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[5.4] SHIPS TO USE
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As you will notice if you study paragraph 8.1, there are a lot of different
ships in Sid Meier's Pirates; many more than in its predecessors. It can be
quite daunting to make a choice from the 27 ship types. Fortunately, it's not
as complicated as it looks.

For one thing, there really are only 9 different classes of ships, and 3
variants of each; a small, a medium and a large one. In nearly all cases, the
medium and large variants perform just as well as the smaller ones, they just
hold more crew, guns and cargo. Within whatever ship class you prefer to use,
you are therefore always best off getting the biggest ship you can get.
Frigates are good, but Large Frigates are better. It's that simple.

The question remains, then, which of the 9 ship classes to use. Which is best
depends on what you intend to do with it. Presumably your fleet will consist
of one flagship, or two that you alternate between if you like to have
different types availble (we'll get to that in a bit). Any other ships you
have are likely only cargo or crew haulers, and the only thing you want from
them is that they balance out speed and capacity. The best choice for that is
Frigates, but they are typically hard to get. Most players are happy to get a
good Frigate as their flagship. If you can get additional ones, great, but
you'll likely have to settle for other types. Merchantmen strike the best
balance between capacity and speed; Galleons carry more, but they will slow
your fleet down quite a bit.

Your flagship is a different story. You'll be taking this into battle, and
thus you want it to be a sturdy warship that's fast, agile and well armed.
Let's have a look at each type of warship:

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PINNACE
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The Pinnace class includes the smallest ships in the game; they have very low
capacity for guns, crew and cargo, and are very vulnerable in battle. If they
get hit, that is; because they are also the fastest and best turning ships,
and perform well even against the wind. In the end, though, the weaknesses are
a bit too pronounced.

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SLOOP
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Sloops are far better as small ships go. They are still fast, hard to hit and
very agile, and they can carry larger crews. The Royal Sloop, biggest in this
category, is the second most popular ship in the game among the players I know.
Many people stick with them exclusively for their high speed and the fact that
they never seem to take hits in battle.

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BRIG
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Brigs are a bit larger than Sloops, but still have a good speed and can sail
against the wind with some success. They basically strike the balance between
the agility of smaller ships and the heavy armament and ability to take a
beating that the bigger ships have. The Brig of War is an excellent ship that
doesn't have as many supporters as the Royal Sloop and the Ship of the Line do,
but is still easily the 3rd most popular. It's also a lot easier to obtain than
the other two.

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FRIGATE
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Frigates are the best choice in terms of large ships. They can carry huge
crews - plenty for any ship battle - have room for a ton of guns, and can
take quite a bit of punishment. Their inability to dodge salvos as easily as
the smaller ships is offset by this, and for such large ships, they are still
quite fast and able to make fairly tight turns. The famous Ship of the Line is
the biggest of the Frigates and probably the most popular ship in the game. It
is also the rarest, however, not in the last place because Spain doesn't use
Frigates of any kind. You'd need to see a random one sailing (usually as a
New Warship special type) or piss off one of the other nations enough to send
out a pirate hunter so influential that he's using one.

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COMBAT GALLEON
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The Fast Galleon, War Galleon and Flag Galleon fall in this category. The
Trade Galleon, Royal Galleon and Treasure Galleon do not; those are merchant
ships, unsuitable for combat. Actually, the combat galleons aren't particularly
suitable either. Their power is comparable to that of Frigates, but they are
far slower. They are fast enough when running before the wind, true, but going
against it is almost impossible in a galleon of any kind, and their turning
circle is horribly wide. Smaller ships can and do run circles around these
cumbersome vessels and pelt them with one broadside after another. If you like
to use large ships, you really should stick with a Frigate type instead. Even
the smallest kind of Frigate is a better bet than the otherwise very powerful
Flag Galleon.

Summarizing this, the Pinnace and Combat Galleon categories aren't your best
choices. It's a toss up between Sloops, Brigs and Frigates, and it's mostly a
matter of personal preference what works best. I personally am a fan of
Frigates, but many people prefer Sloops and a handful prefer the balanced
Brigs. All are solid choices for a flagship. Just make sure that if you do use
a larger ship, you recruit a crew to fill it up with. Not much sense using a
Frigate if you're not going to put more men in it than you could fit in a
Sloop.

Your tactics in ship battles will probably change depending on what kind of
vessel you are using. Sloops will want to thin out the enemy crew before
boarding, and avoid enemy fire as much as possible. Frigates will probably
be a lot more aggressive, heading for the enemy straight away with just a
single broadside to soften them up if needed, and accepting the fact that
they'll take a little counterfire in getting there. Use whichever ship works
best for your style. You could even have both a Sloop *and* a Frigate
available and pick a ship to use for every battle; for instance, using a Sloop
against smaller targets and a Frigate against any enemy Frigate and Galleon
types.

Whichever ship you choose, however, be sure to get all the upgrades you can
find for your flagship. They're all worth having and can make a lot of
difference.