Did you start a new game at some point? That happened to me. When you start a new game (note - I don’t believe this is the case when you die and get a new captain, but I could be wrong - it may be regardless) the map is completely generated randomly. So make sure you double check the directions the quest log tells you, don’t assume it’s West just because it was the first time.
When you die, you get an entirely new captain that you roll up by hand or randomly, and that captain gets the stuff bequethed from your current captain (half your progress basically, including XP - so if you get half your current XP and you are nearly level 5 you may end up being level 3 or 4 or whatever with the next captain).
With the new captain, I’m not sure how quests work. Do you re-do them like the game is starting over, or are they completed if you completed them, like if you brought the whats her face to the place she needs to be, with the pocket watch event? Or does every captain see that pocket watch event? That I don’t know, I bailed and did a Merciful campaign after my first death.
For early exploration rather than heading out in a direction and exploring out in a line, explore in a spiral of increasing radius. Consider the map like a simple archery target. The bullseye is the hub port area. The inner ring is where you’ll find half the ports. The outer ring is where you’ll find more danger and the far ports.
Try to fully explore the inner ring early on.
If you’re having trouble finding things when exploring, remember you have a bat. Though it spends supplies on each use, so don’t go crazy with it. But it can help finding ports if you’re close enough.
Failbetter abandoned this design for the Reach recently. It’s not a double ring anymore; it’s more sector-based
As mentioned above, use your scout (bat at the beginning.) Just tap ‘F’ then wait until the scout returns. It’ll highlight the closest unknown point of interest on the map. But it uses a small bit of supplies, so watch those or start eyeing the meatiness of your stokers’ thighs.
What’s great about Skies is how quickly you can beef up your finances by fulfilling a couple Prospects. No scraping along with minimal weight and your light off to conserve fuel. (I haven’t even turned my light off once,exceot to verify I could.)
Thanks Scott! I think I sort of maybe kind of figured it out?
What it seems to be doing, is randomly placing things that aren’t discovered yet, to keep you from save-exploiting. Basically what happened:
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I go out exploring, told that Magdalene’s is West of Winchester.
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Early on, I foolishly engage a Tacketty Scout. I do not survive.
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But I had also uncovered some stuff in and around Winchester.
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I had the game start me from my last save when I died…and the stuff I hadn’t uncovered yet “moved” on me.
The stuff I had uncovered before dying but after my save? Also all different. Which is a fascinating thing for the game to do, if that’s the case.
At any rate, good rule of thumb: check your journal, make sure places haven’t moved on you.
Finally: I am absolutely enthralled by this game. It’s far more approachable than Sunless Seas, far more colorful and pretty to look at, for what it is…and the story and world just seem much richer. I have no idea how this game will deliver on some of the promises it seems to be offering, but damned am I looking forward to seeing it try!
Just for the sake of making sure to exploit opportunities close to the hub port it still makes sense to explore the inner area of the circle first before going too deep into the outer regions. Even if the underlying structure isn’t literally divided into rings.
I wonder the same thing. I’m getting really sick of doing the same quests over and over again as each Captain has died. It’s gotten old real fast. I guess I’m not very good since I keep dying, but I thought that was kinda the point of part of the game.
I think the roguelike gameplay elements don’t really belong here, it really cries out to be a more traditional RPG, imo.
So far in my game I have not picked sides and taken either mission to destroy the ships of the other faction. I’ve done this mainly out of self-preservation as I try to steer clear of any ongoing battles. Does anyone know if I am hamstringing myself by not picking a side or if remaining neutral is viable at least for a while at the start.
The option to restore from the last save at any port on death certainly makes a huge difference.
I would love standard save spots, but this makes the game playable.
I Usually avoid roguelike’s like the plague buy so far I am enjoying this
There are faction sides? At what point are you supposed to notice this? I see some ships attacking some junky ships that pop out of nowhere. I think they’re police ships? Are you talking about those?
There are royalists, loyal to the renewed crown in London, and like guerilla rebels, freedom fighters. They both have offices close by New Winchester where you can turn in Port reports, earn their favor and support one against the other
Dumb question but how do you know which ship belongs to which faction?
Well that answered my question. It’s why I quit playing the first game.
You have a lineage or whatever… that somehow does all the stuff your first dude did.
No thanks.
Blue for the loyalists, yellow for the tackites, red for marauders.
Sometimes you run into a blue or yellow ship whose crew has succumbed to madness or something worse and they’ll attack regardless of your faction standing.
In like the first 20 minutes to a half hour or so? In New Winchester you can check the status of the War, and that’s where you first find out about the two factions. The passenger you’re supposed to take to Port Prosper does a nice job filling in the rest – the free-rule colonist faction are the Tacketies (for their hobnail boots), and the home rule royalists are the Stovepipes (for the Abe Lincoln hats they prefer.)
And when you collect port reports (a great early way to make money), you’re delivering them to the head of one or the other faction, and sort of placing yourself on a spectrum between them.
The official faction names are the Colonial Assembly for the independence-seekers, and the Windward Company, for the Tories loyal to the Queen. Tacketies and Stovepipes respectively is more fun in a Cavaliers vs Roundheads sort of way.
…or you play the other style, and don’t worry about it at all and if you die, you restore from your last save point.
I mentioned this up thread but this has it’s own issues as well, this mode. You don’t get a save unless you dock (maybe when you undock, I’m not sure on that one) and as such you can play quite a long time and then die through no fault of your own, just attrition trying to get to your next port/save, and lose 30 minutes of progress/play time. It’s not ideal for people that hate redoing stuff when they die.
You can also get into a tough spot where you don’t have funds to repair and have almost no hull. Then you have to roll the dice and try to earn some cash or strip someone’s hull to repair your own. It’s a pain in the ass when this happens. I really wish I could hard save when things are going well to roll back to when I get myself in a situation like that.