Agreed the bed rest is to long for high level players. I can understand a hour but like 2-4 hours is overdoing it by a lot. I don't like bed rest or wounds.

The First Swashbuc... on Mar 29, 2015 wrote:

Look I know its for a challenge but please either lower the bedrest time to 30 minutes for all levels (execpt under 30) or remove the entire wounded and bedrest thing it gets me really frusturated when i have to use my backups then they die then i dont have powerful enough companions this makes me quit and not play in 5 hours so please remove it or nerf it another option is lower miracle mitch price

Here we go. You're not the first to complain about this, and you certainly won't be the last.

The point of bed rest and wounds is to keep players on their toes and get them to protect their companions in some way. Try:

A) Healing, but if you're not a Privateer, Bonnie can help.

B) Have the companion in the red and in question move as far away as enemies as possible, if they don't have Cheap Shot.

C) Train up your weaker companions as substitutes.

D) Any other ways you can get off the top of your head, because I certainly can't right now.

Keep in mind you can always take companions off bed rest, but they'll end up with three-fourths(Two-thirds? Four-fifths? I haven't taken the time to figure it out.) their regular health.

Just a tip(s).

I know it can be frustrating when companions go on bed rest, but Ki did this for a reason. They want you to continue to use all your companions, not just those three you use.

Thunder Hawk on Mar 30, 2015 wrote:

Here we go. You're not the first to complain about this, and you certainly won't be the last.

The point of bed rest and wounds is to keep players on their toes and get them to protect their companions in some way. Try:

A) Healing, but if you're not a Privateer, Bonnie can help.

B) Have the companion in the red and in question move as far away as enemies as possible, if they don't have Cheap Shot.

C) Train up your weaker companions as substitutes.

D) Any other ways you can get off the top of your head, because I certainly can't right now.

Keep in mind you can always take companions off bed rest, but they'll end up with three-fourths(Two-thirds? Four-fifths? I haven't taken the time to figure it out.) their regular health.

Just a tip(s).

My reply to A is I'm a witch docter plus two heals are not enough
B. great tip! thanks!
C) yes I have actually done that with lefty(who I love) and rooster cogburn milo graytail i could go on forever but the enemies defeat them then i have to use beast companions (which suck) being a witch docter

Extra tip. yes i do that to privateers but my swashbucklers they would be to squishy yet bucanneers will work musketeers is a maybe (depending on what level)

The First Swashbuc... on Mar 29, 2015 wrote:

Look I know its for a challenge but please either lower the bedrest time to 30 minutes for all levels (execpt under 30) or remove the entire wounded and bedrest thing it gets me really frusturated when i have to use my backups then they die then i dont have powerful enough companions this makes me quit and not play in 5 hours so please remove it or nerf it another option is lower miracle mitch price

I'll be honest, I don't like the bed rest either. Quite frankly I loath it. However, it has made me realize that I'm playing too aggressively. My aggressive style worked in the past since all I had to do was go to a Life Fountain and I had my companions back. I just did a run of the Labyrinth again, and my Toro almost died in one of the fights. The enemies had cheap shot which made it painful to watch him get hit, but he survived. He hid in a corner and an enemy with low health targeted him. Lucky he blocked(though his riposte was used on one of the cheap shots). I went in and killed it while my Hawkules and Nausica took care of the rest.

As a general rule, I always give my companions these talents to rank 4:
1. Tough
2. Rough
3. Whatever stat benefits their class(i.e. agility for El Toro & Will for Old Scratch.)
4. Armored/Dodgy
-I say give witchdoctors & musketeers armored because there are more melee units than ranged units. Though if you only plan on using them against ranged units, then give them resistance

Substituting one for scrapper is not a bad idea. I've heard it cuts the time by a lot, but I've never used it myself.

For epics, I typically go for relentless/burst fire/mojo echo 1 first, then go for blade storm/double tap/mojo rising 1, and then if there are more epics to give, it varies based on their list of epics to choose from and class. That's to your discretion.

I've found Valor's Shield to be very helpful in combat. I can't remember if it's a perquisite to Elusive 2, but if it isn't, I can recommend it. If you don't want to spend the point(which I completely understand), there's always equipment that gives Valor's Fortress or Valor's Armor.

Since I became less aggressive, I haven't lost a companion in a while now. I'm not saying become passive, but rather react carefully, consider your options, and consider the results. This combat system is really just an (extremely) elaborated game of chess.

