A few questions

hi everybody!! i'm new on this forum, i've been playing OPTC for the last two weeks and i've to say it's pretty addictive (though I just read that "strong" players are getting bored yet )
as the title says, i've some questions:
-i really don't get the point of that "skill books"... what are the pros of levelling up your special ability? it causes more damages? you've to wait less turns to use it? for exemple now i have the "sogeking" usopp, it's worth spending 30 stamina trying to beat the elite kuro to get his skillbook? and if i get the other usopp books i can use them only for EXP, right?

-what are the best isles to farm pirates? i need to level up my 4 star arlong (got it, finally!!! dropped on the level 15 in arlong park after looooot of trying, a 3 star arlong, and it took looooot time to bring it at level 50 to evolve )... for purple pirates i use loguetown 5, for the red ones the best i've found so far is baratie 9 (it drop also daimyo turtles, not bad)... and what about green/blue pirates?

-i have a 3 star smoker, level 10, it's worth spending resources to evolve? plus i'd need that rainbow penguin, WTF?!? on the green side, i also have an asura zoro lvl 32, but my team is mainly red (arlong lvl 26, gear 2 luffy lvl 30)

if u level the special ability u've to wait less turns, for some characters it is really important, specially ussop, his delay turn make him one of the best characters in game. I see you have sogeking, but golden hammer ussop is better than his evolution(it needs less turns to use the special, so it makes him better). If you use a different skillboos it will only grant 5k exp.
About farming to level up, I'll always recommend daimyo turtles and the best way to get 'em is in the invasion on extra island. For levle up arlong I think you should wait until next week since arlong is coming to extra island on Mar. 31(red turtles, arlong's skillbooks and arlongs lol)
About smoker his special makes him usefull to tank some bosses.
Greetings

That's a lot of questions.
On skill books, yes has a chance of leveling up your special. Each skill level speed up your special by one turn.
As for evolve material like penguin, crab so on. I recommend not farming them on story stage the odds of dropping is too low. You want to goto extra island to farm them. Evolver show up from Tuesday to Friday and it rotate everyday. Tuesday seahorse, Wednesday penguin, Thursday dragon, Friday crab. Pirate penguin is the only exception, get those from louge town 1 to 5. Just general rule for the moment only farm story for specific character like Zeff, buggy. Everything else get it from extra island that include turtles.

Last thing level zoro before smoker. Zoro is a heavy hitter and also one of the best leader.

thank you guys!!! so till mar.31, when they'll start the arlong event on extra island, what do you suggest to do? i'm doing baratie 9, over and over, to get red pirates and turtles for my arlong, but i also have a:
gear 2nd luffy lvl 28
iron-mace alvida lvl 13
asura zoro lvl 31
smoker (3 star) lvl 10
diable jambe sanji lvl 32
navy HQ ensign tashigi lvl 20
miss valentine (3 star) lvl 20
sogeking lvl 18
thunderbolt tempo nami lvl 16
buggy (3 star) lvl 15
don krieg (3 star) lvl 35

any suggestion? i tried to defeat kuro in the expert stage, but i'm not strong enough

y did u level usopp to sogeking?

did'n know his special was better with golden hammer usopp xD i suppose now it's too late to come back

u can still farm him in of u really wanted to. i rkn sogeking could become useful in the future.

i think i'll focus on powering up my actual crew for the moment, i'm strong enough to beat most stages without usopp's ability (exept for the expert stage on extra island)... and i'm also saving rainbow gems for rare recruits (don't want DEX characters, since already have asura zoro and smoker, so i'm waiting for apr.7 to see what comes next xD)... iif i'm lucky maybe i'll get an usopp with those gems xD

Dont worry about Usopp too much. There are other Turn Delayers. Sure, their delay is weaker but they fit better into the team.

From what I see, you might even have the chance to get a Int-Team. At least TB-Nami + Buugi and DK will do a lot of Damage with nice tankyness. But you are really far off, since Buugi and Krieg are only 3*.

I think, atm its really hard to give advice. Prolly a Force Team and good captains will help you catch up.

Important: Be wise with your Gems. Don't spend them for Stamina. Be careful with your box. You might want to have as many as possible for really good summon events. Next major event is the Whitebeard Crew with a lot of characters, that will kick others out of your team. Make sure to have as many gems as possible to go nuts.

after i got my second 3 star sanji with a rare recruit, i decided to save gems only for summon events... and i don't use them for stamina, obviously i have a 40 slot char box, and it's enough for the moment... since i also have the fusion materials to evolve DK i probably will focus on him, 15 levels are not so much to power up

be sure to check your turtle time for tomorrow (monday) in your local time. One half hour of turtle if done well can catch you 9-10 elder and dynamo turtles. Do that twice and you can easily get any character from lv 1-60 in 1 day. Be wise on what to level as arlong event is around the corner

wow, i didn't believe i could get so many turtles!! i think i'll try to evolve DK and power up zoro and sanji, for my STR characters i'll wait for the event