Wishes for the Future

[Pieter Boelen]

Sunghowl from the Discord says:

its just more of a hope really of finding that perfect sailing/age of sail experience that drives me to try out the newer games. One thing that's stood out to me is the ability to talk to ships you come across, ask about rumors, play cards, ask where they're coming from, trade prices they know, etc. Random NPCs in towns also give (what i assume infinite) sidequests and rumors

 

[Bartolomeu o Portugues]

About rumors, where they are coming from, trade prices they know and so on, an easy solution would be to add some dialogue options to the enemy captain after capturing his ship.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

About rumors, where they are coming from, trade prices they know and so on, an easy solution would be to add some dialogue options to the enemy captain after capturing his ship.

If you could do so without much difficulty, please do.
It does sound like something relatively simple to pull off.
And every journey starts with the first mile.

As for talking to random (non-enemy) ships passing by, part of the work is also already done.
In PROGRAM\globals.c, switch this on and give it a try:

//**********WIP MODS***********
#define FCOHS               0       // Erwin Lindemann: Friendly Contact on High Seas / Hail Ship Mod