Included in Build Custom Pre-Defined Character Choices

[pedrwyth]

So looked at the code and can see how to do an exception to get Jose Almeida to start with iNation AMERICA in NAPOLEONIC but (as far as I can see) that means no longer Portugese as far as practicalities in the game. That's fine if it means that if you choose to time shift to another period the character you do get a Portugese Corsair character to play (which is what happens I think).

That got me thinking about starting him a few years before the Anglo-American war as a merchant (which he was), as Portugese trading out of Eleuthera ie before he was given American citizenship and putting a case to allow a change (if the player wanted) to Corsair on the outbreak of hostilities (ie via a date check as a win.condition and a LoM for America and change of ship even though it is basically free play). So a hybrid gameplay possibility.

So I looked at merchant type and see the trading passport given as a quest item. That raised several questions.

1. Can you relinquish the passport and if so how (since it is a quest item). I know you can buy one but you didn't ought to be able to sell it on.

2. It appears to restrict you to being an honest merchant (in that when I look at the start that is what it says and the flags seem locked to one for Nation). Now that isn't how the licence is "sold" as a work round for gathering unlimited loot - so am I reading too much into that - not actually having much time to play out and see. Presumably smuggling is OK? but you are restricted to friendly/neutral nations for trade - or risk being blown out of the water?

3. Since you're an honest merchant can you accept a LoM and what is the effect?

I've posted these here because I can't locate the thread dealing with the latest introduction of the passport concept.

A totally unrelated question is why you can still customize character in the Nathaniel Hawk storyline start options to an extent that can effectively break the main quest now that free play delivers the multi-choice options anyway ? Surely it would be better just to add Nathaniel as a character choice in free play (for those that just like him) and in addition lock or restrict the options in Tales of a Sea Hawk as per the other locked stories . (sorry if this has been dealt with before - just point me at the discussion)

 

[Pieter Boelen]

On a related subject, my brother and me set up two new characters today as well, which will be in the next upload.

So looked at the code and can see how to do an exception to get Jose Almeida to start with iNation AMERICA in NAPOLEONIC but (as far as I can see) that means no longer Portugese as far as practicalities in the game. That's fine if it means that if you choose to time shift to another period the character you do get a Portugese Corsair character to play (which is what happens I think).

You could do whatever you want with the code, I'm sure. What exactly would you want it to do?
You could give the character Portuguese nation relations, but set Served Nation to America.
I think that's pretty much what Jean Lafitte does.

1. Can you relinquish the passport and if so how (since it is a quest item). I know you can buy one but you didn't ought to be able to sell it on.

Nope, you can't get rid of it. Not sure why you would want to either, since it only gives a bonus and has no downsides (apart from the money you have to pay to get it).

2. It appears to restrict you to being an honest merchant (in that when I look at the start that is what it says and the flags seem locked to one for Nation). Now that isn't how the licence is "sold" as a work round for gathering unlimited loot - so am I reading too much into that - not actually having much time to play out and see. Presumably smuggling is OK? but you are restricted to friendly/neutral nations for trade - or risk being blown out of the water?

When you start as a merchant, you are given the license straight away. This prevents your crew complaining because of your money and doesn't do anything else.
You can do whatever you want while carrying that item. At least for now....

3. Since you're an honest merchant can you accept a LoM and what is the effect?

Yes, you can. The effect is the same as it normally is.

I've posted these here because I can't locate the thread dealing with the latest introduction of the passport concept.

Here it is:
http://www.piratesahoy.net/threads/merchant-gameplay-cutler-beckett-and-eitc.25023

A totally unrelated question is why you can still customize character in the Nathaniel Hawk storyline start options to an extent that can effectively break the main quest now that free play delivers the multi-choice options anyway ? Surely it would be better just to add Nathaniel as a character choice in free play (for those that just like him) and in addition lock or restrict the options in Tales of a Sea Hawk as per the other locked stories . (sorry if this has been dealt with before - just point me at the discussion)

I wasn't sure what to do with that one. Of course Nathaniel Hawk is already available in Free Play as you can pretty much make whatever character you want.
But I'm not sure to what extent we need to limit the Standard Storyline. The date is locked, at least.
And playing the story as a female character would be very odd. A different nation than England is strange too.
All that has always been possible though, so I'm not sure if we should completely limit the customization,
do that partly or leave it up to the players' discretion. I'd welcome any thoughts on that one....

 

[Pieter Boelen]

@pedrwyth: What do you still need to get figured out? I should have time tonight/tomorrow to have a look at the code if you like.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

These are the three new characters we've got added now thanks to @pedrwyth and @TechnicJelle:

This one perhaps should start ON Hispaniola. With optionally the town of Port-au-Prince as PERSONAL_NATION (=independent).
That might be tricky though....

