Presuming there’s only one, I usually just sail right past them. They get maybe one shot in before I dock, if they notice me at all. Maybe raise your Veils a bit / start as an Urchin? Are you always engaging every monster you see? it’s often best to play Sir Robin.
edited by Dr. Hieronymous Alloy on 2/14/2015
As I said above, I try not to engage anything. I did start as an Urchin. They do notice me, almost everything does, even with the lights out. I cannot sail away from them, they’re quicker than me. I really think my game’s broken.
edited by phryne on 2/14/2015
Do you try to stay far away from them? As a starting captain, even an ex-Urchin, your Veils won’t be quite high enough to zail right next to them and still evade notice.
I’d say keep trying, Unfinished Revolutionaries, like most enemies will not be in the exact same place every time even if you reload your game, they stick to a general area.
Or, simply avoid the Iron Republic for now unless you really need to go there. Its a cheap place for fuel and some unique interactions, but its also a somewhat risky place, and if you go even further south, you risk running into Dreadnaughts (Though there is quite a sight at the map’s southwestern corner).
The Revolutionaries may be able to keep pace for a short while, but your ship should still be faster in the long run since they use oars.
OK wild card here, you do have an engine equipped Right?
Haha, yes of course! Can you run without one? That wouldn’t make sense!
Looking for something on the wiki, I just noticed it says "current version of the game is 1.0.0.1957". On a hunch, I checked mine: it is 1.0.0.1951
Apparently, HumbleBundle doesn’t have the newest version of the game. Very disappointing. I guess I’ll have to create a Steam account and use the Steam key to download it from there. But not today, I have other things to do. I’ll report back whether I’m more lucky with the newest version…
Second wildcard: Are you going full speed? There are two speeds for forward and backwards. Even with the basic engine, I run at the same speed as the pirates, and with the full power pushed, easily outrun them.
To avoid the pirates entirely, stop out of range (as soon as you see them), turn off your light, wait 'til they’re pointing away, and take a wide berth. They won’t notice you, even with 25 veils.
Alternatively, wait 'til they’re pointing away, and open fire.
You have got the current version - the number for Steam is different for some reason which has been answered elsewhere in the forum.
Unfinished Pirates are tricky and persistent, my best tip is to really coast hug and turn off your light when you get near Adam’s Doom. Hopefully you will be able to get into the Iron Republic without them noticing you. By the way they don’t always spawn there but if they are and you manage to get into dock they will lose interest.
Edit - if they are hanging about outside port it might be worth reloading the game and hoping that they aren’t there when you leave:)
edited by reveurciel on 2/14/2015
Yeah, once you are in docking range, all hostiles are supposed to lose interest. You can use this to make some pretty narrow escapes!
You can’t run without an engine, it’ll pop up a snarky notification if you try it :P
They do, but they get confused when you’re right alongside (NB I’ve not exploited this, so I’m not entirely sure whether for zeebeasties you need to snuggle them from a particular angle - i.e. out of the way of the claws! I have noted that if you go alongside a pirate as if for a boarding action you can broadside them to death without them thinking to return the damage).
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It specifically breaks their AI so they turn to face away from you to try to get a bit of distance to charge you, I think–I don’t have the actual AI algorithms but that’s what seemed to be happening–so specifically their butts, mostly to avoid frontal ranged attacks, since they’ll turn around for you, more or less.
I haven’t played with the beta patch yet but they mentioned addressing this there, so it probably won’t stay and I wouldn’t get used to using it to survive, I mostly mentioned it for some context on what makes the game too easy for some people. (It also doesn’t work if you’re fighting more than one monster at once, so if you’re getting infinite spawn glitches…)
Didn’t read everything others mentioned but I recently wrote a huge beginner’s guide. The first part is very detailed to give you an overall good start. You can also learn how to solve any money problems you have, but I recommend just reading the very first part and then discover on your own. You can always come back, but your own discoveries will be the best.
Here’s the link to the guide: https://www.reddit.com/r/sunlesssea/comments/2voa3x/guide_beginners_guide_to_a_safe_start_and_tons_of/
@MightyPP: Thank you so much! That’s exactly the Beginner’s Guide I was looking for! :)
There had to be a difference though - I now played the Steam version and one of my biggest problems, the Mutton Island Crab Infestation, is gone!
I did it! I managed to get around the Unfinished Pirates! And I got lucky: I witnessed the destruction of Hunter’s Keep (well, that was actually very sad, and I’d like to know what happened to the poor sisters), and looting the place afterward gave me so many Outlandish Artefacts! I sold them all to this funny scholar at the university, bought the Reproach weapon and torpedo nets. I didn’t dare go looking for the Salt Lions directly, so I sailed to Port Carnelian, bought as much Darkdrop Coffee as I could, sold that back in London for 6 Echoes profit per sack, did it again, managed to pick up an Extraordinary Implication somewhere, and now I have a Townhouse and a Will for the very first time!!! ::
I think I’m finally getting the hang of this! 
One more question though: What’s that golden glowing ship keeping watch by the Dawn Machine? Are they dangerous? Is it possible to get on friendly terms with them?
edited by phryne on 2/15/2015
Dawn Dreadnaught. Very dangerous. Do not taunt.
Well, not Dreadnaught, but probably Frigate. Nevertheless, don’t try to fight with them, without good set of weapons and better ship. Though, on other side it would be nice feature to neutralize threat from certain factions’ ships after working hard on their respective supremacies.
edited by Riesbyfe on 2/15/2015
I think the golden ships are bugged. I sat and killed one and it threw light at me, which did absolutely no damage to me whatsoever. It just looked very pretty.
Pretty sure those are flares.
Like, magic super dawn flares or something but.
Been having a similar thing with the Faustic Corsairs where they were firing and doing 0 damage, however my secrets stash appeared to be reduced afterwards, which was more distressing than the damage caused to the ship.
There are Glorious Dreadnoughts though. I forget where they spawn, vs. where the Frigates spawn.
Guess what? I still haven’t died! :)
I’ve been playing for 6 hours straight, explored the whole southern coast (Varchas is soooo beautiful!!), and I’m - well, not stinking, but quite rich ;)
Two questions I couldn’t find answers to elsewhere: is it possible to explore the interior of the Elder Continent (i.e. see the Mountain)?
And how do you pick a Legacy? I know there are Legacies, I’ve just never seen anything clickable relating to them…
Not at the moment, though all bets are off the table for the future.
Your legacy is chosen after you die.