A few questions

[FlayedOne]

Hello, I have a few questions for you(build 14 beta 1 patch 4):

1) What does occupation setting(selected upon character creation - military, adventurer, corsair and the like) do? Does it influence anything?

2) What's the mechanism of shop inventory restocking/changing? How often/on what trigger do prices change?

3) What's up with spyglasses? How do I get them to work in this mod? All I see when I use them as in stock game is a targets name, despite trying different spyglasses. Am I missing something, or is it a bug?

Thank you

 

[morgan terror]

1) it affects which two skills you get an increase bonus for, signified by a green symbol next to your stats in your character screen. which two skills this would be used to be displayed in the menu when selecting your profession, but not anymore. no idea why it got removed.

3) it's part of realistic sailing mode nowadays. i thought it a bit of nuisance myself, to be honest. the option to turn the info you normally get on or off in the options menu only works for arcade mode, i'm afraid. it's a bit of outdated piece of code.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Welcome to the forum, mate! I hope you'll have a good time here.

1. Based on the occupation, there'll be two of your skills that increase quicker than the others.
These skills will be marked with a tick mark in the F2>Character interface during the game.

2. Their price depends on their own level and your commerce level. The items they carry depends on their own level.
The more you trade with then, the higher their level becomes. This might make them more expensive, but also gives them better items for sale.
The traders get new items if you hadn't traded with them on that day yet.

3. This is part of the Realistic Game Mode: spyglasses only enlarge, but more expensive spyglasses do enlarge better.
This and other realistic effects can be disabled by switching to Arcade Game Mode and starting a new game.
Refer to "Documentation\New Horizons Tutorials & History.pdf" page 123 for more information.

I hope this helps.

 

[FlayedOne]

Thank you very much for the responses.

I somehow missed the manual. There are still lot's of things I don't now though, so be prepared for another sets of questions

4) Is there a way to turn of the minimap when using compasses? It ruins the "realistic" feel.

5) Each ship handles differently from what I've seen(dead angle, upwind speed, etc.). I fell in love with Gaff Schooners, but they have minimal firepower and crew. What ships do make good raiders? Where do I get pirate design ships on the real carribbean? I understand, that they are the fastest/most agile? Tortuga?

6) Is there a way to measure how much damage I did to a ship? Especially to crew.

7) When shooting chains, should I try and hit the hull(only then player gets xp), or should I try and shoot above it?

8) What is the 'turning' statistic in the shipyard menu? Turn rate, turn radius or what? The higher the better, or the lower the better?

9) Should I pay attention to the stuff drifting in the water(apart from not hitting mines/wood)? I've met boats, native rafts and dismasted vessels so far, but only those wrecks seemed to do anything - gave me some ammo - a few cannonballs and a few(3 )bombs. Are boats and native rafts supposed to do anything?

10) I haven't met a storm in direct sail yet, although I had 30+ knots wind and pretty big waves. Am I just unlucky, or are there no storms in direct sail?

11) Is there a more detailed map of the archipellago than the one I started with? It seems to be missing a few islands...

12) Is it accurate, that a superrior spyglass only magnifies some ~4 times? It's hella difficult to read the colors of the enemy before he's really close...

13) Do shopkeepers gain experience for trade missions?
Again - thank you

 

[morgan terror]

4: F9 turns off all the interfaces in sailing mode. unequipping your compass removes it comepletely, but i don't think you can remove the mini-map and only that. you should be able to remove some of the info by equipping the cheapest compass, but that wasn't working properly last time i checked. worth a try at least.

5: pirate towns in general have the most nippy ships. i consider the best balance between sailing quality and firepower a ship that was formerly called the pirate corvette. it's quite easy to recognize due to it's special sails. things might be different with the recent addition of all those other ships though. it depends on which era you're playing in as well. however, schooners are the best for the job in general. they just require some skill in avoiding enemy fire.

6: nope, sorry. that's what annoys me most about the new spyglass. you can try figuring it out by eye, since the ship does display those damage types visually.

7: i was never quite sure about this to be honest. i'd try aiming above the red and see where it ends up. the crew does aim properly when using the automatic version of shooting though. that was modded in. they alternate between portions of the masts as well.