Since this one doesn't have a custom model or portrait (and neither do the others here, by the way), I'm just sticking to the original files.
This one should probably start as Portuguese instead, but be friendly to America and perhaps have a LoM from them.

@pedrwyth: Does that personal flag look right to you? It has the French fleur-de-lis on there and I think it is actually the Quebec flag.

The main character from the book by C.S. Forester of the same title should fit the bill of a US navy officer quite nicely.
Though admittedly John Paul Jones would have been an option too.
Based on the "America vs. England" nature of the book, I wonder if we can take some "creative liberty" by changing the date to fit into the Revolutions period instead?

On that subject, all three new characters are Napoleonic ones. We really should aim for some Revolution ones as well.

 

[pedrwyth]

What I am thinking to do is start him as a merchant working for America a few years before the outbreak of the Anglo-American war (he would of course have a passport and presumably a merchant ship - yet to be selected). At the outbreak of war he turns privateer, gets a LoM and the schooner (and if it functions as I think (yet to test) loses the passport (can be taken away by code at the same time as the rest) Anglo-american relations go hostile (if not already) . I think it would need to be a win.condition set at start and triggered by date - but also when at sea to avoid complications of relation change if actually at an English location when the clock strikes. I'm away again until the weekend so won't be progressing this - but in the meantime he can easily carry on as previously given as an American privateer.

However with your knowledge of the structure do you see any great problems with that?

With Nathaniel Hawk I tried a non_English character and therefore didn't start at the right location and didn't get the French taking Oxbay/Speightstown. I stopped there but I presume that basically only side quests would be available. As you say female play makes little or no sense either. So I just thought to avoid stupid questions arising from starting choices that break the main quest - I guess English characters would be OK plus perhaps a revision to the others to default their start to Speightstown?

 

[pedrwyth]

@Pieter Boelen said
@pedrwyth: Does that personal flag look right to you? It has the French fleur-de-lis on there and I think it is actually the Quebec flag

Well he ought to have something like the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata flag which is three stripes two blue and one white in the middle but currently there is a shortage of personal flags so again until more can be added it's a compromise.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Well he ought to have something like the United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata flag which is three stripes two blue and one white in the middle but currently there is a shortage of personal flags so again until more can be added it's a compromise.

I'm sure more can be added. We just have to expand the code a bit.

What I am thinking to do is start him as a merchant working for America a few years before the outbreak of the Anglo-American war (he would of course have a passport and presumably a merchant ship - yet to be selected). At the outbreak of war he turns privateer, gets a LoM and the schooner (and if it functions as I think (yet to test) loses the passport (can be taken away by code at the same time as the rest) Anglo-american relations go hostile (if not already) . I think it would need to be a win.condition set at start and triggered by date - but also when at sea to avoid complications of relation change if actually at an English location when the clock strikes. I'm away again until the weekend so won't be progressing this - but in the meantime he can easily carry on as previously given as an American privateer.

However with your knowledge of the structure do you see any great problems with that?

Should be possible. Just some thoughts:
- If the date where this happens is 1-2 years from the start of the storyline, it takes a lot of play time to get there
- If you automatically get a LoM/lose your merchant letter when it happens, that might be quite weird to the player

But it should be possible, I reckon.

With Nathaniel Hawk I tried a non_English character and therefore didn't start at the right location and didn't get the French taking Oxbay/Speightstown. I stopped there but I presume that basically only side quests would be available.

When you enter 3D sailing mode at Barbados and go to worldmap afterwards, the French invasion movie should still trigger.
And you can then still report that to the Jamaica governor. It should all work for a non-English character.
Whether it makes sense is a different story though....

 

[pedrwyth]

When you enter 3D sailing mode at Barbados and go to worldmap afterwards, the French invasion movie should still trigger.
And you can then still report that to the Jamaica governor. It should all work for a non-English character.

I don't remember that that happened but I'll try it again sometime. I that is what happens then leaving all choices possible is not a game breaker so fine I won't see a problem any longer.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I don't remember that that happened but I'll try it again sometime. I that is what happens then leaving all choices possible is not a game breaker so fine I won't see a problem any longer.

If it doesn't work, then it should be fixed. It certainly used to.

 

[Grey Roger]

There are a few complications with revolutionary Haiti. For one thing, if Port au Prince is independent, Saint Domingue should also be independent. The citizens will need different character models because whites weren't left in charge of anything; not many were left at all after 1804.

