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This is a fun little fleet to try if you want to get the gold really fast...I mean really fast! I decided to use ships that either had one important element: speed!
Speed is what this fleet needs and speed is what it gets. And not just speed from a helmsman. I didn't want precious cargo spaces taken up by helmsman, so I took some really quick ships!
The Swiftsure and Discovery have 1 empty cargo space. I actually consider them having 2 since my plan is to explore the island and then ditch the explorer. I don't need too many cargo spaces in the games I play since we use a lot of UTs.
I am proud of those two ships in that I desgined them to have double action crews who wouldn't take up cargo spaces on these ships. Blake is linked to all English ships, and Myngs takes up no cargo space thanks to First Mate Ismael. Once the Explorers are unloaded they have 2 cargo spaces to get the best gold, if not all of the gold.
The HMS Trepassey is there because she's the fastest ship I can get for the 7 points left over. She'll be going after my uncontested island since she could potentially be the slowest ship in my fleet.
The plan is to send the Trepassey to my safest WI to collect the gold there. The Discovery will go to either an uncontested or contested WI. If someone else is heading towards the island the Discovery is going, I am going to depend on that reroll to get my double action to get to the island first. She should get there first and hopefully get out before the enemy ships can bring their guns to bear.
The Swiftsure will have the most dangerous mission. If there are no islands nearby, contested or not, she will be going out into "Uncharted waters", speeding towards any island that seems abandoned or forgotten. There always seems to be one in the multiplayer games we play, and she will be the ship to get it! There is the danger of enemy warhips, but hopefully the double actions will keep her out of harm's way, and the Immunity to L range cannons will keep the pot shots away too.
The captain I plan on having at my HI. This is not a fighting fleet, but if it looks like a Banshee's cry or some other small treasure runner is heading towards an island I am going for, then I have one in case. He probably won't leave the island.
I should also not I am thinking about adding the Flotilla Gibraltar to this fleet instead of the captain or the Trepassey. It would make things easier to defend say the Swiftsure. Since it isn't in the database, I will have to surmise on this later.
I was hoping you'd clarify something about dumping the explorers. Do you mean you're taking two turns to explore the island, or are you using the SAT crew to get two move actions: 1) dock and explore, then 2) dump explorer, move away and re-dock?
For UTs, I'd recommend anything that doesn't take up cargo space:
Hmm...i don't really get the point of having only one empty cargo. Let's say we are plying with the normal setup. We would have 8 coins totalizing 15 points for each player-that is 16 coins fro 30 points. Normally, people use low value coins. So, with your two ships you could take, let's say, 4
points for each ship. It's 12 points. You won't most likely win the game.
So, let's analyze this situation: you're getting to an island 4 L far from the point where you are with your HMS swiftsure. If you are lucky, and you roll 5 or 6, you'll need 2 turns to bring home a single coin. All using a ship that costs 16 points.
Now, i'm coming with my relatively slow HMS lady provost: 14 points (including the explorer) for 5 free cargos. It needs 6 turns to come home with all coins on the island (normally 4 coins).
So, HMS Swiftsure takes 3 coins every 6 turns
HMS lady provost takes 4 coins every 6 turns
The issue becomes bigger if you plan to reach different islands. a ship with a lot of cargo won't need returning home every coin she takes, unlike your single masters.
While this fleet is really fun, as you say, for her great speed, it's not really able to win- you should squeeze in a ship with a lot of cargo (i.e. HMS lady provost) instead of your HMS discovery. Keep the Swiftsure-i love your setup- and the trespassey, for his great speed
In conclusion, gret fleet, great concept, but---hmmm...there are some issues!
What I usually do is go in, explore the island, and take what treasure I can. Before I leave, I abandon the explorer on the WI and take one more treasure before I go. Ahain, with the amount of UTs people use, 2 cargo spaces is seriously fine.
In regards to the lady Provost:
Interesting idea. I'll give it a look through, but the problem is using her in a 40 point game. I'll have to crunch the numbers and see what it gets me.
Again this fleet is designed to get all the gold, or at least the best gold as soon as possible!
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