I did some testing on the effects of Crew Morale.
The biggest factor is amount of gold per man. Length of time at sea factors in, but only in the first part of the journey. After a certain period of time at sea, the crew will start caring about their cut, and the amount they care will increase as time goes by. There will come a point when they have reached the maximum amount that they care, and only the amount per man matters after that. Difficulty level plays a part in how soon they get to each level of caring about thier cut, but it doesn't seem to matter in the amount per man necessary to get them to each level of happiness, once they have reached their maximum.
It is possible to sail forever without dividing the plunder, if you have enough gold per man.
I did some testing on my current save game. This crew has been at sea for 222 months. I used a trainer to change my crew to an even 100 men. Then I changed my amount of gold to see what it took to get them to each level of happiness. These are the numbers:
Less than 1004 per man - Mutinous
1004 gold to 2012 gold - Unhappy
2013 gold to 3021 gold - Content
3022 gold to 4030 gold - Happy
Greater than 4030 gold - Very Happy
In the above numbers, I had a Quartermaster, Cook, and Concertina. Removing the Quartermaster or Concertina had no effect on the numbers, but removing the Cook made the numbers change to these:
Less than 1200 per man - Mutinous
1200 gold to 2399 gold - Unhappy
2400 gold to 3599 gold - Content
3600 gold to 4799 gold - Happy
Greater than 4799 gold - Very Happy
I was playing on adventurer level. I used the trainer to change my difficulty level. Those numbers stayed true for every level. So the only difference in difficulty level is the amount of time it takes them to reach their maximum point of caring, so I did some testing on that.
The tests were done while having 100 gold per man. That number is just below the permanent Mutinous number. They were done from the very beginning of a game with the first crew. The crew starts the trip Very Happy.
<img src="http://www.bccomputingco.com/mw/MoralTable.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
After one month of Mutiny the crew will approach you and say that you need to divide. I only had one boat, so they could not take a boat, and I did not sail into and out of ports to see when the men would start quitting, and what percentage of the crew would quit. I only tested up until the Mutinous stage. Maybe, I'll do some testing on the total effects of Mutiny at another time.
Those tests were done with no items and no specialists. Adding a Cook delays the start of the decline in happiness by one month. Adding a Concertina also delayed it by one month. I was unable to add just a violin, so I am not sure what effect it may have. When I added the Concertina, I had both items. Adding both the Cook and Concertina delayed it by two months. Adding a Quartermaster had no effect on the first 3 happiness levels, but delayed the onset of Mutiny by one month.
I tried it at 50 gold per man, and at 0 gold, and those numbers dropped. I wasn't going to spend several more hours sailing around with different amounts of gold to find out the results. Just know that you will not get those numbers if you have less than 100 gold per man.
And, as I was sailing around killing time and watching the months go by, I watched my food level drop, So I did some testing on that while I was testing the other. I was in a Treasure Galleon so I could hold the max amount of food. When I started the game it said 132 tons of food was 26 months worth for my crew of 100. That 26 months worth ran out after 12 months. I then added a Cooper and the same 132 tons of food was now good for 40 months, and exactly 1 month of food was used each month. So, a Cooper does his job for sure.
The biggest factor is amount of gold per man. Length of time at sea factors in, but only in the first part of the journey. After a certain period of time at sea, the crew will start caring about their cut, and the amount they care will increase as time goes by. There will come a point when they have reached the maximum amount that they care, and only the amount per man matters after that. Difficulty level plays a part in how soon they get to each level of caring about thier cut, but it doesn't seem to matter in the amount per man necessary to get them to each level of happiness, once they have reached their maximum.
It is possible to sail forever without dividing the plunder, if you have enough gold per man.
I did some testing on my current save game. This crew has been at sea for 222 months. I used a trainer to change my crew to an even 100 men. Then I changed my amount of gold to see what it took to get them to each level of happiness. These are the numbers:
Less than 1004 per man - Mutinous
1004 gold to 2012 gold - Unhappy
2013 gold to 3021 gold - Content
3022 gold to 4030 gold - Happy
Greater than 4030 gold - Very Happy
In the above numbers, I had a Quartermaster, Cook, and Concertina. Removing the Quartermaster or Concertina had no effect on the numbers, but removing the Cook made the numbers change to these:
Less than 1200 per man - Mutinous
1200 gold to 2399 gold - Unhappy
2400 gold to 3599 gold - Content
3600 gold to 4799 gold - Happy
Greater than 4799 gold - Very Happy
I was playing on adventurer level. I used the trainer to change my difficulty level. Those numbers stayed true for every level. So the only difference in difficulty level is the amount of time it takes them to reach their maximum point of caring, so I did some testing on that.
The tests were done while having 100 gold per man. That number is just below the permanent Mutinous number. They were done from the very beginning of a game with the first crew. The crew starts the trip Very Happy.
<img src="http://www.bccomputingco.com/mw/MoralTable.jpg" border="0" class="linked-image" />
After one month of Mutiny the crew will approach you and say that you need to divide. I only had one boat, so they could not take a boat, and I did not sail into and out of ports to see when the men would start quitting, and what percentage of the crew would quit. I only tested up until the Mutinous stage. Maybe, I'll do some testing on the total effects of Mutiny at another time.
Those tests were done with no items and no specialists. Adding a Cook delays the start of the decline in happiness by one month. Adding a Concertina also delayed it by one month. I was unable to add just a violin, so I am not sure what effect it may have. When I added the Concertina, I had both items. Adding both the Cook and Concertina delayed it by two months. Adding a Quartermaster had no effect on the first 3 happiness levels, but delayed the onset of Mutiny by one month.
I tried it at 50 gold per man, and at 0 gold, and those numbers dropped. I wasn't going to spend several more hours sailing around with different amounts of gold to find out the results. Just know that you will not get those numbers if you have less than 100 gold per man.
And, as I was sailing around killing time and watching the months go by, I watched my food level drop, So I did some testing on that while I was testing the other. I was in a Treasure Galleon so I could hold the max amount of food. When I started the game it said 132 tons of food was 26 months worth for my crew of 100. That 26 months worth ran out after 12 months. I then added a Cooper and the same 132 tons of food was now good for 40 months, and exactly 1 month of food was used each month. So, a Cooper does his job for sure.
" border="0" alt="par-ty.gif" />
" border="0" alt="sad.gif" />
" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />
" border="0" alt="icon_mrgreen1.gif" /> <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/par-ty.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="
:" border="0" alt="icon_eek.gif" /> <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/onya.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="
" border="0" alt="onya.gif" /> ye be one rich dude mate,yer buy'n de rum an de wenches next time yer in town <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_mrgreen1.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="
:" border="0" alt="laugh.gif" /> <img src="http://www.piratesahoy.com/forum/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/par-ty.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="
