Discussion Some after-game thoughts/comments

[smrtwhkd]

@Greg,

Btw, in early explorer period, how come I don't see Carrack type of ships. Is that already kinda phased out by 1600s? I thought Europeans still traveled to Asia such as Japan in Carracks. The famous Portuguese black ship during Sengoku Jidai was a big Carrack.

Another thought/suggestion: not sure if that's implementable. Have a certain probability to have famous historical pirate figures show up in random encounters on high sea. The rewards would be special ships or weapons for fighting those pirates. For example, when you travel on 2D map, there will often be random pirate ship/fleet chasing you. When you get into the 3D world, the pirate you are fighting might turn out to be the famous Henry Morgan!

Also, another comment. Could we get a none-cursed or none-ghost version of Flying Dutchman? I really like that ship and wish to sail it around pirating but 100k HP is kinda cheating. Just take the current ship model, repaint it a bit and lower the Max HP to something reasonable. Maybe let Vanderdecken sell it or let some random pirate have it and you can fight and capture it.

 

[Grey Roger]

The 1600's aren't "Early Explorers". "Early Explorers" is 1500-1599. "Spanish Main" most of the 1600's, specifically 1600-1679. The carrack should show up in both those periods, though less frequently in "Spanish Main".

The end of the 1600's is in "Golden Age of Piracy", 1680-1739. The carrack does not appear in this or later periods.

Assuming someone were to figure out how to make famous pirates randomly appear, it would need to be period dependent. You don't want Henry Morgan chasing you 100 years before he was born! And any such feature would also need to take account of storylines; Henry Morgan should not chase you while you're playing the "Assassin" or "Bartolomeu" stories as he has a significant part in both.

There already is an uncursed Flying Dutchman. You'll get it if you choose to FreePlay as Will Turner, or look in Vanderdecken's shipyard for "Ghost Galleon". (The cursed version should also appear as "Cursed Galleon".) The uncursed version is a repainted version of the cursed version, though it does still have the high HP. If you want to change that, edit "PROGRAM\Ships\Ships_init.c", find the entry for "FlyingDutchman", and change the 'refShip.HP' and 'refShip.SP' to something more normal - perhaps 10000 for HP and 200 for SP.

 

[Lonious]

I don't want to keep posting new threads but as a beginner who is just now trying it out, I have many questions regarding the mod. For example, what's the purpose of "Free Play"? Does each Free Play character get their own quest? And are you able to design your own character (model and all) beforehand?

Also, the Black Pearl seems pretty good, but why aren't its sails "torn"? And why aren't the crew skeletons anymore? Also I wasn't immortal at the start.

 

[Homo eructus]

I don't want to keep posting new threads but as a beginner who is just now trying it out, I have many questions regarding the mod. For example, what's the purpose of "Free Play"? Does each Free Play character get their own quest? And are you able to design your own character (model and all) beforehand?

Also, the Black Pearl seems pretty good, but why aren't its sails "torn"? And why aren't the crew skeletons anymore? Also I wasn't immortal at the start.

Freeplay is more of a sandbox mode, you choose your character, ship, period, etc. and are let loose on the Caribbean to do as you please: cruise around, hunt other ships, explore, do sidequests, etc. in a more customizable setting than any of the storylines. Some Freeplay characters have quests or special mechanics associated with them, some don't. There's work being done to create a specific quest for each background profession that will add more variety to Freeplay. You can choose your character from a wide selection of ingame models, pick your nation, choose a background profession to determine your starting skills, status and equipment, select a date within any of the historical periods and a starting ship among the ones available for that period.

 

[Lonious]

Freeplay is more of a sandbox mode, you choose your character, ship, period, etc. and are let loose on the Caribbean to do as you please: cruise around, hunt other ships, explore, do sidequests, etc. in a more customizable setting than any of the storylines. Some Freeplay characters have quests or special mechanics associated with them, some don't. There's work being done to create a specific quest for each background profession that will add more variety to Freeplay. You can choose your character from a wide selection of ingame models, pick your nation, choose a background profession to determine your starting skills, status and equipment, select a date within any of the historical periods and a starting ship among the ones available for that period.

