Uncharted : New Horizons

[ArlEammon]

I got this game for the Virtual Console and it's SOOO confusing. How do I defeat the first Spanish fleet with Otto Bayne's? I keep buying all the cannons I can and lose, I don't understand how to fight.

[TaRix]

Okay... you say you've got guns. Did you buy ammo at the dock? How much crew are manning the cannon and defending the boat? Are they assigned to battle stations?

Is the fleet way too big? Then be sure to focus only on the enemy flagship.

I forget how his storyline played out, but I remembered it was shortish. Maybe you just need to level up a bit and grab some more boats.

Please provide more information.

[ArlEammon]

Okay... you say you've got guns. Did you buy ammo at the dock? How much crew are manning the cannon and defending the boat? Are they assigned to battle stations?

Is the fleet way too big? Then be sure to focus only on the enemy flagship.

I forget how his storyline played out, but I remembered it was shortish. Maybe you just need to level up a bit and grab some more boats.

Please provide more information.

I bought CANNONs at the dock. :/

I have 25 percent manning the cannons. I don't know about battle stations. Ah, and yeah, there's like 7 or more ships against my Spanish Galleon.

[TaRix]

Okay, that's somewhat clearer. What you bought at the dock (where you resupply food/water and set sail) was ammunition and powder. Each unit of that's good for a single salvo, but you don't need too much. Twenty should be more than fine (since you scrounge up more after each fight.)

I played his story a little bit today; that bad boy's got seventy guns. Nice. And you've got an acceptable crew complement, though there is room for a few more. To recruit crewmen, go to any cafe, buy a few treats, then ask to hire folks. You then pay a bit for each man you bring aboard.

The 'Assign Crew' command should be used before you fight anyone, really. That's on the left menu. Reassign to 30-50% nav, 0-5% lookout, remainder battle stations (guns and boarders). As long as your movement stats (the turning arrow and the arrow-through-sail) stay white, you should be fine.

(Also make sure your weapon and armor's equipped, which I put off until after the story-duel with Matthew... oops!)

So, since supplies and weapons aren't the problem... go find a target! I found a Spanish merchant fleet near Seville and had at it. (Save before engaging, though.) You'll want to avoid the "Battle" fleets, as they're tougher. (ID your target with the little telescope command. Don't go beating on the English.) You'd probably want more experience, ships, and mates before going after the local pirates (Especially Khayr ad-Din and Idin Leis, who seem to follow me around an awful lot.) It's better if you can approach them from the rear when you hit the "attack" button, but not necessary.

Okay, after the first oral barbs fly, you see the battle layout. Your ship and the other guy's fleet. Your main target's got a little (!) on its corner while the supporting ships have corresponding numbers. Move closer to the target with the top-left command. Ships don't turn on a dime, especially if the wind's against you, so plan ahead a little. You'll be able to reach any spot that's outlined in a box, and you'll be able to cancel back if you don't like your heading or whatever.

If you want to go shooting, position yourself with your broadside facing your enemy and a single hex between you and them. They'll have a green targeting box showing when you move properly. Fire away!

However, you might instead opt for rushing the ship (so you can sell it later.) In that case, just move adjacent to the target and 'rush'. Depending on how well-staffed the target's crew is compared to yours, you'll get the option of duelling the commander, which is a winner-take-all swordfight. (It's a bit risky, though, but doable.) If you decline to duel, you'll just have your boarders go aboard and try to decrew the target.

Either way you choose to fight, you'll see the damage on the affected boats. Remaining crew is in white, hull strength is green. Three broadsides should be plenty for a merchant boat, and about as many rushes would work, too.

Later on, after you've gotten your first fight out of the way, work on getting a handful of captains. You'll find them in cafes and inns, but most of 'em just brush you off until your sailing and battle levels are sufficiently high. Just find some to sail prize crews and a couple good fighters (like those with the gunnery special) to back you up against tougher foes.

I hope that was more helpful. Good luck!

[tyckspoon]

They put that on the Virtual Console? :smallamused: Wouldn't have been one of my top priorities, but I suppose they're running out of big names to tease people with by now.

The quickest and most reliable way to subdue an enemy fleet is to charge their flagship and beat the enemy captain in a duel- you avoid incurring repair costs on your ship and you leave your prize captures with enough crew and in good enough shape to sail them to port to sell easily. Takes a little bit of luck to start with, but your combat level will rise pretty rapidly and you only need to capture a couple of ships to be able to afford a reasonably good sword and armor, at which point you should be able to stomp over merchant captains without any trouble. And if you learn to work the system, you can take on pirates/battle captains too (it's pretty hilarious to capture a fleet of Galleons because their captain decided to board your little Caravel and duel you instead of just breaking your ship to pieces with his 100x advantage in cannon weight.)

Most of the time I run a solo ship and make my money from piracy/privateering/anti-pirate operations using the described 'charge the captain and subdue him at swordpoint' tactic; having a fleet is a detriment for this, because your captains will often wuss out on you when you decide to take on a fleet at a 3-1 disadvantage and run away with one of your ships. If you're doing trade instead, remember that you don't *have* to fully crew your ships (you also don't have to feed them 100% rations unless they've been injured and you need to get them back up to speed- I think they can maintain health on 80%); as long as you can get enough crew on the Sailing assignment to maintain full speed, you're good. That and reducing the rations lets your food supplies stretch much further, which is both good for those long trips around the southern tip of Africa and lets you devote less space to food/water and more to actual trade goods.

(... I think I have probably spent way too much time playing this game.)

[ArlEammon]

So I finally won the first battle today. Finally got my second ship and over 5,000 gold or whereabouts.