\ \ / / | | | | | |
\ \_/ /__ | |__ ___ | |__ ___ | |
\ / _ \| '_ \ / _ \| '_ \ / _ \| |
| | (_) | | | | (_) | | | | (_) |_|
|_|\___/|_| |_|\___/|_| |_|\___/(_)
'########::'##::::'##:'########:'########:'##:::::::'########:
##.... ##: ##:::: ##:..... ##::..... ##:: ##::::::: ##.....::
##:::: ##: ##:::: ##::::: ##::::::: ##::: ##::::::: ##:::::::
########:: ##:::: ##:::: ##::::::: ##:::: ##::::::: ######:::
##.....::: ##:::: ##::: ##::::::: ##::::: ##::::::: ##...::::
##:::::::: ##:::: ##:: ##::::::: ##:::::: ##::::::: ##:::::::
##::::::::. #######:: ########: ########: ########: ########:
.::::::::::.......:::........::........::........::........::
'########::'####:'########:::::'###::::'########:'########::'######::
##.... ##:. ##:: ##.... ##:::'## ##:::... ##..:: ##.....::'##... ##:
##:::: ##:: ##:: ##:::: ##::'##:. ##::::: ##:::: ##::::::: ##:::..::
########::: ##:: ########::'##:::. ##:::: ##:::: ######:::. ######::
##.....:::: ##:: ##.. ##::: #########:::: ##:::: ##...:::::..... ##:
##::::::::: ##:: ##::. ##:: ##.... ##:::: ##:::: ##:::::::'##::: ##:
##::::::::'####: ##:::. ##: ##:::: ##:::: ##:::: ########:. ######::
.:::::::::....::..:::::..::..:::::..:::::..:::::........:::......:::
(thanks to FrankGrimes for the link to the FIGlet software!)
A FAQ for the average pirate
by Michael Segekihei
with Laura Kishimoto
and other contributing writers credited as necessary
Version History:
v1.00 (March 8, 2004): Added the four other puzzles and brought this
puppy to completion! Booya! Booya! Who da man!? Who da man!?
(ahem) Sorry. /me resist the temptation to dance...oh, forget it,
/me dances the night away...Thanks to Laura for helping with Nav!
I also fixed a couple omissions in the sword list and added some
more questions to the FAQ section.
v0.90 (March 7, 2004): Fixed a few omissions and added guides
for Swordfighting, Brawling/SBS, and Drinking. Wow, where did the
time go?
v0.80 (February 5, 2004): Added Sailing, Carpentry, and Bilging
information. Added placeholders for Puzzles not completed yet.
v0.70 (February 3, 2004): Everything but Puzzles added. More stuff
will be added later on, but this is a good start for today, eh?
v0.00 (February 3, 2004): FAQ started. Production begins!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Puzzle Pirates or Three Rings. This is an
unofficial FAQ. Puzzle Pirates belongs to Three Rings, Inc.
Also, while I'm at it, the presentation of this FAQ is mine.
Oh, and this FAQ only has permission to be stored at
www.gamefaqs.com and
elemental.50megs.com
for now, although permission will be given to www.puzzlepirates.com,
if they ask...(wink wink?)
If it is ever seen anywhere else, let me know, and lawsuits will
follow as needed. ;-)
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Okay! Okay! Now's your time. But please, ASK before you take. |
| Remember, copyright law still applies on the internet, and I will |
| take legal action aganist theives...it's sege @theazureknights.com|
| (remove the space) and ask. |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
Ahem, now onto the
TABLE OF CONTENTS
***Find what you need! Do a search for the code immediately prior to
***the topic and you'll jump immediately to that topic! To search,
***use your "Find" feature (typically under Edit in the browser
***menu).
~A~x~: What is Y!PP?
~A~1~: Frequently Asked Questions
~A~2~: Designers
~A~3~: Who the heck are you?
~B~x~: The Basics of Pirating
~B~1~: Main Controls
~B~1~1~: Moving About
~B~1~2~: Chatting
~B~2~: Who is Who?
~B~2~1~: OceanMasters
~B~2~2~: Greeters
~B~2~3~: Pirates
~B~2~4~: Greenies
~B~2~5~: Swabbies/Special Players
~B~3~: Jobs, Jobbing, and Crews
~B~3~1~: Jobbing with the Navy
~B~3~2~: Jobbing with a Crew
~B~3~3~: Joining a Crew
~B~3~4~: Starting your own Crew
~B~3~4~1~: Crew Government
~B~4~: Rules of Conduct on the Seas
~C~x~: Puzzles
~C~1~: Sailing
~C~2~: Carpentry
~C~3~: Bilging
~C~4~: Navigating - TO BE COMPLETED -
~C~5~: Drinking
~C~6~: Swordfighting
~C~7~: Distilling
~C~8~: Sea Battle
~C~9~: Multiplayer Brawling/Sea Battle Swordfighting (SBS)
~C~10~: Gunnery
~D~x~: Odds 'n' Ends
~D~1~: The Forums
~D~2~: Contacting the Author
~D~3~: Credits
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~A~x~: What is Y!PP?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~A~1~: Frequently Asked Questions
In this section, I'll answer any and all questions that you may
have about Puzzle Pirates. Feel free to submit more to my e-mail
listed at the end of this FAQ under Contacting the Author.
