Strategy for using War Canoe (Please)

[rupertlittlebear]

It seems that several of you are now plundering with the War Canoe.

Please post any strategy hints for using this speed boat.
As well as any useful observations about its handling.
It would also be useful to know what level you are playing at, as some strategies work best at certain levels.

Thanks.

[rupertlittlebear]

My main strategies for the War Canoe are:

Copper
Cotton
Maybe Iron
Maybe Hammocks

Primary strategy is to board, and almost never use the canons.

The most interesting part is how you can 'steer' their ship by their desire to land a broadside on you.

[Gun Pierson]

I read that some people have trouble getting one so here's what I do at the beginning of a game:

You usually have a sloop to start with, I can be wrong, but I have one (rogue level). So first I sell all my guns and some food to make the sloop faster. I don't hire crew either at this point. Then I usually go to the friendly indian town between Margarita and Trinidad. The canoes that leave there, usually sail off to Nevis or something, so they're heading upwards and have the wind against them. I come down from the right with the wind in my sails and come as close as I can before I start the battle.

Once the battle starts head directly towards the canoe which will face you. It's still fast but it turns and most of the time they start firing, so you get clooser. Don't give up if it manages to outsail you a bit because I noticed that often they turn again and want to fire again (the canoe thinks it can take you out because of the low crew etc), so you win some distance. If all goes well, and they stick to this behaviour, you can enter after some time. Gl hf

I use cotton, hammocks, iron and copper on them. After some time I do the other upgrades when they cost less, just to have the eight upgrades. But it saves me a lot of money I can use in the beginning to satisfy my crew.

[Airsaw]

I think war canoes are a good reason to introduce nuclear weapons three centuries sooner, that's what I think.

Argh!
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[Zem]

Gun Pierson! Do the ships really get faster if you don't carry guns and cargo? I know it's logical, but I don't realised it. It may be true but I didn't notice it.
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I don't have a drinking problem, 'cept when I can't get a drink. Tom Waits

[rupertlittlebear]

[Airsaw]

This is too tempting not to try. If I get killed doing it, I'm coming back to haunt you!

Argh!
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[Gun Pierson]

[DrBeast]

Here's a pic of what this baby can accomplish with a little patience and good steering:



What I try to do is stay either behind or slightly in front of the enemy ship and keep firing away chain shot until the white flag comes up. The galleons are actually easy prey (and money of course!) since they're sooooo sluggish there's no way they can turn faster than you. So just keep sailing close to their bow of stern and fire. You can also use grape shot if you don't want to damage the sails extensively, but for smaller (and more agile) ships it's best to pin them down by tearing away their sails.
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Let the Beast inside you free!

[Airsaw]

[rupertlittlebear]

[DrBeast]

[rupertlittlebear]

Did it to a French Invasion Frigate last night. Was not going to let them convert a Dutch town. That was my job.

In this case, the Frigate was heavily damaged by a Dutch Raider Sloop.
One of the few times I have ever seen a Frigate survive a Raider Sloop.
Only took a couple of minutes in play time.

[jparm3rd]

Ok.....a few comments on War Canoes:

War Canoes are excellent ships to use on all difficulties because of their speed and manueverability. Handled correctly, they CAN do damage, as an earlier poster demonstrated with a screen shot. The thing to realize is that War Canoes are very fragile on Swash Difficulty meaning simply that you can't afford to get hit very often. One or two hits won't eliminate you (unless from a SOTL), but they can slow you down and poof, there goes your advantage of speed and manueverability. The really important advantage with War Canoes is the speed they have on the world map, providing again that they are not damaged, so emerging from battle without damage is extremely important. The other nice thing is that they don't require a large crew, so you rarely have fleet speed reduction issues if you are using a Ram only type strategy when engaging in ship battles. The most serious handicap I've seen with the War Canoe is their very low carrying capacity which in turn limits range. That's solved though once you've taken a few prize ships and have thus expanded your fleet. Even nicer, once you've taken your first prize, you can pick up their cannon to use in subsequent sea battles, until you sell them off. War canoes can pretty much do any task in the game...you just need to realize that even with triple hammocks, 75 bodies does limit which towns you can plunder, but even that can be done in the right situation. Don't neglect considering the big sister and brother of the War Canoe, the Pinnace and the Mail Runner respectively. Each when maxed can handle 90 and 120 bodies respectively, which again allows even more options and as a bonus carry more guns and tonnage. I would definitley upgrade powder, the different shot types, and cannon as you can certainly use what you plunder and there are always situations where you might want to damage a ship instead of sink it, particulalry during escort missions. Pirates! only seems to penalize you for sinkings...so keep that in mind if it isn't politically correct to sink an interferring friend you may still want promotions from.

It's my belief that these class of ships are really a lot of fun for any experienced player and sure help with morale problems should you being suffering from that.

Enjoy!

Prince James.

[Zem]

I've been thinking about this for a week or two: why don't you use Mail Runner instead of War Canoe. I haven't tried any of them but I wouldn't dare swordfighting with only 75 crew. I know the War Canoe turns better than the Mail Runner but I prefer 120 members in my crew!
I eagerly wait for the moment I try them.
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I don't have a drinking problem, 'cept when I can't get a drink. Tom Waits