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]

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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

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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?

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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.