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What about becoming a space pirate?
Sea Dogs games General Discussion, Playthroughs and Minimal/No Reload Thread
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Here are statistics of Mary's pirate activity so far (the last row shows sunken ships, the row before the last shows boarded ships):
Mary tries to follow the steps of The Gentleman Pirate and doesn't attack civil ships without a reason. So she's hunting her fellow pirates generally.
Mary reached rank 13, and finally started to gain new items. A blue (rare) heavy weapon and a fine spyglass. A fine spyglass is such a big improvement: the most important thing it shows is whether the enemy ship has musketeers or not. Musketeers is a naval perk that leads to 10% losses for the opposite party before any boarding. That's very substantial, as usually Mary tries to do her boardings without losing any troops, and this spyglass will help manage priorities: now she'll be skipping ships with musketeers for boarding purposes, if possible.
Mary's sneak skill (thanks to items) reached 50 (that's halfway to 100), so now she tries to enter towns by raising the appropriate (non-pirate) flag. Because this is chance-based and can really screw the whole playthrough, I don't count reloads when she's unsuccessful, but still try to use little advantages when I can, e.g. approaching enemy forts from a long distance to be able to decide whether I want to retreat or not and using the night time mostly. Basically, not being able to fully use the whole map of the Caribbean due to being a pirate is the biggest challenge and I enjoy how during her adventures, Mary slowly but steadily gains stats allowing her to infiltrate towns more and more frequently.
You can see the fort just in front of the ship, and it is not shooting. The sneak attempt succeeded!
Another new activity that is now available to Mary is treasure-hunting. Sometimes, very rarely, she encounters people in taverns who offer to sell treasure maps. These maps, if valid, can provide a great treasure. To find the treasure, Mary first has to find the place according to the map, then fight skeletons spawning in the area, and then PRECIOUS! The undead are formidable fighters, and Mary uses the help of Yoko there.
The first treasure was very useful: a head sculpture of an old Maya warrior provides +20 to Defense. Thus, the Defense of Mary's ship is now 100 (maximum).
Mary also found a musketeer officer in one of the Spanish towns. Magnus was ready to join her crew.
And here is the land group in full (yes, I finally found a way to screenshot my character not from behind):
Mary tries to follow the steps of The Gentleman Pirate and doesn't attack civil ships without a reason. So she's hunting her fellow pirates generally.
Mary reached rank 13, and finally started to gain new items. A blue (rare) heavy weapon and a fine spyglass. A fine spyglass is such a big improvement: the most important thing it shows is whether the enemy ship has musketeers or not. Musketeers is a naval perk that leads to 10% losses for the opposite party before any boarding. That's very substantial, as usually Mary tries to do her boardings without losing any troops, and this spyglass will help manage priorities: now she'll be skipping ships with musketeers for boarding purposes, if possible.
Mary's sneak skill (thanks to items) reached 50 (that's halfway to 100), so now she tries to enter towns by raising the appropriate (non-pirate) flag. Because this is chance-based and can really screw the whole playthrough, I don't count reloads when she's unsuccessful, but still try to use little advantages when I can, e.g. approaching enemy forts from a long distance to be able to decide whether I want to retreat or not and using the night time mostly. Basically, not being able to fully use the whole map of the Caribbean due to being a pirate is the biggest challenge and I enjoy how during her adventures, Mary slowly but steadily gains stats allowing her to infiltrate towns more and more frequently.
You can see the fort just in front of the ship, and it is not shooting. The sneak attempt succeeded!
Another new activity that is now available to Mary is treasure-hunting. Sometimes, very rarely, she encounters people in taverns who offer to sell treasure maps. These maps, if valid, can provide a great treasure. To find the treasure, Mary first has to find the place according to the map, then fight skeletons spawning in the area, and then PRECIOUS! The undead are formidable fighters, and Mary uses the help of Yoko there.
The first treasure was very useful: a head sculpture of an old Maya warrior provides +20 to Defense. Thus, the Defense of Mary's ship is now 100 (maximum).
