Guide How to get a very good start

[HellSailor]

Yes, but fencing is not a very big problem if you tend to increase other skills. Just board and board enemy ships, that's all

And of course, Pieter, the idea is not only on the standard storyline; It works on other storylines, like De la Croix or Jean Laffite. Those are for me better than the standard.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

I do this at the start of every game and have never come close to getting level 10. To do that you need to chat with everyone for real time hours while spamming the keyboard. I don't have the patience for it.

 

[HellSailor]

I do this at the start of every game and have never come close to getting level 10. To do that you need to chat with everyone for real time hours while spamming the keyboard. I don't have the patience for it.

Well, i didn't say it was such an easy and comfortable trick...

If you want the boost, you have to be patient and spend time on it, spamming full time the keyboard with those guys But i usually finish my level 10 at no more than 30 minutes.

 

[Grey Roger]

Yes, but fencing is not a very big problem if you tend to increase other skills. Just board and board enemy ships, that's all

And then, because you have poor fencing skill and the new perk system locks you out of the Advanced Defence skill which in turn prevents you getting Toughness, you meet the enemy captain, he hits you once or twice and you die. And you can't save game during the boarding.

What you can do to improve your fencing is to raid as many cellars, dungeons and catacombs as you can find, and save often. Eventually you'll survive to the other end with a few more points on your Melee skill. Except that then everyone else is tougher, and you're not because you still don't have Toughness...

 

[Marki]

I've been down there with a character with more than 3400 hp, tried to dig out everything, every tomb systematicaly, different tries, different routes, tried to avoid loading screens, to find that treasure I had read of somewhere in the forum: the mysterious treasure of the Maltese Abbey, after one would have digged out everything. A lot of good swords went into my invertory and I met the Maltese Abbey Thief multiple times (that's why you shouldn't take your money with you down there), but: I never found that Maltese Abbey treasure, I think it does not exist. But would be happy to hear I'm wrong .

 

[HellSailor]

And then, because you have poor fencing skill and the new perk system locks you out of the Advanced Defence skill which in turn prevents you getting Toughness, you meet the enemy captain, he hits you once or twice and you die. And you can't save game during the boarding.

What you can do to improve your fencing is to raid as many cellars, dungeons and catacombs as you can find, and save often. Eventually you'll survive to the other end with a few more points on your Melee skill. Except that then everyone else is tougher, and you're not because you still don't have Toughness...

Ohh... then i must reconsidered it

OK, then the trick only works for Beta 3.1, otherwise you will be more weak on 3.2 . By the way, @Levis , is it possible to turn off that way of acheive those abilities, like turning off the use of gunpowder of the ship? Or this new feature will remain forever?

 

[Hylie Pistof]

There is another way. I just captured a ship that had already surrendered to a fort. You might have noticed that the city guards have muskets. A cobblestone can knock out a guard and then you can kill him and take his sword and musket. This is a win/win situation. I now have 6 muskets and Solingen rapiers and that Captain did not last long.

 

[HellSailor]

Wait.... You are talking about inside the city with the city guards, isn't it?

 

[Hylie Pistof]

Ayup! Also, one can go to Marigot while the Dutch and French are hostile with each other and walk out into the island and watch them fight, and then harvest their equipment. But you do not get melee points doing that.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I never found that Maltese Abbey treasure, I think it does not exist. But would be happy to hear I'm wrong .

There are random treasures to be found while digging, but no additional "motherload".

By the way, @Levis , is it possible to turn off that way of acheive those abilities, like turning off the use of gunpowder of the ship? Or this new feature will remain forever?

There is a toggle for it already.

Ayup! Also, one can go to Marigot while the Dutch and French are hostile with each other and walk out into the island and watch them fight, and then harvest their equipment. But you do not get melee points doing that.

Hmm.... I wonder if we should make corpses unlootable unless they were killed by the player party.
Otherwise that is a bit of a huge cheat....