8: higher is better. no idea how it precisely works. keep in mind that if you learn the 15% maneuvrability bonus, it doesn't show in the shipyard, but it IS added to the actual stats when the ship is in your posession. same goes for maximum speed.

9: they do. boats give some crew and a reputation bonus. you should get messages about that on-screen. i've hardly seen naive rafts myself, but i know that sometimes have some gold on board.

10: wouldn't call yourself UNlucky, per se. but yes, storms can boil up in directsail. they work more or less as intended, but very differently from the stock game. you'll get plenty of on-screen info to tell you what to do.

11: nah. it only lists the colonised ones from what i know. the others are just too tiny and insignificant. don't even think you can land on them unless a quest tells you to.

12: again, another thing that annoys me as well.

13: try it out, i'd say. anytime such a thing happens you'll get info on-screen.

 

[FlayedOne]

4: Equipping cheap compass only gives me a little arrow pointing north in the lower left corner of the screen interface. It would be enough, but the big compass display with wind is too good to simply not use it

5: I captured a french corvette, but it seemed to turn like a snail, and couldn't sail against a wind at all, so I just stuck with my Gaff Schooner. The problem with it is not really avoiding fire, but rather not being able to damage enemies crew enough to make boarding possible. I spent 500 grapes on a class 4 ship, mostly hiting, and when I boarded it, there still was more crew on it, than I could handle.

6:I can see hull damage(somewhat) and sail damage, but animated crewmen count does seem to be constant? Right now it seems like the best way of capturing enemy ships is to simply shoot them with balls until they surrender, and it's kinda strange.

7:Automatic fire it is than .On another note - how do I dismast enemy ships? Is it just random, or do I have to do something special to achieve this?

9: I've never seen the raft either, I just read the indicator. I always look for them, but can't see them. As for the boats, I didn't get any messages, probably because I had no crew space?

10:I'm unlucky since I'm curious. I did encounter something I would call a storm however - wind suddenly picked up from 8 knots to 30, clear sky turned fully clouded, and a thick rain started pouring. This went on for 5 hours and then it started calming down. I got no messages, so I assume this doesn't count?

And new questions:

14)Is it a bug, that you get much more cash for a ship if you sell it's cannons separately? Seems a bit like an exploit...

15)Regarding autoskill - I can't seem to get luck and sailing to skill up at an adequate rate. Is there some trick? I know luck improves in tavern games, but even then it's soo slow...

16)Do officers use armor even if their model does not support showing it?

17)Are ship upgrades strictly beneficial, or do they have cons to?
Thanks

 

[Pieter Boelen]

4. I think the cheap compass doesn't show the minimap, but doesn't show a lot of other information either.
I think we could mod the slightly more expensive one to not show it either.

5. The best place to buy pirate design ships is from pirate shipyards, but they won't sell them to you unless you're a pirate.
And it's quite tricky to become a pirate. Other shipyards occasionally have them as well, though, and they can be encountered at sea.
You just have to be lucky though.

6. The "Sail To" menu doesn't show the bars in Realistic Game Mode anymore either, does it?
Then there's no way to measure it, no. Though realistically you would be hard-pressed to tell that from the other ship as well.
Apart from the holes and fallen masts that you get in the game as well.
We might recode things a bit so you can create your own Realistic Game Mode and are not stuck with "all or nothing" as we have no.

7. If you're aiming manually, I think aiming higher is better.
As long as the balls actually hit the sails and make holes in them. I think...

8. It's turn rate.

9. Most of the drifting stuff can give you something. Not much, but something.
Sometimes they give you nothing though and mines and floating logs can be dangerous.

10. Storms can indeed develop in DirectSail. They work the same as storms encountered at the worldmap though.
What Morgan Terror says sounds like the "Capsize" mod that I recently added to the game to liven up the storms a bit.
Although I didn't test that in DirectSail and only from worldmap, it should work in DirectSail as well.
If you keep using DirectSail, eventually you should run into storms.
Note that the occurrance of bad weather in DirectSail actually depends on the month in the game
and takes into account the real Caribbean dry and wet season to a certain extent.

11. Which islands? You mean Petit Tabac and Isla Mona? These are indeed tiny islands used for quest purposes only.
All the other ones should be on there.

