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[8.4] SPECIAL ITEMS
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This section describes the special items you can get over the course of the
game, and their effect. There are a whopping 17 categories of items, and two
in each category; the basic item and the upgraded one that has a stronger
effect along the same lines.
Items can be obtained in three ways:
- They can be bought from mysterious travellers in taverns. They offer a random
item for sale sometimes, a one time offer for a flat fee of gold. How much gold
depends on the item, the difficulty level, and luck. I've seen Ruby Rings for
as little as 600 gold on Apprentice level but as much as 3300 on Swashbuckler.
Similarly, I've seen a Dutch Rutter for sale for 6000 gold on Apprentice so I
dread to think how much that would cost on higher levels.
- Items can be gotten as ransom from fugitive criminals. When you catch a
criminal, they will often offer you an item if you allow them to escape. If you
accept this offer, you forfeit your gold reward and a chance to make the nation
that wants him happy; the criminal disappears forever. But if the reward is low
and/or the item is good, it can be a good deal.
- Finally, items can be given as gifts by governor's daughters you have
impressed sufficiently with your dancing or with subsequent actions on return
visits. You normally get a choice between two and four different items.
However, not all items can be obtained this way. I've indicated in the item
descriptions which items can and can't be given out by governor's daughters.
Below is a list of all items in the game and their effects. I have sorted them
from most to least important in the eyes of yours truly.
3-STRINGED FIDDLE / CONCERTINA
Among the most important items, these help keep your crew happy. They basically
work by extending the time it takes for your crew to become unhappy, just like
the Quartermaster and Cook specialists do, and like getting more gold in your
hold does. The Concertina has a stronger effect.
You'll want to get these at your first opportunity, particularly on the later
levels. Fortunately they are often offered by governor's daughters.
MEDICINAL HERBS / INCAN MYSTIC SALVE
Another important set of items, these are harder to find. They increase your
health, basically ensuring that A) you don't get slower with age as quickly and
B) you can extend your career for longer. The effect of these items is
retroactive, so even if you acquire them late in your career, your health will
be boosted right back up. The Incan Mystic Salve has a stronger effect. Have
them both as well as skill at Medicine and you can extend your career as far as
age 54 (farther if you don't divide up the plunder).
Get these when you can; an extended career is never a bad thing. I've never
seen a governor's daughter offer these, but you can get them from travellers in
taverns.
RUBY RING / DIAMOND NECKLACE
By far the most common item in the game (at least the Ruby Ring is), this is
also the only class of item you can lose once you've got it. Basically, these
are gifts for the governor's daughter, which can be given to her on your
second visit (after you danced with her the first time). This advances the
romance subplot and will also get you a reward in return. Which reward it is
depends on the beauty of the daughter and the item you gave her. A Ruby Ring
does the same as dancing adequately would, and a Diamond Necklace is equivalent
to a perfect dance.
You can't get these items from a governor's daughter (obviously). However, you
will find the Ruby Ring is the single most offered item by travellers in
taverns. In fact, you probably want to get one and hold on to it if you want
them to offer you anything else, because they'll rarely do otherwise.
CALFSKIN BOOTS / DANCING SLIPPERS
These items are particularly popular because they help with dancing, which many
people consider the hardest part of the game. These items have the same effect
as the Wit and Charm skill (and are cumulative with it): when you do not press
a button during a dance scene, or the wrong one, there is a flat % chance that
the move succeeds anyway, though without a flourish. Basically, this helps
cover up mistakes. The Dancing Slippers offer a higher percentage and let you
get away with even more slip ups. Note that neither item will help you do more
flourishes, but they should help you get through a dance somewhat gracefully if
you don't have the hang of it.
These items are never offered by a governor's daughter. You may be able to get
them from travellers, but they're not commonly seen. If a fugitive criminal
offers you these in exchange for his freedom, I suggest you give it some
serious thought.
SET OF BALANCED SWORDS / SET OF PERFECTLY BALANCED SWORDS
Since you are going to do more swordfighting than anything else in the game,
most likely, items that help you with this are among the more important ones
to have. This is particularly true on the higher levels where a few of your
opponents can be very tough, or if your character is aging and becomes slower
in combat. Balanced swords improve the speed of your attacks. They may also
improve your speed at defending, but I'm not positive on that one. The
perfectly balanced swords have a stronger effect.
Balanced swords are easy to get from travellers and governor's daughters alike.
FENCING SHIRT (PUFFY) / SILK FENCING SHIRT
Fencing shirts are the other item to improve combat speed, and as such just as
important to have as balanced swords. They improve the speed of all your
defensive moves - parrying, jumping and ducking - and may improve attack speed
as well. Not sure about that. The Silk Fencing Shirt is more effective than the
puffy one.
Like balanced swords, fencing shirts are often offered by governor's daughters
as gifts. Getting them early should be no problem.
ONE-SHOT PISTOL / BRACE OF PISTOLS
Owning a pistol, apart from adding a cool extra scene to the start of battles,
gives you an edge in terms of your starting position in combat. Normally when
a sword fight starts you and your opponent are in "neutral" positions in the
middle of the battlefield, and it takes an equal number of blows for either to
be driven back so far that they'll be defeated. A one shot pistol shifts the
balance one step in your favour at the beginning; a brace of pistol gives you
two free steps. It is basically the same as getting a free thrust or chop/slash
on your opponent, respectively.
Pistols are easily obtained both from governor's daughters and travellers.
LEATHER VEST / METAL CUIRAISS
Armor is the final enhancement battle for sword fights. Leather Vests give you
a % chance to deflect a thrust or take only half damage (1 step back rather
than two) from a slash or chop if you fail to block it. This is basically an
extra safeguard that allows you to make more mistakes in battle. The Metal
"Cuiraiss" (their typo, not mine) gives a better chance to deflect blows.
