Quick question regarding a PC idea

[Spacelard]

I have a fancy of playing a trip fighty type in this path but I am cautious as I don't want to gimp myself by investing in the combat maneuvers to become obsolete passed L9.
So...how viable is this path? I am hoping that a lot of the combats involve opponents which can be tripped and that it isn't totally underwater heavy.

[Gideon Black]

Not too give anything away, but for the first two, it'll be not a lot of useful, later on a bit more but still I wouldn't. I'd say disarm or bull rush. Disarm is always useful and bull rush is great for prone attacks like trip, plus the odd chance you can knock them overboard.

[Lord Twitchiopolis]

My analysis would give you the opposite answer: Trip should be as useful as it ever is throughout the AP.

To not spoil anything, let's look at the Ranger suggested favored enemies in the Player's Guide to the AP:

Aberrations: The PC will have to accept that most of what he faces in this category will be either hard to trip or downright immune.

Humanoid (Giant): Again, trip-able, but difficult.

Monstrous Humanoid: No more difficult to trip than a humanoid.

"and in particular, Humanoid (Human):" Humans are, by the player's guide, going to be abundant. How trip-able they will be depends on their individual builds, but they are all viable targets for a trip maneuver.

[Trinite]

In the AP as-written, you will definitely run into some underwater combat, which will decrease the usefulness of tripping.