Guide New complete guide for ships on POTC New Horizons

[Grey Roger]

Depends on the extent to which we want to honour Catalina's original intentions.
But I suppose the actual values might've been changed over the years anyway?

As far as I can see by looking at the oldest version of "Ships_init.c" that I can see (in the archive file for Beta 3, dating back to 2013), the stats for "LuggerCT" haven't changed, and they're the same as "Lugger1" - not surprising as the comments for that ship indicate that it's her work as well. The only changes introduced since then are that the ship is explicitly available to Sweden and has tan sails by default, neither of which existed in the game in 2013.

But since @CatalinaThePirate went so far as to invent the "noNatStatMod" attribute and then make 'arSetRandomStatsToShip' obey it, I'm inclined to believe that she had a reason, even if we'll never find out what it is, therefore leave it as it is.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

they're the same as "Lugger1" - not surprising as the comments for that ship indicate that it's her work as well.

That's a bit surprising...
"Lugger1" was a stock game ship.

has tan sails by default

That one too?
I had that in memory for the "LuggerVML", which was custom-made by the Russian modders from Seaward.Ru .

But since @CatalinaThePirate went so far as to invent the "noNatStatMod" attribute and then make 'arSetRandomStatsToShip' obey it, I'm inclined to believe that she had a reason, even if we'll never find out what it is, therefore leave it as it is.

Perhaps the reason was as simple as "testing if it works".

I can't see who added that code; but I do see I myself added a "unique" exception right next to it.
But that one does something slightly different.
(Or perhaps it does effectively do the same thing after all...? Just in a ruder way...?)

 

[HellSailor]

I also figured out recently that for "Smuggling for Thomas O'Reily" sidequest, I didn't include the fourth ship you will encounter if you are playing on "Golden Age of Piracy" period. That's because I don't know what ship class you will encounter. For what I know and it's confirmed for that period, the first three ships will be a Heavy brig (vanilla model), a Barque Longue, and a Lugger. By any chance you know what ship is, @Grey Roger ?

But since @CatalinaThePirate went so far as to invent the "noNatStatMod" attribute and then make 'arSetRandomStatsToShip' obey it, I'm inclined to believe that she had a reason, even if we'll never find out what it is, therefore leave it as it is.

This means I should make a different model of this lugger for my guide, to state the differences compared to the other luggers?

 

[Grey Roger]

That's a bit surprising...
"Lugger1" was a stock game ship.

There was a "Lugger1" in the stock game. Whether it's the same "Lugger1" that is in NH is another matter. Or @CatalinaThePirate might simply have signed the wrong ship.

That one too?
I had that in memory for the "LuggerVML", which was custom-made by the Russian modders from Seaward.Ru .

Yes, both ships have the commands for tan sails in "Ships_init.c". Probably because, having gone to a lot of effort to get them into the game, I wanted to make sure they'd be seen. "LuggerVML", alias "heavy lugger", is the most visible because that's the one you get at the start of "Tales of a Sea Hawk". "Lugger3" got them as well, as did the older-looking polacca and one of the tartanes.

Perhaps the reason was as simple as "testing if it works".

I can't see who added that code; but I do see I myself added a "unique" exception right next to it.
But that one does something slightly different.
(Or perhaps it does effectively do the same thing after all...? Just in a ruder way...?)

The odd thing is that "LuggerCT" is the only ship with the "noNatStatMod" attribute. "Unique" is different, it blocks both national modifiers and randomisation, so the ship gets exactly what's in "Ships_init.c". "noNatStatMod" only blocks national modifiers but allows randomisation.

 

[Grey Roger]

I also figured out recently that for "Smuggling for Thomas O'Reily" sidequest, I didn't include the fourth ship you will encounter if you are playing on "Golden Age of Piracy" period. That's because I don't know what ship class you will encounter. For what I know and it's confirmed for that period, the first three ships will be a Heavy brig (vanilla model), a Barque Longue, and a Lugger. By any chance you know what ship is, @Grey Roger ?

The fourth ship, the one which tries to run away with Thomas O'Reily's cargo, is a Castell Friedrichsburg brigantine in both "Golden Age of Piracy" and "Colonial Powers".