Q: What is this game?
A: Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates is a Massively Multiplayer Online Role
Playing Game, or a MMOArrrrPG. (a cricket chirps) ...moving on.
Everyone is a little pirate, and you can sail around the seas on
ships by performing puzzles. The puzzles include Sailing,
Carpentry, Bilging, Navigating, Drinking, Swordfighting, Sea
Battle, Distilling, and Multiplayer Brawling, with more puzzles
to come in future releases. The game has thousands of players
from around the world in all time zones.
Q: Where is the game located?
A: The game is downloadable at www.puzzlepirates.com.
Q: I have to PAY?
A: Yes, Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates is a pay-to-play game, but there is
a free trial available. You will have 10 free sessions to play.
There are certain limitations, though:
- Ye cannot start yer own crew.
- Ye cannot advance above Cabin Person.
- Ye cannot wear all clothes or use all swords.
These are really the only limitations on non-subscribers, and
aside from those, it's full access. Subscription costs, in US
dollars:
- Monthly: $9.95/month
- Quarterly: $19.95/first quarter, $24.95/quarter after that
(average of $7.90/month over your first year)
- Yearly: $74.95/year ($6.25/month)
Q: Do I have to work in shops to earn money?
A: No! As of this writing, there is no need to do any puzzles in a
shop to earn wages, except in a distillery. They will be added
soon, but until then, ye'll get wages for doing nothing. Cool,
huh?
Q: Swordfighting...that means there's blood! Right? Right?
A: Ehh...no. The game is designed to be family friendly, although
a few pirates might have a sailor's mouth. The game has a built-
in filter for those occasions.
Q: this game sux evrquest is so bettr!!!11
(DISCLAIMER: That's a real comment I recieved. I'm not stereotyping
Everquest players as 1337sp33k3rs.)
A: Well, if you don't like it, don't play it. The game is designed
to make the player actually think while playing, as your
performance in the game is determined by your skill, not your
stats. If you don't like that, feel free to play something else.
No one is forcing you to play.
Q: What is a 'hearty'?
A: A hearty is a friend. The hearty list in Puzzle Pirates is like a
buddy list online. It tells you when your friends are online.
Q: How do I get money?
Q: how get job
Q: What do I do first?
A: See the section on crews below (~ B~3 ~) minus the spaces.
Q: Why can't I buy anything in black?
A: Black cloth is very rare and very expensive, and therefore pirates
ye see wearing it are very successful in what they do.
Q: I have something not answered in this FAQ! Help!
A: You have a few options.
1. You can e-mail me at sege@ theazureknights.com (remove the
space) and ask it.
2. You can go in game and ask anyone with a pink name above their
heads. They're greeters. (Note: Only if your name is still
green.)
3. You can ask anyone in game with a blue name (OceanMasters and
Developers).
~A~2~: Designers
The people who made this game are obviously dedicated people. A
group of software engineers and artists started Three Rings, Inc.
based in San Francisco, CA. They are:
Daniel James, CEO of Three Rings. In-game, he is Cleaver.
Michael Bayne, CTO of Three Rings. In-game, he is one-eyed Jack.
Rick Keagy, Head Artist. In-game, he is Bluebeard.
Ray Greenhead, Engineer. In-game, he is Peghead.
Jon Demos, Artist. In-game, he is Nemo.
Eric Lumberg, Engineer. In-game, he is Red.
Gene Rozenburg, Sound Technician. He is not in-game.
Chris Kimbell, Sount Technician. He is not in-game.
~A~3~: Who the heck are you?
Hehe. Well, I'm Michael Segekihei, a fourteen-year-old from
Boston, Massachusetts. I'm Segekihei in-game, a greeter, and
a Senior Officer in the Uno Fish, and Prince of the Tenacious
Band. I'm often online when I'm not writing this FAQ, and I've
been playing since September 2003, back in the beta stages.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~B~x~: The Basics of Pirating
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~B~1~: Main Controls
The Puzzle controls will be detailed in their sections, but here
I will cover the main controls for moving about and talking, along
with some chat commands.
~B~1~1~: Moving About
To move, use your mouse to click on where ye want to go. To get
into a building, click on the building or the yellow arrow at the
door of the building. You can also use the mini-map of the island
ye are on to move about. Click the mini-map in the upper right
hand corner of your screen to open the island overview screen, and
click on the name of the shop or building ye want to access.
