The Incomplete Guide to Blockade Decisions

This guide was created by Megalomania in the hopes of assisting novice and intermediate blockading flags, or flags with the intention of blockading. While this guide proclaims itself to be incomplete, it does cover topics that surface pre-blockade and post-blockade.

As it is titled, this guide should not be taken as the complete and/or absolute truth regarding blockade decisions. It is the mere opinion of the author. However, the author invites discussion over all topics covered. Future editions will take into account such discussions.

Introduction
Blockades are one of the most happening things on YPP at the moment, and are, in the opinion of the author, the best things created by OOO. Blockades are fun, harsh and complex; all depending on the type of participation you are looking at. For the purpose of this guide, we assume you to be a representative of a flag in or intending to enter the blockade scene.

Should my flag blockade?
There really is no single answer to this question. There have been huge flags in the history of YPP who have never attempted to win an island, or have attempted and lost. What kind of flag your flag sets out to be is the pivotal factor. If you wish your flag to be peace-loving flag, then perhaps this is not suited for you. In blockading, wars are inevitable. If your flag is unprepared to face the politics behind blockading, or a large deal of sinking and losses, anger and frustration, then it would indeed be unwise. Be warned! However, it is the opinion of the author that all flags participate in blockades some way or another, for the experience of the largest possible activity in the game.

Can my flag blockade?
Here, we discuss the technical and political aspects of the possibility of your flag blockading. Your flag needs to be able to fulfill certain criteria:

Physical Power: Ships
Typically, the minimal number of ships you need to take on an island is 30 WFs and 30 WBs ported on that island, along with a number of various smaller ships. We will not discuss small ship strategy here as they can be found on other aritcles/threads. Assuming an average of between 200~300 jobbers for your flag, you should be able to fill about 3 WFs and 3 WBs, or any other combination suited for your strategy. Assuming an average of 1 sink per ship, and 4 rounds (a safer bet than 3), you would need 24 ships of each kind, seeing as abandoning those ships between rounds is the common practice. While I note 30 WFs and 30 WBs being a minimal number, the flag must be able to replenish those ships that are sunk within a short timespan (of about 1~2 weeks), for a potential blockade within the fortnight.

Cost of ships: ~10 million PoE

Pay Power: PoE
At a median of 1000 PoE per segment as jobbing pay (studies on exact average pay are extremely welcome), four rounds per blockade, and five segments per round, total PoE required for a blockade comes up to about four million to six million PoE. Thus, you would need about ten million PoE to attack and defend your island.

Jobbing Power: Support
Support is extremely important in winning any blockade. A 20% jobbing advantage over your opponent will break the competition. Getting your jobbers may seem simple, but it is a process that needs to be gone through. While jobbing pay is important, a good portion of jobbers would job for the side that their own flag is supporting, given both sides are more or less the same in terms of jobbing pay. This is where allies official and unofficial come in. Always inform your official allies on your decision to cade at least a few days before the cade, and unofficial ones soon after, so that they may rally their flags to support you. Talk to neutral parties to help you asap so the other side does not get to them first. Inter-ocean support is important and crucial too. Talk to royals on other oceans, and remember to drop a tournament to advertise your blockade and to job for you.

Staff Support: Skill
I advise that newer blockading flags look for experienced Board Admirals and navigators to help and learn from, with a few of your own flag mates within the team to gain experience. Positions on staffing are available on other guides.

The Fandango Blockade Method is recommended as compulsory reading material.

What island should I blockade?
Once you have ascertained your flag’s ability to blockade, you then come to the question of what island you should go after. For the purpose of illustration, Hunter may be used sometimes to explain some concepts.

Factors to consider:

Opponent
Pick someone your own size. If you are new at blockading, this applies greatly so. Hunter has produced a number of super powers that you would not have wanted to take on, from the oldest The Eye, to the most recent Knockout. While Hunter may not have a current single superpower, it is still wise to do research on your potential opponents.

