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[7.3] BURIED TREASURES
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Each of your nine named rivals has part of his loot buried somewhere in the
Caribbean. To increase your wealth - and to earn extra fame points while you
are at it - you can find these treasures. To be able to start looking for a
treasure, you need to talk to mysterious travellers in taverns until one offers
to sell you a part of a treasure map. They will often (but not always) sell
you a map for whichever pirate's home base is nearest to your current location.
The treasure always spawns somewhat near your current location regardless of
how near said pirate is, though.
If you're playing on Apprentice, buying one part is enough; you get a (usually)
clear map which shows you the direct area around the treasure, tells you in the
vicinity of which port to look, and shows you several distinctive landmarks to
help you find the right spot. On Journeyman, you only get a quarter of the map
initially, but if you find another mysterious traveller to sell you a piece
you will get the other three quarters right away. From Adventurer level on,
you need to buy four separate map pieces to get the entire thing.
You don't *have* to gather an entire map to be able to find a treasure; if you
think you can do it with the parts you have, go ahead and give it a try. You do
need to get at least one piece for a treasure to spawn in the first place,
though; you can't run into them randomly. You also can't hunt for more than one
treasure at a time, as map pieces for a new treasure aren't sold to you until
you find the previous one.
Every map includes instructions on which city's area to search, assuming you
have the bottom right part of the map which tells you so. If you collect all
four pieces it will also say in which general direction of the city the
treasure is. The rule here is that the treasure isn't necessarily right outside
the city or even on the same land mass, but it will always be closer to that
city than any other. How useful that is to you depends on which city it is. If
a treasure is near Rio de La Hacha, that's helpful because there are other
cities near it, and you know it has to be relatively close by. On the other
hand, if a treasure is "near" Vera Cruz it could be damn near anywhere in
Mexico. Thankfully pirate treasure almost never spawn that far in the middle
of nowhere, but you'll be remembering this when you're after a Lost City or the
hideout of Montalban.
Sometimes, a treasure map is kind enough to include the city itself on the map,
or something else that's easily recognizable, like a named settlement. Usually
however you have to make do with a named landmark, something like Captain's
Shallows or Rum Rock or a dozen other randomly generated names. These are never
in the same spot twice when you start a new game. The way to find them is to
first get to the city that's mentioned on your treasure map, then sail around
it until you spot the landmark with the right name. Landmarks look like brown
rocks just off the shore, and their name will only show up if you come near
them. On Apprentice level, if you are near the right landmark, its name will
alternate with the text "Buried treasure landmark!" so you really can't miss
it.
Once you know roughly where to beach your ship, do so and use the in-land
landmarks (which only appear once you're marching) to get your bearings. Head
for the red X as best as you can, frequently checking your map. You can use
the spyglass to see landmarks a little bit before they actually appear on
screen. The treasure location itself looks like a mound of sand with a big red
skull & crossbones on it and pillars of skulls around. To dig up the treasure,
simply walk into it and your men will do the rest.
The value of each treasure is fixed between 2000 and 10000 gold; the treasures
of the more notorious pirates are worth more. Each treasure also gets you 1
fame point, as well as the wrath of the pirate you stole it from (assuming you
haven't defeated him already). Count on said pirate to chase and attack you if
you ever meet him and you don't outmatch him.
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