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    Maelstrom New Horizons


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Build 14 Beta 1

Your error messages are different from mine. This is what i get every time I exit.

Bad rope data for rope: (rope num = 303) (begin group=0, end group=-1)
Begin pointer = 0? end pointer = 272614244
Ship Boat doesn't have fire places
Can't load texture resource\textures\.tx
Release d3d8
Undefined error
Release d3d
Undefined error
Unloading
System exit and cleanup:
Mem state: User memory: 3396 MSSystem: 416 Blocks: 26
Leak: 'Bad memory address' line 0, size 157
Leak: 'Bad memory address' line 0, size 124
Leak: 'Bad memory address' line 0, size 124
Leak: 'Bad memory address' line 0, size 130
Leak: 'Bad memory address' line 0, size 157
Leak: 'Bad memory address' line 0, size 124
Leak: 'Bad memory address' line 0, size 130
Leak: 'Bad memory address' line 0, size 130
Leak: 'Bad memory address' line 0, size 157
Leak: 'Bad memory address' line 0, size 130
Leak: 'Bad memory address' line 0, size 130
Leak: 'Bad memory address' line 0, size 130
Leak: 'Bad memory address' line 0, size 125
Leak: 'Bad memory address' line 0, size 130
Leak: 'Bad memory address' line 0, size 130
Leak: 'Bad memory address' line 0, size 125
Leak: 'Bad memory address' line 0, size 125
Leak: 'Bad memory address' line 0, size 130
Leak: 'Bad memory address' line 0, size 124
Leak: 'Bad memory address' line 0, size 125
Leak: 'Bad memory address' line 0, size 125
Leak: 'Bad memory address' line 0, size 130
Leak: 'Bad memory address' line 0, size 124
Leak: 'Bad memory address' line 0, size 125
Leak: 'Bad memory address' line 0, size 125
Leak: 'Bad memory address' line 0, size 130
 
hey guys is there a new build mod for potc? or patch? or maybe you guys are starting on a new build mod 15? :shrug
 
The next instalment will either be B14 Beta 1 Patch 7 or B14 Beta 2. Build 15 is still a long way off, because we still have a massive job fixing and polishing Build 14.
Even then, we're not sure we'll be able to go ahead with Build 15 (porting B14 to the newer Storm engine from CoAS), because of the amount of coders we'd need to do it. :facepalm
 
Land combat is getting better now. There are still impossible situations like treasure quests, but there are also places where one on one swordfights can be won. That's not to say it is easy. I lost another officer last night, and he was a gunner!


I made it up to 1.4 million Piasters, and found that the crew is ok with that. What is the new tipping point? With the current economy I'm ok with the old line because the huge profits per mission are no longer there. Hmm. Smugglers might still have a problem. Is anyone doing any smuggling?
 
Baste's critical hit code is in PROGRAM\Loc_ai\LAi_fightparams.c ; try to restore the previous version of that file and see what happens. :shrug

hey guys is there a new build mod for potc? or patch? or maybe you guys are starting on a new build mod 15?
Click to expand...
We have a WIP for Patch 7 available in this thread, which contains some cool new stuff, but also some experimental changes.
The next release will probably be the real Patch 7, unless I decide to make Beta 2 straight away when I return in about a month or two.
 
If we're making an entirely new economy and combat system, I think that justifies a beta 2 :onya
 
True, that. Patch 7 WIP certainly adds a LOT of new and improved content, and we're still not finished. I reckon Beta 2 is closer than we think. :will
 
If combat has become more difficult I don't think my changes are the cause. If anything they should make combat less difficult.
The critical hit code is in "LAi_fightparams" in "Loc_ai". Here is the stock critical hit code followed by my changed code:
Code: 
float critical = 0.0;
if(IsCharacterPerkOn(attack, "SwordplayProfessional"))
{
if(rand(100) <= 25)
{
if(CheckAttribute(enemy, "rank"))
{
critical = 20.0 + stf(enemy.rank)*2.0;
}
}
}else{
if(IsCharacterPerkOn(attack, "CriticalHit"))
{
if(rand(100) <= 5)
{
if(CheckAttribute(enemy, "rank"))
{
critical = 20.0 + stf(enemy.rank)*1.5;
}
}
}
}

LAi_ApplyCharacterDamage(enemy, MakeInt(damage + critical + 0.5));
Code: 
float critical = 0.0;
if(IsCharacterPerkOn(attack, "SwordplayProfessional"))
{
if(rand(100) <= 25)
{
critical = damage*2.0;
}
}else{
if(IsCharacterPerkOn(attack, "CriticalHit"))
{
if(rand(100) <= 10)
{
critical = damage*2.0;
}
}
}else{
if(rand(100) <= 5)
{
critical = damage*2.0;
}
}

if(critical > 0.0)
{
LAi_ApplyCharacterDamage(enemy, MakeInt(critical + 0.5));
}
else
{
LAi_ApplyCharacterDamage(enemy, MakeInt(damage + 0.5));
}
This is only the critical hit code. Calculations for abilities and armor and other things are not included in this snippet. They are included in the build, but here I wanted to show just the critical hit code.