 

[Grey Roger]

By the way, @Levis , is it possible to turn off that way of acheive those abilities, like turning off the use of gunpowder of the ship? Or this new feature will remain forever?

I believe I did find something in one of the configuration files to switch off the new perks system but I left it alone as I want to see what all the new changes do.

Ayup! Also, one can go to Marigot while the Dutch and French are hostile with each other and walk out into the island and watch them fight, and then harvest their equipment.

I haven't been outside the cities on St. Martin since installing Build 14. Has someone been clearing the mines? Because if you wander around outside in Build 13, you're liable to tread on something nasty... On the other hand, you can go to Tortuga, whose inhabitants also fight each other, then you pick up the loot. You still don't get Melee points but you may get something which will help you live longer in the dungeon of your choice, where you will get Melee points or die trying.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

There are no land mines, but there are cannons which do the same thing. The soldiers are pretty tuff so it is not recommended to fight them until you get very strong.

The thing with the soldiers only works one time. After that they are walking around being friendly and it is only the bandits that are a problem. And the cannons.

 

[Levis]

The locked perks is still work in progress. Expect some more perks to be locked over the course of the next week.
These will be the only perks which are available from the start. The rest will be locked and have to be unlocked in one way or another

BasicDefence - aviable from start
CriticalHit -available from start
Rush - aviable from start
Gunman - available from start
ShipTurnRateUp - available from start
ShipSpeedUp - available from start
SandbankManeuver - available from start
BasicBattleState - available from start
FastReload - available from start
HullDamageUp - available from start
SailsDamageUp - available from start
CrewDamageUp - available from start
LongRangeShoot - available from start
MusketsShoot - available from start
SharedExperience - available from start
IronWill - aviable from start
Brander - aviable from start

And this could change even more. Besides that if you are playing on Realistic Abilities or Iron man mode some of these perks wont be available also .
There are hints ingame about how to unlock the perks. In most cases its not that hard. This will be disabled by default but can be enabled altough we are considering this to be tied to your difficulty level instead .

Oh btw for your consideration .
You will need to be lvl 54 (I believe) to have ALL PERKS if you look at how much they cost now. This could change a little bit but probally wont go lower then lvl 50. So expect you wont be able to get all the perks soon .

 

[HellSailor]

So... for Beta 3.2, it won't be an option to change the system of locked perks from 3.2 to 3.1, for example? Like turning off the gunpowder.

If isn't, i would like at least a description in those locked abilities of how to get them

 

[Pieter Boelen]

So... for Beta 3.2, it won't be an option to change the system of locked perks from 3.2 to 3.1, for example? Like turning off the gunpowder.

As I said, there already is:

#define   ALLOW_LOCKED_PERKS         1     // BOOL    - Default = 1, If 1 perks can be locked. If 0 no perks can be locked.

If isn't, i would like at least a description in those locked abilities of how to get them

There will be.

 

[HellSailor]

Ohh sorry, didn't see that well

And so great!!!!

 

[DavyJack]

How 'bout disabling the locked perks mod, in the difficulty: Apprentice by default and automatically enable it in the Adventurer and Swashbuckler mode?

 

[Hylie Pistof]

The perks seem to unlock easily enough. I just unlocked the "Trustworthy" perk even though I do not even have the basic commerce perk yet. It looks like I will be to level 18-20 before I even enable that perk, so smuggling will be my primary source of income at least until then as merchant runs are little more than break even activities now.

 

[Levis]

The next update will have a troggle too for hint. Its of on default now (as test). If you enable it, it says how to unlock it. But if you play all aspects of the game you should get all perks. I should add 1 for smuggling too.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

How 'bout disabling the locked perks mod, in the difficulty: Apprentice by default and automatically enable it in the Adventurer and Swashbuckler mode?

I'd prefer to have it always on. And then we'll see how people like it.

Perhaps this is a feature that does deserve having its toggle in the in-game Options menu, rather than in InternalSettings.h though.