Cooking with Albatross

[Grey Roger]

The book "Cooking With Albatross" is useless. It gives you a -1 Luck penalty and no advantage, so the best thing to do if you find one in a random chest is leave it there.

Perhaps allow you to cook an albatross if you have the book? What I'm thinking is, if you've been stuck with a dead albatross and you have this book in your possession, reduce food consumption by one day and remove the albatross. So you're trading a permanent -1 Luck penalty for the -2 which you get from the albatross and also saving a bit of food.

Before I start trying to implement this, has anyone any thoughts? Maybe tie it to the "Cooking Lessons" perk? Do we even want this?

 

[Grey Roger]

No comments so far, but two votes in favour of cooking it and neither of them mine - I'm holding my vote in case it's needed as a tie breaker. So, for those in favour of cooking the albatross, put this into "PROGRAM\WorldMap".

It checks if you have "book9", alias "Cooking With Albatross", either in your inventory or in your ship's chest. If so, and if you have an albatross in your inventory, the albatross is removed and you get 2 food. This is done before the calculation and consumption of rations. I've done a few tests, with some trace statements to check what was going on, and it seems to work. So now you can get cooking!

 

[The Nameless Pirate]

Okay so I voted "yes".
I don't remember what the book's writing actually was, but I suppose it could have simple instructions/recipes on cooking with albatross.
Maybe the food you get from it can be more if you have the "Cooking Lessons" perk?

 

[pedrwyth]

I just assumed the book was an extension of the albatross "joke" giving bad luck. It also gives a hint that the apothecary can do something to relieve you of your burden if you acquire one. However I now note the text of his location (in the book) will be wrong in some periods - perhaps just remove the Bridgetown, Barbados part of the text?

I would be in favour of allowing the player to cook one to be rid of it but with the addition of needing the cooking perk (and book) and perhaps be on your ship (as per the recipe) so that it doesn't become too easy - It is supposed to be an albatross round your neck.

To allow use as a food source you would clearly need to slightly amend the recipe to avoid throwing the cooked albatross away - perhaps something like "at this point you may be tempted to throw the albatross away since it still smells and tastes of rotten fish but the crew are used to their meals being aromatic and rotten fish sauce has long been a delicacy in some cultures" to leave some flavour of the original joke.

I think the book should go in the pot too (ie be removed), with some comment about cooking the books (sorry) in the recipe so that it is a one time remedy.

If this had existed when the apothecary quest was written then it would have obviated the slightly clumsy "give the albatross to the tavern girl" solution to closing the apothecary which if this is introduced I might revisit (leaving that in but her telling you that "Steven left her several copies of this book" and giving you a copy if you have an albatross)

 

[Grey Roger]

I just assumed the book was an extension of the albatross "joke" giving bad luck. It also gives a hint that the apothecary can do something to relieve you of your burden if you acquire one. However I now note the text of his location (in the book) will be wrong in some periods - perhaps just remove the Bridgetown, Barbados part of the text?

It's only wrong in "Early Explorers", in which Barbados becomes Spanish. I'll have to see if the book can be made to use preprocessed variables - it should work, various questbooks use them.

I would be in favour of allowing the player to cook one to be rid of it but with the addition of needing the cooking perk (and book) and perhaps be on your ship (as per the recipe) so that it doesn't become too easy - It is supposed to be an albatross round your neck.

If you read the recipe again, you'll note that it is not necessary to be on your ship.

OK, even just sitting in your bathtub will be ok, but we must be on water.

Also, if we're going to require the "Cooking Lessons" perk, remember that this is likely to be provided by the surgeon. He's probably on board your ship unless you've chosen to bring him with you in your shore party.

To allow use as a food source you would clearly need to slightly amend the recipe to avoid throwing the cooked albatross away - perhaps something like "at this point you may be tempted to throw the albatross away since it still smells and tastes of rotten fish but the crew are used to their meals being aromatic and rotten fish sauce has long been a delicacy in some cultures" to leave some flavour of the original joke.

We can reasonably assume that a player character who intends to use the albatross as food will have enough sense to ignore that part of the "recipe"!

I think the book should go in the pot too (ie be removed), with some comment about cooking the books (sorry) in the recipe so that it is a one time remedy.

Remember that the book gives a -1 luck penalty. It's up to the player whether to dump it after using it to get rid of the albatross and risk finding another albatross before finding another book.

