Originally Posted by
Sar1n
This is a bit necro, but seeing as things move slowly here...
I ran into a couple interesting things. I'd advise against wiping out pirates and building Indiamen. Reasons are quite simple. Most of the time, you'll be dragged into war with Sweden (unless you want to instantly break your alliances), and their navy is vastly inferior to yours...that means liable to being captured. They'll provide you with some Indiamen...involutarily.
For a similar reason, do not wipe out pirates. They are, as far as I know, only source of galleons. And you want as many of these bad boys (eh, girls actually, as ships are generally referred to as feminine) as possible. Capturing one is difficult with starting fleet, but possible...the fleet you have in America on the beginning is enough to take the single galleon lurking around the Gulf of Mexico. Be careful though...galleons have, in addition to regular side guns, four cannons on the bow, facing forward...they might not seem like much, but they're capable of crippling a sloop or brig with single lucky volley.
Also, keeping pirates around as a common enemy might help relations a bit.