ENGLISH QUESTGA.3 The Dutch Gambit, For Jolly Old England!
If you have a positive reputation, you might very well choose to side with England in the Dutch Gambit.
Requirements for helping England: less than rank 15, a positive reputation, 30 navigation skill (includes officers... so hardly a requirement at all =P)
Officer reward for helping England: Charlie Knippel, a decent cannoneer.... I guess. (65) accuracy and Cannons ,45 navigation.
Special ship for helping England: The Mirage, a truly unique privateer Ketch. In my opinion the best of the three ship choices by far.
GA.3.i The Dutch Gambit (England, part 1)
Quest: The Dutch Gambit (England, part 1)
Difficulty: Hard
Enemies: East Indian, Xebec, War Schooner
Time Sensitive: Immediate
Requirements: Less than Rank 15, Navigation 30, positive reputation
Required items: none
Quest Giver: Charlie Knippel in St. John's Antigua
Rewards: 100,000 pesos
Go meet with Charlie Knippel in St. Johns, just go left from the docks to his shack. He will tell you that you are just in time and he wants you to ambush a Dutch trade caravan going from Curacao to Phillipsburg. If you head near St. Christopher you can see the purple sails come into sight before long. Be ready for a fight. If you are just using a class 4 ship at this point... a very difficult fight indeed. You'll be facing a squadron of 3 ships headed by an East-Indian. While it is a trade vessel, it is class 2 and boasts over 400 crew and 36 guns. This isn't to mention the class 3 Xebec, and laughably the class 4 war schooner, the runt of the litter.
If you are going in guns blazing with a brigantine, like me, then I suggest you make straight for the War Schooner, boarding and sinking it immediately, its small crew can't resist you. After that you can take out the Xebec, and probably switch vessels to pilot this one to attack the East Indian. If all else fails, you can always use the fort at Antigua to help you out.
Once you board the East Indian, the cabin chest has 2000 pesos, a chronometer, an arquebus, and 80 doubloons. In the hold you will find 2225 silver, geez. Unfortunately you cannot touch the silver, not any of it =(. Even damage by rats will cause you to fail the quest. Everything else is fair game though.
After turning over the ship and its silver cargo to Knippel, he tells you to return the next day. Actually its two days, and you may want to go ahead and put your ship into mooring and buy a longboat or use some other throwaway for the next part, just so you don't lose your ship.
Return to Charlie and he will then tell you about the attempt on Fleetwood's life by the one-eyed man, but the guy still wants to see you. Follow Charlie to Fleetwood's house, next to the governor's residence. Go upstairs and talk to Richard, and he will tell you about the next assignment, as well as pay you 100,000 pesos that are in the cabinet under the window. Also 10,000 extra for the fee related to storing you ship at the Harbormaster.
GA.3.ii The Dutch Gambit (England, part 2)
Quest: The Dutch Gambit (England, Part 2)
Difficulty: Easy
Enemies: The Mirage
Time Sensitive: no
Requirements: complete part 1
Required Items: The Valkyrie (given)
Quest Giver: Richard Fleetwood in his residence in St. John's.
Rewards: The Mirage, Boussele, Joker Talisman, 12000 pesos, Joker Talisman recipe, Hourglass
Richard will tell you about the "Ghost Ship" he believes is hired by Rodenburg of the West India trading company. He wants you to bust that ghost once and for all. You will take his Patrol Brig The Valkyrie and pretend to refit it as a merchant vessel. Go to the harbor master and give him your ship, and then return to Fleetwood, who will then grant you control of the Valkyrie, a sweet special Patrol Brig, along with a truly impressive crew. He warns you not to create a squadron, but to sail only the Valkyrie alone to Bridgetown on Barbados.
When you go downstairs Charlie offers you his services as a cannoneer. He is pretty decent and likely better than any other you've found so far, chain-shot to my back! Welcome aboard!
You might buy a few barrels of rum before you leave... that stingy ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ fleetwood didn't give you any.
Once you get to Barbados, go around town running your mouth about how awesome your cargo is and how you had to dump all your cannons in order to fit it all in and stuff like that. Hercule at the tavern is probalby especially interested in what you have to say. For good measure put in a word at the Harbor Master and ask the Usurer about a huge loan to buy lots of goodies. Go tell the store keeper you just got rid of all your guns and still need more space so you are probably going to buy a fleut. See the governor about gossiping to all his high brow friends about how much of a dumbass you are. Go tell the brothel madam how you are severely under manned for the amount of cargo you have, so you want to know how much it is to give your measly 50 soldiers a good time. Finally go see the shipwright about selling your big scary cannons for some pea shooting nerf guns.
I'm surprised you dont have to go by the church and tell them you need to pray for God to protect you since you sold all your crew's guns, ammo, and swords to buy tobacco.
