Now Boarding, Party of One....

[Steely Jim]

I have not established any locations for skeleton ships yet. To date, I've only boarded 1 French Blood Scourge sailing the Salty Flats.

Well, all my sailing around looking for targets to solo board has brought me some insight into the distribution of flagships. So, although the information would probably be more suited to a guide, for the time being I include the information here in case anyone was thinking about solo boarding, but wasn't sure where to look for a suitable target. Some of the flagships seem to have a greater sailing range than others, and I think that some ships can respawn as something else that is similar in power (most relevant to this thread might be the normal EITC Corvette that I think sometimes respawns as a Sentinel flagship that sails around south to southeast of Tortuga).

I noticed that, by flagship distribution (and some other clues), the map seems to divide roughly into 4 quarters; in actuality, the routes seem to follow along specific island clusters more than anything. If you divided the main map into 4 quarters, then it seems like each quarter would be dominated by a major aspect of the game: Governor/Navy (northeast), EITC (southeast), Jolly Roger (southwest) & Pirates (northwest).

I'm moving to a more organized recording system for boarded ships, so I've thrown out a couple of ships I already listed due to them having incomplete information. I'm going to want to board each ship type multiple times anyway, to distinguish relative crew strengths. For now, this still pertains only to solo boarding, as having a crew would modify the plunder.

Note: This new format adopts some abbreviated naming conventions. When listing the ship, I just give the name and the numerical level in parentheses (example: Bulwark (7) would be a level-7 Navy Bulwark). The "Location" is the location that is listed under the compass on the heads-up/on-screen display. When in "Uncharted Waters," I will add the abbreviation for the different "route names" I made up. So, possible entries would be UW-TGR, UW-BR, UW-TPR & UW-JRR. Also, plunder will now be abbreviated (Royal=RC, Treasure=TC, Cargo=CC). Finally, I am including a line for Captain's Treasure Sense Points (CTSP--personally, I have no plans to out any more points in, so this is mainly for any future contributions from other players).

For those who may want to play along at home, here's a template for the form:

[noparse]
[b]Ship (#):[/b]
[b]Location:[/b]
[b]Crew:[/b]
[b]Plunder:[/b]
[b]CTSP:[/b]
[/noparse]

--------------------

The Flagships

Navy
Kingfisher, Man O' War, Colossus


EITC
Sentinel, Corvette, Barracuda


Piracy Routes
The following is information about where to find specific flagships to board (pardon my "route names"):

”The Governor’s Run”
Map Section: NE
Land: Port Royal, Tortuga, Devil’s Anvil, & Isla Cangrejos
Sea: Windward Passage, Salty Flats, & Mar de Plata (western margin)

Flagships (most common location):

None are common, but perhaps a stray EITC Corvette or Sentinel sail will up from Smuggler's Run or Mar de Plata respectively, or the Navy Kingfisher wandering in from the Scurvy Shallows/Rumrunner's.

Sea Notes

Windward Passage:

Salty Flats:

Mar de Plata:

”The Pirate Run”
Map Section: NW
Land: Rumrunner’s Isle, Driftwood Island, Isla Perdida
Sea: Blackheart Strait, Scurvy Shallows, Brigand Bay, Bloody Bayou

Flagships (most common location):

Navy Kingfisher (Scurvy Shallows/Rumrunner's Isle)
EITC Barracuda (Brigand Bay/Isla Perdida)

Sea Notes

Blackheart Strait:

Bloody Bayou:

Brigand Bay:
Scurvy Shallows:

”Jolly Roger’s Run”
Map Section: SW
Land: Cuba, Isla Tormenta, & Outcast Isle
Sea: Dead Man’s Trough & Leeward Passage

Flagships (most common location):

Navy Colossus (Dead Man's Trough/Isla Tormenta)
EITC Sentinel (Dead Man's Trough/Leeward Passage/Isla Tormenta)
EITC Corvette (Leeward Passage/Smuggler's Run/Boiling Bay/Outcast Isle)

Sea Notes

Dead Man’s Trough:
Leeward Passage:

