Pirate101: O Valencia!

I dunno if Pirate101 has any Decemberist nods in the world of Valencia, but they’d be missing a bet if they didn’t. I haven’t even seen any orange trees. But then I just got here.
So, level 16, and I’m in the third world already. Still feeling just a little overwhelmed in some fights, and that’s a good thing. I have never actually LOST a fight, though, and they may not be such a good thing, but probably is. What I would like to be able to say is that I have never been boarded by an enemy, but unfortunately, that happens all too often. I’ve been trying to keep my nautical level up, but it’s a chore, and I feel lucky to have gotten it up to level 10.
I spent a lot of time finishing up in the Tierra Primata skyway before heading to Valencia. It’s really a good idea to work on the subquests, if only because they occasionally reward training points. I have a lot of companions. My need for training points is strong.
Oh yeah, about companion training — John Lifeglen over at Through the Eyes of a Sorcerer clued me in on a neat trick. If you outlevel a companion too much, then each training point will count for more and level faster. So the trick is to only use a training point on a companion when that one point will pop it to the next level. Using several training points to bring a companion to its next level is a total waste unless you have, like, just one companion.

Finally did get a privateer (healer) companion from the Admiral’s Pack, so that was a good thing. He was eligible for immediate promotion when I unpacked him, and that cost 1700 gold, same as the ninja pig, so I guess that’s going to be standard for companions from codes, I guess. Subodai went through his first promotion, which required a lot of farming on the Tierra Primata Skyway, but it was all good because I was watching Hulu. I’ve seen his second promotion around; he gets a really nice red silk shirt.
Question I’ve had is, if I could narrow my crew down to the three companions, who would be the best? When you’re soloing or in a group, you bring from one to three companions into battle. Now, you can only choose your battle companions in epic battles. Most of the time, it’s a weighted random and only your first mate is guaranteed to be at your side.
The most important factor for a companion is damage, I think. If stuff dies fast, nothing else is much of a worry. Second would have to be mobility. My character, a swashbuckler, is VERY mobile, which means I can be anywhere on the battlefield very quickly. If my companion isn’t backing me up, though, I’m just out there taking all the hits by myself. Third consideration is health. If my companion dies too fast, it’s not doing damage and it’s also not taking hits for me. A companion death is a minor annoyance. My death is vastly more serious.
So, here’s the roster.
Handsome Dan, privateer. Medium damage, high health, low mobility.
Fa Lung, swashbuckler. High damage, low health, medium mobility.
Bonnie Anne, musketeer. Medium damage, medium health, medium mobility. Pretty much the same stats as the monkey musketeer, but she has the edge on abilities after her promotion. Since she is a ranged fighter, you’d think her mobility as defined by the squares of battlefield she can attack would give her high mobility, but in practice, it’s currently just not enough. Still, she has an AE and the monkey does not (though he has the greater range), so she gets the nod.
Old Scratch, witchdoctor. Low damage, low health, medium mobility. I wanted Old Scratch from the very beginning for one thing and one thing only: his ability to summon a Skeletal Pirate. This puts more hit points, more companions, and more damage-per-turn on the field. Old Scratch’s nukes do make a difference, too, but by themselves would not make me choose him over another swashbuckler or buccaneer.
In fact, you won’t find a buccaneer in my favorite four, the crew most likely to accompany me into battle. This is because I have SO MANY buccaneers that I almost have at least one in a battle, whether or not I choose them. So I am weighting things toward my non-bucc crew.
Doesn’t mean I don’t value them — I do, and they are often decisive forces on the battlefield, especially after a promotion. It’s just I don’t feel any particular need to choose one over the other.

Ya know, I just noticed that, dressed like a clockwork, I look so much like my pirate flag that it’s amazing. Maybe that’s why the clockworks let me traipse around the edges of Valencia so freely with such a flimsy disguise. I don’t even goose-step when I walk. What’s up with that?
Still, clockwork armada soldiers, killer Christmas gift. Now to convince KI to MAKE them.
Not a lot of impressions of Valencia, as I said. Of course, they reference the Spanish Armada that blockaded Britain way back when, but it’s closer to the French resistance vs the invading Third Reich — including the goose-stepping clockworks straight out of Triumph of the Will.
So, a little bit of anachronism there, I guess.
Clockwork armada soldiers are frequently musketeers, which means they have high effective mobility but, thankfully, rather low damage. Best thing, I’ve found, is to keep them engaged lobbing salvos with my ranged fighters while I sneak around the battlefield, picking them off.
Worked so far.