Solved A Beginner needing help

[sc275]

Hi all,

I recently downloaded the game and I installed Build 14 Beta 3.2. The game looks incredibly immersive and detailed but I really don't know how to play.

I just started the original stock campaign and I just finished the tutorial. My first mate says goodbye and tells me he'll be in the tavern. When I try and take the ship out to sea I really don't know where to go. I only have a normal telescope but no compass. I hear that I need a compass to navigate anywhere but I don't know where to get one. None of the vendors are selling any compasses so I'm a bit lost.

Also, talking to the townspeople I hear a coin chinking sound. Apparently this means I've been pickpocketed? Why is it happening so often and what can I do about it? It seems like one out of every 3 people pick pocket me.

It also seems during conversation sometimes the player has the opportunity to steal the other person's coin purse. What's with the poisoned coin purses?

Thanks for the help all,

 

[Hylie Pistof]

This game has a lot of open world parts to it and can be confusing at first. So!

You do not have a compass and that makes sailing from island to island difficult. You will get a compass soon enough so don't panic. You can go to the World Map and sail from island to island there and drop back into direct sail when you approach an island so it is not too bad.

Have you been into the options file yet? It is accessed in the main menu under load and game and such. There you can turn off those pick pockets or at least turn them down.

Have you read the Tips and Tricks yet? There is some information there.

Are you familiar with the buttons and what they do? If you open your POTC folder and then open program--->controls you will find defaultcontrols.h. This opens with notepad and lists all the controls and what they do.

Also, if you open your POTC --->programs and scroll down you will find internalsettings.h. This opens with notepad and at the top are the realism settings. Read them carefully and adjust them to suit. Also at the bottom are some more settings mainly used for testing. But you might want to play with them later.

This should be enough to get you started.

 

[sc275]

Thank you for your very detailed response Hylie, It's helped tremendously

This game is fun but also very frustrating in ways. It seems the game is very unforgiving. I always seem to get killed in random encounters. Getting killed in a barfight, getting killed in a storm, military ambush, pirate attack, someone attacks me for no reason, poisoned chest, poisoned wallet, killed by natives, etc etc. It seems like I spend more time at the load screen reloading my savegame than I do playing. My character dies extremely easily. After a few sword swipes (despite my attempts to block) I die. Is there any option to lower the number of deadly random encounters?

After a storm my ship was destroyed. I managed to make it out on a lifeboat alive. I lost all my money, my crew, and my precious ship. Right now I can't afford to even buy a new ship. The ships are very expensive costing upwards of 20,000 gold. I have about 5,000 right now. I can sail 5 meters in the open sea before getting attacked by enemy ships. I hoist my neutral, personal flag but everyone still attacks me. How do I change this?

How do I make money anyways? Escort missions are dangerous because I'm only in a lifeboat and very easily destroyed. Hunting missions where I destroy enemy ships is impractical because my lifeboat doesn't even have a cannon. Dungeon exploration is deadly because my character is so weak.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

What Difficulty Level are you on?

 

[Hylie Pistof]

The game does start off being pretty hard. Over time you will get stronger and it will get easier.

For now learn to avoid fights in general and also learn to run a lot. Shoot them and take off running while you reload your gun. Also the special weapons are a necessity. Grenades, the poisoned throwing knife, and the stink pot all come in handy. Be proactive and use the cobblestones on the town guards and take their weapons. Early in the game the musket is a one shot killer.

Being stuck in the lifeboat makes life difficult too. You might get lucky and come across a battle and take a surrendered ship.

 

[VanessaHudgensFan]

I remembered the first time I was playing this game.... I had the same problem and it was really difficult but if you play it'll get easier and easier.

Let me think what tips can I give you?

1. Avoid fights and keep running if you get attacked.
2. If you must fight see if you can find a spot where only ONE guy can hit you and DEFEND yourself
3. Shoot guys attacking you first so they already have less HP
4. Talk to people walking around towns, you will gain experiance for that too
5. Use a white flag. If you are lucky the enemy ships around the island won't recognize you.

