Pirates queue up to become crew

[Severous]

One of the early bug bears for new players is crew selection.

I learnt this techniqie last week.  Draw your unemployed scum to the docks so they are handy for fast recruitment when needed.

Situation: More pirates on the island than jobs for them to do. All overseer jobs that are not necessary are closed including all dock overseers.

1) Identify as early as possible the dock your ship is going to dock at.

2) Pause the game. (click zero speed)

3) Use the semi pause feature by stopping the game again using a different command (moon or minus button)

4) Set priority at dock to lowest. Open the overseer job at the dock.

5) If game is in semi pause the job will be filled by one of the surplus pirates who is now an overseer.

6) He/she wont walk as game is in semi-pause. But they will head for the dock when the game is unpaused. They wont change their mind even if you fire them.  

7) Fire them from the dock overseer job. Another of the surpuls pirates will take up the now vacant job.

8 ) Repeat 7 until no one fills the job.

9) Unpause. All surplus pirates are now heading towards your dock. When they get there they will wonder off. So you could repeat.

When your ship gets to the dock your pirates are closer. Take your pick. Its not perfect as overseers who have jobs elsewhere on the island will apply to be crew also - but if too far away they can be fired.

You can use the technique when no ship needs crewing. It brings your surplus pirates to the dock area and the high chaos entertainment zone which they can use once they get to the dock they were heading for. You can repeat the process using the adjacant dock..shuttle the scum back and forth along the waterfront...looks like they are looking for jobs.

[Severous]

And another.

All those overseers are walking towards that dock.  

The game will assign a pirate to the one vacant crew job created by a KIA.  I will pick the best in advance from this bunch of overseers.  If theres enough good ones I might open up more crew positions to take on a bigger crew.

[takiye]

What does rank of pirate benefit to ?

[Clever duck]

What does rank of pirate benefit to ?

  Higher ranked pirates have simply earned more.  They have more defence value on an invasion.  Otherwise I can find no other direct benefit.

  Indirectly,  higher-ranked pirates tend to have earned from plundering;  their battle experience has increased their noteriety which influences the chance of their victim giving up during a fight or even before a fight has ensued (p33 of the manual).

[Captain Carrrghter]

As a crude generalization, higher ranked pirates have more experience and should be, on average, more skilled. But skill tends to accumulate fairly slowly, so it's a minor point.

[E Strongblade]

Higher ranked pirates are also more of a pain to keep entertained. The more you have, the more upper level service buildings you need. In short scenarios this can be bad. In long scenarios you have no worries because you will have to build the advanced service buildings anyway due to treasury/hoard and goal requirements that demand more cruises.
Keeping pirate levels down in short scenarios is a good idea and can be accomplished by rotating Captains and crew to one ship based on level monitoring in your log. If the scenario is short enough (ten years max - better if somewhat less) and you don't have to build houses, pirates will naturally spend all their money at your service buildings. With less money and no hoard, the level of a pirate goes down as he spends. Hoards allow them to STAY at the level of their hoard gold rather than their purse gold. Hoard gold stays steady, purse gold fluctuates up and down based on money spent.
 The actual hoard happiness setting will stay high as long as pirate purse gold isn't too high. Pirates begin demanding houses when they have too much purse gold. This causes the hoard happiness scale to go down. Gouge 'em service prices can lower purse gold but I think hoard demand stays steady as any given scenario progresses. Severous may know more about that. One must be aware that not every pirate is going to have too much purse gold, especially lubbers.
The biggest problem over no hoard is the pirate that runs out of money. As soon as this happens and he goes down enough in happiness level, he goes ape and starts killing things. The gold to single pirate edict can help in this situation but for an instant way to keep a pirate from killing after he goes beserk (only works if he has not already started a fight before you get to him - he won't stop fighting if he's in one - up side is that if he's in a fight, he might get killed if he's facing another pirate - end of whole problem if he does. It is very rare for a captive to kill a pirate but the small chance does exist), try throwing a free beer or party edict. This causes instant gratification that raises his happiness high enough for him to get to a needed service to use the gold you dropped on him without his killing anyone.
As to Severous's post, as usual he is not only right, but proves it works. It is one of the reasons that I like reading his posts. Keep up the good work Severous! The masses read you!

[Coconut Kid]

It would be a very great help for the rest of us trying to read your posts if you would be so kind as to break-up the huge blocks of text.

The smiley faces really do NOT help. They make it worse.

Perhaps you could hit the "enter" key twice instead of just once? And smiley faces could be on line(s) of their own?

 

[E Strongblade]

Actually, what you are seeing is a carefully pecked two-finger technique, LOL. I usually double

space everything but in this forum I'm held to 10,000 characters and I sometimes fear that I

might actually have to split a post into two, thereby yanking out the umph. I will try to be more

considerate of your 'tired' eyes (as you refered to them in another post) but I can make no

promises about future descriptions. I throw in the smilies for pure emotional add-ons, 

not to break up the text. They are the closest thing to my own natural gesturing that exists

in cyberspace.