After this you can leave town, pretty soon a purple sailed ship will come after you, this is the Mirage. Its a wonder you didn't get converged on from all sides by Gentlemen of Fortune as well....
with your crack crew and the fact that the guy is probably flat out amazed you even have guns on your ship, you can make pretty short work of the Mirage. They barely have more crew than you to begin with, so give them a few good volley of grape shot and board them. The English marines will destroy them. Leaving you free to kill Jacob Van Berg and take the prize. 12000 pesos, the Joker talisman, his log book, the recipe fot he talisman, an hourglass, and the usual weapons and potion pack.
Take control of the Mirage, a fantastic ship, and head back to Antigua. Unfortunately when you see Fleetwood he has them clean up the Mirage and give it white sails and all that... sigh... too bad there isn't an option to keep it looking like the ghost ship! He takes his Valkyrie back, so go ahead and unload all the cargo and its guns before you go to see him =P. A fire broke out in the harbor, and your docked long boat is now at the bottom of the sea, oh noes! As compensation he gives you The Mirage, and "fixes" it up to be presentable. It is still a beautiful vessel, just the old Mirage would be more suited if you are going pirate
. He also gives you a boussele, which I'm sure will come in handy.
GA.3.iii The Dutch Gambit (England, Part 3) (MR x3)
Quest: The Dutch Gambit (England, Part 3)
Difficulty: Normal
Enemies: Chavinavi, minion of the God of Death (Not joking.)
Time Sensitive: no
Requirements: successfully complete part 2
Required items: none
Rewards: A severed head.
For your next assignment, Fleetwood gives you a much more personal matter to attend to. During one of his hunts for the Mirage, Richard had heard a battle but could not reach it in time to stop the ghost ship from sinking a fleut. Upon investigation of the nearby island he found a Jewish goddess, and her cranky old da. He rescued them from their fate, and in the intervening days fell in love with Abigail. He returned them to their home on Curacao, where Rodenburg now seeks to ♥♥♥♥ block him hardcore.
So he changed his mind and wants Abigail to come live on Antigua, where he can keep close watch on her cookies, like any sane man when faced with keeping hold of a Jewish goddess, yes?
Off to Willemstad we go. We go to Abigails house across from the governor's residence and run into her father, who spouts some truly incomprehensible gibberish at us the moment we begin talking to him. Something about Rodenburg, and the guards, and shiny things. Then he talks about treasure... who knows what this guy is on about. He does let slip that Abigail is at church, so lets see if this woman is more lucid than her father.
We go to the church. Abigail isn't hard to spot, she's the only woman allowed to enter the church.... EVER. I may be a little cloudy on religion, but what is a Jewish girl doing in a christian church anyway? If they don't follow the Jewish faith are they still Jewish? Is it a race or a religion? Erm... whatever... talk to her.
News travels fast... she has heard that Richard is injured. People are well informed in the Caribbean I'll give them that. She wants to go to Richard, if only she had 200,000 pesos and a jade skull, she'd totally be right there by his side for the sake of love. Yeah ok. I'll go hunt down some treasure, be right back.
Go to your cabin and conteplate the meaning of life with the action menu, make sure you make a working chronometer if you haven't already, and equip it along with the boussele. After that you can go a little east of Curacao and find the island. If you have the map mod it is in the square of open ocean near by, pretty much anywhere in the square will get you there now. Be sure to bring some health potions and be ready for a fight.
Now you are on Isle de Coche. Land at Buccaneer's Bay.
IMPORTANT: There are 3 Manga Rosa on this island. The first one is in Buccaneers Bay, and the next on the following screen, and then another at the entrance to the cave. If you leave any of these screens without picking up the Manga Rosa they will disappear forever. (except the last one, which would only disappear once you go to another screen that has a Manga Rosa.)
Two screens in (left), you will find the grotto. Inside the chest you will find....
BOOOOOOOM
An explosion... following by a demon chieftan of some sort materializing out of thin air. Pretty tough guy, but no armor so not so bad. Kill and loot him for the double barrelled pistol and the club. Some people seem to have some trouble with this guy, but aside from having a good amount of hp I didn't see the issue, and I was playing on hard.
Once you take care of him you can look in the chest. Inside is.... Hercules, or as we know him Gaston the barkeep from Barbados, head with a bullet hole in it. Jesus Christ..... I think its time to leave.
Go back to Antigua and talk to Fleetwood. He will look at you like you are crazy when you tell him a demon skeleton indian chief attacked you, but is less inclined to argue when you throw a severed head on his desk. This is where he is secretly mashing his panic button to call in the guys with the straight jackets, yes?
GA.3.iv The Dutch Gambit (England, Part 4)
Quest: The Dutch Gambit (England, Part 4)
Difficulty: normal
Enemies: 3 polacre in one fight, The Meifang in another
Time Sensitive: 20 days
Requirements: complete part 3
Required items: none
Rewards: 200,000 pesos, 200,000 pesos, Charlie Knipple as an officer, 20,000 pesos, 20,000 pesos, four barreled pistol, 145 doubloons, Naval Klewang, Good spyglass, alchemist kit, antidote recipe, Recipe for talisman "Spinebiter", Drug store house on Antigua, Gino the alchemist.