Another thing I want to say is that you can change the difficulty of the game always and in the Game Preferences in the Options menu you can change your game settings to your own optimize options whatever you like, sometimes that game get somewhat easier, if you disable gunpower for example

I hope you enjoy playing, those build mod is really really nice!

Greetz,

VanessaHudgensFan

PS: If you encounter any things that don't work or you have a question about something you can always ask it here on the threadlist . We are here to help each other hehehe and you can learn A LOT here

 

[DavyJack]

Welcome to Pirates Ahoy!


Some in-game TIPS:

• Get quests from merchants. Being a merchant marine in the beginning of the game helps you financially and helps you build up yer reputation too.
• When having more than enough gold, sign articles. This will distribute the money to you and yer crew. You can do the distributing by talking to a loanshark.
• And you'll have more personal wealth that will boost up yer fame in the Caribbean.

I hope this helps a bit. Cheers!

 

[sc275]

Thanks to everyone for the help. The responses here have been nothing but overwhelmingly positive and supportive.

Right now I'm playing the game as an Apprentice.

How do I fast travel on the world map? I'm in realism mode where you must discovet places first.

Does health automatically increase as the player levels up? Right now I only have about 110 health and it only takes a few slashes for me to die.

Can anyone explain ship combat to me? Space is to fire but how do I know when I'm in range and when my cannons have a good shot? How does manual fire work?

AI crew members following me around town. Does their health regenerate? I'm frustrated because I'm constantly getting ambushed/attacked in bar fights and my AI crew members keep dying.

Last question. Firing guns on land. How do I select my target? Right now I'm just using the mouse to look left and right. Sometimes I mouse over the wrong target and I shoot the wrong person.

 

[VanessaHudgensFan]

Thanks to everyone for the help. The responses here have been nothing but overwhelmingly positive and supportive.

Right now I'm playing the game as an Apprentice.

Good choice! Remember that you can always change this in the game, if you are level 50 or something it'll much more challinging to play with a higher difficulty hehehe

How do I fast travel on the world map? I'm in realism mode where you must discovet places first.

If I'm not mistaken you must change the setting to Arcade mode to enable that, you can change this in the Realism Settings, also change the other option below to Large Status Radar

Does health automatically increase as the player levels up? Right now I only have about 110 health and it only takes a few slashes for me to die.

Yup it will raise automaticly when you level up . There is a way to get more HP from the apothecary on Barbados but you need a few rare items for that that you can find randomly, talk to him if you want to know which, he's located in the building on the stairs next to the church in Bridgetown but it isn't easy to find this items so you better just gain experience and level up hehehe

Can anyone explain ship combat to me? Space is to fire but how do I know when I'm in range and when my cannons have a good shot? How does manual fire work?

How can I explain this? If I'm not mistaken it works the same way as in the stock game but I can tell you that some cannons have a larger range than others, if you sail next to a enemy ship you can always hit it with a good shot. It also gets better if you have a high accuracy and cannons skill and they'll increase automaticly when you firing on ships, remember that you need enough cannonballs, grapes, knippels and GUNPOWDER if you playing in Ammo mod. You also need to buy gunpowder and pistol bullets for pistols or they don't fire, for the controls just look in the contol options

AI crew members following me around town. Does their health regenerate? I'm frustrated because I'm constantly getting ambushed/attacked in bar fights and my AI crew members keep dying.

Are these officers you hire at the Tavern or members for your ship?

If this are members of your ship you can just talk to them and order them to return to the ship and if they are officers you can disable them for active duty and yes of course they gain experience and HP if they are on active duty In the beginning of the game if the officer/crewmember have a low HP and low skill they will die quickly so let them walk with you around town and talk to random people to gain experience and do the quests DavyJack mentioned with your crewmembers following you and they'll gain the same experience you do. Healing potions and good weapons will help them survive too

Last question. Firing guns on land. How do I select my target? Right now I'm just using the mouse to look left and right. Sometimes I mouse over the wrong target and I shoot the wrong person.

