Knowing the Enemy: Pirate Ports

Cabo Raphael
Region: Antilles

Geographic Location: North coast of Hispaniola near the eastern tip of the island.

Resources: Fertile Soil (Sugar), River

Economic Analysis: Cabo is rarely used as an econ port, since what little resources it has can also be found at nearby Guanica, which is closer to the econ hub of Ruddy Cove. Some plantation farming, sugar refining, rum distillation and provisioning may be found here. Textiles is probably the most significant business that will be based here - its proximity to Whitby allows a good two-port setup for producing hemp rope.

Strategic Analysis: Putting Cabo in the red won't put more than a handful of pirates out of business, and maybe put a small dent in their textile production. Most pirates would barely notice the economic impact, and many would actually appreciate the red zone conveniently located between their economic hubs of MT and Ruddy.

Carlos Harbor
Region: Florida

Geographic Location: West coast of Florida, just south of the French port of Tampa near the modern-day city of Fort Meyers, FL.

Resources: Abundant Game, Fertile Soil (Sugar), Forest (Fir), Natural Harbor

Economic Analysis: Carlos Harbor is a versatile economic port and uniquely suited to the production of textiles since having both fertile soil and a fir forest allows a pirate to produce hemp rope entirely on-site. Leather, rum and provisionings are other industries supported by Carlos.

Strategic Analysis: Disrupting trade at Carlos Harbor would put a noticeable dent in the production of ships and sail outfittings for the pirates.

Cat Island
Region: Bahamas

Geographic Location: Roughly in the center of the Bahamas, west of Riding Rocks and east of Nassau.

Resources: Abundant Game, Forest (Fir)

Economic Analysis: Cat Island's sparse resources belie its economic significance. Cat is one of two "stater" ports which are the equivalent of Bartica and Les Hattes for the British players; this is where new pirates go to learn the economy. Many never grow out of these starter ports, because unlike their British analogs, Cat and Whitby are centrally located and very close to an economic hub. Cat's most important industries are leather, provisioning, lumber and tar. With minimal effort and investment, a player can start and maintain an extremely profitable self-sufficient leather trade here. Fir logging, lumber and tar distillation support textiles and shipbuilding at the crucial ports of La Isabella and Matthew Town nearby.

Strategic Analysis: Since this is a "noob" port, Cat has a built-in contention cooldown, and has few NPC fleets sailing by. This makes it a difficult port to grind. The payoff, however, would be a severe blow to the pirate economy and a severe disruption to the lives of new players.

De L'Isle
Region: Antilles

Geographic Location: Southernmost island in the lesser Antilles, north of Trinidad (Port of Spain) and southwest of Barbados (Bridgetown)

Resources: Fertile Soil (Sugar), River

Economic Analysis: Very likely the least important port in pirate possession. (I'll put it this way: Sharkey Roche - the economic coordinator for the largest pirate society on the Rackham server - has never once set foot in De L'Isle and does not know of a single pirate who runs econ out of that port.) It's possible to run a self-sufficient provisioning business out of DLI, but it's so bleedin' far away from every other pirate port and has no unique resources, so there is no benefit whatsoever to working out of there.

Strategic Analysis: Most pirates wouldn't even know where to find De L'Isle to countergrind it. Few would bother to come to its defense except to make a nuisance of themselves in PvP. They might show up to the port battle in a bunch of Hornet Gunboats as a practical joke. It's an easy port to flip, but only because it is of no value to the pirates. And the resulting redzone will restrict access to Bridgetown and sailing routes to Guyana, which would be a hindrance to lawful British trade.

Golden Lake
Region: Mexico

Geographic Location: Now known as Matagorda Bay on the coast of Texas. Between the pirate ports of Jacob's Clock and Turpitude.

Resources: Abundant Game, Guano Caves, Limestone, Silver Deposits*

Economic Analysis: Despite its valuable resources, GL's remote location limits its usefulness to the pirate economy. A very successful metalworks business can be run out of GL and neighboring Turpitude if the pirate doesn't mind making long hauls clear across the Gulf of Mexico to sell his wares. Leather, provisioning and gunpowder are other industries that work out of GL.

Strategic Analysis: The remoteness of the port protects it from RvR, and for this reason a lot of mid-level pirates use it as an economic base. An attack here will disrupt the production of some vital goods but there are no resources here that can't be found elsewhere (and elsewhere is automatically somewhere closer to the center of the map.)

Guanica
Region: Antilles

Geographic Location: Southwest corner of Puerto Rico.

Resources: Copper Deposits, Fertile Soil (Sugar), River

Economic Analysis: This port has everything found in nearby Cabo, but also has Copper. The proximity of this resource to Ruddy Cove (which is an econ hub and the pirates' only source of Zinc) makes Guanica absolutely vital to the production of brass and by extension, everything from bronze shot to lineship bundles. Other important industries in Guanica include textiles, rum and provisionings.

Strategic Analysis: I won't say pirates can't live without Guanica, but it will make life exceedingly difficult for the shipbuilders working out of Ruddy Cove. The redzone would make even sailing in to Ruddy a minor adventure.

La Isabella
Region: Antilles

'''Geographic Location: North coast of Cuba just east of Havana.

