Yarr, a fast pirate be a rich pirate!

[Pinstar]

In my experiance with the full game, the Brig (smallest of the large ships) is THE best ship in the game, second place going to the shooner(sp?). My reason: Speed! Speed allows a ship to pick and choose it's targets. It can run from big scary military ships and chase down merchant ships. Combine with a high seamanship skill of the captin in a high traffic area and you have a ship that can PLUNDER with a capital P!

My first run in a sandbox game of a Brig was in Western Florida (upper left hand corner of the map). The area was crowded and risky (5 cannon icons, and 5 treasure chest icons) But my first run netted me over 15,000 GP two rows of wealthy captives (includeing 3 skilled) and two rows of new recruits.

The cruise setting on this ship by the way was "pound 'em".

(One funny note was that a few crew members on that ship were press ganged onto it...and now after 7 total runs with the ship, are now rank 7-9 pirates!)

[PopTop_Franz]

Remember, pirate RANK is not the same as SKILL.  Sounds like a nice run though.

[Captain Blockhead]

I agree wholeheartedly. In my experience, the Brig is the best all-around ship of the game. When I first advanced to building Frigates and Galleons in my games, I noticed my Captains were getting picked off left and right (Captured / Ships Sunk). I had to train them significantly before they were able to handle the big 'uns. If a Shipyard is available, I feel a Boatyard is a waste of good Shipwrights. The Brig can be well-handeled by any Captain (even them there SHE-dogs ARRGH), it's big enough to bring in quite a haul, and it IS FAST. It's able to outrun pursuers and chase down fat juicy targets. Good call Pinstar.