Like the other battle items, armor can be gotten both from travellers and
governor's daughters.
QUALITY SPYGLASS / FINE TELESCOPE
After the battle items I'd consider this one among the more useful things to
have. Spyglasses improve the range at which you spot other ships at sea.
Without them, you don't necessarily see ships even if they're close enough to
be displayed on the overhead view (depending, of course, on how far you are
zoomed in). The Quality Spyglass improves the range at which you see them
somewhat, and the Fine Telescope is good enough to let you spot pretty much all
ships that sail into the range of your screen.
The spyglass items can be obtained from travellers and governor's daughters
alike.
WEATHER GLASS / PRECISION BAROMETER
Among the middle class items in terms of usefulness, the Weather Glass and the
more effective Precision Barometer reduce the damage caused to your ships by
sailing through storms. This damage isn't so bad to begin with (at least on the
lower difficulty levels), and usually you can avoid sailing through storms
(though once again, on the lower difficulty levels you can afford more in terms
of straying from your course). These items are useful, but not vital. Buy them
from a traveller if offered and affordable, or get them from a governor's
daughter if she has nothing better to offer.
DUTCH RUTTER / SPANISH RUTTER
The Dutch Rutter contains the names and locations of a number of "hidden"
settlements, missions, Indian villages and pirate havens. The Spanish Rutter
contains even more. What I'm not sure about yet is if getting them means that
these now show up on your map but were accessible all along, or getting these
items actually makes these places *spawn* on the world map (which would be far
more useful). Either way, it's a decently useful item but nothing vital. Mostly
interesting if you rely a lot on Indians and pirates to weaken down ports for
you, or you just like to lure them out and then ambush them to improve your
standing with the four nations.
Rutters can be bought from travellers but tend to be among the most expensive
items they offer. You're probably better off getting them from a governor's
daughter at some point.
FRENCH CHAPEAU / OSTRICH FEATHER HAT
These two stylish items of clothing allow you to get invited to the ball
easier. The French Chapeau lets you bypass the requirement to be a Colonel to
dance with an attractive daughter, and the Ostrich Feather Hat lets you dance
with beautiful daughters even if you're not a Baron. It is theorized that they
will also let you see the daughters more often in general (i.e. they'll show
up more often if you visit the governor) but I'm not so sure about that part.
One way or another, getting promoted is usually not a big problem (at least not
to Colonel) and you get to see governor's daughters quite often as it is, so
these items have low priority. Note that you cannot get stylish clothing from
governor's daughters.
FALSE MUSTACHE / THEATRICAL DISGUISE
Wealthy Spanish ports will often refuse to trade with you if your relations
with Spain aren't very good. The likelihood of this depends on how much Spain
hates you and how poor (i.e. desperate) the port in question is. The False
Mustache helps ease the equation and make it easier for you to trade even in
hostile ports, while the Theatrical Disguise ensures that you are always
allowed to trade no matter what.
The usefulness of these items is limited as they only apply to trading, not to
being able to get into the port in the first place. Not much use being
allowed to trade in Spanish ports even when they have a price on your head,
when there is no way to sail your ship into port in the first place. You would
only be able to sneak in (and then you can't trade), or plunder the port and
trade directly after; and if you plunder a port it typically ends up so poor
that you'd be able to trade with them to begin with. As such, these items have
little practical use as far as I can tell.
Disguise items can't be obtained from governor's daughters.
LOCKPICKING KIT / SKELETON KEY
If you're down on your luck and get captured, you might find yourself
imprisoned for quite a few months. With luck you'll get a chance to try and
escape along the way. You can help Lady Luck a little by having either or both
of these items; a chance to escape will come sooner and assuming you do not
mess up the sneaking out of town part, you can escape very quickly and thus
shorten your time in captivity if worst comes to worst. The Skeleton Key offers
you an opportunity even more quickly than the Lockpicking Kit does.
These items will probably be of little value to you, though. Most players
would reload the game if they lose a battle and get captured, anyway; the fact
that an autosave is done right before every battle certainly encourages this.
But if you decide to play a game in which you do not allow yourself to rely
on saving and loading to get you out of trouble, you'll likely find these items
somewhat more important.
Lockpicking items can't be obtained from governor's daughters.
SIGNALING MIRROR / SIGNAL FLARE
The signaling items serve the same purposes as the lockpicking ones, except
that these are meant for when you are marooned rather than captured. The time
it takes for a ship to pick you up is shortened by the Signaling Mirror and
shortened even more by the Signal Flare. Once again, how important you find
this is going to depend on whether or not you just reload your game if you
lose your last ship. If you do, these items are useless. If you don't, their
value to you is going to depend on how often it happens to you.
Signaling items can't be obtained from governor's daughters.
GOLDEN CROSS / SACRED RELIC
The purpose of the Golden Cross and the Sacred Relic is to improve your
standing with the Jesuit Missionaries, making them more likely to offer you
missions or offer to speak on your behalf to a nation that has a price on your
head. It appears, however, that this part of the game is either bugged or not
implemented, as Jesuits are *always* on good terms with you. Unless this
changes in a future patch, these items have no purpose.
SHRUNKEN HEAD / CARVED SHAMAN STAFF
Similar to the Golden Cross and the Sacred Relic, these items are meant to
improve your standing with native Indians and make it easier to convince them
to attack a port on your behalf. However, the same situation arises here;
Indians are always friendly to you no matter what, and unless this is a bug and
it gets fixed in a future patch, these items are useless.
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