Discussion Hornblower model & minor issues

[Grey Roger]

I'll have to play "Hornblower" a bit, or see if I have an old savegame somewhere, so I can look at Styles properly. Looking at his character definition in "PROGRAM\Storyline\Hornblower\characters\init\story.c", he's given some starting skills which probably cause the levelling system to put him to level 29. It might not adjust his HP from the base starting value of 80 after adjusting his level, though. He has the "questchar" attribute to prevent the levelling system from wiping his skills and turning him into a plain average character. I may need to add a 'LAi_SetHP' line to his definition to start him off with HP suitable for a level 9 character. (Amerigo Vieira, whom you'll meet in the "Hard Labours of an Assassin" quest, also has the "questchar" attribute to prevent the levelling system from stripping the "best swordsman in the archipelago" of his fencing skill, and has a 'LAi_SetHP' line to start him off with 150 HP.)

But it shouldn't matter for Styles. If he survives the combat scenes in the Guadeloupe raid, he stays in your "Passengers" list but can't be assigned to your shore party - he's a crewmember, not an officer! So once the main story is over, he'll never again go into a combat, which means his HP is irrelevant.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I'll have to play "Hornblower" a bit, or see if I have an old savegame somewhere, so I can look at Styles properly. Looking at his character definition in "PROGRAM\Storyline\Hornblower\characters\init\story.c", he's given some starting skills which probably cause the levelling system to put him to level 29. It might not adjust his HP from the base starting value of 80 after adjusting his level, though. He has the "questchar" attribute to prevent the levelling system from wiping his skills and turning him into a plain average character. I may need to add a 'LAi_SetHP' line to his definition to start him off with HP suitable for a level 9 character. (Amerigo Vieira, whom you'll meet in the "Hard Labours of an Assassin" quest, also has the "questchar" attribute to prevent the levelling system from stripping the "best swordsman in the archipelago" of his fencing skill, and has a 'LAi_SetHP' line to start him off with 150 HP.)

Hmm... Ideally "questch" shouldn't affect HP.
If a character should have either higher or lower than default HP, that is what the "HPBonus" attribute is for.
But you could very well be right that it does anyway.

 

[FrozenHeart]

Here is story.c file from Hornblower story line. If you want to look into.

If he survives the combat scenes in the Guadeloupe raid

I gave them health potion and good weapons to survive the fight.

 

[Grey Roger]

Though there is plenty wrong with the levelling system, it's not responsible for this one. Styles has his HP set to 80 in "quests_reaction.c" during the Guadeloupe raid, specifically when he's about to go and attack the guard at the signalling tower/lighthouse:

       case "Deal_with_him2":
           LAi_SetHP(characterFromID("Soldier1X"), 20.0, 20.0);
           LAi_SetHP(characterFromID("Styles"), 80.0, 80.0);
           LAi_SetActorType(CharacterFromID("Soldier1X"));
           LAi_SetActorType(CharacterFromID("Styles"));
           LAi_group_MoveCharacter(CharacterFromID("Soldier1X"), "Soldier1X");
           LAi_group_MoveCharacter(CharacterFromID("Styles"), "Styles");
           LAi_SetImmortal(CharacterFromID("Styles"), true);
           LAi_ActorAttack(characterFromID("Styles"), characterFromID("Soldier1X"), "");
           LAi_ActorAttack(characterFromID("Soldier1X"), characterFromID("Styles"), "");

           Characters[GetCharacterIndex("Jack Hammond")].dialog.CurrentNode = "We_need_to_be_quick";

           PChar.quest.Job_done_Sir.win_condition.l1 = "NPC_Death";
           PChar.quest.Job_done_Sir.win_condition.l1.character = "Soldier1X";
           PChar.quest.Job_done_Sir.win_condition = "Job_done_Sir";
       break;

(Which, incidentally, means you don't need to give him health potions. He's immortal. This is never cancelled.)

I'm not sure why Styles has his HP set to 80 here; it doesn't matter since he's immortal, so he'll win the fight even if he only has 1 HP. I'll probably comment out that line in a later update. For now, it doesn't matter, partly because he's immortal and partly because he becomes a non-removable passenger who can be used for skills and perks but not as a shore party officer. (He makes a return appearance in "The Natividad Incident".)

 

[Grey Roger]

Update: here's "PROGRAM\Storyline\Hornblower\quests\quests_reaction.c" with the line commented out. It won't make any difference to your current game unless you go all the way back to just before the raid on Guadeloupe. It should stop Styles' HP being set to 80 if you start the storyline again.

 

[FrozenHeart]

Did not know that Styles is immortal. Because at least one of them (Styles or wills) had taken hit at the path before reaching the light house.