To get information on a pirate, click on them and pick one of the
commands that comes up. Ye can get information about them,
challenge them to a bout of Drinking or Swordfighting, trade with
them, talk to them privately, ask them to be yer hearty (the buddy
list in the game), ask them to job for yer crew (officers and up
only), or ask them to join your crew (officers and up only).
~B~1~2~: Chatting
This game is very social, so you'll need to know how to chat with
other pirates. To join a chat circle on an island, move up to
someone and click at their feet. (Note: This may not always
work, as sometimes there may be no room to form a circle, or there
may be no room to expand the circle that already exists.) You can
then chat by using the dialog box at the bottom of your screen.
On a vessel, you'll be heard by the entire ship by using the
/vessel chat, which is the default selection.
CHAT COMMANDS:
/speak: Normal speech. It shows up in a chat bubble. Only works
in shops and in chat circles.
/think: Thinking. It shows up in a thought bubble. Only works
in shops and in chat circles.
|-/emote: Emotion. Appears in a curvy rectangle box, and
| /em: inserts your username immediately before it. Example:
| /e: "/me does something" would become "Segekihei does
|-/me: something". Works only in shops and in chat circles.
The four commands are interchangeable.
/shout: Like speak, except heard by all on screen. Works
anywhere. Only available to subscribers.
|-/tell: Add a username of a logged-on user after /tell and type
|-/msg: a message to be sent privately to them.
/crew: Speaks to your crew only. Appears in orange. Works
anywhere, provided ye are in a crew.
/jcrew: Speaks to your jobbing crew only. Appears in purple.
Works anywhere provided ye are jobbing with a crew.
/vessel: Speaks to the pirates on yer vessel only. Appears in
white in a ship-like shape. Usable only while on a
vessel.
/fofficer: Sends a message to all officers in yer flag. Works
anywhere, provided ye are an officer and in a flag.
/royalty: Sends a message to all royalty in yer flag. Works
anywhere, provided ye are royalty in yer flag.
/fbroadcast: Sends a message to the entire flag. Works anywhere,
provided ye are royalty in a flag.
/who: (no username provided) Shows who is currently logged in
and who is at sea in what ships.
(with username) Shows link to information about said
pirate, where they are if they are logged in, and when
they logged in last if they are not logged in.
/fwho: (no name provided) Shows who is logged on in your flag.
(name provided) Searches for flag names, provides link
to information about them.
/cwho: Searches for the crewname given after /cwho.
/vwho: Searches for the vessel name given after /vwho.
|-/afk: Add a messsage after /afk or /away to auto-respond to all
|-/away: /tells with said message.
/back: Clears /away or /afk message.
/blackspot: Can only be dealt by officers or up, places a tag on
jerks in game. They must be on screen and online to do
so. Used for things that aren't necessarily a violation
of game rules, but still slimy.
/complain: Useable by everyone, you can /complain about a
violation of the game's Terms of Service. Don't use it
lightly.
/bug: Add a description of an in-game bug that you have
discovered and it will be sent to the developers for
logging.
/clear: Clears the screen of all chat bubbles for clarity.
/gwho: Shows all greenies and greeters currently logged on.
/job: Jobs the pirate with the username used after /job. Only
useable by officers and up.
/mute: Silences the pirate listed after /mute.
/unmute: Allows chat from pirate listed after /unmute.
/plank: Throws a pirate off a ship. Requires that ye and the
pirate listed are on the same ship. Officers and up
only.
~B~2~: Who is Who?
There are many people in the seas...Time for ye to figure out who
is who!
~B~2~1~: OceanMasters
OceanMasters are developers and moderators who are there to
regulate the seas and keep order. They are the people to go to
if you are:
- In need of assistance
- Have a question
- Have a problem with another pirate
- Have an issue with the game
The OceanMasters' names will appear in BLUE. The main
OceanMasters are:
- Eris
- Cleaver
- Nemo
- Poseidon
- Mnemosyne
- Hermes
- Demeter
- Artemis
~B~2~2~: Greeters
Greeters are pirates specifically hand-picked by OceanMasters to
assist new players in game. Greenies are the only ones who can
see their pink names. Come to them if you have:
- questions about the game
- questions about crews
- questions about anything!
Greeters' names appear in PINK, but only to Greenies. There are
numerous Greeters, too many to list here. Look for them when ye
log on.
~B~2~3~: Pirates
Pirates are subscribing players. They have YELLOW names.
~B~2~4~: Greenies
Greenies are unsubscribing players on their free trials. They are
slightly limited on ranks, clothing, and sword selection. They
can see Greeters. They have GREEN names which gradually fade to
YELLOW as their free trial runs down. Some Greenies are
subscribers who are still on their first ten sessions. The green
will fade into yellow soon enough.
~B~2~5~: Swabbies/Special Players
Swabbies (also called Non-Player Pirates, or NPPs) are computer
controlled pirates who can work on ships as replacements for
actual human players, lounge at the inn, tell where player ships
with lots of items are, and be challenged for swordfights and
drinking bouts. They have WHITE names.