See abovve about the gunpoweder, just aim the mouse to the person you want to shoot and press Q. If the character turning red you'll shoot him, if it is the wrong person just turn your mouse away so you don't hit him. You can also change the Mouse Sensitivity to make it easier for you if you need it

Good luck mate and if you have more questions just ask

Greetz,

VanessaHudgensFan

 

[DavyJack]

How do I fast travel on the world map? I'm in realism mode where you must discovet places first.

Fast travel while on worldmap? I don't think that's even possible. The only places I know where you can fast travel are while on land or while at 3rd person sailing by pressing "Enter" and there you can select.

Can anyone explain ship combat to me? Space is to fire but how do I know when I'm in range and when my cannons have a good shot? How does manual fire work?

Same as VanessaHudgensFan. Just take a good aim and press space, your cannons will fire when in range.
If not, then adjust - change your aim or your distance to the enemy.
Press Tab for manual firing, see Controls in the game's main menu Options.

AI crew members following me around town. Does their health regenerate? I'm frustrated because I'm constantly getting ambushed/attacked in bar fights and my AI crew members keep dying.

Yes, your crew and your officers' health regenerate as well. Give them potions, good weapons and armor for their own sake.

Last question. Firing guns on land. How do I select my target? Right now I'm just using the mouse to look left and right. Sometimes I mouse over the wrong target and I shoot the wrong person.

Yes, like VanessaHudgensFan suggests. Just quickly maneuver the red highlight to the person you want to shoot when you press your firing key (Default is "Q").

And yeah, I think its better IF there is a way that you can select the person you want to shoot first before firing the shot (game speed turns to 0 while choosing).
Well, only an option(other command button), if possible, not as default.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

And yeah, I think its better IF there is a way that you can select the person you want to shoot first before firing the shot (game speed turns to 0 while choosing).
Well, only an option(other command button), if possible, not as default.

Your gun won't fire until you release the button, if I recall. So you can do the targeting while you have the button pressed.

 

[DavyJack]

Oh yes! I remember doing that in the stock game!

 

[VanessaHudgensFan]

Your gun won't fire until you release the button, if I recall. So you can do the targeting while you have the button pressed.

Hehehe never done that, I always aim at the person first before shooting him

 

[sc275]

Thanks again for the tips guys.

Now that I'm a higher level I'm much better at the game (and much more sane too). I've got my own ship now after scrimping and saving and I even captured another ship.

To capture ships must you board them and kill all the crew first?

When I press "C" to heal myself am I using up bandages, or potions? Is there anything that will instantly heal me rather than slowly regenerate my health?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

To capture ships must you board them and kill all the crew first?

You have to win the boarding, yes. But once you get to talk to the enemy captain, you don't need to kill all the enemy crew.

When I press "C" to heal myself am I using up bandages, or potions? Is there anything that will instantly heal me rather than slowly regenerate my health?

Healing takes time.
Bandages and potions are the same thing; only potions are more effective. By default, the smallest is used first.
If you want to use the largest instead, set USEMAXPOTION_ONKEYPRESS to 1 in PROGRAM\InternalSettings.h .

 

[DavyJack]

To capture ships must you board them and kill all the crew first?

Well, if the ship surrendered you just board the ship and talk to the captain. And be sure you have an able officer who can take the ship you want to capture. If you don't, then just swap ships if the enemy's better than yours. Well, any officers will do if you just want to sell the captured ship.

 

[sc275]

What does it mean if during a battle victory music plays and the message "the enemy has hoisted their colors!" mean? Does this mean the enemy has surrendered? If they've surrendered why can't I board their ship and capture it?

Currently I can only board ships when I'm in combat with ships (their icons in my compass are red) then the victory music plays and the hoisted colors message appears and then the icons on my compass turn from red to grey. I'm then no longer able to board and capture ships.

