Ships for privateering

Anyone any views (or, less likely? experience) on the best ships to use for privateering? Any ideal fit-outs? Historical info?

IF you could get a frigate out in the WI you would probably be unstoppable.  However they are hard to come by so you would need something else a converted merchantman or an EIM would be useful

I found the combined ship approach to most useful. The Royal Navy in its commerce raiding efforts utilized all sorts of cruisers with specific assigned areas for them to operate in. Further, I carried extra marines on some frigates to help with the taking of prizes. Lastly, I paid the crews well in prize money for their efforts. It was effective in Game II.

At work I do a talk on Scottish Privateers (a surprisingly common thing, esp out of Aberdeen).

My understanding was they usually went for smaller vessels but with larger than usual crews historically. End of the day, I guess a privateer wanted speed, fast enough to overtake a prey...or escape the avenging professional navies

I think this depends a lot on what your assets/objectives are.

I think traditionally it has been things like corvettes. smaller, cheaper gunships with larger crews (marines in game)

Corvettes 100 recruits.
£5,000 to raise, takes 3 months. Yearly upkeep £2,000.
Carries 20 cannon (12pdrs).
Corvettes are seagoing patrol vessels also suited to commerce
raiding duties

cheap to build, cheap to crew and maintain.


If price/availability isn't the point, damaging someone else is, you can move up to frigates or frigatas, but you will probably end up recruit constrained, so may be better off picking corvettes or the like because you can put twice as many on the ocean because they take half the recruits, anyway.

If your opponent responds by switching to convoys, then you're likely to need much heavier forces.

jimbotten wrote:Anyone any views (or, less likely? experience) on the best ships to use for privateering?  Any ideal fit-outs?  Historical info?

As I see it corsairs/privateers can be split into two main groups - "State backed" like Drake, The Barbary & Albanian Corsairs & French Privateers & the "free sailors" like Blackbeard & the Pirates of the West Indies.

Both of which groups can be played in game either as a single ship like Jim's character is working up too or as a small Glori position such as the horrid gits who sacked Havanna, Kidnapped my Archbishop and then got all political in G7 or the dashing, heroic and unspeakably charming French Corsairs in G10

For both groups the advantage of small ships and crews is lower costs and a bigger share of the prize money so your crews are happier plus if you are a "free sailor" like Blackbeard for example small ships can be hidden in shallow waters away from nasty deep draught Warships and repaired on the beach using any timber and parts plundered from merchant prizes. Logically if you are playing a "free sailor" you want small fast ships ........my favourite is the Xebec. Its fast, can operate out of the shallows and if wind is lacking use its oars to run away inc directly into the wind.

If however you have access to Naval dockyards and nice well fortified bases like Brest, Malta, Algiers or Ragusa Constantinople the choice would seem to be:

a) Do you run away from "Anti Pirate Patrols" you meet at sea......in which case you want a Frigata.....something with raw speed.

or

b) Turn the tables on any hunters smaller than a lineship and attack them...........working on basis that most hunters will be using single deck frigates or corvettes what you probably need is a twin deck frigate either a "great" frigate, "heavy frigate" or a "escort" frigate in game terms.

If its my character getting on the Ship I favour a escort frigate with improved sail and rigging, copper bottom and a crack crew. But I guess it comes down to if your captains are playing for the profit or the glory?

Hmm, since my name came up... What if we add the requirement to be able to cross the Atlantic in reasonable safety?

the main problem is getting access to the "bigger ships".  You have no tech or shipyard and to start limited funds.  Unless you get a backer who takes a chance and sells you an escort frigate or a frigate then you are at corvette level and below.

I took Havana with a merchant man and my original ship (cannot remember what it was) so it can be done easily.

I think early on in games peoples West Indies colonies are poorly protected so I suspect Kingmaker could have taken Havana single-handed