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Need Help A Hawk's take-off (Main Quest tips)

Black Iron Oyster

Sailor Apprentice
Hi there lads, is there's any advantage in choosing your "personal nation", instead of picking Britain, in the beginning of the Tales of a Sea Hawk campaign? Also, is the merchant background profession the best pick? I've been doing some free play as Laurens de Graaf, dutch, corsair, and went to Curacao to pay a visit to the GWIC (chartered west indies company) and gaped at the 1M price for the merchant's license. How much does the Letter of Marque costs usually? Do Nathaniel Hawk get a free LoM from Silehard in the main storyline?
Thank you in advance.

PS: I'm loving New Horizons by the way, thanks to all who contributed to it.
Dear Admin, if I posted in the wrong place, please, excuse me and move it.
:bird::ahoy
 
Personal Nation means you're not hostile to any additional nations.
Also makes the opening scene a bit safer.
It isn't necessarily the "best" option, but it is the most similar to the original game.
If you want to change it, that's OK. It is personal preference more than anything else.

You get both a Merchant License and LoM during the story by default.
That is also mainly to make the game as similar to the Unmodded version as possible.
There are no real "best" starting options. Just choose what you want.

The price of a LoM changes depending on your nation relations.
It could cost only 500 gold in the best situation if I recall.

Merchant License is deliberately stupidly expensive because it is quite a convenient thing to have.
It is also easily lost if you don't behave in a decidedly non piratical way.
So starting the game as Merchant is quite nice. But some care is required.
 
Thank you Pieter, I will be playing with personal nation, personal flag the white with black eagle (looks Prussian, but without the black stripes), profession adventurer, for the starting sword and pistol, which are very good and because I like the bonus to melee and luck too. Also the description text talks about wealth and fame, just like the description of the campaign.
I was in doubt between the professions of merchant, corsair, master fencer and adventurer. As merchant gives you the original saber and pistol, which are pretty weak, and a merchant license you can get for free later, so I ruled that one out. For Corsair, free letter of marque early on and the "good bosun's choice" sword can be looted later and is not as good as the "fine back-bladed sidesword", without saying about the pistols. Master fencer was rather dull a sword that's just slightly better than the sidesword, no pistol, and a great cuirass. Speaking of cuirasses I was surprised when I saw Nathaniel actually wearing the cuirass, as they do not appear on the Laurens de Graaf model. Is it normal for Laurens?
 
Speaking of cuirasses I was surprised when I saw Nathaniel actually wearing the cuirass, as they do not appear on the Laurens de Graaf model. Is it normal for Laurens?


Having the cuirass appear on the character requires a new character model for each item of armour. :yes

So only some characters show the armour ( Nathaniel, Jack Sparrow, Bartolomeu, Elting, for example to name a few ) - mainly important quest characters that have had the models made by the quest writers themselves.

Most of the more recently added characters only have one character model at the moment.

:drunk
 
personal flag the white with black eagle (looks Prussian, but without the black stripes)
The flag you choose is just visual. You can change it also in mid-game if you feel like it.

a merchant license you can get for free later
No, you cannot. The ONLY way to get a free one is to start the game as a Merchant.
The story doesn't give it to you. You DO get a Letter of Marque for free as part of the story, but that is not the same.

Speaking of cuirasses I was surprised when I saw Nathaniel actually wearing the cuirass, as they do not appear on the Laurens de Graaf model. Is it normal for Laurens?
There only very few character models that support showing armour. Nathaniel Hawk is one that does.
Most other ones, including Laurens, don't.

In other words: What @Talisman said. :cheeky

Another question, What was the reason for choosing "Sea Horse" as the name for the ship?
We figured "Victory" wasn't a very good name, because that reminded us of HMS Victory, aka. NOT a Lugger.
I think I changed it to "Sea Hawk" originally to match with the storyline title, the main character name and the old movie by that name.
We might have changed it to "Horse" because I think the "LuggerVML" has a sea horse as figurehead and we set that as default starting ship.

No real substantial reason though. We just liked it. It might as well have been anything else. :shrug
 
The flag you choose is just visual. You can change it also in mid-game if you feel like it.

Didn't know that, thanks.


No, you cannot. The ONLY way to get a free one is to start the game as a Merchant.
The story doesn't give it to you. You DO get a Letter of Marque for free as part of the story, but that is not the same.

Ah, I see now, in your previous post you've said it was given for free because merchant is the default profession, ok then.



There only very few character models that support showing armour. Nathaniel Hawk is one that does.
Most other ones, including Laurens, don't.

In other words: What @Talisman said. :cheeky

I understand, thanks to you an to Talisman.


We figured "Victory" wasn't a very good name, because that reminded us of HMS Victory, aka. NOT a Lugger.
I think I changed it to "Sea Hawk" originally to match with the storyline title, the main character name and the old movie by that name.
We might have changed it to "Horse" because I think the "LuggerVML" has a sea horse as figurehead and we set that as default starting ship.

