Theo
07-05-2012

is there a reason to lvl it up higher? does it let you see further or just lengthen the time period its active?

Steward
07-05-2012

Its only lengthen the time period

Beatrice
07-05-2012

But skill is usefull like surveing, its very comfortable with it

Mr.Grandenigo
07-05-2012

It also lenghtens line of sight, i watched it rank from 4-5 , many months ago and it instantly included some of the far ships names i couldnt see before.
But just forget about seeing a ships name before you see a ship :)
You know that would be cheating of some sort, right? ;)

[Purification FleetA]"> [Purification FleetA]
10-21-2012

Liza
10-21-2012

perk for strategic: for pirates u can see ur posible prey or hunter
for hunter easy to find the pirates and for traders/adv to stay away from trouble

Natascha
03-03-2013

I see your point, but I feel there're a lot of skills which're more useful... specially with few slots, I wouldn't think about having this one.

Nicola
04-01-2013

yeap, only got it now that I have 50 slots available it is usefull like liza said, but there are more important ones before. would say it is more useful in hunting, pirates or players then as a trader protection tool. also very useful in esf as u can see from a far what nation the fleets are

[Purification FleetA]"> [Purification FleetA]
04-01-2013

[Purification FleetA]"> [Purification FleetA]
06-01-2013

Glow
06-13-2013

Is there an item that has an "effect: Lookout"?

Maria
11-05-2013

The only use of this is to get The life saving corps, frankly.

Maybe pirates have use for it. But traders who want to escape a pirate should 1- search frequently for pirates in the area and 2-when you see a battle ship that's moving in zigzag, it's certainly a pirate.

Igor
02-05-2014

I heard this skill helps in doing sw. Anyone knows how? does it says east, west like observe when searching.

Junchul
02-05-2014

No it doesn't. What does help is putting your aide in the Lookout job category and he'll/she'll let you know if your in the area where the SW is located and say something like "Cap'n theres a scrap of wood!" if your over the spot where the SW lays at.

OjosDeAzul
04-24-2014

Really for maritimers I think this is not a wasted skill slot. I use it frequently in ESF to spot enemy fleets (NPC and PVP) in addition to BH/piracy. It is one of those like aboardage that you can pickup/drop over and over again, with the only drawback for being low level in that it doesn't last long and will drain vigor a little faster. Also, if I remember correctly, it cancels automatically when you get into battle.

Guilder
04-24-2014

You remember correctly, it cancels as soon as battle begins. Additionally, this skill (at r5) is one of two needed to pull the Guardian job, which has some pretty good maritime skills favored. And as there aren't that many skill boosts available for Lookout, compared to Surgery which is also needed for the Guardian job... still, everybody has their own way of doing things, I suppose.

Snipe
09-05-2015

In my opinion this is a great skill to have for people that usually sail with only two skills, they can use this skill as the third sailing skill. The uses for this skill that i can think of are as follows:

1. Spot pirates to hunt/escape
2. Find the right fleet to attack (to plunder/grind etc)
3. Know which fleet is aggressive (will attack you) before it is too late

Additionally while using this skill i noticed something that no one has talked about it before: While sailing with this skill, very occasionally i see a "you might find something good here!" message. I was not using recognition nor does my ship have the "flotsam search" skill. Before I had lookout (which was not long ago), this message never showed up. I have not tried using recognition when the message appeared but i am quite sure if i do i would get something that someone else has previously dropped. (confirmation needed).

Visitor
09-05-2015

Using Recognition in conjunction with this skill does allow item retrieval at sea. It is the same as land item retrieval with Search; it may happen on your first try, or it may take several attempts. You may have to drop anchor or turn around, depending on your sailing speed.

Snipe
09-06-2015

Hmmm does that mean that this skill is equivalent to flotsam search then?

Visitor
09-06-2015

Quote Wystein under the Flotsam Search article page: "Having Flotsam Search is the same as sailing with recognition constantly running. If you have used recognition to try and find items at sea you will at some point receive the "It seems there is something near you" message. All this means is the recognition skill failed to find the item. This is exactly the same as having search or ecological research or recognition give you this mission when your at a quest location. All it means is your in the right spot but just missed. If you stay there long enough and keep trying you should get the item. The benefit of using recognition in addition to Flotsam search is that you get two cracks at the random number generator to get a hit. Also if your natural recognition skill is higher than the Flotsam search (r10 I believe) your odds will of course improve."

He also pointed out that Flotsam Search adds +1 to Recognition while you are at sea. I would note that FS skill does not require one of three skill slots to be active, and that Lookout merely informs you of items being present, but makes no attempt to collect them on your behalf.

Lookout is still a valuable skill for a number of reasons, though. I wonder whether or not it even might raise the likelihood of Flotsam Search succeeding when it is active? I suppose only the game developers would know the answer to that.

Snipe
09-06-2015

Nice, I guess that's another hidden effect of this skill then, not as powerful as flotsam search but does not occupy a ship skill! Maybe now that people know this more people would use this skill....

Almeida
01-24-2019

I find this skill very useful for spotting NPC pirates from a distance and avoiding them.