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Need cannon damage advice

VeclordVeclord Posts: 99Member Beginner
General Discussion
So without asking too broad of a question, my dilemma involves encountering ships I am unable to do hardly any damage too and wondering where I should invest my time to work on remedying this problem.

Up through progression I have found normal shot carronade (4)'s performing well. As I went through schooling I found some ships weren't receiving satisfactory damage so I upgraded to a better ship and got some carronade (8)'s from Pisa. On stronger fleets, this got me 30-40 damage per shot at worst and at best over 100 damage or more with a critical.

Now as I begin to attack stronger ships, my cannons are doing 1-10 damage seemingly no matter what. Is this due to having cannons that are too weak or not having high enough level in cannon skills? The carronades sold by the NPC are the most powerful I know of, which means I need to....

A. Acquire the money to pay a caster to make me stronger cannons, or grind casting to at least rank 7 so I can start making them myself and spend more time but save money.

B. Grind cannon skills like accuracy and penetration until they are high enough that the cannons I already have start doing more damage.

What is the first thing I need to focus on so I can start doing damage to stronger fleets and get back on track to making progression? Even after sinking 50 ships in battle report, once that boss shows up it is back to 1-10 damage until l run out of ammo...

Comments

  • HelloAllHelloAll Posts: 701Member Intermediate
    Get new cannons straight away.
    Even through school I was using 18’s.
    They can be bought cheaply in sev and also many casters will give free 18’s away while they are trying to get masters.

    If you want to do maritime you should also grind cannon skills.

    For some fleets that you feel are too powerful AoS will help.

    I think most if not all people ignore the shipyard cannons.

    If you have San Fran open they sell 16’s at ship yard
    VeclordCulvern
  • WhitejacketWhitejacket Posts: 87Member Beginner
    The best cannons in the game won't amount to much without decent cannon skills. Accuracy, ballistics, and penetration all deal increased damage the higher the rank is, and gunnery and reloading speed up the reloading process.

    If you are doing BRs, and especially if you want to do decent maritime, it is essential to pick up at least two or three of these cannon skills and grind them when you do BRs if you want to see increased power. The cannons you buy from the shipyard (or acquire from players) are at a base level of damage per cannon, burst range, and loading speed; having cannon skills augment the cannon power and effects.

    At the end of the day, if you have 18-gate cannons but don't have any cannon skills, and come across some heavy-duty npc or pirate players, you won't do much damage.

    Keep in mind also, that unless you have an appropriate amount of crew, the cannons will not be at their full potential, even if you have no cannon skills. There is a complex formula (see below) that says you need a certain number of sailors to operate cannons at maximum power.

    Most maritimers probably have gunnery and accuracy; in my opinion these are probably the most important to have. Most maritimers probably have ballistics as well. I have all five, although most maritimers I have heard probably don't bother with reloading, or get it to grind cannon skills and then dump it after.

    Evasion tends to cancel out accuracy somewhat; that is something else to keep in mind. Aide shot defense skills reduce damage potential a lot against the particular cannon.

    Hope this helps.

    IGN: Milvio (Venetian BH, level 76 maritime as of this writing)


    *** As per L.A.M.E.F.U.C.I<.'s website, he states the number of crew needed for maximizing cannon damage is the following:

    Maximum Cannon Damage (MCD) = minimum required for ship + (7/8 x number of cannons) + 1

    I haven't really tested it, but I have lost sailors and I can attest that the cannons lose a lot of power if you are not at the max level.
    IGN: Milvio, Caroline, and Nasrin
  • CulvernCulvern Posts: 646Member Intermediate
    All good advice above.
    One more piece of advice is to go for critical shots. They are dealt to a ship by striking it in the bow or aft. Against NPC ships it's easy to weave back and forth and time your shots to hit the bows of the enemy.
    Crit shot deal massive damage compared to a broadside hit and often slow or stop a ship as well.
  • crazyhunter2003crazyhunter2003 Posts: 763Member Intermediate
    NPC sold Carronades are NOT the most powerful in game.by the time u finish maritime intermediate you should have at least 1 carronade(14).If u get ahold of 2 more and refit the battle sloop to 42 guns with max crew,this will do greater damage.

    this configuration can get u through the adv maritime final


    IGN:JackO'Neil
  • SpooklesSpookles Posts: 287Member Intermediate
    While were on the topic..

    What would be better these days
    Master ...... (18)s
    or
    Grand ...... (16)s
  • SpooklesSpookles Posts: 287Member Intermediate
    Just did some of the math myself..
    I suppose it depends on the cannon, but a fully forged Grand set can be stronger than its fully forged master (18) counter set.
  • TexasSp00kTexasSp00k Posts: 0Member Beginner
    I prefer only Volkans, sets of 14 & up. They not only do Hit Damage, but, the incendiary effect also creates even more Damage between your shots. Burn 'em down to the waterline....lol.
  • CulvernCulvern Posts: 646Member Intermediate
    Grand volkan 16s were my favs before 18s showed up. Good range speed and reload.
    Would love to see some grand volkan 18s!
  • WesDoobnerWesDoobner Posts: 761Member Intermediate
    I like volkans too, but cheminees can be as good or even better if you can't find volkans. And you have to look at the penetration and range stats, some 18's are better than some 16's and some aren't.
    May the winds blow you well
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