12. The best one is coded as zoom = 7.0. I'm not sure if that means 7x zoom though.
In any case, we could increase the values if it's required for gameplay purposes.

13. Not from trade missions, no.

14. I think that's indeed a balancing bug.
Could you post that on the Bug Tracker please?

15. You can increase your luck also by talking with random characters in the towns and by completing quests.
As for sailing, you get sailing skill points for actually sailing, so playing in DirectSail should help.

16. Yes, they do.

17. If I recall, some do have cons. For example, staysails increase the sail repair costs. Logical, because there's more sails.
That is why, apart from Flush Deck, all upgrades can be removed again as well.

If you find that there's any issues with the balancing of the game or the playability of the Realistic Game Mode
or anything similar, be sure to let us know!

 

[morgan terror]

pieter seems to have messed up the answer to 16 and 15 there... seems to me like he skipped 15. as for the answer to your actual 15th question, i'm afraid not. sinking ships gives a bit of a sailing bonus, as well as capturing them, and i think smuggling ups your luck as well. for the rest you'll have to rely on bonuses given to you by items and having a good navigator with you.

if you're really having trouble with boarding, try upping your crew's morale and putting some good weapons in the weapon's locker. should be in your cabin. i don't think you'll have to worry about ammo for your firearms, since i've never had trouble with it myself.

5: all big ships are slow, really. i'd just explore the ones available a bit. and really, the easiest way to get a pirate-designed ship is capturing it. i can do it at a pretty low level myself, but you might still need some practice.

7: you really just need to get lucky with hitting the masts themselves a few times. i've occasionally managed to take down a mast with the ow chasers. always funny. keep in mind though that although chain's good against the actual sails, balls are better against masts.

9: that's probably it. maybe you just have the extra logs turned off too.

10: didn't know about that accurate weather. i did notice that the winds tend to go from west to east, following the gulf stream. western voyages are a real pain sometimes, although i have done a few circumnavigations of the archipelago in directsail. takes weeks, i'll tell ya.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Good point, Morgan; I fixed up my post now.

Ammo for firearms is only required for the player and the officers that accompany you ashore, but not any crew.

10. I don't recall the wind direction being West to East being deliberate though...

 

[morgan terror]

10: eh, maybe. i have noticed it being a bit of a trend.

even with directsail, it takes horribly long. you hardly ever get more than 6% per half hour, and that amount drops as your skill rises. eventually you won't even got any bonus most of the time, usually around 4 sailing skill, i think. needs a little tweaking.

 

[FlayedOne]

I haven't noticed the weather changing with seasons, but that is impressive!

Skill system definitely needs tweaking - sailing and luck increases need boosting(both top out at ~4 for me), while repair needs reduction(I effortlessly get a 10 before level 10) IMO, but it's one of very few things that need. The game with Build mod is simply amazing. If I come across bugs I'll let you guys know.

Storms must be pretty rare in direct sail though, since I sailed probably an equivalent of circling around the archipelago 10 times, and still haven't encountered any.

I just noticed that Gaff Schooners can load up on 18 pound short range cannons. This looks intentional, but why?

I also noticed "qual x" value near shopkeepers money display. It seems, the higher the shopkeepers qual, the better the items he sells. Is this shopkeepers level? Do they gain experience in the same way player does when trading?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I just noticed that Gaff Schooners can load up on 18 pound short range cannons. This looks intentional, but why?

Looking through the code of the schooner1, it should be just 9 pounds?

I also noticed "qual x" value near shopkeepers money display. It seems, the higher the shopkeepers qual, the better the items he sells. Is this shopkeepers level? Do they gain experience in the same way player does when trading?

That is indeed his level that determines the items he's got. He gains experience through trading with the player.

 

[morgan terror]

i agree on repair, but the same goes for melee. i like repair as-is though, since it used to be way too slow. it all depends on how much you repair at sea.

oh, you'll come across bugs, believe me. ) most of them seem to go ignored though.

i've had a few storms. you basically need the cricumstance of wind constantly picking up.

NO idea. there is an (incomplete) guide to the how and why of ships in the game's folder though.

yup. you'll see that shopkeepers level up as you trade with them.

 

[FlayedOne]

Looking through the code of the schooner1, it should be just 9 pounds?

