PATCH!!!

[Bluebeard72]

There are three bugs that I have encountered since grabbing this title.

1. [/b]Repeating Quests In my current game, I have three quests listed, all to capture M. Connery for crimes against the state. I also have two quests to capture C. Farnsworth for embezzlement. Two of the Connery quests actually have him the same city. Are these actually different quests and just need different names, or is this a bug?

2. Missing Landmarks In my wife's current game she is hunting for her sister. The complete map she has says that she should look north of the Florida Keys to find her, by Shark's Point. Alas here is the rub: there is no Shark's Point thus the wife can't find the sister!

3. Landlocked Ports There are a few, I'm thinking particularly of Puerto Principae (sp), landlocked ports on the map. I have yet to figure out a way to get into them; I have tried by land as well and you can't sail into them. How does one get to them? I have two of my Connery quests here at P.P. and I can't get to it, yet governor's daughters keep telling me to get him.

There are also some graphical glitches, but no "show-stoppers."

Good luck with the patch and thanks for a GREAT GAME!

[Wolfwood]

@Bluebeard72: Not actually bugs any of those, I suspect.

1. The game only has 3 names to choose from to give the criminals (who knows why), so those are actually different quests.

2. Have you checked the lake that is inland in Florida? Landmarks may be in lakes also, not always in seashores.

3. You get to the landlocked towns by walking to them. Just leave your ships by the shoreline and walk the rest of the way. Follow your compass to find the way.

[Bluebeard72]

Thank you. . .All of your advice was spot on! Again, I really appreciate it, thanks!

[HardCode]

Town sacking isn't a bug really. You can attack any town you want by entering on foot.

I had the slowdown when both ships fired many cannons. I upgraded my sound card from a SB Live! to a SB Audigy 2, and I notice a large reducing of the slowdown...but there is some slowdown still. So it is more than likely sound-programming related. Also, sometimes many guns are loaded, the sound fires for all guns, but only 2 cannon balls shoot!

[bryce777]

I just got a map for blackbeard's treasure...with no X on it. I looked everywhere around san juan, but there simply isn't any treasure there.

[Barn Acle]

I have a Laptop and since these have no numeric keypad, playing with a Laptop is EXCRUTIATINGLY difficult when it comes to catching up with the dance moves. The upcoming patch NEEDS to have a treat for us Laptop users. Is there any way i can get through the ears of firaxis to let them know that they, by not thinking of laptop users in mind and their lack of a numeric keypad actually eliminated the possibility ofr us of enjoying and important part of the game such as the dancing moves?. The fencing sequences are also difficult, but not so because there are less keys to push. To put things into perspective, playing with the easiest of the difficulties, being my character a young early twetnies pirate, and having the diamond necklace and the advance dance slipper I HAVE NEVER EVER ONE A SINGLE TIME A DANCING SEQUENCE BECAUSE IT IS EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TO CATCH UP WITH THE MOUSE THE CORRECT BUTTON ON THE SCREEN "KEYPAD". How hard can it be to put and option into the game on which u can map the keys u want to use? So we laptop users may use the common q,w,e,a,s,d,z,x,c interface key range to control our moves? . Can you guys please help me let firaxis know that they REALLY need to fix this??. Please, im about to return the game out fo frustration.

[Wolfwood]

@Barn Acle: Not to defend Firaxis here, and agreeing that they have to fix the currently unworking keymap issue, I've got a suggestion for you that may carry you over in the meantime. You can still access your laptop's numpad if you hold down the Fn key while you play. Simply keep your left hand finger on the Fn key at all times and use the numpad the way you would if the numlock worked.

[rupertlittlebear]

My Targus USB keypad works with my desktop Pirates.
My notebook does now work with Pirates so cannot test it here.

$20 at Amazon, Targus PAUK10

Nice for Civ III.

[Favian]

How come the number lock doesn't work and you have to hold down the Function Key the entire time? I am using a laptop and this post is the first time I have found anything on this... certainly is going to save me a lot of grief now that I know this lol. I would think that it would be a pain to have to hold down the Function key the entire time you need it? Isn't there any other way around that?

[Airsaw]

Targeting vessels in multi-ship battle: I disable a vessel, then move to fire upon the second. I get POINT BLANK next to it, my rounds go OVER that ship and hit the one I've already disabled. My target ship then unloads a full broadside on ME.

I've defeated ONE vessel, it surrenders, the plunder screen shows it is undamaged, and though I've lost half-a-dozen cannon, it shows I'm fully armed. OR, a sloop or brig shows the white flag, I swing around to board and find myself in a sword fight.

The targeting, I think, isn't programmed well enough. The surrender/vessel damage, etc., as well as targeting shows confusion on the part of the AI.

But this?

I've taken Spain out of the game, taken every stronghold it possessed. I attack Montebaln, guess what? HE's in an ENGLISH FLAG GALLEON. An ENGLISH FLAG GALLEON????? England is AT WAR with Spain, and I'm admonished by the ENGLISH governor of Maracaibo for sinking an ENGLISH FLAG GALLEON???? Puh-leeeeeeze. I live with a Spaniard and she got NO END of amusement from this! VEEEERRRY FUNNY.

