Discussion Free Play?

[Lonious]

I was just wondering what you guys do on Free Play? I usually enjoy designing my character but am kind of clueless on how to proceed once the game starts. I think it's because there's no main quest to do.

Does anyone have ideas on how to make this game mode fun? Does each "type" (Sailor, Rebel, Rogue, etc.) have its own quest? What do you guys do?

 

[Sand 2 Go]

First of all, I recommend using the "Sword Master" class, and choosing the Cursed Caravel as your ship, because the equipment you get from the class is just insanely good (But you lack a pistol at the start), and the Caravel in my opinion, is the best ship you can start out with.
I usually go by exploiting mechanics to assist me in getting the best gear early, so I can capture the whole world.
One of the exploits I use is that on Spleightown (AKA Oxbay on the og game) there is a workshop that can cause raids to happen.
I talk to it a ton of times, and raise my reputation by helping defend against that raid, but here is the thing, those raids only come once without exiting and re-entering the area which makes it really easy to get to the reputation level of "Hero". There is a man called Gregor Samsa on the port, who carries a masterwork spyglass, and by causing raids there is a chance for him to die, and then you will be able to take everything he had, including the spyglass.(I recommend talking to him before causing the raids just to be sure)
In the very same way, after you've talked to the merchants, try to cause some raids, because they might also die on one of the raids, which will in term allow you to get all of their goods.
Also, you should save, and talk to random people, just in case they have a poisonous weapon, because if you get to Isla de Muerta, you can use it in order to kill Blackbeard, and get a really good weapon that will never get damaged.
After that, you might have gained a few levels and money, and you might be able to upgrade your cannons and prepare to capture a few towns for money, which will allow you to then buy and max out the Cursed Black Pearl, (Which is the end goal ship for me, as it is the fastest ship in the game if I remember correctly) which will allow you to capture (And ransom) more towns, get a full fleet of that ship, upgrade them fully, and max out the cannons at the cursed shipyard.
Then, you should be able to get the whole of the Caribbean to yourself.
This is the way I play this game, and I hope I have inspired you!

 

[Lrv]

I was just wondering what you guys do on Free Play? I usually enjoy designing my character but am kind of clueless on how to proceed once the game starts. I think it's because there's no main quest to do.

Does anyone have ideas on how to make this game mode fun? Does each "type" (Sailor, Rebel, Rogue, etc.) have its own quest? What do you guys do?

As far as I am aware each "type" (Sailor, Rebel, Rogue, etc.) has just different starting dialoge/ location /circumstances, (also depending the nation you start with), there may be some characters that have their own start (havent checked but maybe fictional charactes like Jack sparrow and some historical characters, not sure if any has a "long quest" tho. I use the Agent type a lot since it boosts your luck gains and its the harder stat to "level up"

I play on Iron man mode so my playthroughs are waay slower that what you could have on normal/realistic difficulty, but mostly what I do is enjoy my favorite ships models crafted by the modders, starting the freeplay with a Heavy Sloop of War (the model by Captain Armstrong), leveling up, getting all the ship upgrades and making money to next look to hunt an USS Essex 1799 (also by Captain Armstrong), then the same but climbing to get a Battle Frigate (by ZarethPL, Captain Armstrong, and Armada)
After that, the next step would be starting to build a fleet (you could start earlier tho, but I like to get only pretty ships so I take my time ') and start conquering the caribbean (geting some tier 1 / 2 battleship) and killing forts, taking citys etc, but before all this begins I'm usually bored already and I start a different character (in wich I do basically the same, but with different Nations etc)

There is I think a lot of quests to do, if you talk with everyone and get to all citys (you can check the quests on the wiky page I think) I just don't do quests because I'm playing just for the naval stuff, I've had enough with the land and quest gameplay of these games once completing all the CoaS and Teho to full a comple of times, and dealing with all the bugs and timing quests was a little of a nightmare (I was playing them all stock tho)

One playthrough that I'm thinking about recently is being a merchant, to be able to enter all ports, and making money by trading, I used to play a lot of patrician 3 and I have never played as a trader in any game since then, maybe this would allow you to see all the quests of different nations in a single playthrough

But honestly I'm here mostly to see beautiful ships sailing (and naval gameplay, the more inmersive and less arcade the better), so eventually I'll jump in to Buccaners, the legendary edition of Teho coming (altough I will miss NH ships a lot, I think I only like 2/3 ships models in teho, and you get them pretty late in the game) and the version of NH being ported to Maelstrom engine, sadly thats all my old Laptop can run, for anything coming up with unreal engine I'll have to get a new pc

 

[Grey Roger]

The whole point of FreePlay is that indeed there is no main quest so you are free to do whatever you want. If you want a main quest, choose one of the storylines.

The Rogue and Gambler share a special starting quest. More recently, the Engineer has his own starting quest too. The Gambler and Agent also now each have a special quest which will become available later in the game.

A couple of specific characters have special quests, though Jack Sparrow is not one of them. (Or you could say that he has a lot of quests, namely the "Hoist the Colours" storyline. ) José Joaquím Almeida has two quests, "A Family Story" and "A French Companion", while Horatio Hornblower has one, "The Natividad Incident". Beyond that, there are all the standard sidequests.

There are no quests specific to nations. But it should certainly be possible to play as a peaceful trader rather than aiming to get a big ship and blast everything in the Caribbean. Start with something small like a lugger or barque. Begin by taking cargo and fetch quests, and build up your "Commerce" skill as well as taking the commerce perks. For preference, get yourself a quartermaster, whose "Commerce" skill will go up more quickly than yours. Eventually you'll have enough money to buy a bigger ship - maybe an East Indiaman, or a pinnace of some sort. (If you're playing in "Revolutions" or "Napoleonic" periods, your choice will be much more limited; the best merchant in those periods is the Fast Merchantman.) By now your "Commerce" skill should be high enough that the storekeepers won't be fleecing you with every piece of cargo you buy and sell, so you can trade more profitably.

Or you could try your luck as a smuggler. Resist the urge to get a big warship. Instead, start with a jackass barque, then work your way up to a schooner - fast, agile ships with plenty of space. If you're attacked by coastguard ships, try to use your speed and cross-wind sailing ability to evade rather than fight them.