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City of Abandoned Ships Quest (Spoiler Alert!)

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Fred Bob said:
You can simply fast-travel out of the water:)
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Aye! Dat one too! :onya Just be takin' only 400 candles! ;)
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Well, this should be the first thing you should do. Or else due to a negligence of the devs you risk to be locked out in open during the night and will either to reload or to wait patiently until dawn.
 
Handel, me matey, did ye find ye a good way to burn up 2 or 3 hours whilst awaitin' de Mechanic gittin' de Dive Suit ready!? :?
If'n ye shows up even a wee bit early, de feller makes ye wait till tomorrow! :facepalm
Tried goin' through doors, talkin' te folks, tradin' in de Store, an' finally goin' to 3X an' doin' sumptin' else fer a while! :shrug
Mebbe try goin' fer a swim... :woot


PS - BTW Fred Bob made short werk o' de Casper Clan first try! :onya
Helps bein' Level 41 perhaps! :huh
Just ran downstairs, they all followed, then ran back up an' faught dem on de stairs! xD:
 
All right, Fred Bob done finished de Quest! :dance

Came out wid John Workman as an Officer! :onya 'Twas Fred Bob supposed to git Thomas Boyle as an Officer also?! :? He kinda got hisself a bit killed... :facepalm

How early kin ye go an' do in de Caspers, Fred Bob be a wonderin'... Seems ye cain't do much 'til ye check in wid de Admiral... Kinda wanna check out how quick ye might complete de Quest if'n ye happen tew know everything ahead o' time! :woot
 
I was very impressed with this quest, I think they did a good job on it! Fantastic job with the writeup Handel, well done mate! Some of the stuff was a bit hard, the toughest for me was the ending, trying to find the correct mast to swim to during a hurricane was a real PITA!!

I got with Workman too Fred Bob, he has some pretty good stats! I really wanted to take Arno with me too, it's a shame she had to die, I hear French barmaids make excellent officers! :wp
 
I want to thank everyone for the helpful tips and strategies...almost done with this quest! In that spirit, I'd like to share a few more tips that hopefully will be helpful to those that come after...

1. I highly recommend the ladder trick (see this thread and others). Finding the Admiral's key was just about impossible...and it happened to be in the absolute last place I looked (even when it was a ladder standing straight upright). Took me at least 45min RL time to find, even with this. Mine was on the bow of the St. Augustine, in a tiny outdoor area you can only access from inside. It was on the other side of the front pole, where you have to drop down and can only exit by jumping into the water. It's likely I would have gave up on the game before I found it.

2. The "Normal" Key is not always on the St. Gabriel (Casper Clan). I found another complex key there. Mine was on the Velasco, inside, on some crates. It may matter what order you pick them up in, and "Normal" is always the last one.

3. All chests that I had openned prior (even if I took nothing) lost all items when I got the quest line to listen to the Admiral in the cellar from the barkeep. The chest on Ada was fine for items and/or money until then. Thankfully I had saved games prior, as I had stashed an extra set of the skulls in a chest on the Ada. After reload, I moved essentials to the Velesco, thinking all its occupants were dead so they would be fine there. Not so. Reload again and move everything to Diffindur (damn swimming again).

4. Fighting clan Casper -- I actually nailed this one 2nd try (after a recon run through). I'm sure there are a 100 diff ways to do it, but here was mine. I'm level 29 I believe with only Curias skill, pistol reloads off. No god mode, no add-ons or plugins, and I did not do the barmaid side quest where she helps you pick a few off--so all were there (as a reference). I fought them all upstairs in the little room with the chest using the heavy weapon you get from Layton Dexter quest (couldn't seem to get downstairs with all the horde). Entering, I immediately went left and behind the table. This table protects you from many attacks, seemidly including gun fire over it (or maybe that's my rockin new curias)--only two attackers really can reach you (front and back). Block ALOT. Attack fast when the person you are keying on has just finished a swipe. There was one guy with a sword that seemed to have a ton of stamina, take him out first if you notice that as he will keep ruining your attacks. You will get pushed around a bit and at times slide out from behind the table where a third person can reach you. Block until they are out of stamina then resume attacking your focal point. Then attack the direction toward the back of the table again to slide that way. If you have a choice, take down the men with boarding axes next as they hit the hardest and have the worst defense. You should be able to maintain this and take the mob down with minimum 8-10 POTs.
 
