Wow! I just realize that I forgot to do something the other day. I wanted to include a link to the thread that Golden Guardian started that provided tips on how to defeat eagle shades in Aquila. There are some other tips on there from other board members as well, so check it out!

Here's the link!

MESSAGE BOARD TIP- Copy That
Ok, this tip is brought to you after a 'vengeance strike noodge' from a fellow pirate. I have seen several fellow posters, complaining (rightfully so) about losing a post due to being logged out of the boards without them knowing. After one last admiring of your handiwork, you click submit and WHOOSH just like that it vanishes, lost forever. You are just left staring at a menacing message that says "Oops, you must be logged in to submit post"- redirecting you to the boards home page. Frustrating- to say the least.

Now I know this is not an in game tip but helping a pirate, is helping a pirate and we be pirates on the boards as well as in the Spiral, aren't we? So here are some of my tips on how to avoid this.

After I am done typing, reviewing and making changes to my post, I highlight my entire post and copy it, before hitting submit. If I have unknowingly been logged out I still have a copy of it. If indeed I have been logged out, I can then log back in, open the reply to post page again, click on the new window where you enter your text and paste the copy of the original post.

Doing this allows me to type whatever I want, make all the changes I need to and take as long as I wish. I can always copy and paste if logged out.

Alternatively, just to be on the safe side, you can type your post, copy it, cancel the post, then again select reply to post, paste the copy and then select submit. If you hadn't been logged out, no harm done- post goes through. If you have been logged out you still have the copy and can log back in and resubmit your reply post from the copy.

NOTE- Often after you paste the copy to the new post reply window, if you click anywhere in the reply window- the copied text will 'disappear'. If this happens it is still copied, just paste it again. To avoid this, immediately after pasting type any letter wherever the mouse (or prompt) is and erase the letter. This keeps the copied post 'disappearing act' from happening.

HOPE THIS HELPS

ValkoorTheVictorio... on Jan 13, 2014 wrote:

MESSAGE BOARD TIP- Copy That
Ok, this tip is brought to you after a 'vengeance strike noodge' from a fellow pirate. I have seen several fellow posters, complaining (rightfully so) about losing a post due to being logged out of the boards without them knowing. After one last admiring of your handiwork, you click submit and WHOOSH just like that it vanishes, lost forever. You are just left staring at a menacing message that says "Oops, you must be logged in to submit post"- redirecting you to the boards home page. Frustrating- to say the least.

Now I know this is not an in game tip but helping a pirate, is helping a pirate and we be pirates on the boards as well as in the Spiral, aren't we? So here are some of my tips on how to avoid this.

After I am done typing, reviewing and making changes to my post, I highlight my entire post and copy it, before hitting submit. If I have unknowingly been logged out I still have a copy of it. If indeed I have been logged out, I can then log back in, open the reply to post page again, click on the new window where you enter your text and paste the copy of the original post.

Doing this allows me to type whatever I want, make all the changes I need to and take as long as I wish. I can always copy and paste if logged out.

Alternatively, just to be on the safe side, you can type your post, copy it, cancel the post, then again select reply to post, paste the copy and then select submit. If you hadn't been logged out, no harm done- post goes through. If you have been logged out you still have the copy and can log back in and resubmit your reply post from the copy.

NOTE- Often after you paste the copy to the new post reply window, if you click anywhere in the reply window- the copied text will 'disappear'. If this happens it is still copied, just paste it again. To avoid this, immediately after pasting type any letter wherever the mouse (or prompt) is and erase the letter. This keeps the copied post 'disappearing act' from happening.

HOPE THIS HELPS

Indeed it does. I learned that copy precaution after losing a few lengthy posts to the time out process and now I always copy if I have more than two paragraphs or if I have links in my post. Having to re-locate them is a real pain in the tush. I try to copy often as I put a shortcut function on my wireless mouse where one of the side buttons is the browser back button. On more times than I can gasp with horror and moan "Oh Noooooooooooo!" I have accidently bumped that furstunkin button as I slid my hand off the keyboard to reach for the mouse and with one horror film like sound effect of that 'click' everything I have just written is gone. Yup that 'select all & copy' tip can be your very best friend. Your mouse's best friend too as my mouse can attest from the scathing looks I have given it when I deem it responsible for the loss of all my hard work. If a mouse could gulp, mine has.

