Very Important Lessons (VIL's)
 

Hey Guildmates,

When I was leveling Basil, ( my first,) I used to post a very important lesson, VIL, in guild chat everyday. Sometimes they were REALLY good info, other times, they were just something I had learned or figured out that day, and sometimes they were just funny.

In all cases, they were just short, one or two sentence, lessons learned.

I'm starting this thread with the first VIL. Everyone is welcome to post their own VIL's here with me.

VIL of the day:

When you need a Marauder, you will find 10 Corvettes. When you need a Corvette, there isn't any in the entire ocean.

Corallary:
When you find the Marauder and sink it, your quest item will be, "NOT FOUND".

If you only have three points in "attune", don't use hex-eater on 4 gypsies. They dont like that.

Yea i think its called the Theory Of Chaos or something liek that when you need something its no where to be found but when you dont need it you can find it.

do you want us to post advice thingys? :) cause i've confused myself all over again, lol. so sorry

(JAG,E.D.M.)
J<>J
Faith

Guide to the Unknown:
Currently has 11 pirates

Sure, advice, where and how to's, whatever.
But short, no 3 page posts on how best to level nades, no dissertations on where to find every Witchdoctor in the Carribean. Just a sentence or two.

And, it doesn't have to be just advice, info, funny, etc., all welcome.

VIL for today:

A level 28 Mercenary can kill a level 14 pirate in a single stroke. No time for tonics!

dont go to tormenta w/o out freinds

A seabeard can kill 3 noobs at once :).

The tonic button only works if you have a tonic. oof!

Don't take on two big ships at once unless you have a clear path of escape handy.

Never Ever go AFK with a pack of these guildies around you, esp. if you are anywhere near a bridge. ;)

The more ships you sink before turning in your quest, the more ships will be requested for the next task.

Never open the chat window, while at the helm of a ship. Never EVAR open a whisper window, while steering a ship.

I would just like to say that I was not present during the time of said activity.

VIL for Friday
 

This one comes from Lars:

It takes 89 broadsides to sink a level 38 Colossus when you are driving a Light Sloop and your sailing level is only 5. You still only get 100 sailing rep. It's not worth it! Go after the appropriate level enemy. Find what is right for your current level, get max rep with minimum work.

Vil
 

Lesson for today -
Remember, just because you are comfortable in Tormenta now DOES NOT mean your baby pirate needs to go there, even if he does have hex-eater.

Neither was I...that was my first mistake. LOL

Codiac's Lessons:
1. Don't poke a Stump with its brothers arm.
2. Don't ask Scarlet how much she weights.
3. Don't bother me when i am singing Rock You Like a Hurricane
4. Don't try to have a staring contest with a NPC. You will lose every time.
5. If you are the guildmaster of a guild and a guild mate needs help, you should help them, not an officer going against their will.
6. Leave people that are trying to level up alone unless they say to tp.
7. Remember that it is just a game, and have fun! :)

- Captain Del :)

You may get lucky and win at Blackjack. But remember, the odds are always in the favor of the dealer, if they weren't, no casino would ever run the game.

El Suderon, on PDF, is the grocery store of POTCO. There is almost every high level enemy there.

Heres one!

Beware of people posting silly jokes, and calling them VILs.

Don't get over confident when attacking a lvl 43 Death Omen by yourself...just when you think you took it out....a single broadside out of no where sends you to jail.

the higher noteriety level you are the more random friend or crew requests you'll get.

When double gold events begin, dust off your old pirate with 5 treasure sense points!

Don't privateer without a good crew. :)

Corollary: never privateer alone!

VIL for 9/15
 

Occasionally when I try to throw grenades, my pirate freezes up during the throw. He won't release the grenade. Escape and the "F" keys don't seem to help. I have found that, switching to pistol, and firing a few shots, undoes this sticking action.

if you don't find what you need on one server switch servers till you find what you need

VIl for 9/16
 

When you go into Boss Battle, to recover the Pearl, HIT THE ESCAPE KEY to stop the entry movie!!!!! I've watched that thing over 50 times, have all the words memorized, It's driving me crazy!

It's called a "Cut Scene" because you can cut it out!

LMBO:laughks2:

AMEN Brother BAAAAASIL!

You sure you weren't out of one particular ammo type? ESC and F1 get me out of almost every type of "stuck" in this game.

Corollary: when in a boss battle crew, remind people to press ESC to skip the cutscene before you click YES!
You call that covering? When I showed up, you were nowhere in sight.

