Ship advice

[Were Rabbitz]

So i just made lvl 50 last weekend as a FreeTrader.

Here is my list of ships right now.

Mont Blanc - PB Ship

San Fernando - Fleeting Ship

Leviathan Bark - Heavy Hauler

Bermuda Sloop - Cause i like to tease the Rats near cayo..

Ra MC - My Missions/dailies ships and for quickly getting around in.


The Leviathan is slow, bulky, ect.. well a lot wrong with it, but i do short hauls of a lot of goods and my lane is about 88% of the time not red at all. So i dont see much reason to buy a Mateo Galleon or anything like that.

San Fernando - Thinking of getting this into some PB's as well, its a cheap ship of the line so it makes for a easy learning curve to practice in. When i feel im decent ill replace this with a Courrone MC

Mont Blanc - I use this as my daily ship for doing what ever in, and when PB's come this is currently my pic. When i get good and get a Cour MC ill still use this as my backup ship for PB's.

Sloop - doesn't get used much

Ra MC - I use this to do many missions in, go help out friends, ect.. I was thinking of replacing with a Slerk (Sleek Herc).

Any Suggestions?

I mostly do PB's, Fleetings, Missions and Hauling. Not much 1v1 pvp in my world.

[Remus]

Swap the Bermuda for a Bermuda Trader's if that isn't what you have already. Or a Curieuse Trader's if you prefer. A fast red zone ship at any rate.

You will gain more from an SMTG than a SlHerc imo.
Either replace the Raa MC and use the MB to do missions etc or directly replace the Leviathan.

It does mean you're overloaded with tanks, which doubtless is why you are thinking of a Slherc, and indeed that would be a good ships for most things for which you use the Raa or for fleeting - but you are hardly short of fleeting ships. I would prefer the HH over the Slherc unless I expect my sails to be attacked, but that is more personal preference than anything else.

I would probably wait until either the MB or SF is sunk and then fill that slot with whatever ship you want to try next. Even a Poseidon is worth a go.

[Were Rabbitz]

So a San Mateo Trader Galleon? or Heavy Galleon?

So use my Mont for Missions & Keep the San fernando for Fleetings/PB's Get a Heavy Herc as well? for my alt PB/Mission ship?

I kind of assumed San Mateo was just for hauling

[Remus]

San Mateo trader's for hauling. It depends how much you do of course, but sailing a Leviathan is sooooooo slow. I despair whenever I find myself in one.

You have a fine selection of fighting ships, a mediocre smuggler and a lousy hauler. Hence my looking at the latter.

[Were Rabbitz]

yea.. i move about 1200 tons a day, so really the Mont Blanc would work. I straight shot goods form Biloxi to Havanna most of the time. takes 4 years to make it back lol

[Alcarondas]

The main virtue of the Leviathan is that it's dirt cheap, and no matter how slow it is, there isn't anything that's twice as fast (assuming you spec for OS speed) - therefore, if you need to move a lot of stuff, it's faster to make one trip in a Levi than two in anything else.

However, if as you say you only move 1200 units at a time, then I have two words for you:

Khan Flute.

It's got the DPS of a war frigate, the accelleration of scout ship, the flexibility of 3 gundecks, over 1300 cargo space (including the bonus from your Expensive Ship career skill), and blazing, scorching, never-gonna-catch-me Open Sea speed.

Unless you want to do Port Battles and very heavy 6v6's, it's really the only ship a Freetrader needs.

If your combat needs are suitably filled by the other ships in your dockyard, then get the Khan's peacetime cousin, the Sultan Flute. Very cheap, just as capacious, and almost as fast... but without all the guns.

Did I mention that with the Smuggling skill and some stealth gear, the OS visibility of these ships is under 40 miles? Sweet.

As to your other ships:

Mont Blanc. Keep it. Use it. Love it. It's arguably the best ship in the entire game. It's a monster in PB's and heavy group pvp. Take it out and fire the guns in anger. Using a MB for fleeting is like using a cruise missle to swat flies. This boat was designed to kill people. Do it justice.

San Fernando. It's pretty. That's about it. If you've already got a Monty, you don't need a SF. But since you've got one, use it the way you've been using it; blasting defenseless NPC's for loot. Be sure to get some nice screenshots for your desktop wallpaper.

Bermuda. Yes, the BTS is better in every measurable way. But to slip a trade secret, I use a vanilla 'Muda for all my smuggling needs too. Why? Because there is a strong presumption that if you're in a BTS, you're up to no good. Some guys go out specifically hunting for them, because they usually are carrying high-value cargo. The good ol' Level-8 version is almost as sneaky, and a lot more innocuous-looking. With your FT bonus cargo space, you've got 160. That's more than enough, in my experience. I also have a plain-Jane L17 Hermes that I use the same way.

