is swashbuckler supposed to be possible ?

[JOHNNY]

i mean holy f i just got shredded by captains. if not then get outrunned and outgunned by ships way smaller than mine.

[unca.alby]

The only thing I can say, I read an article somewhere, that particular writer recommended using only the Indian Canoe in your fleet, because it is the fastest ship in the game.

I can testify that, yes, that itty bitty tiny thing is crazy fast, especially if equipped with cotton sails. The only reason you can catch one at all is because they sometimes turn to shoot their 2 cannonballs at you, and that slows them down momentarily. If it doesn't do that, you can not catch it.

As for captains, I haven't had any problem with them, but then that may be explained because I never play more advanced than Apprentice.

[JOHNNY]

Originally posted by unca.alby:

The only thing I can say, I read an article somewhere, that particular writer recommended using only the Indian Canoe in your fleet, because it is the fastest ship in the game.

I can testify that, yes, that itty bitty tiny thing is crazy fast, especially if equipped with cotton sails. The only reason you can catch one at all is because they sometimes turn to shoot their 2 cannonballs at you, and that slows them down momentarily. If it doesn't do that, you can not catch it.

As for captains, I haven't had any problem with them, but then that may be explained because I never play more advanced than Apprentice.

ok then i guess i will try to get 1 and see how things go. better hopefully.

[mrpopoo]

if you are directly along side the canoe when you attack, you can run into it. if there is any distance, good luck on getting it.

[Heretic]

I always found Swashbuckler too hard and just stayed on Rogue setting. Even using the trainer to do everything automatically except the sword fights, it was too hard for me!

[simwitch1]

Swashbuckler was just too hard for me and took away the enjoyment of he game. Generally I tend to stick with Adventurer

[Giraffalanche]

The jump in difficulty from Rogue to Swashbuckler is higher than the others. The benefit is you get 50% loot from divide the plunder instead of 20% for Rogue. I think Swashbuckler is just there for people who hate themselves.

[Dirty3Seven]

Learn the timing for all the blocks but only use rapier and thrust for attacking.

[n8frog]

Swashbuckler is impossible mode IMO. I play on rogue for a challenge but swashbuckler is over the top hard. Best tips I can give is to always use the rapier and try to find a set of balanced swords from a black market merchant in a tavern. The balanced swords are faster than regular swords and combine that with rapier and you become pretty much lightning fast. Still not fast enough for swashbuckler mode though it seems.

[EmptySet]

I personally play exclusively on swashbuckler. It's definitely possible.

As others have said, indian war canoe is basically god mode no matter the difficulty. If your having problems with swashbuckler, war canoe will help you get your bearings if you can catch one.

Big boats are a trap, unless you've caught a ship of the line or something crazy. I would not try anything bigger than a brig, preferably a slope if your having a hard time.

For sword fighting, use a rapier. The cutlass is a meme - as is the long sword. It gives you slightly faster blocking, but personally I can't even feel it. The blocking with a rapier is basically instant. Rapier - always rapier.

Use the numpad. It's a lot faster than clicking with the mouse.

Wait for the enemy captain to attack. If he does a mid attack, mid attack back after blocking. If he does an upper/lower attack - upper/lower attack back after blocking. If you ♥♥♥♥ up and your blows get blocked - the advantage bar will swing out of your favor. When this happens, its critical you get on the defensive. Do not attack if you have a bad advantage bar, you are in for a compoundingly bad time if you do on swashbuckler.

Also don't be old. It gets bad.

Now the REALLY impossible thing on swashbuckler is the cursed dancing minigame. It basically requires memorizing the dancing sequences if you want any hope lmao.

[Marcelis_Wallace]

Swashbuckler is all I ever played and I got a perfect score at least once. Here are my tricks.

1. Always use Cutlass and be a counter-attacker in swordfights.
2. Use Royal Sloop. There is plenty of crew for boarding parties and with Triple Hammocks for invasions.
3. Don't bother getting in cannon fights. Beeline for a boarding.
4. Swordfights are a good way to whittle your crew down just before splitting loot.
5. Play nice with the Dutch, English and French until you reach Duke in each then switch and kiss up to the Spanish.
6. Get sword fight enhancing gear ASAP. Early fights can be difficult.

[priamossz]

I personally would not mind a higher difficulty than swashbuckler. In ship fights I personally would say that the best is if they chase you, then you do quick half turns and just use chain shot to kill their sails and they will surrender unless scripted otherwise. In case of scripted fight, use the grape shot as well to kill the enemy crew. even in scripted fight the enemy captain will surrender if he only have 1 crew at the start of fight. I generally would suggest trying to get sloop/brigant at start, then if you can, get yourself a frigate/ big frigate or ship of the line, although the galleons arent bad either.

[Sheap]

I play Ironman style (no reloads) and I find that Rogue is too easy but Swashbuckler is too hard. Probably with reloading Swashbuckler is more manageable.

The problems with Swashbuckler:
* It is hard to keep your crew at a good size because recruiting is very hard, even if your crew is happy and you are a baron
* Pirate hunter ships are equipped with the General Electric LM2500+ gas turbine engine and track your ship by satellite so they are impossible to avoid unless you happen to be near a port (then you can just make them go away)
* Even one broadside from a warship or treasure galleon can sink you, and while you can usually avoid the shots, you only have to screw up once. A sudden shift in the wind can change your situation from a clear win to instant death.
* Because of the massive speed bonuses granted to enemy ships, it is common to get into a situation where you can neither catch the enemy ship nor escape it, and the enemy ship can dodge your shots just as well as you can dodge theirs. If it is a pirate hunter who wants to sink you, all you can do is play cat and mouse indefinitely, until someone lands a lucky shot or gets stuck on a coastline. I've been stuck in battles with pirate hunters for a whole in-game week. This is not just difficult but very anti-fun.
* The speed boosts given to enemy ships also make it a lot harder to catch merchant targets. You can find yourself eating two shots from a random trade galleon who then saunters off at 15 knots, forcing you to return to port with nothing to show for it.

The sword fights are somewhat harder than Rogue, but the real difficulty increase in the swordfighting comes from being outnumbered so often. I find dancing very easy, even on Swashbuckler (I wish the Swashbuckler-exclusive music was available on Rogue, if just for variety's sake!)