I do not spoiler further about the starting quest, lets just say, that I was able to take the ship on a second attempt, and managed to keep alive 3 out of my 4 main men- Including those who join.
Managed to painstakingly s(n)ail out of port, and leave behind the pursuers.
First (my naivity) I sailed to one of the French ports, and managed not to get killed on the first sight, my flags remained british and not changed to pirate after the sixth attempt... There I realised that I can only sell the frigate for 0 gold, even
if I appoint Pitt as a treasurer, as he have 30 points for that.
So, (naively) I reloaded, and sailed to the nearest pirate colony, just to realise that they don't have a shipyard. Another reload, and ended up in Tortuga.
Well, there at the shipyard wasn't any good ships to swap to, and the price for my frigate remained 0 even after the repairs.
But at least the pirate colony proven a good start, as there I was able to spend -almost all my money- (41k) to buy a diplomat to get off my british bounty... (turboed with a hefty sum from card and dice games, It seems my cognitive logic was improved by the years, as I do not have a really high Success (luck) skill ingame)
Of course I had a bounty, what kind of swashbuckler gives a hefty sum of 30k to a moneylender after a quest when he can keep it? Who knew that I have to buy my freedom for 41k later....
I had to sit and wait 15 days there before the bounty was cleared, but at least I was able to raise my money to 10k with more gambling, and get the Atila quest.
Then came the idea to sell only the frigate's guns, get a hefty price, and then scrap the frigate for 0 gold...
Bought a tartan, then we sailed for a british port, running for my life from pirates, bloodthirsty armies, and merchants, and all kind of animals riding debris...
After 7-8 attempts to enter port I was able to land, without recognised as a pirate.
I think, in Nevis.
There I realised that
WHAT IS THE PERMIT FROM THE WEST INDIA COMPANY IS GOOD FOR:
When an english soldier ("lobster" by their red coat) stopped me that my ship is really suspicious, There was an option to say: "I have a West Indies docking permit, you knob!" (Erm... Something similar) but it was expired after 60 days.
Managed to buy a BERMUDA SLOOP, as Im in love with the design, a true historical pirate vessel. The only problem is that it had 6 guns.... 2 on each side, 1-1 to forth, and rear.
NAMED HER: "RABID".
No matter, I started to hunt. Just to realise that even the smallest vessel outnumber my crew by a LARGE margin, and kill us all.
(with 6 4lbs cannon I did not attempted to shoot, as half a hour test battle resulted in one millimeter of lost enemy crew... I aimed straightly to board...)
Then I got a rise in blood pressure, and stuffed every poor soul I can into my tub, and restarted my efforts.
After a few sad experience with Class 7 vessels I've found a Bounty type French merchant, and after 2-3 attempts, managed to board it.
Sailed back to port, realised that the prize do not worth swapping to it, so I selled it.
Another nice surprise was, when I realised that IF I have enough navigation skill for the prize, and a good treasurer, I don't need to strip the guns, as their price is EXACTLY calculated into the ship's selling price in GOF 2.0 v14b !!!
Gained at least 24k from the ship and the cargo. ("TOOLS" mostly)
After taking some minor quests, and more gambling, I was sadly able to muster only 44 hands instead of the 63? max stuffable...
Sailed to another english port, I think Antigua. Immediately followed by a dumb Heavy Lugger pirate ship, attacked by the fort, and another english vessel.
It was immediately started to retreat (It was very nice, never saw anything like this before, Im not sure it's the CM 3.20 base, the GOF 1.x, or the GOF 2.0 material)
So I had to make a very tight run after it, tacking heavily against the wind from the prey's direction, managed to catch it VERY FAR away from the coasts.
Managed to crawl to it's side against the wind, without losing distance, and then fastly started to blaze my cherry poppers, that maybe I can damage slightly it's sails.
Another surprise by the AI, It's realised that Im sitting in a Bermuda Sloop, armed with wits only, and turned against me very fast instead of running.
I had to make several attempts to survive it's inevitable boarding party, but managed to grasp the ship finally.
(again, the dynamic fighting AI gave me chance to reach the unreachable. Though it was tough enough)
The problem was, that I had ZERO crew remaining in both vessels.
And since the minimal crew was missing, map travel, or fast travel was disabled
So we had to tack in 1 knot speed in manual sailing to Antigua port. Took 30 minutes in 8x time compression...
But I was able to make it home, and swap to the heavy lugger, and sell my beloved bermuda Sloop.
Swapped the 4lbs culverins to 8bs cannons on the lugger, just to realise that I can't mount them...
A visual trace, like some text in it's description would proven helpful to know that it can ONLY mount culverins
No matter, reload, spent alot of money, and bought 12 8lbs culverins.
NAMED THE HEAVY LUGGER: "THE FOX"
At antigua, I was able to gamble some money on cards and dice, after selling the cargo, and personal trinkets.
Also, as my 60 day West Indies permit ended, I had to evade the Lobsters heavily... Even managed to slip by the backs of two soldiers guarding
the Governor's Residence. So I took a job for king and country, to seek out and kill a group of bandits in the jungle. Managed to find, and kill them with my two officers, Pitts, and that ugly gunner. So -I think- my reputation is increased a bit, towards getting a privateers license in the future.
Another possible feature, but I can't be sure: it seemed, that until I finally visited the governor a second time, getting rid of the succesful quest, the soldiers failed to recognise me as suspicious.
A nice Brigantine became avaliable at the Antigua shipyard, so (after putting my navigator into treasurer role again) I spent all my money to sell the poor, untested Fox, and grab it.
How to keep your cargo and crew when you barely don't have enough money for the next ship:
I selled one of the luggers cannons, now having the money, I bought the Brigantine as second ship, swapped ship, trasnferred everything, and selled the poor lugger.
Here I stand now, selled the Brigantine's 4lb cannons, and bought 16 8lb ones.
Not yet named her, have to think about some furry predatory name, which is bigger than a fox, but still not a wolf ^^
(Mood music for this post)