Mary also found a musketeer officer in one of the Spanish towns. Magnus was ready to join her crew.
And here is the land group in full (yes, I finally found a way to screenshot my character not from behind):
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I gotta admit, reading about your progress makes me want to play this game next. I see a lot of inspiration from Sid Meier's: Pirates. Well, in fact, it looks like a better version of it. From what I see there is more focus on rpg aspect, incresing skills, collecting better gear.
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I actually haven't got to any real quests so far, all of this is just a prelude. I could have, but the game is brutal and I don't want to reload like crazy when a quest event proves to be very difficult for Mary.
Yoko (and later Magnus) equips a guards' cuirass now, it provides a 27% reduction of incoming damage.
During one of the boardings, this is what Mary finds... This is a rare two-bullet pistol with a high chance of actually hitting the target.
Emerald pendants, finally. With this item, sneak increased to 70.
Mary started to do radiant quests in every town she visits. She guarded a church during the night, found a ship stolen from the port authority, and took part in a pirate quiz where you have to manually type an answer to a seafarer-related question. She started to gather special credit chests - a rare reward for some of these quests. Eventually, these special chests, along with the "treasure" (even rarer loot) can help her improve ship characteristics (it's a special service at one of the docks that require not only gold but also special items).
While exploring towns, Mary stumbled upon 3 people on 3 different islands - each of them offered her to have a good trade if she comes, alone, to the nearest cave until midnight. Of course, it was an ambush every time. These were rather difficult fights, sometimes Mary had to fight against 2 opponents both of whom used pistols. But her high health allowed her to survive (Mary's rank is 18, and thanks to a special perk she gets a health increase whenever her rank increases). This is one of the "bigger" quests in the game.
Yoko (and later Magnus) equips a guards' cuirass now, it provides a 27% reduction of incoming damage.
During one of the boardings, this is what Mary finds... This is a rare two-bullet pistol with a high chance of actually hitting the target.
Emerald pendants, finally. With this item, sneak increased to 70.
Mary started to do radiant quests in every town she visits. She guarded a church during the night, found a ship stolen from the port authority, and took part in a pirate quiz where you have to manually type an answer to a seafarer-related question. She started to gather special credit chests - a rare reward for some of these quests. Eventually, these special chests, along with the "treasure" (even rarer loot) can help her improve ship characteristics (it's a special service at one of the docks that require not only gold but also special items).
While exploring towns, Mary stumbled upon 3 people on 3 different islands - each of them offered her to have a good trade if she comes, alone, to the nearest cave until midnight. Of course, it was an ambush every time. These were rather difficult fights, sometimes Mary had to fight against 2 opponents both of whom used pistols. But her high health allowed her to survive (Mary's rank is 18, and thanks to a special perk she gets a health increase whenever her rank increases). This is one of the "bigger" quests in the game.
Urdnot_Wrex
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I had to smile at the idea that something as sparkly and tinkling as this pendant increases sneaking of all things. Sounds very useful though, considering that approaching a place under false flag successfully counts as sneaking.
That sounds very unique for such a game, I like it. Could you give an example of what was asked maybe?
The game seems to be a really interesting combination of a variety of mechanics and challenges.
Hey, in our tavern there's someone who sells treasure maps too, I know him! If you want to, I can make you acquainted, just meet me an hour after midnight in the basement of the old tower ruin in the dark forest up that far hill over there...
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They are very technical open-ended questions about ships and sailing, to which you have to give a precise typed answer. You would have to be a total fanatic on the subject to know most of them, IMO. My version of the game, at least, provides a list of the possible questions and answers, thankfully, so I don't have to do a bunch of research on the internet. Here are just a few of the questions and answers:
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Yeah, the approach where you have to type the answer is very old-school. I remember 10 years ago I knew all answers by memory as everything about seas was my hobby and I tried to learn all those ship parts etc. Now, I nearly forgot all of them and have to search online usually. 