So you can choose what model you start out with? Could I, for example, create a "beggar" character with the Wilfred model (from the stock game), give him 0 gold and no ships starting in the jungle?

Also, I tried the Barbossa character and it began with Ragetti telling me about the cursed coins. Is there a follow up to this?

 

[Grey Roger]

Also, the Black Pearl seems pretty good, but why aren't its sails "torn"? And why aren't the crew skeletons anymore? Also I wasn't immortal at the start.

You start as Barbossa having just lost some coins. The curse will take a couple of weeks to take full effect, and then you'll have torn sails and a vapour screen.

You're not immortal as that would make the game too easy! If you want to be immortal (with any character, not just cursed Barbossa), edit "PROGRAM\InternalSettings.h", go right down to the bottom and enable cheatmode. Then, when playing the game, press '0' on the numeric keypad to make yourself immortal. If you have officers with you, press '1' or '3' to cycle through them, then press '0' to make each of them immortal too.

 

[Grey Roger]

So you can choose what model you start out with? Could I, for example, create a "beggar" character with the Wilfred model (from the stock game), give him 0 gold and no ships starting in the jungle?

Sort of. You can certainly choose the "Wilfred" model. If you choose player type "Castaway", you are dumped on a random beach. You do have a ship but it's just a minimal dinghy.

Also, I tried the Barbossa character and it began with Ragetti telling me about the cursed coins. Is there a follow up to this?

You need to put 882 coins in the chest on Isla de Muerte. You have most of them but some are missing. Cursed coins occasionally show up when you loot chests. Burgle houses. Plunder ships and loot all chests you find during boarding. Eventually you might find enough coins to lift the curse. The "real" Barbossa took years to find them all...

 

[Lonious]

Sort of. You can certainly choose the "Wilfred" model. If you choose player type "Castaway", you are dumped on a random beach. You do have a ship but it's just a minimal dinghy.

You need to put 882 coins in the chest on Isla de Muerte. You have most of them but some are missing. Cursed coins occasionally show up when you loot chests. Burgle houses. Plunder ships and loot all chests you find during boarding. Eventually you might find enough coins to lift the curse. The "real" Barbossa took years to find them all...

Thanks for the info, that clears stuff up (btw, how do you change the starting model?).

Okay, I'm trying out the mod now. It is soooo hard! Apologies for this reaction, but is boarding unbalanced, or am I just that bad?

Boarding was ludicrously hard. I have a decent sword, full crew with normal morale, and the starting level against a sloop is me alone vs. a gang of guys who can kill me in two hits even while blocking. (This was on Mariner).

Iron Man mode was fun but takes like an hour just to get from island to island at 20x speed.

What is going on here? Am I doing something wrong or am I just weak?

 

[Grey Roger]

Thanks for the info, that clears stuff up (btw, how do you change the starting model?).

On the "FreePlay" storyline screen, click on the portrait on the left. That takes you to the model selection screen. You can filter by gender, nation, character type and fame level. "Wilfred" is basically a nobody so you want to leave all of those alone except fame level - set that to "None" or "Any". There's also a blank rectangle where you can type the name of the model you want, which will save you a lot of time because otherwise leaving everything else unspecified means you'll have to search through every model in the game - there are a lot!

Boarding was ludicrously hard. I have a decent sword, full crew with normal morale, and the starting level against a sloop is me alone vs. a gang of guys who can kill me in two hits even while blocking. (This was on Mariner).

That sloop is probably either navy or pirate. The crew are tough, professional fighters, and you're only just starting out. Try to find unescorted merchants, then bombard them with grapeshot to weaken both the crew size and morale. If you're lucky, the ship will surrender. You probably won't survive boarding even a merchant ship this early in the game unless it's surrendered. If it does surrender then you just need to face the captain. He might surrender as well or he might choose to duel you, especially if his ship is bigger than yours. Read this:
New Horizons FAQ | PiratesAhoy!

Iron Man mode was fun but takes like an hour just to get from island to island at 20x speed.

Iron Man mode is supposed to be the toughest and most realistic setting. You're taking about a day to get from one island to the next. For a sailing ship in the real world, that's probably about right. I've been on a sailing cruise around Scottish islands and it did take us about a day to get from one to the next. They're closer together than the islands of the Caribbean, and our ship had an engine for when the wind wasn't co-operating, which was most of the time. Your sailing ship in the game has no such luxury!

