GD Notes #4. Perks and Items. Q&A.
Ahoy!
Hoist the topsail and set a course for the Bay of Creativity!
Kirill here — great to see you again.
It’s been a while since our last chat, so these GD Notes are going to be a long, packed with fresh details.
Back in Dev Diary VII we teased not one but two new gameplay systems, both tightly linked to each other. The response was huge, and the community had plenty of questions. Time to dive in and clear things up.
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[h2]Descriptors[/h2]
Descriptors are special item traits. They can carry unique mechanics and interact with perks in powerful ways.
Take the Schiavona for example:
- Class: Coldarm
- Stats: damage and weight
- Descriptors: Heavy, Long, Straight, Fancy
Damage and weight are self-explanatory. Descriptors, however, open up a much deeper layer of gameplay.
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[h3]Bonuses[/h3]
Some Descriptors work on their own and stack passive bonuses.
For instance, Fancy and Plain items (opposites of each other) boost Charisma or Stealth for every equipped slot.
Want more recruits at the tavern? Go all in on Fancy gear.
Dream of becoming a terror of the seas — build an Exotic set.
Need to sneak past patrols or make a quick getaway? Equip a full set of Plain items.
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[h3]Synergy[/h3]
Nearly every Descriptor now ties directly into personal perks.
In the Adventurer tree, for example, you’ll find the perk Tailored Fit.
It strengthens the synergy between Plain and Fancy items.
But the flashiest examples are perks based on weapon Descriptors:
- Heavy Hand — +15% damage with Heavy weapons, unlocks the advanced Heavy Attack.
- Palace Guard — Heavy Curved weapons: +15% damage with any attack and +5% with Group Attacks.
- Cunning Strike — Light weapons: +3% crit chance and +10% backstab damage.
- Exhaustion — Parrying with Short weapons drains +20% more enemy stamina.
- Perfect Balance — Medium weapons reduce incoming damage by 10%.
- Kern — Multi-Shot firearms: +8% damage and +4% reload speed for each empty barrel.
- Drill — Muskets: +18% movement speed while aiming, unlocks advanced stances.
- Shoot to Kill — Balls stun enemies, slowing them by 25% for 5 seconds.
- Elusiveness — Shoves: +30% shove power, less stamina cost.
- Marathoner — +15% sprint speed, less stamina cost.
- Flanking — Curved weapons: +10% attack speed, unlocks the advanced Group Attack.
Here’s how the Group Attack changes with the Flanking perk. Three swings instead of two.
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[h2]Items[/h2]
As mentioned earlier, we’ve reworked almost every item in the game:
- All weapons and damage recalculated. Length and curvature alone no longer grant bonuses — their power depends on your perk choices.
- Armor standardized: protection depends on material only, no penalties, and crits can’t be blocked.
- Critical mechanics reworked: everyone has a base crit chance, but bonuses are rare. Crits are now rare but deadly.
- Amulets: unified duration, no penalties or incompatibilities, new mechanics added.
- Potions rebalanced, with new recipes and effects.
- Ammo and crafting revised, paper cartridges now require rare resources.
- Firearms fully reworked. They only shine in the hands of characters built for them — no more “early-game win button.”
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[h2]New Personal Perks[/h2]
[h3]Trees and Archetypes[/h3]
The old system had a few “god-tier” perks surrounded by a pile of useless ones. Some didn’t even work (like the accuracy bonus).
Now perks are organized into larger archetypes, each with its own playstyle:
- Musketeer — firearms, bayonets, ammo, and weapon swap speed.
- Soldier — health pool, Heavy weapons, crowd control.
- Duelist — glass cannon, reach, crits.
- Pirate — area damage, Medium weapons, wider attack arcs.
- Adventurer — social perks, rare weapons, crafting and looting.
- Mastery — focused on specific weapon Descriptors like Heavy, Curved or Multi-Shot. In other words, tailoring perks to your favorite weapon.
Combat fundamentals have changed as well: new mechanics and attack types added. No more skipping animations with a block. Feints are gone. Guard breaks now cause different stun animations, with backstabs being the most dangerous.
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[h2]Progression[/h2]
The old system was too slow and grindy. Here’s what’s new:
- Perk costs cut in half (or even more).
- Perk points earned more often (up to 2 per rank).
- Perk costs vary: 1 to 3 points.
As a result, players can master about 2.5 trees: either two archetypes fully or a unique hybrid build.
