Fire Behaviours & Strats - Using Firebombs Better

[@LoonieToque]

Couple more pointers! PvP via cannons: Basically, don't use firebombs. It's too easy to put out the fire before it spreads. If you do, use it only against an already-busy galleon on the back deck/cabin area that might go unnoticed long enough to spread (at which point it _can_ be overwhelming). It's basically gotta cook undisturbed for a over two minutes before becoming a burden. PvE Skeleton Ships: When set on fire, they will put distance between your ship and their own ship temporarily. You can use this to get better shots if they're too close, or to reduce their cannon frequency against you for a bit.

[@cobefriend7797]

I always wondered why skeleton ships dipped after getting firebombed…. Thank you!

[@ddouble--g]

I would like to add. If a newbie spams these bombs against old players, it will make them angry and spawncamp will be possible :D

[@geyrnauch]

I've found firebombs to be an effective tool in situations more than just already busy crews. If a crew is uncoordinated or inexperienced, it compounds to eventually do a huge amount of damage, and can be at least annoying to those more experienced. While firing the cannons, I fire a chain of balls going "ball, ball, ball, fire, ball, ball, ball, fire, etc." for instance to just slowly crank fire into them. This gives them something else to worry about. For a crew who is undersupplied, it drains their food as ideally, the fire makes them take damage, and then they run out and die a lot. A galleon or brig can't keep firing constantly or effectively if their cannon line is on fire, neither can their helm work at 100% efficiency if they're on fire. Send a boarder, instant chaos, ship sinks. This doesn't work for higher level players, but that's not most of the people I've seen on the seas.

[@ianbelletti6241]

If you can hold the ship the ideal is across the top of the ship. It takes longer for the fire to do damage and sink the ship but it creates more holes increasing the sink rate once hull damage occurs.

[@LoonieToque]

@@ianbelletti6241 Across the top, you need to wait for an origin-type spread _and then_ another spread-type spread at 60 seconds to get downward fire (so that it can damage the hull). It would take your fire nearly 3 minutes just to reach the hull to do damage, meanwhile the methods shown in the video have the ship sinking before even 2 minutes, start to finish

[@veranto3331]

Fire is mostly a great support tool during combat, you can make Galleon crews turn crazy if you ignite a few fires on their ship ! Definitely a great tool to use against bigger crews

[@LoonieToque]

Indeed, but pretty much only the galleon (and in the cabin/back deck so it can go unnoticed - best to have some pressure on them first!)

[@bpmgaming3351]

@@LoonieToque I think he may have meant it as a tool to apply pressure. If you can firebomb a gally's entire deck with your cannons, you've just given that crew a lot of extra work to do, taking pressure away from yourself. For newer crews, the workload of that combined with bilging often proves to be too much.

[@TheoWadeFraser]

This guy just released bop after bop. Instructional videos that feel closer to real science that just video game guides. Truly unlike any other SoT guide on KZbin, the best of all. Keep it up. Incredible work man.

[@LoonieToque]

Thank you so much for the kind words! I'm absolutely thrilled to have this sandbox to science in

[@A_Dark_Divide]

I’d say it can be rivaled by phuzzybond

[@bobmcbob49]

I'd like to add something else I've noticed, courtesy of the Burning Blade: Only origin fires leave burn marks on your ship. That's why the Ashen Roar will leave your ship looking completely charred, but some firebombs getting out of control won't.

[@LoonieToque]

Oooh interesting! Thanks for sharing! I threw so many firebombs when making this that my ship was always fully charred 😂

[@Nudgarrobot]

I've been doing a lot of shepherding around some friends who are newer to the game, and sometimes carrying fights as a boarder is the best way to see them through something. They can turtle, but their naval is... Well, they're working on it. Fire has been my absolute best friend for this. Sinking ships of all categories while holding down their respawns as a lone boarder is insane, and surprisingly effective. Using it as a distraction/softener on the upper decks/places you can't cover as easily from spawns so that the other crew is busier when they have to confront you on whatever deck you're holding is also just so nice

[@zaro8845]

I remember watching a video that showed firebombs taking 6 minutes to sink a ship! Its crazy how these optimizations can cut that down to a quarter of the time

[@LoonieToque]

Oh cool! Yeah if you don't choose optimal spots, it can take a looong time

[@bobmcbob49]

This finally explains some phenomena I've noticed but never really put any thought into. Namely that fires seem to take a really long time to start to spread, but once that happens you're in trouble.

[@LoonieToque]

Exactly! I was surprised to learn the mechanic behind this feeling. Feels validating

[@stephenhruby8763]

The emptying their water bucket never occurred to me... and I've been on the seas way too long. Great Tips!

[@michaelvossen7253]

Can you make a video on the Horn of Fair Winds? Where it spawns. How it functions. And how much speed it gives your ship. I've also heard rumors that it's easier to find in certain locations.