I also want to try to describe the underwater area (kinda hard as no compass), as I reloaded a few times to before putting the suit on and the chests were always in the same places with the same loot (seem static). I hear the gear will be in a random place though. After a few recons, I was able to get 6 of the 7 chests (that I found) in the one run...should be possible to get all 7.

The underwater area is broken into two different circular areas. The first area is where you enter, and has a winch sitcking down into the water. The second area is a bit larger, and has an anchor coming down on a line from above. The two areas are separated by a "skeletal" ship, meaning it has only the main structural boards still intact and you can see through it.

When you enter you are facing the skeletal ship ahead and to the left and a very large ship further ahead and to the right. Turn right just a bit (maybe 40 degrees) and walk straight ahead as far as you can. It's not that far and you come upon a row boat partially submerged in the sand up against the barrier that is the furthest you can go. On the left of this ship (at the front I think) is the first chest. $$$ and potions. Continue around the perimiter of the area (to the left = counter clockwise) and you will come to the stern of the very large ship and there is a second chest wedged there... $$$ and some gems.

Continue around the large ship and you will start to enter the second area (there is a cannon on the floor here). Just a bit further ahead is a hole in that very large ship (on your right). Enter there and you will find a crab and a chest ($$$ and some rare aztec totems). If you followed the order laid out so far then this is the only crab on you, which is important, because it can be impossible to get out of this hole if you have a train of crabs in tow without fighting a few and wasting precious time. I did not fight any crabs--no time for it.

Exiting the hole continue down the hill and take a wide path around the rocks on the ground (they stop your movement even when it looks like you should be able to get past them). At the bottom, still against the edge of where you can go (and going counter clockwise) you will find a chest behind a rock. $$$$ and a bunch of aztec items--including 2 more RAT GOD totems (now 4!!!).

Continue around the perimiter counter clockwise until you are about directly across from the skeletal ship (in relation to this circular area). The chest with Morgan's rapier is here, but it is not against the edge where you will find it easily just skirting the perimiter. Instead, it is nestled in a patch of 3-4 coral plants, maybe 10 ft off the edge that you are walking around. Use <control> to look left and find the coral patch while walking around.

From here head straight to the front of the skeletal ship (which should be on the right as you are now roughly facing back toward the 1st area and the winch). At the very front (slightly uphill) is another chest. $$$ and a bunch of gold and silver nuggets. You can actually see this chest from where you entered, but you cannot reach it from that side of the ship. Now continue down the side of the skeletal ship. My cog was laying on the ground right here, maybe 15 ft from that chest.

Along the skeletal ship you will find a place where a board is missing and you can enter it. Inside is another chest, but it is partially blocked (by a barrel I think) so you can only access it from one approach. Looks like a barrel from what I remember. $$$ and some more aztec goodies. Exit the skeletal ship on the side toward the first area, get to that winch fast and UP YA GO!
 
Surfmutt said:
1. I highly recommend the ladder trick (see this thread and others). Finding the Admiral's key was just about impossible...and it happened to be in the absolute last place I looked (even when it was a ladder standing straight upright). Took me at least 45min RL time to find, even with this. Mine was on the bow of the St. Augustine, in a tiny outdoor area you can only access from inside. It was on the other side of the front pole, where you have to drop down and can only exit by jumping into the water. It's likely I would have gave up on the game before I found it.
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Fred Bob be a doin' de COAS Quest a SECOND time now jus' fer fun an' left de ladder trick off 'cause although some folks said they thought the key location random, Fred Bob began suspectin' dat ain't exactly de truth! :facepalm Coincidence had it dat after readin' yer post, Fred Bob finally triggered de part whar ol' Capper be a losin' his key! :woot So Fred Bob den went straight to de St. Augustine bowsprit area ye mentioned an' behold, he done found it! :dance See me screenie! :keith Purty sure now it 'twas here also last time Fred Bob tried it also, but on de udder side o' de bowsprit! :onya

AdmiralKey2.png
 
Nice pic! So what's your theory FredBob? Many people are saying they found it on other boats, in other places...
 