”Beckett’s Run”
Map Section: SE
Land: Padres Del Fuego, Cutthroat Island, & Kingshead
Sea: Mariner’s Reef, Boiling Bay, The Hinterseas, Smuggler’s Run, & Mar de Plata (southern margin)

Flagships (most common location):

Man-O-War (Smuggler's Run/Kingshead)

Sea Notes

Boiling Bay:
Mariner’s Reef:
Smuggler’s Run:
The Hinterseas:

Anomalous Sightings
none

Examples of Actual Plundered Ships
For nostalgia, the now non-existing flagships have been left in this list purely for comparison of types of plunder and types of crew that historically were a part of flagship boarding. The Navy Centurion, Greyhound, Panther & Bulwark are not currently available.These are the results from ships I've plundered, in the past:

Navy

Ship (#): Kingfisher (23)
Location: Windward Passage
Crew: 1 lvl-12 Sargeant & 4 lvl-18 Veterans
Plunder: 2 RC & 1 CC
CTSP: 1

Ship (#): Kingfisher (22)
Location: Windward Passage
Crew: 4 lvl-6 Guards & 1 lvl-22 Officer
Plunder: 2 TC & 2 CC
CTSP: 1

Ship (#): Centurion (19)
Location: Kingshead
Crew: 3 lvl-5 Cadets & 1 lvl-5 Guard (lvl # not a typo)
Plunder: 1 RC, 2 TC & 1 CC
CTSP: 1

Ship (#): Centurion (18)
Location: Port Royal (southeast)
Crew: 1 lvl-9 Guard & 3 lvl-18 Veterans
Plunder: 2 RC, 1 TC & 1 CC
CTSP: 1

Ship (#): Greyhound (13)
Location: Windward Passage
Crew: 2 lvl-4 Cadets & 1 lvl-4 Guard
Plunder: 1 TC & 3 CC
CTSP: 1

Ship (#): Greyhound (11)
Location: Port Royal
Crew: 1 lvl-3 Cadet & 2 lvl-6 Guards
Plunder: 3 CC
CTSP: 1

Ship (#): Panther (10)
Location: Driftwood Island
Crew: 1 lvl-5 Cadet & 2 lvl-8 Sargeants
Plunder: 1 TC & 2 CC
CTSP: 1

Ship (#): Panther (9)
Location: Driftwood Island
Crew: 2 lvl-4 Cadets & 2 lvl-6 Guards
Plunder: 1 TC & 2 CC
CTSP: 1

Ship (#): Bulwark (7)
Location: Windward Passage
Crew: 2 lvl-4 Guards & 1 lvl-6 Guard
Plunder: 2 TC & 1 CC
CTSP: 1

Ship (#): Bulwark (5)
Location: Windward Passage
Crew: 1 lvl-3 Cadet & 1 lvl-4 Guard
Plunder: 2 TC & 2 CC
CTSP: 1


EITC

Ship (#): Ironwall (22)
Location: Brigand Bay
Crew: 5 lvl-6 Thugs & 3 lvl-11 Thugs
Plunder: 1 RC, 1 TC & 2 CC
CTSP: 1

Ship (#): Ironwall (22)
Location: Brigand Bay
Crew: 1 lvl-4 Thug, 3 lvl-11 Thugs & 1 Grunt lvl-17
Plunder: 2 TC & 3 CC
CTSP: 1

Ship (#): Ironwall (20)
Location: Scurvy Shallows
Crew: 4 lvl-10 Thugs
Plunder: 1 RC, 1 TC & 2 CC
CTSP: 1

Ship (#): Corvette (15)
Location: Outcast Isle
Crew: 2 lvl-7 Thugs & 2 lvl-12 Thugs
Plunder: 1 TC & 3 CC
CTSP: 1

Ship (#): Corvette (13)
Location: Leeward Passage
Crew: 1 lvl-4 Thugs & 1 lvl-13 Thug
Plunder: 1 RC, 1 TC & 1 CC
CTSP: 1

Ship (#): Sentinel (12)
Location: Boiling Bay
Crew: 1 lvl-8 Thug & 2 lvl-12 Thugs
Plunder: 1 RC, 1 TC & 1 CC
CTSP: 1

Ship (#): Sentinel (10)
Location: Boiling Bay
Crew: 1 lvl-3 Thug & 2 lvl-5 Thugs
Plunder: 2 TC & 1 CC
CTSP: 1

-----

I started solo boarding light ships early on in the game because it was giving me much better plunder than just sinking the same types of ships.

