I agree and disagree. Yes, there is a lack of lady companions. Yes, I'm a Privateer, so I can openly say that more than 3/4 of all companions are male. However, I feel like the women are represented very well. Bonnie Anne, first of all, has three promotions. Only Ratbeard has that many so far. Also the Marchioness has, as far as I can tell, the best critical rate in the game (except for maybe Catbeard). I feel like, in the future, there will be a good portion more female companions than there are now. Of course, let's not just think about companions.

Have you ever seen any female bison? Or any crab women? How about the water moles? While the most major races, like eagles, chickens, unicorns/horses, humans (of course), and even monkeys have women, it has, for some reason, always bothered me that there are no bison-ettes. As a matter of fact, there aren't even any little baby bison. Why KingsIsle, why?

Two points:

1) Players are now guaranteed the following female companions: Bonnie Anne, Shiruku Neko, and Gracie Conrad. They also have a chance to get the following female characters: The Marchioness, Jane Canary, Nadya, Fan Flanders, Sarah Steele, Nurse Quinn, Chantal Livingstone, and those are just the ones I know of.

2) With the new advance companions, and the fact that battle parties never exceed three companions, you are guaranteed of being able to field an all female battle group shortly after you get to Marleybone, probably before. Swashbucklers, who get Fan Fladers, Bonnie Anne, and Sarah Steele, will be able to do it even before they leave for Monquista. You just have to set the companion setting to In Order, and voila, an all female crew, for as long as they remain healthy.

I agree! Even though most pirates in the real world were male that doesn't give kingslsle any right to exclude a population of female companions. I am very mad at myself for not seeing this sooner. I honestly don't think its legal.

Polaris1055 on Sep 6, 2014 wrote:

Ya it almost seems Sexist for lack of females companions so far there's

Bonnie Anne( all), Sarah Steele( only), Lucy Sterling(Crown Shop), Fan Flanders( only without Counterpart), The Marchioness(only without counterpart), Chantal Livingstone( only without Counterpart), then in floatsam and tradewinds and Monquista, and Valencia, then Nurse Quinn( only and avalible in crown shop), Jane Canary( only and availible), Nadya( only and Avalible in crown shop), Mustang Sally( only and availible in crown shop), Shiruku Neko( all), Gracie Conrad(all) , Serphant Augar( only and availible in crown shop) , Eagle Archer( onlt and avalibe in crown shop), Zeena( all), Nikeeta(Crownshop only). That's only 16 compared to the other which is like 100 males

I would not really call it sexist. Historically males outnumbered females in piracy by a very wide margin.

I think players should comfort themselves with the fact that by the time they finish Marleybone they can field an all female crew, and that 3 of the 5 special class characters (the ones you get when you first meet your guild trainer before you meet Ratbeard) are female.

If you want an all female crew, your best bet is the Swashbuckler. You can field an all-female crew right after you first meet Ratbeard (Bonnie Anne, Fan Flanders, Sarah Steele).Privateers can do it by the time they finish Cool Ranch (Bonnie Anne, The Marchioness, Jane Canary), Buccaneers by the time they finish Mooshu (Bonnie Anne, Nadya, Shiruku Neko), Musketeers also by the time they finish Mooshu (Bonnie Anne, Chantal Livingstone, Shiruku Neko), and only Witchdoctors have to wait for Marleybone (Bonnie Anne, Shiruku Neko, Gracie Conrad).

Privateers and Musketeers can USUALLY field an all-female crew by the time they meet Ratbeard except in fights where you get three companions. Buccaneers by the time they reach Cool Ranch, and only Witchdoctors have to wait for the end of Mooshu.

darkdoombro345 on Jul 21, 2014 wrote:

I agree and disagree. Yes, there is a lack of lady companions. Yes, I'm a Privateer, so I can openly say that more than 3/4 of all companions are male. However, I feel like the women are represented very well. Bonnie Anne, first of all, has three promotions. Only Ratbeard has that many so far. Also the Marchioness has, as far as I can tell, the best critical rate in the game (except for maybe Catbeard). I feel like, in the future, there will be a good portion more female companions than there are now. Of course, let's not just think about companions.

Have you ever seen any female bison? Or any crab women? How about the water moles? While the most major races, like eagles, chickens, unicorns/horses, humans (of course), and even monkeys have women, it has, for some reason, always bothered me that there are no bison-ettes. As a matter of fact, there aren't even any little baby bison. Why KingsIsle, why?

Ridolfo has 3 promotions

wiz11110 on Feb 10, 2013 wrote:

They could add a female cow companion like Moolinda Wu in W101.
Bristly Kevin

Or Dahlia Falmea. Or whatever her name was...Bonnie Anne is still my favorite!

