Yohoho! User Interface
Contents |
We have endeavoured to give Yohoho! a simple userrr interface. Here's a brief guide.
The Scene View
Wandering around on land or the deck of a vessel the majority of the screen will be occupied by your current scene.
While in the scene view, the right hand of the screen shows two panels: the bird view and the happy sunshine widget. You can also bring up radial menus by clicking on other Pirates. Things are slightly different when at sea.
The 'Bird View'
This small square view will show you a map of your current locale when you're exploring an island, or your ship at Sea when you're on a voyage. When you switch to viewing a web page or puzzle you will often see your Pirate and his or her immediate locale in the Bird view.
The Map
When wandering around on land you will see an island map in the bird view.
Click on the map to bring it up full-screen. Click again on the birded scene view to show the scene once more. As described here ye can move around an island rapidly using the Map.
On The Ocean Wave
When sailing the thirty-seven seas, the bird view switches to display your vessel and the surrounding region. This can be handy for spotting other vessels on the open sea.
The Happy Sunshine
This set of panels is known as the Happy Sunshine Widget, affording you access to five different panels of useful stuff.
Ye, the Pirate Panel
The Ye panel plays host to information and options relating to your own personal Pirate.
Note that your Pirate's Name, Crew and Flag are all clickable hyperlinks that will open the relevant web-page. Clicking your pirate's name will give you access to information about your employment, labor history, items and booty, as well as a link to the Palace Shoppe, Doubloon Exchange (on doubloon oceans) and Yer Known World.
You begin as a citizen of a developed island with a Navy and other services. Should you choose, you can change your home by clicking 'Set As Home' in a building.
You may also use the ye panel to access in-game support, configure some game options, and finally log out of Yohoho! The logoff button will send you back to the account login page. To close the client from here, or indeed anywhere else without needing to logoff first, just use the 'X' close button in the top right.
Ye can also read the Notice Board from the Ye Panel.
The Pirate info page
Your Pirate's info page is a good spot to visit to check up on your progress. You can also view other Pirates' info using their radial menu.
On the Pirate page you will note the complete breakdown of your Pirate's achievements in Puzzling and Accounts. Some pirates even have a portrait of themselves displayed here. To display a portrait on your pirate page, your portrait must be a single portrait of you, on a single player background. Click the 'Edit Gallery' link to open your gallery in a web page, toggle the option that says 'Display on pirate page' and click the 'Save Changes' button at the bottom of the page.
For more information on yer Puzzle Standing and Experience please consult the page on Puzzle Scoring.
Accounts
In addition to your Piracy Skills, your Pirate page will show your carousing and crafting skills, a selection of your trophy collection, and your reputation.
Crew
The Crew panel shows you the members of your Crew and their Rank. It is broken down as follows:
- Your Crew
- Other Crew members online
- Other Crew members offline
- Your Jobbing Crew
- Your Hearties
Left-clicking on a crew-members name will give you options to promote or demote the crew member:
If you're not a member of a Crew, you are given a button to Create a Crew.
Crew Info Page
Clicking on the Crew name will bring up the Crew info page, with lots of useful data about your crew, including access to the Issues and voting interfaces:
Here the Captain and other members can propose changes to the articles and vote on other matters such as the promotion of other members.
More information on crews can be found in the Crew documentation.
Flag Page
Linked from many a Crew page will be their Flag page. Flags are political coalitions of Crews. The flag page will show the flag Royalty, allied flags, warring flags, islands held by the flag as well as other information.
More information on flags can be found in the Flag documentation.
Vessel / Island / Shoppe Panel
This panel changes depending on whether ye be at Sea, upon an Island, or within a Shoppe.
The Vessel Panel
The Vessel panel shows you details of the ship upon which you sail and the Pirates on board, grouped by their current activity.
If ye be an Officer it is possible to set sail and put into port or deport using the Vessel panel. In addition it is possible for Officers to observe the colours of passing vessels and perhaps attack them.
The Island Panel
When wandering around on an Island this panel shows information associated with your present island: the name of the governing Flag and its appointed Governor.
On colonised islands you can apply for Citizenship, which will instantly make the island your home island.
The Shoppe Panel
Upon entering a Shoppe the Shoppe panel is brought to the fore. This gives you information on the shoppe owner and, in establishments that are hiring, allows you to take a job (provided you are a current subscriber on Subscription Oceans or own a Labour Badge on Doubloon Oceans).
Booty
The Booty panel is close to every Pirate's heart, for it is here that she can examine her cache of clothes, treasures and charts. The Booty Panel is broken down into sections for Clothing, Charts, and Miscellaneous (for example, Treasure). At the bottom of the Booty panel your Pieces of Eight in-hand are shown.
Mousing over any item in the Booty panel will give you a better idea of what it is. All Booty panel items that are not presently worn can be traded or wagered, except for items specifically marked "Non-tradeable," and badges (on Doubloon oceans).
