Puzzle
Puzzles are at the heart of Puzzle Pirates. Multiplayer puzzles between two or more pirates allow wagers. Duty puzzles aboard a ship keep it running smoothly and affect the performance of the vessel and sea battle. Crafting puzzles at a shoppe help produce goods and allow pirates to earn PoE directly.
Contents
[hide]Multiplayer Puzzles
- See also the article on parlor games.
These are popular multiplayer puzzles. Some engage two pirates in furious one on one combat, while others involve a whole group of pirates to play with.
- Swordfighting and Brawls (more than two fighters) use various swords.
- Rumble with bare fists or your choice of bludgeon.
- Drinking can put a pirate or their opponent under the table using different mugs.
- Spades, a four player trump based card game with a partner.
- Hearts, a four player trick-avoiding card game without partners.
- Poker, two to ten players playing Texas Hold 'Em.
- Treasure Drop, scoring points by outwitting opponents in Pirate-Plinko.
Swordfighting and rumbling are classed as piracy skills whereas all others are carousing skills.
Duty Puzzles
These puzzles are involved in sailing a ship, and are often referred to as Duty Puzzles.
- Sailing increases ship speed and generates movement tokens during sea battle.
- Bilge pumping keeps water out o' the ship, and sailing effective.
- Carpentry repairs normal wear and tear, as well as sea battle damage, and keeps bilge from rushing into the ship.
- Gunnery loads cannons for the commanding officer to fire during sea battle.
- Navigation increases the effectiveness of the sailors and allows memorization of league points.
- Treasure Haul transfers PoE onto the ship from sunken wreckage in blockades.
See also: Duty puzzle scoring.
Sea Battle
- Main article: Sea battle
Sea battle happens when ships engage each other on the open sea. Sea battle puzzles are not formally defined as a duty puzzle, but is related as it is only allowed on ships along with the duty puzzles affecting it. Sea battle occurs when a ship engages another ship during a pillage, and as an integral part of blockades.
During a sea battle, the commanding officer controls ship movement and the firing of guns to damage the enemy. This damage reduces the effectiveness of the enemy's sailors, by causing bilge to rush into the ship, slowing it down, resulting in fewer movement tokens. Gun damage also gives an advantage in the second half of engagement, a swordfighting brawl between the pirates of the opposing ships. Indestructible black blocks are found at the bottom of the swordfighting puzzle, relative to the amount of damage done to the ship each pirate was on. Up to half the puzzle screen may be filled with these blocks, reducing the space for a pirate to build combos and other attacks. In rumble this is in the form of a lowered top of the puzzle resulting in less space on the screen.
During a blockade, a variant of sea battle occurs with two safe zones on either side of the board, from which any number of ships may enter. All ships compete (generally in teams) for control of flags, ultimately to win control of an island.
Crafting Puzzles
Crafting Puzzles are used to provide labor to a shoppe or stall. Currently, there are only three crafting puzzles, although all shoppes will have one eventually. Until then, shoppes which have no crafting puzzle use a different mechanism for labor.
- Alchemistry makes dyes, paints and other concoctions for an apothecary.
- Blacksmithing makes swords and cannon balls. (not yet implemented; currently in testing on the Ice Ocean)
- Construction (not yet implemented)
- Distilling makes rum, hemp oil and mugs for a distillery.
- Furnishing (not yet implemented)
- Shipwrightery constructs ships for a shipyard and makes bludgeons.
- Tailoring (not yet implemented)
- Weaving (not yet implemented)
You can perform these puzzles in shoppes to produce work for that shoppe or stall. How well you do in the puzzle determines the level of labor you provide and how much you get paid. If there are no orders outstanding or if the shoppe has used its available labor for that hour, then you are just practicing the puzzle for no pay.
You must be a subscriber to hold a job on a subscription ocean. On a doubloon ocean, you need a labor badge instead. Working on the fly, where the pirate does not hold a permanent job, can be achieved by any pirate on any ocean - they must puzzle to use each hour of unused labour.
If you hold a job in one of these types of shoppes/stalls, you will need to play your Crafting puzzle at least once every ten days to maintain your ability to perform that work while offline. Check your "Ye" tab and the "Info" button and the "Skills" sub-tab for what level or work you can perform and if it is active or dormant.
On a subscriber ocean, for each paid account (up to three alts) you can use twenty-four hours of labor per day. The hours are divided up evenly among however many alts you have. Thus if you have three, each will be allowed to use a maximum of eight hours labor per day. If you have only one, it may use all twenty-four. During foraging, a single alt can use up all 24 hours of labour, regardless of how many other alts you have.
Freeplay Days
To play the Crafting Puzzles and Multiplayers Puzzles at any time, you need to be a subscriber on a subscription ocean or hold the appropriate badge on a doubloon ocean. These puzzles are otherwise free to play on the following days:
Today is Friday. The freeplay days schedule is as follows:
Puzzle | Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
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Alchemistry | ![]() |
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Blacksmithing | ![]() |
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Distilling | ![]() |
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Drinking | ![]() |
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Foraging | ![]() |
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Hearts | ![]() |
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Poker | ![]() |
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Rumble | ![]() |
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Shipwrightery | ![]() | ||||||
Spades | ![]() |
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Swordfighting | ![]() |
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Treasure Drop | ![]() |
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Weaving | ![]() |
"Swordfighting" and "Rumble" only refers to any swordfight or rumble that uses the a parlor games/swordfighting table/Rumble Pit or the tournament board. One on one swordfights and rumbles initiated by clicking on a player or NPP's avatar are always Free Play. Swordfights or Rumbles that take place as part of Sea Battle are also always Free Play. No other player vs. player puzzle has these exceptions.
The Ringers, at their discretion, can make all games Free Play for the day. This last occurred during late December 2005/early January 2006 to celebrate the holiday season (Christmas to the Gregorian calendar's New Year's Day) .
External/Other Links
- Commonly discussed ideas about Swordfighting and Brawls, Parlor games, Drinking, Hearts, Spades, Treasure Drop, Duty puzzles, Bilging, Gunnery, Navigation, Sea battle, Crafting puzzles and Distilling from Game Design
- Crafting puzzle suggestion thread
- How the puzzles are scored