If this had existed when the apothecary quest was written then it would have obviated the slightly clumsy "give the albatross to the tavern girl" solution to closing the apothecary which if this is introduced I might revisit (leaving that in but her telling you that "Steven left her several copies of this book" and giving you a copy if you have an albatross)

I'd leave that alone. Taking the albatross to the apothecary is still supposed to be an alternative which does not require you to find and keep a book with a -1 luck penalty. The tavern girl keeps that alternative open.

If the vote swings in favour of "Only by someone who knows how to cook", one possibility would be to not give the extra food, but instead drop crew morale a bit, if you do not have the "Cooking Lessons" perk either in person or via a surgeon. The crew aren't happy, either because of the smell or because you're trying to cook an albatross. And you're not getting the food because, not knowing enough about cookery to modify a recipe, you followed it exactly, including the bit about throwing away the albatross.

 

[MrMister]

It's up to the player whether to dump it after using it to get rid of the albatross and risk finding another albatross before finding another book.

Just keep it in your ship's chest (the cargo hold's, not the cabin's). Things stuffed in there won't give you any buffs/penalties.


Alternatively - @Grey Roger , would it be possible to extend the check to see if the book is in the surgeon's inventory, or whoever officer's that can apply Cooking Lessons?

 

[Grey Roger]

I'll have to see if the book can be made to use preprocessed variables - it should work, various questbooks use them.

But it doesn't work. If I replace "Bridgetown" and "Barbados" with "#sGreenford#" and "#sisland_Oxbay#", the game crashes when I try to read the book, reliably and in two different installations, without leaving any "error.log" nor anything suspicious in "compile.log" or "system.log".

What does work is creating a duplicate book, "cookbook_early.txt", with the town and island changed, and then having the entry for "Book9" in "initItems.c" choose which text file to use based on period. Presumably "initItems.c" is read after you have chosen the storyline and period. (I might give the apothecary a different name in "Early Explorers", in which case if this fix is applied, the alternative name can also go into "cookbook_early.txt".)

Alternatively - @Grey Roger , would it be possible to extend the check to see if the book is in the surgeon's inventory, or whoever officer's that can apply Cooking Lessons?

No, because the code has no idea who might be contributing it. The surgeon is the only officer post which you can assign which contributes it, but Fighter, Civilian, Merchant Captain, Privateer Captain and Pirate can also all contribute it. You won't get any of those by hiring or re-assigning officers but you might get them as a result of quests.

Besides, it's for the player to choose whether to keep an item which gives -1 Luck, or risk picking up an item which gives -2 Luck and can only be disposed of by going to Bridgetown.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

The book "Cooking With Albatross" is useless. It gives you a -1 Luck penalty and no advantage, so the best thing to do if you find one in a random chest is leave it there.

Actually, its uselessness IS its purpose.
While the actual Albatross item is EVILLY CURSED without even showing you its "-2 Luck" effect,
"Cooking with Albatross" DOES show its effect, but you can sell it without trouble.
Basically, it serves specifically as a hint to players that they really should be trying to get rid of that Albatross if they find it; just like the book.
And of course the text inside the book serves as an extra hint.

I think the book should go in the pot too (ie be removed), with some comment about cooking the books (sorry) in the recipe so that it is a one time remedy.

HAHAHAAAAA! Very Monkey Island!
I love it.

If this had existed when the apothecary quest was written then it would have obviated the slightly clumsy "give the albatross to the tavern girl" solution to closing the apothecary which if this is introduced I might revisit (leaving that in but her telling you that "Steven left her several copies of this book" and giving you a copy if you have an albatross)

Well, you could still end up finding more albatrosses than cooking books.
So if indeed it is to be a one-time-use item as you suggest, you may still have to try the apothecary/tavern girl after all.

 

[Grey Roger]

Actually, its uselessness IS its purpose.
While the actual Albatross item is EVILLY CURSED without even showing you its "-2 Luck" effect,
"Cooking with Albatross" DOES show its effect, but you can sell it without trouble.
Basically, it serves specifically as a hint to players that they really should be trying to get rid of that Albatross if they find it; just like the book.
And of course the text inside the book serves as an extra hint.

The only "hint" I ever got from the book originally was that, if it's titled "Cooking With Albatross", it should have been a way to get rid of the albatross. Finally I got round to making it so. The text inside the book wasn't there originally and was added in an initial attempt to make the book semi-useful.

