It Could Be Worse (Or could it?) Challenge -Swashbuckler

[Tom Pullings]

It Could Be Worse (Or Could It, Really, Mate?) Challenge

(Swashbuckler)

In which those who wish to may download a saved game that begins several months into 1660, as you attempt to sail into Nevis harbor in a battered fluyt, with a mutinous crew, and a price on your head. If you follow the script, this puts you in prison, at which point the challenge begins. You are not stuck with that ship or those conditions; indeed, the idea is to try to work your way out of them. But you are stuck with the name Awkward Davis (apologies to Patrick OBrian) and wit and charm as your skill (Davis needs plenty of both, but he probably needed fencing skills even more).



The following narrative introduces the game.

Awkward Davis was not considered to possess the qualities of an officer in the British Royal Navy. And as his family lost its fortune and suffered imprisonment somewhere in the Caribbean, he was without interest to support his career. Oh, he was not shy or lacking in boldness (he is far, far too bloody bold, mate, in the opinion of the more seriously maimed survivors of his later crews). But Davis was, well, awkward. Because he was dimly aware of this himself, and because he had a somewhat high opinion of his skills as a swordsman and navigator (somewhat too high was the view of the shipmates who had given him his name) he took the trouble to enroll in the Bristol School of Nautical Etiquette (Old BS as it was known in the service). There he sought to improve himself, so as to gain advancement in his chosen profession and leave behind his years before the mast. Unfortunately, opportunities were scarce, so armed with his new found wit and charm, Davis decided to seek his fortune (and his family) as a swashbuckler in the new world.

Thus began a series of increasingly unfortunate events. Davis shipped as a gunners mate on the Titan, 12, a large merchantman commanded by the sadistic Captain Stump. Pushed beyond all decency, the crew mutinied and elected Davis their captain. Stump was put over the side in a long boat. As it happened, Stump had the good fortune to be picked up by HMS Annihilator, 48, a bare two days later, and arrived in Nevis, where his brother was the governor, many months ahead of the considerably less fortunate Davis.

Not withstanding the mutiny, Davis remained (at least at that time) a patriot. Since England and Spain were then at war, he felt honor-bound to attack when Titan came upon the flag galleon, El Desear Muerte, 40. He also had visions of entering Nevis with a prize in tow, and like all gentlemen of fortune, wished to begin making his without delay. After exchanging six or seven broadsides, one or two of which were from the Titan before she lost the last of her guns, Davis and his crew abandoned ship. Under the cover of the smoke (the Titan was burning to the waterline) Davis and the survivors rowed to the enemy vessel and, against all reason, succeeded in completely surprising her crew and taking the ship in desperate hand to hand fighting. Davis left the Spanish crew marooned on a nearby island. As it happened they were rescued only a few days later by a passing mail runner and soon arrived in San Juan, where the viceroy, although happy to be reunited with his son, was most interested in making the acquaintance of our hero.

Apart from the loss of the galleon, the viceroy and his good friend the French governor of Guadeloupe blamed Davis (quite unfairly) for a sudden rift between the viceroys son and his intended, the governors beautiful daughter, who was also a passenger on El Desear Muerte (in truth, this had little to do with Davis, whose infatuation with the daughter was sadly unreciprocated).

The French governor, who accepted the account of the Spaniard without question, was also much (perhaps even more) affronted by the loss of some $5,000 that was to have been delivered to Guadeloupe by El Desear Muerte. The governor dispatched the Revanch, 48, to bring Davis to justice and recover the gold. When the two ships met, a lucky shot from the Revanch struck the magazine of the galleon. Davis and those of his crew not blown to bits in the spectacular explosion that followed were fortunate to escape with their lives (or so it seemed at the time). They were rescued several days later by a Dutch fluyt, the Albatross, 8.

As luck would have it, the Dutch Captain van deer Hook was an even greater sadist than Stump, if such a thing were possible (curiously, he too was missing a hand). Once again pushed beyond all decency, Davis lead his second mutiny and the captain was cast adrift (had Davis known he was a cousin of the governor of St. Martin, he might have ransomed him). Fortunately for van deer Hook, but less so for Davis, the Dutchman was soon rescued by the Revanch, whose captain was delighted to know that Davis was not already dead.

