Reducing Garrison Size from Sea

JackPrat · Powder Monkey Posts: 35 **795 Gold** -

Does anyone know how long it takes to reduce a large garrison to half it's size or less from the sea?

I am now at an unfortunate crossroads. I have 180k gold in the bank just from sacking just about every Spanish city, but after 50 months even a crew of 250 is starting to slip away. Taking the last major city of Vera Cruz from 460 soldiers is going to be tough. At least I made it this far without divvying up the plunder. I don't want to give away my precious crew sustaining gold just yet!

Aside from giving into my crew drooling over my amassed gold, I feel the only option I have is to downsize to ~150 crew and setup a blockade to diminish Vera Cruz's garrison. The only problem I see with this would be how long I would have to keep it up for to have a substantial effect. Taking out reinforcements and lobbing round shot at the city only does so much even over a decent amount of time, right?

With 180k gold I should have enough to keep at least 150 men from turning on me (180 crew members on unhappy indefinitely) so technically it shouldn't matter how long it takes. It also appears there are no pirate or Indian villages in the immediate area to unleash on them. Maybe I'll do a little more searching. The isolated nature of the Mexican towns also makes it tough to rebuild an attack force. I would need the garrison to 200 or lower, 250 max to even consider it.

Any advice or tips from those who have dealt with a similar situation?

fleetp · Boatswain Posts: 3713 **36002 Gold** -

Find the nearest Indian villages and tell the chiefs to attack the city.

Salty Dog · Sailing Master Posts: 10060 **191991 Gold** -

You need to downsize your crew. It is hard to become "immortal" with a large crew. Even with the Cook and Quartermaster on board you need over 1000 gold per crew member to prevent them from mutinying.

So, go attack Raymondo or a pirate and allow the fighting to go on a long time. just keep taunting him and allow your crew to be reduced to the point where they will not mutiny. Do you have the Cook and Quartermaster yet?

Also, why are you in such a hurry to take Vera Cruz? The name of the game is rescue your relatives and knock off Montalbahn. After you have done those two things then you can take over cities or find pirate treasures or lost cities.

JackPrat · Powder Monkey Posts: 35 **795 Gold** -

Salty Dog · Sailing Master Posts: 10060 **191991 Gold** -

quote="Salty Dog"]You need to downsize your crew. It is hard to become "immortal" with a large crew. Even with the Cook and Quartermaster on board you need over 1000 gold per crew member to prevent them from mutinying.

So, go attack Raymondo or a pirate and allow the fighting to go on a long time. just keep taunting him and allow your crew to be reduced to the point where they will not mutiny. Do you have the Cook and Quartermaster yet?

Also, why are you in such a hurry to take Vera Cruz? The name of the game is rescue your relatives and knock off Montalbahn. After you have done those two things then you can take over cities or find pirate treasures or lost cities

Specialists are important. The Cook really does keep morale higher and the Quaretrmaster continues to maintain discipline. I don't think their value declines. The Sailmaker and Carpenter keep damage down and repair the ship and the Cooper keeps food loss lower. The Gunner works for every battle if you use cannons (I don't), the Navigator helps avoid storms. They are all helpful.
Hahaha! Yeah, I do need to downsize. I eventually found out that prolonging a duel was the best way to lose crew at sea, but I would have loved to know that when I was still selling ships to do it! I am actually trying out taking over cities first so I don't have to go anywhere but the two Spanish cities I left to find Monty and Raymond. Vera Cruz is the last I need to take. I haven't even rescued my first family member.

I read somewhere that the specialists only matter for the beginning of a voyage and over time their effectiveness goes to none. Have you found differently?[/quote]

JackPrat · Powder Monkey Posts: 35 **795 Gold** -

Oh! I should have clarified. I meant just the morale boosting specialist and items I read lose effectiveness after a couple years. I think it was even on this forum! Maybe it's just the items that are useless over time... Anyhow I think I have both specialists anyway. I am in luck as some pirates were able to attack Vera Cruz and got the garrison to a manageable size. They are sending out an alarming number of invasion forces tho! I guess they are struggling to stave off the sunset of the Spanish empire in the Caribbean.

Roland · Helmsman Posts: 4085 **22541 Gold** -

sparticus · Helmsman Posts: 5818 **44872 Gold** -

Salty Dog · Sailing Master Posts: 10060 **191991 Gold** -

When a nation has no cities, it will launch invasions from its' Settlements. There is a strong self-preservation urge in the game.

JackPrat · Powder Monkey Posts: 35 **795 Gold** -

maturin · Swabbie Posts: 62 **1736 Gold** -

Roland · Helmsman Posts: 4085 **22541 Gold** -

Red Rabbit · Cutthroat Posts: 414 **327 Gold** -

Would like to add that the invasion forces can also attack and capture settlements. Have seen this many times, more often than they've captured cities, especially in the Spanish Main.

maturin · Swabbie Posts: 62 **1736 Gold** -

I realized that some settlements changed it's nationality but you can really see an invasion force sailing to a settlement?

parksbanyon · Gunner Posts: 565 **13127 Gold** -