[Coconut Kid]

Actually, what you are seeing is a carefully pecked two-finger technique, LOL. I usually double space everything but in this forum I'm held to 10,000 characters and I sometimes fear that I might actually have to split a post into two, thereby yanking out the umph.

I will try to be more considerate of your 'tired' eyes (as you refered to them in another post) but I can make no promises about future descriptions. I throw in the smilies for pure emotional add-ons, not to break up the text. They are the closest thing to my own natural gesturing that exists in cyberspace.

Oh my word!

I am not asking for a "space line" between every text line. I am asking only for somewhat normal paragraphs with a "space line" between paragraphs.

 

Btw - or rather let me add,

My objection to smileys just randomly inserted into text is that they are (at least on my machine settings) "taller" than the text - with the result that a pseudo, half-high line of blank appears above the text of the line in which they appear. For me, that visually registers as a paragraph break. Since you do not use a blank line between paragraphs, these "half-lines" are a visual jolt. I suspect that is somewhat different than your waving about hands, first person.

 

[E Strongblade]

OK CK! I got ya. You'll find several of my longer posts with the double space between blocks of text. I just finished doing one that way and had to admit that the esthetics were better. As to the smileys, another reason I use them is that I just happen to like them. I am, however, aware of the idea that 'too much of a good thing' could apply. I shall evolve in this as I do in so many other things - slowly, methodically and with absolute chaos as a line guide. It ain't the best way to get 'er done, but for me it seems to work. Eventually.

[Coconut Kid]

What does rank of pirate benefit to ?

  Higher ranked pirates have simply earned more [over their lifetime].  They have more defence value on an invasion. [?]  Otherwise I can find no other direct benefit.

  Indirectly, higher-ranked pirates tend to have earned from plundering; their battle experience has increased their notoriety which influences the chance of their victim giving up during a fight or even before a fight has ensued (p33 of the manual).

I have not found the reference to confirm pirate "rank" has more defense value related to invasion. Of course, a Captain has more defense value than an ordinary pirate, so in that sense rank is important.

I have not been able to find the "page 33" reference to the notoriety (peg leg) effect on a "fight." I believe that only the Captain's notoriety rating has an effect on encounters during a cruise (rounds of battle). The reason is that the enemy crew do not know the individual members of the crew they oppose. It may be possible that the notoriety of individual leaders & crew are counted in the board 'em round(s).

It seems that any relationship between rank and notoriety is nebulous. Rank is almost entirely related the system of keeping pirates happy on shore. Notoriety is a trait.

Pirates have three traits: courage, leadership, and notoriety. All of these have an effect on battle at sea. However, leadership and notoriety are much more important for captains than for anyone else. Courage is important to all pirates.

[E Strongblade]

Gee, Kid - were you that bored to respond to a nearly 7 year old post? Just askin'. Hard to believe that so much time has passed. Take care and cya around.

[Coconut Kid]

@ E Strongblade

So, you are one of a handful of "members" here who still get the automatic notification of posts to threads where they have posted.

I suspect you didn't look around very much when you looked at this thread out of curiosity. The place has suffered over time. New registrations are locked down because of the spammers, etc.

It's hardly boredom. The new versions of Tropico are boring. I look at what the "guests" here are reading. If it is an interesting game related topic that hasn't been updated since the big hack, I post about what is new -- or what I think would help a game player. There is a serious number of people still playing T1 and T2. I haven't paid much attention to T2 since it has an excellent manual and guide.

[Coconut Kid]

... As to Severous's post, as usual he is not only right, but proves it works. It is one of the reasons that I like reading his posts. Keep up the good work Severous! The masses read you!

It is unclear to me exactly what E Strongblade is trying to say. I suspect he is not clear about how rank is determined. In any case, here is the rest of his post with some light editing to try to clarify things.

Higher ranked pirates are also more of a pain to keep entertained. The more [of them] you have, the more upper level service buildings you need. In short scenarios this can be bad. In long scenarios you have no worries because you will have to build the advanced service buildings anyway due to treasury/hoard and goal requirements that demand more cruises.
 
Keeping pirate levels [Levels of what? It seems that he means "rank."] down in short scenarios is a good idea and can be accomplished by rotating Captains and crew to one ship [It seems that he means crew a ship with pirates all holding only one rank.] based on level monitoring [rank displayed] in your log. If the scenario is short enough (ten years max - better if somewhat less) and you don't have to build houses, pirates will naturally spend all their money at your service buildings. With less money and no hoard, the level [rank] of a pirate goes down as he spends. Hoards allow them to STAY at the level [rank] of their hoard gold rather than their purse gold. Hoard gold stays steady, purse gold fluctuates up and down based on money spent.

Unfortunately, if he actually meant rank when he said 'level', his analysis is flat wrong. Perhaps it just a matter of timing that he did not know, but the Strategy Guide (page 101) says, "Bill Spieth: Actually, a pirate’s total earnings determine his rank, not his current purse amount."
 
