First impressions

[Greyfoot]

Well I managed to get POTC for a bargain price and installed the latest Build straight away-you did a good job on COAS, so I thought this should be awesome too.
Unfortunately the game is, well rather annoying-I`m not talking about the dream-walking through objects and buildings but ehh how shall I put it.
Maybe my expectations were to high, but this game has so much potential, I mean COAS and POTC should be mixed and voila! we`d have the perfect pirate game.

So I love the way the towns are busy, many people around, stealing, thieving bastards etc...but for example I bought a shipload of cargo in PR to sell as contraband in Curacao, only to find out there are no smugglers in town no matter how many months(!!!) I spend at sea or in the tavern. I bought a shiny little superior spyglass-it is as useful as the cheapest one. Same with a superior compass-equipped-no interface change takes place.
I was thinking maybe it was intentional(I mean the spyglass yeah)to create a more accurate simulation where ship stats are not displayed. I can live with that but why not remove them from the shop`s list in the first place then? Or change the description?

Combat: I managed to board a barque of 33(!) men with my lugger(23men) after 5-6 grape broadside with musket-volley perk only to be overwhelmed by enemies during boarding(lots of good quality weapon in weapons/locker). Hell I won the battle but after killing the captain I pressed space in front of the cabin`s chest in anticipation of untold wealth and @$$!!-yep should have hit enter instead(why???)

Trade: Can someone tell me why on earth prices go up when you buy items in bulk??????????????
It would be the merchants interest to give you a price drop if you want to buy say 300 sandalwood instead of 10, no???
I understand it is because the trade script-less cargo at trader-bigger the price, but surely not during buying things?

It is possible that I am missing the point here so please enlight me, for the time being I am back to COAS for sure...

 

[Hylie Pistof]

It sounds like you are unfamiliar with how this game plays. I have COAS but haven't installed it because I don't want to go through the trouble of learning a new system and then getting them confused when jumping from one game to the other.
Before you started, did you set your options? That might change things like the spyglass. Also, how lucky are you? It takes a lot of luck to be a good smuggler. Patience grasshopper.

 

[Greyfoot]

I am indeed unfamiliar as I just bought the game...Controls are not being a problem here-annoying little things are...Is there a way to change that spyglasses actually show you details?
Ehh, I am an aeries,I keep playing `cuz ain`t no game gonna .... with me :slap

 

[Talisman]

The default setting for PotC is Realistic mode - this removes some of the advantages of having high quality items & tries to make the game more like real life.

The other mode is Arcade Mode - where ( among other things ) better quality items like the spyglasses give you more information.

You can change these setting and the key assignments in the options ( some changes require you to start a new game ). [ the compass settings are changed in advanced options - so better compass gives you more info.]

There is usually a smuggler in the town's tavern - there might not be if there is a Smuggler or Pirate village on the island ( I can't remember for Curacao ) so try there - Some of the smugglers are bugged - either don't tell you beach name - or no one on the beach. ( the game is still a Beta )

I think the price of things in the stores depends on how much stock the store has - the less it has the higher the price it will charge you to buy - so if you buy lots you should see the price rise as you incresase the quantity, and the store's stock falls.

Same with selling to the store - this increases the stores stock - so as you incresse the quantity you sell to the store the price drops.

There is a limit to the quantity a store will sell you - as it has to have enough to supply the town - therefore on some items -eg Food, Rum , you cannot buy the complete stock held by the store.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I`m not talking about the dream-walking through objects and buildings but ehh how shall I put it.

Those are known issues we cannot fix. Check the FAQ on the Build Mod forum.
It's either weird Sidestep and BuildingSet mods or no Sidestep or BuildingSet mods.
In case of sidestep, you can decide not to use it. In case of the BuildingSet, you can disable it in Options>Advanced Options.

...this game has so much potential, I mean COAS and POTC should be mixed and voila! we`d have the perfect pirate game.

Agreed. A mix of PotC and CoAS would be incredible and is what we're still hoping to do one day.
However, I do reckon that with Pirates of the Caribbean: Build 14, we've tapped into rather a lot of the potential from the original game.
The amount of improvements can hardly be counted and there is a reason why the download is over 1.5 GB large.

I bought a shipload of cargo in PR to sell as contraband in Curacao, only to find out there are no smugglers in town no matter how many months(!!!) I spend at sea or in the tavern.

