How do you train Cannons by yourself?

[Red Nations]

For me leveling my cannon was very difficult with my first pirate and it was the skill I mastered last with him. I learned early on that accepting those blind friend and crew invites was not a good thing. Just as crewing anyone who showed up demanding to be crewed was a bad thing. The question became how to get crewed aboard a higher level pirates ship in order to find opportunities to level up my cannons and get some good loot in the bargain. I began watching for higher level 20 and above players in port and when I saw one I'd strike up a conversation with them asking things such as, asking if they were getting ready to sail, and if so could they use another gunner in crew. This worked a lot better than accepting those blind crew invites which usually turned out to be newbie pirates with light sloops.

When sailing alone what works for me is keeping the compass open and using it like a radar screen. I'll spot a ship I wish to target and I'll use the compass as a guide to parking my ship at a safe distance from the target. If you park too close the enemy will clobber you before you can take down their sails and render them harmless. Then I'll tag the enemy ship with a hit to get its attention and get it turned and sailing toward my ship. On lower level pirates I use roundshot for this on higher level pirates I use lightening. Once the enemy ship is heading my direction I switch to chainshot and take out all the masts and sails. Once this is done I switch back to roundshot and finish off the enemy ship.