Official:Flotillas

=Flotillas=

Introduction
Brigand Kings are always planning ways to seize control of an Island. However, even they need to prepare themselves for such an awesome undertaking. Prior to blockading an Island, the King must martial his forces for the attack. To do this, the Brigand King organizes a flotilla and establishes a base at a particular location on the ocean near the Island he plans to seize.

A Brigand King flotilla consists of both merchant vessels carrying the king's supplies and various warships to protect them. The Brigand King is particularly protective of the merchant vessels in his fleet, as they carry the supplies needed to maintain his forces. Indeed, a Brigand King can be forced to call off his attack if a sufficient number of his merchant vessels are destroyed before his attack can be launched.

The Benefits of Attacking a Flotilla
As in Brigand King Blockades, Brigand vessels sunk in a flotilla will award bounties to the ships which helped to sink them. Additionally, any brigand vessels or other vessels carrying large amounts of booty will leave sunken treasure which can be salvaged using the Treasure Haul puzzle.

Strategically, attacking and sinking all of the Brigand King's merchant vessels will also force him to depart from the local area, saving the surrounding Islands from possible attack.

Brigand King Locations
Each of the eight Brigand Kings will normally be maintaining a flotilla prior to attacking an Island. Although these flotillas will be forced to relocate from time to time, each Brigand King's flotilla can be seen on the world chart as well as through a special league point marker visible when a ship sails near its location.

Attacking a Flotilla
Any ship approaching the Flotilla may choose to attack it through the "Attack Flotilla" button seen by officers aboard the ship. It is also possible to sail directly past a Flotilla without engaging it.

Sailing in a Flotilla Attack
A Flotilla attack is basically a multi-ship sea battle. Puzzlers will still need to sail to earn movement tokens, carpent to repair the ship, and bilge to keep the ship riding high in the water as well as gun and navigate to keep the guns loaded and the ship moving to advantageous locations.

Flotillas can be either sinking or non-sinking. Flotillas raised by the following Brigand Kings are sinking:


 * Barnabas the Pale
 * Brynhild Skullsplitter
 * The Widow Queen

Any ship sailing into one of these flotillas may be sunk, leading to loss of ship, loss of cargo, and potential pirate injury. However, with greater risks come greater rewards: the bounties and treasure available from hauling in these flotillas is substantially higher than in non-sinking flotilla engagements.



The following flotilla engagements are non-sinking:


 * Admiral Finius
 * Gretchen Goldfang
 * Vargas the Mad
 * Azarbad the Great
 * Madam Yu Jian

While the same types of rewards are available in non-sinking flotilla engagements, the total rewards available are less than when sinking is possible.

Whether a flotilla is sinking or not is distinguished by its league point appearance, with sinking flotillas such as Barnabas the Pale's in a bright red and non-sinking flotillas such as Admiral Finius's in a light gray.



Teams
There are only two teams in a Flotilla Attack: the Brigand King and all other parties. All player vessels are shown with a blue outline and Brigand King vessels are shown in red or green. Red vessels are warships, green are supply ships. Additionally, supply vessels can be identified as any Merchant Brigs or Merchant Galleons that the king is sailing in the Flotilla. Any other classes of vessel will act as Warships, defending the supply ships and attacking intruders.

Scoring
Supply vessels sunk by each flag are indicated on the Flotilla score panel. These scores are kept until the king is eventually driven from the location.



Maneuvers
Flotilla Attacks utilize the same set of maneuvers available in blockades. See blockades for more information.