Be frugal when spending your skill points! Only spend them when you have to, and only on skills you really need right now. Keeping your skill levels low guarantees you high rep earnings, even when you reach high level Notoriety.

When your helping someone to do the boss battle for thier first time.
Don't bother bugging everyone to press ESC for the boss battle cutscene, its not going to happen.
Just because YOU have seen it 50 times, doesnt mean the person doing thier first boss battle has.


BTW, why do i have to press my ESC key about 8 times to get it to actually bypass the cutscene?

Speaking of Boss Battles...

If you have a Boss Battle ready, but do not want to beat it, do not go on any boss battles! It will finish not only the one who starts it, but everyone else who has it at that 99% mark.

I cannot count how many times I have invited friends to a bb, we beat it, then they tell me, "Oh, I guess mine is gone too..." :(

Depressing way to lose it.

Though I don't have to press it 8 times - when I do I find it takes everal seconds before it realises I want it to skip and then I get the (waiting for others) message...

I just figured that it was part of the ESC 'Loop' that the Key was on - that it only checked for a press every 10 seconds or so :)

DO NOT say yes to random friend invites. :)

Lessons for today....

Do not read Guild chat while fighting 2 EITC soldiers.... NO MATTER HOW FUNNY AND INTERESTING THE CHAT MAY BE.... :P

Do not try typing r chatting while running... u may run into a wall or fall off a Castle ... :P

VIL for 9/17
 

IF you reach the Gunner part of the Pearl quest before you have the ability to teleport to Padres, then you are doing to much questing, and not enough weapons leveling. Truely, you should be level 30 (have your staff) before you do the Gunner part of the Pearl quest.

If you get left behind, frozen at a cannon, while the rest of the crew is enjoying the free liquor on the flag ship they just boarded, pull out any weapon (to unfreeze yourself), re-engage the cannon and fire chainshot.

Remember to tell your Captain that you were aiming for the enemy, eh hem, not the bottles of rum in his hands.

Side note: I have never been able to skip the stupid cut scene.

This works on ALL the cut scenes.. I mean come on.. after 2 pirates, do you really wanna see every cut scene again???

VIL.. Help those who help you, get heal or cure. :)

When using high explosive at the cannon:
1) If you fire at a ship that is too close to you, or if you accidently shoot the ship you are on, the back explosion won't damage your ship, but it WILL kill your shipmates!!!!! (If you need verification of this, ask Sarah,, one shot sent her to jail!)

2) This would also work for when you get left behind and everyone else is on the flagship drinking looted rum!

For those reading, and posting, to this thread; I started this to be a place where we could post "Quick advice" messages. PLEASE,, don't turn it into a discussion forum, that's what a lot of the others are for.

*looks at post above*

A VIL for here at POF... learn to use the Search Feature to find simple answers like 'who are the gold names' or ' where are the dig spots' :)

The Link To The Search Page

Gordon Greer will heal you! But he won't talk to you at all, if you are already at full health.

9/19 2 VIL's today
 

1) Do regular housekeeping! Daily, at the end of the night, repair your ships, and ammo up at both the gunshop and the blacksmith! This way you are ready to get involved as soon as you log in! Weekly, take a look at your friends list. It's confusing when you want to make a new friend and your list is full. The snap decision on who to delete can bite you later.

2) Ammo up before you teleport! ( Myriad of reasons here, they should all be obvious.)

Note to self.... Can't ladle soup with a spoon that has holes

note to self... no chatting while fighting 2 Stumps.... u get stomped... :(

Check your journal. Are you tracking the right thing? Can you combine a few trips? When sailing, did you remember to turn tracking OFF (so you get two red dots instead of one yellow dot) once you've found your target?

When doing the Kingshead part of the grenades quest:

If doing it alone; Attack each guard before you search the container he is guarding. It prevents you from being interrupted. (and dying cause you didn't get your weapon out in time.)

If doing it with help from a mate with a staff. Stay together, and let the person with the staff do the attacking before you start searching. No sense getting your protection killed because you went running around like a crazy person!

Open your skill panel and set it to cannons. On each ammo type is the number of rounds you currently are carrying. The two other ways to find out, are: get on a cannon, or go to an ammo shop.