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[h2]Buildcrafting[/h2]
The principle: cheap perks are universal, expensive perks are powerful but situational.
Some perks can be combined across trees to create hybrid builds.
Nothings stops Soldier from having some sweet Duelist moves.
Example hybrid-builds:
- Gunslinger-Swordsman — clears enemies at range, then dives in with AoE.
- Alchemist-Shooter — stacks power through items, crafting and social perks.
We’re excited to see your guides — there may be at least eight builds… or infinite!
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[h2]Build Example: Rank 10 Pirate[/h2]
We’ll start with the Accountant background — it comes with a Machete right away.
By rank 10 you’ll have around 20 perk points.
- First 3 points — Endurance and Marathoner.
- Next 4 points — Dragoon, Reach, Ottoman Grip. Together that’s +28% DPS.
- Then grab Flanking and Saber Whirlwind for crowd fights.
- Final 7 points — Rising Energy, Perfect Balance, Core Defense, Rising Health.
The result: a build perfect for large-scale battles, including the fight with Blackwood on the Caymans.
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[h2]Equipment[/h2]
- Weapons: start with the Machete, later upgrade to Scimitar, Storta, Shamshir, or Gallowsblade. Finding a better weapon would be easier since Accountants tend to find better loot in treasure chests.
- Armor: pieces with the Tailored Descriptor (e.g., Leather Belt or Wicker Armor, + Attack Speed).
- Hats: Cavalier Hat (gain stamina on kill + even faster Group Attacks).
- Potions: Squall for more Attack Speed.
- Amulets:
- Widowmaker (+damage to Group Attacks).
- Ngombo Shield (if you don’t have Wicker Armor).
- El Trozo (+2.5% movement speed per each Pagan amulet/ward).
This is the perfect setup for tackling all mid-game content. And it's only one option of the many.
See y'all you soon.
[h2]Q&A[/h2]
Joruba's back again, folks. Taking the microphone from Kirill to answer your questions. I've already covered some questions personally in Discord, but the most pressing and interesting ones made it here.
The questions below came from:
flashdeck, U1993, Qorben, Mr Gualtieri, Mr. Goodman, Maksim, Sea Wolf, Honest Merchant, Wazar, Sarevok, Reider, Captain Fadey, Vanish, Frazzle, DimkaSuperStaR, GunpowderHater, macio460, Hawx, dolken0291, Escorpion, Lucy Okada, Ahoy, Sellec, Guarwo, Vokshus, Dimchik, KingOrren, Rizen, kacpermalinowski007, PZh, 4Za-V9, Ariel, Inner Observer, Мастер Течи.
Might have missed someone, sorry for that.
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Question: Will there be a rework of how the maps work? Currently they don't do much.
Answer: In 1.6 the player's fleet speeds up in regions of which they have a map. If, of course, the corresponding naval perk is unlocked.
Question: Are there plans to expand the global map — new islands, settlements?
Answer: Not in this game. But we might add Old Providence island.
Question: Is a radical rework of fencing planned on the current engine?
Answer: Depends on what you consider a "radical rework". In version 1.6 land combat plays completely differently, and you'll have to relearn everything.
Question: What's the current status on the story mode for Diego?
Answer: That's a 2016 meme. But seriously, there's almost no chance.
Question: Will there be an official mod-kit with utilities and documentation?
Answer: Possibly, after version 2.0.
Question: How will trade and economy develop in future patches?
Answer: This is big. Much needs to be redone from scratch. For example, making the game to "see" which goods were bought or stolen where.
We're aiming for the Mount & Blade series experience. I always loved freeplaying in the early game there with a minimal squad, earning money in various ways and spending everything on buying enterprises. At some point money started making money, and you could afford an army. Amazing feeling, and I want to reproduce it in our game.
We planned to implement purchasing merchant stands already in 1.6, but with a heavy heart, I decided to postpone it. For now, we're carefully adjusting the economy to increase the value of money in the game. It's not about hardcore, it's about not making hundreds of thousand of pesos instantly and with little effort. Where is fun in that?
- Increased the usefulness of the "Trading" skill.
- Made loot less rich.
- Removed cheaty trade routes completely.
- Removed aggressive demand goods.
- Made deposits less profitable.
Question: Is it possible to explain the logic behind the new ship balance?
