Captain Rosethorn on May 26, 2014 wrote:

I have a lot of questions to things I'm not understanding in the game, and am trying to. I feel bad because I'm level 53 in the game with my swashbuckler so I should know these things. Well no time like the present to ask so I can learn, right? Here we go!

1. How does flanking work? A few of my companions has flanking as one of their talents yet I can't get it to work right. According to the picture, and from what I've read it triggers when the one with the talent flanks an enemy with someone else opposite of them. For example I often will put whoever has flanking to the opposite side of my character with an enemy between us. Yet they just stand there. I don't understand this as when I walk in-between enemies who has flanking it triggers and I get hit.

2. Why doesn't vengeance strike always trigger? When an enemy attacks my companions who has that talent with a basic melee attack, it jumps to the next one in the turn order. Same thing happens when I attack enemies with a basic hit. Granted it's nice to not be hit back for doing that, but it's still odd. I know that with ranged attacks, spells and special hits that doesn't trigger vengeance strike. It just seems to do it for basic hits, but why doesn't it always trigger with just the basic hits?

3. When sending out companions for gold and ship exp. How come collecting does nothing? I open the chat menu to see what is given and it won't always load the rewards. I've counted six companions that I'll collect stuff, and no reward is listed. Is there a limit to how many I'm suppose to be using?

4. When I and a few other of my companions dodge why doesn't reposite kick in? I have rank 3, another has rank 3, and the rest has rank one. Yet when we dodge often times we just stand there. Has this talent change? Is it triggered differently now? I don't train much in armor so I don't know if that is needed for blocking hits. Also when talking about dodging and hitting back, I'm talking about the first dodge. Sometimes it'll work but often it won't and that has me confused.

Those are my main questions right now. If other players could explain these to me I would appreciate it. Thank you.

well about the flanking thing, i am pretty sure that if a baddie goes near that companion with flanking, it stops him in his tracksor is that wrong? lol i cant remember honestly but i am pretty sure thats what it is.

Robert: It doesn't stop the baddies from moving. Just suppose to have the companions who have it stab them when they walk in between.

Shaman: Yes it is with physical attacks. I don't have any with crossfire nor the spell flanking (forgot what it's called). Also yes they aren't showing up in the logs. I'll do what you suggest and write down the numbers before and after each collection. If they don't change then I'm going to assume that's not normal. I'll also write down when the other stuff happens.

I also have a new question. Do talents only trigger in the persons line of sight? For example; Bonnie Anne has overwatch yet she only fires when enemies approach her from the front. If they sneak up behind her she does not turn around and fire.

Captain Rosethorn on May 26, 2014 wrote:

I have a lot of questions to things I'm not understanding in the game, and am trying to. I feel bad because I'm level 53 in the game with my swashbuckler so I should know these things. Well no time like the present to ask so I can learn, right? Here we go!

1. How does flanking work? A few of my companions has flanking as one of their talents yet I can't get it to work right. According to the picture, and from what I've read it triggers when the one with the talent flanks an enemy with someone else opposite of them. For example I often will put whoever has flanking to the opposite side of my character with an enemy between us. Yet they just stand there. I don't understand this as when I walk in-between enemies who has flanking it triggers and I get hit.

2. Why doesn't vengeance strike always trigger? When an enemy attacks my companions who has that talent with a basic melee attack, it jumps to the next one in the turn order. Same thing happens when I attack enemies with a basic hit. Granted it's nice to not be hit back for doing that, but it's still odd. I know that with ranged attacks, spells and special hits that doesn't trigger vengeance strike. It just seems to do it for basic hits, but why doesn't it always trigger with just the basic hits?

3. When sending out companions for gold and ship exp. How come collecting does nothing? I open the chat menu to see what is given and it won't always load the rewards. I've counted six companions that I'll collect stuff, and no reward is listed. Is there a limit to how many I'm suppose to be using?

