PotC or CoAS

[Dennislp3@hotmail.com]

I am not sure which I should go for...is CoAS + Modpack similar to PotC + Build Mod? is CoAS essentially just an updated version of PotC? What are some differences between the two? Recommendations welcome.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Welcome to the forum, mate! I hope you'll have a nice time with us.

As for your question, I am biased in the direction of PotC + Build Mod,
which has a lot of amazing features added that CoAS modded or unmodded doesn't have.
However, CoAS is a good game even in unmodded state and better with the modpack.
I reckon you can't go wrong much wrong with either.

Disadvantage to PotC is that the best and most complete modpack editions are still in Beta and have some annoying bugs left.
However, it's also quite playable and contains Selectable Storylines and the Periods mod, for example, which provide a lot of gameplay CoAS doesn't have.
See www.moddb.com/mods/new-horizons for more information on our modding work for PotC.

There's also these two threads where the same question was asked that might help you:
http://forum.piratesahoy.net/topic/15046-coas-or-potc/
http://forum.piratesahoy.net/topic/16705-should-i-play-potc-or-coas

 

[Beneke]

I would say go for coas first, then potc. But if you do this, promise yourself that you will get potc. COAS, has extra features that make the game more enjoyable, like more ships and characters, and it's better for a person thats new to pirate games. POTC has much better features currently, like way more weapons, weapons have "health" (its basically condition like worn, good, excellent, etc.) The POTC sailing has been worked on a lot to make it more realistic, now if you go against the wind, you will actually move backwards, while in COAS you ship just stops moving. Also, POTC has different clothes you can put on, and a lot more storylines.
What you get with COAS is a more "clean" version of the game, slightly better graphics (due to a newer engine) and an easier start. Sailing is pretty much the same as in POTC, you move with WASD, you can sail in 3rd person where you see the whole ship, or you can sail in the eyes of the captain. The only difference is the realism options available in POTC

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>SPOILERS<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<,,

For the storylines, POTC has the original storyline from the game (which is basically the black pearl) the horatio hornblower (my favorite) this one is about a naval midshipman. Also the bartolomeu o portuges, who is a portuguese pirate. The rest are in the storyline subforum in the POTC build mod forums.
For COAS we have the main City of Abandoned Ships quest, which is you escaping from a city made up of crashed ships, which is pretty cool, because you get to dive underwater.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>END OF SPOILERS<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Its up to you on what you think is important, but i think you should get COAS, because it will familiarise you with the storm engine, and this will help you out if have any problems in POTC. POTC is a game with a lot more features, but COAS is more user friendly, at least in my opinion, since it was my first REAL pirate game.

Good Luck

 

[Pieter Boelen]

COAS, has extra features that make the game more enjoyable, like more ships and characters

CoAS has more ships and characters? PotC has 232 ships and 773 characters, while CoAS has 126 ships and 482 characters.
Both figures are with the latest modpack editions installed.

POTC has much better features currently, like way more weapons, weapons have "health" (its basically condition like worn, good, excellent, etc.)

I wouldn't call that one of the main features, but yes PotC has more weapons and a quality mod.

The POTC sailing has been worked on a lot to make it more realistic, now if you go against the wind, you will actually move backwards, while in COAS you ship just stops moving.

That particular realism was already in the stock game; we just changed it to on by default instead of off by default.
I'm pretty sure CoAS has an option for that also.

What you get with COAS is a more "clean" version of the game, slightly better graphics (due to a newer engine) and an easier start.

I've been led to understand that CoAS is a lot more difficult game to play, even on the lowest difficulty level.

For the storylines, POTC has the original storyline from the game (which is basically the black pearl) the horatio hornblower (my favorite) this one is about a naval midshipman. Also the bartolomeu o portuges, who is a portuguese pirate. The rest are in the storyline subforum in the POTC build mod forums.

Not to mention a REAL Jack Sparrow storyline, as opposed to the game's original "it's PotC, but doesn't have much to do with it" story.
These storylines are all very good with lots of cool events and scenes and in some cases, such as Jack Sparrow,
you get to make different choices and there's different ways of completing the story, which makes for great replay value.

