Ranged-Combat Strategies

[anaxis]

I know this depends quite a bit on attributes; as well as ship upgrades, ship class, and enemy level/vessels... But this is how I generally the way I do things.

Shadowsail Cutter/Redsail Sloop vs. Pirates & Navy hunters
~ 2-3 Long Gun shots at distance
~ Advance to point-blank, fire one broadside
~ Retreat to mid-range or long-range, fire one broadside (although I normally save the shot)
~ Advance to point-blank, broadside.
Repeat until enemy crew is reduced for boarding, or target masts with chain-shot. The idea here is to keep circling, to whittle away at enemy gun-crews & sails before really trying to board.

Pursuit Brig vs. Pirates/Navy
~ Bombard with Long-Guns from long range, until enemy sails/masts are destroyed, and their crew is decimated.
~ Close to point-blank. Fire one broadside, & board them. Often it doesn't require cannons at close range, as the long-range artillery turns them into motionless hulks, so one good broadside with heavy cannon will likely sink them.

Generally I've found that Long Guns damage masts & crew much faster than slugging it out at mid or close range, and do minimal hull damage.... as long as there are a sufficient number of them. Normal cannons do a good job of turning the other vessel into splinters, but rarely dis-mast them unless with a lucky shot.

[hlo]

What difficulty are you playing in? What kind of skills and attributes are we talking about? What level are you?

If you are playing the higher difficulty like Crazy, its best to get it over with quickly one way or another.

[anaxis]

Hlo- I have two captains; one on crazy, one on hard.
Both strategies listed here work on either difficulty... the difference being that battles need to be chosen more wisely against crazy opponents & with upgraded ships only, as at that level they tend to be much more protracted.
In any case; entering battle on Crazy difficulty with a base-level ship at low captain level is almost always a recipe for disaster.
But at Crazy level, a high Command & Sailing skill with a decent vessel; you can keep an enemy at distance, while pounding them with long-range artillery. Or, go with high sailing attributes, strong fencing, and hope they don't land any shot before you get a chance to board.