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A Map of Cool Ranch
And when I say “A Map of Cool Ranch,” I mean a map of Cool Ranch. All of Cool Ranch.
That was really fun to make! What I did was I took screenshots of all the skyways’ maps, then put them into GIMP. I selected the map part, which means I didn’t select the parts around the edges, then did Select > Invert to select only the bars on the sides. I deleted those then (after inverting the selection again) did Image > Crop to selection. After that, I selected only the skyway part, no map wanted. That was pretty hard.
I also had to fill in the spaces where the green arrow was, which was accomplished by some penciling in pink and some copy-pasting of the windlanes (with the exception of Arroyo Grande). Then I pasted them onto the main image and rotated them as necessary. After I had done this for all six skyways, I made sure everything fit together correctly, cropped down the image, filled in blank spots with empty pink skyway, and outlined everything with dark brown. Voila!
I got the idea of this reading the May 2013 Pirate101.com newsletter where it had a link to a Pirate101 Central thread where the user Arcane had already made one of Skull Island. Here is the link to that thread! Thanks for reading!
Journey to Marleybone (Pt 3: Trouble in Tumbleweed)
Now that I’m in Tumbleweed, it seems that they are being attacked by the Wild Bunch. No one knows how to stop them. No one. Except Timmy. (My video recorder isn’t working, here’s TheDeathshard’s video)
So my quest is to re-band the Magnificent Seven! It all started with Duck Holliday, who lives right in Tumbleweed. He told me the first person I needed to get was Buffalo Bill, since they didn’t really get along very well. Buffalo Bill went from a lawman and now runs the Traveling Medicine Show (what went wrong?). Duck told me that he was a bit of a gambler, and that if I could get him to bet something, he would have to rejoin. I bet him that I could beat Tyson, the chicken pugilist (don’t worry, that means boxer), he would join.
I won and finished part 3 of 7. (Duck was already in and sadly, Wyatt passed away.) The next people were Jane Canary, Bill Peacock, and Bat Masterson. Jane convinced Bill, and while they were getting ready my task was to defeat ships for Bat. Grr… After a week of procrastinating, I teamed up with some other pirates and collected six strongboxes from those Banditoads. 6 out of 7! The last was Billy the Kid. Last, but not least! The only thing was, Billy, was kind of in prison. Not kind of. Completely in prison. Jailbreak!
Whew! I think you have to fight 6 sets of Frogerales. After everyone was back together, 7 out of 7, the plan was to meet back at the Old Chirp Place. After we got ambushed by the Wild Bunch, we headed back to Tumbleweed to start a range war on the Bunch. To be continued in Journey to Marleybone: Haunted
Cool Ranch… Error?
I was getting back to questing and I wanted to see what someone’s quest was. It said I needed to fight some buffaloons and collect hides because he’s making pants out of them. Okay, it is realistic. I might do it. Nice rewards, too. I decline the quest and turn around. Wow???
What’s wrong with this picture? Why do I need to get more Buffaloon if there’s at least 20 right there? Sorry KI, but this kind of needs to be fixed.
Sorry for the short post, I’ll be updating with more gameplay as soon as I get far enough to make a new entry!
English Bill
Yeah… That’s not what I thought of when I heard “English Bill” either. Maybe it would help if I also explained he is the Duck of Death. Now, after quite a lot of questing in Cool Ranch, I headed over to Boot Hill. (I’ll tell you, that’s not where you want to go for a vacation.)
You have to fight the Duck of Death two times, once on Boot Hill and once on his ship. The first fight is a bit tricky, though me and my friend smashed him to the ground straight away (by pure luck). First, you must interact, or attack, a Basin so you can be Blessed. To indicate you are blessed, halos appear over your entire team. A Basin is a statue with water in the top. There are two Basins in the battle. Once your team has halos, you are free to kill the Duck of Death.
You do have to kill him twice. This is his… uh… I called it a ship, right? This fight there are no Basins, so you are free to attack the Duck as soon as you want. Once you’ve finished that fight, you talk to Tonka, the whole reason you were here in the first place. English Bill had captured Tonka, but now he is freed. Finally, once you’ve finished all of that… You get a badge!
Hooray! Duke of Ducks! Thanks for reading!
Darkmoor, Here I Come!
Yes, onto the next world of Pirate101! I guess I’m finished with Cool Ranch…
EL TORO! Sorry. Anyway, what do I mean by Darkmoor? I mean… this!
