Leon Dreadpratt's Guide To Cannon Defense

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Getting Loot In Cannon Defense
Ahoy I am Leon Dreadpratt a level 50 pirate, I love cannon defense and have gotten pretty good. The biggest reason people play cannon defense is because it is by far the best way to get famed cannon rams. You get loot in cannon defense about every 5-7 waves and evetyone gets loot on the same wave. I know the order as far as this, you get loot after waves 6, 13, 19, 26, 32, and 39. However each time you are not guaranteed to get a famed cannon ram or even a cannon ram at all. Past wave 20 you can hope to start getting famed but you might have to wait as far as wave 30 if you are unlucky. It is quite common to get woll cannon ram on wave 26. Think of it like this. From wave 1-20 loot is what you might expect in a loot pouch, almost always common or crude, if you are lucky a rare, and if you are insanely lucky a famed. From wave 20-40 loot is what you might expect in a loot chest, mostly rare with the occasional famed. Past wave 40 the loot is what you might expect in a skull chest, a pretty good chance of getting famed. However getting past wave 40 is obviously the hard part and the reason for this guide.

Strategies, Tips, & tricks
 Use A Mouse 

Now for cannon defense I highly suggest you use a mouse not a trackpad. If you do not have a mouse or you really do not like them fine, but using a mouse will almost certainly improve your playing. Now the reason why a mouse helps so much is because they let you make much more fluid and constant adjustments to your aim. To get the most shots and the best aim this is what I suggest you do. Take your mouse and hold it in your right hand (if you are a lefty reverse it) make sure you have a nice open area to your right to move the mouse around on such as an open tabletop. When the game starts click the right mouse button and hold it. There is no reason to let go of it. Move your mouse around to follow the ships and use your left hand to shoot (either by clicking on the left mouse button on your keyboard or clicking control) and to switch ammo by using the numbers. This is much better than using a trackpad because you can shoot while aiming much easier, and you can constantly be aiming in a much smoother, fluid, and controlled manner than using a trackpad. It helps greatly for following small ships like light sloops. Try it out in a practice game, you will find it is a much easier and natural feeling to move your right hand to the left or right to follow ships. Trust me, you will be surprised how much easier using a mouse makes things.

Sinking Each Ship
Now that you have a mouse you can start learning how to use it and your cannon best. It may or may not be surprising to hear that there are different strategies for each ship, now I will tell what those strategies are.

Light Sloops
These ships are considered some of the most annoying in the game. Tiny and fast they can be a problem for even the best cannoneers. However if you have the right strategies their equally tiny lives can make them a piece of cake. Some people love using a nice keg or firestorm to take these little guys out easily. Although this works, it can be a waste of money. These ships really aren't that hard to just shoot. The most important thing you need to be able to take these guys out fast is 5 on the shoot skill (see below). If they are moving, use your mouse to follow them and shoot a quick round (note: when I say "round" I mean 6 round shots not one) at them, remember to aim in front of them so they will move into the shot, odds are one or two will hit. If they are sitting at the beach don't shoot all the shots at the same time, they all might miss. Take a few quick sots and constantly be adjusting your aim as you shoot at them. Still as you go through the levels ships get more and more lives and get harder and harder. This makes light sloops even harder as they go from being sinkable in 2 hits to needing more like 5 or 6 hits to sink them. If you get to this point keg or firestorm might not be a bad idea. But the general rule is, only use expensiive ammo if you don't think you could do it with only round shot.

Light Galleons And Frigates
These ships are very easy. Slower and larger than the light sloops they are no problem to hit. Use your mouse to follow them, shoot one or two rounds, and they are gone. No problem.

Sloops, War Sloops, And Heavy War Sloops
These ships are fast but they are large and have relatively low lives. They really aren't that hard. For them it is best to aim for the sails. However make sure the rounds don't go through the cracks. Unloading a few rounds quickly can sink them easily.

Galleons and War Galleons
Being very large and very slow, these guys are easy targets. Though they have good lives they are easy to shoot. Unloading several rounds into their hull can sink them before they even get to the beach. If there are a lot of them it might be good to hit them with a keg or firestorm. Often this won't sink them but will still make them easy to finish off with some round shots. But make sure you are really using it well. If you think you could sink them without better ammo there is no point wasting money.

Frigates And War Frigates
These guys are a little faster than the galleons they can be a little harder. However they are still large and easy to hit. Unloading several rounds into their hulls or sails can often sink them. Again if there is a large group a keg or some firestorms can be useful. But again remember, do not waste expensive ammo on ships you could sink with round shot for free.

Heavy War Galleons And Frigates
These ships are massive and extremely hard to sink. Often times even 10 or more rounds will not sink them. If there is more then one or two out you should definitely consider a keg or two. And if you spy one of these emerging they are the only ship that might warrant a quick bait shot to keep them from wreaking havoc on the town.

The Good Ammos And How To Use Them
Now it is rather obvious that round shot isn't the only ammo you can use, even if it is the most useful. The most important thing to know about ammo is that in the beginning, you need to save money for ammo later on. One of the most obvious signs of someone who has no idea what they are doing is one that buys every new ammo the second they unlock it. Ammo like target shot, smoke bomb, and hot shot are a complete waste of money. Even ammo as tempting as mines or scatter shot are best left alone. Of course if you are not planning on getting very far you do not need to worry about saving up and you can buy all the ammo you want. But if you are hoping to get anywhere, save up . Often you will learn this the hard way the fisrt time you get pretty far. After having a great time using mines and other ammo you suddenly realise you have nowhere near enough money to buy kegs. Soon afterwards you are out of money altogether and you lose, learning your lesson, save up. However once you have learned this you need to know what ammos are useful and how to use them. As I said many times above the most important rule to know about ammo (other than round shot) is that you only ever use it when you think you will not be able to sink all the ships with just round shot. If there is a big group of light sloops it might be tempting and funny to hit them with a keg and sink them all. But odds are, though it may be tricky, you would have been able to sink the light sloops without wasting money. Always remember that as you play cannon defense.

