Some suggestions

[Pieter Boelen]

<!--quoteo(post=309904:date=Mar 31 2009, 02:21 PM:name=Megla)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Megla @ Mar 31 2009, 02:21 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=309904"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Well i managed to barely escape death in a fort by blocking most of the hits. Though i killed every soldier there my weapon state didnt decrease.
So i suggested to speed up the wear on blocking even more. Hence 3 blocks = lower level.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->There should be some values related to that in PROGRAM\InternalSettings.h; you can experiment with that.
The current values are on the conservative side, I think, because we didn't want your blades to be decreasing in quality all the time.
However, it could very well be that your blade doesn't decrease in quality frequent enough <i>at all</i>.
I played the whole Bartolomeu o Portugues main quest and I noticed not one quality decrease.

One quality decrease for every three blocks might be a bit much (you'll need several blades to get through a fort! <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/piratesing.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="piratesing.gif" /> ),
but I certainly wouldn't oppose to experimenting with some lower values. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="rolleyes.gif" />

 

[Pieter Boelen]

<!--quoteo(post=309906:date=Mar 31 2009, 02:28 PM:name=a simple virtual sailor)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (a simple virtual sailor @ Mar 31 2009, 02:28 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=309906"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->What? How can you do that? <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/huh.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":huh" border="0" alt="huh.gif" /><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->Get yourself a sextant and a chronometer item and your ship's present position will appear on the archipelago map.
It could be that you need to actually equip the chronometer for this to take effect, but I don't think so.
I've seen this working VERY recently and still think it's pretty darn cool.
It used to always do that, but then I limited to the sextant/chronometer combination only at the same time when we added the clocks and compass items into the game and gave them a purpose.
What do people actually think of the equippable compasses/clocks? I just did that to see what would happen and I'd be interested in some feedback.

 

[Grega]

I like it

Seeing where you currently are on the archipelago map helps loads with direct sail. And having to first aquire a chronometer and sextant gives it a bit of a challenge

 

[Oldtimer]

Hi,

I`m not very excited abt. speeding up deterioriation of weapons. It really is very slow for edged weapons and almost non-existent for firearms, provided they are properly cared for.

I would rather add stamina/exhaustion as a new variable and keeping HP. It works in AoP.

Regards, Oldtimer

 

[Grega]

<!--quoteo(post=309925:date=Mar 31 2009, 03:10 PM:name=Oldtimer)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Oldtimer @ Mar 31 2009, 03:10 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=309925"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Hi,

I`m not very excited abt. speeding up deterioriation of weapons. It really is very slow for edged weapons and almost non-existent for firearms, provided they are properly cared for.

I would rather add stamina/exhaustion as a new variable and keeping HP. It works in AoP.

Regards, Oldtimer<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->


True thats allso an option. Though it does require a lot more work from the coders ^^

How about a limited blocking time. Say after 3 seconds you automaticly go out of block or something like that.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

<!--quoteo(post=309925:date=Mar 31 2009, 03:10 PM:name=Oldtimer)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Oldtimer @ Mar 31 2009, 03:10 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=309925"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I`m not very excited abt. speeding up deterioriation of weapons. It really is very slow for edged weapons and almost non-existent for firearms, provided they are properly cared for.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->Of course the whole blade detoriation mod is not really grounded in real life.
Indeed weapons in real life hardly decrease in quality and might only need sharpening every now and then.
The only reason for adding this mod is for gameplay purposes and to provide the opposite of the blacksmiths.
If weapons can be increased in quality and there are weapons called "worn", then they should be able to decrease in quality as well.
The general idea is that this happens at such a rate that you can't completely ignore the effect, but it doesn't drive you nuts either.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

<!--quoteo(post=309928:date=Mar 31 2009, 03:18 PM:name=Megla)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Megla @ Mar 31 2009, 03:18 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=309928"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->How about a limited blocking time. Say after 3 seconds you automaticly go out of block or something like that.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->I have definitly considered that, but it'd be a lot harder to achieve. I don't think it is possible to force the player to go out of block-mode after a certain period of time, because it appears the blocking animation stuff is handled through the game engine, though I have thankfully been proven wrong on such things before.
What I DO believe possible is to have a time limit after which you block "expires" and you can hit as if you weren't blocking.