This means I should make a different model of this lugger for my guide, to state the differences compared to the other luggers?

If you want. The base stats are exactly the same as "Lugger1" and "Lugger2"; they just don't change with nationality.

 

[HellSailor]

While I was checking again for mistakes and errors on my guide, I found out that some ships seem to perform worse than it should be (or in some cases, too good for their class). I thought I would leave here the ships I think need some changes and buffs (or nerfs). It isn't neccessary to do these changes for next patch; this could be seen as thoughts for future patches or releases.

Armed Schooner: Right now it's not that bad, but I think it needs to increase its agility or its cargo capacity to be more interesting, since it has almost no armament. For example, increasing its HP and cargo from 900 to 1000, and increase its "Arcade" speed from 14.5 to 15.0, and its turn rate from 38.0 to at least 40.0.
English Bark (vanilla model): Its speed needs to be improved in order to perform at least similiar to the European Barque. For example, from 12.7 to 14.0. Besides that, if speed remains the same, I suggest increasing its cargo from 1250 to 1500, and its HP from 1000 to 1250.
Naval Ketch: It's actually not competitive as a military ship. It needs some important buffs in order to perform a similar role to the Naval Cutter, although inferior to it. For example, increasing its HP from 1000 to 1250; its speed from 10.0 to at least 13.5-14.0, and its Max-Min crew from 38-8 to at least 45-9.
Caravela Redonda: It is currently in an inferior position to the other caravels, so it could use some improvement. For example, increasing its speed from 12.0 to 12.5; its turn rate from 30.0 to 34.0-36.0; its cargo capacity from 1350 to 1600-1750; and its Max Crew from 70 to 80.
Pinnace (Dutch): Needs some improvements to be more competitive to the other pinnaces. For example, increasing its HP from 2300 to at least 3000; its cargo capacity from 3000 to at least 4000-4250. Its cargo capacity should be higher than the medium pinnace, as well as its HP. If changes are done to this ship, then Medium Pinnace won't need any change.
Heavy Brig (NH model): It should receive a nerf to its HP, since it’s not normal that a Brig could have more HP than heavy frigates. For example, reducing its HP from 3500 to a maximum of 2500.
East Indiaman: This ship should receive a small buff to its agility, although right now it's not bad. For example, increasing its speed from 11.5 to at least 12.0; and its turn rate from 30.0 to 32.0-33.0.
American Brig (USS Enterprise): It should receive a level increase to the maximum caliber of its guns at a minimum, from 4 to 6. The other alternative is to put it down to tier 6, lowering its crew, and altering some of its stats to balance it in its new tier.
Light East Indiaman: As it is right now, it is more of a military ship rather than a merchant one. It should receive some modifications. For example, reducing its HP, which is a bit excessive in my opinion, from 5000 to a maximum of 2500; reducing its maximum caliber from 18 to at least 12, or 9 to better resemble its "light" status; and also reducing its crew from 200-54 to 160-38.
Treasure Galleon: It should increase its speed from 8.0 to 9.0-10.0 to be at least more competitive.

 

[HellSailor]

BETA version of the Complete Ship Guide for Pirates of the Caribbean: New Horizons now released! (Release Date: 5th February 2022).

Check the first post for downloading it. In this release, the shipyard upgrades have been added, and will continue for the final version of the guide. Besides that, there has been several fixes done to the content of the guide, as well as adding new screenshots for ships provided by @Grey Roger about the new models for already existing ships, that will be included in the next patch. There won't be any more chapters or content added to the guide, besides including further fixes and improvements. Therefore, if nothing else is found, I think this could be the final version of my guide, and be ready to be included for the next patch.

You can now check it out, and give feedback on what do you think of it. Advices, suggestions and recommendations are welcomed for improving this guide.

 

[HellSailor]

So while I was playing, I had just found around the coast of Nevis a 4th Rate Warship of the Royal Navy (the one based on the stock Fearless). As you might remember, in Ships_init.c, there is a Royal Navy model that has 52 cannons, instead of the standard 44 cannons. I went close to the side of the ship, and took a screenshot to see why it had more cannons. Here is the result.



