Guide New complete guide for ships on POTC New Horizons

[HellSailor]

Sorry to ask, but by any chance do you know which 6th Rate Frigate model is the one from Peter Blood? The Postillionen, or the Greyhound?

 

[Grey Roger]

Postillionen, specifically the Spanish version "SP_Postillionen".

 

[HellSailor]

Also @Grey Roger , what is the value of the cargo capacity for the Gunboat? The new values to be soon fixed. I just want to confirm if the change were done correctly. Right now I have put it as a base value of 400, instead of the original 4.000.

 

[Grey Roger]

The gunboat will have capacity 100.

"Ships_init.c" sets the capacity to 100 or 4000 depending on the global variable "SHIPS_WEIGHT", which is set to 0 by default. But the condition to check this was the wrong way round, which meant the ship got capacity 4000 when "SHIPS_WEIGHT" was disabled, which it is by default. All I did was to correct the condition, so the gunboat will have the 100 capacity that it should always have had.

 

[HellSailor]

BETA version of the Complete Ship Guide for Pirates of the Caribbean: New Horizons now released! (Release Date: 22th January 2022).

Check the first post for downloading it. This release adds more content to the guide, with a new chapter for the specific ships that appear per sidequests, as well as a special ships' stats chapter, those seen from Vanderdecken's Cabin. With all the fixes and improvements also done here, there will not be any more additions to this guide, so this could be considered my near final version, with the exception of the new releases done to fix errors and improve this guide. Please, feedback on these two new chapters is necessary to provide accurate information shown here in the guide! I have some limitations about what I know, so I would like to hear feedback on those things you know. This is extremely important. The guide has now well over 160+ pages, but it contains ALL the information about almost every single ship in the entire game.

You can now check it out, and give feedback on what do you think of it. Advices, suggestions and recommendations are welcomed for improving this guide.

 

[Grey Roger]

In the Introduction, "Characteristics Table", Tier 2 should be 550 - 899 crew, and Tier 1 should be 900+. (See "PROGRAM\SHIPS\Ships_init.c", look for "Armada: Ship Tier Mod".) Tier is indeed set purely by crew size and that's the code which does it.) However, starting with the ship's crew size as given by its "refShip.MaxCrew" line, the crew will first be modified by the national factor, and then randomised slightly so that no two ships are identical, which means a ship whose crew size is defined very close to one of the limits may end up with a crew too small or too large for its tier. (The Fast War Galleon used to have that problem - its defined crew was just under 400, making it tier 4, but the national modifiers for France and Spain took it over 400. I bumped up its crew to 400 so that it defaults to tier 3.)

Fun fact for the Bermuda Sloop, Kreyser class frigate, and the pirate version of the Light Brig: the ship models include a cabin with an open door which means you can walk into your cabin while sailing. It doesn't look like the generic cabin which you'll visit while the ship is moored, as that cabin has its own model. And any pirate who likes making people walk the plank should look at the starboard bow of the pirate Light Brig, where you'll find a plank.

You may want to remove the part about the appearance of "Soleil Royal" in the "Assassin" storyline. It only appears briefly, and you don't do anything to it at sea - the climax of that part of the story plays out on deck. "La Couronne" has a more significant part, though somewhat later, while "Soleil Royal" appears at the end of the main story of "Ardent". But all of this could also be considered as spoilers for the storylines in question...

The "Cursed Caravel" can appear in the "Bartolomeu" storyline. Its captain is supposed to be the ghost of one you encountered earlier in the story.

Animist Fluyt-of-War: "this is what the “standard” Fluyt-of-War would look like if this was a mass-produced ship class." No, the "light" Fluyt of War is what it looks like as a mass produced ship class. (If you want to see a heavier version, look at the Dutch tier 3 fluyt of war. Incidentally, that's based on the "frigate" from "Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales".)

Post-curse Black Pearl: as well as its appearance in "Hoist the Colours", this is the one you get at the end of "Tales of a Sea Hawk" if you capture the cursed Pearl. You're not cursed, so the ship's curse is lifted when you capture it. You'll also get this ship if you FreePlay as Barbossa, even though you are cursed - if you manage to lift the curse then the ship will lose the torn sails and fog screen, which would be impossible if you started the game with the Cursed Black Pearl.

Heavy Frigate (Animist Vanilla Frigate): a good comparison for this would be the Kreyser class frigate. The Animist one is basically the stock game frigate with modified appearance, and the Kreyser is the more realistic replacement for the stock frigate.

Ships in Vanderdecken's shipyard which are retextures of standard ships: the pirate version of the Neptunus sloop of war shouldn't be there, it should be able to appear on the high seas. "Ships_init.c" will be corrected to allow this in the next update. HMS Victory can be earned by FreePlaying as Horatio Nelson and working your way up to the rank of Vice Admiral. The ‘Hudson’, ‘Astrea’ and ‘Jeanne D’Arc’ class steamships can appear on the high seas in "Napoleonic" period, though rarely, but 'Kraken's Revenge' will only appear in Vanderdecken's shipyard.