The actual hoard happiness setting will stay high as long as pirate purse gold isn't too high. Pirates begin demanding houses when they have too much purse gold. This causes the hoard happiness scale to go down. Gouge 'em service prices can lower purse gold but I think hoard demand stays steady as any given scenario progresses. ...

Pirates have six immediate needs to meet on the island. Their long-term opinion on how these are being provided (over time) plus the environmental factors of defense and anarchy are added up to create the overall happiness of each pirate. #6 Hoard - Stashing. This is the amount of money a pirate has hidden away, and how recently he/she added to it.

Unfortunately, his speculation about the relationship of the amount of purse gold seems off course.

The biggest problem over no hoard is the pirate that runs out of money. As soon as this happens and he goes down enough in happiness level, he goes ape and starts killing things. The gold to single pirate edict can help in this situation but for an instant way to keep a pirate from killing after he goes beserk (only works if he has not already started a fight before you get to him - he won't stop fighting if he's in one - up side is that if he's in a fight, he might get killed if he's facing another pirate - end of whole problem if he does. It is very rare for a captive to kill a pirate but the small chance does exist), try throwing a free beer or party edict. This causes instant gratification that raises his happiness high enough for him to get to a needed service to use the gold you dropped on him without his killing anyone.

All pirates, including your precious and unique captains, can become enraged if they are not able to meet their needs.
Disgruntled
The first step is an announcement that a pirate is disgruntled. This means he/she is annoyed enough with his/her circumstances to refuse to work or get on board ship (except maybe to rest). You'll see an icon over his/her head that looks like an angry red face.
A disgruntled pirate should be treated as a "wake-up call". First, find out what is the matter with this particular pirate, and try to fix it. Then, figure out if some policy or lack on your island is causing the problem and make sure you change it before disgruntled pirates become widespread.

Check page 75 in the manual (Pirates Book 'O Lore) for more information.

[Coconut Kid]

This is an excellent technique both to speed up selection and to organize those on shore in some sort of orderly way to fill ship's vacancies. It requires you to become familiar with each of your Overseers and Guards individually. You probably should never have an unemployed pirate ashore; but you probably ought to have some vacant pirate employment slots ashore.

One of the early bugabears for new players is crew selection.  ...  Draw your unemployed scum to the docks so they are handy for fast recruitment when needed.

Here is Severous' sequential routine in list format.
Situation: More pirates on the island than [essential] jobs for them to do. All Overseer jobs that are not necessary [essential] - including all dock overseers - are closed. I wonder if some guards should be included.

• 1) Identify as early as possible the dock at which your ship is going to dock.
  • I'm not sure how that is done. Ship is on map and close to a dock?
• 2) Pause the game. (click zero speed)
  • Stops ship in its tracks.
• 3) Use the semi pause feature by stopping the game again using a different command. (moon or minus button)
  • Animations remain frozen, but some actions in the interface occur.
• 4) Set priority at dock to lowest. Open the Overseer job at the dock.
  • If game is in semi pause, the job will be filled by one of the unemployed pirates - probably one who was an Overseer.
  • If you don't see the indication that someone has taken the job, the setting to semi pause didn't 'take' and you must try step #3 again.
  • He/she won't walk as game is in semi pause.
  • They will head for the dock when the game is unpaused.
  • They won't change their mind even if you fire them.
• 5) Fire this one from the dock Overseer job.
  • Another of the unemployed pirates will take up the now vacant job.
  • Severous didn't address the order in which they would take the job.
• 6) Repeat #5 until no one fills the job.
• 7) Unpause. All surplus pirates are now heading towards your dock.
  • When your ship gets to the dock your pirates are closer.
• 8 ) The game will assign an [unemployed] pirate to a vacant crew job created by a KIA.
  • I pick the best in advance from this bunch coming to the dock.
  • If the game assigns, I'm not sure how he picks.
  • If there's enough good ones I might open up more crew positions to take on a bigger crew.
• 9) It's not perfect as overseers who have jobs elsewhere on the island will apply to be crew also - but if too far away they can be fired.
• 10) When they get there they will wander off as any unemployed pirate would, so you could repeat.   
  
  You can use the technique when no ship needs crewing. It brings your surplus pirates to the dock area and the high chaos entertainment zone which they can use once they get to the dock they were heading for. You can repeat the process using the adjacent dock -- shuttle the scum back and forth along the waterfront. It looks like they are looking for jobs.
  
  It seems to me that the shore jobs are good for trying out both captured crew turned pirate and other captives pressed ganged. This is a good technique to turn the best of them out to stand by for vacancies on ships. Perhaps it could also be used for to fill in the stragglers holding up a departure.

[Coconut Kid]

Cross references:

http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tropico/cafe/index.php?topic=9451.0

http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tropico/cafe/index.php?topic=6886.0