Release/ransom of a captive captain - what goes wrong here?

[Fluen]

I've had this problem from the beginning of the game.

When try to release/ransom a captive captain, I seemingly can't get any farther than to announce my intention to release/ransom that captain. I board a ship, the captain surrenders and I lock them away in the cargo hold (if I'm so inclined).

When I reach the island of their nation, I enter the cargo hold and tell the captain to stand up and then my intention to release/ransom them. If I talk to them again right away about release, I never get any further that the promise, that they soon will see their home again as shown below. The screenshot was taken when I had anchored at Sunny Haven at La Grenade, so I would say, we had already reached a Portuguese island.



I also tried the ransom solution, but I only get the option of ransoming them for a lower amount that originally mentioned (by way of threats to have them walk the plank) or to refuse and mention to sell them to the pirates.

What am I doing wrong? Or have I encountered some kind of bug?

 

[Grey Roger]

The screenshot was taken when I had anchored at Sunny Haven at La Grenade,

You need to be in port (and risk being recognised by the fort) to get the big ransom or to release for reputation. Anywhere else, including a beach on an island friendly to the prisoner, you only get the minimal ransom.

If you promise to take him home, i.e. a friendly port, he may be less inclined to jump overboard and escape.

 

[Cannon_Ball]

throw it to the sharks and do it first ... as per tradition ...‍‍

 

[Fluen]

You need to be in port (and risk being recognised by the fort) to get the big ransom or to release for reputation. Anywhere else, including a beach on an island friendly to the prisoner, you only get the minimal ransom.

If you promise to take him home, i.e. a friendly port, he may be less inclined to jump overboard and escape.

But what is then the point of all the settings about releasing/ransoming in InternalSettings?

 

[Grey Roger]

I'm not sure that those settings are checked any more.

@Pieter Boelen: can you remember if RANSOMSITE, RANSOM_AT_HOME or RELEASE_AT_SEA are used in any recent version of Build 14? They certainly don't appear in "quests_common.c", "Cabinfight_dialog.c" or "Prisoned_dialog.c".

Edit: I've done a bit more poking around. The variables are checked in "PROGRAM\INTERFACE\passengers.c". As far as I can make out:
RANSOMSITE: if that isn't "all", you can't even ransom the prisoner in your hold, you have to go on land to the type of location;
RANSOM_AT_HOME: if that's set, you can't ransom the prisoner at allied or pirate ports, you must go to a port belonging to the prisoner's nation

Try changing one or more of the variables, then see what happens next time you want to ransom a prisoner...

 

[Fluen]

My summer holidays have come to and end, so I don't think, I'll have much time or energy to play much for the next months. How would you like me to transfer a zipped folder with the corrections I've made to you?

 

[Grey Roger]

Please do. I'll give them the usual check and then add them into the next update.

 

[Fluen]

Do I send it via private mail or what?

 

[Grey Roger]

Zip up the whole lot into a single file, then post it here - the same "Attach Files" button which you used to post pictures can also be used to post zip files if they're not too big.

 

[Cannon_Ball]

surely the bug is confirmed .. I also recommend to post the saves here in order to solve for everyone ..

 

[Fluen]

Here's what I've done so far. Don't expect any more before at least the summer of 2023.

 

[Grey Roger]

Thanks, @Fluen!

I'm not too happy about simply adding a bit to the "Saga of the Blacque Family" questbook saying that you later learned of Rachel's death when that line will be added as soon as you talk to Orable. Possibly some new quest code will need to be added so that you can find out what happened. Or for a quick easy fix, a new line added could be added saying that you learned that Rachel had died which will go into the questbook when you talk to Marc.

Other than that, a couple of minor tweaks were needed, and then the whole lot is going into the next update.

 

[Fluen]

Sorry, but I'm almost completely uable to understand the programming language in the dialogue files. So modifications to them is way beyond me. I'm only able to modify the pure dialogue lines.

 

[Grey Roger]

That's alright, I've moved your addition onto a new questbook line and added a bit to "marc blacque_dialog.c" to show it in the questbook when you tell Marc that Rachel is dead. Since I've recently started "Tales of a Sea Hawk" to investigate some other problem reports, I should soon be in position to check that this works.