In the stock game the formula for critical hit damage is thus: Base damage + 20 + Twice the level of the character being hit
With my changes the formula is: Base damage x 2

For simplicity's sake, let's say you are at level 10, your opponent is at level 10, and you both deal 10 points of damage on a normal hit.
In the stock game both of you would deal 50 points of damage on a critical hit, since twice your level plus 20 plus 10 equals 50.
With my changes both of you would deal 20 points of damage on a critical hit, since 10 times 2 equals 20.

This is a difference of 30 points of damage.

Now let's change your level to 100 and your opponent's level to 1.
In the stock game you would deal 32 points of damage on a critical hit (10 + 20 + 2). If your opponent scores a critical hit on you the damage to you would be 230 (10 + 20 + 200). On a normal hit the damage to you would be 10. A difference of 220 points of damage. This is what I mean with "too sudden difference", the damage suddenly becomes much higher than normal.
I also think it's strange that others can injure you more the more experienced you are. If anything the attacking character's level should affect the damage dealt, not the level of the character being hit, but I think that base damage times two is better.
With my changes both of you would deal 20 points of damage on a critical hit (10 x 2), regardless of level.

This is a difference of 210 points of damage.

Now let's say both you and your opponent are at level 1.
In the stock game both of you would deal 32 points of damage on a critical hit (10 + 20 + 2).
With my changes both of you would deal 20 points of damage on a critical hit (10 x 2).

This is a difference of 12 points of damage.

If combat has become more difficult you could try change to the file used in Patch 6 and see if it makes any difference, but I don't see how my changes could have caused it since they, as shown above, actually make critical hits deal less damage than they do in the stock game.

I have tested the changes in both my own "build" and in Build 14 Beta 1 Patch 6, and in both I think that melee combat is less dangerous without being too easy.

I do believe that critical hits should be dangerous, since they are in fact critical hits. In the stock game, however, I think that they are too dangerous. The damage they deal is much higher than the damage normal hits deal, and I think it is too high.

So, if combat has become more difficult, I think something else must have caused it. :shrug
 
Baste, now that I'm able to survive fights I can see what is happening better. Critical hits don't do much at all. That is not the problem. I just switched between your fight thingy and the old one and where I'm at now there isn't much difference.

I still take a lot of damage, so it seems the armor is less effective. I've tried no armor and died quicker, so it does make some difference. Blocks are working again now. What puzzles me is the huge damage done with just one hit. I am delivering around 20hp per hit and taking 20 to over 100 hp per hit. My officers are doing better than I am, but even they occasionally get hammered pretty hard. It is not unusual for all four of us to get killed.

Another thing I just noticed is that opponents are suddenly easier to kill. I killed several with just 3 grenades instead of the usual 4-6. This is pure speculation, but is there a modifier in the code that balances combat by level? It feels like the balance has been flipped to full hard at lower levels making your hits have no power and the opponents hits have far more power. Now things are leveling out.



On another note the country rank names have been changed. I've noticed the Portagee and English names have been changed, but the changes are not reflected in the "relations" menu. They are blank there and also on the top left corner of the screen.
 
The calculation for critical hit does look like it should do less damage as Baste said, still the times i've really noticed the dificulty in combat it does seem to be when massive damage is done, seeming to go right through block and armour. So is the 'critical hit' ability something that causes that kind of damage? block and armour ignored?

The difference between patch 7 wip(1) and what we have now in the latest update is quite noticable, and like Hylie, i'm wondering if maybe their is a global dificulty tweak(maybe for enemies etc) that has been set harder? I know we have stuff in internalsettings and buildsettings etc, but i've not really been able to put my finger on anything that looks different from the files we were running before here?

I've gone back to build mod 14+patch 7wip(1) just to verify the difference in combat fatality, and it is also easier to carry on the tweaks and balancing stuff in this earlier version. Still a lot of good stuff is in the later patch 7, so it would be great to get to the bottom of the change. I tried two games on Journeyman and two on begginer over the weekend under the latest patch 7 wip file, and still found i died more often then i probably should - i think new players would find it pretty brutal.

Now it could be a combination of the new weapon damage stats(many min.level 7+ have higher min.damage rates) and maybe a more common critical hit rate?(I'm wondering if maybe other stuff around critical hit damage has been changed, like making it a more common 'perk' for npc's to have etc?) It's difficult to say, but if we could identify the various things that might have combat more deadly then giving suggestion here is probably a good place to start.

If any changes have been put in the build mod re Armour, the armour values have been improved(more overall armour rating per armour type plus better coverage, higher damage resistance etc) or remain the same as they were in patch 6.

Edit:

I'm getting CTD at game start currently. This is the format i'm using from reinstall:

Clean out everything from the PotC directory(so no mod left overs):

Clean install of PotC base game(check it runs fine - it does)
install Build Mod 14 beta(check it runs fine - it does)(run the bat file etc)
install patch 5(check it runs fine - it does)
install patch 6(check it runs fine - it does)

Now at this point whenever i add either patch 7 wip 1 OR patch 7 wip 2(or one after the other) i'll get a CTD at game start. It starts to load up(gives the New Horizon pop-up thing that normaly runs through initialization etc) but after a second or so quits with a windows box error thing?

