This guide is for beginners who really want to like UAAOS, but are frustrated by losing all the time. I suggest first reading the Easy Cheesy guide for general principles. That said, this guide does not use any cheese: no reloads to get better results. It does not teach you how to sail. You must learn that on your own in the tutorial. Rather, it focuses on how to win each of the battles. But be aware that this is a slow game; patience and micromanagement of ships in regard to wind speed and direction and troops in regard to flanking are necessary to obtain the best results. If you don’t like to micromanage, stop reading here

Suggested Prologue choices

Disguise as a cabin boy – grants you more cash reward after missions. You need cash for everything.
Purchase a farm – grants you +1 reputation per battle. You need reputation to convert trophies and sometimes to hire soldiers and crews
Concern for health of crew – grants you +5% casualty replacement after battles = reduced cost
Select easy for naval and land

A couple of caveats: wind direction may vary from what I encountered in my play through, so my strategy may prove more difficult to implement. And, though it’s more common on medium difficulty, in later battles the enemy ship load out and names may be slightly different from what I describe.


You have the 18 gun brig Vengeance escorting the transport brig Earlston. Against you are the 12 gun sloop Alderney and the 12 gun cutter Oakwood, but they are separated. Your job is not to sink them because you are outgunned but to protect the Earlston. Set the Earlston on a course to the exit band and forget about her. Rough up the nearest British ship until the other one arrives, then keep Vengeance between the British ships and the Earlston until it reaches the exit band. Vengeance will take damage, but it should not be enough to sink it. Mission accomplished.

Use your career award to increase mission award under Admiralty. You need all the cash you can get.

You may have a ship perk available for Vengeance. I would pick Morale so the crew is less likely to rout due to ship or crew damage but Stamina is good too.

Choose Bunker Hill because you can complete this with no losses and you will receive damage from British ships if you select the naval option.

Research Fusiliers

Select Earlston and hire one regiment of fusiliers at strength of 150. Cadet officer is okay. Always equip with bayonet muskets if possible. I don’t initiate melee often early on but you have to be able to defend against melee.

In the battle, your core unit will remain near the banner on the hill. Use the other troops you are given to fight the battle. Use the two artillery units on the hill against any attackers in front until the artillery is eliminated. Have each backed up by a regiment of militia in defense posture. There will be an attack by three British regiments on the banner on the left flank. Allocate one of your arriving units to help against this and move the 1st NH down the hill to be ready to hit the attackers in the flank. Position your third artillery unit on the hill to fire into the flank of these attackers until they are defeated. Position other units on the hill as reserves to be used as needed.

After battle – you have three career points to allocate to mission reward.

You receive the 18 gun brig Andrew Doria. There are two missions plus a side mission.

3.1 Letter of Marque

You come upon two transports plus a single escort, 12 gun cutter Lyon. Your goal: capture all three.
Send both brigs to bracket Lyon with grapeshot until it surrenders, then board it to capture. Then send one brig after each transport to rake them with grapeshot until they surrender.

Allocate career point to either mission reward or reputation. Redeem trophy Lyon for your fleet to use as a fire ship in a later battle.

3.1 Meal for Patriots

You are escorting armed merchantman Minerva with Vengeance and Andrew Doria, opposed by three British ships, 20 gun brigs Katherine and Sherwood and 12 gun cutter Cruizer. You are outgunned except… Minerva has 30 guns, including 12 pounders. She can defend herself. Watch her tear up the brigs. Vengeance and Andrew Doria can stay out of trouble by making passes in front of her lobbing balls at the brigs as well. Don’t let them get close enough to board and capture Minerva though. One brig may try after it picks up the survivors of the first one. If they do board, my guess is you can still win by sinking the British ships, then raking Minerva until it surrenders and recapture, but your ships will receive much more damage.

Allocate career points to mission reward or reputation until all are filled.

You should try to complete all side missions if the likelihood of success is 80% or higher because you get money and reputation, both of which you need to build and equip your fleet. Take all three ships on this side mission.

Make any repairs on your ships after the side mission.

Research: British War Supply – to start getting better muskets
Industry I - cannon
Cutting sails - speed
Light gun carriages – these will be useful as your ships get larger
Siege artillery (necessary to get field cannon in the next screen)

3.2 Storm on the Chelsea River – do this one first

Note: for ease of discussion notes on map directions assume top of map as north.

You can redeem both captured troop ships now or later. I would suggest having at least two troop ships for this mission with 4 regiments of fusiliers, none of which should take losses. Equip all of them with bayonet muskets if possible. They are green troops and the AI may attempt to engage them in melee, though in this scenario the enemy should not get close to them.

Use your four non-core militia regiments and artillery unit to capture the first crossroads. You only need to rout the two enemy regiments behind fences near the church on the east. Move up one militia regiment to fire on the right flank of the closest enemy unit while softening it up with your cannon until it flees. Keep a unit on the left flank of the artillery at all times for protection. While this is going on, move your three other militia to the east (right, assuming top of map is north) road, detailing one to fire at the left flank of the remaining enemy unit. Move your core fusiliers into the road out of range. As soon as the second enemy unit breaks, advance two militia units close enough to the banner to trigger it to turn blue, then go into defense mode and wait out the clock. You don’t need to attack the units on the west side. They will remain in their positions. Once the objective is secured you can move on to the next one. You are given a supply wagon which skirmishers will try to attack. Keep a unit on your left flank to handle the skirmishers. Allow the artillery to replenish from the supply station on the way.

At the final objective, you will have to eliminate two more enemy units southeast of the banner. Use the same tactics of flanking fire plus artillery. There is a unit of marines to watch for and defend against either before or after you reach the town. You may need to detail a militia unit or two to deal with them but in general try to move all your units to the east (right) of town to wait for the reinforcements before the final assault. After they arrive, arrange your non-core units in a semi-circle from east to north. If you have not already done so, rout the remaining easternmost enemy unit with artillery and flanking fire, then position the artillery to fire into the central square at the defending enemy unit there. Advance your militia to bring fire on this unit while hitting it with artillery. Once it routs, bring your militia only close enough to trigger the banner to blue, then go into defense mode and wait out the ticker. You don’t have to engage anyone on the west side except perhaps the unit on the northwest which could fire at you. Your four to six core infantry should be safely in reserve and receiving no casualties.

