Hmm...checking these is going to be difficult as I don't have the latest alpha at the moment, so I can only go on the Build 13 compatible version. That said:
<b>Equip Fists bug</b>
The line to auto-equip a different blade at game start (as in the CCC original mod) was intentionally circumvented in one of the EVIL_STORMY triggers, as there is no other blade than your fists. However, your fists should already be equipped (from an earlier section in both_reaction.c, IIRC).
I haven't experienced this problem, as my fists are always equipped when starting EVIL_STORMY_START. I'm not convinced its a problem with this mod, although this mod is probably making it more obvious as you don't start with any other weapons. Has anyone else had this happen to them?
I could add in a rusty dagger - however, it has to be said, anyone intentionally not equipping their weapon in this situation isn't exactly playing in the spirit of the mod, are they? If the fists aren't auto-equipping, as they should, then what's to stop someone simply un-equipping the dagger for the same effect?
<b>French Invasion Movie bug</b>
Shouldn't this only trigger on leaving Oxbay for the first time? I don't recall it triggering for me before I'd landed at Oxbay and subsequently sailed off...
I've not noticed it equipping additional items, either. It shouldn't do - especially as anything relating to the standard starting items *should* be specifically circumvented by this mod. Unless I've missed one.
Has anyone else noticed this bug happening?
<b>Brand New Schiavona at Starting Beach bug</b>
This infuriates me as well. In an ideal world, I'd do a comprehensive sweep of all the random swords / loot that can be picked up at no risk to the player and remove the lot of them if this mod is selected. Or stop them from appearing until the player is at least level 5, or some such.
However, this may take some time...*sighs*...its on the list, though.
<b>Slaughtered by Bandits bug</b>
I'm loath to actually call this a bug, but if people are experiencing genuine problems with it then I'm willing to be open-minded...
The easy solution to this problem would be to give the player a blade which they can block with. The normal outcome of this is that they slay any bandits who challenge them. If they can do that, then one of the two 'evil' features of this mod is immediately disabled, the only problem then being that they don't have a starting fund of money to begin trading with. However, if they can loot bandit corpses then this can be solved quite quickly.
Another solution would be to allow the player to select a couple of skill-ups at game start, in addition to being given an ability (is that concession not enough? <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_wink.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="

" border="0" alt="icon_wink.gif" /> ). However, I'm not convinced that a leadership of 2-3 would drastically change the problem...there'd still be a fair chance of the bandits electing to kill you - and if all players do is instantly assign points to leadership, then I'm not sure that the mod is really working as designed.
My preferred alternative would be making bandits automatically let you go if you have no gold (or if you're below a certain level, if you want an easier start) but is giving the player an automatic cop-out really in the spirit of the mod?
My personal feeling is to leave this unchanged unless people find that they're encountering this problem too frequently before being able to:
a) find the Leaky Bucket
b) find a town
c) mug someone
Those are supposed to be the three possible routes to launch your piratical career in Evil Stormy Start, and none of them offers a solution with no risk (intentionally).
How do people feel about this, though. Is the Evil Stormy Start just too damn evil?