How to Demolish Galleons - How to protect them

  • IDNeon
    Seafarer

    I've been demolishing Galleons lately with a change to tactics.

    Now my opening salvo is a firebomb cannon shot to the captain's quarters and then chainshot strafing in first pass.

    This blow has been so devastating that I've basically finished off every Galleon the past 36 hours of game play in under 15 minutes.

    Why has this been so good? And what to counter it?

    The problem I identified is most Galleons think they are overmanned, often have a dedicated pvper/boarder, who will often try to get to the enemy ship thinking that is the mvp strategy. Also they have always been overconfident in their gunnery but underwhelming in their cannonshot choices (see below)

    This doesnt prevent the opening attack (see below) but also hinders the recovery badly.

    If you are on fire, it takes one life to raise the back mast, and another life to raise the front mast of a BRIGANTINE.

    You have to account for distance traveled when on fire.

    So until the fire is put out on a Galleon; You're losing a lot of crewmembers and ship operations to deaths. If you double man the middle mast both of you will die to fire by the time it is raised. Someone else will have ro repair it.

    That's your entire 3 men on just topside one mast, and 2 will be at the ferry.

    If you fight the fire you'll do better, but the time will still open you to the 2nd strike cannonball strafing.

    So I thought, what is the Galleons best over all opener?

    I think it is to use Blunderbomb cannon shot. I rarely see it...it is devastating, and it makes a lot of sense.

    It makes little sense to an attacking Brigantine or Sloop, because sending them to the ferry but leaving masts and anchor intact is not a win.

    Galleons however have the extra man...while one fires firebomb, another one or two on chain shot.

    The fourth should be hitting the enemy with blunderbombs.

    This would be a devastating win for the Galleon. Which if the blunderbombs hit...will prevent their own demasting and firing...but will allow your Galleon crew to take advantage of any demasting and fire you may set.

    The blunder bomber if he hits once or 2x early can definitely go to make a cannon shot or sword lunge boarding depending on the ranges.

    So for now. Galleons have become my favorite because they are so fun to watch get demolished.

    But for Galleon Crews....it doesnt have to be that way.

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  • tossico94
    Castaway

    Ballast ball.

  • Karloss00
    Master
    Insider

    @tossico94
    Yeah that works too if you have one (but that's leaving it up to RNG); Most galleons ignore their middle deck holes.

  • Vaca Hombre
    Champion
    Boatswain
    Founder

    Why would I need to demolish them?

    If I see them coming, then they'll never catch me. If I don't see them coming, then I'm probably on an island with plenty of hiding places.

    But that's just my own personal strategies. =D

  • IDNeon
    Seafarer

    @tossico94 I've used this, too but it's actually overkill against a lazy galleon crew.

    Almost like a nuke on a Galleon.

  • IDNeon
    Seafarer

    @karloss00 said in How to Demolish Galleons - How to protect them:

    @tossico94
    Yeah that works too if you have one (but that's leaving it up to RNG); Most galleons ignore their middle deck holes.

    I used ballast ball twice last game night.

    First time sank the Galleon which was pretty decent with good crew coordination even effecting 180deg anchor turns. Sank them like a stone.

    Second time I came across that Galleon they had about an hour hour worth of resupply...and learned their lesson. They did not sink to my ballast ball.

    But, my friend and I chewed through them like splinters.

    After about 30 minutes of cannon exchange, they made a run for it.

    Last time they fought in the storm to great affect.

    Now they were avoiding the storm with all their might... I knew what was up.

    After demasting them several times (30+ wood there) blowing their anchor to heck, blasting their wheel, keeping them on fire half the battle.

    They must have has fewer than 50 planks left and ran for it trying to grab what they could from every island.

    We caught up in the broad reach winds as they turned around isles and blasted them into the deep.

  • Boxcar Squidy
    Captain
    Insider

    I love me some tactical discussions.

    What's the best opener if you're on a Galleon?

    I really like the 2/3x cannonball gunners + 1x ballast ball gunner strategy.

    If the people firing cannon balls hit their shots then the ballast ball can often sink the other ship in a single pass. This is most effective against brigs, against sloops you might need to have 3 or 4 people on cannons and hit them with the ballast with the very last shot (sloops fill up slowly). Against a Galleon I would advise doing two passes, 1st focus on middle deck holes and firebombing their cannons, then on the second do a mixture of lower deck holes and a ballast ball and they're sunk.

    That's all well and good, but you don't always have ballast balls.

    So what to do without them?

    I think a great opener against a sloop is to target the wheel. Try to knock them overboard. I honestly never though about blunder bombs for that, but they would work nicely. You do want to hit the wheel with something that breaks it though, because if you break the wheel of a sloop you've completely negated its main advantage in terms of manouverability. Follow up with chain shot to the mast and they're a sitting duck.

