Okay I'm getting there but have some more Qs

[hangar18]

Thanks to all who helped me (NEWBIE) last time - I'm beggining to get into the game but have some more questions.

1. Where do I hire officers that I can assign to captured ships - the tavern only seems to sell normal crew.

2. I landed on some remote beach and went over to the rocks, I tried to swim around them into a bay I could see hoping to maybe find treasure but an invisible forcefield in the sea blocked my path. Or was it just a very strong current.

3. I seem to be being more or less forced to fight for the english (just done the first mission - the return to Oxbay). I'd rather not fight for anyone (except myself of course and gold), or if pushed I rather fight for the french. Is this possible? WHat happens if I just ignore the plot and go my own way - will there be reprocussions later? The last thing I want is to play the game for hours and hours and discover I need to start over again because I've fallen too far behind in the plot.

4. I killed everyone in a pub for fun and took their dosh but there does not seem to be any consequences for my actions except me getting rich. Has my reputation decreased? - there was no mention of this at the time. Will the pub and its owner respawn?

5. Is there anyway to tell if a ship you've just boarded is worth swapping for your own ship (I have no idea for example, if a schooner is better than a luger).

6. How do you use your spyglass. I know how to "Tab" to deck and walk around but cannot zoom in on far away ships.


7. Is there any burried or hidden treasure on any of the beaches (don't want to know where, just if there is so I don't waste my time).

8. I captured a pirate Galeoth or something which I swapped for my own ship but it had the pirate flags. As I don't want to be attacked by every man and his dog, is there a way to purchase say a 'neutral' or 'british' flag etc?

9. What is the best strategy when caught in the rough seas - it seems the ship just takes damage regardless.

Thanks.

 

[CatalinaThePirate]

<img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/w00t.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="w00t.gif" /> Oh goodie! Some questions I can answer! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/william.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":will" border="0" alt="william.gif" /> <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":" border="0" alt="laugh.gif" />

Glad you're catching on, this is a marvelous game when you get the hang of it....

1.) Officers also are found in taverns. Talk to all the people who are sitting at the tables, usually ones with swords and pistols will be officers looking for work, and they'll ask if you're looking for an officer. ALSO you can hire officers by doing a quest where someone you've talked to has something you need or something they want done, or whatever, and you take them along... There are a few `quest-hire` officers out there, you'll find them as you talk to people...

2.) Yep, there's a "forcefield" of sorts... Basically the model stops there and you can't swim any further, even though you can SEE it. HOWEVER that is not true everywhere. There are places you can swim to! It's just a matter of finding them! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_mrgreen1.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="icon_mrgreen1.gif" />

3.) No repercussions later, you can go your own way if you wish! Don't follow the main quest, and don't listen to the English governor. Start doing favors for the French...

BUT... I think... If you do not follow the main quest at least through liberating Oxbay, you will need to go find a diplomat (the tavern on Quebradas Costillas has one) and ask him to "fix" your relations with France. Then you can do what you wish with them! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_mrgreen1.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="icon_mrgreen1.gif" />

The main quest is fun, tho. I'd play it through, just because it's entertaining. You can play past the main quest (it used to be the end of the game) with the Build, so you can go sail for France if you wish. Actually I think you end up with a French flag at one point during the main quest anyhow, when you become a "wanted man" by the English.

I usually sail for Portugal, I guess because I'm odd that way. <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="icon_wink.gif" />

4.) You bloodthirsty - ! - <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_eek.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":" border="0" alt="icon_eek.gif" /> (haha, just kidding!) You're a pirate, all right! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":" border="0" alt="laugh.gif" /> Your reputation most likely took a hit. If you look at your character profile (F2 menu, top left) you will see a designation such as Matey, Hero, Swindler, Dashing, Horror of the Seas (honest!)... If your rep falls too far, people in the town will cower from you and no one will do business with you. That might not be important if you don't care about doing business with them, but if you're on an errand for someone, say making a delivery for some merchant, it will make things quite difficult until your rep is repaired.

5.) Look at the numbers on the ship icons... IIRC, the Lugger is a 6. The Schooner is probably a 3 (?). The lower the number, the better the ship. A 1 is a beeeeeg ship and will be worth a lot of money, but will be TERRIBLY difficult to take because they'll probably have more crew than you. <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_mrgreen1.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="icon_mrgreen1.gif" />

6.) Thought I covered this, to use the spyglass, you have to be standing on your deck in first person. Look at a ship with the aiming reticle, and press and hold the <b>Ctrl</b> key. If you keep the spot on the ship, you'll get a closer view and some stats on the ship, how many men, how much damage to hull and sails, how fast they're sailing, what they're armed with - there's more info with better spyglasses... The best one is the Master Spyglass... <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/keith.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="keith.gif" />

7.) There are hidden treasures everywhere. If you are walking around, even in a town, and you pass by a spot where an icon of a hand pops up in the upper left, there is something there for you to find... Pick it up using your <b>Enter</b> key and selecting the hand icon. It could be potions, it could be jewels, it could be swords or pistols, it could be a master spyglass, it could be just about any individual item you can buy at a merchant. It might even be a pouch full of gold!