While attacking/solo boarding a Kingfisher last night, I encountered the same odd appearance of the "Board" panel that I had been unable to duplicate since it happened a couple weeks ago while boarding a Panther. The reason it stands out as odd that I should have the "Board" option, was that in both cases I had just sailed extremely close to a ship and dropped sail, but still hadn't manned a cannon to have even attempted to grapple.

I'm still thinking it's some sort of uncommon glitch rather than am intended feature, but this has only happened while on my war sloop, and only against other ships with main decks at the same level as my ship (a light frigate and a war sloop). Has anyone else gotten the option to board, without firing any grappling hooks? Is it really just a glitch, or could it be a cool little handy feature of the war sloop?

-------

While I was searching around the forum to research other people's solo boarding experiences, I realized that most commentary on solo boarding ends up embedded in other threads, often as follow-up advice to someone's indirectly related question. So, I thought this thread might enjoy a more fruitful existence as an ongoing discussion about solo boarding. So, in that spirit, I also here recount the other details of what was my first solo boarding of a Kingfisher.

It wasn't a very graceful affair, so I sure wouldn't recommend going about it the same way; however, I did gain some interesting insights. I was actually just "joy-sailing," after having marooned some captain or another for the BP quest; however, I was on a fairly busy server and I was packing it in a 5/9 cargo due to the crowd. Right as I was pulling into Port Royal, a Kingfisher came into Thunderbolt range; unfortunately, it came with 2 light sloops and a light galleon as well (all player ships, of course).

Taking out the Kingfisher was easy enough, a few Thunderbolts, stop on the way in to put 2 broadsides against their bow, and then slip right up against them. So, I've gotten the boarding rights, but the other player ships were doing their best to keep reducing the blue bar (it is really frustrating when they sink a ship before I can board it, usually because I was also planning to knock out masts etc. before boarding), potentially sinking my Kingfisher before I go t to board.

Since I know from sailing one that a war sloop is sort of like sailing around a big dance floor, I decided to just take a few quick cannon shots at the pilot and just swing over there with my dolly.

While I was running 5 Navy Veterans Level-18 around the mast, I could see several red ships closing in on the compass (which I keep all the way zoomed out, as that seems to be the best scale for naval battles--for me it seems like one ship's length from the edge, on the "radar," is the current edge of my broadsides range). I wasn't exactly sure what those ships were, but it took me several minutes to finish them all off (I only have 3 points in attune and poke).

When I swung back to my ship, I discovered it was only 2 Ferrets and a Bulwark, which a I took out in one long "double-S" tack back toward Port Royal, plus 2 left broadsides and a right broadside.

Even if it turns out that the "Board" option, without firing any deck cannons at all, is deemed a bug (and gets corrected eventually), I always smile when I think of the 2 times I was offered the opportunity to board without firing a grapple. When people ask me what I sail in game, may favorite response is: "What I sail isn't rightly a ship at all, more like an infernal force bound to a ship's hull. I be the captain of the war sloop Dark-water Demon." To me, the war sloop is really the quintessential pirate ship; and, a little feature like automatic boarding (as a reward for skillfully slipping up to a ship in one fluid motion following a skillfully launched attacked--likely by some formula considering people on board, overall time, and overall accuracy), just makes me feel like my character is "adding to the legend of the Demon."

EDITED FROM ORIGINAL: This started out to be mostly focused on anecdotal stories about solo boarding and not so much focused on the "tip, trick, or guide" end of things, but it has become considerably more "guide-y" since then. Still, the follow-up question is what are other people's solo boarding stories? However, now there is also a chance to share those stories in more concrete terms of actual rewards.