Having said all that, thanks @HellSailor for all this work! Regardless of whether you choose to do anything about the above, this is going into the "Documentation" folder in the next update.

 

[HellSailor]

In the Introduction, "Characteristics Table", Tier 2 should be 550 - 899 crew, and Tier 1 should be 900+. (See "PROGRAM\SHIPS\Ships_init.c", look for "Armada: Ship Tier Mod".) Tier is indeed set purely by crew size and that's the code which does it.) However, starting with the ship's crew size as given by its "refShip.MaxCrew" line, the crew will first be modified by the national factor, and then randomised slightly so that no two ships are identical, which means a ship whose crew size is defined very close to one of the limits may end up with a crew too small or too large for its tier. (The Fast War Galleon used to have that problem - its defined crew was just under 400, making it tier 4, but the national modifiers for France and Spain took it over 400. I bumped up its crew to 400 so that it defaults to tier 3.)

Got it, I will fix this error.

Fun fact for the Bermuda Sloop, Kreyser class frigate, and the pirate version of the Light Brig: the ship models include a cabin with an open door which means you can walk into your cabin while sailing. It doesn't look like the generic cabin which you'll visit while the ship is moored, as that cabin has its own model. And any pirate who likes making people walk the plank should look at the starboard bow of the pirate Light Brig, where you'll find a plank.

Although those are interesting fun facts, I don't think these are good for a guide that emphasizes on the stats and the strategies used for each ship... The fun facts, for example, about the original ships from the stock game, I think are more quite interesting, even though they do not add to the gameplay experience with each ship. So I think I will skip this for my guide.

You may want to remove the part about the appearance of "Soleil Royal" in the "Assassin" storyline. It only appears briefly, and you don't do anything to it at sea - the climax of that part of the story plays out on deck. "La Couronne" has a more significant part, though somewhat later, while "Soleil Royal" appears at the end of the main story of "Ardent". But all of this could also be considered as spoilers for the storylines in question...

Alright then, I will toss away this fun fact. Better to keep away spoilers for the storylines on the standard ships if possible.

The "Cursed Caravel" can appear in the "Bartolomeu" storyline. Its captain is supposed to be the ghost of one you encountered earlier in the story.

I had no idea about this. I will include this trivia.

Animist Fluyt-of-War: "this is what the “standard” Fluyt-of-War would look like if this was a mass-produced ship class." No, the "light" Fluyt of War is what it looks like as a mass produced ship class. (If you want to see a heavier version, look at the Dutch tier 3 fluyt of war. Incidentally, that's based on the "frigate" from "Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales".)

Fair enough. Better to will eliminate this information as to avoid confusion.

Post-curse Black Pearl: as well as its appearance in "Hoist the Colours", this is the one you get at the end of "Tales of a Sea Hawk" if you capture the cursed Pearl. You're not cursed, so the ship's curse is lifted when you capture it. You'll also get this ship if you FreePlay as Barbossa, even though you are cursed - if you manage to lift the curse then the ship will lose the torn sails and fog screen, which would be impossible if you started the game with the Cursed Black Pearl.

Good to know. It was little bit confusing, so it's normal that I didn't quite managed to put it correctly. I will fix and add this information.

Heavy Frigate (Animist Vanilla Frigate): a good comparison for this would be the Kreyser class frigate. The Animist one is basically the stock game frigate with modified appearance, and the Kreyser is the more realistic replacement for the stock frigate.

I think I wrote it on the Kreyser class frigate about that as a fun fact. I didn't think it was neccessary to include it in the stock 'Mefisto'.

Ships in Vanderdecken's shipyard which are retextures of standard ships: the pirate version of the Neptunus sloop of war shouldn't be there, it should be able to appear on the high seas. "Ships_init.c" will be corrected to allow this in the next update. HMS Victory can be earned by FreePlaying as Horatio Nelson and working your way up to the rank of Vice Admiral. The ‘Hudson’, ‘Astrea’ and ‘Jeanne D’Arc’ class steamships can appear on the high seas in "Napoleonic" period, though rarely, but 'Kraken's Revenge' will only appear in Vanderdecken's shipyard.

Got it for the Neptunus sloop of war. I will delete that entry if it's going to be fixed for the next patch.
I will include as well the information about HMS Victory.
About the steam frigates, I will clarify that based on what you told me.

Having said all that, thanks @HellSailor for all this work! Regardless of whether you choose to do anything about the above, this is going into the "Documentation" folder in the next update.

