, kill them, steal their boards etc, but be sure to check the top deck and make sure nobody is left to chase you down. Once you've dispatched the repair team my advice is to go behind the first stair case or the final support beam in the hull of the ship and use the "Sit" Emote to make yourself as small as possible, often times you will be overlooked when they re-spawn and they will immediately go back to trying to repair the ship which you quickly dispatch them again. with the amount of holes in the ship you only need to stop them once or twice or prevent them from repairing for about a minute or two before they sink (with the new features on re-spawn once there ship sinks they only have one more life before re-spawning on their new ship at a different island giving you all the time needed to take the treasure.). If using this strategy against another sloop, hitting them in the side and detonating will have likely wiped their crew out and sank them, especially if you land inbetween the helm and the cannon.
Helmsman's job is to immediately steer the ship away to keep them from boarding you, and then repair your ship. Afterwards if possible angle yourself to be able to shoot more holes in their side with your cannons while staying under there cannon range.
Galleon: The Galleon can be tricky, it require much more coordination, but executed properly it can be just as (if not more so) devastating.
Pro's: More spaces to hide the Gunpowder, and when going against an opposing Galleon you can clear all three decks by placing gunpowder on all three of your own decks. Once detonate the majority of the opposing crew will be dead or wounded and they will have around 15+ holes in the ship.
. With the wind at your back and properly maintained sails you can catch targets much faster, making the initial ram much more devastating.
Cons: much easier to hit due to lack of agility and a clever player can raise anchor and turn to dodge you before impact giving you a drastically reduced chance of landing where you want to.
. Bigger Target, easier to spot, more chances of cannons hitting gunpowder.
Tips for Gunpowder when using a Galleon.
Storage: Same as before, use Crows nest.
Placement: This is where things differ, having three decks gives you some extra options, my personal favorite is to place one or two gunpowder barrels below the staircase leading to the bowsprit, there is a nice ledge there to protect them from gunfire and the detonation range is still high enough to clear the top deck of an enemy Galleon. Follow this by having one or more placed at the mid bow, where the bullets are stored, and one or more down below at the bottom deck on the bow. Detonating this is as follows, the top will kill anyone on cannons while punching holes in the ship, the secondary explosion will finish off any survivors that were further from the cannons while punching holes in the ship, and the third will punch holes in both the second and bottom decks. So top explosion reaches the 2nd deck and clears the top, 2nd explosion reaches the top deck, the bottom deck, and of course the mid deck, and 3rd explosion reaches the 2nd deck and bottom deck. Prior to ramming have the top deck already placed behind the ledge near the bowsprit, the 2nd and 3rd decks have your gunpowder set near the middle of the ship to protect from early detonation.
How to Detonate: Have your helmsman or the man on the bow to call out brace for impact, at which point 2nd and 3rd decks place your gunpowder, top and 3rd decks immediately back away to the aft of the ship, and 2nd deck detonates to hit all three charges. 2nd deck player will die, but the rest will survive, while the enemy ship will be sinking very quickly (I've sank an enemy Galleon just using the first and 2nd deck in about 45 seconds after detonation, all that was left was the helmsman and there were to many holes for him to save it solo).
Recovery: Have helmsman steer away from target, once bottom holes are repaired if the waves aren't high one man can fix the rest of the ship with little trouble. The free deckhand should board the enemy ship and start with clean up, once again kill who remains (priority on repairers), grab there boards, and use the sit emote to hide behind the support beam on the bottom deck and keep them off repairs.
Once they are sunk, kill off remaining players and enjoy the easy loot.
Advanced tips: The best method for both sloop and Galleon I find (which is not always possible) is to come up on the rear of the ship, rather than ram it pull up on either side from the rear preventing them from shooting you with cannons, call out which side you are going to approach from and then place all gunpowder barrels on that side, then once you have reached the middle of the ship grind the bow into them and detonate, all your holes will be on one side further reducing the amount of damage you take, and still maximizing the damage the enemy takes while virtually eliminate any risk of early detonation. It takes some practice but it's super effective when executed properly, also the rebound from the grind will immediately start to redirect your ship away from them giving you a head start on the retreat.
Last but not least here's some tips on boarding enemies with gunpowder in tow. If you manage to sneak aboard the enemy vessel with gunpowder in hand and go unnoticed, try to place it on the mid deck in the middle of the ship, back away, and detonate, the explosion will hit all 3 decks killing folks on top and poking holes below the water line. If you ARE noticed and are being chased, run down below deck (preferably to the bottom deck) and drop the gunpowder to the side of the staircase, sprint away and turn around, once they round the stair case after you shoot and detonate the gunpowder at the staircase, you can usually kill your pursuers and escape if you are lucky enough to have distance between you, if not at least you will all go down together.
So there you have it folks, this is the Weasel's way to Gunpowder, I hope it was useful and that you've learned some new tricks for the repertoire, and if I see you on the high seas? Bomb voyage!