When Mary was chasing a group of bandits who had looted a church nearby, one of them dropped a red pistol. To explain just how lucky that is, I need to say that there is only a 5% chance the body you loot will actually show the weapons this NPC equipped. And the chances that this NPC would carry a red (unique) pistol are already low, the game randomly picks between white (usual) and blue (rare) weapons depending on your character's rank. In this case, though, it was a red pistol. At 20 rank, this is very, very early and extremely lucky.
It's a Beretta pistol. Extremely high damage, high to-hit chance, and very quick reload speed.
However, if the first treasure map had been good for Mary, the last 2 weren't (just some general junk, nothing rare). But at least, each of those treasures had halves of another treasure map. @Xzarloxara said that there are better odds to get rarer loot in a treasure found according to a map created from 2 halves. Well, this seems to be right.
It's a Karabela, a medium-type weapon. Exactly Mary's favourite type (to wield heavy weapons, a character needs more Strength and each hit eats a lot of Energy; while light weapons usually have lower damage). But it's not even about weapon type. Mary got a red (unique) weapon just in the first 4 treasures she found.
It was time to start the first bigger quest line, one that is my favourite and that only exists in this mod setup. It's called The Condottiero, and essentially, this is a bounty hunter-themed quest line. When Mary was still at rank 5, a tavern keeper of her initial island, Martinique, explained that someone is killing pirates, and this someone seems to be a pirate themselves. However, all the 5 biggest pirate barons of the archipelago don't care due to quarrels between themselves, and the pirate "king", Morgan, is far away in Jamaica busy with political intrigues. The keeper suggested he should hire someone new who could independently, one by one, find and kill members of this odd group. However, each member is extremely hard to find and thus to kill, as they are usually skilled, cunning, and very cautious.
Now, 1.5 years after getting the quest, Mary thought she was ready to finally handle the first task. Carlos Cassir, previously seen in Marigo, Saint Martin. When Mary arrived there, she asked in the tavern and was sent to a brothel.
No, it's not a romantic scene. Mary interrupted and insulted Cassir (when he was just about to do his nasty stuff) and he challenged her to a "duel" 1 hour later in the jungle.
A "duel" huh? What those 3 bandits, one of them with a musket, were doing nearby then?
(I knew this would have been a very difficult encounter and postponed the whole quest exactly to have more chances; I was ready to accept the result of this fight anyway, risking the whole run here; there will be places in the game (combat) where I will allow as many reloads as possible due to many factors involved, such as the clunky controls, stupid AI of your companions, or just brutal odds, e.g. battles where you're alone against 100 enemies; but not for this fight).
That said, Mary knew the territory of the duel because she was not stupid. She knew a spot where only one opponent can target her, and fought there.
Mary's employer was extremely happy about the outcome. Her next target is someone called Hannibal Holmes. The only things that are known about him are: 1) he usually eats his enemies' hearts, 2) his ship is called "Dead Head" and 3) he must be somewhere in English towns.
When Mary was chasing a group of bandits who had looted a church nearby, one of them dropped a red pistol. To explain just how lucky that is, I need to say that there is only a 5% chance the body you loot will actually show the weapons this NPC equipped. And the chances that this NPC would carry a red (unique) pistol are already low, the game randomly picks between white (usual) and blue (rare) weapons depending on your character's rank. In this case, though, it was a red pistol. At 20 rank, this is very, very early and extremely lucky.
It's a Beretta pistol. Extremely high damage, high to-hit chance, and very quick reload speed.
However, if the first treasure map had been good for Mary, the last 2 weren't (just some general junk, nothing rare). But at least, each of those treasures had halves of another treasure map. @Xzarloxara said that there are better odds to get rarer loot in a treasure found according to a map created from 2 halves. Well, this seems to be right.
It's a Karabela, a medium-type weapon. Exactly Mary's favourite type (to wield heavy weapons, a character needs more Strength and each hit eats a lot of Energy; while light weapons usually have lower damage). But it's not even about weapon type. Mary got a red (unique) weapon just in the first 4 treasures she found.