Well, anyway he wants you to go check to see if the guy who lost his head here is really dead.... ok now who is the crazy one? No I'm sure he is fine, tending his bar in Barbados without his head. After that you can meet Charlie in Blanca Lagoon on Curacao to get the money for Abigail. Come back to him in 20 days to see if he's found out more on the subject.
Go ahead and get your new ship up to fighting condition, because you'll be using it soon. Or if you have something better sitting in storage go get that.
Go to Bridgetown and visit the tavern to look for Gaston. Alas, it would seem that bartending does in fact require a brain, or at least a head upon one's shoulders. He left a couple days after your theatrical merchant performance. He left a letter for you though, how thoughtful.
The letter, under the documents tab, will tell you that Gaston is really Hercule Tonzag, and in another life you could have been friends <tear>. He wants you to avenge his death, and he tells you that Fleetwood is a ♥♥♥♥♥♥... just slightly less of one than Rodenburg, who is a black hearted ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. He tells you to go see John Murdock in Antigua, he'll be hiding out in the dungeons across the street from the church in St. Johns.
First, however, we need to go pick up Charlie Knippel on Curacao and see what he has to say. When you arrive in Blanca Lagoon you meet Charlie, and he hands you a letter from Richard Fleetwood. Turns out he knocked up Abigail, took her from Curacao while you were visiting Barbados, and fled back to England. Say whuuuut? Now you are alone against Rodenburg, and he'd really sorry about that, but he has his wife and unborn child to think about. So he's leaving the 200,000 pesos for you to use yourself instead of giving to Solomon. Also he's leaving you his slave Charlie Knippel, who will hopefully serve you with more honor than Fleetwood himself.
P.S. That demon you fought was an undead incarnation of Hercule called a Chavinavi, a minion of the God of Death, bound to the chest by the severed head. A dark sorcerer is apparently around somewhere. Heavy stuff.
Well.. you got 200,000 pesos out of it anyway, so time to go see John Murdock and find out what you can do about Rodenburg, who has a hard on for killing you now. Welp... chain-shot to my butt, that sucks.
Get back on your ship and you are immediately met by 3 polacres from the Dutch Navy. You don't have to fight these if you do not want, and if you do you will take a hit to your relationship with the Dutch.
Get to Antigua and go into the dungeon to find John Murdock. He will be in the basement (straight until first left, right, left) and he isn't alone. He won't give a crap why you are there, so he and Longway attack you. They are no pushovers, but neither are they that difficult to kill. Take them on together or find a place to battle them one at a time, up to you.
On John's corpse you will find around 20,000 pesos, his archive, 2 sealed letters, and the weapons and potion common to most captains.
If you want to find the cipher for the archive you will have to exit the dungeon and come back in, it won't load until then. Alternately you can just save and load, that will work too. The cipher is left, straight, left, straight from the basement. (It is possible that it may spawn in other dead ends if you don't find it there, but it has been there every time I've played.)
After getting the cipher notes you realize that they are the ones who took Solomon's treasure. If you look back to Van Berg's Journal you will find that Rodenburg is on the Meifang in Esmeralda Bay, This is on the Cayman Isle. If you go there you find him, so prepare to battle the Meifang. You cannot be in a ship above class 4 if you want to board him.
When you get ready to board, try and be as far away as possible, because the Meifang is going to explode once you are done. Fight Rodenburg , he will warn you that he fired the powder in the hold, so the Meifang will soon explode. On Rodenburg you'll find 20000 pesos, a Naval Klewang, a good spyglass, and the usual captain stuff.
If you are the daring sort, you can loot the chests in the cabin for 20000 additional pesos, a four barreled pistol, 145 doubloons, a couple amulets, and a bottle of tears of Ixchel, 2 blue amber, 5 amber, and a meteorite. After that loot all the gunpowder out of the hold. After that the Meifang will go boom, and hopefully you had enough hull strength and were boarding from far enough away that you will survive.
Go ahead and land on the beach and head to the grotto. Here you will find Solomon's 200000 pesos ,along with keys to the drug store, grape shot to my nuts! You may want to go to the Desert Coast while you are here and grab the Manga Rosa there. Since you are conveniently close by.
Head back to Antigua and your new house, the Drug Store. You may ahve to enter through the dungeon the firs time... The house is conveniently occupied with your very own pet scientist. Talk to Gino upstairs for an alchemist kit and some latin phrases, as well as an antidote recipe. In your room next door you can find the recipe to the talisman Spinebiter. Don't mind the locked chest in the bottom room, it probably only contains the 500,000 pesos from the sale of the skull to Merriman anyway. Guess we'll never know!
. He also gives you a boussele, which I'm sure will come in handy.