There is smugglers in the taverns of the original game's towns. For the mod-added towns, we never got round to adding them.
However, there might be random smugglers walking around the towns on the new islands.
Though it could be that you need to take some of your crewmembers (not officers) with you ashore for them to show up; I don't remember...

I bought a shiny little superior spyglass-it is as useful as the cheapest one. Same with a superior compass-equipped-no interface change takes place.
I was thinking maybe it was intentional(I mean the spyglass yeah)to create a more accurate simulation where ship stats are not displayed. I can live with that but why not remove them from the shop`s list in the first place then? Or change the description?

That IS indeed intentional in the default Realistic Game Mode.
Better spyglasses still do enlarge better than the cheap ones, but they don't show the data anymore.
When you switch to Arcade Game Mode, you'll get that back. New game required though.

Hell I won the battle but after killing the captain I pressed space in front of the cabin`s chest in anticipation of untold wealth and @$$!!-yep should have hit enter instead(why???)

Space continues the boarding. Always has done since the original game.
You can use F3 to execute the "quick action" indicated by the icon on the top-left corner of the screen.
But the Enter menu is definitly your best bet, because you'll be certain to not accidentally continue.
Chests usually contain some items, but no "untold riches". Sometimes a ship's captain can have rather a lot of money on him though. Be sure to loot him.

Trade: Can someone tell me why on earth prices go up when you buy items in bulk??????????????
It would be the merchants interest to give you a price drop if you want to buy say 300 sandalwood instead of 10, no???
I understand it is because the trade script-less cargo at trader-bigger the price, but surely not during buying things?

This is part of the economy mod where the price goes up if the stock goes down.
However, the price change should logically take place AFTER the transaction and not DURING it.
This is a bug that we still need to look at.

 

[morgan terror]

this being said, the controls ARE pretty crap. but it's always been that way and there's not really much that can be done about it. you get used to the bugs after a while, but i do have to take a break from them sometimes.

what you might not know is that the original main quest has the most sidequests. a few dozen more than the others, in fact.

 

[Grey Roger]

This is part of the economy mod where the price goes up if the stock goes down.
However, the price change should logically take place AFTER the transaction and not DURING it.
This is a bug that we still need to look at.

Just be careful not to overdo it. I remember another combat/trading game many years ago in which the market reacted to your purchases. You needed to do a bit of work to start with, but once you could afford a few tons of silver, you were made. You bought the silver and the price went down, you sold it again and the price went up, you repeated until you could buy all the silver in stock. Then you went somewhere else, dumped the lot, watched the price plummet, and bought back all your silver plus what was in stock there. At this point you could just stay there and keep buying and selling until you had enough money to buy all the equipment you could possibly want.

 

[Greyfoot]

Well I gotta admit that I am hooked on the game-proper.
As for the trading/economic part of the game I am not sure whether NPC ships actually buy cargo from ports or just spawn during battle? Maybe you could implement some sort of dynamic economy like in the X series, or just let the stock decrease on its own over time-especially building materials and linen, clothes etc-and luxury items as well for a lesser degree maybe?

Anyway I am back playing as I have to capture some nice warship as I am able to steer class 3 vessels but still sailing on my trusted Elizabeth-a 5th class heavy frigate...

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I never had much of a problem with PotC's controls.
Sure the defaults are really weird (left/right mouse buttons for WALKING???), but that is easily rectified.

Most new storylines don't (yet) have side-quests added, but the Jack Sparrow one has a whole bunch of Pirate Lord ones.

That makes no sense to me at all, Grey Roger. The price should go UP as the available amount decreases because you're buying it all. :wacko:

Ships are just generated with random cargo. No economy involved in that.

 

[rbray14]

This is part of the economy mod where the price goes up if the stock goes down.
However, the price change should logically take place AFTER the transaction and not DURING it.
This is a bug that we still need to look at.

Just be careful not to overdo it. I remember another combat/trading game many years ago in which the market reacted to your purchases. You needed to do a bit of work to start with, but once you could afford a few tons of silver, you were made. You bought the silver and the price went down, you sold it again and the price went up, you repeated until you could buy all the silver in stock. Then you went somewhere else, dumped the lot, watched the price plummet, and bought back all your silver plus what was in stock there. At this point you could just stay there and keep buying and selling until you had enough money to buy all the equipment you could possibly want.

the game you are thinking of is Sid miers(sp?) pirates i think.

 

[Adamski62]

Trade was probably developed on the supply and demand criterior...the more scarce a product,the more expensive it becomes.Logical when you think about it