On the starboard side I counted 23 cannons. Having another 23 on port, 4 on stern, and 2 on bow, gives you the total of 52 cannons. It seems there are "artificial" cannons put onto that model.

 

[Grey Roger]

So while I was playing, I had just found around the coast of Nevis a 4th Rate Warship of the Royal Navy (the one based on the stock Fearless). As you might remember, in Ships_init.c, there is a Royal Navy model that has 52 cannons, instead of the standard 44 cannons. I went close to the side of the ship, and took a screenshot to see why it had more cannons. Here is the result.

View attachment 40159

On the starboard side I counted 23 cannons. Having another 23 on port, 4 on stern, and 2 on bow, gives you the total of 52 cannons. It seems there are "artificial" cannons put onto that model.

The trouble is that while the model may show cannons there, it does not have firing locators for them. And the firing locators which it does have are not lined up with the cannons. Here is the hull model as seen in "GM Viewer":

It shows all locators regardless of which side they're on. The firing locators are those beginning with "_". So "_29", "_88", "_89" and "_90" are the stern guns. "_77" and "_78" are out of position and the guns aft of them have no locators at all. On the upper gun deck, "_81" to "_85" are about right but there are no firing locators aft of "_85". ("_85" is obscured here by some other locators for ropes and shrouds.) In fact, regardless of what "Ships_init.c" says, this ship can only fire 40 guns because its firing locators appear to be the same as those of "Lineship1", alias "5th Rate Warship". The same applies to other variants of "4th Rate Warship", and for that matter, the original stock game "Fearless". And they aren't going to be easy to fix...

 

[Pieter Boelen]

There was a "Lugger1" in the stock game. Whether it's the same "Lugger1" that is in NH is another matter. Or @CatalinaThePirate might simply have signed the wrong ship.

Perhaps the lugger paint schemes got jumbled around a bit in the Big Ship Texture Cleanup of the 2010's.
We got rid of a fair bit of redundant stuff at some point.

Yes, both ships have the commands for tan sails in "Ships_init.c". Probably because, having gone to a lot of effort to get them into the game, I wanted to make sure they'd be seen.

And rightly so!
They look very "Dutch brown fleet" so I'm quite in favour.

The odd thing is that "LuggerCT" is the only ship with the "noNatStatMod" attribute. "Unique" is different, it blocks both national modifiers and randomisation, so the ship gets exactly what's in "Ships_init.c". "noNatStatMod" only blocks national modifiers but allows randomisation.

True.
And yes, odd indeed.
Maybe @Nathan Kell has any memories?
Or...
Was @Mad Jack Wolfe around back then as well...?

And the firing locators which it does have are not lined up with the cannons.

EEEEWWWW! That's some UGLY locator-work!!
For an already ugly ship model...

I do seem to have some recollection that (@Nathan Kell?) put in some code so that if you have extra/not enough cannons for your number of locators,
some refuse to fire; or fire double; so at least you do get the correct number of shots.
This is relevant of course for the "cannons being damaged" mod. Which was, I think, @konradk's.
So perhaps that was him who added that altogether, actually...

 

[HellSailor]

I recently went myself to Vanderdecken's Cabin at Isla de Muerta, so that I could check everything I wrote about the Special ships chapter. There has been some changes because of it overall in my guide, so I will update it here. You can now check it out, and give feedback on what do you think of it. Advices, suggestions and recommendations are welcomed for improving this guide.

 

[HellSailor]

By the way @Grey Roger , just out of curiosity, how do you start the sidequest "Silver of Cartagena"? I'm very interested in trying it out.

 

[Grey Roger]

There are two ways. One is to have a Letter of Marque from any nation, earn enough promotions that a governor introduces you to his niece or daughter, and then chat her up. Eventually she'll tell you about the silver train on its way to Cartagena. This also works if you're a pirate signed up with the Brotherhood on Nevis. The other way, if you're a pirate who doesn't choose to join the Brotherhood, is to reach level 12 and then go to the tavern in Smugglers' Lair on La Grenade, where you should look for Meredith Byrom.

 

[HellSailor]

GAMMA version of the Complete Ship Guide for Pirates of the Caribbean: New Horizons now released! (Release Date: 12th February 2022).

