Feature Request About morale

[ANSEL]

Is there a way to dismiss the feature where the crew want to sign articles?
I relay don't like it and it disturb my way of playing the game.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Is there a way to dismiss the feature where the crew want to sign articles?
I relay don't like it and it disturb my way of playing the game.

Is it an option to buy a Merchant License on Bonaire or Jamaica?

In what way are you trying to play the game?

 

[ANSEL]

Don't know, I will give it a try. But I have my doubts about it.

 

[ANSEL]

Is it an option to buy a Merchant License on Bonaire or Jamaica?

It seems like it will do it, lets see how its going. By the way it is not Bonaire but Curacao you have to go too for
buying that licence.

 

[Grey Roger]

Or start the game as a Merchant character. Then you get a Merchant Licence for free. But yes, if you want to keep an existing game going then you'll need to visit the East India Trading Company office on Jamaica or the Dutch West India Company office on Curacao.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Don't know, I will give it a try. But I have my doubts about it.

Would you like to share those doubts? I'm curious now.

By the way it is not Bonaire but Curacao you have to go too for
buying that licence.

Ah, you're right, of course!

 

[ANSEL]

In what way are you trying to play the game?

Right now I'm playing as a Privateer, Treasure hunter and a little trading too. Its going well
and I have a lot of money, but then the crew is starting to make me troubles, in real life I will
go to the nearest port and dismiss the whole crew and get me some better sailors. I want the
ship to be mine, and the money too. I want to be the "CAPTAIN"

 

[Homo eructus]

You can always leave some of your money at a moneylender's office and retrieve it when you need it, collecting the interest.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Right now I'm playing as a Privateer, Treasure hunter and a little trading too. Its going well
and I have a lot of money, but then the crew is starting to make me troubles, in real life I will
go to the nearest port and dismiss the whole crew and get me some better sailors. I want the
ship to be mine, and the money too. I want to be the "CAPTAIN"

That is pretty much the scenario that the Merchant License is intended for.
You don't need it if you're doing only trading, but you do if you're also a Privateer and don't want to sign articles.
As long as you play by the rules of being a Privateer, you should be able to keep the License during your privateering.

 

[Grey Roger]

I thought you need the Merchant Licence to prevent the crew from becoming envious of 1,000,000 or more gold, regardless of how you got it. You're just likely to acquire that much gold a lot sooner by privateering because you make more profit selling cargo if you didn't pay for it.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I thought you need the Merchant Licence to prevent the crew from becoming envious of 1,000,000 or more gold, regardless of how you got it.

Not anymore; if the game detects your player type as honest merchant, you don't actually need it.
But a merchant cannot sink/capture any non-pirate ships without slowly turning pirate.
You need a LoM to be able to do that and then you can use the Merchant License in combination.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

I don't know where the cutoff point is between the crew going from happy to mutiny is, but methinks it is somewhere around 1.5million. I have been able to carry 1.4 million and the crew stayed happy but when I got lucky in a treasure quest they mutinied as soon as I cashed it in.

I can play happily up to level 15-20 without it, but somewhere around there the game flips from a little hard to very easy and the money just comes rolling in. At that point I race to Willemstad and buy that license.

What it means is that there is no smuggling ever and I have to be very careful about what battles to get into as even defending meself against attacks can be considered piracy. And without a lom the only way to upgrade a ship is to buy a new one in a shipyard.

At the start of this current game game I was paddling along in a Lugger approaching Marigot, which was under attack by Spanish ships. I was flying the French flag so when a Polacca surrendered I paddled over there to take possession of it in the name of France. The Spanish Captain objected to surrendering to me so I had to kill him. Since I had no officers I had to transfer the cargo and scuttle the Lugger. Then I sailed on into port.

This was considered an act of Piracy!

In practical terms, the best way to play as not a naval officer is to get as many lom as possible and the merchant license as well so one can still visit the rich ports and also acquire better ships.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I don't know where the cutoff point is between the crew going from happy to mutiny is, but methinks it is somewhere around 1.5million. I have been able to carry 1.4 million and the crew stayed happy but when I got lucky in a treasure quest they mutinied as soon as I cashed it in.