3.2 Take her back

I would use all three ships here, sending Vengeance and Andrew Doria to deal with the 18 gun brig Unity and Lyon to begin raking the Truelove with grapeshot. If Unity tries to lure your brigs east (assuming top of map is north) away from Truelove, let her go and send your brigs back toward Truelove to rake her with grapeshot until she surrenders. As soon as you board the scenario is over. You have your ship without having to sink the Unity or take excessive damage from it.

Buff up your crews to 120 in the brigs and 55 on Lyon, then take the Buried Treasure side mission.

Add Truelove to your fleet.

You are given the 28 gun light frigate/corvette Virginia. Pick sails buff and light carriage buff. Transfer JPJ to captain it.

Accept the whaling mission
Make sure your crews are topped up

3.3 Nantucket

You have the Virginia and your two brigs. There are a few sloops escorting the whalers but they are useless. The whalers are going to surrender or go down before you can get there. You’re up against a brig and 4 sloops. Go after the brig first. Then you’ll have to chase down all of the sloops. It may take a while.

3.3 Burning of Norfolk

This is a land battle. You only need two ships, Truelove and Earlston, with 5 regiments of fusiliers. The troops provided will do most of the work.

At the start there are four units of patriot militia marching through town. Bring them back into the four fortifications by the banner that you have to defend. Ignore the outer fortifications. They will have to fight off two groups of loyalists for 20 game minutes until your reinforcements arrive. The reinforcements consist of your five core regiments plus four more militia regiments and two artillery batteries. Bring two militia regiments into the triangle by the banner to relieve the units shot up by the loyalists and combine the depleted patriot units into one to use as a reserve; place both artillery there behind the fortifications, one aiming north and one west. The third militia should go on the left flank and the fourth on the right flank near the house. Put two core fusiliers on the left flank behind the militia as a reserve and two on the right flank behind the militia as a reserve, leaving one behind the reserve militia in the center.

The first British attack comes from the left at 1:10 on the clock, two regiments, followed by three from the north, and later two more from the northeast. Use your artillery on the largest or closest units. On the left, try to flank the enemy with the militia unit you stationed there or one of your fusiliers. On the right flank, put your militia in defense mode and be prepared to move up one of your core fusiliers to help. Keep your middle fusiliers ready to jump into one of the fortifications if necessary but use the combined militia unit first. If you play things right your core units will not suffer many or any casualties.

Apply your career point to mission reward or reputation.

3.3 Naval blockade

You have Virginia plus the two brigs. Make sure they are full strength. You face the 18 gun brig Fame. Your goal is not to tangle with Fame more than you have to but to capture Diamantina by raking her decks until she surrenders. You MUST capture Diamantina because the next group has escorts that outgun you, and you must exit all ships plus the slow Diamantina off the map before they catch up to you. You will probably have a running battle with Fame all the way to the exit band. Use Virginia to keep her away from Diamantina.

Top off crews, assign ship perks as appropriate and take the Commerce raider side mission.

You should have enough cash and reputation now to go on another research binge:
Level II sails for speed
Hard Wadding for hitting power
Gun carriage II
Industry II
Bayonet
Marines
This opens up the last advanced research screen – research field artillery

You are given the 44 gun frigate USS Hancock. Equip with level II sails and level I gun carriage, boost crew to 260. Redeem the Diamantina you just captured for its three troop slots.

3.4 Battle of the Rice Boats

You can bring up to four ships. Three ships is enough.

You’ll need two more fusilier regiments, or you can make one marines. Marines are more expensive, have higher morale and stamina but are less proficient in melee. Make sure all units have bayonets. Form one artillery unit and equip it with 8 pounders for superior range.
You should now have seven infantry units and one artillery unit. Put three infantry on Truelove, two infantry plus artillery on Diamantina and place them in the top slot. Bring Earlston with two infantry as your required second wave.

As the scenario opens you have artillery plus three units on the left flank. The artillery cannot move, but send the infantry on a run across the ford and the stream, leaving one on the far bank of the stream to check any enemy that get past the artillery. The artillery will sink two ships and hopefully blast the three landing parties pretty well before it is eliminated. The other two infantry can be sent to the farm village to bolster the defenses there. There are three infantry units near the farm village. Post them in the fortifications to protect the banner. Place the artillery battery in the back so that it can fire on an arc from NW to NE. There is a militia unit farther back in the large town that you can bring forward to man the last open fortification. The skirmisher unit out front should be brought back to harry the flanks of the attacking units on the east or west.

The British attack begins with skirmishers at 1:57, followed by two units of Marines on the right at 1:51. Fire artillery at the largest of the two. Your two infantry from the left should have arrived. Put them in reserve.

Your first reinforcements arrive at 1:44 in the large town. Be on the lookout, because they are in range of the guns of HMS Cherokee and will take damage if they amble to the front line. Set them all on a run towards the stream where you stationed a unit until they are out of range then walk them to the farm village. Place the artillery next to the one that is there and start targeting Brits. More will have arrived in the north and on the left starting at 1:33. They will put a lot of pressure on your fortifications and may even charge and melee. Eventually your original fortification defenders will rout. Use your backup units refill the fortifications or form defense lines farther back. Send the skirmishers to hit the flanks of units on the left and right. Once you rout an enemy until it will rout more easily the next time. Keep your artillery firing at the largest non-routed unit until it routs. By the end you should have routed every British unit at least once and your defense becomes easier.

3.4 Raid on Nassau

This is your biggest battle yet. You have eight slots to fill. The right ones should contain your warships – Hancock, Virginia, and the two brigs. Make sure they are full strength with all perks filled. I go for accuracy as the second and third perks. There are four slots for troop ships. You should fill them all. Recruit two more fusiliers with bayonets for Goodwill.

In the naval action you will be up against a 32 gun light frigate and two 18 gun brigs. They are going to try to get to your transports and shoot them up. They will also try to lure your ships into the range of the fort cannon. Don’t let them.

Your ships enter in line of battle. Take them in line down to the beach away from the fort and anchor, covering the approach to the beach with their guns. Depending on how the wind is blowing this can be tricky. You might have to break up your line of battle to get them in position quick enough and you may have to jockey their position to get their guns trained where you want them. If the Brits want to fight, fight them but out of range of the fort. If you can lure the frigate out into the open sea you might be able to capture it. Don’t bother with the other two. Sink them. After taking some damage they may decide to run. Let them. Your job is to defend the beach until the transports have arrived, anchored and off-loaded your troops. Send them ashore to wait until British ships are not a threat. Any ships you sink will try to send their crews ashore. If you can eliminate their lifeboats do it. Otherwise they will be a thorn the troops have to find and eliminate.

