rheingold

It's okay if the player character does it. Note: Privateers *are* sanctioned. Indeed, that sanctioning--and the limiting of targets to opposing factions--is the *ONLY* difference between a privateer and a pirate.Sanctioned by who? When you take a bounty for the Principi, you're just being sanctioned by pirates. It's not a legal sanction just because it's a quest! Nominally, the Huana are the legal authority in the region. They're really the only people who should be able to legally sanction any bounties. When the other factions give you bounties to kill Huana.... Unless you're just of the opinion that this is an entirely lawless region, and there are no legal authorities, so it's all cool... in which case what Maia is doing is okay too, isn't it? What's the difference between taking an RDC bounty to go sink some Huana/VTC ships versus Maia taking an RDC "bounty" to go kill some Huana/VTC governors? The RDC actually declared me a privateer and gave me paperwork--at least in the dialogue statements--authorizing me as an agent of theirs. So at least in that questline I'm nominally meant to be officially sanctioned by the RDC to take these people down. The Huana are nominally the legal authority, but that's actually quite a bit looser than it sounds. Really it's the Kahanga tribe that's the authority, and not all of the Huana even recognize that. The only authority that the Kahanga tribe have has been established simply by virtue of being the dominant and most powerful tribe in the region; before them it was the Wahaki, but they were massacred by Rauatai. So now it's the Kahanga, by virtue of sinking the Rauatai flagship and controlling the most islands. The farther you get from Neketaka, the less actual authority the Queen has--and thus the less authority the "Huana" have as a united people. My impression is that it's not officially sanctioned, so that the various factions can have "plausible deniability ". In fact, the gent from the RDC admits as much when he gives you his first bounty as he has his "nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more" speech. In fact the whole point of hiring privateers is not to start wars with other factions, instead when they complain about pirates, look at them blankly, before commiserating on their losses.... you can't do that if you've signed a contract. In the real world privateers very much had contracts called "letters of marque" and were officially sanctioned; it was essentially a way to get extra men on a problem while not having an actual naval presence that would lead to diplomatic issues. I got the impression that it was a similiar setup with the RDC, although I could have been wrong I guess. You are right about the letter of marque and that they were in theory officially sanctioned, but apparently the sanction only applied to countries at war. Undoubtedly government essentially used them as mercs, though they didn't pay them, essentially they were on "commission". However, they were also used against countries that were not at war. Apparently Queen Victoria used them against Spain when they were not at war, so the terms of the contracts were invalid. She did that so she could deny any responsibility. From what I can remember of the conversation with the Ruatai officer who hands out bounties, there was no mention of a contract? I'm pretty sure he made a pretty speech about how Ruatai are not at war with the VTC or Huana, and they would never engage in any underhanded behavior that would jeopardize their relations.... that as he hands over bounties:) But I could have made a mistake, I'll have to check sometime.

It's okay if the player character does it. Note: Privateers *are* sanctioned. Indeed, that sanctioning--and the limiting of targets to opposing factions--is the *ONLY* difference between a privateer and a pirate. Sanctioned by who? When you take a bounty for the Principi, you're just being sanctioned by pirates. It's not a legal sanction just because it's a quest! Nominally, the Huana are the legal authority in the region. They're really the only people who should be able to legally sanction any bounties. When the other factions give you bounties to kill Huana.... Unless you're just of the opinion that this is an entirely lawless region, and there are no legal authorities, so it's all cool... in which case what Maia is doing is okay too, isn't it? What's the difference between taking an RDC bounty to go sink some Huana/VTC ships versus Maia taking an RDC "bounty" to go kill some Huana/VTC governors? The RDC actually declared me a privateer and gave me paperwork--at least in the dialogue statements--authorizing me as an agent of theirs. So at least in that questline I'm nominally meant to be officially sanctioned by the RDC to take these people down. The Huana are nominally the legal authority, but that's actually quite a bit looser than it sounds. Really it's the Kahanga tribe that's the authority, and not all of the Huana even recognize that. The only authority that the Kahanga tribe have has been established simply by virtue of being the dominant and most powerful tribe in the region; before them it was the Wahaki, but they were massacred by Rauatai. So now it's the Kahanga, by virtue of sinking the Rauatai flagship and controlling the most islands. The farther you get from Neketaka, the less actual authority the Queen has--and thus the less authority the "Huana" have as a united people. My impression is that it's not officially sanctioned, so that the various factions can have "plausible deniability ". In fact, the gent from the RDC admits as much when he gives you his first bounty as he has his "nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more" speech. In fact the whole point of hiring privateers is not to start wars with other factions, instead when they complain about pirates, look at them blankly, before commiserating on their losses.... you can't do that if you've signed a contract.

