Something you may not be aware of (I certainly wasn't):

Every once in awhile you come across and rescue "Castaways from ______". Naturally I would pick them up and drop them off at my next port-o'-call. Doing so would earn me a huge whopping reward of 100 gold. I'd figure "Big deal. I suppose 100 is better than nothing", especially since I never went out of my way much to pick them up in the first place. HOWEVER, I just encountered some castaways "from Riga" while on my way to Riga. I picked them up, but this time, dropping off the castaways in the town that they came from, the reward was _1000_ gold. Now <<that is a worthwhile reward!

So, next time you pick up castaways, take note of where they came from. If that town isn't too far away, it may be worth your while to make a small detour.

Depends on who you pick them up with. i usualy divert a convoy to pick them up then reenable the auto route unless im like right next to the city they are from which is not the case 99% of the time.missing your port can cost you 1000's if you take them to the home city.

with the modding files you can change the given award to a sum which is even worth to deliver them to the "wrong" destination!

Lebe jeden Tag, als wäre es Dein Letzter! / Live each day as it would be your last!

I don't get it.

You all employ several pirate hunter convoys to keep the thread of pirates as low as possible, but divert a trade convoy to gain 900 gp more if a castaway is brought to his hometown??

Don't you folks see that diverting a trade convoy is costing more as the 900 gp you earn when delivering the castaway to the right town?
You'll risk the lack of resources, the lack of finished goods and the possible downfall of your trading empire for such a small fee?

Imho it would be a lot smarter if you keep your trading convoys for what they are and employ several pirate hunter / mission convoys to deal with the rest. The moment a trading convoy sees a castaway, a nearby pirate convoy can pick him up and deliver him to his hometown. And in case that pirate hunter convoy runs into a pirate convoy, it can defeat the pirate and then deliver the castaway in his hometown.

The only time I have a convoy diverting its route, is when it encounters flotsam. Picking it up with a trading convoy is the easiest way to get it delivered to your nearest hub.


Thorin

(12-07-2011 02:31 PM)Thorin Oakshield Wrote:  Don't you folks see that diverting a trade convoy is costing more as the 900 gp you earn when delivering the castaway to the right town?
....
Imho it would be a lot smarter if you keep your trading convoys for what they are and employ several pirate hunter / mission convoys to deal with the rest.

It seems that most of the castaways I encounter are from far, far away from where I find them. BUT they are fairly close to the path of the ship that discovers them. _Those_ kinds of castaways end up in the next port-o'-call and I get a 100 gold reward. (Better than nothing.)

Personally, I don't use autotrading; too many lost sells and buys for my taste. (= tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands each month) I have a path a ship is more or less following, but it does so one town at a time. That is, for each ship, I direct it to the next town and hit the space bar. When the bell rings, EVERYTHING pauses while I do the trading for that particular ship. Furthermore, my ships are in and out of town in what is effectively just a matter of minutes, compared to the several hours a programmed captain would take (depending on his Trade skill level). Because I'm still not to the point (only @ ten ships and 4 CHs) where I am actually _fully_ supplying all the towns on a circuit, it really doesn't matter if I deviate from the next destination to go to some other nearby city. When I get there, I sell high and buy low from whatever is available. The only exception is if a ship is fulfilling a supply mission to a specific city or I'm carrying Economic Refugees to a specific city. In which case, whatever other nearby ship will be redirected to pick up the castaways.

(12-07-2011 02:31 PM)Thorin Oakshield Wrote:  I don't get it.

You all employ several pirate hunter convoys to keep the thread of pirates as low as possible, but divert a trade convoy to gain 900 gp more if a castaway is brought to his hometown??

Don't you folks see that diverting a trade convoy is costing more as the 900 gp you earn when delivering the castaway to the right town?
You'll risk the lack of resources, the lack of finished goods and the possible downfall of your trading empire for such a small fee?

Thorin

I dont

I just divert the closest convoy.then send back on its auto route.
Usualy you dont have an un occupied convoy near the castaways.
and iv always thought they would be gone long before you could get another ship to them.

just take the 100g or the occasional 1000 if you get lucky.

(12-07-2011 09:33 PM)Easy Bakes Wrote:  I just divert the closest convoy.then send back on its auto route.
Usualy you dont have an un occupied convoy near the castaways.
and iv always thought they would be gone long before you could get another ship to them.

just take the 100g or the occasional 1000 if you get lucky.

that's what i do...but thx to the modding i get 5000 for the wrong town!

Lebe jeden Tag, als wäre es Dein Letzter! / Live each day as it would be your last!

does anyone know if the computer pick up castaways and floaters?

(13-07-2011 09:51 PM)Blackbeard Wrote:  does anyone know if the computer pick up castaways and floaters?

I've seen AI ships sail practically through the icons for castaways and flotsam without the icons disappearing. I've also taken too much time getting to an icon, only to have it vanish when there was no other ships closer than my vessel. So it seems to me that if YOU don't pick them up, after a set amount of time they disappear.

Woulnt it be cool if you pick ed up castaways and they were Pirates? who took over your comvoy?