This or the previous games?

[Redbeard]

So anybody have a verdict yet? I want to start putting my time into one of the games, but I'm not sure which one to start with first. I own Sea Dogs TEHO, and CoAS. I've learned the basics of both and put some time into both, but which to truly dive into? Choices choices.

Anyhow, so far how do you think the new game compares?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

There are also the original Sea Dogs, 2003 Pirates of the Caribbean (with massive mod) and Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales.
All part of the same series.

 

[Ben Coats]

for now I'm going to go with SDTEHO, I like CoAS too.
things I like of SDTEHO:
1. better graphics, characters are better made (uniforms, weapons) Tortuga is redone best
2. ships are better (the decks and cabins) also the cannons have to cut the crews down before boarding (opposite in CoAS)
3. better places to visit dungeon and prison, natives, graveyard/crypt. lighthouse keeper
4. floating debris can get you $$ when you find them.
5. the different trinkets and trade items are more than CoAS
6. the EIC building you can go in and get missions from (not in CoAS)
7. drug store you can visit (not in CoAS)
8. the sailing from island to island is more spaced out.

things I don't like bout SDTEHO
1. the start off story quest.
2. the skills of the pirates and other attacking ships soon as you get free-sail
3. the skill boarding actions first starting out is almost impossible to complete unless you've cut down opposing crew with cannon fire. (no hand grenades)
4. rats on board constantly eating your supplies more than CoAS (unless you find a rat god @ the very start)
5. fact is that its on steam
6. the "min crew required" when capturing a ship (after the GoF mod you didn't have to worry bout transferring crew)
7. the log book keeps track of your saves/reloads/health lost
8. the rum is way too expensive @ the start.

those are my 16 things I like and don't like.

 

[mihai brad]

Modded CoAS is a much better choice, in my opinion.
In fact, i cannot understand how the developers of TEHO failed to implement the "+" modders brought to this game.

 

[Flannery]

I feel SDTEHO is not living up to its rights of being a full "new" game....

The characters look stretched and distorted from what you see in CoAS (especially women)

There are also allot of really bad and immersion breaking monologues that makes it more comic in my eyes...

None of the functions bests what you can achieve with the mods available - and the mods offer soooo much more. (GOF and GOF Eras)

Now... that said... none of them beats PotC New Horizons ("build mod" if it pleases you better)

Direct sailing between the islands and so much more depth to the stories - pluss tons of characters to play, many of them historical figures with their own story lines.

Or just do free play mode and be whatever you want (follow navy career, be a merchant, privateer or pirate) with all side quests from the original game still there for you to explore should you want to.

You can even activate enlargening the map to allow more realtime sailing distanses between the ports if that is your prefered style. (I personally love this)

All sorts of events happens in realtime sailing as well; Running into pirates, friendly/hostile patrols, merchant convoys, drifting derelicts, surviving sailors in lifeboats, inka rafts and floating cargo.

I grant that CoAS and SDTEHO has slightly better graphics - but that is really all it has going for themselves over New Horizon.
In fact - You spend most your time at sea, and all the good CoAS ships have been ported alongside MANY Piratesahoy! Community created ships which are really well modeled, and really beats ANY ship Akella ever put into a game

Only way I would pick up on playing CoAS or SDTEHO again was if New Horizons was ported to it - but we know that's impossible as we cannot get direct sailing to work on that engine...

 

[Pieter Boelen]

All those games are nearly on the same engine already.
Not identical enough to make a port feasible though.
It would in theory not be impossible, but the amount of time and effort required would be ludicrous.

But I strongly suspect DirectSail could be made to work if somebody would be truly dedicated to making it happen.
It was supposed to be impossible on the PotC engine as well, after all. That's what the original game developers said.
Except we did it anyway!

 

[Black Sam Bellamy]

I´m very satisfied with playing SDTEHO and think that it is really good made. It has a fresh look, better graphics and charaters than CoAS and an exciting gameplay with a lot of new stuff to explore. I was already tired of all the old pirate games that i new already inside out and all the new stuff that came out last year couldn´t touch my heart at all. I didn´t even expect that SDTEHO will ever show up in english, so that i´m really very thankful that i can enjoy it know. Big thanks to all people from Black Mark Studio that made this come true!

 

[TheExploited]

I am also pretty satisfied with the SDTEHO. It is an obvious improvement over the CoaS.

The graphics is better eventhough it's the same engine. There is much more stuff, many more characters, places on map, etc.
So far I haven't seen any bugs of which CoaS was full. For example, we all had to go and manually fix the Tenochtitlan quest so it can work.

SDTEHO looks much harder. We all started playing pretty recently and everything is new to most of us. There aren't missions explained like for CoaS. But I really feel the improvement is evident. And I am so happy the game is out.