Over the following weeks, the Revanch pursued the Albatross relentlessly, and only by throwing off the last of her guns was Davis able to escape into the fog, his ship a battered wreck. When the Albatross finally reached the Caribbean in April of 1660, the crew was starving and now ready to mutiny against Davis. Relieved to limp into the harbor at Nevis, Davis could not understand why the fort was firing on them, but resolved to go directly to the authorities in order to get things straightened out.

And so the challenge begins. Download the game and save it to an open slot (say 13)? (No known problems, but like everything about the internet, the download is at your own risk). You may want to save your progress to a different slot so you can return to the start if you want to later. If prompted for a password, type in: awkward .

http://www.divshare.com/download/1052727-963

If this works right, you should be paused just outside Nevis. Enter Nevis. Choose the (only) option to sneak into town, and accost the first guard you meet. To your surprise, he and his comrades will throw you in prison.



You vow to escape, rescue your family, vanquish the EVIL Montalban, marry the beautiful daughter of the governor of Guadeloupe (it is ok if you want to change her nationality first), and return to Nevis in triumph as its governor (in other words with at least 103 points).

From the point of your imprisonment you are on your own (you might want to review all the status screens so you know exactly how bad it is). The challenge is intended to reward strategic thinking as well as a range of skills. Reload only to escape a technical glitch, or to start over at the beginning of the save game. A 500 gold prize is offered to the youngest in game time to complete the quest and post their ending status screens as of September 1, 2007, but there is no time limit on the challenge, and the honorable pirate will pass on the prize money should someone post a better time later on. Informative or amusing posts always appreciated. I am in the process of trying this myself, so no guarantees on how it will turn out. I can say that I found it a challenge to win the first battle in the Albatross without getting sunk. You will want to capture something that is not leaking so badly pretty quickly.

Thanks to Loki (and others) for the Ideas for a Challenge? thread and for getting the trainer and other help.

[Tom Pullings]

Sorry if this has been a problem, but if you are prompted for a password when you click the link to download, type in "awkward".

[Asclepius]

Version 1.0.2.0 (30927) no other patches added.

Okay, this was quite difficult at first, as it was intended to be, but something that can be overcome.

I (Horatio Cornblower) escaped from Jail in Nevis in August of 1660, and quickly made it out of town to my Mutinous Crew. I immediately captured the nearest enemy ship (that would be anything on the sea) which was an English Merchantman. That prompted an English Large Frigate to chase me. I knew I couldn’t hold him off, but headed to the nearest Settlement, knowing he would leave instead of waiting for me to sail away again.

Then, I captured several Pirates and Indians on my way to get rid of the Mutinous Lads around me. I visited one Mission and was told where to find Raymundo. Then I visited another Mission and escorted the Abbot’s brother to Tortuga, where I was pardoned of all my sins against France. Imagine my sadness when I find out that Spain and France are no longer at war. But, I capture a couple more Pirates (one being Jack Rackman, who offer’s me 1 man to join my 2), then get promoted to Captain in October of 1661 in Petite Goave. I then sold everything and Divided the Plunder, and headed out with my Sloop of War.

Now, I decide that the Challenge says I need to rescue my family, so off I head after Raymundo.

Jump forward to November of 1663 and I’ll just give you a Summary of how I’m doing.

I’ve yet to get a point for Wealth, but since the Spanish just went to war with everyone, that should take care of itself rather quickly.

The price on my head with the Spanish is 77,000.
I’m an English Captain (removed the price on my head with them just by warring with the Spanish and Pirates).
I’m a French Captain.
The price on my head with the Dutch is 32,000 but that will drop now that they’re at war with Spain.

My fleet has 2 Royal Sloops and I have 135 Content men.

I’ve captured Jack Rackman and his treasure is in my hold also. I’ve got 2 pieces of Bart Roberts’ Treasure map, so that will be mine soon.

My Sister is on my Flagship and I’ve got 2 pieces to the map where my Uncle is hidden away, and I’ve got 1 piece of Montalban’s hideout map.

So far, I’ve only danced with 2 Plain Daughter’s, but I’ve not gotten into promotions yet, as you can tell.

I’m going on vacation next week, so probably won’t finish this until after I return, but I’ll follow the thread, to see how everyone else is doing.


Fair Winds and Following Seas !!

Side note … If anyone wants to tag team this, I can tell you what upgrades 46½ of the towns provide now, where Jack Riackman hangs out and still have screen shots of Rackman’s Treasure (found it with 2, pretty easy) and where Sister was hidden. Since the Save Game would have had all the variables already imbedded, all items should be in the same place.

