Battle Pirates Sea Wolf Analysis Guide

Battle Pirates Sea Wolf Analysis Guide by Jesus

Since these lovely little ships are entering their production phase in the game I’ve decide to start writing reviews of the one’s I’ve built. I will try to update as new ships come online. Feel free to post your own and/or discuss, especially if you have higher level upgrades (I have everything below tier 7).

Wolf 1: Cutty

Considering the fact that this is the 1st one, I’ll give some general comentary about these ships in the form of three easy to read bullet points.

1) If you like using marauders you’ll like using these ships. Most of my design approach has involved outfitting them like I would a fleet of Marauders.

2) The engine option is a must. It takes the ship to a whole new level in terms of both battle and map speed.

3) Armor above all. Given that it has only one armor slot, I say anything below titanium IV is risky even with specials. I would say drop gun weight or special options before touching armor (*if anyone finds they can get repair times advantageously low please share) and DU IV repairs in 40 min. anyway.

Now this ship in particular is a duplicate of one I have already made. I find that the added manuverability and evade of thrusters outweighs using the slot for armor def. This thing can veer in and out of range very quickly, is rarely hit by mortar or missile, and anything with close range would have to be very fast to catch it. I added the scrambler 2 figuring that the “accuracy +” might offset the 9% accuracy decrease of engines. So far the weapons seem to have similar hit performance to other cut ships and the added evade is noticable in battle. As this ship develops, and the overall handling levels up, I would consider a special armor refit (most likely ablative).

Wolf 2: The Diplomat (v.1 & v.2) *Let it be known that I ALWAYS mix up pm and dip, I will continue to call this ship the diplomat even though I assume eveyone thinks I’m talking about peacemakers. Plus, it sounds classier.

I would consider this ship to be highly specialized for only certain tasks. Specifically battling drac fleets that have larger cutlass ships (e.g. lvl. 6 sal, lvl. 10 mine) and perhaps larger afk fleets. The idea here is to target leading ships with the hopes of actually hitting the cut ships farther back. I personally would not make a ton of these (maybe 2), but if you like no damage drac fights it is useful. (I think a Dip marauder would be cheaper and could be used to about the same effect)

I am taking care of some other builds and refits before building my 1st of these, so test data is limited to a few videos. For either of these ships you could potentially kick the armor down to get higher lvl mortars on it (hoping that the ship will be well out of range and not take much damage) which is personal preference. The first design is geared towards speed and maneuverability the second would give you a degree of protection against the most common attack threats to this boat.

*a note on the mortar mix: To keep the 2 PM. II of the 1st ship and the armor high it was necessary to add the lower weight pm to keep the ship purely mortar. Although the rage difference will mean not all guns will fire at the same rate and range, I believe the conventional wisdom on dips is that the damage is more concentrated in a direct hit than the pm’s “proximity fuzz”, thus giving you a different kind of hit. This of course could be better or worse. I would consider switching the slots to thud iv or ripper III to give yourself some close range cover.

Wolf 3: The Panzer (v.1, v.2, & v.3)

An essential ship in my opinion, this platform is probably one of the best for a ripper, a thud or a mix. Naturally, this ship is best employed to rush into the coverage gaps of long range ships. However, in battle it can also be used to tie up a batch of ships kamikaze style and buy you some time to regroup. Each of these ships has its advantages and strengths which I will be discussing individually, but I feel du iv is essential if you want to get the most mileage out of this style ship.

v.1 (all rip)

-This particular version is specifically for mother ships in the lvl. 7 and 9 salvages and 9 mines. The missile armor will get you through the 2-3 cut shots of these big mix fire ships and then you just stay on them. Layered armor could also be considered an asset going in against rival rippers in player battle. I personally think there is little advantage to be gained from adding barrel I to this type of ripper ship since you still have to get up close to use them save the weight for def. and speed specials as well as upper lvl guns.

v.2 (Thud +)

-The barrel addition gives the thud a massive range for ballistic fire, combine that with the big boost in fire rate make and it becomes a viable weapon for both close range and kiting. However, make no mistake; most of the damage points are still coming from the ripper up front, which is why I recommend v.3

v.3 (ripper mod)
-The best of both worlds, this ship allows you to take advantage of both weapon’s strengths and can be used as ship def in a tight group of cuts and then pop out to give chase when need be. (fyi: the fire rate on rippers is near constant with auto II and will only get better as the ship levels up.)

Conclusion

Given the nature of the game and available specials at this point, I would say these ships represent some of the best exploitations of the sea wolf platform’s advantages. If you have any others or variations of these you would like to share please feel free. I will try to critique and/or test anything you want to suggest. Other than that, I will wrap up with a couple of interesting strategies and configurations for sea wolf fleets.

Fleet 1: Stock (in this case a “Wolf in Sheeps Clothing” (when they see it they say Maaaaa, get it?)

If you use marauders this configuration should be familiar to you, and since I have yet to build a Diplomat Wolf we’ll let a marauder sub as flagship… in this case we could call it a “Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing” (b/c when your enemies see it they say Mmmmaaaaa, get it?). So your Panzers are in back so they can peel off and turn slower while you set up your primary formation. If you have a panzer thud mod you may choose to move it with your fleet. Once all chasers are clear you can move in. There are many other advanced maneuvers you can do with this set up.

Fleet 2: The Dirty Bird

Now, I’ll admit using disguised flags is nothing new. The difference is now the transformation can be complete! With engine upgrade I and a great hall fleet captain your dirty bird stock fleet can travel at the same map speed of a skirmisher. Not only can you dazzle your friends with your newfound ability to “take a 9 salvage with your skirmisher”, you can also get to the battle fast with a ship that could be read by your rival as a scout fleet or one that could be easily taken with a wonded fleet. Either way you will give them quite a shock or at least make them think twice.

So that’s about it for now. So go ye forth, and enjoy these funky little ships!