Sailing NPC Ship Quest Locations and Distribution

Forgive me if you've heard this one before. Forum searches didn't seem to turn up a closely related topic.

When given a quest, especially while in lower ranks, ships of the right type and skill level were found relatively near the island of the given quest. For example the Cuban based Tia quests for voodoo-doll-making called for 3 Navy Bulwarks (if I recall correctly). You then sail in the area of Cuba following the guide light and find your doomed Bulwarks with a reasonable search.

In my recent new adventures, I leave Cuba with no guide light to be found and relatively few ships at all in the area. The following evening of play I sailed near Raven's Cove. My previously missing guide light flashes on to that missing Bulwark... great! But wait a minute, this part of the sea is clogged with ships of all types and levels including those level 4 Bulwarks I need. However I can't get near my prey because the ocean is so clogged I'm targeting by 3 other ships of much greater strength.

TL;DR ..... is there work already being done to improve the distribution of NPC ships across the ocean and also place prey in more appropriate locations?
 
Forgive me if you've heard this one before. Forum searches didn't seem to turn up a closely related topic.

When given a quest, especially while in lower ranks, ships of the right type and skill level were found relatively near the island of the given quest. For example the Cuban based Tia quests for voodoo-doll-making called for 3 Navy Bulwarks (if I recall correctly). You then sail in the area of Cuba following the guide light and find your doomed Bulwarks with a reasonable search.

In my recent new adventures, I leave Cuba with no guide light to be found and relatively few ships at all in the area. The following evening of play I sailed near Raven's Cove. My previously missing guide light flashes on to that missing Bulwark... great! But wait a minute, this part of the sea is clogged with ships of all types and levels including those level 4 Bulwarks I need. However I can't get near my prey because the ocean is so clogged I'm targeting by 3 other ships of much greater strength.

TL;DR ..... is there work already being done to improve the distribution of NPC ships across the ocean and also place prey in more appropriate locations?
The guidelight isn't always right.
If you sail to the spawning areas for whatever type of ship you need, that's your best bet. The wiki has the spawn location(s) for each ship type. And there may even be a thread of the same here on the Forums.

Edit:
I found a ship spawn guide from 2008 and one from TLOPO beta posted in February of this year
 
The guidelight isn't always right.
If you sail to the spawning areas for whatever type of ship you need, that's your best bet. The wiki has the spawn location(s) for each ship type. And there may even be a thread of the same here on the Forums.

Edit:
I found a ship spawn guide from 2008 and one from TLOPO beta posted in February of this year
I notice in the few times it is right that sometimes the ship would sail into an island like Port Royal and therefore not exactly something that is particularly easy to go after especially since it seems to stay there. I havent been on a while though, so I wouldnt know if an issue like that has since been remedied.
 
I notice in the few times it is right that sometimes the ship would sail into an island like Port Royal and therefore not exactly something that is particularly easy to go after especially since it seems to stay there. I havent been on a while though, so I wouldnt know if an issue like that has since been remedied.
Yeah I don't get on often either, so I wouldn't know. All I know is that those two threads are there, and I'm still fairly familiar myself with where certain ships spawn.
Low level Navy spawns between PR and Devil's Anvil, EITC spawns a lot around Kingshead, skeletons spawn near PDF and Raven's, the higher levels spawn near Tormenta and Raven's, etc.
 
for me there isn't a single ship between PR and devils cut. I cant do half my quests because the ships aren't there. the lowest ones I find are navy panthers. there hasn't been a single bulwark or ferret
 
I know this might sound weird. But I make sure when doing quests for ships that I do not turn them on to get the light at sea. If I turn it on, I more than 80% of the time have a hard time finding the ships. if I leave it off the ships appear more often. I told the guild I am in about it and they started doing it and have experienced the same thing.
 
I've noticed the same thing. It seems like every time I need a ship for a quest, it's surrounded by several other high level ships. Then instead of me just sinking one ship, I'm forced to circle 5-6 ships until I sink the one I need.

I hadn't heard of the quest light tip though. I might start turning it off and see if I have better luck!
 
I've noticed the same thing. It seems like every time I need a ship for a quest, it's surrounded by several other high level ships. Then instead of me just sinking one ship, I'm forced to circle 5-6 ships until I sink the one I need.

I hadn't heard of the quest light tip though. I might start turning it off and see if I have better luck!
Try sailing close enough to the certain ship you need (where you won't catch the attention of other ships) then shoot it with a cannon, Once you've got its attention you can sink it with your broadsides. This will make it so you only have one ship to deal with.
 
I know this might sound weird. But I make sure when doing quests for ships that I do not turn them on to get the light at sea. If I turn it on, I more than 80% of the time have a hard time finding the ships. if I leave it off the ships appear more often. I told the guild I am in about it and they started doing it and have experienced the same thing.
Interesting. How do you turn off those lights again? The light thing has been very erractic anyways in this beta.
 
You turn off the quest so you aren't following it. but you can still look at the quest to see what you need just don't have it turned on where it shows up at the top right hand corner of the page.
 
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