Rotfl Basil. They can't quite understand what you mean, until they try to help someone else, on that other person's 'nades quest. Is it fair to assume that someone got you sent to jail yesterday? :-)


VIL: When helping someone on their grenades quest, DEMAND that they tell you how many crates and barrels they need, after EVERY search they do. Tell them you are counting the number of attacks on your weapon, therefore can't count both. Anything. Tell them any lie, to get them to slow down. Honestly...they probably don't realize you are still fighting the navy mob from three barrels back.

If helping someone on the grenade quest, make it clear they are here to search, and you are here to distract/kill the guards. Not the other way around.

9/23
 

Just because you have a healer, DOES NOT mean:
A) you don't have to watch your own health
B) you don't have to carry tonics
C) you don't have to USE tonics
D) you don't wake up in jail!

when you agree to be the healer pay attention, if you don't just say it hadn't recharged yet weather or not it's the truth

Murky Caverns: explaining to a random n00b you are trying to heal, that they can only go for the middle circle of undead, invariably causes them to fire at one of the other two circles of undead. There is over a 20% chance they will listen when they return from jail.

If they are unfriendly or accuse you of not healing fast enough, stop healing them; they subconsciously want to do it on their own. When they learn to laugh about going to jail, you can maybe start healing them again.

Earning more GOLD
 

This is a little hard to explain:

When working as a team, leveling, attacking land enemies:

If 2 or more people attack the same land enemy, they each recieve the entirety of the gold from that enemy. It's like sailing, every member of the crew earns the same gold, except the captain, who gets the bonus.

Same principle, all you need is to get a single hit in, and when your partner defeats that enemy, you both get the gold.

Example: 2 people in the Tormenta cave. Pirate 1 is healer. Pirate 2 attacks a Brinescum. If pirate 1 attunes the Brinescum, gives it 1 point of damage by curse or chains, then both will get gold from the enemy. Cards, treasures, etc. will also be given.

Rep will still be given according to the standard distribution, in other words shared. But, since the healer didn't really do any serious damage, the attacker will get the rep.

This is not rep stealing, or an advocation to randomly jump in on someone elses atttacks, I am dead set against stealing rep. Besides, rep is not given equally to everyone who attacks, it is based on amount of hits and damage.

Second example:
2 people at KH working grenades. Pirate 1 throws the shot to bring the enemies to the fence. Pirate 2 then throws grenades to defeat the 7 enemies. Pirate 1 gets 1 point rep from each enemy, but full gold and treasure allotment. Pirate 2 gets all the rep, and also full gold and treasure allotment.

(This is longer than the average VIL, but I have no better way to explain it.)

Chatting while healing is bad for your friends' health...
Chatting while sailing is not much better! :laughks2:

9/25
 

Don't level doll and pistol too early as you near master level. They are very useful when you are helping others to level up, and there's nothing more dissappointing than seeing the "ZERO" come up for rep.

when you're trying to level grenades in kingshead and someone else is there change to a server where you'll be alone on kingshead

:12_1_138:Here's alittle lesson I learned...AFTER I was shown the KH glich..... You can change weapons while gliched !! Just use ur function keys to swap out your weapon of choice.........(this one is for the newbies)

VIL Enhancement: You can also use the scrollwheel of your mouse (if you use mouse).

9/26
 

Quests!
On each island, Tortuga, Port Royal, and Padres, you can pickup the Tattoo, Jewelry and Clothing quests. Do them in the island order that I listed, Get all for a single island at once, (cause they overlap), and get them as soon as you can take them on. They are great rep producers, and make you level weapons at the same time.

If you are plundering in multiple ships, don't have 2 or more ships attack the same enemy. ALthough I can't prove it, it seems that if 2 or more ships attack the same enemy, they get lower cargo. I.E. Cargo crates vs. treasure or royal chests. It fills the hold with lower value plunder.

Likewise, once your hold is full, stop shooting, except in self defense. If you damage ships, then port, when you come back out, you have lost the rep from the pre landing stage. And again, I can't prove it, but the quality of the cargo seems to be less.

thats not entirely true basil sorry but we were getting the royals from those ships

And for the VIL:

if your having trouble feel free to ask for help, after all the definition of insanity is "to repeat an action multiple times and expect different results" with help you have a new variable and will likely get different results

POTCO and Football don't mix! There is no way to give either of them enough attention to know what is going on in either game!

Lol.. learned that last night did ya Basil?

Never walk away from the pc.. or be reading a book while a tot is playing your pirate.

War frigates get sold and games get deleted in these circumstances.

