Miniature Trading

General description:
First review in a while so I may be a little rusty. El San Salvador can be a very deceivingly good ship. It has very good stats and an ability that suites it perfectly. The back story itself gives you a good idea on how to use her to. It says, " The mute capitan has trained his crew to work in complete silence. That quality, added to the schooner's sleek design, fuels the rumor that the ship can transform into a bird to slip past it's enemies." Since this is one of the older ships in the game, lordstu suggested that I the main reason that I choose to review this ship. The fact that this ship has never been reviewed before is probably the biggest reason I have chosen to review this ship. Also, this ship is unique to the Spanish arsenal in the game of pirates. A little two mast schooner with good cannon rolls can be deceiving to the eyes, but surprisingly deadly if used correctly. Used the right way, your opponent won't know what hit him.

Uses:
If you are playing a game where you have enough point space for bigger and better battleships, than the best way I have found to use this ship is to take out all the enemy's forts. This clears the way for the more spacious carriers you might have, plus your opponent can't shoot back thanks to the ship's ability. If you are playing a 40 point game, then this ship could easily pass as a battleship/support ship. The schooner keyword will help with this tremendously. Or she could be a bounty hunter. AKA, hunt down all the helpless gold runners that are not protected. You could use her as a gold runner herself but I think that Spain has better ships made for the job.

Strategies and game play:
If you go with the "fort eliminator" use, than the your best option is probably going to be to stay hidden within your gold runners or battleships until you reach a good break point. Than, speed over to the nearest enemy fort, and take it out. (It helps if your Captain is face down so your opponent doesn't know the full power of her.) Than just just reveal your captain, and blow the fort to smithereens. Your battleship should be able to keep your opponent at bay until you have removed the fort from the game then cover your gold runners until they have the gold and are home free. If you use her as a battleship/support ship, you should either sail beside your battleship and help her, and then if your main battleship doesn't take the enemy out, than just sail up and finish it off with the two 2 rank cannons. Or you can do it the other way around. If you go with the bounty hunter gig, just make sure you keep your opponent's big ships out of the way, then just shoot or ram the enemy gold runners out of the water. Overall, she is pretty easy to use.

Combos with other miniatures:
If you have just started playing, and you don't have very many crew, a simple Captain and Helmsman combo will work fine with this ship. With her low cannons, you could also add a Firepot Specialist to her, and just set fire to your enemies. This will be very easy with the low rank cannons. An Oarsman is always good to have so if you get derelict, you can always row away. Commandante Antonio De Silva will allow you to kill a crew once per turn if you hit. Gonzalo Mora will allow you to snipe away all your enemy's low rank masts so it will be harder for them to hit. You can just put Roberto Santana on this ship and give plus one to cannon rolls to any ship that needs it, or you could put Master Bianco on her and do the same thing only with cargo space instead of cannon rolls. An extra action crew would go nice with this ship. You could get double the power with the same accuracy. And the simple Musketeer combo will go nice with this ship as well. As far as other ships go, San Cristobal works good with her, along with El Neptuno. They are all fast, and El Neptuno can weaken the target with the sniper guns, and then El San Salvador can go in for the kill. And fast treasure carrier works well also. Again, she is very simple to use, but Oooooooooo soooooooooo deadly.

Ways to counteract it:
This ship, even with all the power it possess, is unfortunately small. Only 2 masts. Two small speedy ships could just come up to her and ram her, derelict her, and than sink her in only two turns. Sea monsters pose a big threat to this ship for the same reason. The UT, Explosives, can blow this ship out of the water in one turn, but with her goes the Explosive carrier, so it is a win win, or a lose lose, depending on how you look at it. A ship like the Constitution that takes two hits to eliminate one mast is almost invincible to this ship. Or a fast gunship with good cannons could take this ship down if it strikes first.

Strengths/Pros:
-Schooner
-Good cannons
-Great speed
-An ability that fits her great
-Decent cargo
-Average pt cost
-Common, easy to get

Weaknesses/Cons:
-Only two masts
-Short range cannons


Artwork and aesthetics:
It doesn't get more classic Spanish than this. She has white sails with the Red Spanish Cross on both sides of each mast. Her deck is a light brown with cannons her and there. And her hull is dark brown on the bottom and orange on the top. Nothing fancy, but I think she looks great.

Overall rating:
I give her a 9.5/10. She is almost perfect in every way. Except for her S range cannons, I can't find anything else bad about her. She does great in every reasonable job you put her to. For this ship's rank, I don't think Spain has a better one. She is a great addition to almost any fleet.

Thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed the review..