The Challenge Thread!

[Guru]

Back to topic, I just finished my second Swashbuckler game



In 1635, after 15 years and 189 months on the sea, "Swasher" threw in the towel and retired.

I started out in 1620, since my only win on Swash before was in 1660. I wanted to test how a stronger Spain would influence the game, but I wanted especially Curacao (and Petit-Goave) to have a minimum of friendly ports in the vicinity of the Spanish Main.

So I signed up with the Dutch in Curacao, getting the Brig as a nice bonus. I immediately changed loyalty to Spanish though (a bit cheap, I know), to take advantage of a plethora of ports and daughters to dance with. This way I get the fencing items as early as possible, as well as info on Raymondo and Montalban.

But in 1620 I found you don't have too many targets as a Spanish privateer. I used many years to get Duke, hunting named and unnamed pirates, finding lost cities and relatives, getting married, and plundering the occasional merchantman. The spanish cities were too strong to raid safely, so I didn't try to sack them.

Finally, in 1629, I was ready to try Montalban. I had Henry Morgan's Large Frigate, and Roc Brasiliano's Royal Sloop as a stand-by, both fully equipped. I had a crew of about 250, and deeemed it enough to challenge the Marquis. But destiny would otherwise. I had not a snowball's chance in hell

I boarded him, and he slaughtered me with his Rapier (I think my last win was on the unpatched version, this time he used Rapier every single time). So I escaped in my Royal Sloop, found myself a Frigate and some crew, and tried again. Same result, he annihilated me. New Frigate, full crew. This time i grape shotted him a lot. But I didn't take care of his cannons. He managed to sink me before I could board him

New Frigate, new attempt. This time I found he hadn't restocked on crew, he got 67 crew left after i killed off most of them last time. So I boarded him and finally managed to defeat him, with about a 4 to 1 advantage in crew size I had not lost a single swordfight with my trusty Longsword right up to Montalban, but I still needed 4 attempts on him!! (Even the English Captains of Guards were a good deal easier)

I managed to defeat him in 1629, I think, 27 years old and in good health. And my first map piece showed the location, Gran Granada
So I searched all the way from directly east of Gran Granada, up to the shores directly north, and managed to find his fortress. Grabbed 250 pirates and challenged him. Three tries later I made it Defeated the Marquis when 28 years old, I think, and I'm not sure whether in good or fair health, my guess is good health.

I still had to make Duke for the English, French and Dutch, actually used 5 years to get it (takes some more goodwill than lower difficulties maybe?). Maybe I lost some goodwill since I consistently refused dancing anymore. (Sooooo boring)

Not sure what I'll try next, maybe another Swashbuckler game, or I'll try the Purely Piratical Challenge.. Probably gonna play on Swash anyway, the dances on lower levels just kills me...
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[ExtraCrispy]

Darn, you saved the thread from deraildom..

Congratulations.

My cds have just arrived, so I'll have to get around trying some of them.

I'll have find pirates in the pile...

[Guru]

[ExtraCrispy]

Norway's got hydro power and weapons...

[sparticus]

[Guru]

I've embarked upon a new challenge: The legendary Fluyts of War challenge. Coincidentally it also fulfills the requirements for my own Fluyt Challenge.

I started out as an Adventurer captain with Navigation skill (of course) in 1600. I signed up with the Dutch, and got a fine Fluyt to start off with in St. Martin.

After some time picking up upgrades and sinking merchant ships, I was ready to take on the badguys.. A Fluyt with Copper Platings, Cotton Sails and Iron Scantlings isn't as bad as you would imagine

Some notable years so far:

1601 - Defeated Raymondo for the first time. Not too much trouble.
1602 - Fluyt fully upgraded
1603 - Defeated Henry Morgan. Was remarkably easy, as he was mostly interested in boarding me, probably due to my small crew size (75 max.)
1604 - Defeated Montalban for the first time at sea. He was really tough, almost blewing up my beloved Fluyt, before I luckily got close enough to board him. With 43 crew vs. his 250, it was a scary fight, but I survived with 17 sailors left
1604 - Danced with my first attractive daughter (gaining ranks very very slowly due to a certain caution against attacking enemy ships)
1606 - Defeated Montalban for the second time at sea. This fight was a lot easier than the last, due to a lucky, strong tailwind. New map piece showed that his fortress was just east of Villa Hermosa, lucky me!
1607 - Attacked Montalban's fortress. Had 72 crew, divided into 3 units, one each of Officers, Pirates and Buccaneers. Managed to sneak a unit past the 12 or so indian units. Montalban went down easily

