Why are privateers so weak?

[TacticalGrace]

Even against galleys privateers are likely to end up on the sea floor. Recently I increased their attack strength by 1 but they are still incapable of sinking anything on their own most of the time. If I have two patrolling together they can sink a caravel but the first one is usually on a suicide mission.

What were Firaxis thinking of?

Is there any historical precedent to suggest that privateers should suck?

[star mouse]

No idea ... but if you want to have real fun with privateers, set them as the Barbarian naval unit.

[statusperfect]

Privateers were used to attack unescorted merchant ships. Since such ships don't exist in Civ 3 they are useless.

[WarpStorm]

A privateer is an even match for the lesser ships of it's time. It wasn't meant to go head to head with a frigate. Stack them ships of your nationality for more fun.

[TacticalGrace]

Drake was more than a match for the Spanish galleons he plundered. The same cannot be said for the Civ3 privateers.

[miccofl]

Why not just fire up the editor and fix it? It's better than

[WarpStorm]

Originally posted by TacticalGrace
Drake was more than a match for the Spanish galleons he plundered. The same cannot be said for the Civ3 privateers.

Ah, but Drake was the exception, not the rule. You don't know the names of all the failed privateers and pirates who got sunk taking on galleons.

[Arrian]

You know, they really aren't all that weak.

Last night I sank the bulk of the English navy with privateers, including 2 ironclads (2 privateers each did the trick). I also sank several other ships.

I produced maybe 20 privateers, and did my best to consolidate them in packs of 2-4. Wooden ships didn't stand a chance. I sank frigates and galleons like mad. I probably took slightly heavier casualties than I inflicted, but not by much - and with the benifit of secrecy. I'm certainly glad I built them.

-Arrian

[TacticalGrace]

Originally posted by Arrian
I probably took slightly heavier casualties than I inflicted, but not by much - and with the benifit of secrecy. I'm certainly glad I built them.

-Arrian

I wouldn't mind if the privateers are lost because of enemies taking the initiative and attacking. But if I'm going after caravels and I'm doing the attacking then for me to take slightly higher casualties than the enemy isn't good enough.

[Hail Caesar!]

I don't usually go for naval dominance because I play on continents, and by the late modern age, I usually dominate my own continent. Wars thus end up between my continent and the other one (why are there always two continents plus one island nation?). The fact that naval battles pretty much suck, and the AI never invades (except perhaps that one longbow or elephant), and invading for me would be impractical due to corruption, by the time navies are any good they are useless.

But if I were going to use privateers I would probably stack at least 3-4 together. Since i'm usually industrious, this wouldn't be too much of a problem, as most of my cities are building wealth by the time I discover the ironclad.

[HazieDaVampire]

down at the tip of south American France and Britain, Priviteers were used very very well in sinking the spanish ships and taking the money. I fact i think they were often payed to board the ships clean them of spanish, then sail them back to Britain or a British infantry transporter.

[alva]

It is about gamebalance afterall.
You get to fight a secret war, but at a cost .
Seems like a good trade-off to me.

[star mouse]

I understand the AI likes to hunt down and kill privateers. And privateers can be used to draw AI ships out into the open....

[Arrian]

They don't hunt them anymore, not like they used to. Either the 1.21 or 1.29 patch fixed that. It used to be the same as with barbarians: the AI knew where they were and beelined straight for them with any spare naval unit available.

Now, if they are close by, they will go attack them, but it's not the same "moth to a flame" approach.

-Arrian

[Thoth]

I don't often use them, but the few times I have, I obtained similar results. If you want them to be effective, build lots and keep them in "Wolf Packs". If you only build 1 or two they're a waste.