Ritterkreuz, thats more of an AI exploit than a tactic.

Quote Originally Posted by Merak View Post
got this from the twcenter forum check this it is pretty good when kiling the navie
http://www.gamereplays.org/empiretot...nd-double-line
Ugh, thats a terrible way of doing battle.
In the video he hits his own ships with the further away group repeatedly.
If you want to do an offset line like that do it with a single group & they'll keep much better cohesion.

Here's some tips from me:
  • The AI is very good at making sure its guns are bearing on your ships almost the whole time, if you don't do the same you'll get hurt by this & I think its the main reason that people are having a hard time.
    Just charging in to close the gap & copping 2 or 3 unanswered salvos will leave you damaged, with reduced crew & a number of guns down.
  • Leave your ships on fire at will, broadsides tend to miss with most of the shot & you'll often miss a salvo while closing that would have gone out on fire at will.
  • Leave your ships firing round shot much longer than you feel like you should.
    It's very easy to get yourself shot up by trying to be tricky with chain/grape shot without first making sure the enemy has had his firepower sufficiently weakened.
  • Don't use grape shot against the wooden sides of a ship.
    To kill off gun crew, you first need to shoot open the sides of the ship using round shot, only once there are big holes is it worth firing some close range grape.
  • Galleons & Fluyts are about equivalent to a 4th rater.
    6th & 5th raters eat sloops & brigs for lunch & 4th raters are significantly better than 5th raters so don't go attacking Galleons with a bunch of brigs.
  • Don't let your newest & greatest or legendary experienced ship get close to galleys, xebecs or brigs unless you don't mind seeing your ship chain reaction explode
  • If you want ship captures don't just end the battle when everyone is routing, you need to chase the routing ships down & force them to surrender either by dismasting, de-crewing or scaring them with overpowering force nearby.
  • Heavily shot-up ships are prone to sinking if you start doing hard maneuvres/going full speed, if you can spare the guns it may be better to move the ship out of the battle & let it come to a stop.