I have been approached by a few Swabbies and Powder Monkeys on how plunder works. As oppose to send them all individual notes I will post some thoughts here.
First before you set sail with 3 Ship of the Line, 1 Large Frigate and 1 Frigate, you need to know what it will take to protect these ships. The best offensive is a good defense after all. You need to know how a ships RANSOM works and the formula for PLUNDER.
Each time you hit someone or they hit you, you will see this at the bottom of the report.
How does the game come up with this number? There is a fomula you need to know:
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The loser must pay a ransom equal to the 10% value of the base ship price that was last-positioned in the fleet that lost the battle PLUS a random number between 1% to 5% of his treasury at hand. (There is a limit of 250 000 max gold coins per plunder).
So, this is where "TAIL SHIPS" play a Huge factor in your fleet set up. Lets take a look.
Lets assume you have $1,000,000 in your treasury and a FRIGATE as the last positioned ship in your fleet (your tail ship). The forumla would like like this: (it costs $200,000 to build a Frigate) (and we will take and avg of the random 1-5% and just use 3% for the coming examples)
Plunder = (10% x $200,000) + 3% x $1,000,000
$20,000 + $30,000 = $50,000
So if someone attacks you and you have the above set up, you will most likely lose $50,000 from your treasury.
Now what does it look like if you have a CUTTER as a tail ship. It only costs $10,000 to build a cutter.
Plunder = (10% x $10,000) + 3% x $1,000,000
$1,000 + $30,000 = $31,000
By using a cutter as a tail ship you will save money per attack. Same goes for Howker tails for Trade Fleets.
Now, when do ships start to be taken? The Ransom for a ship is the 10% of the base build value. Meaning, if your treasury ever drops below the value of that ship and you are attacked and lose, you will lose that ship.
A Ship of the Line cost $750,000 to build. So if your treasury drops below $75,000 you will lose this ship. Tis' another reason why Tail Ships are so important in defending your fleet. Your treasury would have to drop below $1,000 before Cutters/Howkers start to drop. Savvy?
***VOODOO FOR PLUNDERING***
Now I won't go into depth here (ask your guild leaders for more advice), but I will cover how and why some voodoo is used now that you know the above information.
- Call Leviathan - One of the most powerful cards in the game. One cast drops a ships level by 1. If a ship is level 1, that ship is sunk on next cast. Pirates like myself will cast 10 of these bad boys on a Cutter to get to a more valuable ship. WHY? To drain your gold faster silly. Most people carry 2 Tail Ships to deter pirates from having to spend 20 Call Leviathans to get to the nice Capital Ships.
- Ambush - Once you are ready to attack your prey and capture ships, you will need to add danger to them to attack. Ambush is that card. It adds 18 Danger. But don't forget to cast "Disfavor" voodoo first, so you can get 2 attacks per Ambush. A player can only have Ambush cast on them 10 times in 24 hours, so make them count! If you can't get to the capital ships in 20 Hits... Pass. A good pirate always does his math before a plunder.
***FLEET MAKE UP***
Now, recently I have seen fleets of 3 SOLT and no tail ships. Now you are free to do as you choose, but I would advise differently. Or you may log in to 35 events from Yours Truly...
If you want to run 3 Large Ships, I recommend at least 2 tail ships. Cutters are great little vessels, AND CHEAP! If you are wanting a little more fire power and can manage the extra gold loss, then Sloops and Sloop of Wars are great boats.
Now I only run Frigates. You may have seen a fleet or two named "Frigs and Pigs" on the plunder boards. 3 Frigs and 2 Cutters. Frigates are made for pirates, they are fast and can hit hard. They take advantage of some special voodoo too. I only have 1 Ship of the Line.
- But I am at an advantage over you young sailors as I have VOODOO and lots of it. Voodoo is king in this game. My Frigs and Pigs will take out any fleet in the game because of my voodoo chest.
My advice for you right now (before you have a voodoo stash), as I know you want to hit and plunder some of these large vessels out there... I would run a fleet of SOLT, SOLT, FRIG, CUTTER, CUTTER. That is as big as I would go and make sure you always have $1,000,000 in your treasury.
Any questions ask your guild leaders for advice. Or post here. I don't know all the ins and outs of the game, but I manage.
