Solved Fixing the Pirate Hunting Quests

[Pieter Boelen]

But that was what happened. Now with your changes, it's 3 days. If I take the quest and sink the ship, it's 3 days before I get another. If I decline, it's 3 days before I get another. I'm fine with that. Not much realistic sinking 20 pirate a day

In that case, I don't know what was happening before. But NOW at least it DOES do what it is intended to.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

Reporting in.

While entering the harbor at Martinique there were 2 pirate ships there and the 1st one surrendered to the fort and all fighting ceased. I sailed up to that brig and killed the Captain, took the cargo, and scuttled it. The fort then began firing on the other pirate ship and sank it. All of this with not one ship to ship shot being fired and the pirate ships shown as not enemies.

Later I tried the Governors mission at San Juan and got it. Went to my ships and the pirate ship spawned in the harbor, so the fort helped out and in fact got the last shots in that sunk it. But I still got credit for it. When I got my reward from the Governor I immediately asked for another mission but he did not have anything. I did not wait and set sail for another island.

I have not paid my crew for 3 months now and when we pulled in to port their morale was about 26. If I miss another pay period they WILL mutiny.

Onward through the fog!

 

[Skyworm]

Hello,

just started new career based upon that M&C, this time used
Jaxk Aubrey and StartStoryline to start as a french at Martinique. The idea was, with governor-mission-pirates at Eleuthera spawning directly under the forts guns, it was not an ideal position.

Now, the curious thing is, exactly the same happened at Martinique. Pirate ship spawing directly in front of the fort, getting shot at and sunk with one salvo the very moment I stepped on my ships deck.

Went 3 days in the tavern then and tried the mission again - with the same result.

This is strange because this happens since this b2.4 stuff started. It has not been the case before. I am absolutely shure about that because I did triy that french privateer start at Martinique some weeks ago, but did'nt play it further. Then, the pirate ships were spawning east of Martinique.

 

[Skyworm]

Cheers Pieter!

Could you try another island and see if the target ship's starting position DOES vary there?

Just did. The same at Martinique.
Problem is not only that it does not vary, but that pirates always seem to start right at the fort. I think I make it to Guadeloupe tomorrow, and try that, too.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

I was just reporting what happened at Martinique. None of the ships fired a shot and when I set my gun sight on the pirate ship it showed up as grey.

Spent the rest of the day getting rich as an honest merchant/smuggler and dieing in land fights.

 

[Skyworm]

Yup, read it. Just wanted to confirm it's the same here.

Spent my evening with sailing to Barbados and robbing the british blind.
Oh yes, and dieing in land fights.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

LOL! I just went to Grenada and got a Governors mission. I remember that the pirates always spawned on the North side of the island. This time he spawned right next to me in front of the fort. Twice.
The first time there were two pirate ships lurking just out of cannon range and while the fort was sinking the first pirate they came racing in. A sloop went racing by and I got the boarding call. I thought "We should be able to take them." Bad idea. They wiped out my crew, officers and me on the first deck. The 2nd time went well as there were no other ships around.

So, it seems the pirates are always spawning right next to your ship at many islands. Oh, and the direct sail disabling feature does not turn itself back on again when you leave the island.

Land fights? Ether bottles, poisoned throwing knives, stinkpots, and grenades are your friends.

 

[Hammie]

I was just reporting what happened at Martinique. None of the ships fired a shot and when I set my gun sight on the pirate ship it showed up as grey.

Same happened to me when a Spanish ship surrender and the entire enemy fleet became neutral. This was at open sea when joining a battle between the English and Spanish.
Happened in version 2.3. So I don't think it's a new bug.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Will check those Pirate Hunting spawn locations too.

All the missing screenshots should be covered by the modified textures I have yet to release (waiting on finished corvette versions).
I might be able to write some of the descriptions if I have time.

Cool, thanks! Since I was checking the descriptions anyway, I thought I'd just post the whole list for completism's sake.

So, it seems the pirates are always spawning right next to your ship at many islands. Oh, and the direct sail disabling feature does not turn itself back on again when you leave the island.

I didn't code anything in to turn it back on. Do you think I should? You can just press "0" as the on-screen message says.

Same happened to me when a Spanish ship surrender and the entire enemy fleet became neutral. This was at open sea when joining a battle between the English and Spanish.
Happened in version 2.3. So I don't think it's a new bug.

Indeed that has been a long-standing bug. But that Nation Relation fix I did influences also the surrender feature, so I'd like to know if there is anything different now.
Pirates being neutral sounds positively bizarre.

This is strange because this happens since this b2.4 stuff started. It has not been the case before. I am absolutely shure about that because I did triy that french privateer start at Martinique some weeks ago, but did'nt play it further. Then, the pirate ships were spawning east of Martinique.

Not so strange; we're only now touching the spawn location; naturally it would behave differently.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Will check those Pirate Hunting spawn locations too.

