Trophies in the Free Play mode

[Bartolomeu o Portugues]

Something I was thinking today.
Why not implement a system of trophies for the Free Play mode?
Players unlock trophies simply by hitting specific milestones. For instance, a smuggler smuggling X times could be rewarded by receiving a special item or even playing a small quest.
An agent could kill X enemy soldiers in a specific town or capture a town for his nation and be also rewarded with something new.
Each background profession would have different goals of course.
The player would be informed of these goals at the beginning.
Thus, the player would be more motivated.

 

[DavyJack]

That would be great! Additional goals would certainly keep most pirates busy and hint them at some things they don't even know about. E.G. Discovery of new places and or plants that weren't there in the original game, finding out who's Vanderdecken or how and where to find him, buying out The Black Pearl or The Queen Anne's Revenge, etc.

 

[Grey Roger]

Something I was thinking today.
Why not implement a system of trophies for the Free Play mode?
Players unlock trophies simply by hitting specific milestones. For instance, a smuggler smuggling X times could be rewarded by receiving a special item or even playing a small quest.
An agent could kill X enemy soldiers in a specific town or capture a town for his nation and be also rewarded with something new.
Each background profession would have different goals of course.
The player would be informed of these goals at the beginning.
Thus, the player would be more motivated.

It's an interesting idea but you'll be the one implementing it.

Be careful with requiring an agent to kill enemy soldiers. When you kill one enemy soldier in a town, the rest automatically turn hostile, all exits lock, and two reinforcements replace the dead soldier. You either achieve your "X enemy soldiers" right there in one huge battle or you die. Possibly do something with "Enc_fort_dialog.c", the dialog file for civilians in forts, so that an agent is rewarded for capturing a town for his nation by sneakiness. An agent should not earn his reward by acquiring a huge warship and then pounding a town into submission! (Though a naval officer or privateer might...)

 

[Bartolomeu o Portugues]

It's an interesting idea but you'll be the one implementing it.

I can code a part but I don't think I can implement all the code
I will need the help of a modder for the hardest part.
However, I think there are background professions that won't need too much work to implement the trophies.
For instance, if I don't make any mistake, José Gaspar has a background profession of sailor.
What could be his trophies?

 

[Grey Roger]

Yes, José Gaspar does seem to be a sailor, judging by his entry in "initModels.c".

For a trophy, the associated question is, what should a sailor do to earn a trophy? Build up his "Sailing" or "Repair" skill to maximum level? ("PROGRAM\QUESTS\quests_check.c" does include a check for "Skill" which might allow you to check that his own skill, not the party skill contributed by officers, has reached a certain level.) Perhaps some sort of quest involving a race? PoTC has no such quest but I've a vague memory of reading about a "Regatta" quest in TEHO, so anyone who has that game might be able to provide some clues as to how it works and what you earn for winning.

 

[Bartolomeu o Portugues]

Yes, José Gaspar does seem to be a sailor, judging by his entry in "initModels.c".

Build up his "Sailing" or "Repair" skill to maximum level? ("PROGRAM\QUESTS\quests_check.c" does include a check for "Skill" which might allow you to check that his own skill, not the party skill contributed by officers, has reached a certain level.) Perhaps some sort of quest involving a race? PoTC has no such quest but I've a vague memory of reading about a "Regatta" quest in TEHO, so anyone who has that game might be able to provide some clues as to how it works and what you earn for winning.

Yes, I'd say his "Sailing" and "Repair" skill to maximum level to start the race.
This race could be between Santiago de Cuba and Port-au-Prince. The world Map should be disabled of course.
All the participants of this race would have the same ship. It could be the Bermuda Sloop.
The easy way would be the player must finish the race without his ship sunk and with a time limit.
Indeed, the other participants could fire at the player ship and this would allow the player' ship be followed by the other participants.
The race could be triggered by a dialogue of the governor of Santiago and be finished by one of the Port-au-Prince governor.
As I said, to win the race two conditions must be checked: a time limit and if the ship is still a Bermuda Sloop.

 

[Grey Roger]

That could work specifically for José Gaspar or for any other sailor from "Golden Age of Piracy" or later. For "Spanish Main" or "Early Explorers", you can't use the Bermuda Sloop as it does not exist in those periods. That shouldn't be a problem - just do a switch based on period, set a variable or attribute to record a suitable ship type for the period, then check against that rather than against fixed "SloopBermuda". The finishing time limit might also need to vary because the journey will be quicker in a Bermuda Sloop than in whichever alternative you use for the earlier periods.