Once the British navy is neutralized, begin the land phase. This is a multi-part endeavor. First you have to eliminate any troops on your side of the first river. This will be a unit of skirmishers and any crew that have made it ashore. Advance your troops in a line to the river. This will usually flush them out.

The next section, the one with the fort, is bounded by two rivers. You need to clean out any enemy in this area before you attack the fort so you will not have attacks on your flank and rear. Cross the first river and form line formation immediately. As you advance in line you will flush the two fusilier units. There is an artillery unit on the road halfway. Send two regiments around to the left and charge it once you are close. After you have routed them, capture the cannon. Send one unit ahead to the second river to cut off the retreat of the fusiliers. There is a group of dragoons that shows up now and then. Be aware of them. Don’t let them get to your cannon.

Now you can focus on the fort. There is a regiment of fusiliers between the two houses next to the supply point. Bring up your two artillery units with infantry support and bombard them until they rout. Then advance your infantry until the banner turns blue. You don’t have to eliminate the two cannon redoubts. There is a Marine unit near the right redoubt. Bombard it until it routs. After the timer runs down you are free to head for the next objective: Nassau. Make sure your cannon are resupplied at the supply point. Head for the second river crossing but keep an active rearguard. The two routed infantry units and the dragoons will try to snipe at you from behind until they are eliminated.

Cross the second river and set up a line of battle immediately. Set up your artillery behind the line. Luckily the artillery does not cause friendly fire casualties firing from behind your troops and is protected. Leave one regiment to guard the crossing behind you. Let them wear down the depleted enemy units from the fort as they try to cross. Soon your forward units will be approached by two infantry regiments. Bombard them and advance your infantry to attack until they retreat across the third river.

Now it is time to take Nassau. Send your four strongest units around the left flank to the left rear of the banner to wait. Don’t send any units around the right flank if there are enemy ships off shore. They will cause you unnecessary casualties. Pull up your two artillery units in the street but just out of range of the two enemy regiments defending the banner. Support them with infantry. Bombard the enemy infantry until your ammo is gone, then advance two of the rear regiments to fire on them from behind until they rout. Use the other two regiments if necessary. Advance to turn the banner blue and wait out the timer. Nassau is yours.

3.4 Battle of Yarmouth

For the first time you must face a 3rd rate ship of line with 68 guns – an unequal fight. But you have a plan.

Research Industry III, Central Fire direction and Sails III (speed)

Give Hancock and Virginia sails III and top off crews to 260 and 220. Convert Lyon to a fire ship and over-crew it to 80.

You have slots for eight ships. You won’t need them. You only have five anyway but you have to divide them among three groups. The first group should contain Hancock and Virginia. They will have to duke it out with the 18 gun brig Newbury and the 20 gun brig Speedy which are about to board the surrendered Minerva. Your second group can have Vengeance and Andrew Doria and the third Lyon.

Rough up the two enemy brigs until your brigs join the fight then send a boarding party to board Minerva and start it sailing with the wind as fast as it can with one mast missing. Or, even better, you can wait for the surrendered crew to recover morale and start sailing. Either way the 3rd rate Milford is going to catch up with it, along with three accompanying ships, 18 gun brig Tireless, 18 gun brig Trave, and 28 gun light frigate/corvette Marigold.

Meanwhile you have set Lyon on a collision course with Milford. Keep track of the intersection point; you may have to readjust Lyon’s trajectory several times depending on Milford’s actions. Milford is interested in sinking Minerva, but keep your other ships away from its guns and continue to beat up the two enemy brigs. Minerva will exchange broadsides with Milford but will take some time to sink. However, if Milford sniffs one of your other ships too close it may give chase. By now Lyon should be very close and may start taking fire from Milford unless it is chasing one of your ships, in which case Milford will take longer for Lyon to catch it. This is the crux of the battle. If Lyon takes too much damage before hitting Milford it will surrender; that is why you over-crew it. If it surrenders you will have to replay the scenario unless you have saved it before now. But if Lyon does not take too much damage, ram Milford and ignite. Watch it burn until it explodes. At that point you have immediate victory. You do not have to fight the three accompanying ships or get Minerva to safety. But if the smaller ships have caught up, and you have the original crew recovered from surrender, you can smile as Minerva sinks them while you watch Milford burn.

Repair, re-crew and take one of the naval patrol side missions.

Remember to be allocating career points to after battle crew healing or after battle ship repair.

Up until now you have been wining your battles with the ‘faithful four’ ships you have been given. You may have captured a few like Lyon and some transports, but it is time to begin building out your fleet. From this point it is only worth adding frigates, either by capturing them or buying them. You won’t need any for the next scenario, but take a look at Admiralty henceforth to see what is for sale.

Re-crew and repair your ships after the side mission.

4.1 Battle of Block Island

Put Hancock and Virginia in the two right slots, and the two brigs in the left slots. You are patrolling and come upon two fragile prize ships, Chelmer and Walrus, full of weapons and ammunition for the cause, escorted by four 12 gun sloops. Bearing down on them is the 40 gun frigate HMS Glasgow. You must prevent the Glasgow from reaching them. Hancock and Virginia are enough to handle Glasgow, but soon the 40 gun frigate HMS Yeoman and 26 gun brig HMS Uther enter from the same exit band your prize ships have to reach. Your four non-core sloops have reached their moment of glory. Order them to charge the new British ships, their mission: to bait those two ships into chasing them. They must not be allowed to get close to the prize ships. If the sloops are successful, they should pull those ships to the left of the map while your prize ships negotiate a path up the middle between them and the Glasgow, which you are keeping busy with your ships. By the time the sloops draw Yeoman and Uther to the left edge, they will not have time to turn around and reach Chelmer and Walrus before they exit, and Glasgow will be too battered as well. Glasgow is a potential capture if you can do it before it sinks.

Re-crew and repair

Admiralty has a frigate for sale, Antigua. I’m going to pick it up. Even though I captured the brig Newbury in the battle of Yarmouth, I missed capturing the frigate Glasgow in the last battle.
I’m arming Antigua with 18 pounders and 9 pounders and giving it sails III, clear powder and level I gun carriages, plus a crew of 380. I’m rearranging my commanders to give it my second best commander after JPJ. From this point I am going talk about what I am bringing to the fight, hoping that you have something similar.