Unfortunately, there's no way in-game to push the queen in that direction, and unlike the other factions, there's no one you can support in her stead. There's nothing in the Huana ending slides about a movement to address the major problems with their society. I guess you can hope they'll fix it eventually, but you can hope the same thing about the other factions. Yeah that's largely true, but all the factions are dodgy, so may as well go with the faction that actually belongs there.... would be different if another faction was better, but that's not the case. The other factions are probably less likely to change... they don't have any reason to. The Huana though, are under all sorts of pressure, food, foreign influence, caste system. Sometimes that can force a change, at least it's more likely than with the republics or Ruatai.

On Steam at least it, and the two White March DLCs, at 40% at the moment. If you want to play Deadfire but have heard it's currently buggy and untuned and you haven't yet played PoE why not take advantage of this deal? That might explain the upturn in sales. Yeah, could be a number of reasons. Just one minor concern. Obs have taken a different direction with Deadfire - more of a sandbox, less tight narration. I am a tad disappointed, (I am really enjoying the game but don't think it's as good as the first) so hopefully if large numbers of people are going to play Deadfire if they enjoy the first game, they might be a bit disappointed... Not necessarily great news for a sequel. And it won't really work the other way, if they didn't like POE it's unlikely the majority of them would then try Deadfire.

People have waited for PoE2 reviews, it's a stunning game, so they're buying them both together for on giant playthrough? It isn't self-evident, because you're asserting something based on your own personal interpretation, without actually proving the point. ^ he gets it. Yeah, they are probably buying the first to play through - and maybe waiting for a sale for Deadfire. I dunno, just having seen this interest level before with people buying the original but not the sequel. Strange.

5 chanters??? 2 beckoners 1 troubadour 1 skald/barb 1 pal/troubadour 1 fighter/troubadour

Obs have done a decent job making Deadfire newbie friendly. There is not much more they could do. W3 isn't any better from that perspective, so I doubt that has much influence on sales. Something I don't quite get though... POE appears to be selling really well, on steam and gog. Not entirely sure what the heck is up with that. I'm happy that's its selling but.... why???

I though the VTC governor and Huana leader at Fort Maje were some of the better people in Deadfire. Not perfect, but they had found a way to work together which says a lot. It's also clear that there are no really good options as a whole for deadfire. Huana have a terrible caste system, VTC care only about money and actively condone slavery. Ruatai are fairly militaristic and only interested in conquering deadfire. And if our history is anything to go by, that never works out well for the conquered. But there are some people or areas where people seem to be pulling together. Fort Maje is one, the island where Serafen finds his chum - forgot the name. But if you go into the barracks you find Huana of all castes trying to mingle. So I kinda take the view that since they all have major flaws, I may as well support the Huana - it's their land after all. And hopefully work on making them more progressive. Re Maia - well her quest pisses me off. She clearly knew what was in the orders and lied to the watcher. And effectively made him/her an accomplice to murder without even the decency of letting him know. If she had been more forthcoming that would be different of course. And in most cases, the bounties are not morally justified or legal. It's one thing to take a slavery or pirate ship which could be seen as a good deed, but many of the bounties are for either traders or members of other factions. There is no legal basis for that - that's why they hire privateers. If it was sanctioned or somehow legal, the factions would use their own resources...

I love chanters both in the original and in deadfire. Druids and Barbs were my go to class going way back, and I still really like them. But chanters are my new favourite. But some people could find them boring... and possibly they are not aware of how much they bring to the table just standing there scratching their heads. Their chants are great by themselves. The fact that they can make a great tank is just gravy.

If Chanters are bad, then pretty much all the other classes bar one or two exceptions are completely useless.... Seriously though, the mind does boggle a tad at how someone can look at, oh I don't know, ciphers, rangers or rogues and somehow come to the conclusion that chanters aren't great. Even without Brilliant inspiration cheese, (which will and needs to be nerfed) they are one of the best classes. Having said that, I seem to recall similar discussion in POE. I think it might be more of a case that chanters playstyle just dosn't appeal to everyone. They are not the most active in combat

Ok maybe, for me I didn't see much or more probably didn't notice it.... My feeling though, is that Larian are better at marketing. OS 2 seemed to be everywhere. Could be wrong though.