I think it is one million above your estimated monthly expenses.

I can play happily up to level 15-20 without it, but somewhere around there the game flips from a little hard to very easy and the money just comes rolling in. At that point I race to Willemstad and buy that license.

That was actually the original reason for the game to encourage you to switch to Divide the Plunder.
With that, the game should remain challenging for quite a while longer.
Or that was @LarryHookins' thinking at the time (I think).

What it means is that there is no smuggling ever

What was the reason for that again? I still don't get it, I'm afraid...

I have to be very careful about what battles to get into as even defending meself against attacks can be considered piracy. And without a lom the only way to upgrade a ship is to buy a new one in a shipyard.

True. Capturing/sinking any non-pirate ships without a LoM makes the difference.
This is based on what I understood of the actual historical rules.
So if you want to be a simple honest merchant, you can escape from enemies or try to dismast them, but you don't get the profit of it.

At the start of this current game game I was paddling along in a Lugger approaching Marigot, which was under attack by Spanish ships. I was flying the French flag so when a Polacca surrendered I paddled over there to take possession of it in the name of France. The Spanish Captain objected to surrendering to me so I had to kill him. Since I had no officers I had to transfer the cargo and scuttle the Lugger. Then I sailed on into port.

This was considered an act of Piracy!

Yep, it would be.
You sank a Spanish ship without a license saying that you're allowed to do so.

One such act of piracy is not a huge deal though.
But repeating it does eventually lead to you being considered a pirate.

In practical terms, the best way to play as not a naval officer is to get as many lom as possible and the merchant license as well so one can still visit the rich ports and also acquire better ships.

That is indeed a very valid career path.
Far more action-packed too.

I do wonder though what could be done to make "simple honest merchant" more attractive.
Hopefully @pedrwyth's idea can help increase the profit margins.

 

[Homo eructus]

Could it be done so when you are the one being boarded, and if you repel the boarders, instead of jumping straight to board the enemy ship, you could have the option to disengage and go back to sailing mode to try and escape? That way you wouldn't be forced to capture or sink the ship so it woild still be lawful defence.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

While that idea sounds pretty good, it also sounds like a lot of work to implement.
I would hardly know where to start on that myself, let alone explain it to someone else....

Indeed being boarded by the enemy is a tricky one if the enemy then doesn't surrender.
I can't really think of any quick fixes to that though.
Tweaking the surrendered Captain dialog is possible, but he does then still have to surrender first.

 

[LarryHookins]

That was actually the original reason for the game to encourage you to switch to Divide the Plunder.
With that, the game should remain challenging for quite a while longer.
Or that was @LarryHookins' thinking at the time (I think).

It's been so long that I don't remember. Are my fingerprints on that code?

I do remember at the time some people complaining (sometimes bitterly) that the player could make too much money. Some suggested caps on the amount a player could have. I went a different route and gave the player something to spend money on. This is a reason why some things like increasing your reputation cost so much, at least back then. Dividing the plunder would work well for that case.

If all the complainers have gone on to greener pastures, we might be able to remove the artificial limits on what a player can have, and that's really all Divide the Plunder is.

In TEHO you can deposit money in banks, with some limit on the amount per bank, something like 5 million give or take depending on the bank. In my last game I had around 35 million distributed among several banks. As soon as I had 6 million in hand, I'd hit a new bank. It was possible to lose this money if a colony was under siege and lost, but if you knew it was going on you could retrieve your money before it happened. I did lose a ship that was in storage there though. Easy come, easy go. I never had morale problems because of the amount I had, but I've heard other people might have them.

How do you make 35 million? A little at a time. Trading. Finding an occasional treasure. Doing simple missions. I think that was about 3 game years, maybe less.

I never worried about how much money I had. Just like in real life, after you have more than you need it's just a means of keeping score.

Hook

 

[Hylie Pistof]

Divide the plunder is stupid for a merchantman. I feel the need to carry 2-3 million of ready cash at all times for those little emergencies that happen. Divide the plunder means that I could easily be broke when I suddenly need lots of cash, and the loan sharks don't loan out nearly enough. My crews are well paid as I bumped up the crew multiplier in options so there should be no reason to give them bonuses too.