[Tom Pullings]

Asclepius, this is excellent. I have restarted a bunch of times and only made it to another ship twice before screwing up by trying for too big a jump with two few crew. If I had it to do over, I might not damage the Albatross quite so badly in creating the save game.

I wonder, though, are all the variables really the same? I wonder if one's actions may change where and when some game elements spawn. Not sure of the answer - it is something I have wondered about.

I think Roland has some ideas about this, if I remember from another thread.

[SlipperyJim]

[Asclepius]

[Roland]

I think the characteristics of cities (e.g., upgrade available from the shipwright, beauty of the governor's daughter) are set at the beginning of the game, as are the names and locations of settlements, havens, villages, and missions. Therefore, everyone playing from the same save-game file should have the same set-up. (The main thing that can change is the nationality of cities and settlements, but we all know how that works.)

The things you find via maps - pirate treasures, relatives, lost cities, and Montalban's hideout - are a different story. These are generated when you obtain the first piece of the map. Before that they do not exist.

[Tom Pullings]

The interesting part, though, is what influences where they spawn - is it completely random, or is it influenced by your own location and actions in the game. I have to think it is influenced, and that is at least part of what accounts for the differences.

[Tom Pullings]

Finally finished a game of the swash challenge at the getting ripe old age of 42. Overshot a little because I had the (wrong) idea that I needed to be a duke with at least one nation, otherwise could have retired sooner based on wealth calculation. Final status screens:

http://www.divshare.com/download/1696604-57f

http://www.divshare.com/download/1696599-d68

http://www.divshare.com/download/1696602-ff7

http://www.divshare.com/download/1696592-5ea

It might have been quicker to admit defeat and let my cursed Fluyt sink and be done with it, but part of the challenge for me was to see if I could take another ship before she sank. I found I could only take coastal barques, trade galleons and sometimes other fluyts.

As it was, after winning my new ship, I still ended up getting marooned once or twice, given the depth of the hole, morale problems and the lack of fencing skill. Fortunately got lucky with some map pieces, including a "double" for Monty's lair and a lost city, or it would have been a worse disaster.

Hope someone else tries this one. It is a challenge, I think.

[Captain Riddle]

I'm currently attempting this...first capture was a Dutch immigrant Merchantman, just a few days after I fled Nevis. I was planning on making the pirates by Barbados sail so I could take their sloop and then divide plunder to replace losses and reset the happiness, but the pirate captain gave me a nice reintroduction to Swashbuckler swordplay with his rapier (been on Rogue for awhile since Swash cheats the enemy ship speeds and makes sneaking into ports too hard), then marooned me.

End result was the same as my plan though -- I lost a few months and was sailing a sloop with 40 very happy crewmen and some pocket change. A gunner I picked up off the immigrant ship at the start has been a great help at avoiding the risky duels, and my current flagship is a former Spanish pirate hunter's Royal Sloop. I was using Brasiliano's, but the Spanish one had better upgrades. Only a couple years into the game at the moment, including the time in prison and on some lil island.
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[Tom Pullings]

Capt. Riddle: very promising start, better than mine. I spent more months trying to struggle out of the hole by getting better ships, and didn't avoid being marooned anyway.

In normal swash games, I try to avoid dividing the plunder and rely on fencing skill to get me out of jams. Here, with wit and charm as the skill, I couldn't overcome the deficit that results with the combination of low morale and the random adverse cheats that swash deals out.

You have to pay more attention to morale, and I think the best strategy may be to get some early amnesties from at least one or two nations so that you can romance for fencing gear, and lost cities, and go after named pirates - but judiciously, or you will be marooned again - and losing fencing gear when you are older can make things very tough indeed. Success in Pirates depends on getting to that point where momentum shifts and you have enough gold, ships, and gear to maintain morale and keep things on an even keel depite the aging process. This challenge makes it harder to reach that shift point.

Good luck.

[Captain Riddle]

Aye I've gotten to the 1000-gold-per-crew point now thanks to the Incan city, but to get the 80k I had before finding it I had to hit a lot of ships and cut the romance a bit down, so now I have less fencing items than usual at age 25. This is causing some minor problems fighting the Marquis, and the fight with the Guadeloupe daughter's fiance took awhile, i.e. I got within two steps of winning, then he suddenly started blocking everything and backed me all the way to my end of the fountain. He kinda fell apart after that though and couldn't even dodge my overhead cutlass swings, but I was one hit away from having to turn Guadeloupe English to get a new daughter. For ship battles I mostly just pound them from afar, then close and demast 'em.