Resources: Fertile Soil (sugar), Forest (Teak),* Iron Deposits, River

Economic Analysis: The Teak forest makes this port indispensable to the pirate shipbuilding industry. Sources of oak to the west (Santa Clara) fir to the north (Cat) and ironwood to the east (MT) make La Is the perfect port for a pirate to set up a thriving lumber and carpentry business. Iron deposits with limestone in nearby SC form the most important iron production base for the pirate economy. Other important industries here are leather, rum, textiles and provisionings.

Strategic Analysis: The pirates can't survive without La Is. When this port is in the red, their only other source of iron is way over in Turpitude, and they have to sail through a redzone blocking the Florida Strait to get to it. All other resources coming out of the Gulf (especially gunpowder) have to negotiate the redzone or sail all the way around Cuba. The entire lumber industry would grind to an abrupt halt. The entire pirate economy would suffer if La Is gets flipped.

Matthew Town
Region:Antilles

Geographic Location: Great Inagua - the southernmost island in the Bahamas. North end of the Windward Passage (separating Cuba and Hispaniola)

Resources: Abundant Game, Deep Natural Harbor, Fertile Soil, Forest (Ironwood)*

Economic Analysis: This port is the cornerstone of the entire pirate economy. It is one of only two pirate ports with a deep natural harbor, and the only port with ironwood, but most importantly it is located in roughly the exact center of the map. Shipbuilding and ship outfittings are the dominant industries at MT.

Strategic Analysis: MT is prime real estate for three reasons: Location, location, location! This where pirates come to buy and sell almost everything and especially ship outfittings. It's the center of the map, it's right on top of the Red Triangle, and hull outfittings are produced on site. The pirate economy would be crippled with MT out of their hands. If this port was flipped every week, the entire pirate nation would wither and die.

Ruddy Cove
Region: Antilles

Geographic Location: Northwest end of the Lesser Antilles chain, just south of Spanish Town and west of Orleans.

Resources: Deep Natural Harbor, Fertile Soil (Sugar), Zinc Deposits*

Economic Analysis: This is the second city of the pirate economy. Besides MT it is the only other pirate port with a deep natural harbor. It is also the pirates' only source of zinc. This is a production hub for ships and all ship outfittings, and major supporting industries, especially brass, textiles, and munitions.

Strategic Analysis: Ruddy's strategic value is exceeded only by MT, and MT only trumps Ruddy because of its central location. If anything, Ruddy is even more vital to the production of ships and outfittings. The pirate economy would be crippled without Ruddy, and would likely dry up completely if this port was flipped every week.

Sabanqui
Region: New Spain

Geographic Location: On the north coast of New Spain just southwest of Campeche.

Resources: Granite

Economic Analysis: Remote location and limited resources make this port as irrelevant as DLI.

Strategic Analysis: See above. Also, its deep in the heart of Spain's noob territory and is therefore not a viable target.

Santa Clara
Region: New Spain

Geographic Location: Northern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula, just east of Sisal and north of Ambergris.

Resources: Forest (Oak),* Granite, Guano Caves, Limestone

Economic Analysis: SC is an important source of important resources like oak (which is not found in any other pirate port) limestone and saltpeter (which are found nowhere else except faraway Golden Lake.) This makes it an absolutely vital economic port despite its relatively inconvenient placement. Lumber, iron foundries and especially powder mills abound in Santa Clara.

Strategic Analysis: SC is an easy port to grind; eight-pack pirate fleets seem to cruise through as if they were on a Swiss railroad timetable. SC is hugely important to all aspects of the pirate economy. The pirates won't exactly be crippled without SC, but they will miss it very much.

St. Rose's Bay
Region: Louisiana

Geographic Location: Florida Panhandle near modern-day Panama City, FL; between Pensacola and Port St. Joe.

Resources: Abundant Game, Fertile Soil (Sugar), Sulfur*

Economic Analysis: StR is home to only a couple of resources but none so vital as sulfur. Without sulfur, there's no black powder, and without black powder in prodigious quantities, there's none of those big explosions that pirates so dearly love.

Strategic Analysis: If StR is taken out, the effects would not be immediately apparent. But before long, powder mills run out of sulfur, and weaponsmiths run out of powder, and then everybody runs out of ammo. If StR were flipped weekly, the pirates would soon be reduced to fighting back with basic shot. A redzone here would cover Pensacola and Port St. Joe, which would probably annoy the French.

Turpitude
Region: Mexico

Geographic Location: Gulf Coast northeast of Golden Lake, near modern-day Galveston, TX.

Resources: Copper Deposits, Fertile Soil (Grapes),* Iron Deposits

Economic Analysis: Despite its remote location, Turp is an important source of metal ore and an even more important source of wine and cheese. Pirates in the provisioning trade learn quickly to make friends in Turpitude. As mentioned above in the description of Golden Lake, this is also a quiet, out-of-the-way place to mass-produce a huge amount of metal.

Strategic Analysis: An attack on Turpitude would be unexpected and slightly devastating to the pirate economy.

Whitby
Region: Bahamas

Geographic Location: Far east end of the Bahamas, just west of Grand Turk and northeast of Matthew Town

Resources: Abundant Game, Forest (Fir), Granite

Economic Analysis: Along with Cat Island, this is one of the starter ports for the pirate economy. And like Cat Island, lots of players like to stay here to build their business, and for the same reasons as with Cat Island with the added bonus of a source of granite.

Strategic Analysis: Similar to Cat Island, Whitby is difficult to grind but a successful flip would be a major disruption to the pirate economy and slow the growth of their low-level players.