[Chris]

Originally Posted by Steely Jim

While I was running 5 Navy Veterans Level-18 around the mast, I could see several red ships closing in on the compass (which I keep all the way zoomed out, as that seems to be the best scale for naval battles--for me it seems like one ship's length from the edge, on the "radar," is the current edge of my broadsides range). I wasn't exactly sure what those ships were, but it took me several minutes to finish them all off (I only have 3 points in attune and poke).

When I swung back to my ship, I discovered it was only 2 Ferrets and a Bulwark, which a I took out in one long "double-S" tack back toward Port Royal, plus 2 left broadsides and a right broadside.

yea the bolded i too noticed once an enemy ship appears on my radar it is near broadside range.

also interesting i would think it is a bug but who knows with this game it may or may not be a bug but it sounds cool

[Steely Jim]

My two favorite aspects of sailing are solo boarding, and solo engaging multiple targets simultaneously. The Kingfisher turned out to be great fun for me because it ended combining both elements.

I'll definitely keep trying to slip up, and "auto-board" them. I also have a Frigate that I bought as crew trainer/solo cannon platform; I've never gotten the "auto-board" option while sailing it, but I tend to grapple from the forward cannons of the lower deck when on that ship.

[Bilgepump]

I solo board all the time. I like the challenge.

But sometimes, I wind up biting off just a little more than I can swallow.

Last week, I attacked a flagged Centurion solo. Based on prior experience, I was thinking it'd be a couple Sergeants and maybe a Veteran.

Turned out to be two Officers and a Veteran. Oops.

Whip out the dolly, tag them, and start running around like a madman. Run to the bow, wait, head for the stern, wait, then back to the bow.

But I prevailed! Got a Royal Chest, too.

[Sarah]

I love to solo. I've never gotten an auto-board, technicly, but several times, I see a grapple fly from my ship before I even reach a cannon! (and it always hits) The first time it happened I had to do a double take to make sure i didn't have a stowaway. Now I just figure it's some little ghosty of a pirate past, LOL, and always say "Thanks Anne Bonny" when it happens

[Angel]

Just solo boarded a centurion and staffed the officers. All I got was 5 measly crates! Not bad for having my treasure sense maxed.....

[Davy]

Maxed treasure sense is sadly bugged. I maxed mine a long time ago. You have to stay on the helm while you sink a ship to apply your treasure sense or else the last shot's treasure sense applies to the ship. For flagships, if you want to apply your treasure sense, you have to use a Sloop ship and grab the helm before the ship sinks.

[Pirate Rose]

Originally Posted by Davy

Maxed treasure sense is sadly bugged. I maxed mine a long time ago. You have to stay on the helm while you sink a ship to apply your treasure sense or else the last shot's treasure sense applies to the ship. For flagships, if you want to apply your treasure sense, you have to use a Sloop ship and grab the helm before the ship sinks.

That's interesting because yesterday I was plundering warlord with a crew and received 0 royals with maxed treasure sense. I was at the helm the whole time.

I don't know where your information about having to use a Sloop for flagships come from. But that hasn't been my experience. I've sunk flag ships, even a little Panther with a WG, and received royals. Sometimes getting 2 royals.

I think it's very random.

[Steely Jim]

I've also boarded some ships I shouldn't have. The first ship I boarded was an EITC Sentinel that was one of 2 that kept respawning off Driftwood one day; I found a few EITC Thugs aboard (2 level-11 and 1 level-3). I forget exactly what notoriety I was at, but I believe it was 14 or 15 annd the Sentinel was of the level-12 variety. Encouraged by early success with a Sentinel, and being at that time all Sailing with almost no Cannon or any other real skill, my next target was a Navy Bulwark, then a Navy Greyhound.

Those all went well, but I hadn't yet learned to soften my target before boarding...that was a lesson I finally learned when I boarded my 4th target, a level-17 EITC Ironwall. I found a level-22 Hired Gun aboard with some other crew; I'm not exactly sure what happened after that, but I woke up in jail thinking to myself that I should try to take out the guys I see holding onto the helm before I swing over to another ship.