4.1 Turtle Gut Inlet

My fleet of three ships, two frigates plus Virginia, come upon three British ships about to board the Nancy. We are facing the 40 gun frigate Orpheus, 20 gun brig Liverpool, and 20 gun brig Kingfisher. We have them outgunned. Go after Orpheus first, hoping to capture. When you are trying to capture a large ship you need to rough it up first, causing enough damage with ball shot to demoralize the crew (flashing red shield). Sometime before the hull damage is greater than 50% they might demoralize and you can switch to grape shot to rake the decks and further reduce the crew until they surrender. They often don’t demoralize, however, until the ship is sinking (wave icon). You can still capture a sinking ship successfully if the hull damage is not too great by raking the decks. Usually all the crew is busy trying to keep the ship from sinking and if you reduce them further they will surrender. When your boarders take the ship, check the crew box (lower left) to see where they go. If they all end up by the sinking (wave) symbol that means the ship is probably still going to sink. Send another boarding party if you can spare it. If any of that party is left over after piling into the sinking icon, that means you have a chance of saving the ship. Anchor your prize and try to eliminate all the other enemy ships as quickly as possible. If the others also surrender, you must board and capture them, because the objective ‘eliminate the enemy fleet’ does not accept surrenders. They must either be your ships by capture or sunk for the battle to end. In this case I did not capture Orpheus before it sank. Sometimes everyone just wants to go down with the ship.

Do the Wolfpack side mission after topping up your ships.

4.2 Pain in the neck

There six ship slots, only three required. I’m going to bring my ‘faithful four’ plus purchased frigate Antigua.

I have to capture two lightly crewed troop ships, Gifford and Hope, escorted only by the 18 gun brig Dominion. Sounds easy. Rushing to join Dominion are two more ships, 18 gun Erne and 12 gun Eden. Still sounds easy, except those troop ships are faster than expected with no troops in them and it will take time to catch up to them. I’m sending Hancock and Antigua after one and the brigs after the other, leaving Virginia to deal with Dominion. After you catch the troop ships and rake their decks with grapeshot they surrender pretty quickly. About the time they surrender, two more British brigs enter from the same exit band your captured ships have to reach. Hancock and the brigs can handle them while Antigua trails the slower prize ship to keep the Erne and Eden away and Virginia deals with Dominion.

The career point you get this time should complete your maxing out crew healing and damage control. Start dividing between ship repair and upgrade cost, and maybe toss one into luck now and then if you’re not feeling lucky.

Repair and top up your crews.

4.2 To challenge

There are six slots, three required. I only have five ships. I’m bringing them all.

The scene opens with Fly, a 26 gun brig, being pounded by 25 gun Dominion and 12 gun Upshot. Behind them is the rest of the British fleet, 40 gun frigate Endurance, 26 gun brig Finch and 18 gun brigs Verity and Falcon. You have 35 minutes game time to save Fly. No problem, just raise the sails to full speed and outrun them until Fly meets your fleet and turns around to join them. I have two frigates and they are going after Endurance to cripple and hopefully capture it, I’m 0 for 2 so far. My other three ships will deal with whatever gets in their way. I successfully capture Endurance as it is sinking by putting two boarding parties on board to stabilize it while I sink the other ships with my frigates.

After the battle I redeem Endurance and add it to my fleet. I now have three frigates. There are still no more for sale in the Admiralty.

With six ships I can now do both side missions after repair and re-crew.

I am given the 30 gun light frigate/corvette Delaware. I’ll give it level III sails to speed it up. Now I have 5 ships with 28 or more guns.


4.3 Revenge

This is a land attack on Block Island. I can have four ships. I will take the four with the largest cargo capacity (3 or 4 troop slots) – Minerva, Truelove, and Diamantina, which I already have, plus either Gifford or Hope. I’m feeling hopeful so I’ll redeem and crew Hope. I’ll recruit two fusilier and one artillery unit to fill the slots, at 150 men for the infantry and 55 for the cannon.

We anchor off the first eastern beach and park Minerva where its guns can cover us while we advance inland. As usual, there are skirmishers on each flank to bother us. Minerva can bombard the ones on the right flank while the infantry take on the others. One regiment of fusiliers confronts us on the left and one of marines on the right. Advance in line formation with cannon brought up behind to engage them. They will fall back slowly. Our goal is the banner in the town; we don’t have to worry about the forts. There are five regiments of infantry in the town, three behind fortifications. There is also a battery of artillery by the banner and the two other infantry to left and right of the banner.

The first infantry unit in town is on the east-west road facing west in front of the church. We’re going to attack with six regiments. Three will come in from the south to flank them and three from their front (west) to melee them. Pepper them with artillery while the infantry is advancing. In turn, we are taking casualties from the artillery in the town as we advance; that is why instead of taking time to demoralize them with cannon and flanking fire as we have in the past, we are taking the position by melee. We need to get to their pesky artillery and take it out ASAP. After the first position is taken, send three units down the street to charge the cannon, and two to melee the second infantry to the east, which is also facing west and will give us flanking fire if we do not eliminate it.

Once we have routed the artillery the banner will turn blue and the countdown will begin. Our units by the banner will have to take up defensive positions, one facing the enemy unit to the west and one facing the enemy unit to the east. Focus our artillery now on the western unit and hold on until the timer finishes. There is another infantry unit on the west side that may become involved. The three regiments we left behind on our left flank can handle them.

4.4 Furs

We took a lot of casualties in the last battle. We will in this one as well. Top up all units and artillery.
We will be attacking a fortified position manned by disciplined Hessian mercenaries and militia backed by plenty of artillery. The banner is enclosed by a perimeter of fortifications, so we must attack head-on, into the face of musket fire and artillery. It’s going to be a bloody day.

They are expecting us to attack from our staging area, so they have placed a regiment of Hessians facing us. But we are going to take the time to move around to their right flank, where there is an open field to set up our artillery to flank the Hessians and allow our infantry to flank them as well. Facing us from right to left is a line of militia, artillery, and Hessians, which we will have to melee to get to the banner, because there is more artillery behind them we have to take out quickly. France has provided two regiments of fusiliers and some dragoons to aid us. We will draw up our infantry in three lines of three, one behind the other, and place our artillery in line out of range of their muskets. At this point we should still be out of sight. Most of our infantry should have one star of experience by now, which we allocated to morale, so we are going to use the two rookie French units to spot for our artillery.