 

[ad5ian]

I played the Sea Dogs 1 when it was released and I loved it. I waited for SD2, but they sold it to Disney or something and it was released as POTC. I played a little POTC, but didn't finished it. Didn't played AOP1 or COAS. I just saw the title Sea Dogs 2 and I had to try it. I recognize the same engine as POTC, but there are a lot of improvements. The story is the strong point in this game. Pirate saga, at least, is very well written. It has a mature storytelling, things you cannot find anymore in games from USA.
Anyway, to bad that there are only a few that play this game. They don't know what they are missing.
Is sad that there will never be a Sea Dogs with a newer and better engine, without the anoying things this engine has like the bodies that dissapear too quikly before you can search them, or the fact that is impossible to search all the bodies if they are in the same place etc, the buying menu etc. One of the most annoying thing is that during boarding, after clearing a deck, that open lock appeares and I several times pressed space in front of a chest just when that opened lock appeared and so i lost all the loot.
I have a lot of suggestions for a future title, but i will write them on steam after i finnish the game.

 

[Flannery]

Its not the same engine as PotC, its an emproved version of it - the one used in CoAS

And there WILL be a Sea Dogs with a newer and better engine....

it's called....

Hearts of Oak: Conquest of the Seas

 

[ad5ian]

I hope you can take every good thing Sea Dogs series have and add what's missing. I just looked at Vendetta: Curse of Raven's Cry on Youtube. I was amazed how the ships, sea, and especially the cities looked like. The rest is very bad though, like the ridiculous combat and incredible long loading time, such a wasted potential... but, one of the things i don't like in SDTEHO is that all the cities looked the same. Even in SD1 there was, if I remember correctly, a different architecture and music in the Spanish cities compared with the English, France and Dutch cities . So it should be a completely different architecture and feeling in cities of different nations. In fact each city should look unique, with different landscape and even unique buildings. There should be a city with an arms dealer/importer for example where you can go and buy large quantities of gunpowder and have a big assortment of weapons (muskets too) that cannot be (easily) found on usual street vendors. In another city could be an importer of precious stones that offers the best deals, in some of the cities could be exporters of a specific merchandise, apart from the usual stores. If you have a lot of ebony you better go to a specific city to get the best deal etc. So, each city should have something special that will make it worth visiting. Also, there are some merchandise to be added, like tea, silk, china, silverware and maybe others. Capturing a ship with such a load should feel amazing. Some other items could be added so the player can really feel like a pirate that amasses huge hoards of treasures, items like ingots of different sizes. Just like there are now different sizes of bags of doubloons or like there are gold and silver nuggets, there should be gold ingots too and other precious things so you don't get bored getting the same precious things .

 

[Flannery]

I hope you can take every good thing Sea Dogs series have and add what's missing. I just looked at Vendetta: Curse of Raven's Cry on Youtube. I was amazed how the ships, sea, and especially the cities looked like. The rest is very bad though, like the ridiculous combat and incredible long loading time, such a wasted potential... but, one of the things i don't like in SDTEHO is that all the cities looked the same. Even in SD1 there was, if I remember correctly, a different architecture and music in the Spanish cities compared with the English, France and Dutch cities . So it should be a completely different architecture and feeling in cities of different nations. In fact each city should look unique, with different landscape and even unique buildings. There should be a city with an arms dealer/importer for example where you can go and buy large quantities of gunpowder and have a big assortment of weapons (muskets too) that cannot be (easily) found on usual street vendors. In another city could be an importer of precious stones that offers the best deals, in some of the cities could be exporters of a specific merchandise, apart from the usual stores. If you have a lot of ebony you better go to a specific city to get the best deal etc. So, each city should have something special that will make it worth visiting. Also, there are some merchandise to be added, like tea, silk, china, silverware and maybe others. Capturing a ship with such a load should feel amazing. Some other items could be added so the player can really feel like a pirate that amasses huge hoards of treasures, items like ingots of different sizes. Just like there are now different sizes of bags of doubloons or like there are gold and silver nuggets, there should be gold ingots too and other precious things so you don't get bored getting the same precious things .

I agree that Vendetta: Ravens Cry could easily been so much better.

And all of the other aspects you speak of are planned for Hearts of Oak. All unique cities based on its real counterpart, music from each nationality - both the music of the folk as well as the elite. Muskets and the like.

The whole idea behind Hearts of Oak is exactly that - to take the ideas of all the mods created by this community for the akella games - especially New Horizons - and create our own game with even more possibilities.

