The Grenade Quest

[Plunderin Mom]

Originally Posted by WizardHawk

As to training grenades, I too spent my share of time on the lower area of kinghead. After that you can move up to the building area in kingshead and attrack everyone around you using blast on your staff to get their attention and then move backwards and throw like you did with the 18 vets. This too will take you higher, but only so far.

The real power of the grenades opened up to me after I started using them more or less as they were intended. I mostly level it now by throwing them at targets on the backside of padre (the shore with high level enemy). I stand in one spot and turn to hit whatever is there. Doing this has made my aim darned good at any distance, even with some that move. I only use the move backward attack on things that do not die before reaching me. The gypsy and genadiers are easy to kill since they never get close to you. I don't even bother using hex eaters on the gypsys large enough to hurt me as they are dead long before they can kill me.

Im at level 19 with grenades and still use the top area of Kingshead to train them (and also the lynching area in the fort) , using the staff to draw as many soldiers to me as I can. Often there are 3 to 5 level 21 to 30 enemies within reach. I have been saving my skill points, except to put one each on stink pot, fire bomb and smoke bomb (which may not be that useful in regular game play, but which are better for earning more experience points while leveling than the regular explosive). In an average run, fully stocked, you can still get 2500 experience points, depending on how many over level 20's there are around. That may change after I hit level 20 with them, but until then, Kingshead is still a good place for leveling, IMHO.

Originally Posted by WizardHawk

I'll state this again. I've used all of the weapons and have most at or above 20. I once too thought the staff was the end-all weapon. After working more on learning to use them to their potential, the grenade moved way back up my list and there are enemy I only use grenades on (such as those pesky 20+ raiders).

Note that I can seriously harm a 33 raider with my staff, but if I use flameskull I run out of voodoo before I can kill it which makes me have to switch to cutlass. If I use wither it just takes too many of them and he still gets a lot of hits on me. Either way, I often end up using tonics using a staff on them. I NEVER EVER have to use a tonic with the grenades. Which would you use?

I've become more fond of grenades, as well (especially now that they don't hang in the air everytime I try to throw them), but would have to say that my personal favorite, especially for up close and personal enemies, would have to be the life drain/curse combo on the doll. Not only is life drain (when maxed out) very effective, but you can attune others for healing at the same time. Nothing bothers me more than to board and sink a Colossus, only to discover one of my crewmates didnt make it. I love being able to attune a couple/few crewmates and then drain the life from a soldier at the same time. Woot! Voodoo dolls Rock! But, I have to agree that grenades do have their place in the game (If all the cannons are occupied on the side of the boat we're attacking from, I like to stand there and throw grenades at the incoming ship. ).

I enjoy reading your posts, WH- they're very informative and articulate, and I'm not disagreening with anything you have said. I think grenades are a great addition to the arsenal, and the most efficient choice in certain situations. I also think everyone is going to have a different style of play, and that some will have a higher regard for certain weapons, even in the same situation, than another person does, and that those differing styles and preferances can often compliment each other.

Happy plundering!

[WizardHawk]

The only issue I've had so far, is that they sometimes seem to suffer from the old Swarm bug, where the weapon will hit but won't take health off the enemy's bar. Hopefully that's just a temporary thing, because other than that, I'm a big fan.

I've had many times where I hit an enemy and either the meter doesn't show the hit or even where the meter doesn't come up (as if you didn't hit them at all) but they still go down in the same number of hits so you are getting credit, just not showing on the meter.

I do know if you score a direct hit everything works right. If you are close, but miss a bit short you have a chance at scoring a hit, but not seeing it on the meter, and if you are a bit long you have a chance of it showing you got a hit (negative number rolls up, you see the fire on them etc.) but not actually getitng credit for it. Yes, you can see the hit and not get it, but it does seem for me to be worse with even a short distance long of the target. I tend to try to aim right on or a bit short because of it and do quite well.

Plunderin Mom
You go ahead and post your views and your experience no matter how different they are. There is no right or wrong opinion or style in this game (nor any other for that matter) and the more views the more knowledge gets passed to others.

I can say that one of the main reasons I don't use kingshead anymore is I got tired of driving there lol. I guess it is just easier to quickly run to the backside of padre, not to mention you just can't beat having a blacksmith and gun shop right there for quick refills.

As for fighting with groups, sure I think the doll is a great choice and one I use often myself for the very reasons you mentioned. Really depends on the level of the people you are with and level(s) of the enemy in the fight, but there are times where using staff or grenade to quickly remove larger groups helps as much as healing and taking on 2-4 enemy at a time. I think I change up how I approach things often as I may be working a different weapon or just get too bored doing just the same thing the same way all the time.

You do bring up another point that isn't stated enough. It is a good idea with all weapons to have at least one weak attack to help you level that weapon faster, but you almost MUST have it with grenades. I have the basic grenade maxed at 5 dots for getting out of trouble fast and while I do have 2 dots in stink and fire, I only have one in smoke and use those three to level on weak enemy combos. Why do you need a weaker skill? Can't you just kill more faster with the power ones and end up the same? Not in my experience. I get about 3-4 times as much exp for the same enemy and do not use all that much more time.