Move them up into the trees on the right and let them begin to put flanking fire on the Hessians facing south. The French will be pounded by artillery and may eventually rout. Start the advance of the first line of our infantry. Once the enemy line is revealed put them on the run toward the artillery and militia in front of them. We will have our artillery focus on flanking fire against the Hessians on the right in order to make them easier to rout. Move up the second and third lines of infantry on a walk toward the enemy line to support any unit that gets routed.

Once the militia and artillery in front of us is routed, turn a unit left to deliver flanking fire on the Hessians to the right and one to flank the Hessians on the left. After the Hessians on the right rout, target the artillery to the Hessians on the left until they rout. Meanwhile there is another artillery battery to eliminate on the right in front of a storehouse; send two units toward it to melee it and one unit toward the banner to turn it blue. Then put units in defense mode facing northeast, north, northwest and west to fight any challengers as the timer clicks down. Target the greatest threats with artillery.

You may get flank attacks by loyalists and dragoons on the left and skirmishers on the right, so keep flank guards on your artillery. You can rout skirmishers by charging them with your dragoons. When the timer reaches zero you have won the day without having to fight the other seven units in the town.

4.4 Stay Hungry

This one can be tricky. You have slots for six ships in two divisions. I’m putting my three frigates in the right one and Virginia, Vengeance and Andrew Doria in the left, with Andrew Doria converted to a fire ship, the reason for which you will see. Our goal is only to capture a troop ship, either Imperial or Kestrel.

There are three 40 gun frigates blocking the way, Phoenix, Oracle and Kingston. I’m betting my three frigates can beat their three frigates. But wait, behind them is the 68 gun third rate Kennington plus the 48 gun frigate Leopard. Since my objective is not to sink their fleet and I can’t anyway, I’m going to see if I can outmaneuver them. Here’s where some sailing skill will come in handy.

I’m going to send Vengeance around the left out of range of the three frigates to see if I can get Kennington to catch a whiff and begin chase. Andrew Doria will follow safely behind looking for an opportunity to close and ignite. The bait doesn’t work this time. Virginia will head for my three frigates which are advancing to engage Phoenix, Oracle and Kingston. I wait until they commit to a left turn to sail with the wind and I turn right to sail past them partially against the wind. We’ll exchange broadsides until I am clear of them. At this point they have to turn against the wind to catch me, as does Kennington. I’m doing an end around to get on the tail of Imperial and Kestrel. Once the three frigates and Kennington turn to chase me I set Andrew Doria on a course to hit Kennington and let Vengeance continue on toward the troop ships. I don’t know if this always works but eventually I will outrun or sink the three frigates and catch up to the troop ships in time to rake one of them, get it to surrender and board.

Now I have to exit the troop ship and all of my ships through the exit band. By now, though, I have sunk or incapacitated the first three frigates and Kennington is burning. Only Leopard is a threat. If I leave my three frigates sailing at the speed of and behind the troop ship I can handle it. In the event, Leopard does not try to challenge and everyone exits. Some replays of this one might be necessary if things don’t work as I describe.

Replace losses and take both side missions.

Replace losses from side missions

We are given the 28 gun light frigate/corvette Congress, a sister ship of Virginia. At this stage I would rather have a frigate but none are for sale, so I will equip Congress with sails III, gun carriage II, and crew of 230.

4.5 Raid

There are four land slots – bring the four largest troop ships, with three artillery units and the rest infantry.
There are three sea slots – bring the three ships with heaviest guns.

Infantry and artillery should hug the shoreline to avoid being seen until they get to the woods south of the fort, then line up facing the fort. As soon as they are all there and the artillery is in line (keep it on no fire mode until then to maintain surprise), advance. There is one infantry unit and two artillery units in the fort, both facing outward so you get no artillery fire. Target the infantry with artillery but send units to melee them all. As soon as they are defeated set up your defense as follows: two infantry in the fortifications, each backed up by infantry for support; one artillery in the center pointing down the road; one artillery unit on either side outside the fort, supported by infantry, pointing at the road.

Enemy units will come in several waves up the road or beside it, supported by three artillery batteries. Target with artillery whatever troops are nearest the fort until they rout. When the warships arrive, place two on the left coast to bombard the left side of the peninsula and one in the inlet to bombard the right side. Their crossfire is deadly. If played well none of your units will receive enough damage to rout.

Bring ships up to strength and take both side missions.

Bring ships up to strength after side missions.

4.6 Valcour Island

You have only three slots. Fill them with corvettes. There are also five 12 gun sloops or cutters to work with. You are approached by six enemy 12 gun sloops heading to the right. Send your corvettes over there to begin roughing them up. Sail your sloops back and forth to shoot as appropriate. Behind the enemy sloops are three 26 gun brigs – death to your little ships. The three corvettes can handle them, but you should begin to send your little ones south toward the strait between the two islands. When the last wave of three more 26 gun brigs arrives, even your corvettes are outgunned. Send your corvettes toward the islands too. By the time everyone approaches the exit line the timer should have counted to zero, at which time you are given a choice to ‘retreat fleet’ or eliminate the enemy fleet. While it is possible to eliminate the enemy fleet, and I have, it is at the cost of unacceptable damage, so the best course is to just sail everyone across the exit line. If you do this before the clock counts down to zero and you get the retreat message though, I imagine you might record a defeat, so wait. You will probably lose some of your little ships but not the corvettes.

We are given the 44 gun 4th rate Ranger. I’m giving it perks of sails III for speed and clear ammo for hitting power, crewing it to 400 and transferring JPJ to command. To summarize my fleet at this point, in addition to Ranger, I have the frigate Hancock, crewed to 260, Antigua with 340, Endurance with 340, Virginia and Congress with 230, and Delaware with 190, all ships with 28 guns or greater. Hopefully you have something similar.

5.1 Man O War

We have five slots; fill them with the top five ships. Our only objective is to capture two merchant ships each going in a different direction. Send three north to bracket and rake the first one and the two fastest south to intercept the second. We will have to work with the wind direction to get to the second one in time to rake and capture it.

Katherine and Goodwill both have four troop slots, so redeem and crew them for the next scenario.

5.1 Whitehaven raid

We have 5 slots; fill them with the highest capacity ships. Recruit more infantry and artillery. You should have at least 4-5 artillery by now. We are given five regiments of French royal fusiliers to do the dirty work. Group the French troops into one group, the artillery into one group, and distribute the core infantry into groups of three for easier management.