Sometimes you'll find a hand ("take") icon over a barrel or a chest - these may be boobytrapped or difficult to get into, but most likely will hold more than one item so are usually worth it even if you get hurt by an exploding chest. <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_mrgreen1.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="icon_mrgreen1.gif" /> Persist. LUCK plays an important part in whether you get into the chest without it exploding, so if you've got a lot of luck points, you'll do better in opening them.

8.) If you have a `tavern-hired` officer with you, you can change your flag by talking to him. He'll have selections such as "about me" "about you" "about the ship" - select "about the ship" and you'll find "change colors".

9.) Rough seas, or a storm? When you're in rough seas, you can usually go to the overhead map to sail... But a storm is different - and the best strategy is to just furl all your sails and drift. If you have other ships in your floatilla, hit enter and scroll down the icons to "give order" - and select "heave to and drift" and select which ship to give the order to.

That will assure that you'll get away from the storm with minimal damage.

There are also abilities for helping you avoid storms. That is something you can "spend" your points on, when you level up.

Me, I like to furl sails and hit the "G" key. That speeds everything up 10X - so the storm passes quicker. Hit the "R" key to return to X1. "R" will also make it X3 when hit... If you hit the "G" key twice it goes to 30X but I wouldn't suggest it... Any little twitch of the mouse will set your ship to spinning and most likely crash your game. <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="rolleyes.gif" />

<img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/onya.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="onya.gif" /> That should do ya! And my pleasure! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_mrgreen1.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="icon_mrgreen1.gif" />

 

[hangar18]

Thanks for your help man! Looking forward to cutting some more Oxbay throats again tonight. And a jar or two of my finest rum won't go amis neither.

 

[iamthejarha]

<!--`QuoteBegin-CatalinaThePirate`+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(CatalinaThePirate)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->1.) Officers also are found in taverns. Talk to all the people who are sitting at the tables, usually ones with swords and pistols will be officers looking for work, and they'll ask if you're looking for an officer.[/quote]
Since you're dealing a lot with Redmond and Oxbay in the beginning, this is helpful to know: in both taverns, the locations of `officers-for`-hire are:

a) Sitting at the second table on <i>your character's</i> left just as you walk into the tavern.
B) On the second floor, sitting at the first table on your character's right when you walk up the stairs.

As for the others, it varies, but the locations of officers are tied to the <i>type</i> of tavern it is, so remember how each one looks. When you enter another that looks just like it (Redmond's looks like Oxbay's, for example), you'll know where the officers are.

<!--`QuoteBegin-CatalinaThePirate`+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(CatalinaThePirate)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->6.) Thought I covered this, to use the spyglass, you have to be standing on your deck in first person. Look at a ship with the aiming reticle, and press and hold the Ctrl  key.[/quote]
Alternately, you can simply press the Ctrl key and let it go, because it can toggle the spyglass on/off. If you hold the key down, releasing it will turn off spyglass mode, but if you simply tap it, the spyglass will remain up until you tap the Ctrl key a second time. <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

<!--`QuoteBegin-CatalinaThePirate`+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(CatalinaThePirate)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteEBegin-->8.) If you have a `tavern-hired` officer with you, you can change your flag by talking to him. He'll have selections such as "about me" "about you" "about the ship" - select "about the ship" and you'll find "change colors".[/quote]
In build 11, you should also be able to switch colors through the F2 menu, by going to the "International Affairs" button. As you scroll through the various nations, you'll see a button in the `bottom-right` corner that says, "Change Colours". When that button's lit up, you can press it to fly the flag of that nation. If it isn't, that means you're too hostile with them and aren't allowed to fly that flag.

Not correcting Cat of course, because all of her advice <i>does</i> work. I'm just offering alternative advice. <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/par-ty.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="par-ty.gif" />

 

[CatalinaThePirate]

That's fine, iamthejarha, expand away! NP here, matey! I can't be right all the time, anyhow, it's exhausting work! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="icon_wink.gif" /> <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":" border="0" alt="laugh.gif" />

I tend to be verbose but sometimes I do miss things... I was going to mention that about the change colors in the int. affairs section, but I hardly ever use that, I'd rather talk to an officer...

And I did not know that about the ctrl key and the spyglass. <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_eek.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":" border="0" alt="icon_eek.gif" />