[@Bryce_da_pilot]

I think they’re more common in the wilds. I find them every time I do a siren sanctuary

[@pianokruemel]

I love this type of information videos lately on this channel. Keep up the food work 😊

[@_anonymous_8]

Hello there, tomorrow I'll buy Sea Of Thieves on the PS5, I am hoping I can learn naval fighting with your videos, I wasted 2 hours of my day watching guides from some time ago to learn this, then I saw your video from 2 weeks ago about the sailing update, so yeah, thanks!

[@LoonieToque]

Welcome to the Sea of Thieves, glad to help! If you have any questions, feel free to swing by my livestreams (on Twitch) and I'll be happy to answer anything there too if that lines up 😊 there's so much to the seas for you to explore!

[@pixelcraft8773]

Good luck

[@oguncanakyol6473]

this guy makes banger videos

[@crowofshadow]

Super solid guide. Keep up the good work! I don't know how you came out of nowhere with me noticing just now, but I'm glad I did!

[@thebadbanana5222]

you give tutorials on the most helpful things and always explain everything in great detail, keep up the great work!

[@geromemariette1280]

That's gonna help so much in faction battles thank you for making this video it's a really great tool 👍

[@Thaxos]

More science, more fire! Keep the awesome vids coming!

[@xsv-]

Great video! Also sidenote, I really like the aspect ratio for your videos. Always looks great on ultrawide :)

[@Devast8r34]

Thank you

[@youtubenotifications2150]

In a pvp scenario, if im resorting to boarding and fire to sink a ship i tend to try and eat all of their food whenever they are respawning and place fire where they are likely to want to stand When successfully done it just means everyone is in a consistent one shot range unless they spawn on a part of the ship thats filling with water, which is usually where id hang around in such a scenario

[@Derizo2]

LoonieToque my goat

[@Ian-e1s4h]

It’s wizard time motherfrigger! FIREBALL!!!!!

[@johnyguitar8859]

Amazing video

[@humblymumbly367]

If you aren't already, start cutting these up for shorts, this is info people will sub for more of. Keep it up!

[@LoonieToque]

Definitely on the list of to-dos, gotta balance my time though! New long form video on the way soon 👀

[@stusstus1473]

Firefighters at the end😂😂😂

[@Pyromaniax]

as a fire enjoyer I approve

[@sozy5307]

Great vid, fire is kinda weird in this game. Still not entirely sure how best to utilize them while on cannons, they really feel like a boarders weapon if you miss your boards a lot. Some testing on how skeleton ships interact with fire would be greatly appreciated if youre ever doing science on how their AI works, no clue how they put the fires out if they cant bucket.

[@LoonieToque]

Ooo I do have notes for you. For cannon usage, yeah, basically use anything else. If you're fighting a galleon and already have pressure on them, getting fire on the back deck/cabin so it can go unnoticed and spread can be useful. It's specifically getting to that spread state that's useful. The smaller ships are too easy to put out mid-combat though, before it can ever spread. For skelly ships, when on fire, they will put some distance between themselves and the player ship. I used to do this a lot because they often get too close to hit the lower deck holes!

[@sozy5307]

@@LoonieToque Oh thank you! I like cruising around and going after skele ships when im sailing solo. The desire was to use fire to clear a broadside so I can get shots, but a bullet that gives some breathing room sounds really good too! ^^

[@knyt0]

on sloop you can get 3 lower holes with fire, throw one at the front, and one immediately after at the stove, then you throw 3 at the back. you'll get 6 upper holes, and 3 lower

[@LoonieToque]

It's definitely possible, but was unreliable in my testing (the second fire would often extinguish before popping a hole). That said, if you have more than a pocket of firebombs then absolutely go for it! I find most people have no firebombs in their barrels these days, so it's BYO fire in many cases

[@AtomicSoul29]

There’s something I’ve been curious about and I highly doubt it’s a feature, but if you butted up two ships against each other, could fire spread from ship to ship?

[@LoonieToque]

That would be interesting! A single firebomb when the ships are close to each _can_ start fires on both ships at once (I've done this many times by accident 😂) but fires otherwise won't spread between ships

[@VskutkuTrigen]

can you make video like this about voice chat ? I have no idea how much the trumpet works how far can people hear you and stuff like that

[@LoonieToque]

I'll note that for a short! It's definitely WAY less range than most people think!

[@jantakashi8382]

Another interesting thing you could maybe tryout is how much speed do you lose if you raise the front sail of the brig just a bit. Because I'm wondering how much speed am I losing for more visability.

[@LoonieToque]

It's pretty negligible - basically impossible to get numbers, but the courtesy curl won't make a meaningful difference in your top speed

[@bpbp7407]

ive never once thought this much about the fire but every single spot you said to put the firebombs is where i throw them everytime i board a ship... lol. I have 200+ hours and lvl 100 rep reapers lol

[@LoonieToque]

The sloop and brig spots are pretty intuitive (entirely by accident, surely), the only odd one really is the galleon. There's a lot of "dead zones" on the galleon that cause no holes!