Clothes
In the Clothing section there are further sub-sections for each type of Clothing your Pirate can wear. Once you have acquired more clothes beyond your basic starting set, you can drag items to the 'worn item' slot, where they will replace what you're wearing. No, it's not possible to remove particular types of clothing completely. Pirates keep their pants on. Clothing of the opposite gender is located in the miscellaneous section (see below).
Swords
Swords are used in the Swordfighting puzzle.
Mugs
Mugs are used in the Drinking puzzle.
Bludgeons
Bludgeons are used in the Rumbling puzzle.
Charts
Charts are valuable parchments that allow a navigator to chart a course between two Islands, to expeditions, or to sea monster locations. It's not possible to set sail without a chart, so once your Crew has a ship, Charts are the next priority. Apart from that Captain's hat, o'course.
To view a Chart you will need to board a vessel and use the Charting interface.
Deeds
If you own a ship or shoppe, the deed to it will appear here. Deeds on your pirate cannot be stolen, pillaged, or in any way removed without your specific action doing so.
Portraits
If you have any portraits, they will appear here. Any portrait in this section of your booty tab will be displayed in your Gallery, which is linked from your Pirate Info page.
Furniture
Any furniture you own and have not placed in a building or ship will appear here. To place the furniture, click on it and select "Add to scene."
Potions
Your potions for whisking, appearance changes, and injury repair are stored here. To drink a potion, click on it and select "Drink."
Trinkets
Trinkets are little collectible objects given out as prizes in tourneys and contests. To equip one so that other people may see your trinket, click the trinket and select "Equip."
Miscellaneous
Miscellaneous items might include paintbrushes, amulets, chorma and clothing of the opposite gender (alas, Pirates cannot presently cross-dress).
Pieces of Eight
Pieces of Eight are the basic currency of Puzzle Pirates, and can be earned by Jobbing, Pillaging and Working at a shoppe. These are displayed on the left next to the stack of small coins:
Your money is carried with you at all times, but cannot be stolen from you or lost in a sea battle. The only way to lose your money is to spend it, trade it or gamble it away! Beware false trade offers and be careful with your wagers!
Doubloons
Doubloons can be considered 'credits' or 'tokens'. They are used on a Doubloon Ocean to deliver purchases and to pay for certain aspects of gameplay. Doubloons are essentially a 'micropayment' currency to enable specific aspects of a Puzzle Pirates character, as an 'a la carte' alternative to the traditional 'all you can eat' subscription model.
Doubloons are owned by a particular account. They are available on all of your pirates across all Doubloon servers. They are not available on Subscription servers.
Ahoy!
The Ahoy! panel displays alerts and other new items that demand your attention, along with information you have requested such as /who is online. When another Pirate challenges you to a Puzzle game, the Ahoy! panel will display the challenge request and allow you to examine the proposal.
Most Ahoy! items can be swiftly dealt with, but the results of queries such as /who stick around for a while unless dismissed with the wee X in the top right corner.
Radial Menus
Walk to a scene with another Pirate in and click on the Pirate. A few icons will appear over the Pirate's head in (at least the beginnings of) a circle. These radial menus allow you discover more about other Pirates and take actions directed towards them. Click again on the Pirate or elsewhere to clear away a pending radial menu.
The available menu options depend on whether the Pirate is another player, or a non-player Pirate (NPP), and if so what kind of NPP.
You will notice that as you mouse-over the radial menu buttons, text appears explaining the option. An action is chosen by clicking again on the highlighted option. The various radial menu actions are as follows:
View Reputation
This displays a summary of an NPP's ratings in the various Puzzles and Duties. NPP's ratings are usually fairly representative of their abilities, so this information is is very useful when you are trying to decide whether to challenge an NPP. The information is displayed in the 'Ahoy!' panel to the right of the screen.
Get Pirate Info
Select this option to glean more information on another player, by examining their Pirate's homepage. Pirate's homepage contains a bevy of information for the curious, including the Pirate's home Island, her Crew, Flag and, most importantly for many, the Pirate's standing and experience in the various arts of Piracy.
Challenge to a Puzzle
On land, between discussion of brigand pillage and scurvy, most pirates enjoy some dueling, drinking or perhaps a game or two of cards. Remember to ask before challenging, unless you want t'be dealt the Black Spot!
Selecting the Challenge option commences a Puzzle Challenge with your target, opening the Challenge Configuration box.
Puzzling NPPs
Most non-player Pirates are glad to receive a Puzzle challenge. You can get an idea of the NPP's skill by looking at their Pirate info, which appears in the Ahoy! panel.
Configure your challenge by choosing the Puzzle from the drop-down box (Sword fighting or Drinking, for now) and entering a Wager, if any. All Wagers made with NPPs are for up to twenty-six Pieces of Eight.
Note that many NPPs will be hesitant about losing their hard-earned gold to a challenger with good Standing, but they will always play an unwagered game. There is also an option for whether you would like the game to be Rated or not — this determines whether the result goes on to affect your Standing. Most of the time, folk play rated games, unless they fancy a few practice runs. Note that rated games also affect the Standing of NPPs.
When you're satisfied with your proposal, click Propose and, if the NPP accepts your challenge, the Puzzle game will launch.