Also in this section are special players who are given WHITE
names as well. These players are either:
- Second or third players of OceanMasters
- Players created for certain events
- Sub-OMs, players who are OM-like, but not an actual OM.
The main difference between Swabbies and Special Players is that
Swabbies' names consist of an adjective and a first name, while
Special Players' names are normal player names (one word).
~B~3~: Jobs, Jobbing, and Crews
What good is this game if there's nobody to play it with? Join a
crew! Take a job! Jobbing is working temporarily with a crew or
navy to make money with no permanent commitment.
~B~3~1~: Jobbing with the Navy
Jobbing with the Navy is the very first thing many pirates do.
To job with the navy, while on the docks, click the Notice Board.
This is near the dock, and is a small column with paper attached
to it. Look in the middle section that appears (Navy Vessel Jobs)
and apply for one of those jobs. Ye will be whisked out to the
vessel where ye will work on that ship as it sails. Easy as that!
There is minimal human interaction, however, and the pay is not
extremely high, as players usually do not attack navy ships.
If no place is hiring, though, feel free to job with the navy to
make a quick buck.
~B~3~2~: Jobbing with a Crew
Jobbing with a Crew is another important part of the game. When
you feel like sailing, and noone in your crew is on, job with a
player crew! To do so, go to the Notice Board and look at the
bottom section (Jobbing for a Crew). Apply for one of those jobs
and a message will be sent to that ship. If they want ye on the
ship, they will respond with an invitation. Click "Accept" and ye
will be whisked off to their ship to work with them. NOTE: Only
apply for one job at a time, and wait ten to fifteen seconds in
between applications. Only one invitation can go through at a
time, and it takes roughly ten to fifteen seconds for a crew to
respond to a job notice.
~B~3~3~: Joining a Crew
If ye've jobbed with a crew and ye feel like they are a good place
to work, join them! While jobbing with the crew, ask the head
officer to offer ye a job. If they offer you a job, click
"Accept" and ye will be hired into the crew as a Cabin Person. Ye
can advance the rankings through the crew's advancement policy,
which varies by crew. NOTE: Ye can only be part of one crew at a
time, so when ye permanently join a crew, ye'll leave your
previous crew, if ye were in one. Ye can still job with other
crews, though; that's a temporary situation.
~B~3~4~: Starting your own Crew
Feel like making it on yer own? Start yer own crew. To do so,
however, the requirements are stricter than to merely join one.
- Ye must be a subscriber.
- Ye must be at least Narrow in ranking in Sailing, Carpentry,
Bilging, Navigating, and Sea Battle.
- Ye must own a ship.
If ye meet all three requirements, ye can start yer own crew!
First, leave the crew ye're currently in. You can do this by
going into the CREW tab on the right-hand side of the screen and
scrolling to the bottom of the listing of crew members. Click
"Crew Info" and move to the bottom. Click "Leave Crew" and
confirm the decision, and you'll be out of that crew. Next, go to
the CREW menu on the right-hand side of the screen and click
"Create a Crew". On that screen, ye can organize the crew's name,
description to be publicly shown, information to be privately
shown, your pay rates to different ranks, and your crew cut. When
created, ye will become captain of that crew. Ye now have full
authority to do whatever ye want with yer crew.
~B~3~4~1~: Crew Government
There are three different ways to run a crew:
- Democratic: Everyone Pirate-rank and up votes on all issues.
- Oligarchic: Senior Officers and Captain vote on issues.
- Autocratic: Captain decides issues.
The easiest way to run a crew is Autocratic. This way, as long as
you remain active, the crew remains active. Oligarchic is harder,
because it requires a voting majority amongst the SOs and Captain.
If an SO goes inactive, they can't vote, and if enough go
inactive, nothing can happen in the crew. This happened with an
old crew of mine (which is now on the rebound, apparently) when
the Captain and three Senior Officers went inactive, leaving the
two active SOs to do nothing.
~B~4~: Code of Conduct
This game is a family game. There is a swear filter that ye can
toggle on and off. However, ye can still be banned from several
reasons.
- Swearing (no filter) in public. Typically, dropping an f-bomb
or an s-bomb without a filter in public (i.e., not on a ship/
in a shop/in a tell) will get you banned pretty fast.
- Harassing other players. They're real people too!
- Having an obscene username. This is a family game, remember?
- Being annoying. Some people have a short patience for really
irritating people, and the OMs can hear about these things
pretty quickly.
If ye are banned as a Greenie, typically there is no chance that
the ban will be overturned. Ye didn't lose anything except for
the experience of the game, which is a pretty big loss. If ye are
a paying customer who is banned, though, you can appeal and plead
yer case, since your money is on the line. There are no refunds
in the event of banning.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~C~x~: Puzzles
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ahh, puzzles! The heart of the game! In the following section, I
will give you information about how to play each puzzle available
in the game. Guest speakers will come in as needed.
