Land Combat post lev12 and rate of experience gain

[Handority]

Three quick problems mateys:
1.Is there a way to modify the difficulty of land based encounters post level 12? Its just insane to be one shot with max melee skill, golden cuirass, all melee perks, and with a block up using Bart's sword. The land based combat is my only turn off to the game, especially considering the enemy boarders are buffed while mine seemingly aren't. Im not sure, but I think this might tie into number 2

2.Again after about level 12, officers recruitable in taverns are extremely high in level. My level 14 Hawk had his pick of officers between the levels of 24-35 all with maxed skills pertaining to their profession. It kinda made the game easy mode at that point since I could have a "10" in every stat and some meatshields capable of taking two blows in melee. Could this be tied to point #1? Are NPC's spawning at extremely high levels in regard to the player after a certain point?

3.Is there a way to tone down the rate of skill experience gain? I managed to max most of my skills at 12ish. I think I had a 9 in sailing by level 7 or so and maxed cannons/accuracy before I was in a ship with more than 16 guns.

P.S. I was looking at the perks my officers had and noticed ALL of them had the full line of melee skills plus a few random ones. I went around capturing and converting some enemy captains to officers and noticed they too had all the melee perks and then some random ones. Do all NPC's have ALL the melee perks? Its seems alil bizarre that a navigator would be a gladiatorial god and yet know nothing of the navigational perks. The same with some freshly pressed landlubber on a trading vessel going toe to toe with a seasoned captain.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

matey!

Your experiences are not anywhere near the same as mine. So. What level are you playing at (journeyman, swashbuckler), and are you using the manual or auto skill system? Also, what is your defense skill? Defense skill is more important than melee skill.
The golden cuirass becomes available at level 15 and my opinion is that combat is nearly impossible from level 8 until that is acquired. After that combat is hard but doable with lots of luck, although in the game I am currently playing combat is very doable for some reason.

I have not seen super officers like you are describing in taverns. The ones I encounter are around my level or lower.

Your skill level increase is insane. I am at level 27 and the only skill I have at 10-10 is commerce because I play as a merchantman.

So, are you using the manual skill system?

 

[Handority]

Let's see, I was playing at Journeyman using the auto skill system. With items, my defense skill sits at 7-10. I think I can chalk up my cannon/accuracy gains to using a C5 Frigate with 4lb guns. It produces alot of shots, and the skill system doesnt care if you fire 4lb or 36lb carronades.

Do you do alot of missions for the govenors and shopkeepers? I do every mission I can find in a town. This causes my Leadership to skyrocket along with my sailing gains from being ambushed by storms frequently allows me early access to Class 5 ships.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

Hmm. I play at swashbuckler with autoskill. I did not know there is such a big difference in game play! Try a new game at a higher level. I also play the Open Sea mod which really slows down the game as you spend most of your time just sailing.
I do not do Governors or escort missions, but do shopkeeper missions as well as doing certain high profit trade runs when I have lots of cash on hand.
The Caravel and Carrack are great for getting cannon skills up fast with all of their small guns. In this game my cannon skills are low because I spent a lot of time with the Indiaman (fastmerchantman) and its massive 4 gun broadsides. I'm now sailing the 52 gun Heavy East Indiaman with its 22 gun broadside.

Do you use all of the special weapons like the stinkpot, ether bottle, poisoned throwing knife, and grenade? Even the Borgiablade is handy early on.

 

[Handority]

I tried a new game on max difficulty and the only difference I can detect is enemy level in relation to yours. I still get the same 1-2% growth in cannons/accuracy and rapid xp gain. Im pretty sure our differences lie in your use of Direct Sail and my "exploitation" of government employment.

As for special weapons, nay. The grenades are GREAT at lower levels for clearing whole decks, but at some point the enemy spawns with an average of 250-330 hp (be it on land or boarding) and laughs at the paltry damage. Ether bottles are fun though.