Puzzling fellow Pirates
Ahh, but it's other flesh'n'blood Pirates like yourself who will prove the greater challenge, eh? Puzzling another player gives one a few more options:
Once again you choose your Puzzle from the drop-down box, and whether you would like the game to be rated.
You can also propose a Wager to your opponent, although most pirates just duel and drink for the fun of it and wager nothing.
Wagers with other player Pirates may be for Pieces of Eight, or Items. Adjust the numbers to wager gold in either denomination, or drag Items from the Booty panel to the available slots to offer them as wager. Of course it's hard to judge the value of items, so you may have to negotiate a fair match with your opponent.
When you're satisfied with your challenge, click Propose. The challenge dialog will expand to show your opponent's side of the bargain:
By default your opponent will be set up to match your wager, except in the case of Items. If everything looks good you can both tick the 'I'm ready' box and, after a couple of seconds, the game will begin! Alternatively one of you can propose a different wager by typing an amount into the Pieces of Eight or Doubloon box, or by dragging in an item. When the terms of the wager are changed both 'I'm ready' boxes are unticked, and must be ticked again to proceed.
Trade With
After a bit of banter, you may wish to exchange money or items with a fellow pirate. Ask your potential trader if he'd like to trade, then click the Trade With button.
If indeed they wish to negotiate, the Trading interface opens on both screens.
Similar to the Puzzle Challenge negotiation, the Trade panel allows you to offer Pieces of Eight, and Items. Each side arranges their proposed Trade; you will see any changes that take place during negotiation. Once you are happy with the proposed Trade, enable 'I'm Ready'. If either side changes the terms, the 'I'm Ready' box must be re-enabled. Once both sides have agreed, the Trade is executed.
Tell
The Tell button simply sets up your communications bar to speak with the other Pirate. It will stay set for tells until you select a different communications medium (e.g. Say):
Mute / Unmute
If a Pirate's really getting on your nerves, you can use this option to silence them entirely — you'll never hear another peep from that pesky Pirate! A 'No' sign appears over the Pirate's head. Note that the Pirate won't be told that you've muted them, so they might get a bit confused as to why you're ignoring them. Also note that whilst they will hear any Speaking, Shouting, etc. from you, you cannot Tell to a Pirate that you've muted, or Challenge and Trade with them. You can relent later and un-mute them with the same radial menu.
In addition you can /mute or /unmute Pirates at distance, so if someone has been telling you things you don't want to hear, go ahead and /mute them. Your mute list can be viewed from the Options panel, accessible from the Ye tab on the Happy Sunshine.
Note that if someone is really offensive you can /complain to alert the support staff. A complaint records a log of your recent chat, so try to catch the annoying scurvy dog in action.
Invite to Be Your Hearty
You can ask someone to be your Hearty. If they accept, you'll be on each others' Hearty List, and you will be able to see when they log on and off!
Invite to Join Crew
As an Officer of a Crew you will be able to use this option to offer your fellow a Pirate a place in your crew. As with any other invitation, be sure to talk to the mate before broadsiding him with an invite. Also expect people to want to Job for a while before making a decision.
Invite to Job for your Crew
Hiring jobbers is generally done by clicking the "hiring jobbers" checkbox aboard your vessel. However, it is also possible to directly hire someone through the radial menu.
Again, if your Pirate is a Crew Officer they can offer a likely Pirate a jobbing place on your Crew. Jobbing Pirates are employed by your Crew on a temporary basis. They may be members of another Crew, just out to make some side money, or they may be potential new crewmates. Either way, jobbers are a good way to socialize and build alliances.
Players can also be invited to Job for your crew long-distance by using /job . This issues an invitiation to join up as a jobber, which will in turn allow the accepting player to clamber on board yer manned vessel from any Port.
Inspect Trinket
If a pirate has a trinket equipped, you can have a look at it by clicking this button. If there's a message inscribed on the trinket, you'll also be able to see that here.
Puzzle View
When Puzzling other Pirates or performing Puzzle Duty on board a vessel, the display shifts to allow more space to the right for chat, status, and an expanded bird view.
When Puzzling on land, you will see a small view of the locality in the bird view, along with a chat box. When at Sea you will see the progress of your vessel on the open seas, or in the event of a Sea Battle, the Sea Battle grid will be shown.
Chatting during Puzzling by Pausing
In most Puzzles the keyboard is used for Puzzling, so it's not possible to chat normally. In these puzzles it is possible to switch to chatting by pressing Escape, or the "p" key. In games that support pausing, the game will be paused, but in others (such as swordfighting) the puzzle will continue to run. To resume playing, press Escape again or simply click in the puzzle frame.
Configuration Options
The Options panel allows you to fiddle with Yohoho!'s configuration. Chat bubble timing, Sound and Music, Video and Mutelist are current available. Please note that:
- Full screen modes can be configured, but Windows 98 may not handle it well.
- Puzzle Pirates has some limited sound effects in the Puzzles. There are unfortunately bugs in Java that may cause problems; if you get bad sound then we suggest switching off sound in the options panel.