Check the first post for downloading it. I think this is it. No further changes will be done to the guide. Only small fixes will be done if errors are found. So for me, @Grey Roger , you can feel free to add this final version of my guide to the next release of the mod.

You can now check it out, and give feedback on what do you think of it. Advices, suggestions and recommendations are welcomed for improving this guide.

 

[HellSailor]

Armed Schooner: indeed, compared to other ships, its arcade performance seems low compared to its realistic performance. Arcade speed can go up to 15.5, turn rate to 50. Corsair Schooner, which is a better armed, pirate version of the same ship, also gets its arcade performance boosted to match.

Caravela Redonda: almost looked at the wrong ship because that's also the realistic mode name for what arcade mode calls "square-rigged caravel". It's also the name for a Portuguse ship which would be perhaps better renamed "carrack". It's an older-looking design than the other caravels with higher superstructure and is indeed an inferior design. Possibly reduce its period chance in "Spanish Main" so you don't see as many of them in the later period.

Dutch pinnace vs. medium pinnace: the Dutch pinnace loses some cargo capacity because it has a heavier armament. It's also slower in realistic mode, but the same speed in arcade mode. So the Dutch pinnace will be slightly slowed down in arcade mode. HP can stay as it is; this is a pinnace, not a frigate!

USS Enterprise: this was an earlier attempt to make a more realistic version of the Interceptor. The model has a few more guns than the Interceptor but not enough to justify over double the crew size. Possibly either increase its speed and turn to match "US_Interceptor" and "RN_Interceptor" (American Brig), or drop their performance to match "US_Enterprise" - at present they're slightly slower than the fantasy "HMS_Interceptor". In any case, "US_Enterprise" crew can drop to 65 compared to 57 for the other two.

Treasure Galleon: could indeed do with a boost to its arcade speed, as other ships have higher arcade speed than realistic speed while this one has them the same. Realistic speed stays at 8, arcade speed goes up to 9.5.

Dutch Pinnace: If HP remains the same, I suggest lowering the HP for the vanilla model of the Pinnace, and also for the Merchant Pinnace, in order to be consistent with the Pinnace line.
Caravela Redonda: I think your solution would be the best for it.
USS Enterprise: I think it's best to drop it at Tier 6, with its stats also balanced for that tier. But you can choose whatever you think it's best.

Further changes:
Armed Schooner (and Corsair Schooner, which is the same ship with a heavier armament for use by pirates) get the arcade speed and turn rate improvements suggested.
European Barque: the arcade speed is reduced to be comparable with realistic speed. The Barque Longue and Jackass Barque also needed their arcade speeds reduced.
Fast Galleons: the arcade speed is increased - at present they're the same as Fast War Galleons, whereas in realistic mode they're faster than Fast War Galleons.
East Indiaman: should indeed have a slightly better turn rate than Heavy East Indiaman but its turn rate in arcade mode is the same. So its arcade turn rate can be slightly increased in line with its realistic turn rate.

European Barque: So you mean you are going to reduce their stats to be similar to the English Bark? That could probably cause that players would stick more with luggers because of their better speed. Why do you think it is necessary to reduce their speed? (Besides balancing with "Realistic" speed of course).

If you want, I can include all the changes you will do to the ships' stats that you mentioned. If you share with me the specific changes, I can include them for the next release.

 

[Grey Roger]

Dutch Pinnace: If HP remains the same, I suggest lowering the HP for the vanilla model of the Pinnace, and also for the Merchant Pinnace, in order to be consistent with the Pinnace line.
Caravela Redonda: I think your solution would be the best for it.

