Turning to the Dark Side

  • Hellooo! :D
    I recently found patrician 3 on sale on steam and havn't played it since i was a small child, i got it working and BOY OH BOY is it even more fun than i remember!! :D I've already managed to log over 100 hours and with my fleet of over a 100 ships i trade everywhere, with everyone. However, i have troubles with my competitors taking up valuable city space and i want to drive them out of business so they'll sell their buildings to me (muahaha!!).


    My plan was to more or less besiege a town, starve it of resources so the workers leave (making the industries unprofitable) so they would auction them off. I've tried to steal all the ships that want to enter the town but heavy fines for piracy brought my wealth of 2m down to just over 500K thus stopping my plans dead in its tracks!


    I set up two snaikkas along the river leading to Köln (Cologne) as scouts with two crayers in a convoy just outisde the city and any ships trying to sail to Köln get spotted well in time so i can make sure i pirate them "without any whitnesses", this doesn't seem to work however. I get caught nearly EVERY DARN TIME having to pay almost 1m in fines every time! With my huge fleet (and some plundering of towns :P) getting back up to 2m (which is still my record) only takes a few months but me being me i've now lost those 2m SEVERAL times! :crazy: What am i doing wrong?? Is the city itself considered "a whitness", much like a hansa fleet? Should i pirate in the centre of the river instead of just outside Köln? I've tried translating the "Tippsammlung" but google translate isn't the best as you might know and my deutsch is very limited. Could somebody please help me understand what i'm doing wrong?? Or is there some hidden factor i havn't understood, is there always a % chance of getting caught regardless of wether there are other hansa fleets nearby? Does my own ships count as whitnesses too? Are those snaikkas i mentioned that i use as scouts the very people giving me away each time?
    If there's no way to be 100% sure you won't get caught can i somehow prevent these absolutely MASSIVE fines?? ?(


    Plox hlep mi!! X( I only want to rule the world.. :O

  • Hej MrBigCookie,


    being fined for pirating does not depend on whether there are AI-Ships orr Citys close by. you can hijack ships with several others close to you without getting caught. So the only safe way to get away without a fine is to save (save1) the game before attacking, then attack and seize a ship, save afterwards (save2), fast forward at least 5, better 7 days to see whether you get fined or not. If not, you reload the second save. If you get fined you reload the first and repeat the fight. [Optional you could add another save shortly before seizing the other boat.]



    Extraction from the Tippsammlunng:
    10.3.3
    Wie verhindere ich Anklagen bei eigener Piraterie?
    Sie lassen sich nicht verhindern. Eine risikolose Piraterieaktion ist niemals möglich, eine gewisse
    Wahrscheinlichkeit zur Anklage besteht immer. Wie genau diese Wahrscheinlichkeit
    berechnet wird, ist in der Spielergemeinde noch nicht hinreichend geklärt. Fakt ist aber auf
    jeden Fall, dass es für die Enttarnungswahrscheinlichkeit unerheblich ist, wie viele fremde
    Schiffe sich in der Nähe befinden. Wirklich hilfreich ist also nur Speichern und Laden, d. h.,
    ersten Spielstand sichern, als Pirat tätig sein, zweiten Spielstand sichern, 5 Tage vorspulen.
    Falls eine Anklage kommt, dann noch einmal mit dem ersten Spielstand weitermachen, ansonsten
    geht mit es mit dem zweiten Spielstand weiter.

  • Thank you so much, i thought that was what the tipsammlung said but it's sometimes hard to understand through google translate. Thank you my friend! :)
    Also is my strategy good or bad for making the AI sell their buildings?? Does it work like i intend it to or are there better ways to force the AI to sell their stuff?

  • You´re welcome ;-)
    Unfortunately i can´t answer your question because so far i have not played with the tactic to errase the AI. Other members surely can help you much better than i can in this case.
    Glad i could help you anyway.