Which is odd as this is the upgrade path i'd used before when running patch 7? I've deleted the 'option' file in the main directory and i don't get any log or error files to report? Any suggestions as this is foxing me currently(on my fourth attempt at a clean reinstall now!)?
 
This is curious. I installed P7-2 WIP into a running P6 install. Are you aware that there is a P7-2 WIP Bugfix? It came out one day after P7-2. Oops. That bugfix was by Sulan. Dunno if it would help you. Ummm. Did you run the rename.bat?
 
you know what's odd? i managed to get through the oxbay dungeon without difficulty at level 1. it's probably because enemies can't have the critical hit ability at that point yet.
 
Hylie Pistoff said:
Level 15 and all of the combat perks are checked. I seem to have made it over the hump. Suddenly I'm not dying, but am able to fight and survive. Maybe it is the Knights Templar Sword. My officers all have US Cavalry Sabres, and the crew is getting geared up with Venetian Cutlasses.


Trading is much easier now. I've got over $600,000 P and will probably make my first million soon. I just made a profitable run from Sao Jorge to Philipsburg. Is it now just a little too easy now? :shrug
Click to expand...

Phew - quite hard to find the right balance - but thanks for letting me know. How did you make the most profit - trading contraband or by regular goods trading?
 
Still the fact his officers all have US cavalry sabre's at lvl 15 is not a great sign, those are meant to have a min.level of 19, as is the Knight's Templer Sword, so maybe that attempt to use the min.lvl is not working as well as it should? And struggling with frequent death until you are around lvl 15(!) seems a very hard slog :ixi

The money situation sounds a bit better(it does right?), so the economic tweaks are having some effect, now we just need big infrequent outlays to give something for the player to spend large amounts of money on.....
 
It isn't so much an issue of whether "Beta 2" if justified, because it is.
I would've released it before I left to sea, if only I would've had the time.
Still, a Beta 2 release in about two months should prove pretty good, with the cool stuff we've got in the Patch 7 WIP files.

Hylie Pistoff, good call on those missing national rank names.
I failed to update common.ini properly; will do that for the next release. :yes
 
Sulan said:
Hylie Pistoff said:
Level 15 and all of the combat perks are checked. I seem to have made it over the hump. Suddenly I'm not dying, but am able to fight and survive. Maybe it is the Knights Templar Sword. My officers all have US Cavalry Sabres, and the crew is getting geared up with Venetian Cutlasses.


Trading is much easier now. I've got over $600,000 P and will probably make my first million soon. I just made a profitable run from Sao Jorge to Philipsburg. Is it now just a little too easy now? :shrug
Click to expand...

Phew - quite hard to find the right balance - but thanks for letting me know. How did you make the most profit - trading contraband or by regular goods trading?
Click to expand...

Trading overall seems a little too easy now. I'm making too much money with something like 2.7 million Piasters on board. The profits are situational. Sometimes an import item at one port is cheaper than that item as an export in another port. I mostly trade regular goods, but sometimes the contraband works out giving the best profit. You

are pretty close. This game is different from what I usually do in that normally I'm constantly buying and selling ships as I modify them. Not this time! I'm stuck on Captain's skill level 6 as there is no good way to pump up my sailing skills. Sailing from island to island gives almost nothing, while storms and combat seem to give more points.

But the ship ( Caravel ) is almost uncontrollable in a storm and combat........ my last battle was 2 Caravels and an Indiaman against a class 3 VCO pinnace of war. I got sunk.


I'm using a Polish Szabla now. Got it off a corpse. The shotgun keeps popping up too. I'm feeling fairly average as a fighter now. The last time we all got wiped out was at San Juan port. We were met by two bad guys right off the wharf, then the townspeople got into it. Just before we managed to finish off the last of them, the Merchant

Guild sprang an ambush on us. That bunch of soldiers wiped us out.
 
i think the sailing skill will be somewhat fixed once the skill xp for sailing is fixed which you recieve through directsail. not getting xp when you've sped up your game during the hour is annoying. you used to be able to crank up your skill with items, but yeah.
 
I dunno. It's not xp. I'm getting 1 point added to my sailing skill every 1 1/2 to 2 hours sailing with no time compression.


You went into the dungeon at the very start?!?!? :shock
 
sounds pretty much like what i usually get. i'm testing those skills though. if you start a new game at some point, please post a screenshot of your character screen once his first skill reaches 10. i can use that.

well yeah. this game rewards you for being ballsy in my experience. i typically always give it a go, and if it works, great. besides, with all the warnings on swordfighting that i'm seeing here it seemed like a good idea to try it at the lowest difficulty first. i've still been one-hitted by a guy in town with a sabre once though. besides, maybe i'm just that good? xD:
 
Since you all are talking about economy, I noticed that if you go to the island of Nevis at around level 5 in a ship with over 100 crew, you could go to the pirate settlement, land troops, only have to kill 4 near-your-level enemies then get 2 million gold (the first time) :shock which if used wisely can cause you to basically have a feel in the game like you may as well have used cheats. just saying...
 
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