Hi all,
a little more on gameplay,
- reputation is very important, can be regarded as a "hidden" modifier and seems to be really affected by your actions as: refusing/failing governor missions, failing merchant missions(and you are furthermore penalised by relation with the merchants country turning hostile and that`s SERIOUS), choosing "wrong" conversation alternatives(yes, you can be a saint but if your tongue slips it ruins your rep, look at it as you have misled the populace as to your true intentions, quite good...), abandoning damsels in distress and probably everything else you do. Very good.
And remember that the game tracks all this and saves for future use...
Some playing tips:
- if playing on Captain difficulty(suggested as "normal") the game is really challenging. I suggest starting as the Dutch hero char and low encounter rate. You have then only two wars(vs. England and pirates) to bother abt. Encounter rate you can adjust to your liking by joining fights(best for a looooong time) or attacking yourself.
Do not think you get an easy ride as a Dutchman, if you choose a merchant profile for him as you should, you will be very weak in combat for a long time.
- multiple skill officers seem to use one set of perks at a time, I believe. So if you have assigned a navigator with surgery skills to navigation, these skills seem dormant until he is reassigned as surgeon. Which means they are useless as you need nav perks during battles. So think carefully when hiring such officers.
Most needed officers are navigator and cannoneer, then maybe bosun. Without a GOOD cannoneer you may just as well forget abt. artillery duels, join fights and board weakened enemies outright.
The good thing is that now all officers can double as fighters with a realistic survival chance.
- in order to conserve your crew in boarding, they must be fully armed, i e you must have enough weapons on board. I don`t know what enough is, unfortunately. A pack of weapons contains 10 units
AFAIR, so I suppose you must have one unit/man. Without weapons your men will suffer horribly.
- avoid melèes when outnumbered. 2 against 3 might work, but not more until you have high health, potions, armour and high combat skills.
You can after a while dodge crushing strokes easily if there is space, they are not such a big problem as they seem first. Choose fighting ground with space for dodging and running around, otherwise retreat.
- leveling system is really good. Abilities influence your skills, so if you have power 3 and weapons 100, you will not be as good as someone with power 5 and weapons 100, AFAIU.
Regards, Oldtimer