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5.6.1 Ship choice
5.6.2 Ground unit choice

5.6.1 Ship choice

FrankB writes: "I don't know what the trading vessels are good for. I only build small or (after I can do that) big battleships - they are faster than the big trading ships and can hold more cannons." The pirate of the 5 seas comments: "Try to build large battle ships for such reasons: (1) they hold the most, (2) they are the fastest, (3) they can out shoot any other type of ship, (4) pirates really hate you if you have better ships." From Waywardsoul: "I try not to make any more ships then I have to until I can build a large ship yard. Then I only make the large battleships because if you load 200t in any thing smaller it slows them to a crawl, but the large battle ships do not seem to slow that much." Robitoby adds: "If you load 200t on a big trading-ship it is slower than a big battle-ship loaded with 200t." Guardian writes: "I recommend you always use the small warships in the beginning and the large ones as soon as you can build and afford them. Although the small ones can only carry 150t, they are fast and can carry 8 cannons."

From Eric Lorah: "I think the large trading ship is the slowest of the four types. Since they are so slow but they do hold a good amount of supplies, I like to sometimes use them as 'floating warehouses'. I just anchor them by a warehouse and use them to store/stockpile supplies when I anticipate future shortages."

Frieden writes: "I organize by giving names to the ships, for example: 'Cocoa + spice' or 'w' for a warship."

5.6.2 Ground unit choice

FrankB writes: "I never train cavalry men. The swordsmith would cost you additional money, and the fighting qualities of the cavalry are rather poor - especially if you have to defeat towers." To which King Z-ster replied: "You need cannons AND infantrymen. Why? Infantrymen will keep your cannons from getting killed." FrankB commented: "The tower will shoot at your cannonneers as soon as they are in range - and will disregard any infantry or cavalry. These tactics are necessary if you have to keep your losses very low. The easier way is to have approximately 10 cannonneers attacking a tower. In that case, you will have one or two wounded cannonneers, but (normally) no losses. With 8 cannonneers, you will often loose one of them while attacking a tower." From night hawk: "Mostly have horses [cavalry] and cannon guys. They are more effective in a fight. Use about 20: ten horses, five cannon guys, and five foot soldiers. Keep them near the shore so your ships can help out because they will shoot the guys your fighting."

From robbie47: "When you attack the AI in an early stage, while he still does not have any troops, some infantrymen are enough."

FrankB writes: "I never train musketeers (with a few exceptions in one or two scenarios). Better use cannonneers only - and you can save the costs for the musket maker." Dread Pirate Terry comments: "But you can have more of them for the same military budget and they move much faster. Their popguns just don't sound as impressive as 'artillery'." Robitoby writes: "I usually train 1 musketeer to get the hits from the tower. He can take 2 more hits and at that time the cannoneers often have already killed a tower so you can go heal your musketeer. If you use cannoneers only it most times happens to me that I loose 1 to each tower."