Yes, there’s Darkmoor ships. Sorry I’m behind in the storyline, I need to start up in Pirate101 again. Well this again leads us back to the question; is KingsIsle going to add Darkmoor? I just moored it over when I was fighting these ships. (See what I did there?) So just to clarify, I’m not really in Darkmoor, but I fought some ships. I’ve finished Santo Pollo, and don’t really know where I am in Cool Ranch right now. Sorry for the short post, it was just a storyline refresh from me! 🙂
Santo Pollo Ahoy!
Santo Pollo, ahoy! After doing, like, what, three dungeons? Two? Five bosses? Four? Who knows… I had to do a whole lot of hard fights, and died a lot. Well, after all that hard work, I got to Hidden Valley Ranch. …Whoa there, Hidden Valley Ranch? Like this???
No, no, no. Not like that. Like this…
Yes, yes, yes. Like that. That, was a hard dungeon to solo. Kind of a teleport-back-six-times-hard dungeon. Anyway, after beating up some cheese, (seriously, one of the bosses was Monterrey Jack), I headed back to Merriweather Clark’s home. There was a Red Sash surprise waiting for me! I defeated Johnny Ringo- not too hard- and then talked to Clark. He told me that he would let me know where his father’s piece of Marco Pollo’s map was, since I had saved his life… Twice. Merriweather… Seriously? Another dungeon? Whatever. I went over to the Scorpion Rock Cave to find the map, only to find it’s missing. Things are always missing. There was a note from Captain Blood. Who is this Captain Blood? Let Mr. Argleston explain.
Well then. That didn’t really help much, did it? Captain Blood is a pirate, obviously, and is infamous, obviously. To find him, I need the help of El Toro.
That El Toro. Who is El Toro? Let TheDeathshard‘s video explain.
Here’s a quote from a previous post (on this blog, of course.)
El Toro, the mysterious masked champion of Cool Ranch. Saving the innocent from evil such as the Banditoads, El Toro is a legend. He was almost never seen though. All we know is that he leaves a mark “T.” I am now defending the townsfolk so that I may get El Toro’s attention and get *that* much closer to getting the map. Here’s a quote from Pirate101.com just to sum up a little snippet of the Cool Ranch storyline.
Cool Ranch is a land of legendary figures: heroes like the Chicken Rangers, Wild Bill Peacock, and the masked hero El Toro, fighting lawlessness and standing up for the humble settlers; but the wild frontier has also fostered terrible outlaws like Libirdy Valence, El Guapo, and the dreaded Duck With No Name. Smugglers and pirates have always been drawn to Cool Ranch – far from everyplace, the dusty realm is an ideal place to hide.
But other than that, who is El Toro even supposed to be, other than the protector of Santo Pollo? KingsIsle made a play on words from Zorro, check it out- HERE
See the resemblance? Well anyway I thought it was cool how they can sneak things in like that (ex: Hidden Valley Ranch, El Toro, etc). Now, in Santo Pollo, I have to try and catch the attention of El Toro by doing favors for the townsfolk. My first mission? Collect sugar. I guess… It’s a start. Well, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll start fighting some Banditoads.
New Additions – Part I
If you look on Pirate101.com, you’ll see that KI is preparing for the full release. Adding most of the features of Wizard101.com, fansites will be booming with material, especially when the Full Release is here! (10/8 or 10/15). There’s a whole lot of new Shop features, bundles, stories, storyline, and so much more! Where do I start? This post set will be separated into two parts. (First two-parter!)
The Pirate101 storyline is pay-as-you-go, or subscribe. It’s separated into twelve books as of now, and that’s how you’ll pay it with crowns. This is somewhat similar to the Wizard101 crowns-based system, check this out.
See some similarities? I can already tell that KingsIsle’s future games will probably be arranged about the same way. (Of course, because they’re in the Spiral! 😉 ) Back to the Pirate101 “Books”, as I’ve said the prices won’t be differed by street, but by book. The prices get higher for each book. Right now, it’s hard to tell if you’ll have to pay for each section of the book, or each book in all. Sections? Yes, each book has a summary and says what’s in it. Here’s a basic guide for all of them- they’re pretty self-explanatory.
Well, obviously you spend a lot of time in Cool Ranch. When I visited there, I sent lots of postcards of all the beautiful scenery! Unfortunately… I didn’t take many screenshots, and the beta characters got wiped. The storyline was great though, as you can see from chapters V-X (5-10). A lot of storyline is covered in Pirate101, in thirty short chapters. Those of you who aren’t in Beta, you’ll really like what you see when you start the game! Spoilers ahead, don’t read this if you want to discover the story on your own!