A link will be available to a website owned by a friend that
features visuals and strategy after each entry.
~C~1~: Sailing
Sailing, sailing, sailing...it's one of the basic duty puzzles
that every jobber should know. The basic idea is taking 2x1
blocks of spheres and placing them, according to color, on targets
on platforms. There are three to five targets on each board.
You can also form rows of four or more to clear those pieces.
This is something to be aware of when placing pieces in targets.
Also remember that blocking the enterance of the pieces will end
the current board and will signifigantly reduce your performance.
Controls:
Left and Right arrow keys: Move piece left and right
Up and Down arrow keys: Rotate piece left and right
Spacebar: Drop piece down
Combinations are key in Sailing, as breaking rows of four can set
off chain reactions of pieces. The combinations go like so:
Single (no notification)
Double (score x2)
Triple (score x3)
Bingo! (score x4)
Donkey! (score x5)
Vegas!! (score x6)
Vegas!! (score x[6+1 for each additional Vegas after the first])
It is very hard to set up a Vegas!!, and you will rarely get a
chance to use it. However, if one is successful, your performance
for that league will skyrocket up.
The meter for how you are doing is a small ship rocking back and
forth in the upper-right corner of the game screen. If the sail
is down and blue, it is "sad", and you are not contributing to the
performance of the ship. If it is fully up and golden, it is
"happy" and you are adding lots of speed to the ship. There are
stages in between designated by the sail's color and position.
For visual aid on Sailing and some advanced strategies, go to
http://www.elemental.50megs.com/sail.html
~C~2~: Carpentry
Carpentry is yet another important feature of sailing a ship.
Carpentry is repairing holes in the ship to reduce damage. Damage
can be created by cannon shots in battle, natural sailing, or
running into rocks while in sea battle. Every good jobber should
know either sailing or carpentry.
CONTROLS: (interchangable)
Mouse:
Left click: Select Piece/Drop Piece
Mouse Wheel: Rotate piece 90 degrees
Right click: Flip piece
Keyboard:
Arrow Keys: Highlight piece/Move piece
C Key: Rotate clockwise
Z Key: Rotate counter-clockwise
X Key: Flip Piece
Enter: Select Piece/Drop Piece
The object is to place pieces effectively by not overlapping other
pieces or the sides and not leaving gaps. Each piece is made of
five squares arranged together touching a flat side of another
square (i.e., not diagonally). Every hole starts out with the
possibility of being completed perfectly. If you neglect to fill
a square with anything, it will begin to flash red. First slow,
then the next turn faster, then the next turn very fast. Finally,
if you haven't placed anything after the third very fast flashing,
it will expand by one square, making it impossible to complete
correctly. Also, if you neglect to add another piece to a hole,
it will start to shake. First slowly, then faster. After it is
shaking the fastest, if you don't place a piece there, the last
piece placed with pop off the hole.
There is a unique piece which is very rare called the "Putty
Bucket". The Putty Bucket will fill any hole from one to five
squares in size, but is very rare. Try to use it on holes of five
instead of smaller holes.
There are ratings that appear when ye fill a hole. They depend
on how many times ye overlapped a piece.
- A Masterpiece! (never overlapped a piece, everything fit
perfectly, best ranking)
- Craftmanship! (overlapped a few pieces)
- A Fair Job. (overlapped quite a few pieces)
- Sloppy Work. (overlapped many pieces)
- A Pig's Breakfast. (overlapped virtually every piece, worst
ranking)
A unique feature is that you can "stack" Masterpieces to gain more
points. Completing several masterpieces in a row makes A
Masterpiece!^2, A Masterpiece!^3, A Masterpiece!^4, etc. Making
a non-Masterpiece hole, having a piece pop out due to negligence,
or having an empty hole expand will stop your count. Each
Masterpiece is progressively worth more.
A little known fact about Carpentry is that if you misplace a
piece, you can quickly fix it if you click that piece again. You
can reposition it and move it around, but only by one square in
each direction. This way, if you accidentially misplace a piece
if your mouse slips, you can fix it and keep the game going.
Your performance is visually shown through a hammer. If the
hammer is brown and not moving, it is "sad" and you're not doing a
good job. If the hammer is moving very quickly and golden, it is
"happy" and you're doing incredibly good.
For a visual guide to piece frequency, go to:
http://www.elemental.50megs.com/carp.html
~C~3~: Bilging
Bilging, personally, is me favorite puzzle. It takes after Tetris
Attack and Bejeweled. Bilging is used to clear water which reduce
speed from the ship.
CONTROLS:
Mouse:
Mouse Movement: Move Cursor
Left Mouse Button: Swap Pieces
Keyboard:
Arrow Keys: Move Cursor
Enter: Swap Pieces
The object of this puzzle is to swap pieces into rows or columns
of three or more to reduce water levels in the ship. Typically,
you want to start off with at least a 3x3 (clearing two lines of
three simultaniously), since that will give you a good start.