ARGH!
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[Wolfwood]

[Sermil]

Here's one. I went into town, divided the plunder, and was told I had to retire, being 49 and in failing health. Got the summary screen (mayor!), got the high score screen. Then I wanted to look at the summary screen, and HEY, there isn't any way back to the summary screen I could find. So I reloaded the "arrival" autosave, re-divided, re-retired, and took a screenshot of the summary; then when I got to the high score screen, I noticed there were two copies. OK, I said, this is my first game, so I'll just reset the high score list, re-reload the save "arrival" autosave, re-redivide, re-re-retire, and the high score list will be right.

But when I divided the plunder, I wasn't forced to retire. A quick glance at the stat screen showed why: I was 18 and in excellent health! I still had a beautiful wife, was the most notorious pirate, had half my family back, had a fully loaded frigate, etc. -- pretty good for an 18 year old!


Another, more of a feature request than a true bug: Why can't you ever BUY ships? You can sell them, but you can't buy them, not even trading ships like galleons. I really wish you could. For one thing, it makes a mockery of the suggestions in the manual that you can get by as a mostly-peaceful trader. Since the only way to get the trade galleons you need to run a successful trade route is to attack them every time you set for sea, you have to constantly be attacking other ships to be a peaceful trader. Also, it REALLY stinks when you have a fleet with a good warship and a trade galleon or indian war canoe, and you get defeated. If you just had a warship, it would reappear when you got out of prison, but with 2 ships, you get stuck on the galleon or the canoe and have to somehow find a way to defeat a warship before you can get back in the game. Since everyone can outrun you and outgun you, this is almost impossible. The option to buy something like the sloop you start out in would be very nice.

[Airsaw]

It's a fabulous story line. It's the most imaginative in all the ones I've ever seen in any game. It's the best, bar none, the best. Even something that good gets old after a dozen times. Wouldn't it be NICER if the storyline run of the game were an option, like the various starting eras, and if someone just wanted to be a PIRATE, or run HIS/HER game as HE/SHE saw fit, letting the score fall where it may, they'd have the option of doing that, rather than getting bogged down in the repitition of pursuing the story line over and over and over?

If there's ever a sequel to this game, I HIGHLY suggest this. There could be a phenominal amount of latitude in this game were it not tied to the triggers pinned to the storyline. I don't think altering it slightly, as has been suggested, would make all that much difference. But, the idea of this stellar map, the unparalleled dynamics of the ships, the almost PERFECT battle screens, one can't help but wonder what it would be like to have free reign, and let the chips (doubloons?) fall where they may.

You'd have the best of both worlds, and the player would have some respite from repitition, and the monotony which is inevitable even with the best of things.
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[darkhorse]

[TLG]

Here is my suggestion list for the patch :

Bug fixes

Many collision detection issues : enemy ships sail thru cities, forts, land... Not good.

Already carried cargo should not be thrown away after pillaging an enemy ship : why dumping all luxuries for food when clicking on the Take All button and then leaving the captured ship behind ? Pirates do not need to carry food for 3+ years.

Issues with sea battles outcomes to fix : sometimes a damaged enemy ship shows no damage at all when captured although it has been badly damaged during the battle.
Once I attacked a Spanish sloop of war with Blackbeard's frigate, with roughly the same crew size on both ships. I took a couple of hits and got boarded by the Spaniard. I clearly got chased by the enemy at this point and still it struck its colors just after boarding me. What could have been a nice sword fight never happened since the enemy decided to surrender ! Quite strange.

Information provided by governors daughters can be irrelevant : it is very irritating to dance for 3 minutes with a not-so-cute daughter only to learn the very same thing the bartender told you one minute ago such as Don Fernando being in Trinidad. Dancing is repetitive, give us incentive to do so.

Enhancements

Improved item descriptions in the Pirate-O-Pedia, gameplay-wise : The effect of each item on gameplay should be explained here. For instance, the one-shot pistol is described as “useful during close combat” still it does not say by how much it is useful. Do you start one step further to the left when you have a pistol ? Does it improves the strength of your blows by x percent ? I do not have a clue at this point. Besides as soon as I got a pistol everyone got one which seems to nullify the bonus provided.

Coloring country names for diplomatic chatter scenes : other than reading the whole text over and over to get the information, assigning colors to countries would enable to catch the current diplomatic status at a glance e.g. Dear Mr Blabla we are war with the FRENCH and the DUTCH.

Getting rid of the map showing the target location when soliciting pirates or Indians : First the player is asked to choose a city to attack then a map is displayed to present the target location. This is not a welcome feature at this point since one should know where the chosen target is anyway. A global setting to skip all these mini-map cut scenes would be nice.

An option to skip combat cut scenes : The player should be able to choose to see them over and over... or not.

Hidden treasures should offer at least 8000 gold : The last one I dig revealed 4000 pieces of gold which is not enough given the time spent to get all the map pieces, locate the exact location and get in there. Plus you have to pay 400 gold for each piece of the map and feed your crew to get in there. Does not sound like much like a bargain to me in its present state.

More variety in the naming of the villains & ships A text file to edit would be nice.

New features

Turbo mode in ‘‘international waters’’ : Because sailing in the middle of nothing for ages is not the best part of the experience. Just speed up the game and calculate the time elapsed accordingly.

City should have plunder too ! : Food, luxuries, cannons plus everything else should be at mercy once the city has been captured. Why go for the small floating fishes once you have enough crew to pillage the rich cities along the Spanish main ?

Special crew member should age too : Make them appear more frequently and force them to retire when they are getting old, this could bring some more interest to their role in the game.

That’s it for now.

TLG, webmaster of the lost tavern http://frigate.free.fr