I've been finding the AI in POTC very intriguing of late, and thought I'd start a thread to discuss the things that I've noticed and hopefully hear what anomalies other people have run across. I want to stress that I don't consider the game's AI buggy, I'm more interested in gaining a better understanding of why it does, what it does, when it does it. I am still playing the Build 12 release, with no updates, and I alternate between a new uncompleted game, and my 1702, level 306 captain (who still has not mastered the art of opening chests without stabbing himself) game that I am loathe to part with. (Still going...)
Keep in mind that when I am playing the game I will often do things, just to see what happens, whenever an odd notion presents itself to me; I have often brought officers with me into the pyramid maze, and then dismissed them so I can follow them to see where they go, I often wonder if anyone else has noticed the severe shortage of eagles flying about the islands of the archipelago? I have still not successfully managed to shoot a shark with my cannons.
1. When sailing on the "Sea" map, I'll often engage or encounter the battles between parties that I'm neutral with, and just sit back and watch to see how the event plays out. Interestingly enough, most of the time a severely damaged ship will break off the action and sail away, and the enemy, even if they only have light damage, will usually not pursue them. The only times I've seen ships sinking in these battles is when a schooner or some other lighter vessel goes up against a Man O' War, and this usually looks more like the effect of overwhelming firepower rather than malicious intent or design.
2. Some officers follow directions better than others. This one really intrigues me because I tend to assign the same officers over and over again to the ships I capture, and there are some officers that I have determined simply do not catch on to the signals I send them. I am no longer willing to assign Danielle because she invariably "Sails Away", in spite of my specific directions to "Defend", and I have even heard tell of officers that refuse to perform "Fire Ship" duty. Leborio Drago, for some inexplicable reason, is the only officer who will consistently follow my signals, which is usually "Defend", and this is in spite of having a damaged ship or an inadequate number of crewmembers.
3. I will frequently gauge the mood of the men on the ships and will usually pay out the fee to get their morale at the highest level. I haven't noticed that doing this, or not, has any noticeable effect in terms of firing rates, or whether or not the ships follow directions.
4. In my really old game I have more money than God, and I'm wondering if I'm creating something of an economic Black Hole in the Archipelago. Recently I dropped in to Conceicao to see the wife and unload a few Man O' Wars I had acquired from the French Navy. I was dismayed to find that the Portuguese Shipyard could not afford to purchase the ships due to a lack of funds. I was able to deal with this by repairing the Man O' Wars and then doing a trading mission to Isla Muelle, but subsequently found at Isla Muelle that I could not sell the ships there either, for the same reason. I had to go to Redmond to finally be able to sell the ships. I wonder if my activities have created an economic imbalance within the islands. I'll be doing more research on this as time goes by. this is probably the product of having played far too much Uncharted Waters – New Horizons.
5. It has been so long since I have attacked a Pirate Ship that I have actually achieved neutrality with them. This makes entering and departing ports much less eventful, and does not appear to be affected by my accepting missions from the Governors to eliminate a pirate. the only reason I'm bringing this up is because I didn't think it could be done without becoming a pirate and going against all flags, but I guess you learn something new every day in POTC. <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/buds.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="
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Keep in mind that when I am playing the game I will often do things, just to see what happens, whenever an odd notion presents itself to me; I have often brought officers with me into the pyramid maze, and then dismissed them so I can follow them to see where they go, I often wonder if anyone else has noticed the severe shortage of eagles flying about the islands of the archipelago? I have still not successfully managed to shoot a shark with my cannons.
1. When sailing on the "Sea" map, I'll often engage or encounter the battles between parties that I'm neutral with, and just sit back and watch to see how the event plays out. Interestingly enough, most of the time a severely damaged ship will break off the action and sail away, and the enemy, even if they only have light damage, will usually not pursue them. The only times I've seen ships sinking in these battles is when a schooner or some other lighter vessel goes up against a Man O' War, and this usually looks more like the effect of overwhelming firepower rather than malicious intent or design.
2. Some officers follow directions better than others. This one really intrigues me because I tend to assign the same officers over and over again to the ships I capture, and there are some officers that I have determined simply do not catch on to the signals I send them. I am no longer willing to assign Danielle because she invariably "Sails Away", in spite of my specific directions to "Defend", and I have even heard tell of officers that refuse to perform "Fire Ship" duty. Leborio Drago, for some inexplicable reason, is the only officer who will consistently follow my signals, which is usually "Defend", and this is in spite of having a damaged ship or an inadequate number of crewmembers.
3. I will frequently gauge the mood of the men on the ships and will usually pay out the fee to get their morale at the highest level. I haven't noticed that doing this, or not, has any noticeable effect in terms of firing rates, or whether or not the ships follow directions.
4. In my really old game I have more money than God, and I'm wondering if I'm creating something of an economic Black Hole in the Archipelago. Recently I dropped in to Conceicao to see the wife and unload a few Man O' Wars I had acquired from the French Navy. I was dismayed to find that the Portuguese Shipyard could not afford to purchase the ships due to a lack of funds. I was able to deal with this by repairing the Man O' Wars and then doing a trading mission to Isla Muelle, but subsequently found at Isla Muelle that I could not sell the ships there either, for the same reason. I had to go to Redmond to finally be able to sell the ships. I wonder if my activities have created an economic imbalance within the islands. I'll be doing more research on this as time goes by. this is probably the product of having played far too much Uncharted Waters – New Horizons.
5. It has been so long since I have attacked a Pirate Ship that I have actually achieved neutrality with them. This makes entering and departing ports much less eventful, and does not appear to be affected by my accepting missions from the Governors to eliminate a pirate. the only reason I'm bringing this up is because I didn't think it could be done without becoming a pirate and going against all flags, but I guess you learn something new every day in POTC. <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/buds.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="
" border="0" alt="buds.gif" />
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" border="0" alt="dunno.gif" /> Nevertheless, it would be nice to have this so that it actually WORKS, instead of working intermittently. 
:" border="0" alt="laugh.gif" />
" border="0" alt="rolleyes.gif" /> What's wrong with St. Kitts (Christopher) Island? <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/razz.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="
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" border="0" alt="piratesing.gif" /> My only problem with it is that I can never seem to make my crew very happy when I divide the plunder, but I think that is due to me waiting too long between divisions. I haven't noticed it making that big of a difference though, there are always new sea dogs willing to sign on! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sailr.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="
" border="0" alt="w00t.gif" /> Now THERE's a frightening thought! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/24.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="
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" border="0" alt="icon_mrgreen1.gif" /> And there is Mad Jack and Fred Bob... Skull favors the Barbossa skin, and you seem to like the Silehard skin...
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" border="0" alt="mybad.gif" /> I forgot about your dark-haired Sir Christopher! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/mybad.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="
" border="0" alt="whistling.gif" /> Sure looked funny in his bathrobe with the embroidered yellow duckies all around the bottom hem and cuffs! <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="
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ops2" border="0" alt="oops3.gif" /> Not yet, anyhow. I do want to learn!