However, all these suggestions would require a fair amount of time and luck to get to work and personally I simply don't have that.
The deteriorating blade quality mod already IS in there, as is a relatively unsophisticated blockdamage mod that gives you a small HP hit upon each succesful block.
Of course the fact that we have that doesn't mean we shouldn't pursue better systems.
But there's a LOT of possibilities and we'd probably need to think things through fairly thoroughly before deciding what might be the best route. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/mybad.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="mybad.gif" />

 

[Grega]

Well im gonna toy round with the deterioration mod settins anyhow to see what i can get

 

[LarryHookins]

I always buy the maps that are available. Yeah, they're inaccurate, but can give you a general idea where to sail if you're not familiar with an island. Not only are the maps inaccurate, but some of the actual islands are as well. For example, if you land at some shore you know that the town is to your right, but you have to turn left going through the jungle to get to the town. I've seen a few instances of this in the game. If anyone ever makes really accurate maps you'll see what I mean.

I like the chronometer/sextant combination to get your ship position on the worldmap. It works quite well.

Trust me on this one: In direct sail you will eventually run across some enemy ships you cannot evade, even with a fast ship and favorable winds. It's much worse with a slower ship and unfavorable winds. And God help you if you lose a mast. Sometimes it's ridiculously easy to get away. Other times you're praying a lot.

I haven't tried convoy escort missions. If they're unbalanced then we simply need to rebalance them, similar to the way the cargo quests are done now. Cargo quests really don't pay enough to make them worthwhile.

I hate to say this, but we'll probably have to remove the damage while blocking system entirely. There are times during the main quest where you'll be facing 4 to 6 enemies in the jungle when you're forced to be alone, nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and you can't take on more than 2 by yourself. You *might* be able to defeat three. Four is out of the question. It seems to be totally random, but there's no way to avoid it. You cannot kill the player based on a random dice roll... you might as well just tell him he got hit by a meteor. It's too bad, because I was enjoying the extra difficulty during boardings and such. On the other hand, we've had complaints from people who couldn't face an enemy captain by themselves on a surrendered ship if he elected to fight.

We need a mod to limit the amount of money merchants have to buy stuff. That is the ONLY way to effectively limit the amount of money a player can make. Make it a toggle so people can turn it off. Then it won't matter how much random junk a player can find because he won't be able to sell most of it. For most of us it will just be an annoyance.

Hook

 

[LarryHookins]

<!--quoteo(post=309878:date=Mar 31 2009, 06:12 AM:name=Oldtimer)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Oldtimer @ Mar 31 2009, 06:12 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=309878"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->many transport jobs generate 30000-50000 ducats for medium distance. I run a cutter with skeleton crew on articles<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I'd like to see a screen shot of this if you could make one, showing the dialog with the amount you're getting paid. If it's a cargo quest from a merchant, I'd also like to know what goods and how much of them you have. This sounds like a pretty severe bug that needs to be addressed, especially since a cutter has very little cargo space. If it's an escort mission you get at a tavern it's another part of the code, but still a bug that needs some attention.

Hook

 

[LarryHookins]

<!--quoteo(post=309900:date=Mar 31 2009, 07:09 AM:name=Pieter Boelen)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Pieter Boelen @ Mar 31 2009, 07:09 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=309900"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Imagine reaching an island and raising a false flag to enter an enemy port and you have to actually sail to the fort and see if they fire upon you before you know if they buy your fake flag.
Or how about the same thing with an enemy treasure fleet. You'd have to bring yourself within cannon-range to know.
And even if they do buy your false flag at first, when you appear to just be passing, the chance of you being detected should increase as you come closer to your prey.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
What I've seen is that often you'll enter a map and all ships will be green, then after a while they change to red. It appears that they have some chance of detecting your false flag as time goes on. Either that or it takes time for the actual update to take effect.

You won't know if a fort is friendly until they either fire on you or you get within 500 yards, by which time they'll already be firing on you. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="smile.gif" /> Forts don't appear as red or green on your radar.

Of course, there are ways of changing hostile nations to friendly, but I won't say how because every time I give tips like this people complain that it makes the game too easy and demand that it be changed.

Hook

 

[LarryHookins]

<!--quoteo(post=309888:date=Mar 31 2009, 06:27 AM:name=Megla)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Megla @ Mar 31 2009, 06:27 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=309888"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I suggest a small pause to happen with a choice of what flag to raise for the enxt island along with the "Land ho" message. Would help a lot since we dont really know when the transition happens. And once it happens its to late.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The code detects when you're close to an island transition. If you like I can add a log message telling you so you can change flags if necessary. This message will come up after you've gotten the LandHo as well because we can't be sure which way you're sailing, but only if you're near the transition area. Any suggestions on a generic message to use? "Island transition imminent" probably won't work. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="smile.gif" />

Actually, if I'm in that kind of situation, I prefer to raise the new flag when I'm far enough from the old island that it won't be a problem, but I agree that people need the options.