Players will need to look at the "International Relations" screen. Random relation changes or a choice of starting date could mean France and Spain are at war. You leave Santiago under a Spanish or allied flag, you arrive at Port au Prince, and the fort fires its cannons to mark the end of the race...

It's easy enough to make other participants fire at the player, give them the "Recognized" attribute. You'll also want to give them the "SkipRM" attribute otherwise the player will get into serious trouble for firing back!

Another suggestion, in case it proves too difficult to make the competitors in a race behave properly: the governor of Santiago gives you a mission to deliver a ship. You have to get it to San Juan by a certain date. (Using San Juan rather than Port au Prince makes for a longer journey and also means that international relations don't matter.) If you arrive in time with the ship reasonably intact, you get a basic ship, then you return to Santiago to get your original ship back.

 

[Bartolomeu o Portugues]

My only concern is about these random reloads when you're on the sailing mode.

Some ideas for the different background professions:
Agent: enter an enemy fort to steal a document.
Corsair: Capture a ship (But not sink her)
Rogue/Sword Master: Duel someone
Adventurer/Explorer: Find a specific treasure (a little different from the one already in the game)
Naval Officer: Protect a specific convoy (a little different from the one already in the game)
Smuggler: Specific smuggling quest (a little different from the one already in the game)

 

[Grey Roger]

Random reloads: all the competitors disappear, which just means they've all gone their own ways. They'll all disappear at the next island anyway. At the destination island, depending on how long the player took to get there, either no competitors are at the island and the player won; or at least one is already in port and the player lost.

Agent: depending on nation, period and random relations, that might not work. The only enemy nations might not have a fort with a landward gate. Portugal, for example, has only one colony and it has no suitable fort. Pirates don't have a fort in "Revolutions" or "Napoleonic" periods because Turks Island is British. Perhaps enter a town hall instead?
Corsair: should be possible, you did something similar in "Assassin" with La Couronne.
Rogue: already duels someone at the start. Perhaps break into a house and steal a load of jewels?
Sword Master: could certainly duel someone.
Adventurer/Explorer: you could use the temple on Hispaniola. Copy the interior location definitions from "PROGRAM\Storyline\Ardent\Locations\init\QuestLocations.c" (which in turn copied the whole lot from the original on Cozumel ) and change the line 'Locations[n].items.randitem1 = "TainoRug";' to place a different item.
Naval Officer: should work. Check the player has no companions, then assign three unremovable companions with ships suitable for the nation and period.
Smuggler: you could trigger that by talking either to a smuggler agent in a tavern, or to the boss at Smugglers' Lair.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I can code a part but I don't think I can implement all the code
I will need the help of a modder for the hardest part.

You'll find help here, I promise.
Just ask.

Something I was thinking today.
Why not implement a system of trophies for the Free Play mode?
Players unlock trophies simply by hitting specific milestones. For instance, a smuggler smuggling X times could be rewarded by receiving a special item or even playing a small quest.
An agent could kill X enemy soldiers in a specific town or capture a town for his nation and be also rewarded with something new.
Each background profession would have different goals of course.
The player would be informed of these goals at the beginning.
Thus, the player would be more motivated.

I definitely support your intentions!
But this may need a bit of additional thinking about...

The way I always envisioned the background professions is as exactly that: the player's background.
It is where the player started. But it doesn't have to be where the player ends.
That is up for the player to discover for him/herself while playing.

Therefore I'm not sure I'm sold on the idea of locking certain gameplay elements to exclusively certain backgrounds.
For example, a RACE sidequest would be REALLY COOL!
But why would a Smuggler be banned from being able to take part in one of those?

 

[Grey Roger]

It occurs to me that, once @Bartolomeu o Portugues makes a start on this, even as much as setting up something in "PROGRAM\Storyline\FreePlay\StartStoryline.c" and "both_reaction.c" to check player type to trigger a trophy quest, any of us can pick one of the player types and do something for it. @Bartolomeu o Portugues gets first choice of player type and trophy quest as this was his idea, after which it's up to anyone with an idea and the enthusiasm to make it happen...

The way I always envisioned the background professions is as exactly that: the player's background.
It is where the player started. But it doesn't have to be where the player ends.
That is up for the player to discover for him/herself while playing.