[@luigigaminglp]

On the Galleon, front mid deckand balcony/capitaains quarters are great spots. Not for sinking them, but for causing trouble. Also, after you did all this take one of their worms/food items and put it on the stove. They might not notice it if there already is fire elsewhere and it might ignite later. But thats only if you have PLENTY of time which you usually dont.

[@LoonieToque]

Agree! If you have the 5 minutes for the food fire to start and they haven't sunk to the other fire yet, things are probably already very much not in your favour! May as well start getting your ship with cannons back at that point

[@luigigaminglp]

@@LoonieToque the food thingy is more of a "in case they recover" so yeah you are already back on your ship. And even if they take it off you just burnt two pieces of their best food.

[@RmacNet]

I remember when I picked up SoT around 2-3 years ago I seem to recall the fire would spread way more aggressively. It wasn't uncommon to have a player ship completely engulfed off 5 bombs. I only got back into the game around a week or so ago and they seem way less aggressive. Was this something they actually nerfed? Or am I just misremembering?

[@LoonieToque]

I started around 3 years ago. Fire feels the same to me as back then, but I was also a less knowledgeable pirate then. Hard to know for sure!

[@toykthetoker7174]

FOR SCIENCE!!!!!!

[@URUGHUAY]

how loonie can i ask you how you got the lantern at 2:58 it was like a twich drop or someting? thanks ;)

[@LoonieToque]

It is indeed from Twitch drops! "Rascal Sea Dog Lantern" Unsure if it will ever come back, but I do like the more plain styles tbh

[@ThMindFdr]

I enjoy turning skele ships into giant torches..

[@LoonieToque]

There's nothing quite like it, especially at night!

[@isvvc_]

Sad how fire below deck just puts itself out

[@Thewellow123]

Useless facts are the best facts. 10/10

[@giga8922]

Not really useless tho

[@ManipulateHavoc]

Yikes. The more I learn about fire, the less I wanna use it. I’ll become a fossil by the time fire pops a hole on my enemy 😂.

[@LoonieToque]

Yepp lol. I really only use it on the back of galleons when they already have a bunch of repairs to do (where it can cook unnoticed), just to push them over the chaotic edge

[@miraculousmulatto]

The whole point of putting fire on a gally is to cause chaos, make em eat through their good food, and distract the opps bilge keeping them off cannons. fire spread on a gally is always a big up. You know the intricacies but I believe you underestimated the value of fire on a gally. Just my 2 cents. -barlow24601, hg level 600

[@LoonieToque]

Might wanna check the pinned comment 😅 it didn't make the video, but I absolutely agree. If I discouraged this in the video, my bad, would love to know where I messed up that communication!

[@colymoli4311]

fire may be not a problem for the ship, but its anoying when you constantly take damage from it. the fire is wasting your food

[@RevBomb600]

Sir, while i appreciate your concern, my boat burning is my business and I dont much care for your judgemental attitude towards it 😂

[@EvenNinegaming]

"Sinking a galley with fire isn't really viable" I think you underestimate how poorly it goes when we let my crews flex helm for a galley hg match. (Both ships anchored touching each other neither with an angle)

[@LoonieToque]

For a galleon it can absolutely cause some chaos, but I more meant that fire alone is unlikely to be successful

[@EvenNinegaming]

@LoonieToque I agree the issue is when this guy helms the fire is the only thing putting holes in the boat XD

[@pkr1rama7]

Yay it's real

[@AlvinChipmunk-k6n]

I shall become an arsonist

[@colymoli4311]

when is fire damaging my mast to fall?

[@LoonieToque]

Using the info from 1:25 (and throughout the rest of the video), in ideal conditions starting with a fully repaired mast, it would be over 4 minutes to fully damage a mast to the point it falls. The first fire would only damage it twice, extinguish itself, and then another fire needs to start there before doing the final crack of damage 1 minute after the second fire lights.

[@Phantasmguy]

And now, useless against the Burning Blade

[@LoonieToque]

Apparently! Not too big of a deal ultimately, but certainly an interesting choice

[@CanadianToaster22]

22 dislikes are from non arsonists

[@LoonieToque]

They clicked in the wrong spot, much like they threw their firebombs in the wrong spot smh

[@crazzyjay7785]

No navel combat with firebomb and cannonball mix fire and how to best use them in pvp or pve 5/10 😪

[@LoonieToque]

For everyone's benefit: basically don't use fire in PvP because it's too easy to put out. Back deck/cabin fire is useful on a galleon that's already overwhelmed because it's hard to notice before it spreads, but that's it. PvE ships don't really react to fire except by putting distance between the player and NPC ship.

[@UndertakerFromWWE]

I love the science behind the hole popping in the video, that knowledge in itself is a great pvp tip. If you want more fire tips throw the firebomb near the cannon line and wheel to prevent the enemy from using these in battle without taking damage.

[@aaronwesley2816]

@@UndertakerFromWWE Yea, I see fire as much more of a suppression tool than a sinking tool. Can be decent for some areal denial, and is just another thing that the crew needs to do, especially if it starts to spread out of control.