HELP! I cannot find this place! Info

[corsair91]

"HELP! I cannot find this place!" Info

https://www.reddit.com/r/SidMeiersPirates/comments/1615twc/help_i_cannot_find_this_place/

MrchntMariner86


"HELP! I cannot find this place!"

We have seen this title before, usually accompanied by a screenshot/image of the offending map.

To get a little technical before I get simple, the map generator follows a specific set of rules.

When the game chooses a location for a Treasure/Relative/Lost City, it chooses a Port and a direction before choosing the specific location.

Sometimes, when you are not unlucky, you will have a coast to guide yourself off and the game will actually GENERATE a landmark if one isn't already there

(yes, I have seen a landmark disappear after claiming a Treasure!). I will use a recent example of my Grandfather West of Puerto Cabello.


I landed and started searching and IMMEDIATELY started finding landmarks, but none lining up with the charted landmarks. Walking around for a SOLID twenty minutes, started wondering if there was some "overflow" glitch messing up the direction from the Port. Searched and searched.

I reloaded my last save (a recent sea battle) and landed again. Just went DUE WEST. The landmarks fell off and stopped generating. A "week-long" walk and finally started getting landmarks again and, lo and behold, there's my Grandfather's shack.

I took an extra walk around. If I were playing an earlier era, this location would have been DIRECTLY South of Coro. But Puerto Cabello was still closer than Maracaibo or Gibraltar, so the game marked up the closest port and direction.

NOW, I know some nasty offenders--Gran Grenada, Villa Hermosa, Campache--can seemingly be used in the same region (I call this the "armpit"; just South of the modern-day border of Belize and Guatemala). Believe it or not, Northwest of GG, East/Southeast of VH, & Southeast of Campeche are USUALLY inside of this armpit and is always worth checking out first before sailing into the deeper part of the Gulf of Mexico, which is a pain to sail out of. But this armpit is nearly equidistant to all three of those Ports/Cities. Hence the illusion of overlap.

The most dreaded of all, of course, is Vera Cruz. Especially to the North. But I won't get into that. Just follow that charted direction. If it says North, dont think "maybe it means North by NorthWest". No. The devs coded the locations to be strict to those directions. They did not allow large margins.

My simple advice is this:
When given a direction and a Port/City, follow the direction PRECISELY.

Maaaaaybe make a save point because you might be walking a while and itll just be easier to re-load back and sail to the coastline closest. But just follow that direction.

That all said, I still enjoy those posts and love helping other players pinpoint their Xs. I just hope this helps the rest of you out of possible frustration.