Fearless Dolan Grant lvl65

Personally, I love this addition. It has added play value and consequences to the game which it had been lacking. Before the update players were using their crew like disposable tissues; "one is defeated, eh, no big deal use the life fountain or a mojo potion."
Now, it's a major issue, now you have to watch out, care for and above all, train all companions. I hated, hated, hated benching. You could only bench three; I would look at those on the bench and say "what a total waste of space you guys are."
The random % choice was a joke, often and at the least expected moment, one of the less desirable crew would turn up in battle, when this happened, defeat was almost guaranteed.
Now they're useful to me. And I've reset them from the ( free ) resets which came with the update; and although I would rather not use Nurse Quinn, now I know she can handle most battles. ( I tried her on the Wreck of the Victory along with the weasel gambler and the crab hermit and they did fairly well.)

anecorbie on Mar 30, 2015 wrote:

This kind of post turns up about every two months. Look, train up your back ups and they won't let you down! There are many ways of getting all your companions up to at least two levels below yours.

I kinda wish that Kingsisle could set up some pinned posts where people can talk about Hide and companion rest times, because it seems like everyone writes the same exact thing whenever things like that get posted.

I use the random selection because yeah of course you want your strongest companions all the time but never knowing who will show up throws me into situations that are not favorable. As a privateer I need to be aware of possible situations that may arise when things don't go well so that I will be mentally prepared for it and know what to do. It's good to learn how to scramble sometimes. For me knowing that players take a penalty when a companion is lost does make my decisions harder especially when it comes down to who to save. But I really think this feature is necessary because even in a game it is important to learn about the consequences of life and death choices.

Virtuous Dante Ramsey

anecorbie on Mar 30, 2015 wrote:

This kind of post turns up about every two months. Look, train up your back ups and they won't let you down! There are many ways of getting all your companions up to at least two levels below yours.

I use all my companions. I always do something else to train my other lower companions. Love the game!!!

The bed rest period makes the stakes in a fight higher, which makes for more intense fights, which encourages you to play smart. I think the period of rest does need to escalate as characters advance, since higher-level characters have a much larger crew of reserves than lower-level pirates. While it took a little adjustment when it was first introduced, after months of playing with this change I quite like it.

-Indigo

The First Swashbuc... on Apr 25, 2015 wrote:

By the way cleary no one is listening i am saying "it gets me really frustratrated when I have to use my backups then they die" now i feel like the posts have a touch of disrespect to me

Aye, I do believe you're receiving an unnecessary amount of heat for this. I thought this would end shortly after my post but people still keep going. Btw, I hope I wasn't being too rude. I've received a lot of criticism for posting my opinion on the matter. This amount of pile up is a bit uncalled for really.

The First Swashbuc... on Apr 25, 2015 wrote:

By the way cleary no one is listening i am saying "it gets me really frustratrated when I have to use my backups then they die" now i feel like the posts have a touch of disrespect to me

I think that perhaps it isn't so much that we're not listening as we're not quite sure what you're trying to say. Is it that you are frustrated using your least favorite crew members? (And I totally get having to use the batacuda or the sky snake gets annoying.) Or are you saying your favorites go down too easily?

So have you trained up your less favorites? And if you're in Cool Ranch then you've got other options besides the batacuda or the sky snake or the scorpion to use once Bonnie Anne and Ratbeard go down.

What is your play style like? If you're just tossing your crew out in front of you, of course they're likely to drop. Switch up your tactics from "meat shield" to a more considered attack. If the enemy has first strike, focus everyone on a single target so they only get off that one first strike. Yes, one of your crew is now going to bear the brunt of the battle, but he'll also be the one you focus on to heal. Pull him back and start someone else on a new first strike target when he starts looking seriously hurt. Do the same with enemies with vengeance strike; cut down on the number of your crew likely to soak up those hits.

Revisit your choices in terms of the advances you gave your crew. You can reset them for gold. Look at boosting their accuracy and dodge first. Pump up their toughness. Since bedrest is your bete noir, consider investing in scrapper for your favorites, to cut down the time they're out of action.

If your complaint is that we're not universally agreeing with you, then I'm sorry, but many of us quite like the bedrest system, since it makes us up our game to protect our crew. We're making our points for why we like it, not intending to offer you disrespect. But that's a two-way street; some of your responses are quite cool when someone offers a suggestion to help you deal with the game as it is.