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Solved Why did it get so much harder?

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boardslide315

Powder Monkey
I just downloaded the latest version and was excited to play. I started a new game on the level just above the easiest one. Yet I can't even do anything. I have used all my abilities, now level 4, on defense and sword fighting, yet I still die very easily in sword fights, usually on like the 2nd blow, from some random sailor or robber, even when I block the hit. I can't even play the main quest, I always die when I try to board the french ship carrying the munitions even after I hit it with grapes like 20 times. I can barely walk to towns now because the robbers in between ALWAYS kill me no matter what. I have professional defense, toughness, and the chest armor, and none of it seems to make a spit of difference, they still kill me easily. It didn't used to be like this. Maybe you guys are trying to make it more 'realistic' by dying easier, but all it means is that I have to save and reload 100 times to pass one stupid mission. Which means I die and come back to life 100 times. Hardly 'realistic'. Is that supposed to be 'fun'? I don't get it.
 
Eh? Are you on Journeyman level? What is your melee skill?
It sounds like you are playing the Sea Hawk storyline, which starts with a tutorial. In that tutorial you practice swordfighting with Malcolm and you should stick with it until you are at least to melee skill 3. Then get yourself a really good sword ASAP.
I started that game today and entered town with a melee skill of 3 and easily beat a robber who tried to kill me. I had just found a decent sword, which helped.

In short, skills are more important than abilities and that cheap armor is no help at all.
 
That is quite odd that you should find it so much harder. We have actually made fencing a lot easier compared to Beta 2.3 in the following ways:
- Fixed a bug that was preventing your fencing skill from increasing after you get the Professional Fencer ability
- Take into account critical hits and enemy level for fencing skill increase, which makes you gain fencing skill faster
- Rebalance all the guns in the game and reduce much of their damage so you don't get killed in (almost) one shot

What is you Melee skill in the game and what is your character level? Do you have a reasonable sword of some kind?
And that armor probably indeed doesn't help. You might want to try without it.

Make sure to get some band-aids or potions or the like and use the C-key in mid-battle to heal yourself if you are close to death.
Get some well-equipped officers with reasonable fencing skill to accompany you and see if that helps.
 
Pieter, if you look at old old screenies you will see a player with no help taking on 6-12 enemies and winning. That is no longer possible at any level.
Unfortunately that is how games are built these days. The player is invincible right from the start and then gets tougher. In POTC now you start off at the bottom of the food chain and work your way up if you are good enough.
 
Hylie Pistof said:
Pieter, if you look at old old screenies you will see a player with no help taking on 6-12 enemies and winning. That is no longer possible at any level.
Unfortunately that is how games are built these days. The player is invincible right from the start and then gets tougher. In POTC now you start off at the bottom of the food chain and work your way up if you are good enough.
Click to expand...


thats exactly what is making POTC realistic you cant be a beast like in every other games, you can with chance own a group alone but you still can meet death at any places, thats the realism and one of the most immersive feature, improving a lot the gameplay and immertion

keep in mind that in stock game your death = game over, in build mod death can be "only" being seriously hurt, improving heavily the gameplay
 
Hylie Pistof said:
Pieter, if you look at old old screenies you will see a player with no help taking on 6-12 enemies and winning. That is no longer possible at any level.
Click to expand...
I'd say that's a good thing. But what modpack version were those screenshots taken in?
Comparing between Beta 2.3 and Beta 2.5, things should be easier.

Of course there is always the cheatmode. If you want to really make things easy. Bit on the boring side though.
Too bad that I never really have time to challenge myself, but I'd really like to play things properly for a change.
 
boardslide315 said:
and none of it seems to make a spit of difference, they still kill me easily..
Click to expand...

i remember now that it happenned to me even in older versions before level 15 or something like that, no clue why, same to officers, i was looking for any melee calculation to see for example if another skill is improving melee, but i dont think luck skill is making that much difference, isnt it ?

also as we said in another thread, defense IS NOT doing anything in melee
 
agentad said:
i remember now that it happenned to me even in older versions before level 15 or something like that, no clue why, same to officers, i was looking for any melee calculation to see for example if another skill is improving melee
Click to expand...
Which older versions are those? Up to Beta 2.3, there were some VERY serious issues with the fencing skill code.
But Beta 2.5 has fixed those, so at least things are reasonable now and not severely weighed against you.

agentad said:
i dont think luck skill is making that much difference, isnt it ?
Click to expand...
Nope, I don't remember seeing that in there. :no
 
i have to play more in 2.5 cause thats true, before 2.5, melee was like weird sometime

i will play probably a lot more 2.5 version before telling what i meet in melee
 
i know about lara model (i know every models of the game :p ) but look at the name in the logs :wp
 
Thanks for the replies everyone, sorry if I came off a bit harsh in the beginning....