    Against a brig, firebombs hitting the lower deck can really easily make it so that the crew cannot easily access supplies without taking damage. You wanna go for the front 3rd to block off the food and the back 3rd to block off wood and cannon balls. That's mainly just to unsettle their crew though, get 2 of 'em below deck putting out fires and they won't be returning very much fire. Hitting the wheel of a brig in motion is a bit more challenging than doing it to a sloop, but it's a very effective tactic against that ship. Again, killing their manouverability is the aim there. As the brig is a relatively flat and open decked ship, blunder bombs are a great idea for knocking crew overboard. Anyone who's not on their boat is gonna severely hinder their ability to keep up with the damage output of 3-4 Galleon cannons barking.

    As a general rule I don't tend to use fire bombs as an opener. I find they do their best work when an enemy crew already has its hands full. So if you kill one with a lucky cannon shot, or you take down a mast or something, that's when I find that fire becomes a real problem for them rather than an annoyance.

    The last thing that I would say which applies to every ship versus ship encounter is that the crew that can land effective long range shots is nearly always the victor. It's something my crew like to practice, pick a sea rock at an appropriate distance and do firing drills, get to know your distances and elevations. Then move on to practice against AI threats, then try it against some live targets.

    If my ship is hitting your ship but your shots are landing short I gain a massive psychological advantage. We all have the same cannons, but if mine can shoot you at a distance and yours can't it triggers a fight or flight response. They'll either close the gap to get you in their effective range, or they'll run.

    If they run, then we're on to a different set of tactics: how to prevent/win a chase, which is something I'd also like to hear people's strategies for.

  • IDNeon
    Seafarer

    @boxcar-squidy

    Start with the last first. Long shots.

    I really think Blunderbombs are best for these. Psychologically it sucks to get hit by a cannon ball from a great distance but it will NEVER do much unless lucky. Blunderbombs almost ensure that the crew is taking massive health damage or outright dead.

    I like the sound of 2 cannoners hitting waterline/mid-deck then a ballast ball.

    But, the reason I've switched to chain shot // firebomb opener is because of how much absolute wreckage it does to crew coordination, plank-supply, and how busy it makes the enemy.

    1. My crew has sunk a Galleon with one waterline shot before because they were trying to board and fix all the rigging. Also, as fire gunner I usually can get one cannonball in their waterline while passing, which if you timed it all right means they won't notice it at first.
    2. My crew has sunk a Galleon by using up their substantial wood supply. (Took some time, but knowing how much wood everything takes they must have used about 100 planks in 15 minutes.

    A solid pass of chain shot = 12 to 14 and as much as 18 wood planks to fully repair a Galleon's top side.

    A challenge to do while on fire, and even more challenging if the fire is busy busting your masts, wheel and capstan.

    Then another pass will be another chunk of wood, but if they are struggling to fix rigging, then is definitely the time to put holes in their hull.

  • IDNeon
    Seafarer

    @boxcar-squidy said in How to Demolish Galleons - How to protect them:

    I think a great opener against a sloop is to target the wheel. Try to knock them overboard. I honestly never though about blunder bombs for that, but they would work nicely. You do want to hit the wheel with something that breaks it though, because if you break the wheel of a sloop you've completely negated its main advantage in terms of manouverability. Follow up with chain shot to the mast and they're a sitting duck.

    Against a brig, firebombs hitting the lower deck can really easily make it so that the crew cannot easily access supplies without taking damage. You wanna go for the front 3rd to block off the food and the back 3rd to block off wood and cannon balls. That's mainly just to unsettle their crew though, get 2 of 'em below deck putting out fires and they won't be returning very much fire. Hitting the wheel of a brig in motion is a bit more challenging than doing it to a sloop, but it's a very effective tactic against that ship. Again, killing their manouverability is the aim there. As the brig is a relatively flat and open decked ship, blunder bombs are a great idea for knocking crew overboard. Anyone who's not on their boat is gonna severely hinder their ability to keep up with the damage output of 3-4 Galleon cannons barking.

    Also I really like these points about the brig/sloop.

    I take down sloops usually by sheer firepower. And it's annoying.

    I usually tell my friend not to waste chain on them because they are quick to raise mast.

    But thinking of it as blowing their wheel apart makes sense.

    Maybe a chain/fire/blunder combo to try and knock-off or kill them, so the fire can do work, and the wheel is wrecked.

    Your talk about the brig is pretty straight forward.

    I haven't proven to myself how to do fire below decks, do you just hit the side of the ship? Or has to be right down the hatch?

  • Boxcar Squidy
    Captain
    Insider

    @idneon said in How to Demolish Galleons - How to protect them:

    I haven't proven to myself how to do fire below decks, do you just hit the side of the ship? Or has to be right down the hatch?

    Hitting in the side works, seems to start a fire inside the hull on the side where the shot connects. Won't do much if they also get a hole letting in water as that will sort the fire out, on a brig and a sloop, mid deck on a Galleon they do a great job because any water will fill the lower deck first. Fire bombs themselves don't put in holes, but it's worth remembering if you've already hit a few cannon balls.

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