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 http://store.steampowered.com/app/317110 Quick background: Uncharted Waters Online online was released in Korea and Japan back in '05, and was released in North America in the fall of 2010. The graphics are old as dirt, and there have been very few English reviews, but what the game lacks in graphics it makes up for in depth. UWO is not a pirate or fight boat MMO, but more of a romanticized Age of Exploration simulator. While fighting and pirating are an essential (and hilarious) part of the game, the jobs of adventurer and merchantman are equally important. You can explore tombs or ancient ruins for historical artifacts and equipment (Scipio's helmet, anyone?), or you can become a merchantman and produce equipment for sale or personal use. Low level equipment can be bought from vendors, but the higher end ships, parts, equipment, consumables, etc. are all player created (ala Eve). And you are not pigeon-holed into one job either. You are free to switch at a whim. You may have to pay a hefty fee of in game currency, or perform a quest for some of the higher end specializations, but you can change at anytime. The game world is MASSIVE because, well...it's the world:  There are some cons though: - This game is Korean made, therefore you will encounter the dreaded grind (especially with maritime skills). - There are cash shop elements (like speed boosts and non-aggression flags) that affect gameplay. While it gives players a slight economic advantage (shorter trade runs, no pirate hassle), it isn't game breaking in the slightest. Surprisingly, only a small subset of players decide to buy these, so if you have ambitions of being a highwayman and robbing all poor, defenseless traders coming through Jakarta, have no fear. There are plenty of trademans to feed your unending thirst for booty. It should be noted that high end PVP is only marginally affected by cash shop boats. The only real advantage to cash shop is the slightly higher durability, but due to the nature of PVP in this game that advantage can be erased in an instant. Some cash shop items (such as ships) can be traded to other players. - One server, smaller population. Age and lack of media exposure are the two probable causes for the game's lower population. The server sustains lively Ganador (high end PVP), Epic Sea Feud and items/equipment markets, so take the small(ish) population with a grain of salt. I forgot to mention some of the cooler elements: - Players influence world events. As the game clock revolves, certain changes to the game come to pass, such as alliance shifts, election of the holy roman emperor, historical battles, etc. Players can interject themselves into the narrative by funding political leaders (both human and NPC) and voting on certain policies (giving world and local bonuses). Additionally, players can partake in quests to play out historical events, causing further changes to the world. - Country owned ports. Epic Sea Feud is the way countries fight over individual ports for ownership. Depending on who owns what port creates changes when interacting with that port (ie item selection, formality/disguise requirements, language requirements, etc.). Political leaders/country members gain the spoils of port ownership. INVESTMENT plays a HUGE role. One stage of the Epic Sea Feud is an investment battle--in addition to the fame and monetary benefits, you as an enterprising merchant, dungeon/ancient ruin diver, pirate, or Ganador hero play a CRUCIAL role in the meta game of port ownership and world events. Some resources: http://uwodbmirror.ivyro.net/eg/main.php - The main English database for this game. Exceptionally useful for ship, recipe, collection/procurement areas, and nanban trade. http://tinyurl.com/htat32h Japanese Database (translated) - VERY useful; if you can't find it on IVYRO you can find it here (if you can navigate through the broken english) http://unchartedwaters.wikia.com/wiki/Official_Uncharted_Waters_Wiki - Wiki with a lot of useful guides https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hC3il9_3hPM Kind of a fruity video, but it gives gives a decent view of what you can expect gameplay-wise. Hit me up in game: IGN: BigMoose~SA / Killjoy If there is enough interest, I will start a company (the equivalent of a guild in this game). I HIGHLY recommend going through the school for each job type (maritime, adventure, and merchant). Even though it takes a while to complete the beginner, intermediate, and advanced portions, it gives good information, great XP/Fame and some excellent starter ships. I recommend starting English or Dutch. Moose_Knuck fucked around with this message at 17:54 on Sep 8, 2016 |
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Sep 3, 2016 00:47
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The only RNG element of crafting is whether you get a "great success" or not--you either get an extra item (two iron bars from one iron ore), or you get bonus stats on equipment. It's just an added bonus, you'll create the base item regardless. Very few recipes have actual failures built in (but they are important). The grind is rough, but manageable. This is coming from a guy that couldn't finish the level 60 grind in vanilla WoW, so take that how you will. I was able to max out one production skill (casting--for creating cannons) in a week and a half of focused effort. I've been playing for two months and have five of the main production skills (casting, handicrafts, sewing, storage, and cooking) maxed or nearly maxed out. Surprisingly, trade is the easiest profession to get into and actually make a huge difference. The adventure grind is slightly worse than merchant, but the maritime (battle) grind is notoriously bad. I'm sure we could speed that up by grouping on some of the harder NPCs. With the exception of maritime (and even partially so), you can grind while listening to a podcast/audiobook, watching tv, netflix, etc.