Now I have acquired a total of 51 Fame Points, and is left to find 2 more relatives, 4 lost cities, 2 pirate treasures, defeat 3 more pirates (Roc Brasiliano may be difficult) and marry a beautiful daughter. I have yet to become a higher rank than Admiral (4/ in any of the nations, and must assure that I gather enough Wealth points. But the rest should be quite easy, and I expect a rather shortish win (at least before the age of 40).

Here's a screenshot from my fight vs. Henry Morgan (unfortunately I forgot to capture the fights with Montalban, they were much more tense):

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[Guru]

Rounded up the game, took 20 years from start to finish...




Notable years from part 2:

1609 - danced with my first beautiful daughter, the wonderful dutch girl from St. Martin. Actually got invited when my rank was only Major, though I had both fancy hats.
1612 - Found my last Relative, Grandpa.
1614 - Found the last Lost City.
1615 - Married the beautiful Dutch daughter of St. Martin (to be a pure Dutchman)
1615 - Promoted to French Duke.
1616 - Promoted to Spanish Duke and English Duke.
1618 - Promoted to Dutch Duke.
1620 - Accumulated enough land and gold to retire with 126 Fame Points.

The rest of the game was pretty easy, had some close calls with some of the Pirate Brigs due to my overconfidence, but luckily got away unscathed. After finding the last Lost city in 1614, the rest got really really boring though, just getting the last ranks and collecting acres of land. It will probably be some time until I try a similar game again (Merchantman Challenge comes to mind).

To celebrate my first Fluyt-finish, I'm gonna buy myself a brand new Fluyt from The Sailmaster
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[sparticus]

[ExtraCrispy]

Has there been a normal playing challenge yet?

[Guru]

[sparticus]

[ExtraCrispy]

Chuck Norris Challenge (masochist's challenge)

You must use the name Chuck Norris.

Swashbuckler Difficulty.

Start your game in 1600

You are not allowed to visit the tavern in any city.

Cannot repair or change ships or get a new ship.

First thing you must do when you start is find a flyut and afterwards use it through the game.

After winning a battle you may not take men from the other ship.

Only way to recruit men is during a ship to ship battle, then pick them up after they fall into the ocean.

You may not save the game or reload an earlier save. You must play from beginning to end in one sitting.

You MUST have heavy metal music playing in the background. Loud enough for your neighbors to file a report against you.

You must be sleep deprived while playing and preferably inebriated too. The challenge can only be attempted after staying up all night.

You shall not consume caffeine/sugar or anything that gives you energy before or while taking this challenge.

You must have your dominant hand tied to your back while attempting this challenge.

[Guru]

I finally finished my Merchantman Challenge

I started out as a Rogue with Navigation skill. I chose 1600 as my starting era, and signed up with the English. To my pleasure, I see that they have provided me with a mighty Merchantman as a starting ship!

After some upgrades, it navigated quite well, and I experienced few challenges compared to my last Fluyt Challenge (Adventurer). In the early going the Merchantman steers even worse than the Fluyt, but slightly more speed, a hull that can sustain some damage and a max crew of 187 vs 75 more than makes up for it...

I started out hunting down pirates, finding treasure and killing the spanish wherever I saw them. With my good-sized crew I went on a Land Battle rampage, converting a lot of cities (In 1600 there are a lot of weakly defended ports, also on the spanish side). Then I hunted down Montalban quite early, not much stress there, although the ship fights always get me nervous.

I finished the game at the age of 35, on 19th of March 1617. I got the full 126 points, and the last objects I did was becoming Spanish Duke, finding my lost Grandfather, and finding the last Lost City of the Olmec. I also married the beautiful daughter of St. Martin along the way.

