Category:Ship of the Line

Definition
A Ship of the Line is a massive class of war vessel first constructed in the 17th century and on into the mid 19th century. Their name is derived from the battle strategy of a fleet forming a single line of their heaviest ships using their combined broadside guns at their enemy. Vessels varied in size from two cannon-decked 50-gun ships up to four-deckers amassing over 130 cannons.

Historically, these ships were built for large naval confrontations but were often ill-equipped to deal with the lighter, faster ships employed by privateers and pirates. Spain's King Phillip sent a massive Spanish Armada to attack England. Many of the ships in the Armada were Ships of the Line.

The "Ship of the Line" would usually have bronze cannons (the bronze cannons would last longer and looked cool). The cannons on the lower decks would usually use 42 pound cannons used for blasting away at other "Ship of the Line's" these cannons were about twice of the size of a 12 pound cannon. And the cannons at the top deck where 12 pound cannons and where usually used to take out other cannons or crew members these cannons were about a foot or two higher then a man. (Currently these cannons aren't in the game).

Game Play
In Pirates Online, it first appeared as the Goliath, and then as level 79-85 enemies. Primarily as for now, they are boss ships of Treasure Fleets of the EITC and Royal Navy. They are the most powerful ships to be found in the Caribbean. They have a very formidable hull, capable of withstanding huge amounts of damage. They have 14 above Deck Guns and 24 Broadside Cannons. The ammunition they use is said to be Round Shots, Firebrand, Chain Shot, and Explosives. In addition to be such a powerful vessel in its own right, these ships are accompanied by a group of escort ships (ex. Elite or Tyrant) when leading Treasure Fleets.

Ship of the Line Class Vessels
Note: HMS stands for H is or H er M ajesty's S hip
 * HMS Newcastle- Fires Chain Shot/Firebrand
 * HMS Invincible- Fires Firebrand/Explosive
 * The Goliath- Only encountered during the Black Pearl Boss Battle.
 * HMS Victory- Fires Firebrand/Round Shot
 * EITC Leviathan- Fires Chain Shot/Firebrand
 * EITC Conqueror- Fires Chain Shot/Explosive
 * EITC Intrepid- Fires Firebrand/Round Shot

Escort Ships
To date, except for the Goliath, no Ship of the Line has been spotted without smaller, but still powerful craft protecting it. These war frigates form a circle around the larger ship and travel alongside until it reaches its destination. Should any vessel open fire on them or the Ship of the Line, then ALL of the escorts will work in unison to sink the offending vessel.

EITC

 * EITC Tyrant

Navy

 * Navy Elite

Test Server - August 2nd, 2010
'''On August 2nd in Test the Ship of the Line could be bought from the Shipwright for 200,000 gold pieces. This no longer appears, the released notes say it is not ready for this feature.'''

Test Server Release Notes - August 3rd, 2010

 * Removed new ship types from the Shipwrights. This feature is not ready for release and needs further development.
 * Fixed Guild Manager errors related to the recent Guild updates and Veteran class addition.

Noted Ships of the Line

 * Dauntless - Massive Ship of the Line under command of Commodore James Norrington.
 * Endeavour - A 100-gun tri-decked Ship of the Line that led Lord Beckett's armada.