Last question I swear!

Where can I find muskets in this game? Every NPC seems to only have pistols.

 

[VanessaHudgensFan]

What does it mean if during a battle victory music plays and the message "the enemy has hoisted their colors!" mean? Does this mean the enemy has surrendered? If they've surrendered why can't I board their ship and capture it?

It means the enemy has changed their flag, most of the time they'll give up and you can't attack them anymore.

Currently I can only board ships when I'm in combat with ships (their icons in my compass are red) then the victory music plays and the hoisted colors message appears and then the icons on my compass turn from red to grey. I'm then no longer able to board and capture ships.

True, you can only board enemy ships and grey icon ships are not enemy ships.

Last question I swear!

Where can I find muskets in this game? Every NPC seems to only have pistols.

Uuhhm I never use muskets because I don't like those big guns hehehe . But I know you can buy them from shopkeepers after a while and some guards use it at will and you can find them sometimes on spots where some items are lying, these are vast locations and in every part you come there is such spot but I'm not gonna tell where, just have to find them yourself, there is a hand icon on the left in the screen when you can pick up a item

 

[DavyJack]

What does it mean if during a battle victory music plays and the message "the enemy has hoisted their colors!" mean? Does this mean the enemy has surrendered? If they've surrendered why can't I board their ship and capture it?

Yes, that means they've surrendered. Check their flags if white.
But you can't board them? Well, I can. Go near it. Don't go the opposite direction when boarding and mind your speed when boarding.

Where can I find muskets in this game? Every NPC seems to only have pistols.

The guards and soldiers have it and some pirates too if I remembered correctly. But you can buy musketoons from Stores as your level progress.

Last question I swear!

No sweat. That's why we have this forum. When you have questions, just ask. Happy Sailing!

 

[Grey Roger]

How do I fast travel on the world map? I'm in realism mode where you must discovet places first.

Both on the world map and at sea, pressing "R" will speed up time, pressing "G" will slow it. (Unless you've changed the controls through the "Options" menu".)

Does health automatically increase as the player levels up? Right now I only have about 110 health and it only takes a few slashes for me to die.

Yes. When you level up not only do you gain extra health but your health jumps straight up to 100%.

Can anyone explain ship combat to me? Space is to fire but how do I know when I'm in range and when my cannons have a good shot? How does manual fire work?

The cannons have very narrow firing arcs. Face the side of your ship and move the cursor around until you get a cross-hair with a circle round it. That means you're facing the direction your guns can fire. If it's yellow then they're either not pointing at a target or they're at the wrong range. Red means they're in range of something hostile, green means they're in range of something friendly. You need to move the cursor up until the circle has just turned from red to yellow, which can be tricky because the guns can't elevate very far and if you move the cursor too high then you lose the circle. Watch for the ship to roll and fire when the roll allows the guns to point at the right angle. To fire, press "V".

AI crew members following me around town. Does their health regenerate? I'm frustrated because I'm constantly getting ambushed/attacked in bar fights and my AI crew members keep dying.

Yes, everyone's health regenerates. It regenerates a lot quicker when you (or they) have the "Toughness" perk. It also regenerates if you apply medication. If you have enough, hand some to your officers so they can heal themselves too.

Last question. Firing guns on land. How do I select my target? Right now I'm just using the mouse to look left and right. Sometimes I mouse over the wrong target and I shoot the wrong person.

Guns of this era did not have gunsights. Learn to point at the right target, and don't fire if there are other people nearby. Hitting one of your own officers won't do any harm. Hitting a random civilian will damage your reputation and get the rest of the townspeople annoyed with you, and they'll express that annoyance with their own swords!

Talking of reputation, when you have a good one go to Kralendijk on Bonaire. Talk to a chap dressed in green and sitting just to the right of the door. He may have a job for you, and if you do it you get something which should improve your survival chances...