Apparently carronades count as having half the size? I can put 18 lbs carronades on a gaff schooner and 24 lbs on ship rigged brig, and they should be limited to 9 and 12 lbs respectively. So carronades are there to allow you to load up on heavier guns at expense of range?

i agree on repair, but the same goes for melee. i like repair as-is though, since it used to be way too slow. it all depends on how much you repair at sea.

That may be the problem - I pretty much repair at the sea all the time

oh, you'll come across bugs, believe me. ) most of them seem to go ignored though.

I belive I came across one... That or it's a balancing issue. A Gaff Schooner with stays upgrade suddenly can go as fast as the wind blows as long as the wind blows from the side...
For exampl:
- wind blows exactly from the beam at 15 knots. My schooner without the upgrade went some ~8 knots. With the upgrade however it goes at a speed of 15-16 knots:O(note - with 30 kts wind I can go 32 kts:O)
- wind from the bow, on the edge of the dead angle(still 15 knots). Without the upgrade ~6 knot. With the upgrade - 12 knots.
- wind from the stern(15 knots). With or without the upgrade the schooner goes ~6 knots.
That's just astonishing - nothing can catch, or escape me anymore. This looks like a bug to me. I'll check wether this happens with all the ships, or just mine.

i've had a few storms. you basically need the cricumstance of wind constantly picking up.

I finally had a storm, and got sunk very fast thanks to 5 lightnings that hit me:O.
Then I loaded up and had another one. This one I survived, but it bugged my ship into a constant spinning
Then I loaded again and this time there was no storms.

I'm sorry to say, but this spinning thing is kinda lame. What can a player actually do in those storms, when his ship starts spinning much faster than he can steer? Is that even intentional? My steering has no effect whatsoever on the outcome of the storm(survival), because the ship automaticly spins.

NO idea. there is an (incomplete) guide to the how and why of ships in the game's folder though.

That's how I found out .It says - Schooner are best armed with carronades. I thought to myself "but carronades start from 12 lbs, and Schooners can have a max of 9?", and then I checked it ingame, and it turned out I can put 18 lbs carronades on my schooner.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Apparently carronades count as having half the size? I can put 18 lbs carronades on a gaff schooner and 24 lbs on ship rigged brig, and they should be limited to 9 and 12 lbs respectively. So carronades are there to allow you to load up on heavier guns at expense of range?

Indeed! I forgot about that.

Then I loaded up and had another one. This one I survived, but it bugged my ship into a constant spinning
I'm sorry to say, but this spinning thing is kinda lame. What can a player actually do in those storms, when his ship starts spinning much faster than he can steer? Is that even intentional? My steering has no effect whatsoever on the outcome of the storm(survival), because the ship automaticly spins.

That isn't even remotely intentional, no. It's been confirmed, but I haven't even the slightest clue where it comes from.
I never got that myself, but when I tested I only used larger ships. Possibly it happens mainly on more manouevrable ships.

 

[morgan terror]

i think the bug with the stays could be related to the problems we're having with the steam frigate. the angle you can sail into the wind is reduced to 0, causing devide-by-zero bugs.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

Most ships have the option of long guns or carronades. Which to choose depends on what ship you intend to attack. The long guns fire light shot to greater range, which is good for taking out sails. Carronades fire heavier shot short distances, which is useful when fighting large ships that don't notice the lighter shot. The downside to this is that they might board YOU if you get too close. :ixi

The spinning when caught in a storm seems to have been there forever and is pretty random. When my ship starts spinning I hit F1 and load, or wait for the storm to end and then go to world view. That straightens it out. Getting into a battle while in a storm in a little schooner will really test your cannoneering skills, with most of your shots going straight into the water. :eww

 

[FlayedOne]

I hope you don't mind me playing a bit with the code guys? I modified some stuff to get it more "realistic", and to see what I can do with it... Damn, this engine is wierd... runs on raw C files No wonder it works so uneconomicaly... So far:

-tweaked zoom values to 3.0, 5.5, 7.5 and 10.0 for cheap, common, superior and masterpiece spyglasses respectively. It seems to be much better balanced. This way common spyglass works somewhat, superior works good and masterpiece gives comfort, but still isn't as good as the minimap .
-disabled world map entering. It's unrealistic It forces the player to use spyglasses, because now he will encounter stuff.
-disabled minimaps on compasses. Once again - unrealistic.
-made it, so that player recieves a brief info on wind strength even without a compass(or with a cheap one). After all, everyone can feel it. I'm contemplating simply adding an info with beaufort scale level, since sailors are able to tell it without any equipment.
-disabled 'Sail To' commands.

