[Steely Jim]

My next step is actually going to be to go back and figure out whether there is a rhyme or reason to the placement of non-flagships, and also to figure out the ultimate source of the seemingly anomalous flagships (are they odd respawns of other types, or do random flagships just spawn in odd locations occasionally?).

The regular flagship positions I've given held up on server after server, quiet or ideal (although sometimes the ideal was confusing when someone had just sunk the ship). You should be able to go to any server, and find those flagships around those positions; however, some are more wide-ranging than others. For example, the EITC Barracuda tends to almost hug the shores of Driftwood, while the EITC Ironwall can be anywhere from the south side of Isla Perdida to almost the north side of Tortuga; however, that seems to reflect the normal travel range of that ship (most of the time the Ironwall will be sailing east-west across the Scurvy Shallows or the Blackheart Strait, or circling Isla Perdida).

There also seems to be a number of "anomalous sightings" of flagships,and I don't really know what to make of them yet. It wasn't just the Sentinel and Centurion I mentioned here already. One of my first solo boarding experiences was with a pair of Sentinel flagships that kept respwaning off Driftwood; however, I've neither been able to replicate that situation, nor ever found any other Sentinels off Drfitwood (plus, that time, the Panther and the Barracuda were also there, as expected). So, there are sometimes flagships that appear outside these regular locations.

A few days ago, things seemed a lot more random to me. If you'd asked, then I probably would have guessed that spawn were generally either Navy or EITC, and that type depended mainly on what other vessels were already on the map (anywhere) for that group; however, now I've seen some regularities that I need to keep observing.

I noticed that in the pack of ships sailing the Salty Flats, there seems to almost always be 3 Ironwalls, 2 Barracudas and an Ogre; however, sometimes the Navy ships were dominated by galleon types, and other times it was dominated by sloop types (mostly war sloops). I don't fully understand how the computer selects the non-flag support fleets that sail around, but I am working on that.

EDIT: Just as a note, the ship locations listed under "Piracy Routes," on the first page, are usual locations. The location named for each example ship was taken straight from under the compass on our heads-up/on-screen display.

EDIT2: Since I'm now only recording boarded ships where the entire boarding process is completed, I had 2 failed attempts yesterday. First was an Ironwall-23 (1 lvl-22 Hired Gun & 4 lvl-11 Thugs), and the other was a Man O' War-29 (1 lvl-22 Officer & 3 lvl-29 Officers).

I know I can get examples for the Ironwalls, as I normally end up taking them down. For the time being, it may be difficult for me to get solo examples for the Man O' War, Colossus, and Barracuda (although I haven't tried the Colossus or Barracuda yet).

EDIT3: I added an example Ironwall, but it only had 4 lvl-10 Thugs aboard. I think that's one of the lowest-level crews I've ever seen aboard an Ironwall, so I may take that one back out eventually.

EDIT4: I caught the Ironwall respawning right off the east coast of Isla Perdida. I cannot confirm that this respawn point is as reliable as the Bulwark and Greyhound off the Devil's Anvil, but I will try to make sure I take the Ironwall in sight of Perdida a few more times to confirm it. Since this Ironwall had a more usual crew aboard, I also included it among the examples.