Polaris1055 on Sep 6, 2014 wrote:

Ya it almost seems Sexist for lack of females companions so far there's

Bonnie Anne( all), Sarah Steele( only), Lucy Sterling(Crown Shop), Fan Flanders( only without Counterpart), The Marchioness(only without counterpart), Chantal Livingstone( only without Counterpart), then in floatsam and tradewinds and Monquista, and Valencia, then Nurse Quinn( only and avalible in crown shop), Jane Canary( only and availible), Nadya( only and Avalible in crown shop), Mustang Sally( only and availible in crown shop), Shiruku Neko( all), Gracie Conrad(all) , Serphant Augar( only and availible in crown shop) , Eagle Archer( onlt and avalibe in crown shop), Zeena( all), Nikeeta(Crownshop only). That's only 16 compared to the other which is like 100 males

Don't forget Nausica the centaur princess/Sagittarius from the empire bundle! She is very powerful btw

Max DeGroot on Sep 7, 2014 wrote:

Fair enough, Bonnie Anne.

A suggestion, if I may:

Would it be possible to set it up so that people have a choice? For example, rather than have El Toro join your crew, give the player a choice between El Toro and Mustang Sally? Rather than assign a particular one of the Magnificent Seven to a pirate, give them a choice of any of the six, so they can pick Jane Canary no matter what their class? Make one of the group found in El Guapo's Jail female and give players a choice?

In other words, rather than forcing a particular companion on the player, give them a choice of equally powerful companions.

But that could lead to a player's regret. For example:

Say you have the choice between a Tigress Warrior or a Tiger Apprentice. Both are Swashbucklers. Each starts with one epic: Tigress gets Riposte and Tiger gets First Strike. You pick the Tigress and your friend picks the Tiger. As you play on, the Tigress promotes once to Tigress Sensei, and has a total of four epics. Your friend's Tiger promotes twice, first to Tiger Master and then to Tiger Warlord, and has a total of five epics. The Warlord is much more powerful than the Sensei, in terms of damage, armor, health, etc. You then realize that you picked the worse companion, and you are disappointed with the decision you made. You want to change it, but you cannot.

So you see, it is best that the companion granting system stays the way it is.

But on the topic of having less female companions, it doesn't bother me much. Even though females aren't equally represented, it doesn't take anything away from the game. If you pick the Swashbuckler class, by level seven you can field an all-female crew: Bonnie Anne, Sarah Steele, and Fan Flanders.

Max DeGroot on Sep 15, 2014 wrote:

You get player regret anyway, right from the start. Your choice of how you lost your parents changes which companion you get at the Presidio. While I personally like Jack Russel, I've been disappointed with Dead Mike and Gaspar DeVole.

You also get player regret simply by picking the wrong type of pirate.

You can change all of these, including your choice of companions, simply by....starting over.

Seriously, though, how far into the game to you have to be before you regret getting a particular companion? It's often 10 levels between promotions. You may not regret the choice you made in Monquista, for example, until you get to the end of Cool Ranch. That's a very long time.

You also have the "grass is always greener" phenomenon.

And that's why we have space for six pirates.

Max DeGroot on Sep 15, 2014 wrote:

You get player regret anyway, right from the start. Your choice of how you lost your parents changes which companion you get at the Presidio. While I personally like Jack Russel, I've been disappointed with Dead Mike and Gaspar DeVole.

You also get player regret simply by picking the wrong type of pirate.

You can change all of these, including your choice of companions, simply by....starting over.

Seriously, though, how far into the game to you have to be before you regret getting a particular companion? It's often 10 levels between promotions. You may not regret the choice you made in Monquista, for example, until you get to the end of Cool Ranch. That's a very long time.

You also have the "grass is always greener" phenomenon.

Like Esperanza said, that's why we have six pirate slots. One for each class, and an extra of your favorite.

Also, if you're like me and just jumped into the game without reading up on what each decision in character creation means, there isn't any regret really. Just the knowledge of "oh, so that's why I received this companion and/or stat boost!" after you realize those questions in character creation actually had a purpose. Sure, if you haven't gotten far in the game it isn't painful to start over, but three of my pirates are far enough that I would never consider sending them to the land of 'yohoho!'. I would hate for all of the time spent on them to be wasted, and the fact that I might lose No Trade gear.

And is it truly worth it to spend Crowns on a Pirate to give them good gear, weapons, companions, and ships just to restart them because you dislike a choice you made? I don't buy much from the Crown shop for this reason. If I have enough Crowns for a booster pack or two, I open them on my Swashbuckler since she's max level (and my favorite). Then the items can benefit my lower level pirates in the future when they are no longer low levels.

I enjoy the female companions as of now considering I own every female companion on my witchdoctor.. (at least the one's other schools are able to get) the only female companions will satisfied me is a seraph and siren companion. I will hate for ki to make them, and only make them class only types. so I will prefer them as a main quest line companion or a crown shop companion. once I get these two female companions on my witchdoctor team I wouldn't care if we ever get female companions again. (speaking for myself) having a seraph and siren companion on my team will complete my female companion team.

More female companions eh?

Zeena
Mustang Sally
Mustang Gypsy
Jane Canary
The flamingo girl you get from Ol fish Eye
Fan flanders
The cat ninja girl
Centaur girl
Theres plenty more but I cant name them all now