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Sep 3, 2016 01:30
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It matters for Epic Sea Feud. Different nations ally with others to take different ports. Also, the amount of fame required to open up port permits depends on your choice of nation as well. France and the Netherlands are the least stringent in that regard. Also, language and taxes are kind of a convenience thing. If you want to level casting, starting Dutch would be advantageous due to them owning the most important crafting ports. Oh, and your nationality affects your ability to invest in ports to open up recipe books and equipment. TLDR; Go Dutch if you want to be a merchant. English, Spanish, or Venetian if you want to PvP. I have an English PvP character (BigMoose~SA) and a Dutch trader (Killjoy). It doesn't matter for Ganador and open world PvP, but if you want to start a concerted effort to take ports in Epic Sea Feud, make either a Dutch or English character.
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Sep 3, 2016 01:45
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Just some food for thought: If we had a modest goonrush (say about 10-12 people) we could probably rig elections and control vast swaths of territory.
Moose_Knuck fucked around with this message at 02:14 on Sep 3, 2016 |
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Sep 3, 2016 02:08
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Here's some info that could explain the elections better than I can. There's two different types: Holy Roman Emperor http://uwo.ogplanet.com/en/guide/2ndAgePart3.og Players jocky to support their preferred candidate. They change the way some historical events happen as well as give server-wide buffs to certain things (depending on their policy). Honorary Mayor http://uwo.ogplanet.com/en/guide/GranAtlasChapter3.og?part=3 Gain preferential treatment in the city that you are elected for. Both are investment focused, so it would take a unified effort if we wanted to rig these things.
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Sep 3, 2016 02:21
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If anybody else has questions, feel free to ask. I don't want this to be only a two-way conversation. This game is exceptionally deep and packed with features (although it doesn't look like it on the surface).
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Sep 3, 2016 02:38
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Leos, I really have no idea what the going rates for those higher end ships are, but I know billions aren't out of the realm of possibility still. I don't know if you played when Nanban and Fort Santo Domingo were released, but the east Asian trading goods make you money by the boatloads. San Francisco is a little mini-game where you can use your search skill to find gold around shifting "nodes". The rewards are used to buy unique and expensive items (like storm sails--a cash shop item). Wfwon, the game is still being updated, and fairly regularly. It's gone through six major expansions so far, and the last expansion has been updated with "episodes" or mini-expansions.
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Sep 3, 2016 17:32
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I discovered a little trick to make the maritime grind a little bit easier. There is a quest from the maritime mediator in London called "Battle Reports from the Southern Britain Island". It requires you to kill ships (up to 200) in the Southern Britain area. If you are level 20+, ships in the area don't give much exp at all. Typically, you are expected to grind Islamic Merchant Fleets at this level, granting between 2k-5k exp/hour, which is peanuts. When you max out the quest at 200 ships, it rewards you with  62k Battle Exp/24k Battle Fame/6 million ducats! The fact that you can do this between 2.5 - 3 hours means this is the BEST return on your time by far for maritime grinding. The only downside is, the higher maritime level you obtain the harder it will be to get rank 2 difficulty quests. Abuse this while you can. As a bonus you can do the level 2 gunnery college course for 800 battle exp/400 battle fame a pop. After 8-9 ships you are done. You can one-shot the ships right outside of London, so this can turn over a lot of exp by itself.I should explain a couple things: When you get all three job types (maritime/adventure/merchant) to level 5, you can go to Oxford in London to take college courses in addition to your regular quests. You complete the courses as you do whatever it is that you are doing--they are more of a background kind of thing. In addition to extra exp/fame, you will gain additional, interchangeable passive skills (that you can select in Skills --> College; listed here http://uwodbmirror.ivyro.net/eg/main.php?id=85000045&chp=5) that will assist you throughout your career. Also, as a warning...DO NOT engage in land battle or deck battles without a weapon and some items (purchased from the shopkeeper). You will get CRUSHED. It's a little bit disconcerting as a newbie, but a couple throwing knives and some ointment will help you tremendously. As a side note, taking an adventure job is one of the more fulfilling parts of the game. There is nothing like exploring the pyramids of Giza and finding an amulet dedicated to the Sun God. Or even exploring Greece and finding a token that belonged to a Spartan warrior at Thermopylae. EDIT: Just a little addendum to the maritime grind trick: the rewards do go down as you level, but there are "Battle Reports from..." quests in the major hubs that scale with difficulty. You can find a list of quest hubs at http://tinyurl.com/z8jhs3e, and a list of NPC ship levels at http://tinyurl.com/gulu7r8. Moose_Knuck fucked around with this message at 16:25 on Sep 4, 2016 |
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Sep 4, 2016 03:58
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Land battle is one of the cooler features IMO. As you progress as an adventurer, you can start to open up dungeons. In order to loot the chests you either have to A) fight dudes or B) disarm the traps and find the "switch" to unlock them. Option a can net you some pretty good loot in itself, especially in some of the later dungeons with a high plunder skill. There's a lot that goes into land battle, though: - Total level (Maritime/Adventure/Trade combined)--your HP - Swordplay / Sword Mastery levels - Attack/Defense from equipment - Weapon Forte Items can help you "cheat" in land battle early on (and even through Syracuse dungeon), but to really progress in land battle you want to learn techniques for your weapon. http://tinyurl.com/hb7f5um is a really great resource for finding NPCs and required skill levels for the technique you are going after, though it can be misleading in places due to the translation. Moose_Knuck fucked around with this message at 17:00 on Sep 4, 2016 |
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Sep 4, 2016 16:16
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No, we don't have to be in the same nation for a company. We really don't have to be in the same nation for Epic Sea Feud either, but sometimes nations ally with each other, and then you are restricted to that side for that particular ESF. Pick whatever you want! Just know that you will be restricted from investing at some ports because of ownership. If you have a profession in mind, ask in here and I'll take a look at the map to see if you'll have trouble due to the availability of books.