ValkoorTheVictorio... on Jan 13, 2014 wrote:

BASIC GAME TIP- Changing Realms

This is another one of those general tips that relates to the in-game option of changing realms. I have seen lots of posts asking "How do I change realms?" in response to someone posting "I can help you, let's met in realm X." Again this tip is probably well known to pirates who have been playing a while- it's purpose is to help new pirates or those who just are not aware of how to change realms.

• While in game, move your mouse pointer to top of the screen until 'drop down icons reveal themselves'.
• Select the icon that resembles an orange gear (furthest right icon out of the group of 5)
• Select the orange gear tab labeled Options (3rd tab from top) from the drop down menu that appears
• Select the tab with the mini earth icon with a yellow, bi-directional arrow over it.
• The realms menu will appear displaying your realm and available realms directly under your current realm. You can use the arrows under the available realms to 'flip through' the 4 pages of realms.
• Select the realm in which you would like your pirate to switch to.
• Click the green GO TO REALM tab.

Your pirate will then magically be taken to that realm!

Here is a link to the Pirate101 Players guide that explains what Realms and Areas are!

Something else I thought of to add when I answer a question about changing realms:
Realms are like identical layers of the game. Everything is just the same and you can still talk to any of your friends. This way everyone doesn't have to be crowded on the same floor at the same time. All other game functions will run as usual. There are some places that you cannot change realms in. You simply back out of whatever cave or instance or dungeon you are in.
Note: If you port out of a dungeon to a healing fountain to heal and get a companion back from their faint, do NOT change realms. It will reset your dungeon and you will have to start all over. This can also be used in your favor. If you are farming a boss in a dungeon, after you beat them, changing realms will reset the dungeon timer and you can go right back in and give them another go

Chrissy Th'Blesser on Jan 13, 2014 wrote:

Well said and very thorough, especially with the link. I'll have to save this page to use as a link to make it easier for all the times I have done this. I know I could search on my stuff but this is much faster, as was your intent for this thread all along. Continuingly well done.

Yea, I have learned quite a few things the hard way. Until fairly recent I didn't do a whole lot on the computer. Just looked up info here and there, played a few games (not online), did work related billing, proposals and such. So a lot of this, I am figuring out on my own for the first time. Dare I say I am even working on creating my first album, screenshots and wiki contributions on central. Suddenly I am now making toddler steps. Thanks for the continued encouragement.

Compare prices between the normal vendors and the Bazaar. There can be very big differences (like 2 to 3 times a price difference). For regular equipment, I go to the Pearl and Plunder and the Bazaar. For Naval Equipment, you have to go to Nat Silver on the Skull Island Docks and the Bazaar. For Housing Equipment, I use the Housing Vendor in Skull Island Town and the Bazaar. I believe he is on the way to the PVP building and the Tinkney Warehouse (I don't think the Pearl and Plunder handles Housing Equipment).

What I do is I record the prices of the items I want to sell at the regular vendor and then see what the Bazaar will pay me and sell it to the highest bidder. This means I don't waste too much time going back and forth between the two places and I have more Gold to work with.

When your ship's health is yellow or red (the Crossed Swords above it), any enemy ship can board you. This will happen even if you are in Boost mode if you pass near enough to an enemy ship.

If you click your mouse near an enemy ship that has a yellow or red health, you will board it if you are close enough. I've done this when I didn't mean to because I am doing other things while I am playing the game and have to reactivate the window the game is in.

With the new rules, try to get the enemy's ship health down as far as you can before boarding or being boarded because the enemy's health is affected by the enemy's ship's health. An example is if the enemy's ship's health is yellow, the enemy's health will be cut almost in half making the fight a lot easier.