 

[Lonious]

On the "FreePlay" storyline screen, click on the portrait on the left. That takes you to the model selection screen. You can filter by gender, nation, character type and fame level. "Wilfred" is basically a nobody so you want to leave all of those alone except fame level - set that to "None" or "Any". There's also a blank rectangle where you can type the name of the model you want, which will save you a lot of time because otherwise leaving everything else unspecified means you'll have to search through every model in the game - there are a lot!

I get this now, thanks.

However, I tried to do Free Play and on some occasions when I attempt a Save, the saved files are blank and I can't save it. When I reload the profile after exiting and restarting the game, it appeared as "Bad Save". What is going on here? (Also, deleting profiles seems bugged, I delete a specific profile then two are gone, and when I restart the game they're all still there...)

That sloop is probably either navy or pirate. The crew are tough, professional fighters, and you're only just starting out. Try to find unescorted merchants, then bombard them with grapeshot to weaken both the crew size and morale. If you're lucky, the ship will surrender. You probably won't survive boarding even a merchant ship this early in the game unless it's surrendered. If it does surrender then you just need to face the captain. He might surrender as well or he might choose to duel you, especially if his ship is bigger than yours. Read this:
New Horizons FAQ | PiratesAhoy!

It was a pirate sloop. I guess the shock for me was partially because I would have had some chance of winning a boarding against an equal ship in the stock game provided I had levelled up somewhat, but now it appears literally impossible to do so. After some experimentation I found that I need to be at least Level 20 to have a chance of winning, so I hope it doesn't take too long to get there in the game (as in the original you rarely reached this level).

Iron Man mode is supposed to be the toughest and most realistic setting. You're taking about a day to get from one island to the next. For a sailing ship in the real world, that's probably about right. I've been on a sailing cruise around Scottish islands and it did take us about a day to get from one to the next. They're closer together than the islands of the Caribbean, and our ship had an engine for when the wind wasn't co-operating, which was most of the time. Your sailing ship in the game has no such luxury!

I get that it's supposed to be realistic, but is anyone really willing to sit down by their computer for 40 minutes just to complete one trade quest? I'm really curious about this.

 

[Grey Roger]

However, I tried to do Free Play and on some occasions when I attempt a Save, the saved files are blank and I can't save it. When I reload the profile after exiting and restarting the game, it appeared as "Bad Save". What is going on here? (Also, deleting profiles seems bugged, I delete a specific profile then two are gone, and when I restart the game they're all still there...)

Where have you installed the game? If it's in "Program Files" or "Program Files (x86)", Windows security does silly things. Put it pretty well anywhere else. Mine is in "C:\Games\Pirates of the Caribbean", for example.

It was a pirate sloop. I guess the shock for me was partially because I would have had some chance of winning a boarding against an equal ship in the stock game provided I had levelled up somewhat, but now it appears literally impossible to do so. After some experimentation I found that I need to be at least Level 20 to have a chance of winning, so I hope it doesn't take too long to get there in the game (as in the original you rarely reached this level).

You should be able to board enemy ships long before level 20, provided you've been improving your "Melee" skill, taken all the combat abilities - and for preference have some officers who also have good "Melee" skill, good weapons and combat abilities. One big difference between the Build Mod and the stock game is that officers can really make a difference in deck combat if they're well skilled and well equipped. In the stock game, you could give your officer the best sword, "Melee" 10, all the combat abilities, and he'd still die in the first boarding.

Another difference between the Build Mod and the stock game is armour. You can get battle armour starting at around level 9 and gold armour from about level 15. Once you and your officers have that, your chances really improve.

Once you have a lot of armour and good weapons, go to your ship's cabin and look for the Weapons Locker - another feature new to the Build Mod. Put some armour and weapons in there. Your boarding crew - not the officers, the random guys who appear on deck - will take weapons and armour out of the Weapons Locker and, if they survive, will put it back. Properly equipped, your deck crew are also a big help.

I get that it's supposed to be realistic, but is anyone really willing to sit down by their computer for 40 minutes just to complete one trade quest? I'm really curious about this.

