silent image explanation and / or ideas

[Where is my drink]

I'm fighting against a group of pirates ship to ship. Trying to think of ways to use a wand of silent image in a non wasteful way. Any ideas? Or for any situations really.. I can think of some obvious ways like making some creature or something, but anything more inventive?

Also- what does a ten foot cube mean? Plus ten foot cube per level? Meaning..?

I'm probably just dense, but advice would be awesome.

Thanks!

[Zwordsman]

Well.. I don't know particularly but makign some fake planks between the ships or possibly making theirs look like it's full of holes or greased up might be good. If they fail they might tank it, or try avoiding the real ones.

[mplindustries]

A 10' Cube is 10' x 10' x 10'. It's the space of a Large creature, if that helps. You can basically make an illusion that size. So, you couldn't create the illusion of a gargantuan creature at level 1, but could at level 7.

As for good illusions? I'd say:

Fog (your allies can see through it if you prove it's an illusion to them)

Some obstacle like an iceberg or reef or something the opposing ship would have to focus all their attention on avoiding

Fire in a place that would be difficult to get to (perhaps on their sails?) so it's hard to prove it's an illusion, and would demand immediate attention

Wooden Walls with arrow slits on them on your ship for the same reason fog is good--your allies can see through them and your enemies can't unless they interact with it, which they can't do without boarding

[Chemlak]

Silent image tends to be good for static objects that nobody expects to actually make any noise (so don't bother with creatures).

I like mpl's iceberg idea. Crates on the deck that "block" straight lines to prevent charging is an option. Things to hide behind are always useful. The real key is to let your allies know in advance that you'll be doing it, so that they can save and ignore the illusion. On land, bushes and trees are excellent.