4. When I and a few other of my companions dodge why doesn't reposite kick in? I have rank 3, another has rank 3, and the rest has rank one. Yet when we dodge often times we just stand there. Has this talent change? Is it triggered differently now? I don't train much in armor so I don't know if that is needed for blocking hits. Also when talking about dodging and hitting back, I'm talking about the first dodge. Sometimes it'll work but often it won't and that has me confused.

Those are my main questions right now. If other players could explain these to me I would appreciate it. Thank you.

Hello Captain Rosethorn.

I thought that I would help explain Flanking a little bit. There are a few key points that you need to know in order to understand Flanking. Here's a basic explanation on how Flanking works in battle.

If you have a crew member w/ Flanking, you'll also need another crew member or ally in battle that is a melee attacker, w/ a melee weapon equipped. Flanking is a melee Epic & only triggers in conjunction w/ another melee attacker. Now as far as getting it to trigger, all you need to do is end the crew member's (that possesses Flanking) turn w/ an enemy "sandwiched" between that crew member & any other allied melee fighter. Basically you will be ending the turn in a straight or diagonal line w/ the following positioning:

Melee Unit w/ Flanking - Enemy - Allied Melee Unit

Any straight line w/ this positioning is guaranteed to trigger the Flanking providing both melee fighters are using melee weapons. Flanking will also trigger if an enemy moves into the empty middle space sandwiched by both of your melee crew members. The key again, is that both the member with Flanking & the Allied fighter have to both currently be melee attackers during the battle. It won't trigger if the Allied fighter is using ranged weapons for attacks, even if you position them properly.

As stated, Flanking is guaranteed to trigger if the above conditions are met, w/ the # of times triggering per round dependent upon the Rank of Flanking that the crew member possesses. It is extremely valuable to use to attack multiple enemies in the same turn. You can position the "Flanker" so that it will trigger on a weak enemy to try to finish them off and use the "Flanker's" actual turn in combat, with possibly a power, to attack a different enemy in the same turn. Two for the price of one. Most of the time you can do this in almost any given round...& it is a great strategy & way to start off Epic Chains.

Also, a great thing to know is that you can use your pirate's pets (at least melee ones for sure), as a way of triggering Flanking- in the exact same manner as described above.

Multiple ranks of Flanking allow it to trigger multiple times in each round. With proper positioning you can place your Flanking crew member to serve up 2 Flanking Sandwiches (ooh, Flank Steak Sandwich- yummy) and still attack a 3rd enemy all in the same turn. Or use Flanking on 2 enemies with the additional, turn of attack on one of those enemies to add some misery to that enemy's already bad day.

In my opinion, Flanking is absolutely the most valuable and strategic Epic Talent that a melee fighter could possess. You have total control of when it triggers & who it triggers against (when using in your turn of combat), providing you keep at least one other melee fighter on the battle board. It works against all classes & damage types- so it doesn't become 'useless' in battle like Vengeance Strike, First Strike & Riposte often can against ranged Musketeers & Witchdoctors.

Hope this Helps

Those things do not work for me even though according to what you guys wrote, should. On my swashbuckler, I have Fan Flanders and when I put her opposite of Ratbeard she just stands there. To show what I mean,

REF - R being Ratbeard, E is Enemy, and F is Fan. I put her there on her turn with Ratbeard already on the other side of the enemy and when she moves in, she just attacks normally with no flanking at all. Ratbeard is melee trained so shouldn't flanking work then?

I am ranked 3 in Reposite, yet I've counted it triggering one to two times but dodging more times than that. Same thing with my companions who are ranked above 1 in that talent.

Vengance strike, same thing rank 3 yet sometimes it doesn't trigger at all. Ratbeard you said it has to be melee for it to work but it doesn't work that way for me. Melee is stuff like swords right? I'm fighting against sword weilding horses in mooshu with my horse guy companion with rank 3 vengance strike and he just stands there taking the blows.