 Round Shot By far the absolute most useful ammo in the game. Often overlooked and considered useless in higher levels, it is what you should use 99% of the time all the time. It is free which makes it impossible to waste, it does good damage, you can shoot a lot and it reloads fast, there is no situation in which it is not useful. This ammo can take out light sloops and war frigates. Use it, waste it, love it.

Powder Keg
At level 10 you unlock your first good ammo, powder keg. Now this ammo is extremely expensive and only good if you know how to use it. Unlike some people think, it is  NOT a large mine. Although it floats, if a ship runs over it it disappears without doing any damage. However, if you shoot it with round shot after it is placed, it explodes doing massive damage to a huge area. This makes it extremely efficient for taking out a large group of difficult ships in one shot. The important thing, though, is  not to waste it  as it is very expensive. Only use it when you know it will be most needed.

 Bullet Right after unlocing keg at level 10 you unlock bullet at level 11. This ammo goes very fast and straight and also does pretty good damage. This makes it exreamly good at hitting shits that are getting away, especially smaller ships.

Cold Shot
The next good ammo you get cold shot at level 13. When it hits the water it does no damage but instead freezes a small patch of it. This can help by preventing ships from moving as you pelt them with ammunition, like powder keg.

Bait Shot
The next useful ammo you get is bait shot at level 16. When it hits a ship a massive shark jumps from the water and pulls the entire ship down no matter how big. As you would think, this is best used on the largest, toughest ships of the heavy war classes that would pose a great threat otherwise. Like powder keg, it is extremely expensive and you can not waste it.

Fire Storm
Finally, firestorm can be used like a cheaper, but slightly less powerful powder keg that does not have to be shot. When it hits a ship it explodes in a huge firey burst igniting all thips in the area. It will do pretty good damage to a large area like powder keg, but without the need of a trigger. Also since this ammo is far less expensive you can use it a lot on any group of ships.

Good Skills For Cannon Defense
Now cannon defense uses different ammo than the regular cannon you have on your boat even round shot. This means that giving round shot 1 or 5 skill points will not effect how much damage round shot does in cannon defense. However many of the passive skills can be extremely useful in cannon defense.

Shoot
Perhaps the best but most overlooks skill is shoot. Yes by shoot I mean the little cannon up in the top left corner that automatically gets 1 skill point. Now it may seem useless but this is extremely helpful for cannon defense. Not because it increases your damage but because it lets you shoot faster. If you leave this on 1 point it might take you a few seconds to shoot a round of round shot. However if you put this on 5 you can shoot a round in less than a second. Now this is extremely helpful: it helps you shoot rapid fire at large ships, it lets you shoot lots of rounds at those pesky light sloops hoping one will hit, it simply lets you get more shots fired meaning more damage dealt.

Barrage
The second best skill for cannon defense is obviously barrage. Anyone who is smart has this on 5 anyway. It is like an extra skill point on every cannon and grenade attack. It goes with saying that I highly suggest you put this on 5 for cannon defense.

Rapid Reload
The final helpful skill is rapid reload. As its name implies this skill helps you reload faster. Though not necessary or as helpful it does help reduce the reload time of some shots that take longest to reload such as powder keg, bait shot, and fire storm.

Cannon Rams For Cannon Defense
Though it may seem ironic using cannon rams to get cannon rams, certain rams can be very helpful in cannon defense. As I said above extra skill points on normal cannon ammo does not carry over to cannon defense. This means the only helpful cannon rams are the ones that give boosts to the passive skills named above. And out of all the cannon rams currently in the game the only ones that boost any of those are the gunners cannon rams giving a boost to rapid reload. This means that if you are playing cannon defense the only cannon ram that will help is one of those three.

Getting Far In Cannon Defense

Practice Your Aim
To start off, if you want to get anywhere, you need to be good before you can start thinking about playing for famed. To get better, simply practice and play often. Don't worry getting very far, just work on aim and the strategies I talked about. Learn how far in front you need to aim to hit ships. Learn how far cannons fire at different angles. Learn how and where to use ammo most effectively. If you want you can even play alone. Try and sink all those pesky sloops by yourself!

Organize A Good Group
Once you feel you have become good yourself, you need some good friends. This can be very hard. Often, it is hard enough getting four people to start at the same time, let alone four good people. I cannot help you here; you need to figure out some way to organize this yourself. Either in the game, on the wiki, among real friends, however you can.

<h3 style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Make Sure You Have Time This can be hard because games can last hours and often time unexpected things might pop up. But still try your best to make sure you and all your team mates really are up for it. One of the easiest ways to lose in cannon defense is if someone in your group has to leave the game or stop playing. If someone has to stop for just one wave even if they don't exit the game, the other three people will have to sink four people's worth of ships. Often times you will be amazed at how quickly ships will start getting by if someone leaves. You can easily lose half your wealth in one wave.

<h3 style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> Open Fire! Make sure everyone in your group is familiar with these strategies and knows what to do. Start the game at the same time and be ready. Be prepared for hours of shooting. But know that in that one game you could get several good cannon rams including the highly prized revenant cannon ram!