Completed the Natividad incident. As of walk through receive promotion and "HMS Sutherland" after Natividad incident.
Received Sutherland but no promotion. My relation was 143 and after Natividad incident it is still 143. Is that ok?

I noticed that Hornblower can accommodate more than 14 officers/passengers (single ship). What is the highest number for this story line?

As well keeping Natividad. Sutherland cargo capacity is very low.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Did not know that Styles is immortal. Because at least one of them (Styles or wills) had taken hit at the path before reaching the light house.

Hit from one of the booby traps, by any chance?
Some explosions can bypass immortality...

I noticed that Hornblower can accommodate more than 14 officers/passengers (single ship). What is the highest number for this story line?

The number is constant throughout the game.
Not sure what it is, but it doesn't depend on ship/character/storyline at all.

Could that be an interesting feature to have?
So you could only have, say, 2 officers on a small starting ship, for example?

 

[Grey Roger]

Did not know that Styles is immortal. Because at least one of them (Styles or wills) had taken hit at the path before reaching the light house.

Styles is indeed mortal before the lighthouse. He becomes immortal at the lighthouse so that he'll definitely defeat the guard there.

Completed the Natividad incident. As of walk through receive promotion and "HMS Sutherland" after Natividad incident.
Received Sutherland but no promotion. My relation was 143 and after Natividad incident it is still 143. Is that ok?

Easily enough fixed. I've edited the walkthrough to remove the promotion. The quest is based on part of the film "Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N.", in which Hornblower gets the Sutherland but does not seem to get a promotion to go with it. (And one of the things on my to-do list is a follow-up quest based on the rest of the film...)

I noticed that Hornblower can accommodate more than 14 officers/passengers (single ship). What is the highest number for this story line?

32 total, regardless of number of ships, also regardless of storyline. Officers in command of berthed ships don't count, though they show up in the "Characters" interface.

As well keeping Natividad. Sutherland cargo capacity is very low.

That's because it's a warship, not a merchant! It should have capacity for food and rum for about a month, plus ammunition to fight a battle, plus some repair materials and medicine. If you want to trade or smuggle, don't be a naval officer.

Could that be an interesting feature to have?
So you could only have, say, 2 officers on a small starting ship, for example?

You'd need to get rid of the squad of officers who join you at the start of FreePlay if you choose the default "Brave Black Flag" setup, for one thing.

How do you propose to limit the number of officers? By ship size, in which case Jack Sparrow could be in trouble when he gets Anamaria's dinghy and Hornblower could be in trouble when he has no ship at all in the Spanish prison? Or by leadership, in which case what happens if you recruit your maximum initial number from the nearest tavern, then go and find quest officers such as Fred Bob and Rys Bloom?

 

[FrozenHeart]

Hit from one of the booby traps, by any chance?

No booby traps was there. Two groups of soldiers was spammed at the way to the light house.

Easily enough fixed. I've edited the walkthrough to remove the promotion.

Smart works

 

[FrozenHeart]

And one of the things on my to-do list is a follow-up quest based on the rest of the film

The quest is based on part of the film

Will see that film. Searched on you tube. Was there. Both serial & movie. Dont know how Gregory Peck did match that character.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

And one of the things on my to-do list is a follow-up quest based on the rest of the film...

Really? COOL!

If you're feeling particularly enthusiastic (or if your story of Hornblower's escape from captivity needs a bit more content), perhaps you could take a page out of the book too:
Comte de Graçay
But even just an Easter Egg of Marie Ladon might be a nice touch.

You'd need to get rid of the squad of officers who join you at the start of FreePlay if you choose the default "Brave Black Flag" setup, for one thing.

How do you propose to limit the number of officers? By ship size, in which case Jack Sparrow could be in trouble when he gets Anamaria's dinghy and Hornblower could be in trouble when he has no ship at all in the Spanish prison? Or by leadership, in which case what happens if you recruit your maximum initial number from the nearest tavern, then go and find quest officers such as Fred Bob and Rys Bloom?

For starters, chances are this isn't going to be done at all.

The idea I'd have is to limit only the hiring of officers; so any officers you already have wouldn't be removed.
(Just to keep things simple.)

As for the number, I wondered if a formula could be made based on the number of locations on the ship; and their type.
For example, having a gun deck counts for 1 officer; having a cargo hold counts for another.
A small cabin is 1 officers; but a really big one could be 3.
Or something along those lines.

Will see that film. Searched on you tube. Was there. Both serial & movie. Dont know how Gregory Peck did match that character.

It's a good film. Nice, upbeat adventure!

The author must've approved of Gregory Peck for the role; since it was C.S. Forester himself who wrote the film script.
Pretty well-done too, if you ask me.
It's based on three books (The Happy Return, A Ship of the Line, Flying Colours) and excludes basically everything but the start and finish of those two final books.
And yet... you don't miss it. It just works.