(Yes.. both have happened to me.)

I'd sell the tot who sold my War Frigate!!!!!!

HAHAHAHAHA i'm sure that would violate the law so don't get caught if ya do it:laughks2:

Pirate! I mean, rrrruuuuummmm! XD

~Mad Ange

Don't ask Sarah, Anne, Mary or Elizabeth anything math related....ever.

Dont start posting in the forums before your morning coffee.

Those rules apply to me too lol.

Though i can't really prove it i have the feeling that the score on the leader board is based on the value and power of an individual kill rather than the total amount of enemies killed

VIL for 10/1
 

There are a couple things for today.
First, Let's pull this thread back to it's intent, please. The partial quote below is from the very first post in the thread.


With this in mind, let's go back to the original intent, please, when a VIL is posted, let's not make it into a running commentary. I am guilty also, so I am severely chastising myself even as I type this. ( 40 lashes with cooked spaghetti)
Thanks.

Now for todays VIL:

Pistol level 10 lets you get Hex Eater Shot. Hex can be used to stun the following undead: Gypsys, Witchdoctors, Brinescum, Molusks, and the French and Spanish Lieutenants. Once stunned, you can use other weapons to defeat them. This is a good way to level other weapons.

Pssst...French undead lieutenants, Spanish undead piratas.

Take all pirates recommendations with a grain of salt. Thier desire to help, does not make thier answers the right answers for you.

do not attempt to take on the juggernaut with just a laptop mouse.

If you can avoid it, don't buy the level 2 or level 3 weapons. Use the basic weapons till you get your skills to level 15, then do the quests for the leel 4 weapons. It will save you a lot of gold, earn you more rep, and the level 2 and 3 weapons don't really give you all that much return for the price. The exception for me is the 2 barrel pistol, I always buy that, but not the 3 barrel.

In Murky Hollow, On Tortuga, Don't attack any of the skellies that are grouped togeter, except for the center group. In the center group, you can attack one enemy at a time. The other groups will all attack you as a gang if you attack any one of them.

When given a poker quest to win 150 gold (or more), visit Black Mack in the Rowdy Rooster and pick up his quest (also to win 150 gold). Never know when you'll need another cheat card, and your original quest will be filled at the same time.

When going sailing for plunder, always visit Bartholomew Watkins (NPC hiding behind barrel in Port Royal), pick up his fortune quests. Anything you sink fills them.. free gold for ships you were going to sink anyways.

Addition to Zeps VIL: Dont take all of Barts Quests - leave the last one. The three quests @ 35 gold comes to 105 - but then you have to log out before he gives them to you again.

Take his first two quests for 70 gold - and you can keep taking them without the logout (just cash in and then re-ask). You get 140 gold (for 2 trip sail) in the same time as 105 and having to Log Out/In :D

(Note: Same As that guy on Port Royal Beach with three quests - don't take his last one and you can repeat his first two as many times as you want).

When plundering: you can track your haul by clicking on the cargo crate icon on the top left of your screen. It will open to tell you exactly how many, of which type of cargo you are hauling.

Don't kill too many dire wasps in succession. You may not notice the multiple acid status effects stacking up, lowering your health quite fastly.

A POF VIL:
A forum members post count means nothing, its the value of the contributions that gains notice.

The level 4 weapons quests don't get any easier the second, or third, time around! (And I hate having to visit EVERY island! Tia is EVIL!)

VIL: Purchase every weapon, pouch, sack, barrel, doll and staff as it comes up. You will eventually have a gold surplus problem, but you cannot buy lower-level weapons...they will forever show up wrong at the store. Plus, you get to see if you like a weapon, or not. (I detest the level 4 dagger, but love the level 3, myself.)

VIL: Never take a Bartholomew Watkins side quest, if you have treasure sense unlocked (rank 1 or higher.) If you have a high treasure sense, ask people boarding your ship to avoid those quests.

Addendum: Got a couple questions about this. The quests always have priority on what cargo you plunder from ships. When you sink a navy greyhound and someone on board has the Bartholomew quest, you get CRATES (of gunpowder.) Even if your treasure sense would have modified that to something better, you still get worthless crates. At the end of the day, even after checking back in with Bartholomew, everyone gets less plunder as a result of this. Yes, even the person getting the 70gp reward...but also the six other people who were on board.

if ya aim low when ya throw your nades and charge up the throw you can throw in a straight line and turn your nade into a rocket

WOW, 1500 views of the thread!