If you haven't checked the project thoroughly out, you definitely should as I think from what you write, that it is right up your alley

 

[Ben Coats]

I've actually come to really enjoy it, (yes i had to use a trainer to get $) and was able to complete the first part, and get the loyal indian. what i like:
ships are better, sailing is better, the random kegs in the ocean, newer trinkets, the fact you can go in the lighthouse (you couldnt on CT and CoAS) the graveyard is well made too. weapons are better, the bandits/indians in the jungle, the damsel in distress mission is better made. just lot of good things to this game.
the downside to it.
1. loyalty of officers they leave especially right before you need them in a fight.
2. the alchemy stuff----> REALLY??? 1/2 the things they list you cant find, (i found 1 meteorite) and nothing else (blue amber, ect.), you can by a few things from the street traders but the other stuff like bench/toolbox WHERE IS IT??
3. more aggressive pirates @ the start of the game.
4. minus in skills when you dont have anything that would contribute to it.
5. the steam achivements (ive won over 40+ sea battles) yet its still dont have the "baptism of fire" unlocked.
6. having to find the navigator @ the start was kind of a chore.
7. the stupid Chest Traps (smh)
8. the Gama cant be brightened----there are places i can go that are so bright (see screenshot) and most of the caves/grottos i go in i cant see 2 ft in front of me.
9. no skeleton's to fight, where are they for the achievement to be unlocked.

 

[ad5ian]

I have no problem with loyalty of officers. Since I have a good reputation, I never hire scoundrels, swindlers, villains or blody killers in the first place. Second, when they want to leave, I chose third option, then the first. I give them money and they stay. Money was never a problem. I have more than enough.
Alchemy must be for the later part of the game, after Justice Island. You should check on the moneylender everytime you visit a city, they sometimes have rare things to sell, like meteorites, blue amber and lots of other rare stuff.
I think the toolbox can be found on Justice Island, that's why alchemy probably is usefull only after that.
I also didn't get the baptism of fire, but I don't care about achievements. Probably is because i didn't sunk by cannon fire any enemy vessel. I never use cannonballs and bombs, rarely i use chainshots. Allways grapeshots, that affects sails too, and I board them.

 

[Ben Coats]

I don't hire the scoundrel, villains or bloody killers either, I figured if i pressed the guy with the 3rd option he'd later muitny on me. My rep., is honest trader.
Didn't realize the banker had trinkets like that (thanx)
How can i get justice islands story started? Ive only got the indian chief done and Fradley doesn't offer anything , guess i need to go talk to Michael in prison on martianique.

 

[Galleon Love]

This game is so much harder! I am surely losing patience. I will continue to keep going a little while longer only because of you people say it will be getting better. I hope so. My hope is that when I can finally "freeplay" that I can level up to get better ships and officers more easily and my skills will cause me to do better and to achieve goals faster. Meaning that I will start having more fun than being completely frustrated which is what I am now.

I must add a correction to what has been said previously. The mod not to be mentioned here and everyone knows what I am talking about I think also has direct sail and it also has many many ships that the other mods do not including the New Horizons.

 

[ad5ian]

@Ben Coats
Your officers never mutiny for that. They just want more money. In fact I only had a mutiny of the crew when i run out of food in the middle of the ocean. What level are you? You should have visited your brother 3 months after last talking to him (he told you that and it is written in the log also). Anyway, maybe you can still take the Dutch Gambit Quest, after that quest, when you got 1 million pesso and you are satisfied with you character development, visit you brother again and pay the million. You will then get the Pirate Saga which is epic, but read something about it first because it has a time limit which is very easy to fail if you are not ready and don't have the right amulets.

The usurer has staff to sale, you can chose for pesso or doubloons, he trade for doubloons only valuable staff like precious stones, ingots etc. Also he has a lot of money and is the only one who can afford buying from you treasure chests that are worth like 90.000 pessos a piece. Also he offers best prices for rings and other jewlery. Those he buys only for pessos.

@Galleon Love.

Where are you in the game? Did you finished the Dutch Gambit?

The great things in this game are the main quests. If you miss or ignore those, you can't even say you played the game.

 

[Ben Coats]

Rank 13. Trying get my skills up fighting, sailing, boarding, trading and all that before taking on more in-depth and harder missions, in CoAS I always was get'n my ass kicked (cuz of low skill) then i got the city of abandoned ships quest and still haven't finished how to beat it. So that's why I'm taking longer in SDTEHO.

 

[ad5ian]

You are ready for Dutch Gambit. Visit your brother and then chose either the Dutch or the English. You need 25 skill in all the weapons and a bad reputation for the secret organization.
Also you need a boatswain or should have invested skill points in increased damage to the crew and musket salvo. That will make your life more easier. You just grapeshot a lot the enemy until there are a few left, that not only makes boarding a piece of cake, but without a full crew, they cannot reload fast enough, so they are a sitting duck. Also a good doctor is very important.
Now that you know how to keep your officers, take care to build a dream team. I see that you don't have Tichingitu. He is a loyal and very good boarder.

 

[Ben Coats]

i have him, just took him off, cuz i was going to do a boarding action and didnt want to loose him. im realizing that using canister fire on ships to get their crews down is more important than it was in CoAS, when i could just sail up, board and they surrender. i wasnt ready for the 2nd boading action in SDTEHO the first time.