Discovering whale zones / migration routes?

[Gromak]

Whale zones can only be discovered with the side mission? And what about migration routes? In one playthrough I discovered a route between 2 zones( I dunno how) and this time I cant discover it :S

[Mantomex]

No, you can discover whaling areas and routes also by passing on them (when they are active).

[Gromak]

Originally posted by Mantomex:

No, you can discover whaling areas and routes also by passing on them (when they are active).

Ohh, cool thanks. And they are fixed or randomized each playthough?

[Mantomex]

Originally posted by Gromak:

Originally posted by Mantomex:

No, you can discover whaling areas and routes also by passing on them (when they are active).

Ohh, cool thanks. And they are fixed or randomized each playthough?

They are fixed. If you want to spoil their position, there is a wonderful guide made by Tysserr here, containing all the info.

[HEAVY FIRST RATE]

Once you have played a few games and kind of have an idea where the seperate breeding and feeding grounds and the migration routes are, you can get them to turn on by actively patroling the area sometimes, but usually it happens when you pass through while they are active in the area. If you happen to cause an inactive route or area to become visible by your passage, you will get 1 batttle and then it will remain visible to you but you must come back on the indicated active dates to farm whales from it. That has been my experience anyway. It also helps to experiment by swapping around your crewmen in the crow's nest while sailing around in undiscovered ocean areas until you discover who in your crew has the best vision range and then assign him that job when scouting for new ranges!

[cromagnonman2k]

I usually make my PC captain the 2nd sailor in the early game - thus he takes turns with the NPC sailor I hire to man the masthead & quarterdeck, since both get bonuses for have sailing points.

I have seen several events where my ship/crew were somehow damaged when the PC was manning a station where another crewmember could have done a better job - most notably when at quarterdeck or caboose. Mast Head seems a good place for the PC captain to put some sailing points to good use.