Why build Fluyt's?

[Didz]

Right! I'm in the process of replacing all my Fluyt's with Indiamen now. But rather than just deleting them I thought I might use them as troop transports as they are reasonably intimidating in large numbers and I read somewhere that the Dutch used to strip out all the guns to increase their cargo capacity (en-flute) like the French did with frigates.

Thought I'd allow myself to stick one unit (120 men/45 horse/1 battery) on each fluyt if I agree not to use its guns, or one per two fluyts if I need to use their guns for defence. Just to make naval invasions a tad more realistic anyway.

[Lol! That was weird. I am just massing my Fluyt's at Demerara in Dutch Guyana ready to embark my army of native levies to deal with the pirate bases in the Caribbean and suddenly a huge pirate fleet that sailed from the Caribbean a turn or so ago pops up in Madagascar and cuts my main supply route to Madagascar, The East Indies and India. It could actually give me a bit of a problem as all my naval units are now in the Caribbean. That move could almost be called intuitive, if I didn't realise it was impossible for the AI to be that clever. I am now left with a decision on whether to delay my invasion and send my fleet to deal with the problem or just carry on regardless and hope my money lasts long enough to finish the job.]