Some hard core players do. Personally I'm happy enough with "Realistic" mode. Sitting for 20 minutes watching the sea go past might suit some people; I'd prefer to get on with the action, especially when I'm playing a storyline, which is most of the time!

 

[Lonious]

Once you have a lot of armour and good weapons, go to your ship's cabin and look for the Weapons Locker - another feature new to the Build Mod. Put some armour and weapons in there. Your boarding crew - not the officers, the random guys who appear on deck - will take weapons and armour out of the Weapons Locker and, if they survive, will put it back. Properly equipped, your deck crew are also a big help.

Thanks for the tips.

I think I'll do my first boarding on the 'Oiseau' and see what happens. It should not be too hard if I have professional fencer, some armor, and a decent sword right? In the original game it was really easy to capture that ship.

Problem is I can't find the book that unlocks Advanced Defense even after sailing to numerous stores repeatedly. I'm currently around Lvl 10 after doing various store/escort missions and after I get professional fencer I will try out the Oiseau quest. Where should I find this book? I remember it appearing really early before.

 

[Grey Roger]

Oiseau should be relatively easy to capture, yes. You still probably want to weaken it with grapeshot first, and hope it surrenders, saving you the effort of fighting the deck crew. In any case, crew HP is linked to morale, so if you've reduced its morale with grapeshot, the enemy crew will be easier to kill.

The book can randomly appear on sale from street traders or stores. It's just down to luck as to which ones have it in stock.

Alternatively, edit "PROGRAM\InternalSettings.h". Find this line:

#define   ALLOW_LOCKED_PERKS               1       // BOOL    - Default = 1, If 1 perks can be locked. If 0 no perks can be locked.

Set it to 0. Never worry about locked perks again.

 

[Lonious]

Oiseau should be relatively easy to capture, yes. You still probably want to weaken it with grapeshot first, and hope it surrenders, saving you the effort of fighting the deck crew. In any case, crew HP is linked to morale, so if you've reduced its morale with grapeshot, the enemy crew will be easier to kill.

The book can randomly appear on sale from street traders or stores. It's just down to luck as to which ones have it in stock.

Alternatively, edit "PROGRAM\InternalSettings.h". Find this line:

#define   ALLOW_LOCKED_PERKS               1       // BOOL    - Default = 1, If 1 perks can be locked. If 0 no perks can be locked.

Set it to 0. Never worry about locked perks again.

Ok, so far boarding has become dramatically easier after the Oiseau. I'm unsure as to the cause, it could be Nicolas Sharp's sword, but for whatever reason I no longer appear as the sole crewmember on the first deck, and my friends don't get butchered anymore (or if they do there are only a few enemies left and they are not so hard to kill). I think the caveat here is that the part of the game where boarding is no longer impossible is much later than the original.

There's one more thing though, I'm stuck on the cargo quest. My ship didn't have the capacity to deliver 1200+ cwt of ale, so what I did was I delivered it in two phases. However, the quest is still there. What should be done?

 

[Grey Roger]

Nicolas Sharp's sword can certainly help, though it won't affect how many crew show up on each side. The Oiseau is a very small ship so it doesn't have much more crew than you; in fact, if you've acquired anything bigger than a lugger, you probably have at least as many crew as the Oiseau. The captain is not as tough as random enemies, especially naval or pirate enemies, and neither are his crew.

Do you mean a cargo quest in which a shopkeeper asks you to take cargo to a specified destination? Or a fetch quest in which a tailor, shipyard or blacksmith asks you to bring a certain amount of a specified cargo to him?

Shopkeepers shouldn't offer a cargo quest unless you have enough space for the cargo. If you have more than one ship then the cargo may be split between them, in which case don't sell any of the ships carrying the cargo. The receiving shopkeeper won't accept partial deliveries, it's either all or nothing. If you have the latest update, the shopkeeper should remind you what you need to deliver. And if you press F2 and go to "Cargo", there should be a line near the bottom about the quest, especially if you are short of the cargo required.

Fetch quests can be completed in parts, but don't make too many trips because they expire after a limited time.