Merchant Pinnace: capacity 5000, armament 26 guns of 9lb, crew 120, HP 3500, price 51200, speed 8.5/12.6, turn 60/29
Medium Pinnace: capacity 3500, armament 18 guns of 9lb, crew 117, HP 2300, price 54800, speed 9.5/12.6, turn 60/29
Vanilla Pinnace: capacity 5000, armament 24 guns of 9lb, crew 108, HP 3500, price 51200, speed 9.0/12.6, turn 60/29
Dutch Pinnace: capacity 3000, armament 26 guns of 9lb, crew 117, HP 2300, price 54800, speed 9.0/12.6, turn 60/29

So the Merchant Pinnace has a couple more guns, crew to man them, and is a bit slower. The Medium Pinnace is the fastest of the lot, and the lightest armed. The Dutch Pinnace is the heaviest armed, losing some cargo capacity to make room for the guns. And whoever added the new pinnaces forgot to change the arcade speeds to match the realistic speed, so I'll correct that - Merchant to 12.1, Medium to 13.1, the others stay as they are. Otherwise, all ships are not created equal! If you're buying, you take whatever the shipyard has on offer or wait to find the type of your choice. If you're capturing one for your own use, the same applies - take what you can find, or dump it and wait for the one of your choice.

Incidentally, those armament values don't tell the whole story. The Medium Pinnace doesn't have much of a broadside because four of its guns are on the stern, while the Vanilla Pinnace has six guns on the stern, very nasty for anyone trying to chase it! The Dutch Pinnace has the heaviest broadside of the lot, but only two stern guns.

USS Enterprise: I think it's best to drop it at Tier 6, with its stats also balanced for that tier. But you can choose whatever you think it's best.

Tier is based purely on the base crew number as given in "Ships_init.c" without national modifiers or randomising, which means dropping its crew to 65 will indeed put into tier 6 - just! Tier 6 is crew less than 100, greater than or equal to 60.

European Barque: So you mean you are going to reduce their stats to be similar to the English Bark? That could probably cause that players would stick more with luggers because of their better speed. Why do you think it is necessary to reduce their speed? (Besides balancing with "Realistic" speed of course).

The entire reason is to balance it with realistic speed so that comparisons between ships should be similar regardless of which setting you use - if ship A is faster than ship B in realistic mode then it should also be faster in arcade mode. (There are probably more which need their arcade speeds adjusted but I haven't the time to check the whole lot!)

In any case, personally I tend to stick with the lugger for speed, turn rate, and the superior ability to sail across the wind. Then I'll take full advantage of that agility to zigzag across the stern of something bigger and pound it with grapeshot until it surrenders. Forget barques, I'm after something bigger!

If you want, I can include all the changes you will do to the ships' stats that you mentioned. If you share with me the specific changes, I can include them for the next release.

European Barque: arcade speed changed from 14.9 to 11.9, Jackass Barque arcade speed changed from 15.3 to 13.3, English Barque (New Horizons) arcade speed changed from 14.9 to 12.7, Barque Longue arcade speed changed from 15.6 to 13.6.
Heavy Brig (New Horizons): HP changed from 3500 to 2500.
Dutch Pinnace: arcade speed changed from 12.6 to 12.0.
Fast Galleon: arcade speed changed from 12.5 to 13.5.
American Brig (USS Enterprise): crew changed from 144 to 65 (which drops it from tier 5 to tier 6).
East Indiaman: arcade turn rate changed from 30 to 32.
Treasure Galleon: arcade speed changed from 8.0 to 9.5.
Armed Schooner arcade speed changed from 14.5 to 15.5, arcade turn rate changed from 38 to 50. Corsair Schooner arcade speed changed from 14.3 to 15.5, arcade turn rate changed from 35 to 50.
Caravela Redonda: Spanish Main period chance changed from 0.6 to 0.4. This probably doesn't affect your guide, it just means this antiquated ship becomes less visible in the early 17th century.

 

[HellSailor]

Merchant Pinnace: capacity 5000, armament 26 guns of 9lb, crew 120, HP 3500, price 51200, speed 8.5/12.6, turn 60/29
Medium Pinnace: capacity 3500, armament 18 guns of 9lb, crew 117, HP 2300, price 54800, speed 9.5/12.6, turn 60/29
Vanilla Pinnace: capacity 5000, armament 24 guns of 9lb, crew 108, HP 3500, price 51200, speed 9.0/12.6, turn 60/29
Dutch Pinnace: capacity 3000, armament 26 guns of 9lb, crew 117, HP 2300, price 54800, speed 9.0/12.6, turn 60/29

So the Merchant Pinnace has a couple more guns, crew to man them, and is a bit slower. The Medium Pinnace is the fastest of the lot, and the lightest armed. The Dutch Pinnace is the heaviest armed, losing some cargo capacity to make room for the guns. And whoever added the new pinnaces forgot to change the arcade speeds to match the realistic speed, so I'll correct that - Merchant to 12.1, Medium to 13.1, the others stay as they are. Otherwise, all ships are not created equal! If you're buying, you take whatever the shipyard has on offer or wait to find the type of your choice. If you're capturing one for your own use, the same applies - take what you can find, or dump it and wait for the one of your choice.

