Privateer woes

[Badbonez]

I had read a thread by someone talking about how sucky the privateers were. I thought that maybe the best way to use them was in a large hunting pack. But to protect them from other ships I would toss in a frigate to protect them from being attacked. That way, I thought, my privateeers could pounce on a nice, meaty target and then scramble back behind a shield of frigates.

In the game I am playing I am at peace with India. As their ships were passing my port with about 7 or 8 privateers, I launched the flotilla to intercept and take out as many as possible. I also had a frigate in the stack. Well! My privateeers managed to sink a couple of vessels before my turn ended and I pulled them back to stack with the frigate. India still had a couple of frigates in the area and she attacked my stack. But the first vessel attacked WAS MY FRIGATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then she proceeded to pound all my privateers into driftwood. On my turn I checked the diplomatic status and we were STILL AT PEACE!!!!

So what gives? India ATTACKED MY FRIGATE and yet we are STILL AT PEACE!

I could see India attacking my Pirvateers, ignoring the frigate (somehow) but I never anticipated my frigate being sunk and still being at peace with India. Any thoughts?

[Dominator_Jones]

Maybe any defender in a square with privateers is considered a friend of the privateers and open to a free shot.

[Badbonez]

...and therefore not considered an act of war. Perhaps. I will I wonder if I can test it by attacking a privateer of an opponent whcih is stacked with another unit. But now that I think of it, I haven't seen any AI privateers yet...

[Kc7mxo]

I haven't seen any AI privateers yet...

of course not. the ai isn't THAT stupid.

[egovalor]

Here is someting I discovered, and it involves, like you mentioned, privateers stacked with other units.

Privateers are the most fun unit in the game. The AI seems to attack them mercilessly. Don't think as privateers as an actual unit with capabilities: think of it as a sot of flagship, a pirate flag to be hoisted atop a different naval unit.

There is nothing more awesome than a pirate battleship armada. You can effectively wipe out another civs navy without declaring war. I had the romans sink at least 30 ironclads and firgates trying to take out a couple pirate battleships in my last game.

Funny thing is, some civs seem to hate pirates and some don't. In the same game he romans ignored them sometimes and sometimes didn't. The egyptians would launch their entire navy on the other side of the world if I so much as peeked a privateer out of port. And they would turn around and head home if a sailed it back in. The germans on the other hand didn't care if I parked a fleet of unescorted privateers right next to their capital, they simply ignored them and sailed past.
(note: so obviously the AI does know precisely where and what your units are doing and acts accordingly)

[Hunter Hutchins]

Hmm..Germans I saw had little or no navy, at most 4 ships. And they didn't care about mine.

Maybe you need to form a box of frigates and have the privateers retreat into the box?