Not a Bug Reconnoiter captured Speightstown city bug

[Grey Roger]

If we're going to assume that nobody reads the relation book then we may as well scrap the tutorial and avoid annoying people who already know all this stuff. On the other hand, if it's in there, the next time someone complains about being attacked while under a false flag, the answer will be "You did read that book which Silehard gave you, didn't you?"

If a ship sees you from the other side of the island, it's not all that serious. Next time you visit the island, that ship won't be there. If the fort sees you from the other side of the island, that's a lot more serious. It isn't going anywhere and it has bigger guns.

"Acquire a different class of ship" now changed to "Acquire a different type of ship".

I could have sworn that plundering a fort reset its memory, but now I look for the code, I can't find anything about resetting the fort's memory there. The memory is certainly reset if you capture the fort for another nation or for yourself; I did find the code for that.
Of course, if you're just going to attack the fort anyway then you don't care if it recognises you, it just means you get to loot the fort again. Anyway, that line is deleted.

False Flags:

The use of false flags to gain a tactical advantage prior to battle, or to enter an enemy port under cover, is perfectly legal.  You are required to hoist your true flag (or at least, a flag hostile to the target) before opening fire.

Forts and ships may see you change flag if you are within visual range.  Be warned, forts can see a long way.  If a fort once sees you under a hostile flag, it will remember and it will recognise you.  Therefore if you intend to enter a hostile port under a false flag, be sure to hoist your false flag well away from the coast.

If you have been recognised, there are several ways to avoid further recognition:
- Make peace with the nation, even if only for long enough to carry out your business in port and leave safely.
- Acquire a different type of ship.  The fort remembers your ship, therefore if you no longer have a ship of that type, the fort will no longer recognise you.  (It is not sufficient to repaint the ship, or to give it to a subordinate officer.  If the fort sees that ship, or any ship of the same type, anywhere in your fleet, you will be recognised.)

 

[Pieter Boelen]

If we're going to assume that nobody reads the relation book then we may as well scrap the tutorial and avoid annoying people who already know all this stuff. On the other hand, if it's in there, the next time someone complains about being attacked while under a false flag, the answer will be "You did read that book which Silehard gave you, didn't you?"

Hehe; yep.

If a ship sees you from the other side of the island, it's not all that serious. Next time you visit the island, that ship won't be there. If the fort sees you from the other side of the island, that's a lot more serious. It isn't going anywhere and it has bigger guns.

Very true.
Also, the visibility doesn't care about such inconveniences as "line of sight".
So indeed describing it like you did may not be 100% accurate, but it's probably the easiest way of getting the right idea across.

I could have sworn that plundering a fort reset its memory, but now I look for the code, I can't find anything about resetting the fort's memory there. The memory is certainly reset if you capture the fort for another nation or for yourself; I did find the code for that.

Yep, that does sound more familiar.
We needed to add that to prevent your own fort firing on you after the town capture.

Of course, if you're just going to attack the fort anyway then you don't care if it recognises you, it just means you get to loot the fort again. Anyway, that line is deleted.

Alternatively, we could put that functionality into the game.
But it seems unlikely to me that anyone in town would quickly forget who looted the fort.

 

[Grey Roger]

Also, the visibility doesn't care about such inconveniences as "line of sight".
So indeed describing it like you did may not be 100% accurate, but it's probably the easiest way of getting the right idea across.

Perhaps include a bit that there are also lookouts and spies around the island, so even if the fort itself didn't spot you, someone did. Not strictly true, but it does explain why Marigot fort knows who you are even if you approached Philipsburg from the north and never went anywhere near Marigot.

Alternatively, we could put that functionality into the game.
But it seems unlikely to me that anyone in town would quickly forget who looted the fort.

"Hey, that ship flying our flag - that's Ardent's ship! Last time it was here, he ransacked the town!"
"Yes, and if we start firing at him, he'll probably do it again. If he wants to visit the town peacefully this time, let him!"

 

[Pieter Boelen]

"Hey, that ship flying our flag - that's Ardent's ship! Last time it was here, he ransacked the town!"
"Yes, and if we start firing at him, he'll probably do it again. If he wants to visit the town peacefully this time, let him!"

 

[Mafeking Smalls]

That makes sense! Recall that in the age of sail (and even today if you talk to sailors) a ship was recognised by the individual cut of topsails or mast arrangement as very few indeed were carbon copies of one another. So it's entirely reasonable that a fishing fleet would be able to report that 'Nathaniel Hawk's ship is approaching the port!', knowing that previously he had been hostile.

