Best ship type for ship races?

WesDoobner · January 2018

I'm trying to figure out what type of ships are being used by the people who are winning the ship races. I am using an ACC, G4, 8/8 with full sails, maxed out studding sails and extra sprits, ship skills speedup 1 & 2, college skills ship speed up 1, 2, 3, and 4, wanderers wear and a 50% speed boost. And it still takes me 8 minutes in the most recent race when the winners are making it in 6 minutes. Do I need to use a row ship instead? I know different routes are better for different ships, but this is pretty consistent for me on all the races recently. Whoever it is running this race in 6 minutes, how the hell are you doing that? What ships are being used?? thanks in advance!

fields1234 · January 2018

http://forum.papayaplay.com/index.php?p=/discussion/362711/fleets-alts-racing-and-you#latest

Seems a few ways there

HuseyinGazi · January 2018

Heya Wes c:

Most top racer participants (including myself in the past) are using mainly adventure ships or anything that can have the low hold. The problem is your ACC is an cargo ship which negates it's acceleration performance to start up with racing and your lost speed from turning takes longer to be recovered.

Not to mention ACC has not the best "base speed" among the ships which can make a major difference in terms of your total ship speed. The ones that are currently used are RWJ, ALR, Large Clipper, FLC etc. In pre-wipe it was LLM/CHC/RLS that stood up in terms of base speed.

The problem with this ship race is that between Marseille and Manchester is 6 minutes not really practical, because the time you need to accel your ship will be taken a lot. This is most of the time dealt with slingshot from your fleetmate (slingshot = using alt/friend to pass the starting point with full speed so that the actual participants who starts can follow the person in full speed).

Due this action I gave up joining shipraces as it doesn't goes fairly and people followed in fleet gets +5 % speed too.

For shiprace I can give you the following tip to make a fair chance:

- NO supply/goods as it reduces your speed up % offered by sea

- R20 sail handling with boosts (gives 10 % speed up)

- A good ship with great base speed and a lower hold for accel

- Improving your base armour of the ship through -0 plates can help accelerating better.

- In case you use row ships, having R20 rowing refined is recommended with a ship with max rowing power

- Look carefully in which routes those races happens, the wind direction is not the same with Summer/Winter. You can use this advantage.

- Last but not least, if you really want to win against slingshotters... you've to do it by yourself as well >_<

I hope my explanation is clear ^^

Kind Regards,

WesDoobner · January 2018

Gazi - thanks for the great info! Some of that I suspected, but it seems odd that some things would make such a difference.

So, to be super clear, if this ACC was configured for minimum cargo instead of maximum, would that in itself really make a big difference? This particular clipper has 18 TS and 19 WR. I have an exp tea clipper that's also max cargo, max cabin and max guns with 26 TS and 28WR - would that be much better or is the big cargo hold more of a problem?

If I'm going to blow some ducats to get a ship specifically for racing what would you recommend that's not like 10b? FLC maybe?

HuseyinGazi · January 2018

In general is expedition tea clipper better in terms of base performance then the augmented cargo clipper, but the difference between them isn't that big. I would say it depends also how it is designed. :-)

Having a big hold is a problem if you've modified your ship at 20 % hold instead -20 %, because it deduct the acceleration performance greatly which is essential for ship races and restoring your lost speed from turning is important as well. The top speed itself doesn't change much fortunate.

If you want to make an adventure ship with also racing design within 10b budget then FLC is a good choice. Other ships like ALR, FLR, CHSM may perform well too (not sure about their base price). You can also try FS ships like Long Schooner, Large Clipper or Cruise High Clipper, but I don't think many has the adventure level for it yet...

For the hold, do it always on -20 % at least if you make these kind of design. The -25 % gives the best acceleration performance, but it is expensive to get there and the difference is minor in terms of acceleration.

I hope this answers all your questions ^^

Kind Regards,

Twitchalot · January 2018

RWJ/RLS character/aide combo. RWJ with the wind, switch to RLS into the wind.

WesDoobner · January 2018

Looks like I can build a Long Merchant Schooner at my colony, so I'm going to work on getting my trade level up from 61 to 65 so I can sail it. Only 5 improvements at that level, but I should be able to get the important stats up. I'll build with the cargo as low as I can get with my base rank 11 sb level, plus aide, saw and shipwright job, plus I have a couple of temp +3 boosters, so that will be at rank 17. What about the cabin size - do I need as many sailors as possible for speed, or just enough to operate the ship?

WesDoobner · January 2018

UPDATE: what a difference it made following the suggestions above!!! it's a huge change!

First, I tried the method of building an LMS at my colony and upgrading that, but that was not really feasible. The ship itself only allows 5 improvements, and you can't add more without raising the boarding level to 70 for 1 extra or 75 for 2. It was hard enough getting to 65, so that's a non-starter. Plus you have to be at level 20 SB to do a fusion on the ship. Dead end for now.

So, I bought a CCC ticket for 1 bil and worked on that. Improved with teak panel from SF, reset the performance, then raised it up to 8/8 and G3 with ship speed up 1 and 2 for the grade improvements. Ship is now at max sails with 30 TS and 18 WR, and I was able to get the cargo down to 412.

Testing: I haven't finished long distance testing yet, but my results so far are blowing me away. Going from Madeira to Casablanca, and Casablanca to Madeira, then averaging the times to account for wind direction, the CCC made the trip in 1:45 compared to 1:57 for my ACC, 2:05 for CFCV and 2:12 for MFCV. These tests were done with no speed boosts except ship skills and oxford skills, and all ships used the same studding sails. I assumed that this speed benefit would be mainly just for short distances but it seems to be helping for all sailing. Normally, it takes my ACC 45-50 days to go from Ambon to Seville non-stop. Yesterday I went from Montpelier to Ambon (around Africa, not thru the canal) in just 36 days. This could be a game changer for me.

WesDoobner · January 2018

more info - the long distance tests were done with additional speed boosters - 30% booster and wanderer's wear.

Culvern · January 2018

The new ship should do better in long runs. Compared to your MFCV the CCC most likely does not accelerate as fast bit will have a much higher top speed due to the armor factors.

Congrats on your new ship, and welcome to your new speed addiction!

Hope to catch up with you soon on the seas. :)

Twitchalot · January 2018

Racing is irrelevant, 2 characters each hauling a fleet of 4 more can win the Top 10 prizes, So, a total waste of time.

WesDoobner · January 2018

A waste of time if you're interested in making a profit - but ship races are for fun, and I like to see how well I can place. If the leader of that fleet of five is not beating me, then none of them are (or at least they won't beat the guy I'm slingshotting and towing).

WesDoobner · January 2018

PS - I managed to place 4th so far in the current race, much better than previously, only a few seconds from second and third place - and it looks like the first place finisher benefitted from a fluke storm boost, he's way faster than anyone else.

Airhaun · January 2018

I read somewhere the type of sails you equip your aide ship affects speed?

HelloAll · January 2018

I don’t think you have a choice of sails on aide ship?

CrzyPsycoChick · January 2018

You can put sails on an aide ship it affects the aide ship performance when you call them into battle not outside though.

Best ship type for ship races?

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