


I have yet to see a pirate fight for more than two broadsides from a Galleon and a few sail tears from a Brig. Cross the bow of your enemy and fire a Galleon broadside of cannonballs as your lighter ship closes from upwind on the pirate. Send the lighter vessel on a broad flanking movement. Simply sail your Galleon directly at the enemy. Of interest is the speed of which a Galleon and a Brig reduce a Galleon to routing status. When the newly launched Galleon sails to the French port, I sortie forth with my Galleon and Brig/Sixth Rate to repeat a slightly modified process that captured the first Galleon. In my experience the pirates simply love French cuisine so I often leave a French port with its nice seaside cafes open. In a turn or two a second Galleon will sail past. Rule #3: The evil pirates cannot afford to not make ships. Harbor them beside a Trade Route, along with a local security land unit and merely watch the sea lanes each turn. Rule #2: Take the nice new unscathed Galleon (it is unscathed because you never used cannonballs on it and it auto repairs its sails after each turn) and pair it with a Brig or Sixth Rate.

Once you have successfully captured a Galleon by destroying its sails and boarding it you are ready to own the Caribbean. I have written another guide on this forum outlining how to do this with Prussia, yes, Prussia, but it applies to all nations. So, Rule #1 is to hit the pirates early to reduce their potential early. The mega-fleet will be costly and annoying to destroy and/or capture. This mega-fleet will contain ships from all classes and from all nations. Left to their devices they will perform their piracy quite proficiently and gather unto themselves a mega-fleet. That written, this guide advises do not kill the Pirates off completely. It is intended to be a humorous reference to a bygone American advertising campaign meaning a nontraditional source of profitable gain.