For Brigand Kings, Brigand King Strength of about 6 to 8 is a good number to start off with.

Size and Location of island
For the inexperienced, the best to manage is an outpost island, while you learn how to manage a fort and a shoppe. This, plus the fact that flags owning large islands will give a much tougher fight, is a better fight for novice flags.

Location considerations include local and nearby spawn, traffic of passing ships and how close it is to a hinterland, where it will be easier to produce ship supplies for the purposes of stocking your own fort.

When do we blockade?
Blockades are held from Saturday 12 PM Game Time to Sunday 12 PM GT, and war chests should be dropped exactly 24 hours before the time you wish your blockade to be. Coordinate your time available with your team to ensure that the large bulk of them will be able to take part in the cade. Essentially, you may cade at any time once your preparations have been made. However, as a new flag, you would want your cade to not clash with other large cades going on at the same time, be in on the same ocean or on other oceans. Hence, it is important to keep watch on the Political Forums on the Puzzle Pirates Forums, as well as the Notice Board. This is important as you would not want your cade to be a no-show due to a lack of jobbers that would rather go for cades with higher pay that you would not want to waste poe matching pay with.

What pay should be set?
Jobbing pay should reflect the significance of the cade. For example, most BK cades with strength under 10 usually start at 500/segment or 750/segment (as of August 2011). PVP cades (like on Aimuari) have typically started at 1k/segment.

At one point in time, staff was paid. However, in recent times, such pay has diminished or disappeared, with the reason being that the experience gained is priceless, and allies would often help each other out without payment outright. Ultimately, the decision is yours.

During the blockade
Decisions made by the Board Admiral are not covered

Should we raise pay?
While it should be true that equal pay should give equal jobbing, the side which has more support from allies and other flags will gain the advantage in jobbing power. Once the jobbing deficit reaches 20%, it is, from history, an extremely losing position. Therefore, before it reaches that figure, measures need to be taken: raising pay.

Basically, pay should be equal if jobber numbers are equal. If you have fewer jobbers, raise pay (jobbing deficit of about 5~10%). If you have more jobbers at equal pay, let the other side raise and then match when jobbers return to equal. That is dictated by courtesy and fair play. Of course, if you wish victory at all costs, feel free to raise pay at any time. However, this usually results in pay wars, and is a waste of poe on the flag’s end. However, barring political backlash, jobbers will tend to job for you in future due to anticipation of higher pay.

See: Blockade pay policies

Should we pull out?
If you’re running out of PoE, ships, stock, jobbers, then yes. Otherwise, if you’re winning, then there’s no reason to. However, do not be afraid of pulling out. It will still be an experience which will point your inadequacies, and provide excellent learning points for future attempts.

Reflect & Review
What went wrong? What was good? How can you improve? These are the questions that you need to answer on any blockade, and for novice flags, is what will decide what goes on in your next blockade – which may be your defense. Remember to reward your team/flag/allies with parties/events/fun stuff and remember to acknowledge and thank their efforts!

Defense
Settle your in-flag defense team asap, and prepare for it as the next time could be just the next week. Replenish your ships, stock and poe. How much can and will you afford for the defense? Do the losses outweigh the advantages and gains? Come up with your defense strategies. If you can’t defend it at a certain time, would you forgo the cade and come back for it later?

Conclusion
Blockades are one of the most unpredictable events in the game. To reiterate, the points raised above are mere guidelines that should not be taken as the law. Each blockade will have different situations, and that is the fun part that each flag has to learn to deal with.

Tutorials

 * Bifnot's Blockade strategy guide - What to do during a blockade
 * Fandango Blockade Method - Strategy and organisation
 * Blockade coordination - Coordinating a blockade
 * Blockade pay policies - Why pay is so important

Tools

 * http://www.ventrilo.com/ - Voice Chatting Software most commonly in use (as of August 2011)
 * http://spreadsheets.google.com/ - Free online spreadsheet software for organising ships, stock and blockade team