Advance to the river. Make sure the artillery is up before crossing. Move the French into a line on the other side; they will be met by skirmishers. It would be helpful to eliminate these before progressing further. A single unit of fusiliers and one of grenadiers will saunter up and try to take pot shots. Shoot them up while bringing your other units across.

The enemy is expecting you to come up the two roads. They have their units in fortifications backed by artillery. You can do this and win, but it will be bloodier. My preference, as you may have gathered by now, is to use a flanking approach, even though it takes longer. If you’re enjoying the game, what’s a little more time?

Using the five French regiments as my front line, I’m sliding them right while marching the rest of the troops to the right as well. Halfway to the right flank of the town you’re going to run into an artillery battery and a unit of infantry in the middle of nowhere. Don’t get surprised. Have infantry ready to react and charge the artillery, then capture it. Use other infantry to rout the enemy infantry unit and continue on. Eventually you will come to a road that goes west through the first town to the second town. Get your infantry into line facing west; get your artillery in line facing west. Put a flank guard on your right (north); there are two militia units across the road which may try to get to your artillery. Likewise, if you did not eliminate the fusiliers and grenadiers at the initial crossing or the infantry with the artillery they will sneak up on your left and try to snipe at your artillery. Put a flank guard on your left (south).

Once lines are dressed and the artillery ready, advance the French troops in line to the village. They will begin to take casualties from an unseen artillery unit. There are two enemy units near the supply point, both behind fortifications, one facing east and the other south. As soon as they pop into view hit the east facing one with mass artillery fire and musket fire until it routs, then move in and flank the other unit from the rear. You may encounter another unit or two outside the village on your right flank. Advance some units to defend against them. Once you have routed the units near the supply point, advance straight across the road. There you will see two more enemy units in fortifications, one facing south and one facing west. You can hit both in the rear with musketry and artillery. By now two more infantry will have come from the west to face you in the village. Bring up enough of your own units to go into defensive posture and take them on as the timer counts down for the village banner. Once that happens they will begin to fall back. You may be able to catch the hidden artillery unit before it escapes if you continue forward toward the mountain.

Bring up your artillery to replenish ammo and re-establish your front line of French troops facing the second town while bringing up the others to form a continuous line with theirs. Bring up artillery to support. You will experience repeated attacks by retreated units which you can break up with artillery fire and musketry. As they fall back advance your lines until they are right in front of the second town. Once the leftmost group of your troops (probably the French) reaches the edge of the town, the banner will turn blue. Wait out the timer and repel any attacks elsewhere. You have won, and hopefully it was not too bloody.

5.1 An old friend

We have six slots to fill – a single one and five more – with instructions to place our fastest ship in the single one. I am bringing four frigates and two corvettes. The scene opens with us chasing the 28 gun Drake. My fastest frigate, Endurance, has caught Drake and proceeds to sink it. Meanwhile, the rest of the British fleet arrives, five ships – 44 gun Hyaena, 40 gun Actaeon, 26 gun Aetna, Crescent and Medea, and 18 gun Vesuvius. We can handle this. Bring the frigate back from the Drake even if it is not sunk and form a line of battle to stream past the British. We have four frigates, they have two. This is an opportunity to capture a frigate or two. Focus on the two frigates; the smaller ships will pick up damage in the backwash. You can finish them off later if necessary. Once you have demoralized the two frigates, hopefully with at least 50% hull strength remaining, switch to grapeshot until they surrender, then send enough boarding parties to handle damage control as mentioned before. Quickly sink the other ships if the frigates are sinking. Once they are last two remaining, you can still get the capture when water is washing over them if they are last two you board and they haven’t sunk. In my case I got them both - a good day for America.

Redeem the two frigates, repair and re-crew all ships. Now you have enough ships to take all three of the side missions. Each has four slots but you will only need two frigates in each.

5.2 Flamborough Head

We’re going to need a fire ship for this one. There are seven slots. Put your two fastest frigates plus the fire ship in the three slot group and four frigates in the second reinforcement group. My fire ship is one of the 7th rate brigs like Vengeance or Andrew Doria, crewed to 155.

The scene opens with us encountering a merchant ship convoy escorted by the 68 gun 3rd rate Serapis and the 40 gun frigate Scarborough. Serapis is heading right at us. Send the two frigates quickly to the left to join the other frigates when they enter and set the fire ship on a course to ram Serapis. You will have to correct course several times based on the movement of Serapis. The best course would be to ram it head on or near the bow so you don’t have to face a broadside. More than one broadside will end it right there.

Our reinforcement group enters at 6:10 and the second British group shortly thereafter, containing 20 gun Triumph and Hero plus 30 gun Sphinx, easy pickings if we can get to them before the third British group joins them. Both groups of our frigates should set course to intercept this group, while Serapis should be burning. Scarborough may be coming up alongside our first two frigates and we might have to fight it on the way. At 6:41 the last British group arrives – 30 gun Valiant and Shark and 40 gun Assistance. Our fight with the second British group should be about concluded, so we can head toward the third group pausing to finish off Scarborough on the way. This is another opportunity to capture a frigate (Scarborough or Assistance) if you have been unsuccessful in the past. I was able to capture Assistance this time. Once all ships are sunk or captured you may have to wait until the last merchant ship exits to celebrate victory.

Repair and re-crew and take the side mission.

You have made it to the last chapter. Now the real fighting begins.

Repair and re-crew after side mission

6.1 Friend in need

There are nine slots. I notice there are two frigates for sale in Admiralty, so since I have plenty of cash, I’m going to buy and equip them with sails III and gun carriage II or if there are three slots, Level III sails and gun carriage II plus clear powder. Now I have nine frigates to put in the nine slots.

We are facing a large British fleet, but fortunately it comes in two phases. The first phase opens with us facing five ships – three 40 gun frigates Sirius, Tiger, and Spirit plus 26 gun Romney and 18 gun Romney. We can handle this, and maybe capture a frigate or two. I am able to capture Sirius.

And then things get serious. The second British group arrives, with some big boys we don’t want to face – two 68 gun 3rd rates and a 78 gun 3rd rate. Now it’s time for ‘fleet retreat,’ another name for a mad rush to any exit line at top speed. Depending on wind direction, this could be easy or difficult. Try to sail with the wind as much as possible, but be prepared to fend off one or two enemy fast frigates on the way. The big ships should not be able to catch you unless one of your ships has enough damage to materially affect speed.

