Explain Privateers, Privateer Efficiency and their usage

[Empreorpoef]

what's up with privateers? are they useful? when? what does privateer efficiency actually do?

 

[Viperswhip]

what's up with privateers? are they useful? when? what does privateer efficiency actually do?

Well, they get you money from trade nodes you don't have much power in, and they generate CBs and earn you influence points if you are doing it where your rival trades. For example, I often end up rivaling the Ottos as Castile long before I end up going to war with them, but 30-50 privateers gets me quite a few points, reduces their income, gives me income and can start a trade war if I want to. Efficiency increases how much money you steal and how much of that ends up in your pocket. You also don't pay maintenance for the fleets irc, but they still count towards your naval force limit.

That's off the top of my head, I am hardly a EU4 mechanics expert.

 

[Doeko]

Privateer efficiency multiplies the amount of money the privateers make by that percentage. It is like trade efficiency.

 

[LordSolar]

privateers are useful for trade nodes that are downstream

 

[DKinator]

Privateers are only good when you're in a poor node with a good amount of naval forcelimits. For example, Tunisia (who also gets privateer efficiency in their ideas). Generally, it's not something you want to build around, though. Your main goal as someone like Tunisia would be to invade the Seville node and have your trade capital there. Incidentally, because of how privateers work and trade in general (a percent of the total wealth in a node relative to one's trade power), the end nodes (Seville, Antwerpen, Venice, Bordeaux, and, to an extent, Lubeck) will always be the best source to privateer. It's kinda weird that at no point in the game would it ever be wise to use privateers in the Caribbean. Maybe if privateers also did something else like damaging trade efficiency of other nations in the pirated node they'd be more useful.

 

[fangmanator]

I've almost always just found it more useful to collect/steer trade in a node rather than use privateers. Granted, this requires an unoccupied merchant.

I wish privateering light ships could do battle with opposing light ships that are protecting trade.

 

[DKinator]

I've almost always just found it more useful to collect/steer trade in a node rather than use privateers. Granted, this would require an unoccupied merchant.

I wish privateering light ships could battle with opposing light ships that are protecting trade.

To do so, the nature of protecting trade/privateering would have to change. It'd have to have a cooldown of sort (1 year mandatory of trade protection, 2 year mandatory of privateering, for example) so people can't switch in and out of it to cheese naval battles. The upside would be the need to actually protect your fleets with heavies/galleys. The big problem with ship costs and the associated lack of rebuilding fleets would still be there, though.

 

[ponasozis]

privateers are most useful to me against rivals who embargo me not only i don t receive trade penalty but also i gain more power projection