I have not even attempted smuggling in 2 years or so because:
1) There is no profit in it anymore.
2) The penalties when caught far outweigh any possible profit. Smuggling has been effectively eliminated from the game.

 

[Homo eructus]

Could it be done so when you are the one being boarded, and if you repel the boarders, instead of jumping straight to board the enemy ship, you could have the option to disengage and go back to sailing mode to try and escape? That way you wouldn't be forced to capture or sink the ship so it woild still be lawful defence.

Yeah, as I was writing it, it sounded like a lot of work for a fairly minor occurrence. After all if you're close enough to the enemy to be boarded, chances are you either want to be there, or you won't be in a condition to escape even if you could disengage.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

It's been so long that I don't remember. Are my fingerprints on that code?

My memory says that was your idea originally.
Haven't checked the code in forever.

If all the complainers have gone on to greener pastures, we might be able to remove the artificial limits on what a player can have, and that's really all Divide the Plunder is.

There is an in-game way now to do exactly that.

Divide the plunder is stupid for a merchantman.

Yes, it is. That's why pure merchants don't need to and that's why the Merchant License exists.

I have not even attempted smuggling in 2 years or so because:
1) There is no profit in it anymore.
2) The penalties when caught far outweigh any possible profit. Smuggling has been effectively eliminated from the game.

I can't speak for the profit margins; from what I understand, those were not have been massively tweaked.
More smuggling improves your standing with them and increases your profit margins.

But the penalty for being caught is a different story.
As far as I'm aware, you're still caught up about a situation that should have been fixed well over a year ago.
If it's not fixed, I really hope someone is going to confirm that some time, so we can fix it after all.
If it is indeed fixed though, then this should be far less of an issue than it once was.

Yeah, as I was writing it, it sounded like a lot of work for a fairly minor occurrence. After all if you're close enough to the enemy to be boarded, chances are you either want to be there, or you won't be in a condition to escape even if you could disengage.

But ideally you should be able to get out in some way by just defending yourself and not getting considered a pirate for it.
That is definitely a fair point by you and @Hylie Pistof that hadn't occurred to me before.

 

[pedrwyth]

I can't speak for the profit margins; from what I understand, those were not have been massively tweaked.
More smuggling improves your standing with them and increases your profit margins.

I recently introduced a new player to the game (and smuggling) and the profits looked OK

But the penalty for being caught is a different story.
As far as I'm aware, you're still caught up about a situation that should have been fixed well over a year ago.
If it's not fixed, I really hope someone is going to confirm that some time, so we can fix it after all.
If it is indeed fixed though, then this should be far less of an issue than it once was.

They checked out the schedules and only got caught a couple of times - that I saw. Once the coastguards body on shore had a revised schedule book, the other time they were let off. Didn't see any coastguard vessels whilst I was watching.

But ideally you should be able to get out in some way by just defending yourself and not getting considered a pirate for it.
That is definitely a fair point by you and @Hylie Pistof that hadn't occurred to me before.

Getting caught at sea after smuggling at some locations you can be pretty much stuck too (and boarded) as discussed at some length at the time of the relations system rewrite. That's why I altered the

#define MAXCOASTGUARDCLASS = 2

down to a more realistic figure in my game- it is the coastguard not navy ships of the line one should expect. However I am now considering tweaking the level to match player ship (or largest in squadron) or to rise with player level.

While that @Homo eructus idea sounds pretty good, it also sounds like a lot of work to implement.
I would hardly know where to start on that myself, let alone explain it to someone else....

Indeed being boarded by the enemy is a tricky one if the enemy then doesn't surrender.
I can't really think of any quick fixes to that though.
Tweaking the surrendered Captain dialog is possible, but he does then still have to surrender first.

If at the point the AI decides it can board, if it would be a piratical act if PChar sinks the ship, an attribute/variable is set that can be used to force the boarding captain into surrender dialogues you can then loot the ship but leave it afloat and that avoids the piracy effect (if I understand how @Pieter Boelen has it implemented). Haven't looked at the code just a thought at the moment.

I don't know about the persistent coastguard fleet but I do think it was resolved (or at least was thought to be resolved)