Ship Speed

[Bez]

So I'm wondering how ship speed affects things.
If I had lots of cash I'd just buy something that's quicker and see, but I'm only just getting to the point where I can afford a second ship.

My starting ship is 'slow' but it seems to reach places in about the average time shown on the map, so does that mean ship speed doesn't affect travel times and is only used in fights?

If it does affect travel times, by what amounts?

[Light]

No. Ships speed take affect on the travel time.
Look, my fleet with 5 trade galleon take 1 hour and 10 minute when travelling Caspian to Prote.
But a fleet with 5 Ship of the line takes only around 30 minutes to switch these port.
I don't know how calculate the speed.

[Bez]

Thanks.

It is worth getting that cutter then.

[Bez]

Right, it looks to me like a ship will travel a distance in roughly 80% of the time that a ship one category slower will.

Or to put it another way, roughly 125% of the time a ship one category faster will.

So, for a 1 hour journey, that'd be:
1 hour 15 minutes for a Very Slow ship
1 hour for a Slow ship
48 minutes for a Medium ship
38 mins for a Fast ship
30 mins for a Very Fast ship

That's a rough estimate, based on what I've seen so far, but it looks to be about right.

[Hellfire]

Just remember that you want slow ships for a trade fleet.

[Bez]

Or a long route.

[Light]

It is better if we can use Trade Galleon for trade. It is slow and can hold a lot of cargo.

[Hellfire]

I perfer large merchantmen, they are a rank faster then trade galleons and olny hold 20 less cargo.

[Eelizdoor]

I think its matter of you can out run the pirates if your ship have good speed. Else.. the sea is too big

[Captain dungeness]

I generally prefer Large Merchantmen since they have more options for trade routes that are just under 1 hour long. Trade goods are bought quickly from ports that have good trade galeon routes. Large Merchantmen can trade between the ports that still have trade goods left to buy.