I hope people are finding the info posted here worthwhile.


Most people know this, but it seems there are still a lot who don't:
You can't whisper to someone who is not in your friends list!

There is gonna be a change to this,, sometime, but as of right now, this still holds true.

I have whispered to people who are not in my friends list. They have heard and responded to my whispers. But, POTCO chat in all forms, has serious issues.

VIL: When sailing, you can use the mouse scroll wheel to zoom camera in and out. Zoom in to see individual people on neighboring ships, to crew them or whisper to them. Zoom all the way out, to see more of the ocean than the default view.

Actually, while dancing on the dock last night I kept getting whispers from the random folk who would come to watch or join. Or, anytime we're dirting I also get whispers from random people asking what's going on...

~Mad Ange

When sailing, having all the cannoneers stay on one side makes it easier for the captain to line up the ships broadsides. And it also makes sure the crew has a shot.

Corollary;
Since people don't always do what you want, toggle the crew icon on. Turning on the glowing crew mug icon -aside from looking super sweet- lets you track where the crew is on your boat and you can target accordingly...........Oh look that pirate is doing laps around the deck and I only have 2 gunners. .)

Be careful of how much "help" you request, or recieve, when doing any quest! Having too much help can actually be detrimental!

Eplaination: I took 2 different pirates, both hit level 20 and were given the grenades quest. For both, I droppped everything, and did nothing but the grenades quests.
For one pirate, I had as much help as I could possibly get, full escort for the entirety of the quest, and did not have to defeat a single enemy while I searched the 50 different barrels and crates on KH, PDF or anwhere else. This pirate had grenades and was barely over level 20 notoriety.
For the second pirate, I did the entire quest solo. For every crate or barrel to be searched, I had to defeat one, or sometimes two enemies. It took significantly longer to get the grenades, and a few trips to jail, but this pirate was level 21 before having nades as a weapon. A full level difference, and cutlass, doll and daggers were alll quite a bit higher by the end of the quest.

It depends on what goal you are trying to achieve!

Some shipboard terms:
The back of the ship is referred to as: The Stern; it is the aft part of the ship. on Galls and frigate the wheel is aft.
The front of the ship is: The Bow; it is the forward (forard) part of the ship
Facing front, the right is Starboard, the left is Port.
In between the bow and stern is Amidships.
The main posts on deck are the Masts, and the Sails hang from the Spars, (crossbeams). The Crowsnest is on the mast at a spar. This is what you shoot at to remove the sails form an enemy ship.

Now when you are on someones ship and they tell you to man the forward starboard cannon, you should understand where you should be. AND when you spot the Juggernaut, you don't just tell the captain, "there it is, over there." IT's "Off the starboard amidships!" or "Astern, Port side"

Lastly, for most of us who sail alone, the cannons closest to the wheel are the "captain's guns". Most captains reserve those for their own use. When in a crew, you should ask the captain before just taking over those guns. He/she may want to get some cannon rep too, and those should be available for her/him.

VIL: Never tell anyone "follow me." While that is useful in other games, it is often misinterpreted here as an insult. When a n00b asks you to follow them, try to remember to be polite, when you explain why you won't. They obviously don't know how to GO TO someone else yet.

VIL: Loading a gun or grape shot while on or waiting on a Boss Battle is a one-way ticket to jail.

You don't have to log out to change servers. Use your map page, where it lists which ocean you are currently on, that is a pull down. Open it, and choose whichever ocean (server) you would like to go to.

I have seen numerous people take a long time to find that out!


OBTW, Sorry that I haven't posted in this thread lately. RL has been very hectic.

The Sea Taxi
 

Just because you can afford a newer, larger, ship, don't get rid of your sloop! The little sloop is the hardest to hit in battle, and has very high speed ability. Keep it, and use it for rapid sailing from island to island. Besides, if it does get sunk, it is very cheap to repair.

Pay it forward! Always remember all the help you got on your way up, and pay it forward to those coming up behind you!

When you are a level 3 with a level 2 cutlass and a light sloop, don't get "adventurous" and head of to Isla Tormenta

When you are a level 3 with a level 2 cutlass... forget Tormenta.. be careful of the Rock Crabs on Anvil.

Autorun is best saved for when you are chatting

proofread what you type before you hit enter, it saves even more typing trying to explain what you said (in case what you said sounded insulting)