It was time to start the first bigger quest line, one that is my favourite and that only exists in this mod setup. It's called The Condottiero, and essentially, this is a bounty hunter-themed quest line. When Mary was still at rank 5, a tavern keeper of her initial island, Martinique, explained that someone is killing pirates, and this someone seems to be a pirate themselves. However, all the 5 biggest pirate barons of the archipelago don't care due to quarrels between themselves, and the pirate "king", Morgan, is far away in Jamaica busy with political intrigues. The keeper suggested he should hire someone new who could independently, one by one, find and kill members of this odd group. However, each member is extremely hard to find and thus to kill, as they are usually skilled, cunning, and very cautious.
Now, 1.5 years after getting the quest, Mary thought she was ready to finally handle the first task. Carlos Cassir, previously seen in Marigo, Saint Martin. When Mary arrived there, she asked in the tavern and was sent to a brothel.
No, it's not a romantic scene. Mary interrupted and insulted Cassir (when he was just about to do his nasty stuff) and he challenged her to a "duel" 1 hour later in the jungle.
A "duel" huh? What those 3 bandits, one of them with a musket, were doing nearby then?
(I knew this would have been a very difficult encounter and postponed the whole quest exactly to have more chances; I was ready to accept the result of this fight anyway, risking the whole run here; there will be places in the game (combat) where I will allow as many reloads as possible due to many factors involved, such as the clunky controls, stupid AI of your companions, or just brutal odds, e.g. battles where you're alone against 100 enemies; but not for this fight).
That said, Mary knew the territory of the duel because she was not stupid. She knew a spot where only one opponent can target her, and fought there.
Mary's employer was extremely happy about the outcome. Her next target is someone called Hannibal Holmes. The only things that are known about him are: 1) he usually eats his enemies' hearts, 2) his ship is called "Dead Head" and 3) he must be somewhere in English towns.
Urdnot_Wrex
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That makes you a bit less "omnipotent entity from deep space" and a bit more humanoid, anything else would be slightly scary.I remember 10 years ago I knew all answers by memory as everything about seas was my hobby and I tried to learn all those ship parts etc. Now, I nearly forgot all of them and have to search online usually.
A worthy quest that Mary got there, those people deserved it.
Also, sounds very reasonable not to turn fanatical with no reloading if there are such difficulty spikes and also AI problems/randomization.
You seem to be having quite a bit of fun with this game, plus nostalgia and challenge.
Again thank you for sharing it with us and continuing good luck to Mary and her crew.
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There are about 20 islands in the archipelago, and some of them have several towns on the same island. Certain quests get started by certain NPCs on those islands, but it's randomized whenever you start a new game. So for 2 "bigger" quests, I needed to check every town's merchant and banker to see if they offer a special dialogue. The hunt has been fun, especially considering Mary started it much later than non-pirate characters (as she couldn't enter enemy towns with a low sneak skill). Here are some numbers:
A quest where one merchant is asking you to find rare mummy powder was found in the 10th town Mary visited. The next stage of this quest (actually finding a person selling the powder) was resolved after visiting 15 towns (and each of them had several street traders to check, an average of 3, so ~45 people to talk to).
A quest where one banker is revealing he's into the slave trade instead of bonds, was found in the 25th town Mary visited.
It could have been worse, but it could also have been faster. However, the whole search process was fun, as it was closely connected to exploring these towns and getting other quests. It felt so rewarding to find all the right people. The quests, however, are difficult, so Mary will get to them later.
Mary visited her first English Town, "Port of Spain" in Trinidad and Tobago. There, in a very poor home full of empty rum bottles, she found a retired military officer who had been spending his days in despair. Douglas lost his double musket, it was taken by one pirate, and the only lead he had was "Arrow". Mary was full of sympathy for Douglas and promised to ask pirate barons about this Arrow.
In the local tavern, Mary spotted Hannibal Holmes. He was loudly celebrating something with his friends.