Finish Screen:


And here's a tense moment in a fight vs Marquis de la Montalban:


Next up is probably a Fast Galleon Challenge on Swashbuckler (gonna be tough), or a new Fluyt Challenge on Rogue (Probably will have to do this one time or another anyway). Might take some time though, as my attention are elsewhere at the present moment.. (Texas Hold'Em )
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[sparticus]

[Roland]

For my most recent game I took up the Merchantman Challenge, a subcategory of the Starting Vessel Challenges. I started with the English in 1600, which gave me a merchantman as my starting vessel, and I used that vessel for everything until retirement. In order to compensate for the big, lumbering vessel, I took navigation as my special skill. Since I thought the vessel itself would present a sufficient challenge, I played at Adventurer (I usually play at Rogue).

To refresh your memory, the merchantman will hold a crew of 125 (187 with triple hammocks) and 100 tons of cargo, including 16 guns. Its speed is "slow" and it sails best running before the wind.

This scenario forced me out of my usual patterns of play in several ways. In my last few games, I have taken to using a mail runner as my flagship, usually dragging around a larger vessel or two for extra crew and cargo capacity. And I have come to favor wit & charm as my starting skill because it gives me quicker access to attractive and beautiful governor's daughters and compensates for my barely adequate dancing skill.

With a mail runner, I usually capture every war canoe I come across, which gives me promotion points with all four nations. But I quickly discovered that canoes could easily outrun my merchantman, so I had to abandon that strategy. And I normally save named pirates for later in the game, after they have amassed a sizeable haul. When they call me "a no-good treasure stealer" and start firing at me, I just outrun them in my mail runner. When I attempted to run away in my merchantman, L'Ollonais started ripping me to shreds. After he had reduced me to 50% hull damage, I hit '5' to engage and was barely able to board him before he could sink me. Thereafter, I captured any pirate that started to harass me. (On the positive side, this boosted my early gold total and made it much easier to fend off mutiny.)

I also had to be sure to attack only from upwind - otherwise I was a sitting duck. And I found that everyone, including pirates, wanted to use their guns against my merchantman. (When I use a mail runner, pirates usually head straight for me without firing a shot.)

One of my difficulties was to remember to sell off my prize vessels at first opportunity (one of the requirements of this challenge). I usually drag them around awhile for extra cargo capacity. I had to replay a few port visits to dispose of extra vessels I had forgotten to sell, and I had to dump excess cargo a couple of times. But, since I usually sell all my guns, the 100-ton cargo capacity of my merchantman was usually sufficient (though barely so) for my strategy of supplementing my income via trade.

This was the first time I had ever played the 1600 scenario. There was only one Dutch city on the map - St. Martin - which was also the only city in the Lesser Antilles. That made it extremely inconvenient to obtain Dutch promotions. Neither of the English cities - Grand Bahama and Eleuthera - had a beautiful daughter, so, after toying with the affections of the beautiful daughter of the French Governor of Florida Keys, I eventually captured Coro from the French (who had captured it from Spain) and gave it to the English, whereupon I began courting the English governor's beautiful daughter and eventually married her. Then, for good measure, I also captured Maracaibo and Gibraltar for the English, turning all of Lake Maracaibo into English territory. Margarita passed through the hands of every nation (I once gave it to the Dutch) before it was captured and held by England.

I was worried that my crew of 187 would not be enough to conquer Montalban's army of Indians, but it turned out to be more than enough, thanks to the suicidal tactics of the Indians.

Finally, I'll confess that I had to cheat once. Since I was playing at Adventurer, I didn't take Montalban seriously. When he used his special attack, the low slash, six times in a row, I couldn't jump over it after the first time. (Only later did I realize I should have parried.) After I was rescued from the island where Montalban had stranded me, I noticed I was sailing a sloop, not a merchantman - a clear violation of the challenge. So I replayed the combat and easily defeated Montalban in the rematch. I went on to gain 126 points and retired as Governor of Maracaibo.

I learned a lot from this challenge. But I do not plan to take up the Dutch version of the challenge, in which I would be stuck with a fluyt for the whole game!