Its up to you on what you think is important, but i think you should get COAS, because it will familiarise you with the storm engine, and this will help you out if have any problems in POTC.

If you've got any problems with PotC, we'll be here to help out, and the same goes for CoAS. So either way, that shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Sordid]

CoAS has more ships and characters? PotC has 232 ships and 773 characters, while CoAS has 126 ships and 482 characters.
Both figures are with the latest modpack editions installed.

Oh come on, does it really matter? I'm playing COAS with the modpack and quite often I find a ship that to my eye looks indistinguishable from another ship I captured earlier, yet it's listed as a different ship. I think once you get into such high numbers, it doesn't really make that much difference.

I've been led to understand that CoAS is a lot more difficult game to play, even on the lowest difficulty level.

Not really. It's more unbalanced. Most of the time you're doing just fine, and then all of a sudden you're put into a really tough fight that makes repeatedly bashing your head against a brick wall look like a pleasant way to relax and unwind a bit. These are invariably a part of a quest and the difficulty comes mainly from the fact that they don't scale to your level the way the rest of the game does (note: this applies to vanilla game, I haven't actually played that far in my modpack game yet).
The game also likes to do this really annoying thing where it pits you against several opponents and doesn't allow you to use the fighters that you've hired precisely so that you wouldn't have to face such odds all by yourself, even though there's no reason for them to not be there and no explanation is given for their absence. I really hope the modpack removed those restrictions, because they can be really annoying.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Oh come on, does it really matter? I'm playing COAS with the modpack and quite often I find a ship that to my eye looks indistinguishable from another ship I captured earlier, yet it's listed as a different ship. I think once you get into such high numbers, it doesn't really make that much difference.

In fact, I very much agree with you that it doesn't matter at all. I don't think "more" of something is necessarily better.
Especially when things become samey-samey or confusing. That's why we intend to clean up our ships folder and remove a whole bunch.
That's also one of the advantages of the Periods mod: There's a lot of content, but you don't get it all at the same time.
That decreases the chances for confusion from too much choice. Especially once we finally manage to extend this to the weapons as well.

 

[Dennislp3@hotmail.com]

Thanks for the input and links to the threads covering this. I decided to go with PotC for now and will see how it goes. Ive been picked up cutthroats again and thought maybe I should move on up from that lol. Which brings up another question...

Is there any games similar to cutthroats? mostly curious about invading towns or establishing/running towns.

I know in Pirates! (the new one) you can do land battles and I personally loved that game....but it seemed a little to cartoony for me....

For me it can be hard to find a game....I like games with detail...I'm not into over simplified/mindless flashy ones...which most are nowadays.

 

[skodarap]

Thanks for the input and links to the threads covering this. I decided to go with PotC for now and will see how it goes. Ive been picked up cutthroats again and thought maybe I should move on up from that lol. Which brings up another question...

Is there any games similar to cutthroats? mostly curious about invading towns or establishing/running towns.

I know in Pirates! (the new one) you can do land battles and I personally loved that game....but it seemed a little to cartoony for me....

For me it can be hard to find a game....I like games with detail...I'm not into over simplified/mindless flashy ones...which most are nowadays.

Hmmm, as far as establishing/running towns go I'd say Port Royal or Patrician 3 would be best choice but those are more of a trading games than pirate games.

I don't know about PoTC but in CoAS you can take over the town, but you don't actually run it - you can set one of your officers to govern the town and get tax money from it, but that's it.

 

[Sordid]

For running a pirate town, the best game out there is Tropico 2. Or so I'm told.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

PotC Build 14 has town capture as part of the added features, but this is unfinished and town management doesn't yet work.
If I recall, the first AoP did allow for some measure of town management and I reckon that's probably the most managing you can do in one of these games.

Of course the Build mod DOES have the BuildingSet, which has some harmless weird effects, but does allow you to build all sorts of buildings anywhere.
You can get income or other advantages from these buildings, but there's also a danger of attack.
You can have some fun messing around with the building options available when talking to a tavern-hired officer.