Skull Island Overview-
In Skull Island, you go through trying to get the basics of a pirate. Or, I could simply say a ship and money. After you’ve quested through Skull Mountain, Avery gives you his promised ship… er… boat… er… raft. You take your raft and fly it all around the Skull Island Skyways (chapters 1-2). You are after Captain Gunn’s treasure. He invented Yum, and has a fortune because of it! After you get the treasure, you are sent off to Puerto Mico on seeking diplomacy with the Monquistans. The whole mission turns on its heels and you are sent to the Isle Of Doom in search of the Golden Monkey!
Monquistan Overview-
You find out that Monquistan politics are in fact deadly. Caught in a civil war, you have to join the opposition of the Crown, and settle things best you can in the land of the monkeys. You go search for an ancient relic – the Monkey’s Paw, which you have to do a life-threatening search for.
Valencian Overview-
The Valencian storyline is quite short, as you venture into the heart of the Spiral, er… Armada. You learn about the map to El Dorado, and are sent on a search for it. You learn Avery’s single piece of the treasure, the sailcloth, was a piece of the map to El Dorado, the island of solid gold. You search in Valencia, but can’t find anything. When you look through the catacombs you find that the Armada have already taken the map, weeks ago.
Cool Ranch Overview-
A piece of the map to El Dorado, made by Marco Pollo, went to Cool Ranch. It’s being thrown around everywhere, and you struggle to find it while keeping Cooper’s Roost under control. You calm down the Bison, and keep searching for the map, which the Red Sash Gang has stolen- it’s been taken to the lair of Captain Blood. That means you have to find El Toro. El Toro, the guardian of Santo Pollo, After you find him, you must stop Santa Rana before it’s too late! You confront the Duck of Death later, to continue your search for the map. Now you have to go find Mustang Sally, who El Toro let go years ago. The Scurvy Dogs let you into Marleybone. Next you have to break Mustang Sally and Napolenguin, the most dangerous in the Spiral, out of the strongest prison in Skull Island. You have to save Tumbleweed, an abandoned town that used to be protected by the Magnificent Seven. Arise them and defeat the Wild Bunch to save them… bring it on. After that you venture towards the Haunted Skyway and the doomed town of Miranda. To get the second piece of the map, you just need to head into his lair. Great. More fighting.
MooShu Overview-
You head into MooShu to find the third piece of the map to El Dorado, as best you can. To find Egg Foo Yung and the map, you have to win a favor of the Yakooza. That means you have to storm corrupt General Tso’s fortress and get the map before the Armada get it! You need to gather the five Turtleballs to reach Cao Tzu and translate the Map. For the first one, you have to talk to the Monkey King… But can you trust him to help you? Once you have the last Turtleball, you must go to Maruzame and face the five Guardians to prove yourself worthy.
And that’s it, really, for the storyline. Check these two pages for more. Click. Click.
Pirate101 Gameplay – Santo Pollo (Extra Content Included!)
We apologize for your post being interrupted. Breaking News released on Pirate101.com!
Pre-Sale Bundles are now avaliable on the Pirate101 website! They include… (image source)
These items will only be available for a limited time, so get them really quick!!! The Boochbeard Bundle even includes a Closed-Beta key for extra play-ness!!! 😀 Also, it has been stated on Forbes magazine online Pirate101 will be released in “early October“ so get ready for fun!
What is Closed Beta and how long does it last?
Closed Beta is a testing period where a limited number of players can play Pirate101 and provide game feedback. It will last up until the one week Head Start, so players who buy the Boochbeard Bundle early on will have more of a chance to play Closed Beta than players who wait. At the end of Closed Beta, Pirate characters will be wiped one last time. Once the one week Head Start begins, all characters are saved.
When does my 12 Month Pirate101 Membership Start?
Your 12 Month Membership time will not start until the one week Head Start of the Pirate101 launch. At the end of Closed Beta there will be one final character wipe, and after that the Head Start will begin. Once your 12 Month Membership begins at the one week Head Start, your characters and game items will be saved.
What is the one week Head Start?
When the Pirate101 game launches, Beta players and people who bought the Boochbeard or Gandry Bundle will get a one week Head Start on the game. The rest of the public will have to wait until the one week Head Start is over, and then Pirate101 will be available to everyone. This one week Head Start gives players to get a chance to quest and progress in the game before everyone else.