Well, you could still end up finding more albatrosses than cooking books.
So if indeed it is to be a one-time-use item as you suggest, you may still have to try the apothecary/tavern girl after all.

The main purpose of allowing you to cook the albatross is to avoid having to go all the way to Bridgetown. If it's only going to be useful once, then you might as well not bother picking the book up at all.

There is already a way to get rid of a cursed albatross without going anywhere near Bridgetown by exploiting the limit on the number of different items you're allowed to carry. You collect every quality level of every weapon you can find, and dump them all in your ship's chest. You can't carry the whole lot. When you have an albatross, you drop it in the chest and pick up as many weapon types as you can carry, then exit the chest. The albatross tries to go back into your inventory, can't because of the item limit, and disappears. Put all those spare weapons back in the chest and continue on your way. (Or you can edit "InternalSettings.h" to disable the albatross curse, the Cortes curse, or both.)

 

[Pieter Boelen]

The only "hint" I ever got from the book originally was that, if it's titled "Cooking With Albatross", it should have been a way to get rid of the albatross. Finally I got round to making it so. The text inside the book wasn't there originally and was added in an initial attempt to make the book semi-useful.

The "-1" being visible for the book and the "-2" being INvisible for the Albatross was probably indeed quite a bit TOO subtle of a hint.

The main purpose of allowing you to cook the albatross is to avoid having to go all the way to Bridgetown. If it's only going to be useful once, then you might as well not bother picking the book up at all.

Well, it was only ever meant as a hint of what to do if you do get an Albatross.

here is already a way to get rid of a cursed albatross without going anywhere near Bridgetown by exploiting the limit on the number of different items you're allowed to carry. You collect every quality level of every weapon you can find, and dump them all in your ship's chest. You can't carry the whole lot. When you have an albatross, you drop it in the chest and pick up as many weapon types as you can carry, then exit the chest. The albatross tries to go back into your inventory, can't because of the item limit, and disappears. Put all those spare weapons back in the chest and continue on your way.

If you have to go THAT far to get rid of it, we really did a piss-poor job at game design.

Or you can edit "InternalSettings.h" to disable the albatross curse, the Cortes curse, or both.

Exactly. If people don't like it, disable it altogether they can.
But if there's a low-level early-game item that basically completely negates the whole Albatross Curse feature the second you get it, then that basically makes the Albatross itself pointless.
Plus those Albatrosses wouldn't trigger the player to go investigate the Apothecary, with all its features, either.

 

[Grey Roger]

Votes are currently 4 for "Yes", none for "No", and 2 for "Only by someone who knows how to cook". So I'll implement this, without checking for the "Cooking Lessons" perk, in the next update.

Also to go in are the check in "initItems.c" and an alternative text for "Cooking With Albatross" for the "Early Explorers" period. Which reminds me, in "Early Explorers", if Bridgetown becomes Spanish and is renamed Santa Ines, the apothecary should also be Spanish and have a new name:

I wonder if anyone will figure out the sneaky reference? Perhaps one of our Spanish speakers can do a little better with the name.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I wonder if anyone will figure out the sneaky reference?

Spoiler

Well...
Did I...?

 

[Grey Roger]

I can't figure out what you figured out.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I can't figure out what you figured out.

That's odd; it's showing for me...
Well, let's try it another way:

Spoiler

 

[Grey Roger]

Yes, I can see that one. I'm not familiar with all that actor's films, but a quick inspection of the image's properties confirms that you've guessed correctly.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I'm not familiar with all that actor's films, but a quick inspection of the image's properties confirms that you've guessed correctly.

 

[Homo eructus]

Votes are currently 4 for "Yes", none for "No", and 2 for "Only by someone who knows how to cook". So I'll implement this, without checking for the "Cooking Lessons" perk, in the next update.

Also to go in are the check in "initItems.c" and an alternative text for "Cooking With Albatross" for the "Early Explorers" period. Which reminds me, in "Early Explorers", if Bridgetown becomes Spanish and is renamed Santa Ines, the apothecary should also be Spanish and have a new name:
View attachment 38503
I wonder if anyone will figure out the sneaky reference? Perhaps one of our Spanish speakers can do a little better with the name.

"Hacepoco" would be the form with the properly conjugated verb that would probably work better as a surname

 

[Grey Roger]

Thanks for that, @Homo eructus! I've amended the alternative name, both in the character definition and in the "Early Explorers" version of "Cooking With Albatross".