Both times that I got the "Board" option popped right up, I had taken a line that brought me alongside the other ship by barely grazing them. I didn't even check the time with the Navy Panther, but I didn't see any "phantom" grappling lines this most recent time with the Kingfisher.

On the subject of Treasure Sense, I only have 1 point in it; I don't regret that point, but I doubt I 'd take another. Personally, I see its use primarily as a selling feature for captains, in an environment where good crew is difficult to come by, but highly sought after.

I thought I would do more of my Cannon training serving aboard other vessels, even after solo Sailing to 17, but as it turns out I never found any crews that had any real plan. I just found a bunch of shoot "anything that moves" operations; to me, it seems like the purpose of taking a crew out should be to hit specific types of targets. I kept winding up serving on crews that would wind up plundering Ferrets and Bulwarks, so I ended up just buying myself a frigate that I could anchor off PDF (Playground Del Fuego) and shoot Ogres to my hearts content.

[Alffallen]

Aye. Treasure sense works fine on or off the helm.. I had 11 royals in one run the other day off of nothing but flag ships with my WG.. Next run could be 12 cargo. Its totally random, but its working correctly.

[ohhmyylantaa]

I love to solo board. My favorite way to sail alone is to jump on my sloop and attack Kingfishers. I weave back and forth to take them out with my broadsides while behind them (you never really get attacked that way. frigs and gals are too slow to turn, but sometimes a sloop can). Then it's just attune, poke, poke, poke, die Navy swine!

As for crews, well, I enjoy plundering with my guild. My cannon level has skyrocketed because of it. We don't have the shoot "anything that moves" mentality, more like the "shoot anything that's above level 30" mentality.

[yamiyugi336]

What about the "shoot anything shooting at you"? They can be buggers sometimes, and all you have to do is wave your pinkie finger at them and they sink.

[Steely Jim]

I suppose it depends a lot on which targets you favor. Personally, I tend to prefer galleon types over sloop types, and sloop types over frigates; at this time, EITC Ogres are my favorite target.

Since the weakness of the galleon types is in the bow, I spend a lot of time as the chasee rather than the chaser. I depend quite a bit on not just seeing "established contacts" but also getting position, orientation, and bearing information from watching my compass. I depend on instrument sailing mostly for finding dead spots, and getting myself in position in high-traffic areas. I used to do almost everything with broadsides, now I soften all my serious targets with Thunderbolt and Flame Brand from a distance.

So, since I hit level 12 Cannon (about 600 points from 14 now), I've sunk almost all of my intentionally sunk frigate types either entirely from outside their cannon range, or by taking out their sail power and picking by ingress route carefully.

My favorites strategies aren't that much different for any type though, just for frigate types I apply the idea to the aft instead of the bow. Oddly, the bases for my attack methods originated from playing the tabletop game Star Fleet Battles (yes, I mean dice, hex maps, cardboard counters, and energy allocation forms).

With galleon types and sloop types, I try to approach from the front but inside the ~45-degree cone of cannon blind spot that extends out from the bow (sloops can waggle their broadsides to bear much faster than galleons though, so you may want to stay inside a 30-degree cone as you get closer); unless they're pretty close, a ship that has you targeted will tend to point straight toward you though (meaning galleons and sloops are happy to show you the weak parts of their hulls, whereas a frigate would be showing the well-armored business end).

Knowing your turning radius for the ship you're in, and keeping inside that cannon dead spot, I turn out in front of the vessel. As long as you make keep your wits about where you are, you can sail out in an empty direction, dropping sail and turning to broadside as able (once you get a feel for distance you will be able to reliably put 2 broadsides across their bow before you have to raise sail and move again, of if you're sure a 3rd will finish it then you can squeeze in a 3rd...made easier with some Taskmaster points). So, I try to stay in what I would call their Front Arc (FA).