No real substantial reason though. We just liked it. It might as well have been anything else. :shrug


Ok. Speaking about the Sea Hawk movie, just saw it is based on the 1915 novel of the same name written by italian author Rafael Sabatini, the same who wrote Captain Blood (1922).
 
What does the merchant license actually do? I know she prevents the envy of your crew so you can keep paying just the monthly salary and don't need to care about the amount of money you carry, but how does it affect the profit you get from trading?
My last question is: if I have a ML and a LoM and sink/capture a non-pirate ship of a nation hostile to the one I serve as privateer, will I lose the merchant's license?
 
Ah, I see now, in your previous post you've said it was given for free because merchant is the default profession, ok then.
It is given for free by default because Merchant is the default profession and you get it if you're a Merchant.
If you change the default, then you don't get it for free anymore. ;)

Ok. Speaking about the Sea Hawk movie, just saw it is based on the 1915 novel of the same name written by italian author Rafael Sabatini, the same who wrote Captain Blood (1922).
Yep, that's it. Good movies, both of them! :woot

What does the merchant license actually do? I know she prevents the envy of your crew so you can keep paying just the monthly salary and don't need to care about the amount of money you carry, but how does it affect the profit you get from trading?
The idea is that if you are a Pirate or a Privateer, you should really be using "Divide the Plunder" mode.
That can actually be a GOOD thing because it is historically accurate and adds an extra level of complexity to the game.
And it allows your crew morale to get much higher, which makes them tougher in boardings as well.

Originally the Merchant License was added for people who, despite the logic of it, insist they want to have crazy amounts of money.
For legitimate merchants, that actually makes sense, because you may need to carry so much money to buy cargo goods that your crew could become envious of it.
But the "morale dropping" effect happens only if you're a Pirate or Privateer and the Merchant License doesn't work if you're a Pirate.
So really you only need it if you want to be a Merchant who is also a Privateer.

What it does also do is to increase your profit margins when buying/selling.
Normally you buy for more than a 100% fair price and sell for a less than 100% fair price.
You can get those percentages closer to 100% by getting better Commerce skills and abilities.
With a Merchant License, it is always 100% regardless of your skills.

My last question is: if I have a ML and a LoM and sink/capture a non-pirate ship of a nation hostile to the one I serve as privateer, will I lose the merchant's license?
As long they are legitimate acts of war against enemies of the nation(s) you serve while under a properly hostile flag, you can keep your ML.
In fact, that is its main purpose. You only lose it through any truly disreputable acts,
e.g. capturing/sinking a ship of a non-hostile nation, capturing/sinking a ship of any non-pirate nation without a LoM,
capturing/sinking a ship while under a (false) flag that is friendly to them, etc.
 
Thanks a lot Pieter! One last question; is the "horse pistol" you get by starting as adventurer unique or can be found by looting dead enemies/chests?
 
I don't remember any starting weapons being particularly unique.
The Horse Pistol certainly can be found during regular play too.
 
What it does also do is to increase your profit margins when buying/selling.
Normally you buy for more than a 100% fair price and sell for a less than 100% fair price.
You can get those percentages closer to 100% by getting better Commerce skills and abilities.
With a Merchant License, it is always 100% regardless of your skills.

Pieter, so that means the commerce abilities and the skill level are rendered useless if you have the ML, or they add their effects on top of it?
 
The use of those skills and abilities is decreased, yes.
Not completely down to useless though, because they're used in other places than determining the buy and sell prices.
And they still serve their purpose there.
 
While playing with Laurens, I achieved level 15 and didn't found in any loot or with any vendor a spyglass better than the Normal one, is it supposed to be so? Also, the toughness perk is unlocked if the highwaymen stop you and demand your money in the roads (like in vanilla)? The times I found them with Laurens, they didn't speak to me, they just drawn their swords and attacked, was that just bad luck?
 
I achieved level 15 and didn't found in any loot or with any vendor a spyglass better than the Normal one, is it supposed to be so?
Are you using the "Items" tab? Those spyglasses should be showing up.

Also, the toughness perk is unlocked if the highwaymen stop you and demand your money in the roads (like in vanilla)? The times I found them with Laurens, they didn't speak to me, they just drawn their swords and attacked, was that just bad luck?
Normally actual highwaymen stand in a group of four and talk before attacking.
There can also be random enemies that attack on sight.
 
Are you using the "Items" tab? Those spyglasses should be showing up.

Of a course I did, but no better spyglass for me. Anyway, I'm playing with Nathaniel now, hope it doesn't happen again.


Normally actual highwaymen stand in a group of four and talk before attacking.
There can also be random enemies that attack on sight.

I just found some actual highwaymen. Do I need to hire them for my crew to unlock the perk?
EDIT: Ah, excuse me, didn't see @Talisman's answer before posting. :razz Anyway, is there any advantage in hiring them?
 
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