This trick for Age of Booty is indeed tricky to execute.

This is a really dangerous tactic, since it relies on one very important fact and one very important assumption.  The fact is the town you are fighting over is a 1 cannon town, and the assumption is that you can defeat the enemy ship trying to conquer it by interrupting its capture.  I find this trick often involves a bit of luck.  But if you have a good feel for how the battle is going, and how to time the attack, you might give it a shot.

First of all this trick is a complete waste of time if the enemy team is near winning the game.  If they need 1 or 2 more towns to win, you should think hard about using this trick.  If for any reason your plan fails you will be giving up a town to the enemy, and possibly giving up the game.

Take for example the above pictured town.  When you first captured it the health bar was automatically set at ½ health and started to regenerate towards full.  But after taking some damage from fights you can’t see any health, and the next cannon shot destroys it (i.e., becomes Neutral – not captured).

Since the town has only one cannon, and has not been upgraded, you might consider it disposable to some extent.  [The only benefit being the usual bonus to your score, and repairing your damaged ships.  These are still important factors to consider.]  But since the ship in the picture is at full health, this town might benefit from this trick.

This town does need to regenerate health, but that could take a long time, especially if it’s nearly all gone.  Upgraded towns cost gold and wood, and don’t immediately increase the baseline health (although it does increase the maximum health).  On the other hand, a one cannon town is free anytime you capture a town.  You will not be loosing gold or wood if a one cannon town is lost, retaken, lost, and retaken again.  And that is where the Trick gets tricky.

If you see a situation where the town could be attacked by a very weak enemy ship, something you can easily sink when the town becomes contested, then let the enemy try to capture the town.  Let it be attacked.  And stay near while the attack is happening.  Once the town has been defeated, sail over to make sure it is not captured, and interrupt the capture of the town as the “capture” percentage count is happening.

When you show up during capture the town percentage stops and it becomes contested.  The town will not heal either side.  Capture and control goes to the last ship left floating.  So now you just have to win the battle. 

 
If you can, sink that weak enemy, and you can recapture the town yourself, the trick will have worked.  The health of the town will again be set instantly at ½ health.

The only real advantage to this trick is time (you do not have to wait around for the town’s health to regenerate back to ½ way).  But you had better be sure about timing your attack and interrupting the town being captured, because if you show up late it will become part of the enemies controlled towns.

A fun counter to this trick is to occasionally use a Ghost Ship Curse Card, and anytime a player seems a bit overconfident, surprise him with a coordinated attack by invisible ships.  If the player thought he could retake the town easily, he will be quickly proved wrong.

The best counter is not to take the bait. If you see an enemy town is nearly destroyed, but enemy team has a powerful ship nearby that would defeat you in battle, you should consider just leaving the town alone.  Don’t do the enemy a favor by letting them recapture a weakened town. 

Finally, an important exception to all of this depends on if the enemy upgrades the town at all.  Always destroy weakened towns that have purchased defenses!   It takes time to build up those resources and now you can easily destroy them.  It will take only a few cannon shots to tear it all down.

Again, this is a trick, so good luck.