boarding tips

[FranzG]

Every time I board an enemy ship, I immediately find myself alone, against 6-7 enemy soldiers: what's wrong? I've filled the weapon locker in my cabin with all sort of guns and swords, but my crew is slaughtered in the first 10 seconds of battle...

 

[OddjobXL]

Not sure how it works in PoTC but I'd suggest whittling the enemy crew down before boarding. Use grapeshot at close range a few times. This is generally how one makes a boarding action manageable. Not entirely certain as how to check the size of the opposing crew but you may be able to see it with a spyglass in the readout panel on the bottom of the screen.

 

[Petros]

OddjobXL is right about numbers being the main factor in boarding.

The second thing POTC uses is Morale, both your crew's and the opposing crew's.

You don't want to go into a battle when your crew are starving, impatient to divide the plunder, or just got decimated by several broadsides.

Getting into too many battles without rest also decreases morale.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

And of course fighting a big ship with big crew while you have a small ship with smal crew doesn't work very well either.

 

[Petros]

<!--quoteo(post=225394:date=Dec 11 2007, 02:16 PM:name=Pieter Boelen)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pieter Boelen @ Dec 11 2007, 02:16 PM) [snapback]225394[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->And of course fighting a big ship with big crew while you have a small ship with smal crew doesn't work very well either.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Ahhh, I think that is included in "numbers" <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":" border="0" alt="laugh.gif" />

 

[Pieter Boelen]

It is. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/yes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="yes.gif" />

 

[Oldtimer]

Hi all,

something I noticed when boarding:

- I`m not outnumbered(may have advantage in numbers actually) but I have to confront the enemy alone with my officers for a while before my cowardly men decide to come over and help.

This results in mine losing my officers and , it seems, their excellent equipment. How come? We attacked a bigger ship, but their crew was less than us courtesy of grapeshot.

Regards, Oldtimer

 

[Petros]

<!--quoteo(post=232972:date=Jan 8 2008, 03:07 AM:name=Oldtimer)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Oldtimer @ Jan 8 2008, 03:07 AM) [snapback]232972[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Hi all,

something I noticed when boarding:

- I`m not outnumbered(may have advantage in numbers actually) but I have to confront the enemy alone with my officers for a while before my cowardly men decide to come over and help.

This results in mine losing my officers and , it seems, their excellent equipment. How come? We attacked a bigger ship, but their crew was less than us courtesy of grapeshot.

Regards, Oldtimer<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Their captain may have high skill levels, including leadership, luck and defense.
Their crew may have higher morale, the converse being that your crew's morale is lower, see above posts.

 

[Oldtimer]

<!--quoteo(post=233007:date=Jan 8 2008, 06:16 PM:name=Petros)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Petros @ Jan 8 2008, 06:16 PM) [snapback]233007[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=232972:date=Jan 8 2008, 03:07 AM:name=Oldtimer)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Oldtimer @ Jan 8 2008, 03:07 AM) [snapback]232972[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Hi all,

something I noticed when boarding:

- I`m not outnumbered(may have advantage in numbers actually) but I have to confront the enemy alone with my officers for a while before my cowardly men decide to come over and help.

This results in mine losing my officers and , it seems, their excellent equipment. How come? We attacked a bigger ship, but their crew was less than us courtesy of grapeshot.

Regards, Oldtimer<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Their captain may have high skill levels, including leadership, luck and defense.
Their crew may have higher morale, the converse being that your crew's morale is lower, see above posts.
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Hi Petros,

our morale was at least one notch better then theirs. I understand the influence of enemy cpt skills. Suppose they are randomized and weighted somehow according to diff lvl. I`m playing at adventurer and have not yet had a boarding where I was plainly equal or superior to the enemy.
Granted I`m a small ship man(cutter, lugger) but I use grape and wait until numbers are comparable or to our advantage. Still too difficult, or rather too expensive to board.
So now I`m pounding them from a distance until they strike colours(capitulation probability 0.1). Maybe boarding could use some tweaking.

Regards, Oldtimer

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Perhaps the difficulty levels need some tweaking; I had a look through that code a while ago and it didn't make that much sense to me. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wacko.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":wacko:" border="0" alt="wacko.gif" />