 

[Lonious]

Nicolas Sharp's sword can certainly help, though it won't affect how many crew show up on each side. The Oiseau is a very small ship so it doesn't have much more crew than you; in fact, if you've acquired anything bigger than a lugger, you probably have at least as many crew as the Oiseau. The captain is not as tough as random enemies, especially naval or pirate enemies, and neither are his crew.

Do you mean a cargo quest in which a shopkeeper asks you to take cargo to a specified destination? Or a fetch quest in which a tailor, shipyard or blacksmith asks you to bring a certain amount of a specified cargo to him?

Shopkeepers shouldn't offer a cargo quest unless you have enough space for the cargo. If you have more than one ship then the cargo may be split between them, in which case don't sell any of the ships carrying the cargo. The receiving shopkeeper won't accept partial deliveries, it's either all or nothing. If you have the latest update, the shopkeeper should remind you what you need to deliver. And if you press F2 and go to "Cargo", there should be a line near the bottom about the quest, especially if you are short of the cargo required.

Fetch quests can be completed in parts, but don't make too many trips because they expire after a limited time.

I resolved the cargo quest, thanks for your advice.

I'm having an issue with the ship hunting though. Normally the target ship would appear in the "Sail To" options but now it doesn't and I cannot find it. What should I do? (Apparently, I think if I go back to port when I encounter the ship instead of fighting it, it disappears the next time I go to my ship.)

Also, I just tried boarding an English bark with my brig. It was a Spanish ship, I was around level 20, had full crew with superior morale and muskets, but lost. Isn't this somewhat unbalanced?

I apologise for the repeated questions. I just can't find any other avenue to ask about this mod but this thread.

 

[Grey Roger]

I'm having an issue with the ship hunting though. Normally the target ship would appear in the "Sail To" options but now it doesn't and I cannot find it. What should I do? (Apparently, I think if I go back to port when I encounter the ship instead of fighting it, it disappears the next time I go to my ship.)

Can you upload a savegame? I'll see if I can figure out where the ship is, or how to put it back if it has disappeared.

Also, I just tried boarding an English bark with my brig. It was a Spanish ship, I was around level 20, had full crew with superior morale and muskets, but lost. Isn't this somewhat unbalanced?

What weapons and armour do you and your officers have? Also, muskets aren't that wonderful - you get one shot which can do a lot of damage, after which they're second-rate melee weapons. I tend to put decent swords in my weapons locker, and for preference, five or more battle cuirasses as well.

Did you notice if the Spanish ship was flying merchant or naval flag? Were the enemy crew in uniform or just basic sailors? I'd expect that sort of ship to be a merchant, the crew should be basic sailors, and at level 20 it should be easy prey.

What is your "Melee" skill, and do you have the combat abilities?

I apologise for the repeated questions. I just can't find any other avenue to ask about this mod but this thread.

Some time I'll probably move all these questions into a new thread in the "Gameplay" section. Beyond that, you don't need to apologise for asking questions about the game - that's one of the main purposes of this forum!

 

[Lonious]

Can you upload a savegame? I'll see if I can figure out where the ship is, or how to put it back if it has disappeared.

I just forfeited the quest and waited for another one, but maybe I might check on it after several hours. Thankfully the mod offers a way around a quest if it's failed, since in the original you got stuck if some glitch occured.

What weapons and armour do you and your officers have? Also, muskets aren't that wonderful - you get one shot which can do a lot of damage, after which they're second-rate melee weapons. I tend to put decent swords in my weapons locker, and for preference, five or more battle cuirasses as well.

The typical stuff, I suppose. Swords of excellent or fine quality, muskets for guns, cheap cuirasses. Should I avoid giving muskets?

Did you notice if the Spanish ship was flying merchant or naval flag? Were the enemy crew in uniform or just basic sailors? I'd expect that sort of ship to be a merchant, the crew should be basic sailors, and at level 20 it should be easy prey.

It was one of those ship hunt missions and they were wearing uniforms, but it was way harder than the Oiseau, which was rather odd. Do the enemy ships level up along with the player? That's how it was in the original if I recall. On both encounters I avoided using grapeshot to see how well my crew would do. I also tried boarding a pirate brig, and to my surprise, they had over 400 HP, and the captain had over 800! In comparison to me and my men, who only had over 200 HP. Are they supposed to be this tough?

