Seriously, 18 companions and no way to dismiss any of them, which means I need to keep training all of them and more. At my level books are already at 5100 gold so if I keep all of them two levels lower than me so they can get 1 level per book and if I were to buy all books it would cost 91,800 gold, if I want to get them one level under me it will take twice that just for the extra level. If I then want to get them all to my level 275,000 gold extra. So to go from three levels under to my level it would take a wopping 550,400 gold. Now the problem is all of my companions are four levels under me, not three, so I need 642,200 gold to get them all up to me. Going from level 40 to level 47 my gold went from a couple hundred gold to around 45,000 gold. At this point I'd like to tell Kingsisle what they can do with their no companion drop policy, they have in no way given enough gold nor training points for so many companions and there simply is no need to have more than 8 to mix things up with. 18 companions is insane.

Paige MoonShade on Oct 28, 2012 wrote:

Seasnake

I have not bought Companion points since they went over 1000. You really do not need to buy them. If you wait until your companions are around 4-5 levels lower than you all you need it one point to level them up. Every time you level you gain 3 points. This would level up 3 companions. I put the companions I really like in the top 2 rows, yes once in awhile I will get a companion I do not really care for but it is okay. I do not have any companions my level. My favorite companion is level 31 Bonnie Anne has her second promotion then and that is where I left her, which is 10 levels below my Pirate. I have 2 pages of companions. My suggestion is do not purchase points just use the ones you gain by leveling.

That is what I mostly do, don't level them until they get a level with a book, but with more and more companions constantly being added they simply fall further and further back and I like to keep all the ones I have at the same level as each other so I will buy some books with gold. This system is simply broke this way and I have more and more comanions that I simply don't like, don't want, and absolutely hate having. I understand that sometimes companions will get quests that are part of the game, but there is nothing stopping the game from telling you when they are available for a new quest when you talk to the right NPC that triggers their quest. If you need to or want to do their quests you could simply bring them back out of retirement until their quests are over and then shipwreck them (put them in the attick/brig) again. If the system were changed where only 8 or 10 companions are included in the chances of coming up during a fight, then you wouldn't need to keep training more and more of them and you would just work on getting the best 8 or 10 you can and likely different players would select to have companions in their chosen that are different from each others adding a bit more variety to the game in terms of character differences. The quest system wouldn't be broken as your level could still alert and trigger you into pulling companions you have out of retirement until their quests are over, and as they level up if they are better than any of the 8 or 10 companions you use, you can swap them out. I would change how things currently are by disallowing players to drop anything over 8 characters but anything not in the brig/shipwrecked that is on their first page of companions can be included in their call up list. If a player shipwrecks a companion, the companion would have the word "shipwrecked" upon them indicating that they aren't included in the chances of coming up.

I always keep my companion 3 levels below me, that way they always level 1 level per tome, when I myself level. I do all the side quests for training tomes, and have had no problems obtaining enough training tomes. I do purchase tomes, I try to keep at least 10, because gold hasnt been an issue. I like to sink ships, and after sinking ships for awhile, I have lots of gold. I only have 12 companions currently, however know I will be getting more as I quest along. In test I had 26 companions when my pirate was level 57. All my companions were in the 50's. Companion management is one of the challenges of the game. You may need to adjust your strategy some. Good luck matey! The ability to remove companions would somewhat ruin the companion management aspect of the game, as no one would have to manage their companions at all.

You have to be smart about training tomes in this game. Not only do you receive tomes every time you level, but there are many many quests and side quests that give tomes (plus a few hidden in different areas in the game).

Generally, the first pirate you make for the game is the one you learn with. There will be many mistakes and "oh, I wish I had done that". Luckily, there are 5 other pirates that can be made, and things will go easier now that the first pirate has gone through the learning curve.

Now that I have one pirate at the level cap (L50), I've been farming for gold. There are a few places that give lots and lots of gold in a short amount of time.

I have 8 companions that are now level 50, most of the rest are level 49, and only two are at level 48.

People love control. Think about the money you could make if you gave them more control followed by further crown gear etc...

Final Fantasy Tactics on the psx is legendary for (in my opinion) the way it gave you control over your army. You would think a captain of a ship could pick and choose his mates for battle. Just saying...

It is just silly. It is not difficult with or without the randomness as I have yet to die in any battle but just saying it would be fun.

You can find some Companion Training Points around the Spiral.

Just look for a little shining book.

Hope this helps.

Shout what ye like 'bout companion strategy, th' truth be, ye cant level them enough,th' cost to do so be ridiculous

i fer one do not receive that be all I can take companion points or gold fer that matter,

lvl 50, cant count the number 'o me chests were worth 1 gold, 1 gold? come on already!

'n yarr i be doin' side quests i would do them over if i could just fer th' points

Th' lack 'o companion control drives me nutty, Wasnt 'til i received th' monkey kin' that i got one jolly solid first matey, now i have no quests, hardyharhar