Anyway I've tried this mission about 10 times now and still cannot beat it. As I said I'm only on the 2nd mission of the main quest. I try to board the French ship and within seconds I die, usually on the second (blocked) strike from a French soldier. It's getting a bit frustrating. Maybe you can tell me what I'm doing wrong.

I have basic defense, advanced defense, and toughness abilities. My mele is level 3. I have cheap armor. I have a decent sword with 19/24 strike, and I think 33% block rating. It's the best sword I can find on St Pierre and it's at Excellent level from the blacksmith. I have plenty of bandages and healing potions but, my deaths are usually immediate, from full health to dead in one strike, so they don't do much good.

Before boarding the ship I hit it directly at least 40 times with grapes. I have the 'increased crew damage' ability. My weapons locker is stocked with the default 12 cutlasses or whatever it is Malcom tells you to put in there. Is that my weak spot, should I have many more swords than that? I don't know, I'm out of ideas, and my current strategy is clearly never going to work. (And really, I have played this game since 2005, I swear I don't remember it ever being nearly this hard!)
 
You are trying to do too much too soon. The changes made were to make the game last longer, meaning that the first levels should be spent gearing up on equipment and skills. A melee skill of only 3 means you barely know which end of a sword to hold onto and you are a one stroke kill. A melee skill of 5 means you are just average and those French soldiers are way better than that.

You need to go to Port Royale and find the opium den. That will help. Also go to Kralendijk and find Toff. Collect the special stealth weapons like grenades, stinkpot, poisoned throwing knife, ether bottle, and cobblestone and use them on the Dutch town guards because they have the best swords. This will also let you build up your melee skills safely. The musket is cool when it isn't misfiring too.
 
to add something that we dont think much at start:

remember we start with 40 hp and it grows not fast before level 10, so 2 third of the weapons can instant kill at start (added with critical hits, cheap armor can contribute but really blocks not much)

about your crew they have stats depending on your leadership (more its higher more they are good, im sure it still there), also putting better weapons/guns (no ammo needed) or even healing items (mostly potions) help them A LOT

it is same as your land crew or officers, using potions during melee REALLY saves you and your mate if you gave them some, and starting with low hp means potions heals easily your hp (keep in mind AI use potions, bandages and some other "regular" healing items if they have it in their inventory)
 
Cutlasses aren't very good. I'd recommend putting some other weapons in there instead. The better stuff you put in the weaponslocker, the easier boarding fights become.
Recommend dropping that Cheap Armor: It is reducing your fencing skill from 3 down to 2.

What is the HP of those soldiers you're fighting? You didn't change the Difficulty level from the default of "Apprentice", did you?

Agentad, are you SURE boarding crews use potions? I don't remember that.

And what do you mean with "your HP grows not so fast before level 10"? It is 10 HP per Level-Up regardless of whether you are before or after level 10. :confused:
 
Pieter Boelen said:
And what do you mean with "your HP grows not so fast before level 10"? It is 10 HP per Level-Up regardless of whether you are before or after level 10. :confused:
Click to expand...

i mean that before level 10 you have really not much hp (and you own 11 hp per level (with thoughness) )

in all the game i made, i see that before level 10 im nearly always one-shoted, after that level i die at least harder (around level 10 i also have enough melee skill to resist mainly and enough gold to have good bodyguards/crewmembers)


=> about the potions in boarding crew, all i see is that potions are used in weaponlocker when i put some, and at start of the game (with highest difficulty level which i always play) i see my men "lasting longer"

you can easily test by putting mixtures in (every AI can use it) and use a stinkpot on deck (tested a long time ago, like alpha 9 or something like that), if you put enough and sent the stinkpot good, you see enemies even not in fight dying, but your crew still having hp growing (by hitting them)
 
Sounds like they DO use the potions then. That's pretty cool! Didn't even know that. :woot

And I forgot about that 11 HP per level with Toughness. Pretty useful ability, that!
 
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