Here is my tip I put on another post but I think it would be better here:
DON'T-UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES BUY CROWN GENERATORS.
When you type in your username and password to "generate" the crown generator, that information just goes right to the maker of the "generator" to use that info against you and take over your account and delete all your wizards, and ban your account to say the least. So don't buy them.

SlightlyMadWizard on Jan 15, 2014 wrote:

The way to gain enough experience to level up is by completing quests. If you are not able to complete a quest, then all you can do is fight and win which gains you experience but sometimes very slowly. The fights need to be the encounter type of fight since the fights in a dungeon (except for random encounters in the dungeon) have a reduction of experience for each time the fight is repeated or so I understand from the last major update notes. If you skipped some quests or are trying to do only the main quests, I would go back and complete the quests you missed until you are at the level you want to be.

Good advice SlightlyMadWizard! I think many times players who are struggling with the game or about their level not being high enough for that part of game often overlook the importance of doing any and all available side quests. Even to go as far as taking a break from actually questing in order to search out side quests in all locations your pirate has access to. It is beneficial that when your pirate gains access to a new world, skyway or location, to a take some time and actually go searching for all side quests available in that new world, skyway or location.

Spending a lot of time side questing may seem annoying to some but so is constantly struggling to get past a certain point in the game. There are so many side quests and XP from them available in each world, that even doing half of them would raise your pirates level more than a few times- thus possibly allowing them to get past those rough spots. Now, side quests are surely optional and are by no means necessary to further progress in the game, but this being said they can make progressing further in the game that much easier to accomplish.

So I agree with you 100% that if someone is struggling at their current level then get to work on finding and doing as many side quests as possible to help out. Not all side quests are in obvious locations, so you may actually have to go a bit out of the way to discover them. But the level increases from them can make it more than worth it if life in the spiral for their pirate has indeed become tough.

ValkoorTheVictorio... on Dec 31, 2013 wrote:

BOSS BATTLE TIP- Diskylos

I came across a thread where a fellow pirate was talking about the challenges of fighting Diskylos in Aquila due to his insanely high health. There were some great tips on how to defeat this ferocious bi-cranial canine. I have been farming Diskylos for a few days and wanted to offer up my own personal strategies.

1st off, companion selection (this is an epic battle) is crucial to your pirate's success. After trying several combinations my suggestions for companions are as follows:

• El Toro
• Kobe Yojimbo
• Either Sarah Steele (I have Lucy Sterling from crown shop)
• or the Eagle Hoplite.

As you know all of these companions are swashbucklers which is the key. Now, for me all of these companion's are at least level 65 and all of them have the following epic talents:

• First strike or repel boarders (Kobe FSx2)
• Riposte x 2 (El Toro x3)
• Relentless

In addition they are all fully trained in dodge, accuracy and rough.

These talents are extremely useful and key to an easy battle against Diskylos as he is equipped with follow through x3- allowing him to attack up to four extra times if successful, blade storm x3, and riposte.

For 1st turn, I hide and buff my crew and use El Toro's accuracy buffing power. Diskylos can move nearly clear across the board so I leave my companions put for the 1st turn. Next few turns I continue to buff and attack with all 3 companions. Diskylos almost never connects with his attacks and when he does it is only once or twice. Their riposte, relentless, first strikes and repel boarders kick in just about every turn- dealing massive amounts of damage. When he dodges, his riposte attack often misses and my companions' riposte kick in. No matter who he attacks, their first strikes and repel boarders kick in along with the relentless.

Needless to say it is a brutally quick battle even with all of his health because he rarely hits my companions due to there dodge and usually lasts between 3 to 5 turns of attacks (w/ passing on first).

BOSS BATTLE TIP- Diskylos (Additional Info)

I forgot to include a note along with the Diskylos battle tips. So here it is.

As stated before choosing the following companions: El Toro, Kobe, Sarah (Lucy), or Eagle Hoplite or any other high powered swashbuckler is a great and formidable strategy to use against Diskylos. One thing I forgot to include to further demonstrate just how devastating this combination is against the 2 headed canine were the actual damage #s that these companions inflict during Diskylos turn in battle.

