The crew consists entirely of merchant sailors, meaning there are no musket-armed marines on board to take potshots at the enemy crew. It features just 6 guns on each side, none of which are particularly powerful, accurate, or fast at reloading. The Indiaman is perhaps the most useless combat ship in the game. It's also the cheapest trade ship to produce. It features 3 masts, 12 guns, and a small, poorly-armed crew. This is the typical Western trade ship of ETW. Trade ships are special in that they're the only ships to be able to make use of trade nodes - yellow markers found in Trade Theatres which grant the faction controlling them access to special trade goods.Įmpire: Total War features 4 trade ships, all mutually exclusive. One barrage will very likely destroy a ship, and will at the very least cause massive damage to enemy sails, often burning the sails entirely, rendering the ship motionless. Just as fragile as the bomb ketch, however. Huge range, and even bigger damage potential, this ship sets the sea aflame. The second and final artillery ship you'll have access to in the campaign, it looks like a Brig with a rocket armament mounted on the front, which fires a flurry of flaming, explosive rockets at enemy ships (again, from the front of the boat). A light broadside will quickly and easily destroy the mortar on this ship, rendering it useless a heavy broadside will just as quickly destroy the ship itself!
Support them well, however, as their front-firing mechanic and awful manoeuvrability mean they're difficult to turn around to facilitate escape. Their explosive shot has the potential to obliterate enemy crews, guns, and hulls, and can sometimes even cause fires - fires which cause a huge morale drop, and can quickly lead to the enemy abandoning their ship, or simply exploding (which is hilarious). Huge range, and huge damage potential - just keep out of reach of the enemy, and try to avoid blowing yourself up.īomb ketches have a huge 750 range - more than the typical Rated ship's 400, and light ship's 500. The first artillery ship you'll have access to in the campaign, it looks like a Sloop with a mortar armament, firing a pair of explosive mortar shots in an arcing motion at enemy ships, from the front of the boat. Light hull, light guns, small crew - all bad against larger ships. Typically this causes a rout.Īgainst anything larger than a 3rd rate, you should think twice. Once the sails are down, you can close in from the bow or stern (front/back) of the ship, where they have only chase guns (few, light guns) to stand up to you with. Your round shot won't be as effective against larger ships such as Fourth Rates, but your chain shot most definitely will. 2 Fifth Rates can easily capture you a powerful Galleon.Īgainst lighter ships, use the Fifth Rate to cripple the sails, and then close in with a few round shot broadsides if they haven't already routed.Īgainst heavier ships, keep your distance and try to, again, cripple the sails. Almost as fast and agile as the Sixth Rate, once you get used to their quirks you can pull the double-broadside trick very easily with a Fifth Rate, and out-manoeuvre almost all other ships - especially annoying Pirate Galleons. My favourite ship for the early period (up to around 1725). It's fast enough to catch most ships during this period, agile enough to easily out-manoeuvre all the larger ships, and has enough guns to hold its own in battle. The Fifth Rate is a well-balanced ship for the early stages of the campaign. Their small crew and light hull means that any prolonged battle will easily see them damaged beyond use, routed, or worse - sunk. I don't recommend using Sixth Rates often, and only then during the very early stages of the campaign. Less skilled players will find more use for Sixth Rates in chasing down routing ships - a role which is quickly replaced by other, less flimsy ships. Slower and less agile than the Brig and Sloop, it makes up for this with better combat stats: a stronger hull and a better array of guns.ĭuring the early stages of the game, skilled players will find use for these ships due to their agility: if the wind is caught correctly, you can easily fire a broadside, and then use the wind to swing around and fire off the other side of guns in quick succession. The Sixth Rate is the smallest Ship of the Line. Their rating is indicative of their power, with First Rates being the heaviest, most powerful - but also most cumbersome - ships 6th rates are the opposite, being relatively weak, but fast and manoeuvreable. Ships of the line are typically the core of Western nations' fleets. 6 Maintaining morale & reducing your enemies'.
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