Port Royale 2/Making money/Battles

Seabattles are really bad for you if you don't have a Letter of Marque. These letters let you hunt down ships of one nation. Only the nation you attack will give you grief by sending convoys to attack you and confiscate your buildings. After you have got the letter for that nation, you need to stock up. Get a few good ships, fully equip them with cannons, crew, cannonballs and swords then go to the ship list and mark your convoy as a warship. Now decide if you want to attack Warships (for ships) or traders (for goods)

Attacking Traders
Traders have no background to their flags, to beat them just attack and board ships, just loot them unless you and a huge reputation loss.

Attacking Military Ships
Choose out a military ship (red background to flag) ans follow it, when it's had a few battles, attack it and see how many crew it has, if it's low (60-0) then attack it and capture the ships.