Indeed that locator-code of mine didn't work as intended. This, however, does:

Group_SetAddress("Story_Pirate", Pchar.location, "Quest_ships", "Quest_ship_"+makeint(rand(9)+1)); // PB: Add some variety

Tested off of Eleuthera. They're now being generated randomly around the island and no longer in front of the fort.

 

[Skyworm]

Tested it at Martinique.

1st, I was relieved to see that there wasn't a smoking wreck floating near the fort.
2nd, after sailing round the island, I found that Pirate north of Martinique.

Tried another one. This one was south of Martinique, so the random locations seem to work, too.

So it worked well so far.
Thanks!

 

[Pieter Boelen]

HA! We got there in the end!

 

[Skyworm]

Further about hunting pirates.

When I came back from alonger voyage, after taking several enemy vessels, I was promoted twice by the governor. I then spent some days with refitting ships, trading wares etc. Then when I talked to governor again, he did not offer me a pirate quest.
Waited 3 days again, talked again, no quest.
It is now about 3 weeks after promotion.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Can you make a savegame right in front of the governor now refusing to give you pirate hunting quests, ZIP that up and post it here?
I'll have a look and see if I can confirm and figure out what's wrong this time.

 

[Skyworm]

I will do.
I'm now at Guadeloupe, same there. This is my first contact with that governor. He does not have any business discussing with me.

 

[Skyworm]

Hello again!

First, I suspected it to be caused by promotion. But that is not the reason.
I'll add another savegame, which is after arrival at Martinique. At governor, I have options to be promoted (twice) and to hunt a pirate.
I tried to get the pirate quest both before and after promotions, and both worked, I got the quest.

So whatever caused it not working, must have happened after. I remember I did ...
- selling goods at local merchant
- selling and repairing ships
- recruiting new officers at tavern
- repairing swords at blacksmith
And the usual stuff, talking to people, buying items.
Oh yes, and I had a mutinee while being at the merchant, because my crew ran out of rum and food.
After all that done, I was unable to get a sink pirate quest.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Normally, this is the way getting a Pirate Hunting quest should work:
1. You ask for the job and the governor proposed one - This is when you get pchar.quest.generate_kill_quest = "begin";
2. If you agree, you get the job and it all should work out fine
3. If you decline, you get pchar.quest.kill_pirate_refused_timer.win_condition that allows you to ask again after three days

Your Martinique savegame seems to be working as it should. Very strange with your Guadeloupe one though is this:
You DO have that "begin" attribute from #1 above, which is preventing you from getting another Pirate Hunting quest.
However, you do NOT have the pirate_refused_timer from #3 above which you're supposed to get if you decline a quest.
So I am being rather curious to know what exactly you did with the Pirate Hunting quests the previous time you talked to a governor about them BEFORE your Guadeloupe save.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Did a bit further testing on that Martinique save, but I can't seem to break the system on purpose.
Getting the promotions or not, declining the Pirate Hunting mission gives me the attributes that I should get including that timer.
What did you actually end up doing at Martinique? Was that the last time you talked to a governor about Pirate Hunting?

The problem must come either from how an accepted quest was completed (or not properly completed) or your dialog with the governor.
Anything else has got nothing to do with it.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

BTW: Open PROGRAM\console.c and add these lines below int limit; :

if (CheckAttribute(pchar, "quest.generate_kill_quest")) LogIt("Pirate Hunting Quest active");
if (GetNationRelation2MainCharacter(GetCurrentLocationNation()) == RELATION_ENEMY) LogIt("Enemy location");
LogIt(pchar.quest.kill_pirate_refused_timer.win_condition);
LogIt(pchar.quest.generate_kill_quest);

When you press F12, you'll get some hints on what is up with your Pirate Hunting status.
If either the "Enemy location" or "Pirate Hunting Quest active" text shows up, you will not be able to get such a quest from a governor.
If you had previously declined, you should get "kill_pirate_refused_timer" to show up on the the screen from that third line.
That fourth line indicates in what stage of the Pirate Hunting quest you are. There are these:
"begin" = Generated as soon as the governor tells you the job
"prepare_for_kill_pirate" = When you agree to do the job
"completed" = Obviously when you completed the quest
"wait_timer" = After completion you cannot get another quest straight away, but have to wait

So to leave the dialog with "begin" as your stage, you MUST have declined the job. If that is the case, you should have that timer. So I don't get it.

 

[Skyworm]

Good question that is. I think I did nothing with the governor concerning pirate quests.

As mentioned, I returned from Barbados, where I had plundered lots of ships. When I reached Martinique, I had 3 prizes with me. Talkked to governor first, saw the promotion dialogue option, got promoted, even twice (yeah, it were a lot of ships I plundered ...). I did not ask him about pirate quest at that time.
I sold my booty, sold the prizes, repaired my ship, baught equipment for my crew, hired 3 new officers ... and then talked again to governor. Wanted a pirate hunt quest then, but he did not have one. Waited 3 days, asked again, same result. Sailed to Guadeloupe, to try other governor, same result.

No idea why that happened.
I'll take my old Martinique game just after arrival there and try again,a nd see what happens.

Thanks for looking in that.