McRaa. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I have a simple L44 Minerva that I use in exactly the same way. It's fast on the OS, has a low profile, and packs enough of a punch to deal with mission NPC's. Your Raa can also double as a light- and/or small-group PvP ship, so you've got that base covered too.

Really the only thing you're missing is a good heavy frigate. You could use a Khan that way, or try something more traditional. The Slerc is the status symbol du jour, and it's a fine ship in every way, but it's pricey to acquire and (more importantly) replace.

Bang-for-buck it's really tough to beat the Dauntless. It's sturdy, it's got a nasty mix of spike and dps, and better accelleration than most heavy frigates. And it's cheap.

Couronne? In my own humble opinion, this thing is little more than dockyard jewellry - some fancy bling to show off to your friends. Handling-wise, it's an absolute barge, in the same ignominious league as the Levi we all love to hate. Yeah it's got the guns of a 3rd-rate, but when you can't turn fast enough to keep them trained on anything... what's the point? And due to wretched accelleration and low-ish OS speed, it's a crummy hauler despite the large cargo space.

SMTG - Fast and huge. Is it worth the bundles and commendations? I'm not convinced. Together, a Sultan and a Levi accomplish the same things, at about 1/10th the price. You be the judge.

I could go on, but I'm feeling merciful. So I'll stop.

[Were Rabbitz]

Some great advice from you both!!!

so.. the mont blanc is good for pvp? and PB? And 1500 space + my 10% cargo ?...

so should this be my new Shipyard?

Mont Blanc - Range/Accuracy/Armor for PB

Mont Blanc - Speed/Stealth/Turning for Hauling

Mont Blanc - Speed/Turning/Accuracy for Missions/General use

Mont Blanc - Mast Armor/Turning/Reload for 1v1 PVP.

Trader's Bermuda - ( i have a trader, i can hit 96 knots with the right wind and no buffs) also, i have 15 seconds of invincibility and i can cross most red zones by then. With expensive ship it holds 242 which is almost 5 bundles.


Seriousness though i get many people telling me how great of a all around ship the Mont B is so ill have to invest more into it!

As the San Fernando is only about 14k on the auction, ill buy 2 or 3 and use them for practice pvp outside of PB's till I get better then switch to my Mont Blanc. I may do some skimishes with my Mont as well.

I can easily afford to lose SF's all day long, but mont's are pricey..

[Were Rabbitz]

Seriously though.

Prob going to look like this

Mont Blanc - PB specced

Mont Blanc - Daily use specced

San Fernando - Fleeting (guild thing bring big ships. so might get a courrne one day)

Trader Bermuda - fast haul

Super Khan! - for hauling. (have to ask mailman for permission to own one of these)

[Nestcrow]

The khan is the fastest hauler I think but I'd personally rather make one trip every 3 days in a Levi than one every day in a Khan (though I admit, the Levi isn't fun). The Khan most certainly isn't 3 times as fast, especially if you are going in a straight line. So you save time and clicks.
What's more, if you build some warehouse stock you can take your time. You see that the wind is perfect for the trip to Biloxi so you go there. But for the return trip it is blowing in your face. So you wait, one day, two days, three days ... until you get good wind.

And yeah, I don't really see a reason to use anything else than a MB for heavy. I don't know for 1vs1, never seen that, only khans and capri mc, but it's certainly silly as a stealth hauler, and for missions you can really use the same stuff as for PB, maybe swap one accuracy/damage mod for a acceleration sail and bronze to heavy round and that's it. Some day it may safe your life having a discordant armor in a mission, I know it has mine.

Though, I like the San Fernando, it's really a solid ship for it's price. Ofc, I can't do anything the MB can't do better. But if you are feeling like fleeting in a red zone for port flips or points, I prefer it over vanillas frigates. It makes a good runner when enemies join in as long as you have enough time to pick up speed (idealy tag the fleet so that you can run in good wind straight away but he needs to make a full turn, + cut shroud on stern chasers if necessary), and if you are in a group a heavy ship isn't the worst option.

[Eggzie]

Originally Posted by Were Rabbitz (have to ask mailman for permission to own one of these)

I think this is referencing me, I'm not sure. lol


As to the topic, if you are doing any kind of in-the-red hauling, Khan is the way to go. It's a ship that comes with built-in fear and it's OS speed/OS maneuver/OS visibility is tops!

It's the most versatile boat in the game, great hauler, great pvp ship, great fleeter as well.