For me all of these companions are maxed and as stated before all of them have a combination these 4 epic talents: Riposte, Repel Boarders, First Strike and Relentless. Most of them have at least a x2 rank in a minimum of 2 of these talents. With my experiences with these companions, these talents do the following
damage when triggered. These are just base (non critical) damages in normal situations when fighting Diskylos- with rough estimates on critical strikes and ranks following.

Riposte= 500+ Repel Boarders= 250+ First Strike= 250+ Relentless= 300+
(with super add approximately 150+, mega 300+, epic 450+)

Now in almost every single round in which I have farmed or battled Diskylos, in my non-attacking round (when it is Diskylos's turn to attack)- every single one of these talents is triggered and successfully connected at least once. So as you can see that is an additional minimum of 500+250+250+300 damage dealt out. A whopping minimum of 1300 damage done in an enemy turn. When some of the strikes are upgraded to criticals (varying in ranks) the number for the damage dealt to Diskylos has reached 3500+ for me in one non attacking turn.

Being that this damage is done during Diskylos's turn, all of this damage is essentially free or bonus damage, stacked on top of the massive amounts done during my previous attacking turn. And this does not even include the damage my own pirate is doing.

So to sum up by using this strategy, with a combination of these companions I am basically gaining a minimum of 1300+ damage every single turn without having to lift a finger. Although, in all honesty the average is usually closer to the 2000-2500 range every turn that Diskylos attacks.

So hope this added info helps, especially if Diskylos is giving your pirate a run for his/her gold.

ValkoorTheVictorio... on Jan 15, 2014 wrote:

GENERAL TIPS- KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

There are a lot of useful keyboard shortcuts that pirate101 offers as an alternative option to the standard pointing and clicking with the mouse. Here are a couple of the ones that I find more useful followed by a link to the pirate101 page listing all of the keyboard shortcuts in the Player's Guide.

Ctrl-R or Numlk (Number lock)- Toggles on/off the AutoRun for your pirate. By hitting Ctrl-R simultaneously or the Numlk button your pirate (and/or mount if equipped) will 'automatically' start running. You won't have to press and hold the up arrow or W key constantly- you still have to control your pirate's left/right directions. Comes in hand when traveling long distances by way of foot or mount.

Ctrl-Shift-Q Pressing these keys simultaneously will set the quest helper arrow to the nearest quest in respect to your pirate's current location. This comes in handy if you are not worrying about following a set order with questing and can save you lots of time from not having to run back and forth to complete quests. If you want to be efficient in your questing and to save time, just use this shortcut after completing a quest to find the next one closest to your pirate's location.

Ctrl-N Opens up the in game notification window. The window will be nearly full screen so it is much easier to view then the small one that drops down when you click the hook icon at the top of the page and you won't have to also click see all notifications- just one click on Ctrl-N does the same thing. Comes in handy after defeating enemy that dropped a lot of gear- the window will stay open unlike the scrolling notifications that come across the top of the screen. Much easier to view newly acquired gear this way.

These are just a few of the keyboard shortcuts that I think come in handy. I am providing a link to the full list of shortcuts from the pirate101 Players Guide page here.

NOTE- I don't believe that the Ctrl-M keyboard shortcut to open the realms section works. At least it didn't on my laptop.

Good tips on the shortcuts. I use those all the time and that really solves the mystery of when I am trying to respond to a private message "R" and suddenly my pirate takes off running, seemingly out of control for no known reason. Now I know that it is no bug or remotely controlled pirate from some hidden clockwork. Obviously I bumped the Ctrl button when going for the R Lol.

Wicked Victor Arms... on Jan 17, 2014 wrote:

This is a tip for maxed pirates that have too much gold and don't know what to do with it.