Hook

 

[Oldtimer]

<!--quoteo(post=309991:date=Mar 31 2009, 08:02 PM:name=Hook)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Hook @ Mar 31 2009, 08:02 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=309991"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=309878:date=Mar 31 2009, 06:12 AM:name=Oldtimer)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Oldtimer @ Mar 31 2009, 06:12 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=309878"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->many transport jobs generate 30000-50000 ducats for medium distance. I run a cutter with skeleton crew on articles<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I'd like to see a screen shot of this if you could make one, showing the dialog with the amount you're getting paid. If it's a cargo quest from a merchant, I'd also like to know what goods and how much of them you have. This sounds like a pretty severe bug that needs to be addressed, especially since a cutter has very little cargo space. If it's an escort mission you get at a tavern it's another part of the code, but still a bug that needs some attention.

Hook
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Hi,

how do I take screenshots?

Regards, Oldtimer

 

[Adamski62]

Press F8

 

[Pieter Boelen]

<!--quoteo(post=309955:date=Mar 31 2009, 04:30 PM:name=Megla)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Megla @ Mar 31 2009, 04:30 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=309955"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Well im gonna toy round with the deterioration mod settins anyhow to see what i can get <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->Have you found the settings there? It's something like BLADEDAMAGE_BASE and BLADEDAMAGE_SOMETHINGELSE in PROGRAM\InternalSettings.h. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/unsure.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":?" border="0" alt="unsure.gif" />

<!--quoteo(post=309981:date=Mar 31 2009, 06:40 PM:name=Hook)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Hook @ Mar 31 2009, 06:40 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=309981"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I always buy the maps that are available. Yeah, they're inaccurate, but can give you a general idea where to sail if you're not familiar with an island. Not only are the maps inaccurate, but some of the actual islands are as well. For example, if you land at some shore you know that the town is to your right, but you have to turn left going through the jungle to get to the town. I've seen a few instances of this in the game. If anyone ever makes really accurate maps you'll see what I mean.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->I'm quite willing to believe that. When the islands were filled up with jungles, I don't think the people who did it actually thought things through logically as far as directions is concerned. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wacko.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":wacko:" border="0" alt="wacko.gif" />

<!--quoteo(post=309981:date=Mar 31 2009, 06:40 PM:name=Hook)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Hook @ Mar 31 2009, 06:40 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=309981"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Trust me on this one: In direct sail you will eventually run across some enemy ships you cannot evade, even with a fast ship and favorable winds. It's much worse with a slower ship and unfavorable winds. And God help you if you lose a mast. Sometimes it's ridiculously easy to get away. Other times you're praying a lot.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->That sounds the way it should be. So probably it's then mainly a worldmap issue.

<!--quoteo(post=309981:date=Mar 31 2009, 06:40 PM:name=Hook)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Hook @ Mar 31 2009, 06:40 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=309981"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I hate to say this, but we'll probably have to remove the damage while blocking system entirely. There are times during the main quest where you'll be facing 4 to 6 enemies in the jungle when you're forced to be alone, nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and you can't take on more than 2 by yourself. You *might* be able to defeat three. Four is out of the question. It seems to be totally random, but there's no way to avoid it. You cannot kill the player based on a random dice roll... you might as well just tell him he got hit by a meteor. It's too bad, because I was enjoying the extra difficulty during boardings and such.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->You can take officers with you for such cases though, can't you?
If we do remove the damage while blocking, we should put in something else to prevent the player from being able to block ad infinitum.
How feasable would it be to have a block become ineffective after, say, 3 seconds and you'd have to let go of your block and re-block to get an effective block again?
Then if your block IS succesful, you won't take any damage, but you must keep paying attention and can't just keep your block-key pressed.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

<!--quoteo(post=309992:date=Mar 31 2009, 08:12 PM:name=Hook)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Hook @ Mar 31 2009, 08:12 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=309992"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->You won't know if a fort is friendly until they either fire on you or you get within 500 yards, by which time they'll already be firing on you. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="smile.gif" /> Forts don't appear as red or green on your radar.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->Is that using DirectSail again? I imagine relations do need to update at some point if you never leave 3D sailing mode.
I don't think my suggestion is all that bad though, to have the chance of being detected when flying a false flag would increase as you come closer to enemy ships.
Wouldn't it be like that in real life too? <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/rolleyes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="rolleyes.gif" />

<!--quoteo(post=309992:date=Mar 31 2009, 08:12 PM:name=Hook)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Hook @ Mar 31 2009, 08:12 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=309992"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->What I've seen is that often you'll enter a map and all ships will be green, then after a while they change to red. It appears that they have some chance of detecting your false flag as time goes on. Either that or it takes time for the actual update to take effect.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->Forts should have the same relation to you as the ships around that island of the same nation do. I seem to have observed that is not always the case though. Uh? <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wacko.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":wacko:" border="0" alt="wacko.gif" />

<!--quoteo(post=309995:date=Mar 31 2009, 09:01 PM:name=Hook)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Hook @ Mar 31 2009, 09:01 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=309995"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->The code detects when you're close to an island transition. If you like I can add a log message telling you so you can change flags if necessary. This message will come up after you've gotten the LandHo as well because we can't be sure which way you're sailing, but only if you're near the transition area.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->Do you happen to know at which times nation relations are updated?
I know they're updated when you move to 3D sailing mode from either the worldmap or land, but I'm not sure when using DirectSail.

