Hunting Ships

Hunting Ships

As you’ve already learned, enemy ships have a wealth of cargo that is of value to you. Their stats are listed here so you’ll know what you’re going up against.

Gunboats are extremely small vessels that won’t stand up in a fight against the Morrigan. Even early in the game they’re fodder, and they become even weaker once you get a Puckle gun and some ram upgrades. Charge into this ships for immediate victory or gun them down. Avoid their forward cannons and go broadside with them for fast kills; eliminate them early in battles to simplify the fight and take their damage out of the equation.

Schooners are fast, light vessels that have a modest number of guns and a good supply of burning oil. Don’t chase these ships for long, because they’re strong against vessels at their backs (unlike most of the larger vessels, which are weakest there). Instead, attack from the front or the sides of a schooner and work against their light armour with your superior firepower.

Brigs have heavier broadside cannon coverage and the potential to ram their targets. Attack them from the front or rear to minimize damage taken, and brace any time they turn toward your vessel and speed up (that’s a ramming attack). If you brace, you won’t have to defend your ship and lose extra crew.

Frigates are heavy hitters that do their best work at short range. Avoid their broadside attacks by relying on your mortar for heavy hits without getting too close to your target. If you are close to a frigate, attack from the rear and use broadside shots to cripple these ships before they turn to bring their big guns against you.

Men-o’-wars have almost limitless firepower if you go broadside against them. Use your ship’s speed and maneuverability to stay close behind these massive ships so that they can’t turn to pulverize you. Don’t use ranged tactics as you would against frigates, because men-o’-wars have mortars of their own, and you won’t do well by trading hits against them for long. When closing on them, use low speed so you can turn quickly if a mortar attack is placed in front of the Morrigan; then switch to ramming speed to move quickly away once you’re facing the right direction.

Use short-range, rear attacks with your broadside cannons and mix in mortar strikes to break through the huge armour of these wonderful ships. Seize a few for your fleet so that you can take on the tougher Fleet Missions that come up later in the campaign.

The Wanted System

Destroying too many civilian vessels in a short span raises your Wanted level. If that gets too high, privateers are sent after you. They’ll come after the Morrigan specifically and try to take you down, often with ramming and boarding tactics.

Privateers are highlighted on the map, so you know who is coming after you and what angle to watch. Attack them early and at maximum range to get a small leg up on the enemy ships. After that, it’s just a normal fight to see if you beat them. Board the ships to repair yourself if they do too much damage to the Morrigan.

Privateers often have better vessels within their own category. This means that they’d done some upgrades, so privateer vessels are higher in level and are tougher to take down. This makes privateers awesome to board because you get superior vessels for your Fleet Missions once that aspect of the game has been unlocked.

The Wanted System also works on land. Murder civilians to get the Hunters started. They’ll come after Shay aggressively, and their numbers rise if he continues to hurt civilians before the meter runs out.

Looking for Resources

Ship upgrades and Renovations are completed with the resources that you salvage from a variety of sources. There are boxes that contain resources; you find them on land but not very often. They’re a poor source of goods.

Destroy ships to get half of their cargo. You know what a ship is carrying ahead of time when you use the spyglass to look at them. Use that to decide whether a vessel is worth attacking.

Board and capture ships to get the full amount of their cargo. This is a very good way to stock up on wood, metal, cloth, and so on.

Certain land activities (like outpost raids) are lucrative as well.