If you have 200k gold and want to transfer some to your smaller pirates, go to Nova Aquila's Housing Vendor and buy a Huge Pile of Gold. Please note you can also get this item at The Bazaar if it's available. Now you just put this item in your shared bank and take it out when you want to sell it on your small pirate. I recommend selling it at The Bazaar as you can get 100k for it. Now I know you lose out on half your investment doing this tip, but it's worth it in my opinion if you already have maxed companions, 10 training tomes pre-bought for the next update, have no need to buy anything, and farm bosses like crazy for no auction gear.

Awesome tip Victor!

In fact I have done that with my maxed pirate as all of his companions are at or near max level too. Great way to help your younger pirates get a head start in the game. Early in the game gold is much more difficult to accumulate in large amounts. This is an absolutely great tip to help your other pirates out. And, as you stated, with the fact that your pirate levels pretty fast in the early stages of the game, you can have all that gold to easily keep your companions on an equal level.

Great thinking and great idea- I was hoping you shared some of your tips or advice. I have read many of your posts and they are all well thought out and you have some very wise tips, strategies, suggestions and input in general. Thanks for taking the time to share some on here.

ValkoorTheVictorio... on Jan 15, 2014 wrote:

GENERAL TIPS- KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

There are a lot of useful keyboard shortcuts that pirate101 offers as an alternative option to the standard pointing and clicking with the mouse. Here are a couple of the ones that I find more useful followed by a link to the pirate101 page listing all of the keyboard shortcuts in the Player's Guide.

Ctrl-R or Numlk (Number lock)- Toggles on/off the AutoRun for your pirate. By hitting Ctrl-R simultaneously or the Numlk button your pirate (and/or mount if equipped) will 'automatically' start running. You won't have to press and hold the up arrow or W key constantly- you still have to control your pirate's left/right directions. Comes in hand when traveling long distances by way of foot or mount.

Ctrl-Shift-Q Pressing these keys simultaneously will set the quest helper arrow to the nearest quest in respect to your pirate's current location. This comes in handy if you are not worrying about following a set order with questing and can save you lots of time from not having to run back and forth to complete quests. If you want to be efficient in your questing and to save time, just use this shortcut after completing a quest to find the next one closest to your pirate's location.

Ctrl-N Opens up the in game notification window. The window will be nearly full screen so it is much easier to view then the small one that drops down when you click the hook icon at the top of the page and you won't have to also click see all notifications- just one click on Ctrl-N does the same thing. Comes in handy after defeating enemy that dropped a lot of gear- the window will stay open unlike the scrolling notifications that come across the top of the screen. Much easier to view newly acquired gear this way.

These are just a few of the keyboard shortcuts that I think come in handy. I am providing a link to the full list of shortcuts from the pirate101 Players Guide page here.

NOTE- I don't believe that the Ctrl-M keyboard shortcut to open the realms section works. At least it didn't on my laptop.

On my machine, Ctrl-r (for run) also seems to open the chat window where I can type something. I have to close this by hitting 'enter' and then it works fine. When I can type something in the chat window, I can't direct my character so all he does is run straight ahead till he runs into something. So I have to close the chat window before I can direct my running character correctly.

Ctrl-m to change realms works fine on my computer.

I'll have to try Ctrl-N. It sounds like a neat short cut.

A few other shortcuts that I use most of the time:

Pressing 'u' by itself opens the Companion Management window. Pressing 'n' by itself switches on and off the display showing which direction a map location is in (the current map that you are on). Pressing 'b' by itself opens up the Backpack window. Pressing 'e' by itself opens up the Ship Management window. Pressing 'c' by itself opens the Character Management window. Pressing 'm' by itself opens and closes the map showing what map you are on and your location.

Pressing the number (not mentioned in shortcuts, but in ship combat in Player's Guide):
1 - activates the first button in the right hand corner for your ship's powers.
2 - activates the second button in the right hand corner for your ship's powers.
3 - activates the third button in the right hand corner for your ship's powers.

4 - activates the fourth button in the right hand corner for your ship's powers.

I have found that, if I position my fingers correctly, I can use my ship's powers faster as long as I don't forget which finger is over which key. LOL.

As you said, everyone should check out what the shortcuts do. At least some of them are very worthwhile.