Somehow I don't think a French national flag or French-style Personal flag are suitable for a revolutionary who was fighting against France! This is the flag of Haiti, which would perhaps be suitable for a Personal flag:

 

[Pieter Boelen]

There are a few complications with revolutionary Haiti. For one thing, if Port au Prince is independent, Saint Domingue should also be independent. The citizens will need different character models because whites weren't left in charge of anything; not many were left at all after 1804.

Would admittedly be interesting to have that working properly in the game.
Might be possible by creating a new character model group that doesn't contain any white character models.
The trick would be to assign that group to a non-player PERSONAL_NATION town. Would take some figuring out, but can be done I reckon.
Do we have enough non-white character models for variety though, I wonder?

Somehow I don't think a French national flag or French-style Personal flag are suitable for a revolutionary who was fighting against France! This is the flag of Haiti, which would perhaps be suitable for a Personal flag:

The French national flag shows because a Rebel starts as hostile to that nation.
Indeed the Quebec flag as person doesn't make all that much sense though. But then, neither does anything else.
We really should see about adding some more flags, because it would definitely open up some added potential.

 

[Grey Roger]

Are there many characters from within the game, particularly those who are significant in side quests, who are also playable?

I tried a free-play game as Claire Larousse. This was to test the "Angelique Moulin" side quest, as well as to try out NPC conversations with a female player character. To start off as close to Hispaniola as possible, I picked Spain as starting nationality, as that puts me at San Juan. I hadn't thought through all the implications when I went into the tavern. Since the whole idea of this game was to test "Angelique Moulin", I did not find out what happens if Claire Larousse joins Claire Larousse for the Barbados raid.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Are there many characters from within the game, particularly those who are significant in side quests, who are also playable?

Basically ALL of them, because you can select whichever model and name you want and can make your own sidequest character.
Of course only some have their names also defined in initModels.c so that they show up under the "Named" characters.

That was originally intentional on my part to make those models stand out and to provide some name suggestions.
But perhaps we should get rid of that feature and keep only characters that AREN'T used in sidequests.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Are there many characters from within the game, particularly those who are significant in side quests, who are also playable?

How's this?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

As Jean Lafitte is to become a Smuggler character instead of an Agent, does anyone know any good characters to make an Agent instead?
Ideally one of the following:
- French non-navy character
- Spanish non-navy character

And if possible set during the Revolutions time period so that one might find at least a bit more use....

 

[Levis]

Do we have the potc character anamaria or Mercer already? They might fit.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Do we have the potc character anamaria or Mercer already? They might fit.

There are such characters in the game, but they don't have custom models.
Anamaria seems more like the smuggler type to me; Mercer might be an interesting one.

 

[Grey Roger]

As Jean Lafitte is to become a Smuggler character instead of an Agent, does anyone know any good characters to make an Agent instead?
Ideally one of the following:
- French non-navy character
- Spanish non-navy character

And if possible set during the Revolutions time period so that one might find at least a bit more use....

Not "Revolutions", unfortunately, but one candidate for a French non-naval Agent springs readily to mind.
Milady de Winter, female villain from "The Three Musketeers", which was set in the "Spanish Main" period.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Milady de Winter, female villain from "The Three Musketeers", which was set in the "Spanish Main" period.

That is actually a fun idea! Also adds another female character, which is certainly a plus.
I wonder what kind of character model would fit her though; we've got a lot to choose from, but which one....?

 

[Grey Roger]

Looking through "initModels.c":
50_33Petra: "As skilled with the sword as she is beautiful, they call her Borinqueña"
50_Petra2: "Nobility, it is in her blood"
50_Rachel: "Rachel, of noble birth, and as sweet as her name." (Has the advantage that the model is supposed to be French.)
Brinkley: "What who is she!? Get your name straight woman!" (Variant of "towngirl1", a bit distinctive from any other "towngirl1" you might meet.)
Diz1: "Pretty woman, must be a governor's niece or wife" (French)
Diz2: "Pretty woman, must be a governor's niece or wife" (English - apparently Milady can effortlessly pass as a native Englishwoman)
liz1: "This nice golden dress will so accentuate those lovely blonde curls so that no one would think of telling a blonde joke..." (Disadvantage: this is supposed to be Elizabeth Swann from the films and is used elsewhere, though possibly not where she would conflict with this free-play)
liz2: "This red dress will ideally fit white laces and dark hair." (Dark haired, tanned, red dress with what looks like armour, variant of liz1)
Caroline_K: one of the special characters for "Woodes Rogers", so definitely won't meet an identical twin during game play!