Very soon when the forums are complete I will have a walk-through guide for COAS posted. In addition, I have been thinking it would be a great idea to put up a COAS/ERAS FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) So along with the illustrated guide I am working on with Characters, Items, Weapons, Places, and Ships by nation and class – I am beginning to put together a FAQ.

I wanted to start with a FIRST question.

I have seen this question asked in so many other places and have been asked myself so many times that I thought I would take a crack at this question first.

QUESTION 1. How do I make a good start in AOP2: COAS

Lets face it, for an open sandbox single player RPG, this game is freaking HARD! SUPER HARD when you are first starting out. I know that a lot of gamers give up on the game relatively quickly because they don’t have the patience to endure for the excellent rewards and better skills that come later.

The first thing I would tell you is NOT to take the Peter Blood quest as a newb. You should play another character(RPC) first and then when you have a lot of experience playing start a new game with that questline.

Second, Don’t play a pirate nation character or English character starting off. The pirates of course are at war with all other factions so everyone will chase you and try to kill you. The English start the game off at war with both the Dutch and the Spanish. So over half the game factions are trying to chase you and kill you. I recommend starting as Dutch because only the English are at War with them, the French because only the Spanish are at war with them, or the Spanish, because only the French are at war with them. If you want the easiest game possible go with the Spanish.

Why? Because they have more ports than anyone else so you can level up and make more money faster in trading. In ERAS especially, they also have ships that are a little bit tougher and hold more cargo as level 6 and 7 starting ships. The only downside is that Spanish ships tend to be slower than all other factions(with the exception of the Zabra).
But of course once you capture other nations ships you can use whatever kind of vessel you like.

I prefer going Dutch. Willemstad is so close to the Spanish mainland ports that I can make money fast carrying passengers and freight.

Remember first and foremost, that the fastest single way to level up in this game is to fight in individual combat. So the safest way to do this is to venture into the jungle outside of towns. Save often and fight robbers and brigands. Save the girls in distress with rape gangs chasing them. This is also an excellent way to increase your reputation when the girl goes to tell everyone you saved her.

Find the caves. Remember when you take the church mission to clear the caves, that the creepy undead in the caves are MUCH more difficult to beat – they do usually have better weapons and items to plunder however. I recommend not taking the church missions to begin with and simply going into the caves and triggering the undead. Make certain you have enough potions – especially against poison. Loot all the corpses and chests. Then go out and do it again. They will become progressively harder each time you enter. So I recommend you only do this three or four times in a row and call it quits. Save after each set of skeletons.

REMEMBER: That you can control these fights with your commands. If you have officers with you – you don’t want them to run off and get killed. Find an advantageous spot for them to help you where they can shoot at the undead as they approach. Then hit the “H” button for HOLD. They will stay put while you run ahead to find some of the nasties, then shoot at them and run back to where your trap is set. Once finished with that bunch. Give the officers the command to follow you with the “G” button. They will follow where you want them. Position them again with “H” and repeat. If you get stuck somewhere and have to defend yourself, push G to get them to come to help you OR the “C” button for charge. Remember if you have them charge they will seek out the undead closest to them – so they could run into a different room than you are having your troubles in.

By following this simple advice you will level up quick and develop skill perks quick. Its also an excellent way to get some cash to buy a better ship then the one you start with. In ERAS many of the RPCs start with nothing but a coastal sailing boat. Make sure to sell your cargo that you get when you start out at the local store before you purchase your new ship.

TREASURE MAPS: Look for the smuggler types with treasure maps. If you see two of them in any tavern, you know that one of them has a map. Also the maps are expensive, so ensure that you have the cash and that you save before you make the transaction. As soon as you have the map, check it in the tavern. Open your items folder, click on the map and open it. If it says its worthless or a fake, question the guy that just sold it to you. If he tries to swindle you, challenge him to a duel right there. You won’t get into trouble, and usually you will not only get your money back, but you will also get more….and some good items often.