What is your "Melee" skill, and do you have the combat abilities?

I have basic defense, gunman, and probably a melee skill near 10. Unfortunately I still haven't encountered the book requires for advanced defense.

Some time I'll probably move all these questions into a new thread in the "Gameplay" section. Beyond that, you don't need to apologise for asking questions about the game - that's one of the main purposes of this forum!

Yeah that sounds good. I have many questions perhaps since I'm a beginner. I also have some ideas about the mod, though I'm not volunteering on it and not expecting anyone to address those. I guess I just like to talk about this game as I've always been into it.

 

[Jacob]

I'll say something in here too.

The typical stuff, I suppose. Swords of excellent or fine quality, muskets for guns, cheap cuirasses. Should I avoid giving muskets?

A good swords with nice damage like Shellcup Falcon would do a nice job, as for pistols, flintlock pistols or horse pistols are very effective.

It was one of those ship hunt missions and they were wearing uniforms, but it was way harder than the Oiseau, which was rather odd. Do the enemy ships level up along with the player? That's how it was in the original if I recall. On both encounters I avoided using grapeshot to see how well my crew would do. I also tried boarding a pirate brig, and to my surprise, they had over 400 HP, and the captain had over 800! In comparison to me and my men, who only had over 200 HP. Are they supposed to be this tough?

This actually pretty easy to explain. When you fight with enemy ship, you have to be careful about your MORALS.
The enemy ship also has morales, it can be "Good" "Normal" or better.

That's when grapeshots come in. Morales represents crew defence and melee abilities, if enemy crew has good morales, they will be hard to kill but they will be able to kill you easily.
The lowest morale you can reach before ship surrenders is Treachours. When you board a ship with that kind of morales, you will be able to capture a ship without any difficulties.

Of course, when surrendering it largery depends on your Leadership skill.

I have basic defense, gunman, and probably a melee skill near 10. Unfortunately I still haven't encountered the book requires for advanced defense.

That's great, but if you fight for example Tier 3 or higher, you have to be more careful, since they are soldiers and not merchants.
A sword with blocking such as Nicholas's Sharp Saber, Sword of Cortes or Francis Drake Sword Are really helpful.

As for my question,

Why the Gunboat has over 3k cargo capacity?
Sure, that's a lot but it's a Tier 8 ship (tartane level)

 

[Grey Roger]

The typical stuff, I suppose. Swords of excellent or fine quality, muskets for guns, cheap cuirasses. Should I avoid giving muskets?

You might get away with giving muskets provided you don't give bayonets with them. But not in "Revolutions" or "Napoleonic" as the musket has the bayonet built in.

And definitely don't give any weapon firing grapeshot to either your crew or officers. Grapeshot hurts everything downrange. If one of your crew or officers is behind you and fires a grapeshot weapon at an enemy in front of you, you get hit. (Enemies sometimes use grapeshot weapons. I once saw an enemy killed by his comrade behind him who had tried to fire a grapeshot weapon at me.)

It was one of those ship hunt missions and they were wearing uniforms, but it was way harder than the Oiseau, which was rather odd. Do the enemy ships level up along with the player? That's how it was in the original if I recall. On both encounters I avoided using grapeshot to see how well my crew would do. I also tried boarding a pirate brig, and to my surprise, they had over 400 HP, and the captain had over 800! In comparison to me and my men, who only had over 200 HP. Are they supposed to be this tough?

Naval and pirate crews are indeed tough. The Oiseau was a quest ship with a low level captain and similarly weak crew.

I have basic defense, gunman, and probably a melee skill near 10. Unfortunately I still haven't encountered the book requires for advanced defense.

See post #22 for advice on how to get rid of locked perks. (I never liked the whole idea and always play with locked perks disabled.)

Why the Gunboat has over 3k cargo capacity?
Sure, that's a lot but it's a Tier 8 ship (tartane level)

There was once an attempt to make cannons take up cargo capacity. The gunboat has enough capacity so that, if this mod had been implemented, it could carry the biggest possible cannon.

@Pieter Boelen: since that mod has been abandoned, perhaps we should probably give the gunboat a more sensible capacity? In the unlikely event that the mod is resurrected, every ship in "Ships_init.c" will need its capacity changed!