Knowing the limits of the cannon dead spot in front of the frigate, you can also get a feel for timing when you raise your sail from a broadside cycle and get yourself into a turn (you have you jog your turn wider, by turning back in the opposite direction very briefly every so often) that keeps you and them perpetually turning with you in their blind spot...then you just spin kill them as your broadsides recharge. This is more useful in crowded places, where you can't keep running out in front of an enemy forever; however, you have to be very careful about the pace of your turn once you start this with powerful ships, because if you fall back a hair into their firing arc they'll hit you extremely hard due to the close proximity (in my light frigate days, I had some type of skeleton ship, that spawned right on top of me, one-hit me with Thunderbolt).

So, for frigate types, I try to take the same oblique run-in approach, but to the aft of the vessel; however, since I got Thunderbolt unlocked I'm not as picky about which end, just preferring it be moving either directly toward or away from me. At this point I'm pretty comfortable with "de-sailing" some pretty big ships before they get in cannon range, but until your comfort level is high it is better to move back a little farther when dealing with frigates.

Before I unlocked Thunderbolt though, I made my oblique run inside the 45-degree cone projecting from the aft of a frigate; however, instead of turning to sail directly away from the aft of the frigate, I'd extend the run-in a little bit (trying to time two broadsides on the aft before you have to turn to stay out of their cannons on the other side). You will get tagged a few times before you get the timing of making the turn and you'll need at least 1 point of Come About and some Tacking doesn't hurt, but the idea is to make a fast turn away from the frigate and hopefully get one broadside from your ship's other side (so, when all goes perfectly, 3 unreturned broadsides to the weakest part of the frigate).

Also, unlike spinning a galleon, you're spinning a frigate from the aft, and it's a bit easier with a little more distance and your ship should be turning in the opposite direction of the frigate with Come About. Optimally, after you Come About you want to drop sail right behind the ship and put your ship in reverse holding it in the Rear Arc (RA) cannon dead spot of the frigate type; just like spinning a ship from in from of it, you'll need to get the hang of jogging your turn a little wider to stay in the dead spot. This might take a little getting used to since you're now trying to get used to pointing the aft end of your own vessel wider, in the direction of the turn.

EDIT: I thought I might try my hand at illustrating what I was talking about, as that might make it easier to visualize.

[thefadedrose]

I just recently bought a frigate after using my galleon for awhile but since I bought the frigate I have been unable to grapple a flag ship. Does anyone know why? Last night I grabbed four flag ships and couldn't grapple them! The "board" sign never popped up no matter how many times I tried. I usually sail solo and have been from level one to nine (sailing level) and I then acquired a few crew on the galleon and we have been able to board but not on the frigate which since I bought it I have had no crew. Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong! Or what is wrong? Any advice would be great!

Kani
Notoriety 17
Sailing 13

[Steely Jim]

Well, I am a little confused when you say you grabbed them but didn't grapple them. Did you shoot grappling lines at them and the ship was reeled in like you expected; but, you neither saw the grappling lines/hooks, nor got the board option? Or, could you see the grappling hooks/line extending to the other ship, but just never got the option to board?

In any case, I board the little Sentinel flagship off PDF with my frigate quite often. No special frigate tricks or anything, just shoot grappling lines at the green circles like from any other ship. I'd have to guess that if you're seeing the grappling lines, but not getting the "Board" pop-up menu, then it's some sort of bug. If you've boarded from other ship types, then you should be able to do the same from a frigate

Do you still own any other ships, and can you still board with any other ship? When you have other people on your frigate, are they seeing the board option after the ship is reeled in? You may want to try getting on the crew of someone else's frigate and see if anything changes before you report it to customer service.

EDIT: To follow up, I took my frigate out from PDF and boarded that EITC Sentinel. I did a full routine: brought it down with regular cannon balls, took out the masts and the pilot, and threw over some stink pots at the guys on their deck. Everything went normally, including firing the grappling hooks over and the timing of the pop-up "Board" menu.

EDIT2: I just boarded a Level-21 EITC Ironwall near Isla Perdida using my frigate, all 4 of the Level-11 Thugs found aboard were slain mercilessly, after their helmsman had been shot with a cannonball. I didn't have any trouble with the grappling or boarding process, so it's seeming more like a bug.