At first, Hannibal - a "Lion" as he introduced himself - called Mary a "Mouse". But then when Mary shared a fictitious story about how her brother was among those whom Hannibal killed while capturing a Holland galleon, this hearteater called Mary a "Brave Mouse" and invited her to some cat-play at sea.
The Lion, huh? Why did he use the English flag then, and also had an allied ship nearby? The problem here was that Mary couldn't attack her enemies as they were under the cover of the big and scary English fort, while, of course, these 2 didn't hesitate and shot. If Mary attacked either of the ships, the fort would have sent Mary to the sea's bottom in seconds. Thankfully, Mary's corvette (still the first corvette she captured, as all similar ships after that weren't better) was fast enough to sail away.
In the open sea, both ships had no chance against Mary.
Her second target is now dead. But before returning to Martinique, Mary will try to help that poor Englishman she met.
A quest where one merchant is asking you to find rare mummy powder was found in the 10th town Mary visited. The next stage of this quest (actually finding a person selling the powder) was resolved after visiting 15 towns (and each of them had several street traders to check, an average of 3, so ~45 people to talk to).
A quest where one banker is revealing he's into the slave trade instead of bonds, was found in the 25th town Mary visited.
It could have been worse, but it could also have been faster. However, the whole search process was fun, as it was closely connected to exploring these towns and getting other quests. It felt so rewarding to find all the right people. The quests, however, are difficult, so Mary will get to them later.
Mary visited her first English Town, "Port of Spain" in Trinidad and Tobago. There, in a very poor home full of empty rum bottles, she found a retired military officer who had been spending his days in despair. Douglas lost his double musket, it was taken by one pirate, and the only lead he had was "Arrow". Mary was full of sympathy for Douglas and promised to ask pirate barons about this Arrow.
In the local tavern, Mary spotted Hannibal Holmes. He was loudly celebrating something with his friends.
At first, Hannibal - a "Lion" as he introduced himself - called Mary a "Mouse". But then when Mary shared a fictitious story about how her brother was among those whom Hannibal killed while capturing a Holland galleon, this hearteater called Mary a "Brave Mouse" and invited her to some cat-play at sea.
The Lion, huh? Why did he use the English flag then, and also had an allied ship nearby? The problem here was that Mary couldn't attack her enemies as they were under the cover of the big and scary English fort, while, of course, these 2 didn't hesitate and shot. If Mary attacked either of the ships, the fort would have sent Mary to the sea's bottom in seconds. Thankfully, Mary's corvette (still the first corvette she captured, as all similar ships after that weren't better) was fast enough to sail away.
In the open sea, both ships had no chance against Mary.
Her second target is now dead. But before returning to Martinique, Mary will try to help that poor Englishman she met.
Urdnot_Wrex
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Arrrrrrr! Blimey ye landlubbers, why didn't anyone remind me it's Talk Like A Pirate Day?
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A remaster of this Sea Dogs game is released on Steam:
store.steampowered.com
They also have a free version that essentially has all the content minus story quests:
store.steampowered.com
This remaster has been developed by original developers and modders who had been supporting the game for 15 years.
Caribbean Legend on Steam
An open-world RPG, set in the Golden Age of Caribbean piracy. Embark on a 200-hour-long adventure, plunder cities and ships, explore the unknown, discover treasures, forge friendships, earn bounties on your head, and charm the ladies on your path to ultimate freedom!
They also have a free version that essentially has all the content minus story quests:
Caribbean Legend: Sandbox on Steam
This is the free edition of the ultimate pirate RPG, Caribbean Legend, featuring the Sandbox mode. Explore, trade and plunder in the vast open world where ambition knows no bounds. Based on Sea Dogs series and inspired by Sid Meier's Pirates!
This remaster has been developed by original developers and modders who had been supporting the game for 15 years.
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Yay.
www.gamesradar.com
Amid studio closures and mass layoffs, one indie developer's pirate RPG just sold enough copies to fund a sequel: "it feels right when talented individuals can finally do what they love"
Caribbean Legend has made enough to fund its developer into the future