Surfmutt said:
Nice pic! So what's your theory FredBob? Many people are saying they found it on other boats, in other places...
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My key was in the middle of the corvette deck. Went at least three times over it and changed it to a ladder at last.
 
Handel said:
You must to swim exactly where the Diffindur chest was... easy task, right? Well, get quickly out of Tartarus and... surprise, surprise... the city ls already destroyed! Only a stern here and there and some masts are still above the water. Turn right ASAP and look for the masts you just memorized. Start swimming trying to get to the spot between the first and the second mast of Ceres Smithie. It will not be an easy task, believe me! When you get there look ahead and you will see more masts... if you didn't mess of course:). Those masts are the masts of your old friend Diffindur and you must reach the spot between the first and the second mast but closer to the second mast. Get to the correct spot and the icon for the sea travel will appear. Hit space and congratilations! You just left the city of abandoned ships!
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I have a theory on this part of the quest. Basically, my theory is it is a movie and you really can't do anything other than wait the 10-15 min until the devs decided you should get pushed toward the spot you need to go. :shrug This is because the waves push you so hard (sometimes 100-200 ft in 1 second) that your little pathetic swimming does nothing really.

I restarted this part 3 times because I kept getting pushed all the way to the far end of COAS against my will. Each time I end up in almsot exactly the same spot, with the dumbass that wouldn't join my crew swimming near me. I notice this same dumb ass is near me everytime I get pushed the wrong direction, indicating to me that both of us are being herded around with little regard to what we are doing. I tried turning sideways as a big wave approaches (no noticeable effect), and turning backward to where I want to go (same thing).

Finally decided to just ride it out in accelerated time, cancelling the acceleration each time I got near where I needed to be. The devs push you so close to the Diffindur 5 or 6 times, only to be pushed way back into the middle of all the ships again. Finally, I head exactly where I need to go!

So my advice is sit back, smoke whatever you got handy, and wait for the devs to decide it's time for you to leave. :gday

Oh, Handel...thanks so much for the instructions on how to spot the Diffindur off the Creres Smithy...that was useful in deciding when to cancel the acceleration so I didn't miss the op to press <space> and get out! :onya You da man!
 
WARNING! DO NOT use a female character when doing this quest! When you go down to dive, the suit has a male skeleton, so when you come back up, your female character will still have a male skeleton (and voice) and will looks all twisted and insect-like.

Coincidentally, is there a way to fix this?

Also, what does the gear look like? I can't seem to find it. I've been all over the ocean floor 6 times.
 
I have now scored the seafloor for the 9th time. No gear. What does it look like? Is it big, small, does it stick out of the ground or lie flat? Is it in a chest? How about a screenshot? I can't find the freaking gear!


[EDIT] Nevermind. I gave up. After my last failed attempt I got out of the suit and it was just a blank screen. It seems the mod that makes the female not all weird has to be used with a new game. :(
 
Where's all the salt? All I have found is 3 bags of salt.. Where's rest 7 bags what I need? >.< (And o yeah, I've got all the keys.)
 
Yarr said:
Where's all the salt? All I have found is 3 bags of salt.. Where's rest 7 bags what I need? >.< (And o yeah, I've got all the keys.)
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Chests, matey, go ye an' search all de chests! ;)
Has ye been in de stern o' de Difendur or de bilge o' de San Augustine or all de bowsprit areas or... de Store? :huh
 
Yarr said:
Fred Bob said:
Yarr said:
Where's all the salt? All I have found is 3 bags of salt.. Where's rest 7 bags what I need? >.< (And o yeah, I've got all the keys.)
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Chests, matey, go ye an' search all de chests! ;)
Has ye been in de stern o' de Difendur or de bilge o' de San Augustine or all de bowsprit areas or... de Store? :huh
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All those checked, no salt.
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If everythign else fails you may wait for a random shipment of salt in the store. Also you may steal from the chests - as long as the owner done't see it; you can even rob the admiral - there are several chests in his ship. Unfortunately don't know if there is a chest which *always* will have salt (like the chest with the 400 candles).
 
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