User:CasperSage/Blockade

This article is under development

This article is based on personal views and opinions.

Blockades are arguably the most fun aspect of the game. It involves coordinating hundreds of people for a common goal. There are many aspects of a blockade and this article will try to cover all of them. Some topics can be discarded if you feel it is not necessary. If you think any portion of this article is outdates, or you have something to contribute, please feel free to do so. Please do not removed anything, but feel free to add to it. If you disagree with a particular section, you may add your views / strategies to it. Please use words like "Alternatively, you can do this...." or "Another way to achieve this goal is to do this..."

= Resources = Resources for a blockade include: Jobbers, jobber pay, shot, ships, expertise. This section will help you aquire these resources.

Jobbing Pool
There are many ways to handle your politics and policy for your blockade. This section will describe ways to maximize your jobbing pool.

Ask First
To maximize your jobbing pool, you need to speak to as many flag monarchs as possible. Typically, if you are first to ask, you win their support. Many people will offer support if they feel the cause is justified. Reading parley can sometimes give you a feel for who is disliked. Some people have also created this dislike by posting in parley. (see Blockade Propoganda)

Offer Positions
One method to secure support is to offer a flag positions in the blockade. This gives them a personal interest in the blockade and can yield more jobbers to your cause. This usually means a naving position, but can mean other positions as well.

Rewards
Rewards are also another method to secure support. If you give a flag a shoppe, or sell them one at a discounted price. You can also just pay them to post news and flag broadcast for you. I can imagine a flag would love to add 100k to their blocakde/flag funds just by jobbing for you.

Deals
Making support deals between flags is another method. Many flags are sucessful at this, but be careful because sometimes monarchs change. Any deals should be short term or specific.

Out Pay
The most expensive method is to outpay your opposition. This can get expensive because 100 PoE per segment is usually not enough to sway many people from their political promises. However, one jobber is a two person swing. -1 to them and +1 to you.

Having less jobbers could cost you more than doubling your pay. For example, if you are outnumbered by 50%, your ships will get sunk a lot more than your competition. WFs are expensive, so you will need to factor in the increase in jobber pay vs. possible sunk ships.

Flag News
There are many ways to advertise for your blockade. Getting the word out is very important so people can reserve time on their weekend to attend. If you get a flag's support, make sure they post in the flag news at least 2 times prior to the blockade. If you can convince them, ask them to do several flag broadcasts during the week prior. This will eliminate any "surprise" attack on an island, but it will get the word out for people to come help. Create the flag news for the monarch to post so it will be more convienent for him or her, plus it will have all the details that you want to include.

Tourneys
Create tourneys the day of, or days prior. Include a card advertising the blockade, pay, time, and jobbing contact. Make sure you pay enough for people to come view it.

Intent Post
Create an intent posts in the forums. Make sure you include a limerick, jobbing contats, pay, and time. If you are very creative, people will talk about it and that is good advertising as well.

Word of mouth
Get the word out. As people to talk about it in crew chat. Go to the inns and on the docks and let people know what is happening. Go through the flag and crew fame list and talk to everyone on the list. Look at the info of people on the docks and see what flags or crews you need to talk to that are not on the fame list. Ask others to spread the word too.

Ships
Having adequate ships is important. Some blockades are lost due to lack of ships. Get as many as possible. WFs are most important, WBs are second. Some strategies require other ship types, like cutters, sloops and grand frigs. Having excess amount of ships allows you to use other strategies like sniping.

As a general rule, most 5 round blockades will not use more than 30 WFs and 30 WBs. Remember than if you win, and it's was a sinking blockade, you might need to have enough ships for a blockade the following weekend.

Jobber Pay
A lot of flags have a problem coming up with funds for jobbers. Some blockades have been won without paying jobbers. It's alot to ask someone to come puzzle for 3-6 hours. It is not recommended to run a blocakde without paying people for their efforts. If you don't pay, you might hurt your jobbing pool in the future.

Fund Raising
There are many ways to raise funds for a flag. This section will go over some, but this is not a complete list. Please feel free to add to this list if you have your own ideas.

Pirate Auction
Pirate auctions are a great way to earn funds. The idea is you get people willing to donate 1 hour of their time, and you auction that person during a set event. You can often get people in your own flag to support this, but it's a great idea to get other flags involved. Ask a few of the top monarchs, or famous people. They will bring funds from other flags and often get large buys.

Donation Ships
Have a dedicated locked ship in your crew for people to deposit money. This will allow people to donate 24/7 and can see the funds grow. Anyone jobbed into your crew can do this, so it's easy for the whole flag to use this method. Get the word out to your flaggies about this ship. Post flag news, create flag events and hold them on this ship, or if you are just sitting around, sit on that ships and people will hop on randomly. When people donate, make a big deal about it with flag broadcasts. This gets people excited to donate as well.

Fund Raising Pillages
Create a flag event where people can donate a portion of the PoE won during a pillage. People are often willing to donate their time for fundraising.

Recruit Big Hitters
Use politicing skills to recruit big poker players, or someone that buys alot of dubs. Poker, which is often criticised, is a means to gather large sums of PoE onto one pirate. If you can find someone willing to pay for some blockades, this will speed up your fund raising dramatically. Poker is not going to go away no matter how many petitions are created... so if you cannot beat them, join them!

Shot and Rum
These items are a very expensive portion of a blockade. If the blockade is a non-sinker, you will only lose what you use. Some people buy the shot/rum needed at the island they are blockading, others make it themselves. Making it yourself is the cheapest form, but you usually have to move it to the island. Finding someone who owns an iron monger shoppe or distillery shoppe and making a deal with them is also another means. Those places can usually make rum and shot very fast and would love to fill up their business with work. Some shoppe owners are willing to transport the supplies too.

Stock levels for ships are pretty standard. If you can afford to put 400 large CBs and 80 rum on a WF, then you should. Some bnavers will use all 400 shots, others will use 100. There are several factors that are not known until blockade day and it's best to have more than you need than less. WBs will typically not shoot as much as WFs so they will not require as much. Below is a general guideline for stock levels. GF - 400/90 WF - 400/80 WB - 350/65 Cutter - 100/30 Sloop - 80/20

= Roles = There are several roles in a blockade. Some are pre-blockade, others are during the blockade. Some people can handle multiple roles, and you should always have backup people that can fill positions in the case of a no-show.

= Additional Resources = Blocakde Videos