When do I get my cool new in-game items, like the Parrot Mount and the Castaway’s Cove?
Just like your 12 Month Membership, the in-game items from the Boochbeard or Gandry Bundle will be available to your character at the beginning of the one week Head Start.
Can I get these in-game items without purchasing a bundle?
No, these items will only be available with the purchase of a Boochbeard or Gandry bundle. They will be permanently retiredwhen these exclusive bundles are no longer available. This is the only way to ever get the Scarakeet pet, Castaway’s Cove, Parrot Mount, Cat Pirate Companion, Dread Pirate’s outfit, and the Ruby Slicer weapon.
Will I get a physical Pirate101 prepaid game card?
No, since these are online only bundles, you will not receive a physical card for the Pirate101 Boochbeard or Gandry Bundle.
Will my Pirate101 12 Month Membership Auto Renew?
Yes, your Membership will auto-renew at the discounted 12 Month price point of $59.95 one year after the Head Start date. You can change your Membership at any time by visiting My Accounts.
Thank you, your post will resume!
On Evan Keeler, my Swashbuckler, I’ve gotten all the way to Santo Pollo, Cool Ranch, without using Boochbeard as the first 15 levels! 🙂 I’m going to show you what I’m doing in Cool Ranch. (Skip the beginning of this post if you’ve read my CR gameplay posts and don’t want to see repeat screenshots.) Anyway, so far I’ve…
…Headed to Cool Ranch into Cooper’s Roost Skyway.
Once I got to Cooper’s Roost, I started to look for Merriweather Clark…
…Who had unfortunately been kidnapped by Bison. I taught them a lesson, then they told me why they took Merriweather.
Merriweather told me what I needed to do: find the Red Sash chicken gang. 😀
I fought some ships to find the map to the Red Sash’s hideout, the Hidden Valley. I went there and fixed everything up with the Bison’s graveyard. I went back to see Merriweather…
…But his house had been raided! I went and fought Monterrey Jack the chicken! Next I headed off to Santo Pollo in search of El Toro.
El Toro, the mysterious masked champion of Cool Ranch. Saving the innocent from evil such as the Banditoads, El Toro is a legend. He was almost never seen though. All we know is that he leaves a mark “T.” I am now defending the townsfolk so that I may get El Toro’s attention and get *that* much closer to getting the map. Here’s a quote from Pirate101.com just to sum up a little snippet of the Cool Ranch storyline.
Cool Ranch is a land of legendary figures: heroes like the Chicken Rangers, Wild Bill Peacock, and the masked hero El Toro, fighting lawlessness and standing up for the humble settlers; but the wild frontier has also fostered terrible outlaws like Libirdy Valence, El Guapo, and the dreaded Duck With No Name. Smugglers and pirates have always been drawn to Cool Ranch – far from everyplace, the dusty realm is an ideal place to hide.
(Sorry for the short post (other than breaking news 😛 ), I didn’t take many screenshots of my questing, and I haven’t done much.)
Special Post!
This post is special! It’s a break from the straight storyline on William, and soon I’m going to start posting as my Swashbuckler, Evan Keeler, as well. But this time, it’s Cool Ranch Privateer Gameplay! Thanks to Boochbeard, I got to jump right over here. This is my first time as a Privateer, though. In special posts, I may include videos as well as lots of screenshots for special posts. Enjoy! 🙂 (Note: Full video is in two parts.)
I uploaded (to YouTube) a twenty minute long one, that has ingame sounds and music. The second video is sped up to seven minutes, but has no music.
After where the video left off, I had to sail to a new island and skyway in Cool Ranch. I found a new tribe, and I was lead to the chief, in his tent. He didn’t think I was worthy of knowing where Merriweather was, so I had to do this fight. I couldn’t record this because I kept losing connection, so I decided to take a couple screenshots. After I defeated these bison, the tribe leader thought I was worthy, but one of the bison didn’t. He rose with some of his friends and we had to duel them too.
When we finished them, the tribe leader told me that he thought Merriweather took ancient relics from the graves of the elders. This is very disrespectful so they took him prisoner. I went outside to Merriweather who told me that he didn’t do it, and I needed to defeat Red Sash ships to get to Hidden Valley, which is where their headquarters is.
I leveled up and set sail! That’s all I’m doing in Cool Ranch today, thanks for reading the special post!
Pirates in the Sky 