small ship pvp

[mts]

it seems that RM has not been doing as much 6on6 style pvp of late. they have been pretty busy grinding fleets. (both offensively and defensively.) so in the meantime, i have been doing "small ship pvp". and since LVF doesn't enough people for our own 6on6, i think this is something for all of you to think about trying.

this type of pvp means using small ships that have lots of speed. both to attack weaker stuff and to run away from strong stuff. small ship also means.. if you sink, it is cheap to replace. the ship pretty much pays for itself the first time you sink someone. finally, there is another advantage... sinking lowbies with a small ship gets you MoV as opposed to sinking the same lowbie with a big ship netting you nothing. (the formula for MoV rewards is a combination of the character lvl and ship lvl of the winner vs the lvl and ship of the loser.)

privateer- the "agility" line is pretty important. especially "tack upwind". this talent along with the privateers' natural advantage at broad reach and beam reach means running at odd angles is how privateers either run away or catch someone.

naval officer- the "escort" line is mandatory. NO are the slowest of all classes and need the "pirate hunter" talent to keep up.

freetrader- FT have a natural advantage at "running speed". so going with the wind exactly behind is the best angle. (kind of off topic, but a 180 ship like the tigre MC is perfect for a FT.)

ship choices:
corsair sleek or MC- very maneuverable, even by small ship standards. its a 90 point ship and thus, its best angles are beam reach. (perpendicular to the wind.) it also does close haul very well. it has a relatively large crew thus, making it great for boarding. major disadvantages are weak armor and also very slow at broad reach and running speed.

hermes sleek, MC, or expedition refit- very fast 135 point ship. thus, making it fastest at the direction other ships like to go. meaning most ships can't get away from a hermes that wants to fight.

mediator cutter, MC or lancer refit- a 90 point ship that has ridiculously high defense. it is also pretty tough for a small ship. large ships with poor target tracking are going to have trouble doing damage to this ship.

bermuda MC or traders sloop- fastest 90 point ship available. a trader's sloop that doesn't want to fight pretty much can't be caught. similarly, a ship trying to run beam reach or closehaul likely won't get away.

[mts]

some definitions for those who don't know it offhand...

[mts]

i tried the bermuda trader last night. and i like it. even though its a 90 point ship just like the corsair, its sailing profile is much better.

the corsair has running and broad reach all in yellow.. upwind red... and only beam reach and close haul in green.

the bermuda has running in yellow and upwind red... everything else is green.

i've never tried a mediator... maybe i'll get one on my NO to see what its like.

also.... ice.. do you remember the profile of the cerberus? what part is yellow? the cerberus is a weird ship since its not "realistic". the square sails means that it should be a 135point ship. but for balance purposes they made it a 90 point ship. this actually creates an interesting niche.

[Verdente]

Cerberus Frigate





Source: http://pirates-of-the-burning-sea.wikia.com

[mts]

Cerberus Frigate

Source: http://pirates-of-the-burning-sea.wikia.com

the cerberus was changed in 1.3 quite drastically, and the wiki may not have been updated to reflect that.

[icebaby]

i outfitted my bermuda trader sloop for small ship pvp and tested its speed. i can max 31.3 in battle going beam reach.

these are the outfittings i have:

2x small speed rig 6
2x grappling cannons 6
2x small streamlined hull 6

golden cross
extravagant refit
artemis exceptional (should craft myself a streamlined structure for more speed)

and these are my absolute max speed at various angles:

31.3, beam reach (90 deg)
28.1, close haul (35 deg)
27.9, broad reach (135 deg)
23.0, running (180 deg)
13.1, upwind (0 deg)

i feel pretty safe in the red circle with these speeds. if i manage my sail damage correctly, i dont think any ship can catch me.

pvp anyone?!

[mts]

lol... why are you going with the grappling cannons?

unless you get a colossal hammock (which was nerfed), your crew probably isn't big enough for boarding combat....

[icebaby]

adding more damage to my already small gun wont help me too much.

i figure i can at least board them easier when i wear their crew sizes down.

[icebaby]

here is a break down of my buffs.

outfittings
speed rig: +18%
streamlined hull: +18%
golden cross: +2%
extravagant refit: +3%
streamlined structure: +5%

crew focus
sailing: +6%

FT skills
FT career: +4%
dump guns: +15%
underdog: +7.5%
before the wind: +9% (broad beam and running only)
sailhandling drill: +4% (new with 1.5)

[mts]

something i've seen scarlet suggest... using the gun outfittings that add to range. (its not a normal craftable.) i think i have a few of those for small ships. that way you can do like that lancer was doing today.... shooting us from ridiculous range.

as it turns out... the arrow (cerberus refit) has a very nice profile. it is all green except for upwind which is red. there is no yellow. best speed at beam reach. decent at broad reach and close haul. tougher than a corsair, without the weaknesses. i like it very much. for non-privateers, we might revisit the cerberus MC.

i still want to try my NO on the OS... but that whole not being able to attack people like privateers can is annoying. :p

[icebaby]

the good news is i got my bermuda trader all decked out in speed....

the bad news is i cant do anything but escape battles lol.

no one can catch me, but i also can not defeat anyone by myself (maybe except another bermuda lol).

i think i will need to go with a medium ship pvp.... something like a raa courier or raa mc.

[mts]

who wants to volunteer to try out the van horn MC? this might make a nice griefer ship....

[mts]

bump for carrier. there are some things that are relevant to pvp at low levels.

i also saw this link: http://potbs.wikia.com/

if i remember properly, naval officers are best at sailing "broad reach". so you want a ship that sails fast in that direction. and when trying to run from others, you sail in that direction. (back in the day the "hermes sleek" was best for this, but i don't know how things are currently.)

there are also used to be special "refit" ships for each class. you might want to investigate this.

naval officers also used to have a "pirate hunter" spec that made small ships even faster. i haven't done the research on this though.