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Sep 5, 2016 00:31
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Dustoph: YMMV with the grinding. Adv/Trade/Battle levels are easy to come by. Some skills are worse than others. There does seem to be a permanent experience boost going. I've been getting a ton of "bonus exp" when grinding skills. As far as whether or not it's worth playing, I'll put it like this: This is the only MMO I consistently come back to anymore. Even though the game itself is fairly simple, due to it's age, all of the features are fully fleshed out and there's so much depth within the mechanics. The game is consistently updated, the GMs are involved in the community, and there are plenty of events. For me, it satisfies that "adventure on the high seas" craving. Arch: No worries, bro. Hopefully my maritime guy will be established by the time you get back.
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Sep 11, 2016 00:24
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For those interested, we are currently in the pubbie company Zims_Zeros2 based out of Amsterdam. The leader is a cool guy, and a high level shipbuilder, and the rest of the pubbies aren't completely insufferable. I think we have enough people now to make a goon only company, so if you want to get in on the ground up let's start voting on names and nation. Spain is the #1 trade hub in the game, followed by England, so if you would like an economic advantage for our company shop, those would be the nations to focus on. I could create one in England or Amsterdam, myself, but if you would like one in Spain we would need a Spanish player to create it.
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Sep 14, 2016 23:24
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Rafza posted:im downloading this now if we wanted to go spain, i could build a spanish character You have my vote. For your earlier question: do whatever you like. I recommend finishing every school, playing around a bit, and then deciding if you want to specialize in anything. Some of the better ships in the game require levels in each of the three types (Adventure/Maritime/Merchant). My production guy, Killjoy, can produce cannons, ship armor, sails, figureheads, food, and some land battle/dungeoneering items. We could use a goon shipbuilder, but the grind is really, really bad and you will lose money until you max out. There's a reason why rank 20 shipbuilders are highly sought after. If you want to harvest tears, be a pirate. If you want to make loads and loads of funny money, get a fast ship and be a nanban trader (alternatively, you could play the markets). If you want to find cool things, and explore cool places, adventurize that poo poo. Oh, and one of the more underrated jobs in this game is to just gather stuff, which you can sell at extremely marked up prices in the company shop. EDIT: If somebody would like to make a production guy, it would definitely help with the workload. Casting is probably the hardest to keep up demand for. If you started in Spain, you could create cannons far easier than the North Sea by buying cannon parts (firearms trading increases the stock) at Barcelona. Moose_Knuck fucked around with this message at 00:49 on Sep 15, 2016 |
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Sep 14, 2016 23:48
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| # ¿ May 15, 2024 18:48 |
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There's kind of a weird thing with this game where you can defect from a high pop nation to a lower pop nation without penalty, but not vice versa. If you aspire to be a shipbuilder or merchant, start at the highest pop nation (either London or Spain depending), invest in all of their ports to gain access to all of their trade goods and then defect to the next lowest pop nation for max efficiency. Venice has access to the only Mediterranean supply of Indian spices (which with a high enough spice trading level could be worth a pretty penny---I don't know anybody that has tried it). Aside from their cool flag, there's not really much else that sets them apart. Also, the headwind going up to Venice is pretty brutal, especially in a small, slow ship. The Ottomans, on the other hand, are a huge PvP nation. They are the defacto pirate nation, and they have clear advantages when it comes to gameplay. To defect requires an aide with "Ottoman correspondence" and requires a bit of a grind corresponding with Ottoman flagged fleets, but it's worth it--especially for shipbuilders. Just a head's up: I'm in the middle of a move, so I won't be on too often for a few weeks at least. If anyone wants to pull the trigger on a goon guild go for it.
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Oct 30, 2016 22:54
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