Therefore I'm not sure I'm sold on the idea of locking certain gameplay elements to exclusively certain backgrounds.
For example, a RACE sidequest would be REALLY COOL!
But why would a Smuggler be banned from being able to take part in one of those?

These would be one-off quests to make each player type a bit more distinctive. At present, you can start off however you like, then you collect all the sidequests, do whatever comes naturally to you according to your play style, and then maybe start over and do it all again... Alternatively, if you want to play as a smuggler then you'll pick it as a starting profession, resist the temptation to get a big warship and maybe stick with a schooner, then make a game career out of smuggling, and in due time get the smuggler's special quest. The reason you can't get the race is (a) because you have your special quest to aim for so it would be unfair to get someone else's as well, and (b) you've been disqualified for being naughty.

 

[Bartolomeu o Portugues]

For example, a RACE sidequest would be REALLY COOL!
But why would a Smuggler be banned from being able to take part in one of those?

As said by @Grey Roger, we already have many side-quests that can be played by all the different background professions in the Free Play Mode.
We need now something that encourage players to try the many background professions.

It occurs to me that, once @Bartolomeu o Portugues makes a start on this, even as much as setting up something in "PROGRAM\Storyline\FreePlay\StartStoryline.c" and "both_reaction.c" to check player type to trigger a trophy quest, any of us can pick one of the player types and do something for it. @Bartolomeu o Portugues gets first choice of player type and trophy quest as this was his idea, after which it's up to anyone with an idea and the enthusiasm to make it happen...

I choose José Gaspar and so the Sailor background profession. I don't know why but this character looks like someone I remember

@Jack Rackham, are you interested in doing a small quest for the engineer ? I think a puzzle fits very well for this background profession. To speed up the work, maybe you could slightly modify one of your puzzles already made for your storylines and use it in this engineer's quest. Seeing I won't use the Cartagena monastery soon, maybe it could be an interesting location to implement the puzzle.

 

[Jack Rackham]

I could try the engineer yes. Also later on I'm interested in Francis Drake as I already retextured his character and ship models.

 

[Bartolomeu o Portugues]

I could try the engineer yes. Also later on I'm interested in Francis Drake as I already retextured his character and ship models.

Thank you, Jack
As I said, if you can, try to use what you did in your storylines (puzzles, assets and so on) to spend less time in these quests.

 

[Jack Rackham]

I noticed that you can choose swedish soldiers/officers in freeplay. The 128 and 256 portraits for them were missing. Added now and come
with the next update.

About the engineer: I have a library maze already made and to find something that improves the gunpowder situation (like accuracy/damage). Ok?

 

[Grey Roger]

It's up to you, of course, but I'd have thought that a maze might be more appropriate to the adventurer. If it's a library, he could find a book which either leads to something interesting or is valuable in its own right

For the engineer's reward, how do you plan to implement the improved accuracy or damage? If it's a skill bonus, remember that there's a maximum total bonus of +4 which you can get from existing items, especially if "ITEM_REALISM" is off, which it is by default. If it's a modifier to the ship's cannons then it will probably be lost when you get a new ship. How about a new type of personal gun? GoF has this double-barrel musket:

If you like, I can import that into PoTC for use as a reward.

(If I remember correctly, you were working on some sort of rolling ball trap. If so, is it in any condition to be used?)

 

[Jack Rackham]

how do you plan to implement the improved accuracy or damage?

There's somewhere a place where you get improved accuracy if you've got a powderflask.

The library could of course be used by any (other) profession. Maybe I've got other interesting locations even better
for an adventurer.

Another gun is always possible but I thought that some kind of improvement to gunpowder would be more
in line with an engineers (researchers) knowledge. (even if he just finds it)

The rolling ball trap was for @Bartolomeu to use ... somewhere. It's not perfect but works. Don't know if it's implemented.

 

[Bartolomeu o Portugues]

The rolling ball trap was for @Bartolomeu to use ... somewhere. It's not perfect but works. Don't know if it's implemented.

Yes, it would be used in the next quest for the Bartolomeu' storyline.
However, I have no idea when I work on it.
It's better you use it for your quest

 

[Bartolomeu o Portugues]

The library could of course be used by any (other) profession. Maybe I've got other interesting locations even better
for an adventurer.

The Cartagena monastery?

 

[Jack Rackham]

Didn't I include the ball trap with the pyramide puzzle?
Sorry but I've lost all interest in doing something with the engineer as @GreyRoger knows best in every aspect of this game.