Fair enough. You take what you can get. They are at least a little different between each other, without losing its overall class stats.

Incidentally, those armament values don't tell the whole story. The Medium Pinnace doesn't have much of a broadside because four of its guns are on the stern, while the Vanilla Pinnace has six guns on the stern, very nasty for anyone trying to chase it! The Dutch Pinnace has the heaviest broadside of the lot, but only two stern guns.

I didn't notice that the dutch pinnace had a more menacing broadside than the other pinnaces. Makes me wonder if I should add the armament disposition of each ship... By any chance, do you know where to look the armament disposition of each ship?

The entire reason is to balance it with realistic speed so that comparisons between ships should be similar regardless of which setting you use - if ship A is faster than ship B in realistic mode then it should also be faster in arcade mode. (There are probably more which need their arcade speeds adjusted but I haven't the time to check the whole lot!)

I understand. I will have to try at least once the realistic mode, and experience the differences. (Would you like me to take a look on the arcade speed of ships that need to be adjusted, and help you?)

In any case, personally I tend to stick with the lugger for speed, turn rate, and the superior ability to sail across the wind. Then I'll take full advantage of that agility to zigzag across the stern of something bigger and pound it with grapeshot until it surrenders. Forget barques, I'm after something bigger!

I wonder why you didn't get you own side quest like Surgeon Peter Blood had... It would be hilarious to end the two parts of the sidequest just to earn a pirate design Heavy Lugger, and seeing it fight against schooners. "I'm a pirate, I don't waste a single gold coin on aquiring my own ship. I will commandeer someone else's ship, even if it's a bigger fish!"

European Barque: arcade speed changed from 14.9 to 11.9, Jackass Barque arcade speed changed from 15.3 to 13.3, English Barque (New Horizons) arcade speed changed from 14.9 to 12.7, Barque Longue arcade speed changed from 15.6 to 13.6.

That puts the entire barque line quite nerfed, but I think that would make it interesting, since those ships now have to, in most cases, fight against pirates and use chains to sail away from them, whereas previously they could simply run away without entering into naval battles.

American Brig (USS Enterprise): crew changed from 144 to 65 (which drops it from tier 5 to tier 6).

I imagine the rest of its stats remain the same, right? That also applies for its price? I think it should be reduced as well.

Caravela Redonda: Spanish Main period chance changed from 0.6 to 0.4. This probably doesn't affect your guide, it just means this antiquated ship becomes less visible in the early 17th century.

Yes, it won't affect it. I didn't include it because I thought that was adding too much unnecessary information.

 

[Grey Roger]

I didn't notice that the dutch pinnace had a more menacing broadside than the other pinnaces. Makes me wonder if I should add the armament disposition of each ship... By any chance, do you know where to look the armament disposition of each ship?

You can find all the base stats for ships in "PROGRAM\Ships\Ships_init.c". In particular, look for these lines:

    refShip.Cannon            = CANNON_TYPE_LONG_LBS9;
    refShip.MaxCaliber        = 9;

    refShip.CannonsQuantity = 26;
    refShip.Cannons.Borts.cannonf.qty = 2;
    refShip.Cannons.Borts.cannonb.qty = 2;

'refShip.Cannon' is what the ship carries by default. 'refShip.MaxCaliber' is the heaviest cannon it can carry, which limits what guns you can fit in any shipyard that isn't Vanderdecken's. 'refShip.CannonsQuantity' is the total number of guns. 'refShip.Cannons.Borts.cannonf.qty' is the number of bow guns (front), 'refShip.Cannons.Borts.cannonb.qty' is the number of stern guns (back). Add the bow and stern guns together, subtract them from the total quantity, divide by 2, and that's how many guns are on a broadside - in this case, 11.