I think it's a plan to add it to the main Quest Book as part of the quest though (the false flags thing, as Pieter Boelen concurred). I'm building a house so my PotC time is limited, but if that's a thing that is not time-critical, and can be added by someone who is only conversant with Notepad then I can do it.

 

[Grey Roger]

The recognition is not that precise. If you have any ship of the same type as the one which the fort recognises, you will still be recognised. I got caught out by that myself once - the fort knew I had a Spanish version of a Castell Friedrichsburg brigantine because it saw me pirate the ship, so I dumped it and got something completely different. Then I raided a French convoy, nowhere near the fort in question, and helped myself to some of their ships - including a French version Castell Friedrichsburg. The fort had logged me as having a Castell Friedrichsburg, so it recognised the captured ship and started shooting at me.

This is necessary because otherwise it's too easy to break the recognition. You could just wander into any shipyard, repaint your ship, then the fort wouldn't recognise it. Taking it to absurd level, I could pirate that ship right in front of the fort, sail round to a beach, walk into town, go to the shipyard and repaint the ship, then sail back into port and the fort wouldn't recognise me. A different appearance is actually a different ship model; the only reason you can't repaint a lugger into a battleship is that the repainting system looks for a particular line in "Ships_init.c" and nobody was silly enough to make that line the same for a lugger and a battleship.

Because the false flag feature is common to all storylines including "FreePlay", there's little point in putting it into a storyline-specific questbook. Instead, I've added it to the "Art of War" book which you receive whenever you get your first Letter of Marque, including the one from Silehard. That spawns its own questbook entry, "Dealing with International Relations". You clear that questbook by reading the book. (Or, if you think you already know it all, you can ignore it and it disappears after a month. If you are then unexpectedly attacked by a fort, maybe you should have read the book. )

 

[Pieter Boelen]

If you have any ship of the same type as the one which the fort recognises, you will still be recognised. I got caught out by that myself once - the fort knew I had a Spanish version of a Castell Friedrichsburg brigantine because it saw me pirate the ship, so I dumped it and got something completely different. Then I raided a French convoy, nowhere near the fort in question, and helped myself to some of their ships - including a French version Castell Friedrichsburg. The fort had logged me as having a Castell Friedrichsburg, so it recognised the captured ship and started shooting at me.

Ouch, that's quite a mean one!

Because the false flag feature is common to all storylines including "FreePlay", there's little point in putting it into a storyline-specific questbook.

Actually, using Nathaniel Hawk to point out various game mechanics along the way does actually sound pretty clever.
At the moment the tutorial is pretty front-loaded and people have a tendency to ignore it and/or not catch all it says.
Spreading it out through various relevant points in a storyline would probably get the message across much better.
Using Nathaniel Hawk for that seems like the only option; it is the default for a reason, after all.

 

[Grey Roger]

I still feel that storyline questbooks should deal specifically with the storyline. By comparison, Malcolm Hatcher's various tutorial tasks each have their own little questbooks. Besides, putting it into "Tales of a Sea Hawk" storyline won't help anyone who plays anything else, including anyone who doesn't bother with storylines and goes straight for FreePlay.

If people are ignoring "Art of War", they'll probably start ignoring storyline questbooks if those become too laden with non-story stuff. Or they might miss the parts which are relevant and important to the storyline.

Another option might be to add dialog for governors. If you have a LoM from the governor's nation, you could ask about some of the things covered by "Art of War". First on the list would be to ask if there are special considerations when using a false flag. (Make sure you're well away from a fort before you use it, so you're not spotted under a hostile flag; and remember to change to your real flag before opening fire.) Another might be to hand over prisoners of war, which wouldn't get you a ransom but might get you a point of relation and perhaps a point or two of reputation.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I still feel that storyline questbooks should deal specifically with the storyline. By comparison, Malcolm Hatcher's various tutorial tasks each have their own little questbooks. Besides, putting it into "Tales of a Sea Hawk" storyline won't help anyone who plays anything else, including anyone who doesn't bother with storylines and goes straight for FreePlay.

True.
But that's something I'd only recommend for more advanced players.

Anyway, perhaps it's not much use doing it for PotC after more than 15 years.
I would've used that approach for a brand new game though to spread out the tutorial throughout the game instead.