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Regarding pirate ships spawned upon target island arrival during tavern-generated ship scort quests

MrMister

Sailor Apprentice
Could you possibly change things so they spawn halfway between your destination point and your position when you "Land Ho!" into the island? At least if you arrive by DirectSail; it's okay if they keep their spawn positions if you arrive by worldmap.

It's not funny when they spawn two shiplengths behind you, right between you and your escortee, already aiming sideways at both of you.
 
They can either be placed at a specific, (random?) location around the island or they can be generated close to you.
Close is simpler and ensures you do get to encounter them. Putting them anywhere else would take a fair bit more doing.
It might be possible to change the code and put them at the destination, but that requires a fair bit of work.
Who would be willing and able to do that...?
 
Putting them at the destination wouldn't work because, well, if the port has a fort it would attack the pirate.

Can you direct me to the code that spawns them?
 
I think it's quests_common.c or the anacleto dialog file somewhere, but that code is very basic.
If the destination is no option either, then I can think of no way to get around the way it currently is while ensuring you do encounter them.
 
The problem with spawning the enemy ship too far away is that it makes escort missions trivially easy. The ship spawns a good, long distance away. You then "Sail-To" the destination because you're not currently in a battle. Job done, and you never had to fight the enemy ship.

The line which makes the enemy ship spawn close to you is this, in case "convoy_agreeded" of "quests_common.c":
Code:
Group_SetPursuitGroup("Convoy_Pirate", PLAYER_GROUP);
Similar lines are used to make enemy ships spawn near you in various other quests. The effect of that line is to make the enemy ship spawn near you regardless of any locator you may have given it. If you change the "SetPursuitGroup" logic to make the other ship spawn too far away, it's going to break all those quests.
 
The line which makes the enemy ship spawn close to you is this, in case "convoy_agreeded"
Oh, is THAT what does it? I always thought that if you set no locator, then the ship generates close by.
Learned something new again today. :doff
 
Oh, is THAT what does it? I always thought that if you set no locator, then the ship generates close by.
Learned something new again today. :doff
That would probably do it as well - no locator, an invalid locator, or the "Group_SetPursuitGroup" line. I know that line does it because I'd copied the code for the battle against the Temeraire in the "Hornblower" storyline and then wondered why my enemy ship spawned right next to you when I wanted it somewhere else, and had definitely given it a valid locator because I'd checked the locator with TOOL. If I removed the "Group_SetPursuitGroup" line then the ship appeared where I wanted it. The only thing that still puzzles me is why the Temeraire does not appear next to you! It's probably supposed to - when you arrive at Martinique, whether by Direct Sail or by worldmap, there's the sound of the crew cheering, presumably because you've just found the enemy ship, except that you haven't!
 
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