You will want to use one move to make rows and columns most of the
time. Rarely use two moves, and almost never use more. Each move
you make that doesn't clear something costs you rating.
There are three special pieces in the game:
- The crab. These stubborn critters refuse to be swapped with
anything. Move them up and above the water level to clear
them and get a bonus.
- The blowfish. When you swap these, they get scared and puff
up, destroying the eight squares around them and removing
themselves from the board. Effectively, this makes a 3x3 hole
that will be filled with pieces from below. NOTE: Crabs and
jellyfish can be destroyed too.
- The jellyfish. These, when swapped, will remove all blocks of
the color that they were swapped with. This can be very
effective when there seems to be no more moves.
There are combos that can be made as well:
- 3x3! (clearing two rows of three at the same time)
- 3x4! (clearing a row of three and a row of four)
- 3x5! (clearing a row of three and a row of five)
- 4x5!! (clearing a row of four and a row of five)
- Bingo! (clearing 3x[3/4/5]x[3/4/5])
- Sea Donkey! (clearing 3x3x[3/4]x[3/4])
- VEGAS!! (clearing 3x3x[3/4/5]x5)
VEGAS!! is very hard to perform, and most bilgers won't ever have
to use it.
For more strategy and visual aid, go to:
http://www.elemental.50megs.com/bilge.html
~C~4~: Navigating
Navigating is a puzzle only officers and up can freely do,
although if you're ordered to do it, you can. Basically, you have
a navigation wheel, with three rings of eight spaces. There are
five different colors, and your main objective is to clear
constellations.
CONTROLS:
Left Arrow Key: Rotate ring counter-clockwise
Right Arrow Key: Rotate ring clockwise
Up Arrow Key: Move to higher ring
Down Arrow Key: Move to lower ring
Spacebar: Drop Piece
Constellations are small circles that are outlined in the color
piece that is needed there. When all circles are filled with
their respective colors, they disappear and you get a bonus.
If a piece falls onto a piece in the upper-most ring, it's a
booch, and the booch is announced to the entire ship, and the
ship turns around with a loss of some speed. Not your proudest
moment, right?
The better you do at this puzzle, the more the others' effects
are "amplified" on the ship. Doing incredible on this will boost
the ship's performance in almost everything.
Thanks to Laura Kishimoto for bailing me out here!
For more information and visual aid, go to:
http://www.elemental.50megs.com/nav.html
~C~5~: Drinking
Hoo boy. Hard puzzle. And...oh, great, swordfighting after this.
Great. Eh, I'll forget swordfighting is next anyway and be
surprised that it's next after this, right? Right. Moving on.
Drinking is a game where ye place drinks on a 7 by 7 grid to try
to make rows that contain more pieces that ye put down than your
foes. When ye place a piece, ye stain the square behind it. You
must place a piece either horizontally or vertically to another
piece of the same color or shape. Point system:
- 10 points: placing a piece.
- 100 points: clearing a row on a pre-stained piece
- 100 points: bonus for clearing two or more rows simultaniously
- 200 points: clearing a row on a non-stained piece
- 200 points: having the most stained squares (end of game
bonus)
Points can be split amongst multiple players if needed (i.e., a
tie in a row clearing, etc.)
The colors and containers vary (colors from 4 to 8, and containers
from 4 to 12). There are also two special pieces.
- Fries: Every good drinking session *must* start with fries.
These are wildcards, and can be placed next to any
piece, regardless of color or shape.
- Hook: This piece lets ye remove a piece from the board.
If ye cannot place a drink, ye must drink it yerself. Now, this
is some pretty powerful alcohol, so three shots will have ye flat
on the table. Ye can also voluntarily take a drink if ye want to.
After ye pass out, ye will be skipped for three turns, and then
return with a light "hangover" of one drink.
When the board is completely stained, the round ends. Whoever has
more points at the end wins the round. There can be anywhere from
one to three rounds. Happy drinking!
~C~6~: Swordfighting
Oomph. Two hard puzzles to describe? (sigh) All right, I'm
obligated to give ye folks a lesson, and I'll do it. ...after I
get some Cheetos.
Okay, let's get down to business. (munch munch)
CONTROLS:
Left Arrow Key: Move block left
Right Arrow Key: Move block right
Up Arrow Key: Rotate block clockwise
Down Arrow Key: Rotate block counter-clockwise
Spacebar: Drop block
In swordfighting, you are given a grid six blocks wide. Blocks
drop in from the fourth column in pairings of two. There are four
block colors; red, yellow, green, and blue. For the color-blind,
there is also four distinct shapes within the blocks that will
clarify their properties.