Answer: Due to how the bearing angle is currently implemented, our original design only works in tactical sailing mode. Once we solve this, the ship balance will work as intended. I think.
Generally the logic is rather simple:
- A raider with fore-and-aft sails can easily defeat one merchant.
- But if you conduct the attack poorly — the second merchant will surely escape downwind.
- And if there's also an escort of warriors — you'll be the one escaping.
Question: Is a rework of Vitality and Hull Degradation mechanics planned?
Answer: The second has already been cut, then we'll cut the first too. Same goes for a few other useless mechanics and skills.
Question: What about Charles de Maure's storyline? Epilogue, Mary?
Answer: We'll wrap things up this year with some final content. It's au revoir, Charles after that.
Question: Will unique ships get their own traits?
Answer: Unique ones — absolutely. Regular ships will get new traits too, especially warriors. We'll run a poll to ask for your ideas for new traits.
Question: Is a rework of the sound system planned?
Answer: Yes. Sound is half the game, in my opinion.
Question: Can we get rid of those situations where the story prevents you from searching the captain's cabin after boarding?
Answer: Yes. 1.6 brings a new weight and encumbrance system.
Question: Gamepad support?
Answer: Planned. Most likely at the very end — when we finalize mechanics and interface.
Question: Any plans to improve companions?
Answer: Great question. We'd love to enhance the whole "admiral" gameplay. Like being able to:
- Send companions out raiding on their own.
- Have them run trade routes.
- Complete quests for you.
It's a huge undertaking though. Not quite time for it yet, but it'll happen.
Question: Can we capture and manage colonies?
Answer: You can already capture them in sandbox mode. But real colony management would need city customizing, a rebuilt world map system, and an expanded threat system. That's endgame content, so it'll be a while. Might not happen at all — but we'd love to do it.
Question: Adding letters of marque?
Answer: Same deal as colonies.
Question: Will Isla Mona be added to sandbox mode?
Answer: We'll see next year. The quest was actually written with sandbox in mind from the start — all the dialogues for other heroes are made already.
Question: Are you going to integrate any community mods?
Answer: Quality of Pirate's Life and PerksReworked are getting the full treatment starting with 1.6.
Question: When can we stop having to start over with each patch?
Answer: So far, only 1.5 broke save files — and we warned about that almost a year ahead. The next one that definitely will require to start a new game is 2.0. Once you see what's in it, you'll get why.
Question: When's Helen coming back as a playable character?
Answer: It was my mistake, adding her in 1.3 just to take away from you in 1.4.
Getting the waifu back means:
- New animations for the updated controls.
- Brand new character model.
- Making sure hats, armor, lanterns, and muskets all work on her.
I am sorry, we just don't have resources for that right now.
Question: Can you add two-handed weapon animations and make them a separate category?
Answer: It's possible. But not happening.
Question: Will there be cats in the game?
Answer: As a cat person myself, I'd love that. We even had the feature planned and drafted. Maybe someday.
Question: Any info on the next Ship's Pack DLC?
Answer: Chapter four drops this year with one of the most requested ships in the game. You're gonna love it.
Question: How about a new Dutch hero?
Answer: Someone beat us to it. It's good.
Question: Visible hats on officers? More stealth gear?
Answer: No to the first, yes to the second starting in 1.6.
Question: When are we getting new graphics? New engine?
Answer: Now that would be telling. ːcharles_happyː
Question: Can we get cheaper ship storage?
Answer: We're tying the prices to player's Trading skill. Not to mention, you will be able to keep the crew on the stored ship, at least temporarily.
Question: How do you test new mechanics for balance?
Answer:
- We start with Excel spreadsheets and formulas. I hate this part. Kirill loves it though.
- Internal playtesting — see if the idea actually works and the math checks out.
- Closed alphas and open betas — gather feedback from community and fine-tune from there.
No other way to do it — the game's just too big and complex.
Question: Any plans to expand social perks and skills?
Answer: Starting in 1.6, going full social build isn't just viable — it actually helps in combat too.
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Summary:
- Patch 1.6 open beta drops September 26.
- Starting the new game is NOT required.
- New DLC announcement coming next week.
- Wazar, Мастер Течи and GunpowderHater win this Q&A and get free copies.
- Thank you all for your great questions. It was fun and we should do it more often.
That's it for today.
What we do — we do for you.
ːjollyrː
I think you can guess what ship this is. ːcharles_happyː