That's perfect! Feel free once I finished doing all my work on that guide, to do all the neccessary changes to finish it properly, or if you see something I did not see. Based on player's feedback, the guide will be updated wherever it is needed (For example, by including the cannons' arrangement on each ship). By the way, ifanyone has a proper screenshot for the Heavy Patrol Frigate (aka Iceni Queen), I could change it before it is included for the next patch.

 

[HellSailor]

Here is a file update based on the fixes needed and mentioned by @Grey Roger. This could be the final version if no one see any major mistakes that need to be fixed.

 

[Grey Roger]

Got it - thanks!

 

[Grey Roger]

Here's the new interface picture for Iceni Queen, alias Superfrigate, which will be in the next update:


For "American (British) Brig", you may want to use the American version:

That's the one based on the real Lady Washington, replica of a "Revolutions" period brig, and star of film and TV.

Meanwhile, while you've been working to make the guide correct, I've been working to make it wrong! Looking through the guide, I found that the Medium Pinnace and tier 3 Fluyt of War only appear as Dutch designs. Well, we'll have to do something about that! Here's a new Medium Pinnace which will be available to other nations:


As for the Fluyt of War, that's basically "Frigate1" from "Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales" with a different texture, which means all I need to do for an international version is to put the AoP texture back. I haven't done that yet, being busy with the texture for "MediumPinnace2", but it does mean you can delete the bits for both ships about being Dutch only.

In any case, I've copied the Guide into my "Documentation" folder, so it's going into the next update whether or not you make any further changes.

 

[HellSailor]

Here's the new interface picture for Iceni Queen, alias Superfrigate, which will be in the next update:

I love it! That's definitely going to be in my guide. I don't mind putting it myself. By any chance, do you have a bigger resolution for the SuperFrigate?

For "American (British) Brig", you may want to use the American version:

That's the one based on the real Lady Washington, replica of a "Revolutions" period brig, and star of film and TV.

Alright, I have no problem with it. I will look for it on the screenshots I have, and I will try to make one for myself, for my guide. That is going to be changed for the next update of my guide.

Meanwhile, while you've been working to make the guide correct, I've been working to make it wrong! Looking through the guide, I found that the Medium Pinnace and tier 3 Fluyt of War only appear as Dutch designs. Well, we'll have to do something about that! Here's a new Medium Pinnace which will be available to other nations:

That's great! We will have more variety of ships in the game without having to create new ones; just by putting new models which are available to more nations. Again, if you can, do you have a much bigger resolution for that screenshot? That way I can edit it better without losing too much quality.

As for the Fluyt of War, that's basically "Frigate1" from "Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales" with a different texture, which means all I need to do for an international version is to put the AoP texture back. I haven't done that yet, being busy with the texture for "MediumPinnace2", but it does mean you can delete the bits for both ships about being Dutch only.

Once you get the new model for the Fluyt-of-War, and you share it with me, I will include it on the next update.

In any case, I've copied the Guide into my "Documentation" folder, so it's going into the next update whether or not you make any further changes.

That's perfect. I don't mind continuing with further changes by myself. Maybe I can even notice something that earlier I didn't, in order to fix it!

 

[Grey Roger]

All the pictures in the guide seem to be clipped from the interface pictures, which are 256x256. So are all the pictures in the post above - they're thumbnails, click on them to get the 256x256 version. There are some higher resolution pictures of the new Medium Pinnace, without frames, in the Screenshots thread, along with a picture of the museum model on which it's based.

 

[HellSailor]

There you have the new update based on your latest post. For the Medium Pinnace, I put both of the interface pictures. This will also be done with the Fluyt of War once you finished the new model.

By the way, I have noticed that the Escort Ship only appears as in Dutch design, although I believe it is a beautiful ship that could be viable for several nations. What do you think?

 

[Grey Roger]

"Escort Ship" is the identification on screen for the model "NL_ConvoiShip", which is a model of a specific real ship, Wappen von Hamburg. It was actually German, not Dutch, and it's not the only such ship. "Brandenburg Frigate", alias "NL_FWzp", is Friedrich Wilhelm zu Pferde.

By comparison, the medium pinnace is a fairly generic ship, and I found a photo of a physical model which looks very much like it, including the same figurehead. And the fluyt of war is just a retexture of a stock model from a related game with no real world historical significance.

 

[HellSailor]

I was thinking recently: should I put on my guide what the shipyard upgrades do on ships, with the specific percentage values of the improvements made (and what do you lose, for the case of the corsair refit)? I think that could be interesting to add.

 

[Grey Roger]

That's your choice. You can see the default percentages, as well as change them in your own game, in "PROGRAM\InternalSettings.h" - look for the section starting with "//****** KB Tuning Ships *****".

There are white bars down the sides of the document. They vary in size - some are very narrow, perhaps only a pixel or two, and some are more noticable such as the one on the page about Personal national modifiers.

The information section on "Naval Ketch" still says:

On occasion, this ship can be your initial ship as a naval officer, so it is also highly recommended to change ships as soon as possible.