I understand. I will have to try at least once the realistic mode, and experience the differences. (Would you like me to take a look on the arcade speed of ships that need to be adjusted, and help you?)

If you like. Again, you'll find these in "Ships_init.c":

    if(iRealismMode>0 || REALISTIC_SHIP_INERTIA){

<realistic performance data

    }else{

<arcade performance data>

I wonder why you didn't get you own side quest like Surgeon Peter Blood had... It would be hilarious to end the two parts of the sidequest just to earn a pirate design Heavy Lugger, and seeing it fight against schooners. "I'm a pirate, I don't waste a single gold coin on aquiring my own ship. I will commandeer someone else's ship, even if it's a bigger fish!"

That, in fact, is exactly what I do, though most of the time I'm a privateer rather than a pirate. Very rarely do I buy a ship; the last time I did it was when I was playing the "Castaway" start, which gives you an unarmed dinghy, which means you can't bombard anything with grapeshot. Beyond that, I've been once to Vanderdecken's shipyard just to have a look at it, and I occasionally have to buy a ship to test something (e.g. the interface for buying a ship ).

You can find a few special sidequests depending on your chosen starting career. Try starting FreePlay as a gambler some time. (Or a rogue, which has the same starting quest, but the gambler also has a special sidequest later on.) Peter Blood's two sidequests are based on events from the "Bartolomeu" storyline, which incidentally means you won't see Peter Blood if you play that story.

That puts the entire barque line quite nerfed, but I think that would make it interesting, since those ships now have to, in most cases, fight against pirates and use chains to sail away from them, whereas previously they could simply run away without entering into naval battles.

Barques tend to have better cargo capacity than luggers. So they're dedicated cargo carriers while luggers are better general purpose starting ships. In any case, only the arcade speeds for barques have changed; anyone playing on realistic mode would have a hard job outrunning pirates, especially if the pirate ship (a) has pirate national modifiers, (b) is a brigantine or sloop which can sail closer to the wind than a barque, or (c) gets a lucky hit with a cannonball and dismasts you before you manage to dismast the pirate with your smaller guns.

I imagine the rest of its stats remain the same, right? That also applies for its price? I think it should be reduced as well.

OK, the price for "USS_Enterprise" can drop from 81600 to 51600, not quite as low as 40800 for "US_Interceptor" but then "USS_Enterprise" still has more cannons and a few more crew to man them.

 

[HellSailor]

Update status: There has been some improvements and content added to my guide. The most important ones are the inclusion of the armament disposition of each ship (number of cannons in bow, port, starboard and stern), as well as portraying more accurate prices for each ship. Besides that, I have also included the future changes for ships in arcade; to name a few, the barques, the armed and corsair schooners, and the pinnaces. Because of this, this weekend I will release two separate guides, named DELTA and GAMMA. Delta will include the first changes mentioned, but not the changes for the ships in arcade mode; Gamma will include all the changes mentioned. Because there is probably going to be more ships that will have its stats changed for the next days, the Delta Guide will be Final, whereas Gamma will not.

 

[HellSailor]

DELTA FINAL and GAMMA versions of the Complete Ship Guide for Pirates of the Caribbean: New Horizons now released! (Release Date: 20th February 2022).

Check the first post for downloading it. There has been some improvements and content added to my guide. The most important ones are the inclusion of the armament disposition of each ship (number of cannons in bow, port, starboard and stern), as well as portraying more accurate prices for each ship. Besides that, I have also included the future changes for ships in arcade; to name a few, the barques, the armed and corsair schooners, and the pinnaces. Because of this, there will be release two separate guides, named DELTA and GAMMA. Delta will include the first changes mentioned, but not the changes for the ships in arcade mode; Gamma will include all the changes mentioned. Because there is probably going to be more ships that will have its stats changed for the next days, the Delta Guide will be Final, whereas Gamma will not.

You can now check it out, and give feedback on what do you think of it. Advices, suggestions and recommendations are welcomed for improving this guide.