But if you read the books, you get a lot of extra cool material; that doesn't detract from the film either.
Good stuff all around.

 

[Grey Roger]

Really? COOL!

If you're feeling particularly enthusiastic (or if your story of Hornblower's escape from captivity needs a bit more content), perhaps you could take a page out of the book too:
Comte de Graçay
But even just an Easter Egg of Marie Ladon might be a nice touch.

Don't hold your breath. For one thing, I'll need to get one of these. For another, the detour to Chateau de Graçay is not shown in the film. Though I'll need to take quite a bit of artistic licence with the escape anyway, starting with the location. Paris is a bit too far away so it will probably happen somewhere near Saint Domingue. And since I'm not planning any further extensions, Hornblower's relationship with Lady Barbara is probably going to be accelerated.

The idea I'd have is to limit only the hiring of officers; so any officers you already have wouldn't be removed.
(Just to keep things simple.)

As for the number, I wondered if a formula could be made based on the number of locations on the ship; and their type.
For example, having a gun deck counts for 1 officer; having a cargo hold counts for another.
A small cabin is 1 officers; but a really big one could be 3.
Or something along those lines.

Either you block quest officers from allowing themselves to be hired if you already have your quota, which may not please many people; or this turns FreePlay (and probably "Tales of a Sea Hawk") into a mission to round up all freely available quest officers. And the "Castaway" start, already tough, will be even worse as you start with a dinghy with no gun deck, no hold, no cabin, therefore presumably no officers...

 

[Pieter Boelen]

For one thing, I'll need to get one of these.

For another, the detour to Chateau de Graçay is not shown in the film.

I know, I know.

Either you block quest officers from allowing themselves to be hired if you already have your quota, which may not please many people; or this turns FreePlay (and probably "Tales of a Sea Hawk") into a mission to round up all freely available quest officers. And the "Castaway" start, already tough, will be even worse as you start with a dinghy with no gun deck, no hold, no cabin, therefore presumably no officers...

Idea torpedoed it is. Thought so.

 

[Grey Roger]

Not necessarily torpedoed, more like in dock awaiting further work. Do you want to allow quest officers to be hired regardless, providing players with a loophole; or do you want to go through them all to block them if the player can't fit another officer onto the current ship? How about a toggle in "InternalSettings.h" so that players who don't like this mod don't have to use it?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Not necessarily torpedoed, more like in dock

In dock like HMS Victory then.

 

[Grey Roger]

Perhaps a more apt analogy than you thought. From Wikipedia:

On the day of the launch, shipwright Hartly Larkin, designated "foreman afloat" for the event, suddenly realised that the ship might not fit through the dock gates. Measurements at first light confirmed his fears: the gates were at least 9½ inches too narrow.

However, the launch itself revealed significant problems in the ship's design, including a distinct list to starboardand a tendency to sit heavily in the water such that her lower deck gunports were only 4 ft 6 in (1.4 m) above the waterline.

So HMS Victory also had some serious problems before she left dock.

The intent here is to predict possible problems so that they can be solved in advance. We want HMS Victory, not Wasa.

 

[FrozenHeart]

Reached at Rare Admiral level.
One thing I did notice that upon promotion Hornblower is not getting any new uniform.
Same old Commander uniform at Admiral level I think.

It's a good film. Nice, upbeat adventure!

Yesterday start watching that movie. Was sleepy, possibly will finish today.

 

[Grey Roger]

Reached at Rare Admiral level.
One thing I did notice that upon promotion Hornblower is not getting any new uniform.
Same old Commander uniform at Admiral level I think.

True, we have no specific models of Hornblower at higher ranks. So either he keeps his commander's uniform, along with the interface pictures taken from the film; or he gets a generic admiral's outfit with basic interface pictures taken from screenshots of the generic admiral.

However, here's a new outfit for Captain Hornblower. It uses the same interface picture as the commander's outfit. After all, that picture is from the film and shows Hornblower as a captain. He's wearing a black cravat in the film so he gets a black cravat here, otherwise it's a standard captain's uniform with the epaulettes added - one epaulette is correct for a commander but a captain gets two.


You'll need to start a new game for it to work properly, and definitely don't install this if you're at rank Commander or lower. The new outfit is given to Hornblower when he is promoted to Captain, but it's not properly registered in an existing game, so Hornblower will try to use the captain's outfit and fail because the game does not recognise it.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

it's not properly registered in an existing game

F11 should correctly reinitialize initModels.c, as far as I know.

 

[Grey Roger]

I don't think so. When I was writing "Ardent" and I wanted to introduce a new character model, I either had to start a new game or do some console trickery. (Besides, I can't find anything about character models in "Reinit.c" apart from some 'ch.model' lines for character definitions such as Ye Keeper o' ye Hoarde.)