The unluckiest shot of all time

[Monk]

A pitched battle between the Kingdom and Empire of Spain and the Kingdom of Morocco's naval forces took place near Gibraltar. The two sides exchanged volleys all day, one surrendering the wind, only to wrestle it from their enemy a short time later. But neither could escure a victory for their side. Attrition was taking its toll and the smaller Spanish fleet was in dire straights.

In a bold move, the Spanish Admiral moved his flagship alongside the lead Morocco ship, his ship had manourvered unusually close, point blank to make full use of his cannons. All of them. He gave the signal. Broadside ready! And when his arm came there erupted a mighty roar, the cannons of the galleon "Pride of the Caribbean" let loose, ripping into the flagship of the Morocco fleet and devastating the ship's hall.

A horrible explosion ripped through the ship as the magazine cache was hit directly, A moment of joy surpassed only by the coming moment of horror. The Spanish admiral was so close, his ship too was caught in the explosion! The Pride buckled and groaned loudly under the weight of the explosion, catching fire, men began diving overboard rather than fight the flames! The sails caught fire and burned unceremoniously.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Upon seeing the Pride's sails up in flame the rest of the fleet began to run, or surrendered right on the spot! I felt bad for my admiral more than anything. He pulled off an great maneuver to come about and sunk the lead enemy ship, but also destroyed his own in the process!

[hoom]

Awesome -but that doesn't look like a 188 gun ship?

[Monk]

Awesome -but that doesn't look like a 188 gun ship?

I couldn't remember if it was 108 or 188.

[Sir Beane]

The burning affects in the game are awesome, although difficult to appreciate when your Admiral is smouldering.

Also, 188 guns?

[Monk]

The burning affects in the game are awesome, although difficult to appreciate when your Admiral is smouldering.

Also, 188 guns?

I confused Firepower with gun number. Wow you guys are picky here.

[Greyblades]

You have been in these forums for 6 years and your noticing now?

[Monk]

You have been in these forums for 6 years and your noticing now?

Rocks man, they make great hiding spots.

[GeneralHankerchief]

Ouch.

But on the bright side, perfect timing, as I'm just about to do the same with Morocco in the first ever .Org ETW PBM (located conveniently in the Throne Room - no, I'm not advertising ). Looks like we'll play it a bit safer.

[Sir Beane]

I confused Firepower with gun number. Wow you guys are picky here.

We like things to be precise and accurate . Rocks do indeed make good hiding places, but caves ar even better .

[Quickening]

Hehe, classic. Now what was that quote from Rome about how pleasant it is to watch from a shore the misfortunes of another?

[IlDuce]

Same happened to me, except another first rate was destroyed along with my admiral's. 2 first rates destroyed by an indiaman.

[ZombieFriedNuts]

I did the same thing once, never get close to the type of ship can’t remember the name but begin with x, explode every time

[Monk]

I did the same thing once, never get close to the type of ship can’t remember the name but begin with x, explode every time

Believe it or not it was a Galley that went up like that, one of those pathetic little four gun ships that are only effective when they are sniping you when you don't have the wind. I was very , but then I just had to laugh.

[Belgolas]

Yeah that happened to me once in a customs battle. I had a bunch of my ships get stuck because of an enemy ship caught fire and me lead ship didn't want to turn in group formation and it ramed the enemy ship and then the enemy had also another ship close by so 3 ship went down when the burning one exploded. I also had a galley ram another ship and I get somehow it made it explode with full hull on both ships and both ship went down. That was amazing.

[Martok]

Heh. In the immortal words of the Unknown Philosopher: "Oops."

[dopp]

I did the same thing once, never get close to the type of ship can’t remember the name but begin with x, explode every time

Xebec, the Middle Eastern corsair vessel.

[A Very Super Market]

Not Middle Eastern. I've seen them off of the East Indies.. O_O

Wonder how they got there...

[NimitsTexan]

Not Middle Eastern. I've seen them off of the East Indies.. O_O

Wonder how they got there...

Save up their frequent flyer miles . . . ?

[dopp]

It's a corsair ship but the pirate faction gets it too.

Fire was a serious problem. If a ship caught fire its opponent might actually help put out the flames before resuming combat. Of course, if the opponent was at a safe distance he might 'help' out with a few rounds of grapeshot at the firefighters.

[crpcarrot]

has the TW AI learned how to use suicide bombers :P

[dopp]

Four of my heavy first rates were forced to retreat from a single sloop (with only 2 guns left) because it sailed right up to them. Sloops are so fragile and first rates have so much firepower that a magazine explosion is likely. It still blew up and set fire to my flagship. I switched to chain shot after that.

[ZombieFriedNuts]

Xebec, the Middle Eastern corsair vessel.

Yep that's the one. every time every time

[DEY123]

Since I am bad at the naval battles I sometimes send my sloops/Brigs up close to the enemy ships in an effort to get them to blow up my ship while catching their own in the explosion.


Unluckily in one of the battles where I did this the enemy ship put the fire out (but was demasted by either the fire or my volleys) and much later in the battle I accidentally moved into its zone of fire right as I killed the enemies last mobile ship, but that stupid immobile ship sunk my greatly damaged ship (my sole survivor at that point) and I lost.

Anyhow that battle was a lot of fun.

[GeneralHankerchief]

Monk, I think you'll be glad to know that there's a happy ending to all of this.

I'm Spain, fighting a naval battle with Morocco to control the Strait of Gibraltar in order to secure my invasion on Africa. It's a four-on-four, with three galleys and one 5th rate belonging to the bad guys. I have a Galleon, a brig, and two sloops.

Anyway, about midway through the battle, the one Moroccan 5th rate comes alongside one of my sloops and unleashes a broadside. It hits my sloop's powder magazine and blows it sky high... only to light the 5th rate on fire and have it surrender a couple of seconds afterward. I immediately thought of you and alt-tabbed out of the battle to post this.

-edit- Screenshot:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Monk]

Vicarious revenge, it makes me giddy.

Nice screen GH!

[Subotan]

That's probably the second unluckiest. The luckiest ever, and I mean ever, was by me to my mate whilst playing M2:TW.

I'm playing as the Holy Roman Empire, and he's playing as the Mongols, obviously with lots of Cavalry. I have mainly infantry, some muskets and two Basilisks. We line up on a flat plain, and he places his Mongols like this (*= General, C=Cavalry, and I = Infantry, B = Basilisk), with my Germans across from him (He's on top)

*
CC
CCCCIICCCC
CC



IIIIIIBBIIIII
CC * CC

I set my Basilisks to attack his infantry, so I have more chance of hitting his units. I switch to Canister shot, one cannon fires, and sails towards the enemy. The X marks the spot where it landed

X
*
CC
CCCCIICCCC
CC

The general then fall over dead. No-one else, just the general. Drops off his horse. Nobody else is touched. Unfortunately, as in typical TW games, the Ai did not record my glorious triumph.