Duel - 1720 - December 15 - Engaged PARTY TIME off Orleans

'''On December 15th, Captain Lewis McLain was just outside Orleans bound for home waters when he was challenged by the infamous pirate Party Time. '''

Captains in Action
British Captains:

Captain Lewis McLain - HMS Spitfire (Gallant-class 38-gun naval frigate)

Pirate Captains:

PARTY TIME (CT-50) - captured Arrow-class 28-gun privateer frigate

Action Setup
I was leaving Orleans when it was in the middle of a redzone. I suspected I may have company. Sure enough, Party Time was out there looking for trouble. He called me out with a /challenge when he spotted me. He was in a captured Arrow frigate so I thought it would be a good fight that I had a good chance to win. I accepted and let him engage. I was surprised when he appeared to give me the weather gauge, positioning himself downwind before engaging.

The Action Itself
I recognized the tactical advantage Party Time had given himself when I recalled that the Arrow is a refit of a Cerberus, which has best point of sail perpendicular to the wind. By positioning himself downwind, Party Time was forcing me to either close with him to keep my wind or to sail upwind to keep range. I chose to keep my range as best I could while peppering him with Bar shot.

Party Time closed under fire, clearly looking to push me into the wind and rageboard me. I switched to canister as he came withing 150yards and hit him with decimate when my maindeck loaded. By this time he was along side me and pushing us both toward the eye of the wind. I kept a slight crew advantage while we both hit each other with canister. The instant I saw my grapple button light up, I used the break morale debuff to keep him from grappling me. I then grappled Party Time and attempted to take his ship. (See screenshot)

From my last encounter with Party Time I knew that boarding combat was his forte. I had only a one-wave advantage advantage and I was going to need it. I set my crew on Hold the Line and let them fend for themselves while I sought out Party Time. The wily pirate knows what he's doing. Once I got his health and balance halfway down he started kiting me toward his crew. I started drawing agro and lost my balance, and Party Time used the opportunity to shoot me, then he backed off and bandaged while I dealt with his crew. He called reinforcements when he was down to one man and I still had four. Outnumbered 2-1, I had to call my own reinforcement wave. Party Time then seized the moment when I was weakened by his crew and finished me off. By the time I respawned, most of my crew were dead and I had to burn another wave to even the numbers, and so I lost my reserve wave advantage. Party Time and I basically fought each other to a standstill while our crews killed each other off. His crew was stronger though, and when I ran out of waves he and his last two men defeated me.

Upon my return to ship combat, I was dismayed to find my bow to the wind with Party Time right on my tail. He turned and nailed me with Slaughter Their Crew - a nasty damage spike that stacks debuffs on maneuverability and guns. I was left basically dead in the water, with my turning ability hampered by the combined effects of the STC debuff and the depletion of my crew. Party Time had no trouble turning into the wind behind me. He raked me with his other broadside and boarded me with a significant crew advantage. I was only able to cut his three-wave advantage to one before I was defeated on my own decks.

Results
Chalk up another kill for Party Time. One dura lost on the Spitfire.

Lessons Learned
Wind position gave Party Time control of the engagement at the outset - something to watch for when fighting a 90-degree sailing ship.

Party Time is still better than me at boarding combat. I should have put some more Canister in him before grappling him the first time.

I still need Fortaleza gear.