Gotta say that the bomb solution is the way to go. Hilarious and doesn't do the watchers reputation any harm... just an all around cool option.

Junk with 3 double bronzers and 2 long guns on each side. Close to 350, taking some minor damage on the way. Then cut loose. Most fights don't last more than 2 rounds. From what I can see, you will actually take less damage this way, and it's kinda fun and doesn't take all day.

Really enjoying my beckoner. I like skalds, but I am not crazy about troubadours. Dunno why, they are a great class. Maybe cause they just feel boring from a roleplay point of view. They kinda come across as an "efficient " chanter without having any real identity, which I think beckoner and skalds have.

I found Serafen as a barb/cipher to be a beast. Does some serious damage. But it does take time, you have to level him. And he was fragile.

I'd wait a bit... still don't have any serious numbers. But I will say, marketing is not Obsidian's strength. Things have also changed a huge amount of the last few years - people's buying habits, youtube, social media etc. If I were them I'd definitely look at bringing in someone more up to date with the relevant marketing skills.

Could very well be that, or it could be having some strong female characters in the game is somehow offensive... Probably bit of both.

Well, speaking as a proud SJW, adios amigo, don't hit the door on the way out....

Really not concerned either way. If they want to change it go for it.

Not sure if this one has been done yet but here it is...

Can confim same thing happening to me. Though I'm not losing watcher abilities at all, it just seems to be the active and passive abilities at level one which disappear. At level 7 I have 9 total abilities instead of 11 pre respec. Not sure if the skills are being affected.

Good lord, I remember wizards in d&d 1st edition... 3hp if you were lucky, one magic missile/day and 10AC... They were not much better in the old ie games. Pillars (1 and 2 ) are a vast improvement at low levels.

Gotta say that I am a tad unimpressed with my ranged rogue/cipher at the moment. The rogue bit is fine, the cipher seems a waste though. Had a black jacket rogue also with pistols and it just did the damage part so much better, and was far more survivable. The cipher just doesn't bring much. I think what really hurts them is only been able to select a handful of powers. Other caster classes can get away with it because their spells are powerful, but a cipher has always relied on a few tricks; damage from soulwip, and the ability to cast various spells all the time. Their spells haven't really been increased in power to adjust for the fact that they only have a limited selection. Increasing the spells available would also help immensely.

Good luck. There is at least one ship I have encountered in game that can easily land hits outside it's optimum range, and can do very high damage per salvo. You will be unlikely to beat it with a sloop, I don't care how good your crew is or what upgrades you have. You can ram it, but it's crew is also level 15, so I hope you are pretty darn far in the game.Yes the sloop played right, with a good crew, good upgrades, and good guns, can beat "most" ship encounters. That said, you will take a long time per fight doing it that way, assuming you even win every time, you might not because there are a small amount of legit nasty ships out there. Meanwhile I sit on my junk, close to 400 give or take, fire two salvos, and i win. No I don't care what the other ship is, two salvo's I win. I won ship battles against Galleons with upgraded hulls in 135 hp in less than 2 minutes. Ask the guy with two imperial long guns per side how long his ship battles take? Yes it costs a lot to get the ship, and all the upgrades, but trust me, it makes ship combat insanely faster. Also, what else are you spending it on? Yes, there are cool items in a lot of shops, but most of them aren't as good as what you can loot, or you can also loot them somewhere else. Additionally, farther you get in the game easier it is to make money, I have cleared some dungeon maps where every mob was dropping exceptional gear and I sold the stuff for over 20k from that one dungeon only. Yeah, I'm not an expect, but while you can use the lower end ships, it's going to be very slow and painful with them. With a junk and the double cannons ( forget the names) you just move close up and start firing. Pretty much take a galleon down with two volleys. Much faster and for me, quite enjoyable.

I really like the ogres. The other summons could very well be better, but from a coolness perspective they are hard to beat. Of course the dragon is the ultimate in cool, but the ogres are great until then. They also do some sterling work from a damage point of view.