Also, imagine being near a ship that is friendly to you based on your own flag, but hostile based on the flag you're currently flying.
I think that even if you would raise your personal flag after this, they'd still remain hostile, right?
But shouldn't they go friendly upon that?

 

[Grega]

<!--quoteo(post=310087:date=Apr 1 2009, 09:41 AM:name=Pieter Boelen)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Pieter Boelen @ Apr 1 2009, 09:41 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=310087"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec--><!--quoteo(post=309955:date=Mar 31 2009, 04:30 PM:name=Megla)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Megla @ Mar 31 2009, 04:30 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=309955"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Well im gonna toy round with the deterioration mod settins anyhow to see what i can get <!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->Have you found the settings there? It's something like BLADEDAMAGE_BASE and BLADEDAMAGE_SOMETHINGELSE in PROGRAM\InternalSettings.h. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/unsure.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":?" border="0" alt="unsure.gif" />
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

<div class='codetop'>CODE</div><div class='codemain' style='height:200px;white-spacere;overflow:auto'>#define BLADEDAMAGE_BASE 100 // INT - This increases the amount of strokes you can CERTAINLY do without your blade breaking.
#define BLADEDAMAGE_RAND 100 // INT - This increases the amount of strokes you MIGHT BE ABLE to do without your blade breaking.</div>

I found it. Sadly there isnt anything seperate for defense. But ill do some stuff and see what happens gameplaywhise.

I just hope this is one of those that can be done without restart ^^

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Yep, those are the correct ones. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/yes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="yes.gif" />
What would you want to tweak for defence?

I don't know how familiar you are with code, but the actual code for this mod is in PROGRAM\Loc_ai\LAi_events.c.
Basically what it does is it gives all characters a random "wear" value when they're generated (rand(BLADEDAMAGE_BASE+BLADEDAMAGE_RAND)), except for the player (the player gets value 0).
Upon each use of the character's blade, the wear value will increase. The value increases more quickly upon blocking and being blocked.
Once the value goes over BLADEDAMAGE_BASE, there's a chance of your blade decreasing in quality. When you blade has decreased in quality, the value is reset to 0.
If the value goes up to BLADEDAMAGE_BASE+BLADEDAMAGE_RAND, your blade WILL decrease in quality.
Then there's also some fencing skill modifier effects, but basically it works as described above.

The reason for the above is so that you can always use a blade a certain amount of times before there's even a chance of it breaking.
The breaking chance for non-player characters is random though, because random characters might already have been in fights before.
Note: Changing blades does not change your wear value, so that doesn't prevent your blade from decreasing in quality. This is not particularly logical, but does prevent cheating.

I'm not entirely sure if a new game is required. I would need to check the code which I can't do at present.
I do recommend you start a new game; that ensures all your tweaks DO take proper effect.

You might want to start with setting the values ridiculously low to ensure that the effects are still taking place.
Of course it'll cause mayhem as far as gameplay is concerned, but it's the 1st of April anyway. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/razz.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="razz.gif" />

 

[Grega]

<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I don't know how familiar you are with code, but the actual code for this mod is in PROGRAM\Loc_ai\LAi_events.c.
Basically what it does is it gives all characters a random "wear" value when they're generated (rand(BLADEDAMAGE_BASE+BLADEDAMAGE_RAND)), except for the player (the player gets value 0).<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Now thats what im talking about

This way i can only affect the counters of blocked sicne the block wear and teh attack werar is different.

Im gonna try setting that blocking wears the blade 3 times faster while hitting a block wears it 2 times faster.

Right now both are set to + 1 counter. So if i increase that i should be able to make them break faster depending on the action XD

 

[Pieter Boelen]

It should already be doing something like that, though I don't have access to the code right now to check.
I think it's something like:
- Hitting an enemy increases the wear counter by 1
- Being hit by an enemy while you successfully block increases the wear counter by 2
- Hitting an enemy while he successfully blocks increases the wear counter by 3

I'm pretty sure I coded something like that, though don't remember the specifics.
It could actually be that there's some additional blockdamage code for blocking in LAi_fightparams.c.