When you go look for the treasure make certain you know your way around. Just as with the Church missions, once you find the treasure chest or spot where the treasure in question is hidden and open it, that will activate the undead – and these undead are tougher – like in the church missions. Make several trips if you have to to get it all to your ship or to the town. Some treasures are pretty worthless, but many will make your whole game. You will be able to buy any ship for sale and fully man it and hire good officers and have money to spare.

AT SEA: When you first venture out to sea remember that you suck. Your skills at everything are meager. Your crew and officers are also inexperienced. All this to say that – you will NOT do well in sea battles in the early game. My best advice is that you fight like I described before first and get a few levels and a better ship before venturing out to sea. You should try to buy a ship with good speed. This way when you run into your first few fights you can often run away successfully. Choose your opponents wisely. If you know that you are fairly evenly matched in terms of crew size or that you outnumber him, DO NOT get into a cannon battle with him. He will have better skills at gunnery and will wipe out your crew and damage your sails and you will be done.

Instead, sail straight at him if you can. If you can’t because the wind is against you, avoid him by keeping distance and moving into a place where you can use the wind in your favor. Then straight at him to board without firing a single cannon shot unless you can get it off as you approach if you have bow chaser guns. The game will auto save when boarding occurs. Make certain that you save in a new slot before each sea battle. This way if things don’t go well you have other options. Play that save as many times as you need to on the boarding. Eventually you will win.

A good trick is to take an escort mission just so you have another ship helping you in these early fights. Try to lure the enemy into coming close to your escort ship while you stay out of his gunnery. Once there is a cannon fight going on between them, run in like I said before and board him. Do not try to board ships that are bigger than you. Learn what the standard crew complements are on the different ships. If you have a schooner, you are usually only gonna have 80 to a 100 men. Don’t attack a Pinaza, because she probably has 200 to 300 aboard.

Another good trick is to make sure you run towards a friendly fort if you see you’re being chased by an enemy or pirates. Get right next to the fort and stop. Then when you go into the game world from the map, you will have the fort to back you up. In addition if there are friendly ships in the port they will shoot at him as well. Let them do the work for you and whittle him down. This is a good chance to practice your own gunnery as well. Don’t aim at and shoot any friendly ships though, that will ruin everything fast. When you think he’s weakest but not so weak as the ship is about to sink, spring into action and go board him. If you are playing many versions of GOF and especially ERAS, ensure that in your mod options you have “SURRENDERS OCCASIONALLY” toggled on. There is a good chance he will surrender and you can get the ship without a fight.

Once you have a good gunner and/or your own gunnery is good, then you can begin using your guns effectively and can battle it out with opponents on the sea. My advice is to wait till you are at around level 10 before you do this often, and that you and your gunners skills are at least 25. If not don’t fight at sea, because you will lose. Also because you are trading and running passengers to get ahead, it’s always a good idea to have several ships. This means you always have help in a fight. It also means you can carry more cargo. Also consider that if you encounter a similar group of enemies, if your ships slightly outclass them or you have more experienced crew and officers, one or two of their ships will often try running away. Then you only have to deal with what stays to fight it out with you, and can often catch the others one by one if you have a fast ship.

Once you are between level 15-20 and your gunnery skills are at 35 and above, you will start to really enjoy fighting opponents at sea because you will begin to match and even out-match them. That’s when you start using skill in sea battle by moving where the advantageous wind is. Knock out his guns with round shot. Ruin his rigging with chainshot(knipples), and then when you get close enough maneuver around him with grapeshot.

To get the maximum enjoyment if you are playing ERAS, I highly recommend you adjust cannon damage in the mod options to “IN BETWEEN”. Once you are a higher level and the fights seem too easy, move it to realistic. That will cause your damage to be downgraded so you don’t destroy enemy ships with a single broadside. I recommend you stay away from COAS Vanilla default early in the game, because there are opponents out there that will be able to sink you with one broadside. GAME OVER.

If anyone else has some helpful hints for beginners, lets add them here.

HAVE FUN!

MK