Walter.Richards

... not sure how one would not know what the weather is, in their line of sight. Maybe you mean the storms don't appear on maps? Sorry, yes, I meant that the clouds on the world map not be visible to the player, so they are not so easily avoided. One idea is to have the screen gradually darken, with thunder sounds & lightning flashes, as the player gets closer to the invisible world map "trigger" for a storm. That said, fog-of-war on the world map might make the storms more threatening... I'd like to see an option for what you see on the World Map. Along with your idea ... How about we don't see other ships' location "live"? You could to stop in a port, and get an updated map with their "last known" route marked, but not the exact location of the ship. And the update would only include ships that used that port.

... not sure how one would not know what the weather is, in their line of sight. Maybe you mean the storms don't appear on maps?

Have they patched it, so that taking out the sails eliminates the ship's ability to maneuver? I know prior to patch 3, that wasn't the case. You can also use grapeshot to eliminate the non-fighting (reserve) crew. That will reduce the number of opponents you face when boarding.

get a torch or use the starting saber torch and keep it on a melee character, try fighting only during daytime, or use a stealthy scouting party member. Doesn't solve the "problem", when trying to do a ranged solo play. You can't hold a torch (or light source) and use most ranged weapons. (pistols excluded) What I need is a mod with a bow / crossbow / arbalest with a light source attached. LOL

My biggest problem with them is Skaen's challenge. Since I like playing a ranged-combat character, the smaller viewing area makes it much harder because you can't see your foes at range. By the time you see them, they're almost within melee range. It's such a major change, that I plan on creating a melee-only party for that challenge.

That works ... but it would be faster if the option was already built into the game. But they aren't available in the "generic" game, to the player. A good point. Some people prefer the portraits. So I would suggest a combination of the two systems. Offer pre-made portraits ... with a silhouette portrait that would use a "head shot" of the player's character. Or have pre-made faces that match the portraits.

Yes, DA had a more advanced character generator ... but I'm just using their "head shot" part as an example of what could replace the portraits. And a "head shot" system would give more looks than the current portrait system. Especially for the races I mentioned. I mean, the "Male, Island, Amaua" (brown skin) has only one portrait option.

Especially for Godlike, Aumaua, and Orlan ... is that you can seldom craft your character's face to resemble the portrait. My first thought was that the developers / portrait artists should have done portraits based off the options available. But I realized that would have been too difficult given the time required and possible facial combinations. The best option would have been to do away with portraits, and just used the "head shot" of the character creation screen. IIRC, this is how DragonAge did it. You could even customize the background, and the facial expression.

Agreed If unanswered questions = plot holes ... just about every story ever has plot holes. Just look at all the unanswered questions in fairy tales. 3 Little pigs: How did the animals learn to talk? How did the pigs learn to build? What is the lung capacity of a wolf, capable of even blowing down a house made of straw? Why didn't the wolf ambush the pigs outside their homes? LOL Heck ... Life is one big batch of unanswered questions. And trying to find the answers is what keeps people moving.

Of course you can. Go to the new classes thread and suggest the Courtesan, the Masseur and the Dominatrix. HA! Sounds like a "Harem" LitRPG book. LOL

I read the title and think ... Can't we be a mercenary brothel? The romances definitely weren't as good as any of the Dragon Age games. Of course, I get more involved with characters if I see them from a "real" POV perspective, rather than isometric.

I do it about half the time.

Eh ... I view it the same way as "IQ". A high IQ just means they have the possibility to be highly intelligent, not that they are. And it doesn't address "common sense" or "wisdom". LOL As to the ship battles, it seems to me that they were better before this last patch? I think they DO need a couple fixes: 1 - When the sails are at 0 health, the ship should be "dead in the water" - not able to even turn. 2 - You should not be able to see "below decks" crew information. Unless the crew is above deck, you wouldn't be able to see how many there are or their injuries/recovery time. (once the cannons fire on you, you know what they have - but not how many are manned, or how much ammunition they have) 3 - You also shouldn't know the experience of the other crew. 4 - Ship capture. If you have enough extra crew (minimum for both ships), you can split your crew and take the ship to port to sell.

I've searched the forums, but couldn't find the answer. If you select Solo Challenge ... can you recruit the companions/sidekicks without using them in your "group"? EG: They would fight in ship boarding battles, but that's it. I'm thinking the answer is probably "No" ... but wanted to double-check.

I viewed myself more as a explorer / privateer, than a pirate. The only ships I purposefully attacked were slavers. That's one thing I don't like about the sea battles, though. You can't capture prisoners, or free slaves. I'd find it "just" to sell the former slavers into slavery, after defeating them. Otherwise, I was happy to sail around and explore. I just outran any pirate that turned my way - though I could have easily defeated them. Though, speaking of keeping the crew happy ... it's amazing how well they can do their duties, and fight, when they are constantly drunk. LOL