Repair and re-crew.

6.1 Savannah

This is potentially the bloodiest land battle yet. You have six slots. Bring your six largest troop ships. You may have to recruit some more troops. You should have at least five batteries of 8 pounder artillery; hopefully some by now have picked up one perk which I assign to more ammunition since I do not want to waste a troop slot on a supply wagon. If any have two perks give them accuracy.

The enemy is entrenched on a hill backed up by copious artillery and ship cannon. You have to advance uphill on any of the three sides available into a blizzard of musket fire and artillery shot. But wait, you don’t have to. The way forward goes across a clearing flanked by two copses of tress. Halfway across the clearing is a knoll. Place your artillery wheel to wheel in a line anchored on the knoll. Take your provided French troops plus three core infantry over to the left of the left copse. They are going to be assault troops later. Keep the rest on the right for their assault. Then I advance my rookie (no star) units, one into each copse as spotters (they would probably call it something else, given what is about to happen to them). At this point the British defenses become apparent - from left to right there is an artillery unit, an infantry unit (Hessians again), an artillery unit, an infantry unit (Hessians), an artillery unit and a an infantry unit (grenadiers) backed up by another artillery unit in the center. We are going to try to blast each of these in turn with our massed artillery until they rout, beginning with the artillery in the middle of the front line. Then in order, take out the infantry on the right, the infantry on the left and the artillery on the left of them.

While this is going on, our artillery should take very few casualties because we have 8-pounders and they do not, but our spotters will be routed by their artillery fire. Just move more rookies up.

They are also going to try to eliminate our spotters and our artillery by sending up to four marine units out after them. You may have to interrupt your systematic shelling of the fortifications to target and rout these. Have a few units of infantry near the artillery to take them on if they should get that far. Once our artillery ammunition runs out or the fortifications are empty it is time to assault. Let the French lead the way. At a minimum the middle and right fortifications should be empty, so the first assault troops should go up the middle. Do not assault up the right side because this side is swept by artillery on a hill farther back. If the left enemy infantry has not been routed yet, turn a unit to flank them and advance the rest to the banner to rout the artillery there. The enemy unit that was on the right may attempt to re-occupy its fortification. If so, turn a unit to the right to flank them. Then bring up more troops to take the leftmost artillery in the rear as well as the infantry unit to its right. Keep your artillery firing at anything that has not routed. As soon as the banner turns blue place troops in defense mode facing left, forward and right to fend off attackers until the timer counts down. Replace units as they rout. It’s still bloody but not as bad as it could have been.

Take the side mission.

Research gun carriage III

Re-crew and repair. We are given the 46 gun frigate Providence. Equip with sails III, gun carriage III and clear powder. Crew with 250. Re-equip other ships to gun carriage III to improve speed.

6.2 Martinique

There are nine slots. You can fill them all with frigates if you have them. I’m taking eight frigates plus a fire ship, which is what I use for this scenario on medium. Here is the situation. This is a big battle, with the French big boys taking on the British big boys. We spot a dismasted 3rd rate, Intrepid, with four 40 gun frigates rushing to protect it from capture. It would be nice to capture a 3rd rate, and since we are playing on easy, I will say that it is possible to capture Intrepid, but requires some expert seamanship to keep a frigate on its bow and stern to rake it while it is drifting in the wind. It still has all of its big guns, which will begin to tear up your ships if they get in the arc of fire. And on easy, the French fleet is going to win their battle and come over to eliminate Intrepid whether you want them to or not. It is much easier to just take it out with a fire ship, which is the strategy I use on medium difficulty when the French fleet loses their battle and the British big boys come after me. Intrepid needs to be history before that happens. So we are using the fire ship since I am assuming no one with expert seamanship would be reading this.

Set the fire ship on a course to ram Intrepid from the bow. Our ships are in two columns in line as are theirs. Set ours on a course to bracket their nearest line. After the first pass turn and go back past them again. It doesn’t matter if we sink any because as soon as Intrepid burns to the waterline the scenario is over.

6.2 Loggerheads

We have seven slots in two groups, one with three and one with four. I am putting my heaviest guns in the first group and my fastest ships in the second. Our mission is to eliminate three transports and their escort, which is composed of three 40 gun frigates, Serpent, Romulus and Spider, and 26 gun Thor. With Ranger, our group of three can handle them with proper attention to wind direction. Sail past them in line on the left (their right) so that you can turn and use wind to the best advantage to sail past them a second time, then maneuver as necessary to get the best shot. As soon as our second group arrives send them on an intercept course with the transports to sink, not capture.

Re-crew and repair and take all side missions. Just add ships to each until you reach 90-100% probability of success.

Re-crew and repair

6.3 Another attempt

There are five slots, in groups of two and three. I’m putting my best guns in group one and the fastest in group two.

Bearing down on our group of two are the 40 gun frigates Dipper and Surprise and 26 gun Taurus. Ranger and its companion will stay between them and the transports. When our second group arrives they will abandon their transports and exit battle line to rush to the aid of our first two. About this time a second group of three British ships enters from the north – 44 gun Espoir, 40 gun Triumph and 26 gun Sapphire. They are heading for the first transports. Our second group will join our first to finish off the first group of British ships before their second group arrives, then all five of ours can handle the second group together while the transports slowly make their way to the exit band.

6.3 Groggy start

You don’t want a groggy start on this one, especially when you are playing on medium difficulty. On medium I bring two fire ships, and I think I will on easy as well, though it is probably not necessary. There are seven slots, in groups of two, two and three. I’m putting Ranger and a fire ship in the first group, two top gun frigates in the second and two fast frigates plus a fire ship in the third.

As the scene opens we are facing three 40 gun frigates .On medium difficulty this group varies, from containing a 3rd rate (thus the fire ship) to a super frigate like Ranger. I don’t know if it varies on easy. We’re going to send our fire ship to join the group of three when it comes in, form Ranger and the two other frigates into line of battle and take on these three.

At 11:35 the 68 gun 3rd rate Bramber Castle plus 40 gun Unique come in from the east as our two last frigates and second fire ship come in from the north. I’m sending these two frigates to join the others while setting both fire ships on a course to intercept Bramber Castle. We eliminate the first three frigates but Bramber Castle is getting close to my frigates by the time one fire ship catches up to it, and then: disaster! A millisecond before it strikes Bramber it surrenders as I ignite. Bramber gets away. Now I have to engage it until the other fire ship catches up or the first recovers (since it surrendered while I was igniting, it did not burn). Fortunately Bramber seems more interested in sinking the grounded French ships, so I can stay at a distance and snipe until I can get another fire ship close enough to ignite successfully. Then it is just a matter of sinking Unique. It may go better for you, but this is an example of how strategies don’t always work as planned.

