Cadet-Captain Mike's Guide to Basic Piracy
Part 1: Ship Attributes

• Point Cost: Obviously, lower is better. The cheapest ship in the game is the Jolly Mon (1 point); the most expensive, aside from limited editions, is the HMS Dreadnought at 26 points. The "sweet spot" for good ships seems to be 8-12 points. Less than that, and the ship may have more weak points than strengths; more, and the cost limits how many other ships you can afford.

• Masts: The number of masts is the same as the number of cannons, so more is better. It also determines how many hits a ship can take before becoming derelict, so it's a measure of damage resistance. More masts also makes a ship more resistant to ramming damage, and makes her more effective in boarding actions. The majority of ships in the game have 2 or 3 masts. 5 is the max for most factions; the Jade Rebellion has some 6-masted junks, and there are a few enormous limited-edition junks with ten masts.

  Masts on a schooner aren't as likely to block other masts' line of fire as square-rigged masts, so schooners have a slight edge in battle for this reason. Galley masts badly block their own ship's lines of fire when shooting ahead, astern, on the starboard bow or the port quarter, while the port bow and starboard quarter's lines of fire are wide open. Masts on junks don't block lines of fire by definition.

• Cargo: More is better, but remember that cargo isn't just for gold-running ships. Fighters need space to put their crewmen, and if you ram and board to steal treasure, you need a place to put it. 4 is about the average, and the least you'd normally want in a gold runner. Less than 3 badly limits your ship's options. The highest cargo for a ship in normal distribution is 8. You can save space on some ships by using linked crew, who effectively take up no cargo space.

• Speed: I can't stress enough that the faster fleet holds a huge advantage. A ship might be the mightiest fighting machine on the Spanish Main, but if the battle is over before she gets there, the points you spent on her were wasted. Speed is even more important for a gold runner, racing to get to the wild islands first. S+S is roughly average. Slower than this, and you either add a Helmsman or leave the ship home. S+S+S is the best you can find. L+L is rare, slightly slower, and not as flexible. S+L is the "sweet spot" for speed. With the possible exception of point cost, this is the most important attribute.

• Cannon Quantity: Here again, more is better. You get one cannon per mast (except for longships, which get 2), so other things being equal, a ship with 3 masts is a better fighter than a ship with 2 masts. If your ship is a gold runner, cannon quantity isn't an issue.

• Cannon Rank: Lower numbers are better here. 3-rank is average; 2-rank is best for a fighter, and the best you can get without special abilities or crew. Higher than 3 means the ship probably wasn't meant to fight, although a "world-hater" crew can fix this. Some ships, mostly in the Barbary Corsair faction, have 6-rank cannons, which means they can't hit at all without a crew to improve their rolls. Such a cannon would be the first choice to lose if a mast falls, and they can handle Smokepot Specialists at no penalty.

• Cannon Range: L is longer than S, so you'd think L was better. But the difference isn't that much. Also, there are many ships that can't be hit by L cannon, but only a handful that can't be hit from within S range. Thus, an S cannon is more likely to find a target. (A mix of S and L cannons means that your ship can hit anything.) But there are times when that extra inch of range makes the difference between leaving the enemy derelict and seeing him skitter away with one mast remaining. Plus, some ships are immune to L cannons, and others can't be shot within S range by any cannon; you need to plan accordingly if you expect to meet either type of ship.

• Ability: This can make or break a ship. There are dozens of special abilities, some unique, some almost commonplace; see my article on "Keywords and Abilities" for a more complete discussion. Remember that a negative ability doesn't necessarily mean a bad ship, just a ship that isn't cut out for certain kinds of work. For example, if a ship takes a speed penalty when it is full of cargo, that ship may not be a good gold-runner; but fighters are almost never full, so the penalty won't come into play if you use her for fighting. If English ships get +1 on their cannon rolls against your ship, but your enemies don't usually use English ships, you can use the ship without fear.

• Rarity: Two- and three-masted ships are almost always Common (red number tabs). Four-masted ships are usually Uncommon (gray tabs), and one- and five-masted ships are Rare (yellow tabs). Super-rares are black, and limited editions and special editions have green tabs, regardless of their masts. None of these have much bearing on the ship's quality or abilities, aside from the obvious fact that a ship with more masts will have more cannons. Rarity has more effect on collectors than on players.

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