Why don't patrols always intercept pirates?

[unmerged(58333)]

Giday.
When you have a fleet on patrol;and it passes through a sea that contains the enemy or pirates;why is it only "some times" that your fleet will engage the enemy fleet.
example:
My fleet of ten warships passes through the Winward Isles.
It contains two pirates.
Some times there is an engaement;and sometimes not.



Thanks.

 

[unmerged(16181)]

Basically, it's random. Every sea province includes a great deal of area. Sometimes your fleet happens to pass through the same part of the sea zone as the enemy fleet, other times it passes through a different part.

 

[unmerged(52850)]

Small numbers of ships in a zone have a larger probability to avoid enemies. One ship is more likely to slip away then four - sometimes you find them, sometimes you don't.

 

[unmerged(62118)]

Small numbers of ships in a zone have a larger probability to avoid enemies. One ship is more likely to slip away then four - sometimes you find them, sometimes you don't.

A lot of times if your fleet is patrolling, if you stop the fleet it will attack the pirates, or them attack you whatever. That happens to me in my game every time pretty much.

 

[unmerged(53580)]

there will be an automatic battle if both fleets stand still in that province.
If one or both are moving it's a chance of battle happening, I think larger fleets and higher tech makes that chance greater.

 

[unmerged(3931)]

Actually, you can stop your fleet in waters where there are hostile fleets (pirate or otherwise). It is just that if the hostile sea-zone is the last sea-zone in your movement path you will always have a battle with enemy ships if they are standing still. Pirates are not often on the move. So you can engage them if you want to and you can avoid them most of the time when you want to. If you want to avoid a naval battle but also want to spend some time loading or unloading troops, you can make your movement path to move through the hostile waters. If the ships reach the hostile waters without battle, you can stop the ships and there is still no battle unless new ships (either yours or an enemy's) enter the sea-zone.