Also, no I do not always see something in the chat logs for collecting gold and exp. Maybe I need to send this all into a bug report. Would that make more sense? I can't tell if this is normal and I'm just not doing this right, or if something else is the issue here.

Okay, I'll contact support. I'll also try to recreate the issues and write down exactly what happens each time, and who it happens with. I'm sorry for not explaining this too well. I am pretty bad at explaining things but thanks to all for the help.

Captain Rosethorn on May 27, 2014 wrote:

Robert: It doesn't stop the baddies from moving. Just suppose to have the companions who have it stab them when they walk in between.

Shaman: Yes it is with physical attacks. I don't have any with crossfire nor the spell flanking (forgot what it's called). Also yes they aren't showing up in the logs. I'll do what you suggest and write down the numbers before and after each collection. If they don't change then I'm going to assume that's not normal. I'll also write down when the other stuff happens.

I also have a new question. Do talents only trigger in the persons line of sight? For example; Bonnie Anne has overwatch yet she only fires when enemies approach her from the front. If they sneak up behind her she does not turn around and fire.

o ok thx

Captain Rosethorn on May 28, 2014 wrote:

Those things do not work for me even though according to what you guys wrote, should. On my swashbuckler, I have Fan Flanders and when I put her opposite of Ratbeard she just stands there. To show what I mean,

REF - R being Ratbeard, E is Enemy, and F is Fan. I put her there on her turn with Ratbeard already on the other side of the enemy and when she moves in, she just attacks normally with no flanking at all. Ratbeard is melee trained so shouldn't flanking work then?

I am ranked 3 in Reposite, yet I've counted it triggering one to two times but dodging more times than that. Same thing with my companions who are ranked above 1 in that talent.

Vengance strike, same thing rank 3 yet sometimes it doesn't trigger at all. Ratbeard you said it has to be melee for it to work but it doesn't work that way for me. Melee is stuff like swords right? I'm fighting against sword weilding horses in mooshu with my horse guy companion with rank 3 vengance strike and he just stands there taking the blows.

Also, no I do not always see something in the chat logs for collecting gold and exp. Maybe I need to send this all into a bug report. Would that make more sense? I can't tell if this is normal and I'm just not doing this right, or if something else is the issue here.

There is one enemy who cannot be flanked, that is the nefarious Ettin . Be sure ya aren't testing it on him. And also, when you flank, the companion with the flank must be the last companion to move to the flank position. Here's a visual of what would not trigger flanking vs. what would:

( F = Flanders. R = Ratbeard. E = Enemy. S = Empty Space )

Turn 1

R S S S
S S E F
S S S S

Turn 2

S S S S
S R E F
S S S S

As you can see, Ratbeard moved into the position so that Flanders is now opposite from Ratbeard via the enemy. However, this does not trigger Flander's Flanking because she is not the one who moved into Flanking position, Ratbeard did.

Now let's show ya a correct visual.

Turn 1

F S S S
S S E R
S S S S

Turn 2

S S S S
S F E R
S S S S

That would be the correct way of triggering Flanking as Flanders moved into the correct position.

As for Riposte, there are times in when an epic is triggered, normally you can tell by the word "Riposte" popping up from the companion. However, from what I am experiencing, there is a visual bug where when an epic is triggered, sometimes the name of the epic does not pop up when it activates. IE: My Toro blocks a Samoorai. His Riposte is activated, being obvious by his higher damage with his strike, but the word "Riposte" does not always pop up from his name. Maybe it's a visual bug that yer experiencing like me? And remember, rank 2 and 3 epics have up to 3 triggers. So if your Subodai, his correct name, has already been hit 3 times by a melee, then any additional hits beyond that will not trigger for the entire round. Not just the turn you're hitting, that includes your turn and their turn. So if your Subodai gets hit 3 times while you're still attacking, he can no longer trigger it when it becomes the enemy's turn to attack.

As for the last one, be sure your gold and exp is not full. That can happen sometimes. It can also be an internet connection problem. I doubt that's it, but its happened to me.