Freeplay

[Treebiter]

I've been playing the mod loads of late so firstly a bucket of kudos for all involved.

My only gripe (I've gotten over my swordfighting phobia) is the lack of a freeplay option. I'm working my way through the storylines and am currently enjoying the Hornblower one but I like the option to have a custom game without any quests (I was using the now removed Master and Commander start for this). Back in build 13 there was the option to choose your starting character and ship which I guess has been removed to accomodate the storylines. Is there any intention to implement a freeplay start akin to this? My other query is regarding the starting dates. Do the different dates actually influence what ships you'll encounter?

Thanks guys

 

[Captain Maggee]

I think the starting dates do influence ships (or the ammount ships are encountered)

We are thinking of moving this onto weapons as well so that the weapons you encounter aren't over powered for the Period.

Maybe we should consider a blank storyline where you pick:
- Character
- Ship
- Nation
- Name

And then allow free play, what do people think of that?
NOTE: Probably won't happen for awhile

 

[Doober]

I really like the freeplay option. Also is there are way to select the period your playing in other than to select a storyline with that period? Also, there doesn't seem to be a storyline for "Revolutions" period.

 

[Captain Maggee]

I really like the freeplay option. Also is there are way to select the period your playing in other than to select a storyline with that period? Also, there doesn't seem to be a storyline for "Revolutions" period.

Well after you finish any of the storylines it becomes freeplay

As for selectable age we were considering it but some storylines it would not make ANY sense. For example Port Royale is quite big in Jack Sparrow but in the "Early Explorers" was owned by Spain (who are at war with England most of the time) so I think going a storyline where you can pick age as well as character and nation would be the best idea and just have freeplay

As for "Revolutions" is that the period America was added? If so we had a freeplay storyline but got rid of it. If it is the period after I think Comodore John Paul Jones was considering making a storyline for it (not sure though)

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I removed the Master and Commander storyline because people were confused that there wasn't any quest at all.
Of course any storyline offers free play, since you don't HAVE to follow it, except when there's a time limit.
But indeed now there isn't any storyline set in the Revolutions period anymore, which is a bit unfortunate.
Find attached the Master and Commander storyline files; just put them on your game version and it'll be back.

Depending on the period of the storyline taking place, you will indeed encounter different types of ships.
While you'll often encounter galleons and such in the earlier periods,
in the later periods it'll be more corvettes and battleships and such.
Soldier skins depend on the period, as do the flags since the Alpha 9.5 Patch 3.
We're working on making the nation relations depend on the period too.

You might've noticed the grayed out 'Customize Character' button in the Select Storylines interface.
The intention is to, one day, add an interface here where you can select player model and ship,
as well as starting position, period, etc. Certain combinations wouldn't make sense in certain storylines,
but that'd be for the player to decide. Personally as far as 'making sense' is concerned,
I only care about the default settings.

Anyway, this storyline is planned but we haven't got a clue when it might be made.
Probably we'd need Pirate_KK to do that and he's being rather busy these days.

 

[Treebiter]

The kind of blank start that Captain Maggee suggests would be great. Would it be possible to allow that and also remove the option to change it for storylines to prevent messing them up?

Regarding the the M&C storyline, I was halfway through modelling the HMS Sophie before my computer packed up a year ago. I've recently been able to salvage the contents of that hard drive so I might have a go at finishing her. One of the reasons I left POTC for so long was that I lost my disc ages ago and it took me until earlier this year to find another copy for sale.

Also, Will(or more specifically 'can') port nationality change according to period? Also uniform/clothing type?

 

[Captain Maggee]

Sounds great

Soldier uniforms do change depending on period... For example the English soldiers have the uniforms from the PotC Movie in Jack Sparrow but in New Horizons they have a different uniform

The actual citizens don't change clothes though

As for ports they do change hands (I think Port Royale is Spanish in Early Explorers and Eleuthera is USA in Revolutions)

 

[Pieter Boelen]

The kind of blank start that Captain Maggee suggests would be great. Would it be possible to allow that and also remove the option to change it for storylines to prevent messing them up?

I think that would indeed be possible, but we'd need an interface for that.
At this time, I'm not expecting that interface to be made any time soon.
Also, what if you'd want to play 'New Horizons' as, say, Jack Sparrow? Should we prevent the player from doing that?
Personally a fully open-ended storyline seems rather dull to me, especially since there's not even any side-quests.

Regarding the the M&C storyline, I was halfway through modelling the HMS Sophie before my computer packed up a year ago. I've recently been able to salvage the contents of that hard drive so I might have a go at finishing her.

That sounds wonderful; I hope you'll manage.

Also, Will(or more specifically 'can') port nationality change according to period? Also uniform/clothing type?

Uniforms do change; clothing we could probably have changing too,
but it'd require information on which models can be used randomly in which periods.
Recently I wrote some code to make the nation relations change dependent on the period, but nobody tested it yet.
See here. That thread also contains information on the period-dependant changing of town and island names and nationalities.
We're planning on adding that too. It is possible, but we haven't done it yet, outside the examples mentioned by Captain Maggee.