Repair and re-crew and take all side missions

Repair and re-crew

6.4 Tailor made

There are 5 slots. Take the five largest troop ships. You should have 4 or 5 artillery by now. You are reinforcing a fort under attack. While your ships are sailing you must defend it with what you have. Fortifications on two sides are manned and you have two units of militia in reserve.
You also have an artillery unit facing north and a mortar unit in the northwest corner of the fort. Use them to target attacking units and move the two militia units into support positions, one behind the west fortifications and one behind the mortars. The infantry in the northwest angle will eventually rout and need to be replaced by the reserve militia unit.

By now your troops will have arrived and are beginning to land. Hurry an artillery unit to the northeast corner of the fort outside it to target enemy units attacking from the north and move one of the troop ships with cannon offshore to sweep the approach and target enemy cannon and infantry. Send two units of infantry into the fort as reserves; that is all you will need. Line up the other troops and cannon south of the fort as they arrive and anchor two more of the troop ships with cannon so that they cover the ground in front of this line. Enemy units will attack this line, supported by artillery. You will break them up with naval fire and your own artillery. Eventually the combination of naval fire and artillery will eliminate most of the enemy artillery and rout their troops.

6.4 A friend indeed

This is the last land mission. There are 5 slots. Take your five largest troop ships. The scene opens with four Spanish units in a fort being assaulted and two units to the left of the town under fire. You want to save these units for use in the upcoming assault. Skip the introductory screens and hit pause immediately. Then set all four units and the closest one on the left onto a run to the water’s edge near the docks. The fifth one on the far left should run for the woods. The clock is running during the introductory screens. If you don’t do this at least two of the units in the fort will be routed before they can get away. Once they are out of sight, the enemy will not pursue and they can then walk to the area on the right near the beach where your troops will come ashore. Combine the survivors into one unit.

The troop ships come in slowly. Anchor the first one below the town covering it with its guns and the others farther back. Once everyone has off-loaded, group the infantry into groups of three and slide them north in the woods and arrange them two groups abreast facing west. Line up your artillery to their left facing the banner. Advance the Spanish unit to flush out defenders, followed by your lines of fusiliers. Target flushed enemy with your massed artillery. You will come across three enemy infantry on your right and one artillery unit. Have the Spanish charge and take out the artillery. Let your fusiliers melee the others.

Then you will come upon the British fortifications. You will have to charge and melee two artillery units and one infantry unit to get to the banner, all the while being targeted by artillery and infantry farther back and infantry on both flanks. You will have to fan out your infantry to cover the flank attacks. Once you have chased out the infantry and artillery next to the banner it will turn blue. Go into defense mode and hold until the timer counts down. Use your artillery to target the most threatening enemy units. You will probably lose several units to rout during this attack. Make sure you end up with enough near the banner to defend it.

Take all side missions

Re-crew and repair.

We are finally given a ship of the line – third rate Nemesis. Equip it with sails III, gun carriage III, fire control III and clear powder. Crew it to 700.

6.5 Cape Henry

The campaign is careening towards a close. You are so famous now that you are given command of a combined American-French fleet. There are 6 slots. Bring your six best. You are joined by four French big boys – 78 gun Conquerant and Neptune plus 68 gun Ardent and Provence. Your ten against their ten, which include 90 gun London, 78 gun Robust, 68 gun Prudent and Europe plus three 40 gun frigates and three 26 gun corvettes, arranged in two lines of five.

Set your French line of battle on a course between the two enemy lines and slow your American line of battle until the last of the French ships has passed. The British are moving away and will make a turn to the left. Adjust the French line to pass the British with their starboard (right) broadsides and cut through their line as it is trying to turn. The French can deal with the left side of their line while you bring up the American ships to deal with the right. After one pass, double back and give them more death and destruction.

You only have to sink eight. The six smaller British ships should be caught in the crossfire and sink. You can detail some of your frigates to finish them off if necessary. Your five ships of the line should be enough to sink two of their four.

Re-crew and repair. Take all side missions.

Re-crew and repair. You are now one step from glory.

6.6 Chesapeake

You are once again commander of the combined fleet. There are ten slots in two groups. Put your best five in the first and the next best in the second. Group them in two lines of battle. You have eight French big boys – six 78 gun, one 68 gun and flagship Ville de Paris, a 120 gun behemoth. Group the French into two lines of battle containing four each. The battle opens with our lines of battle duking it out with theirs – fifteen ships, including 90 gun Barfleur, 78 gun Ajax, Alcide, Alfred, Invincible, Bedford, 68 gun Intrepid and America, plus four 40 gun frigates and three 30 gun light frigates. We have nine ships of the line to their eight. We have to sink ten ships, which means at least three British big boys will have to go down.

Sail the first French group of four to keep pace with Barfleur and try to maneuver Ville de Paris into a one on one with Barfleur. Ville de Paris will take her down single handedly. Set the second French group of four on a course to cut the British line between Alfred and Terrible in front of the four smaller British ships in the center of the line. Set the Nemesis group of five (which should be in the top slot) on a course to cut the British line between Intrepid and Belligueux to separate the smalls at the end of the British line and send the second group of American frigates to pass behind the British line to deal with the cut off smalls.

At this point it becomes a free for all. You may or may not be able to cut the British line where you want. Just keep your ships moving and take advantage of wind direction to get your big guns on something. Most of the smalls will go down in the crossfire. Your frigates can chase any that get away. Many of the British bigs will be damaged. You may lose a ship or two. Target the three bigs with the most damage.

When they go down, you are victorious. You retire a fleet admiral with six or more medals, a free man in your adopted country, America the beautiful.

At this point you may feel you are ready to beat the game on medium level. Most of these strategies work at that level too, but you will take more damage and be strapped for cash and reputation early on. You may not be able to grow your fleet as fast and the British ship load-outs may be more difficult, but unless it has changed, you have a chance to win all ten medals on medium.

It is also worth saying that not everyone would play the campaign this way, especially in regard to equipping ships, using career points, and battle tactics. It is just one way that works if you haven’t found one.