The objective is to fill up your opponent's board before they fill
up yours. To do this, you send strikes. Strikes come in two
forms:
- Sprinkles, which are little grey blocks that will transform
into normal blocks after two turns
- Swords, which are large swords that crash down, destroying
blocks below them equal to the swords' width, which will turn
into normal blocks in three turns
To make swords, connect blocks of the same color in groups that
form squares or rectangles. The bigger the block, the bigger the
sword sent.
In order to send these swords, you must use breakers. Breakers
are swords that are bare--i.e., not a full rectangle, just the
inner pattern. When a breaker connects with a block of the same
color, it'll destroy the block and any similarly colored blocks
touching that one, and so on down the line. What your opponent
recieves depends on what you send as well:
- For every two non-grouped blocks you send, one sprinkle will
be sent.
- For every group you send, a sword (equally sized as the block,
except in combos, which I'll detail in a moment) will be sent.
- Breakers are not counted as part of a group, but they will
count as a sprinkle if you're sending any over.
The actual blocks that are sent depend on the sword that you are
using. There are numerous different swords, and there is really
no one "best sword". The swords are:
- Stick (recieved only when your other swords are gone)
- Foil
- Dirk
- Stiletto
- Scimitar
- Skull Dagger
- Cleaver
- Rapier
- Cutlass
- Poinard
- Long Sword
- Short Sword
- Saber
- Falchion
The swords all have sword patterns that illustrate how they are
sent, but it's quite complicated. Basically, the more varied the
sword pattern in blocks, the better. The stick, for example, has
a sword pattern of something like this:
RRRBBB
RRRBBB
YRRBBG
RRRBBB
RRRBBB
YRRBBG
This is a bad pattern, because there is very little variation, and
any swords sent in the second, third, fourth, or fifth columns
are very easy to counter, as all you'll need is one breaker of the
right color.
Anyway, combos. When you break a block, if there is a breaker
above the blocks that are broken, and it falls and breaks more
blocks, that's a combo. The combo system works like this:
- Single! (no notification, x1)
- Double! (that strike x2)
- Triple! (that strike x3)
- Bingo!! (that strike x4)
- Donkey!! (that strike x5)
- VEGAS!!! (that strike x6)
- VEGAS!!! (that strike x6+[total Vegases to that point - 1])
It's difficult to organize VEGAS!!!es since your opponent is
always trying to mess you up with strikes, and many people will
not achieve it. I know I haven't. ;-)
That's the basic rundown on swordfighting.For more information
and visual aid, go to:
http://www.elemental.50megs.com/sword.html
(phew) Okay, I'm saving now, I'm NOT re-writing that.
~C~7~: Distilling
I hate-hate-hate-hate-HATE this puzzle with a vengeance!! But,
none-the-less, in my quest to help you, I shall assist loyally.
Hey look over there! /me runs away
Okay, back, let's work on this.
CONTROLS:
Mouse Movement: Move Cursor
Left Mouse Click: Select Piece
Left Mouse Click + Drag: Swap Pieces
Right Mouse Click: Send Column
Basically, distillery is the movement of pieces into columns that
will, after a time period demonstrated by the furnace below the
column, rise up (to the drink) or down (to the furnace) pending
whether you have more positive factors or negative factors.
Positive factors:
- White pieces: Very good. Try to send up rows of just these
with spices.
- Spices: Red pieces. Adds a nice flava. Non-swappable.
Neutral factors:
- Brown pieces: Neutral. Goes either way.
Bad factors:
- Black pieces: Bad-bad. Two or more of these in a row of
good pieces will usually crash it.
- Burnt pieces: These are white pieces sent to the furnace.
Very bad. Swaps like a white piece.
Swap groups:
- Group 1: White/burnt pieces. Swaps with black pieces above
them, and brown pieces below them.
- Group 2: Brown pieces. Swaps up with white/burnt pieces,
swaps down with black pieces.
- Group 3: Black pieces. Swaps up with brown pieces, swaps
down with white/burnt pieces.
- Group 4: Spice pieces. Don't swap.
You need to send 12 pieces up to the brew in order for the puzzle
to end. You'll then be ranked and labor will be added to the
appropriate orders, if possible.
For more information and visual aid, go to:
http://www.elemental.50megs.com/distill.html
~C~8~: Sea Battle
Oomph. Distillery, then this? Sheesh! I'm really killing myself
tonight. Okay, okay, here goes.
CONTROLS:
Left Mouse Click + Drag: Move Movement Token/Gun Token
Left Mouse Click: Select Radio Button
Sea Battle is initiated when two ships engage on the seas. They
are taken to a board that is sectioned off into squares. You are
represented by a ship outlined in light blue. Your enemy is
another ship outlined in either grey or red (depending on whether
ye are neutral or at war with them). There are four types of
spaces:
- Clear sea. Solid blue. Regular space, ho hum.
- Wind gust. A little white curly arrow of sorts. Moving here
pushes you in that direction one space after each movement
token.
- Rocks. Cause damage to your ship. Two forms: big rocks
(can't shoot over them) and little rocks (can shoot over them)
and both do equal damage.