I tried finding storm-bugs source, but it's hidden in dlls, right? Same with ship tuning code(wanted to check on the stays bug)? And with the "fast command interface"(the 'hot' actions which get icons in the left-top corner of the screen)? I also hoped I could try and add drift to the physics model of sailing, but it seems this code is in dlls as well?

And one more gameplay question. If I trade, while having my quatermaster with me(has higher commerce stat and commerce skills), will her stats and skills be used, or mine?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I hope you don't mind me playing a bit with the code guys?

We'll never mind anyone doing anything with our work. In fact, we welcome it! That's how every Modder here started as well.
In fact, it sounds to me like you've got some coding knowledge, and we've had a lack of coders here for quite a while now.
So anything you'd like to contribute, you'd be more than welcome to. The PiratesAhoy! Modders group is not a fixed set of people,
but rather a lot of people like yourself who come here and want to contribute. We're as open as can be.

I modified some stuff to get it more "realistic", and to see what I can do with it...

Could you please upload your modified files? We can include them in the next Build release.

Damn, this engine is wierd... runs on raw C files No wonder it works so uneconomicaly... So far:

Weird indeed, but I'm very thankful for it. If not so much of the code was totally free to edit, we'd never have gotten as far as we did.

-tweaked zoom values to 3.0, 5.5, 7.5 and 10.0 for cheap, common, superior and masterpiece spyglasses respectively. It seems to be much better balanced. This way common spyglass works somewhat, superior works good and masterpiece gives comfort, but still isn't as good as the minimap .
-disabled world map entering. It's unrealistic It forces the player to use spyglasses, because now he will encounter stuff.
-disabled minimaps on compasses. Once again - unrealistic.
-made it, so that player recieves a brief info on wind strength even without a compass(or with a cheap one). After all, everyone can feel it. I'm contemplating simply adding an info with beaufort scale level, since sailors are able to tell it without any equipment.
-disabled 'Sail To' commands.

That does sound like it'll help wonderfully with the Realistic Game Mode.
We will need to add seperate settings on these things though so players can decide for themselves how realistic or not they want their game though.
I was intending to do that anyway, but with your changes, there'll be no excuse anymore for not doing it.

I tried finding storm-bugs source, but it's hidden in dlls, right? [...] I also hoped I could try and add drift to the physics model of sailing, but it seems this code is in dlls as well?

The storms, I think, are related to the sailing model, but I'm not sure.
I don't know if the spinning bug was part of the stock game or if it's something the Build mod introduces.
I've been suspecting the enhanced ship inertia to have made a stock game bug much more obvious, but am not at all sure if that's the case.
The sailing model is pretty much hidden in the DLL files and it seems we can't change too much with that.
But people have been able to add stuff to the game before that we thought impossible, so I'll never say never again.

Same with ship tuning code(wanted to check on the stays bug)?

The whole "ship upgrades" mod was done by kblack for the Build Mod, so the code is 100% outside the DLL files and freely editable.

And with the "fast command interface"(the 'hot' actions which get icons in the left-top corner of the screen)?

What do you want to do with those? I think part of that is at least in the PROGRAM folder, but I'm not sure how much.
Check PROGRAM\BATTLE_INTERFACE\LandInterface.c; I think that's your best bet.

And one more gameplay question. If I trade, while having my quatermaster with me(has higher commerce stat and commerce skills), will her stats and skills be used, or mine?

I think your quartermaster's skill is used if his/hers is higher than yours, but I'm not 100% certain. In any case, that is something we can change.
In fact, if you're interested, I'll add you to a PM conversation about the new officer system that's a part of the Build mod.
That includes a lot of our ideas, as well as some notes about the coding and how to tweak things as far as the officers' skills are concerned.

 

[Beneke]

For the question about the ship being worth more after selling the cannons, i believe its not a bug. For example after selling 52 cannons off a ship, i made 150000, and i just captured them so my trade increased. This made my character sell the ship for more.