Lean, Mean, Super Swabbies on the Scene
| From the Release Notes:
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Mercenaries, or skilled swabbies, have been added to the game. The goal of the mercenaries is to give players the ability to play game-play they previously couldn't because of the ocean population or their rank. Mercenaries can replace regular swabbies on a vessel and perform better than standard swabbies. Mercenaries are not yet enabled for blockades, but will be soon.
Mercenaries:
- Hire mercenaries using your vessel configuration. Make sure you have at least 5 rum spice per mercenary in your hold, or they wont board the ship.
- Have a higher skill level than typical swabbies. Their duty report score is higher which is more helpful to the ship.
- Can perform some actions that regular swabbies cannot, such as DNav and defending in SMH.
- In addition to performing better in SF/Rumble they will team with the rest of the team.
- They can be hired in higher numbers and don't always leave when jobbing pirates board the vessel.
- In blockades they count towards influence.
- There are many things they still don't do like a player would.
- Cannot treasure haul
- Generate special maneuver tokens
- Participate in expeditions
Mercenary Cost:
- Consume rum/grog/swill like any other pirate but in addition they also consume a new commodity called rum spice.
- The amount of rum spice in the hold determines the total number of mercenaries you can hire (5 rum spice /per -- so if you have 54 in the hold you can hire up to 10 if the ship size allows for it).
- Earn a regular pirate booty split when pillaging.
- Refuse to job for crews that are not paying enough.
- Receive a percentage of chests earned which is currently equal to the percentage of mercenaries on the vessel compared to players and swabbies. For example, if you have 30 humans and 30 players they take 50% of the chests. Players will get to keep the first of each chest but won't get their next chest until the mercenaries take their cut (which could be a while on large/empty boats and when getting chests one at a time like in TH).
- Earn a percentage of booty pillaged or awarded in a flotilla, this will not be based on the crew shares and will instead be a flat cut. They also contribute a flat rate to the restocking cut.
- Earn their share of segment pay when used in a blockade.
Rum Spice:
- Higher skilled crews have a better chance at obtaining allspice.
The mercenaries change touches a lot of existing mechanics. While we tried to test every scenario we expect there to be some room for re-balancing as we learn how it impacts the game. We may have to disable the feature in different circumstances if they are being exploited or used to harass other players. For example we have disabled blockades the weekend of April 1st (and possibly the following weekend) so that this feature does not impact island ownership. If you run into an issue, please file a /bug report immediately in game.
To celebrate the arrival of the Crimson Company, we're hosting a Spicy Weekend this April 1st weekend! Expect to see the oceans become a little more seasoned! That's right, hit the seas and have a much higher chance at finding some Allspicy goodness to make your Mercenaries happy. Keep an eye out, brigands may now also start carrying rum spice, giving pirates a chance to plunder it. Happy hunting!
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