- Whirlpool. A 2x2 hazard, it spins your ship around as if it
were doing an anti-left turn.
You have movement tokens which ye can use to move yer ship.
- Straight. One space forward.
- Left. You move one space forward and one space to the left,
ending facing the left.
- Right. You move one space forward and one space to the right,
ending facing the right.
- Guns. Not exactly a *movement* token, but can be used in
association with one to fire a cannon. Cannons travel three
spaces and automatically pick the correct side to fire off of.
They stop if they travel three spaces, hit big rocks, or hit
the target.
Movement tokens are generated by pirates clearing targets in
sailing, and gun tokens are generated by pirates loading guns in
gunnery. You can choose where movement tokens are assigned by
clicking the radio button below the token space. Management of
tokens is key to survival on the seas.
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| REMEMBER! You move as if you were on the very front of the ship |
| facing the sea ahead of ye! Keep this in mind when ye move! |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
Sorry, I can't count how many times someone's misunderstood that.
Anywho, getting hit by cannons or hitting rocks causes damage,
which:
- can be fixed by carpenters
- increases the bilge level in the ship, which can be fixed by
bilgers
Colliding with the other ship will initiate a Sea Battle
Swordfight (SBS), which is documented in Swordfighting and the SBS
section below. That's really all ye need to know, just make sure
to keep tokens up and keep someone on guns, and ye'll do well...
Maybe. :-)
For more information and visual aid, go to:
http://www.elemental.50megs.com/seabattle.html
~C~9~: Multiplayer Brawling/Sea Battle Swordfights (SBS)
Brawling! Yarr! Gettin' smashed and fighting it out! It's every
pirate's paradise...
This is almost exactly like swordfighting, except for one key
difference:
It's not just 1v1.
The main thing ye must do in a brawl or SBS is target. This
selects who ye are sending yer strikes to. In 1v1 fighting, this
is no big deal, because there's only one person to kill. In SBS
and brawling, though, ye must choose who ye want to attack.
Usually, in SBS, a commanding officer will shout out who to target
in the chat dialogue box. Watch for this, and follow their
instructions. A good rule of thumb is to make teams of two or
three, unless it's mathmatically impossible (i.e., 4v1, etc.).
To target, click an enemy's face or game box and you will send
strikes to them. Alternatively, you can use the [ and ] keys
to scroll up and down through the list. Make sure to pay
attention when ye're doing this! Each crew will have different
rules about targeting, so make sure to ask.
For more information and visual aid, go to:
http://www.elemental.50megs.com/sword.html
~C~10~: Gunnery
Gunnery is the practice of loading guns to fire in sea battle.
To do so, you must wash out a cannon, and line up pieces inside of
it to load it. The pieces are bouncing around the board, being
dispensed by a barrel which rolls across the deck with ship
movement. The pieces are:
- Bucket of water, which clears out messed up cannons and
misplaced pieces.
- Gunpowder, found in red bags, first thing to load.
- Paper, found as a white ball, second thing to load.
- Cannonball, found as a big black ball, last thing to load.
If the pieces are loaded in the correct order, you will seal that
cannon, and it's ready to fire.
CONTROLS:
Mouse:
Move: Move piece
Left mouse click: Place piece
Left mouse click + Drag: Change direction of piece, then place
Keyboard:
Arrow Keys: Move piece
Enter: Place piece
W Key: Change direction to up
S Key: Change direction to down
A Key: Change direction to left
D Key: Change direction to right
When a piece runs over an arrow, it will move in that direction.
Cannons, when fired, will leave a black residue that must be
washed out before re-loading. Also, misplacing pieces in cannons
requires a washing as well. To get a new set of cannons after
loading the four given, just dismiss and re-enter the puzzle. If
they are all loaded, then every cannon on the ship is either
manned by someone else or loaded. Happy gunnin'!
For more information and visual aid, go to:
http://www.elemental.50megs.com/guns.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~D~x~: Odds 'n' Ends
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~D~1~: The Forums
To access the forums, go to www.puzzlepirates.com/community and
log in. Your username and password are the same as your Y!PP name
and password.
~D~2~: Contacting the Author
To contact me, send an e-mail to sege@ theazureknights.com (remove
the space) with the subject "Yohoho! Puzzle Pirates."
~D~3~: Credits
I wanna thank Three Rings for making this game, FrankGrimes for
hunting down the link to the ASCII software, FyreFaerie for helping
with the navigation section, and everyone at the community for
submitting questions for the FAQ section! Woo!
Also, major kudos to Diamondblade for letting me link to his site,
Elemental, on all the puzzle documents. Thanks!
This FAQ (c) 2004 Michael Segekihei. All rights reserved.
Puzzle Pirates (c) 2001-2004 Three Rings, Inc. All rights reserved.
That's it, I'm done. (phew) Anyone know a guy who can fix Carpel
Tunnel Syndrome?