Looking at "NK.c", you'll only get that as a naval officer if you start at the lowest possible rank, or in some cases the second lowest. In any case, you can only change ship by getting promoted - you could be a midshipman in command of a naval ketch, capture a frigate, and not have the choice to switch to the frigate. (Though taking a frigate would almost certainly get you a promotion and another ship.)

There's a slight spelling mistake in "Light Pinnance (spanish, portuguese or dutch models)".

In the section on special ships, specifically the post-curse Black Pearl:

You will also get this ship if you Freeplay as Barbossa, if you manage to lift the curse. Then, you will change your ship from the Cursed variant to this one.

That's not quite true. Barbossa's character model is assigned the cursed variant, which is why you see it in his storyline selection screen. Then you get the post-curse variant immediately upon starting the game, along with the curse. It is the curse, not the ship model, which gives you torn sails and fog cloud, after a few weeks. (Which, as someone else has recently found, means FreePlay Barbossa does not get a skeletal crew.) If you find enough coins to lift the curse, the ship reverts to normal.

 

[HellSailor]

That's your choice. You can see the default percentages, as well as change them in your own game, in "PROGRAM\InternalSettings.h" - look for the section starting with "//****** KB Tuning Ships *****".

I will look at it and see if it's feasible to implement it for one page.

There are white bars down the sides of the document. They vary in size - some are very narrow, perhaps only a pixel or two, and some are more noticable such as the one on the page about Personal national modifiers.

Yep, I saw some of them. I Will check the pages to fix this issue.

The information section on "Naval Ketch" still says: Looking at "NK.c", you'll only get that as a naval officer if you start at the lowest possible rank, or in some cases the second lowest. In any case, you can only change ship by getting promoted - you could be a midshipman in command of a naval ketch, capture a frigate, and not have the choice to switch to the frigate. (Though taking a frigate would almost certainly get you a promotion and another ship.)

My phrasal expression was probably not accurate here. I will clarify this.

There's a slight spelling mistake in "Light Pinnance (spanish, portuguese or dutch models)".

When I was checking for spelling mistakes earlier, this was one of the most common. It seems I forgot one of those. Thanks for the observation.

In the section on special ships, specifically the post-curse Black Pearl: That's not quite true. Barbossa's character model is assigned the cursed variant, which is why you see it in his storyline selection screen. Then you get the post-curse variant immediately upon starting the game, along with the curse. It is the curse, not the ship model, which gives you torn sails and fog cloud, after a few weeks. (Which, as someone else has recently found, means FreePlay Barbossa does not get a skeletal crew.) If you find enough coins to lift the curse, the ship reverts to normal.

My apologies, my lack of knowledge about this Freeplay means I can't quite portray what you want to say. Perhaps would you like to fix this by yourself? Maybe you can do it better than me at it.

 

[Grey Roger]

For one thing, I don't want to take your work from you, you're doing so well already! For another, I don't have a program to edit PDF's. I can read them but not change them. What do you use?

Otherwise, perhaps just remove the bit about Barbossa's Pearls. The Guide doesn't mention any other characters' ships, not even the special ones from the PoTC films.

 

[HellSailor]

For one thing, I don't want to take your work from you, you're doing so well already! For another, I don't have a program to edit PDF's. I can read them but not change them. What do you use?

Don't worry, I'm still finding things to be fixed; there is always room for improvement, and that makes me comprehend that I need to be more conscious and pay a lot of attention to detail in order to do an excellent work. Your insights have proven to be very useful for me. I should also thank you for taking your time to read my work.

As for the PDF's, I found an online website which allows you to mix several PDF files into a single one. This was useful for some bureaucratic processes I had to do. It was Small PDF. It's completely free, and you can do some works there, although I think there's a limit of how many you can do freely.

Besides that, for example, to insert the background image for each page of the guide, I just opened the old guide with Word. You can open PDF files with it (although there could be potential changes to the original content shown in the PDF, be warned), and with it, I just copied and pasted that background image into my guide.

Otherwise, perhaps just remove the bit about Barbossa's Pearls. The Guide doesn't mention any other characters' ships, not even the special ones from the PoTC films.

That's what I did. I think it's for the best to work with the things you really know, than trying to do things you don't really know too well.

 

[Grey Roger]

If you want to add the pictures for the new fluyt of war variants, here they are. As usual, they're 256x256, copied from the texture file which provides the interface pictures.

The blue-topped one will be available for Britain, France and Portugal. The all-red version is for Spain alone. And Holland continues to have its green variant for itself. They all have identical stats because I copied the Dutch entry in "Ships_init.c" for the two new types, and they can all be repainted into each other in the shipyard.

Beyond that, as far as I can tell, if you've fixed the naval ketch entry and removed the bit about Barbossa's Pearls, I reckon it's done.