Need answers

[FatherSeraphin]

Hi guys, i am new to the forum.

Questions:

1. I almost never make cutlasses and muskets. I only make canons because they are too expensive on the black market. However, i would like to know wich one of those three sell for the highest price on international market. (Speed of making is not an issue, i can always make many factories of the same type.)

2. How the haulers of the international market decide from where to get goods to sell? I had once 2 canon factories full of engineers producing canons, yet the haulers would get beer, cigars, and other goods while i was trying to export canons instead...

3. I usually dont make houses for my pirates. I decide to sacrifice the taxes, and have the pirates stuck at lower ranks so they are easier to keep happy. Thus keep them cruising more. Is that a good move? I might be missing something.

4. Is it just me or do the ships get more encounters when the setting is on "generous"? I almost never get plunder bigger than 8k-10k with the settings on selfish... My record plunder was 18k with 16 canons and around 18 wealthy captives and 5 skilled craftsmen and 1 trade route discovered. I had my setting on generous. (Maybe the pirates/captain are more motivated with a generous loot and thus work harder?)

5. When i want to maximise my hoard, i set all prices of all buildings to "cough them", and i also set the ships on "misery wages". Then I manually give my pirates money with the edict thru the game. I sort them by their "cash" rating in the log book, and keep each one of them with at least 100$ on him. Again, is that a good move or am i missing something. (Like, do the stisfaction from a service restore itself faster when the service is cheaper?)

6. How in hell can you send multiple ships in the same area at the same time? My pirates dont get into their respective ships at the same time, and different ships stay in waters longuer than others...

Thanks,

[Hayreddin Barbarossa]

 
Welcome; glad you could make it.

After posting my reply at the other forum, I played a couple levels and I believe I have "updates" regarding some points:

2) Maybe this isn't the exact answer to your question but I "discovered" that switching the allowed nations bi-monthly keeps your Smuggler's Cove profits high. If you stick to a single nation, your profit/loss balances around nothing.

3) You certainly should make houses for the "resting" and "stashing" satisfaction points.

4) I've tested that, too. There's no remarkable difference between "selfish" and "generous". I got an enermous plunder with selfish --don't remember the gold exactly but it was at least 20,000 IIRC; plus dozens of cannons, wealthy and skilled captives, a trade route and a settlement.

5) I've confirmed that "misery" division and "bargain prices" are the way to go if you want a quick and easy bancrupcy.

Best!
 

[Coffeebean]

Hi FatherSeraphin

1. I never make cannons, I don't buy them either I rely on capturing them. I sometimes make cutlasses and muskets, it depends on the game, if it's a long game I do make them as well as buy them when necessary.

2. I very rarely have a Smugglers Cove, but I did notice that haulers will only pick stuff up from places with a certain level of excess produce. I can't remember the figure, but if you haven't filled all your ships and docks with cannons then the haulers from the docks will keep picking them up and you won't get the excess number you need at the foundry.

3. I agree with HB on this. As the game goes on I need pirate housing to keep those happiness levels up.

4. I've noticed no difference and I've not done any tests, but I did read that the more generous you are with your pirates the more recruits you get.

5. I do the same as you. Set the ships on miserly and make them pay more at the entertainments. I tend to keep a few cheep places though and I make sure they all have some money but nowhere near $100 except perhaps the captains.

6. Dave has written about this in his game guide here http://www.strategyplanet.com/tropico/trop2/gameguide/gameguide2-3.shtml#episode10 go to the bottom of the page. It takes a bit of trial and error but after a while you can get a feel for it. I do a save before I start sounding any boarding calls, I can then go back to the save if it all goes wrong and try again. I don't always wait before my captains come back to the ship of their own accord and 9 times out of 10 I can get a fleet of three to sail out together. Be prepared to set some ships off leaving one or two crew behind. The ships with more food will generally stay out longer if they don't lose too many crew. There's not much you can do about the return times.