I got lucky with Monty's hideout; it was right on the coastline (I can see it through through my spyglass immediately upon disembarking!) and one map piece was enough to find it (though I waited til I got the Dutch Rutter to confirm its location, and got a second not-too-useful piece by then), and his native guards are being rather stupid -- once I had just my officers left out of three units total, and the indians just stared me down for several turns so I eventually just strolled to the gate. I've lost the swordfight twice now though -- once on my way to the lost city and once on the way back, at ages 23 and 24. I managed to hold off a little longer at age 24 despite the loss of health though. I'm going to try a third time before putting it off until later -- I'm still only 25, I'm in the area, and I've added the fencing shirt and metal cuiraiss to my collection, plus the pistol in case in case it works in that battle (I've noticed it does in some fights even if you don't see the shooting sequence).

Tried last night and had by best fight against his natives yet (would've won with minor losses without dashing for the gate), but then the game froze when I tried to kill his idiot archers that walked to close without shooting me. Luckily it didn't set me back any progress-wise -- my 'arrival' save is from picking up some mutineers at a nearby haven to help in the landbattle, and my last real one is when I left the nearest port less than a month earlier -- but now I'm worried that it means my run of luck there has ended. If I lose the swordfight again, I'll might put him off until he's all I need to make Governor & I have all the fencing items, and just practice away the old age. In addition to his hideout being a few days from the coast, it's surrounded by pirate havens where I can replenish any losses I take from the natives, so if push comes to shove I can just repeatedly attack his hideout until I get a few lucky hits on him during the duel -- doesn't seem worth it at the moment though when there's other stuff to get done.

Current status as of April 16, 1667:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/USAF777/SMP/awkwarddavis-midgame1.jpg

I also have 154225 gold in me hold!

While I have no Dutch rank, they'll prolly give me two promotions plus land when I visit one of their towns, because I got a bundle of happy-points for them while plundering my way towards English-held Santa Catalina after getting a tip from the Guadeloupe girl that Raymondo's in the Gulf of Mexico. I couldn't convert their love into titles on the way because Curacao still loves shooting at me, so I'll either convert a Spanish town to Dutch or just wait until I head back to Leeward Islands.


Update on this :

This is the second game I've played in a row where the nation I'm on best terms with conquers Santa Catalina all on its own accord, then promotes me to Marquis there a month before I beat the evil Marquis.
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[Captain Riddle]

Yarr I've finished it. A few months earlier and I could've been in better health, but 'twas still rather quick for me. Last thing I did was find my grandfather up in Florida on October 17, 1671. Then I had to trudge all the way back to the Leewards to drop off the gal from Guadeloupe, marry her, and retire.

Arrival in Nevis, general status screen, and my trusty sloop that never got fine-grain powder:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/USAF777/SMP/awkwarddavis-end-arrival.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/USAF777/SMP/awkwarddavis-end-status.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/USAF777/SMP/awkwarddavis-end-fleet.jpg

Personal stats before plunder division and also what it'd look like if I continued after, since I hate seeing the 0 gold:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/USAF777/SMP/awkwarddavis-end-personal1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/USAF777/SMP/awkwarddavis-end-personal2.jpg

And the final screen:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/USAF777/SMP/awkwarddavis-end.jpg
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[Tom Pullings]

EXCELLENT work, Capt Riddle. At 30, I doubt you will be beat, at least by September. And that will be a tough record for some of us to come back to later.

It is interesting how one tends to overshoot given the wealth bonus and the need to get the relatives - it is just hard to get them all early given the ungrateful crew and other pressures.

[Captain Riddle]

Aye and I went after this and loaded up the game again to see what islands one can approach by land, and found when I sailed into St. Eustatius that I had an unexpected promotion from the Dutch waiting for me, so if I'd gotten that first I'd have had exactly 103 points upon retirement, before the extra from gold. Yet, I didn't really even aim to have a specific amount done after I finished the family quest -- I was just going to work for promotions or lost city map pieces to get whatever I needed, but things like treasures just happened to appear along my planned route.

Basically the whole game, even before the prices were off my ehad, was about shadowing Raymondo without outright chasing him. he was one of the first ships I took and one of the last. Everything else just kinda fell into place during this.
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