itch.io

Thanks for the info. I started a third character who had one from the start and then he ended up finding a second one during a boarding. It's Erin O'Sheil so call it the luck of the Irish! At least now I can stop checking stores for them. 

One time I started as a French character and he came with a Ship's Cat as part of his starting equipment and the cat made it so rats didnt eat my rations. Can I find this Cat item on other characters? I've checked the shop every time and never see a cat for sale. Is it unique to certain characters or is there another method of acquiring one? 

(NOTE: This topic was edited from it's original subject matter as I solved the question I was asking. For the record that had to do with Spyglasses and I found the setting to restore them to COAS default under the Mod Options section of the Options menu. I understand why it was changed for realism but in my mind an experienced captain with a good scope would be able to deduce information such as the ships guns, and what state the hull and sails are in.) 

Its not a specific message. I've simply noticed that the third ship in a line, no matter which ship it is, uses up medicine at a significantly greater rate than all other ships combined, regardless of crew size or whether or not we are hauling slaves. 

For example. I run a 4 ship line, my 1st, 2nd, and 4th ships all carry about 100-200 medicine at any given time and barely use any of it. My lead ship once made 4 trade trips without using a single medicine. Meanwhile the 3rd ship typically has as much medicine as I can find to buy and shove in it, upwards of 1000 units of the stuff, and it will use like  50-100 medicine per trip. The only times I ever run out of medicine are on the 3rd ship in the line. 

Is there something in the code that makes the third ship do this or is it just an anomaly in my save file?

Wunderbar, thanks for the reply. 
When I switched to Spain it solved both the supplies and officer issues by giving me access to all the Spanish ports. 

Any idea why the third ship is always the plague ship?

Playing Eras II as David Mitchell and the big ol Prince of Wales.
Maybe its just because I burn through it too fast but multiple times I've run into a situation where the stores at various ports either had no Powder or barely enough for a single broadside. For example I just checked Port Royal, Fort de France, and that french port on Guadalupe, none of them had powder.

Another issue I've experienced is the complete lack of officers at Taverns. 
I was able to hire 2 officers initially, and then for a bit I'd see officers but the only option was to tell them I had a full crew when I didnt. Now I can't find officers anywhere.  Oh and one of my 2 officers died when the ship I put him in charge of sank so I only have a bosun. 

So those are my two biggest issues, no officers and no powder. I did also have the jewel and moneylender mission bug out on fort du france with no diamond spawning, but thats not a huge game ruining problem like lack of powder. 

EDIT: something else I noticed after starting a Spanish Inquisition run, the third ship in a fleet line always seems to be the one with disease issues. My line has shuffled quite a bit but disease routinely plagues the third ship in line no matter what ship it is.  Why?

Two more things. 

1. I captured an English "102 Gun" 1st Rater, but it only has 100 guns!

2. When I was capturing Rock the Brazilian for the church, I noticed his ship had a max of 30 12lb culverins, and yet somehow he had 24lb ones mounted.