Questions regarding Ardent storyline

[Tingyun]

@Grey Roger , can I ask a couple of questions regarding your work on the Ardent storyline?

My wife is starting a new campaign, and really liked the Ardent description. In particular, she likes to play females, and she noticed it said some say that the main character was really a female. She also found a Helena Ardent model in the characters list.

She would like to ask whether she will indeed have a chance to change to a female character within the story?

Also, she wanted to ask whether it is currently considered more or less complete, or whether she should wait for your new version with all the work you are currently doing to be released?

Finally, she has just started playing (only played a couple of hours through the tutorial and such), is the campaign suitable for a new player, or does she need to get experience with another storyline first?

Thanks so much!

 

[Grey Roger]

Right at the start of the story, you are asked three questions which will define your character, and the first one is "Who are you?" So you don't exactly change to a female character - you choose at the start whether you wish to play as Charles or Helen Ardent.

The storyline is not yet complete, I'm still working on developing it. But several quests are complete and the storyline leads to a reasonable end point, which is pretty much the conclusion of one thread of the story. She can play it as it is. But be sure to get the newest version:
http://piratesahoy.bowengames.com/potc/Grey Roger/ardent.zip

The campaign features a lot of combat, so your wife may want to get some practice in basic fighting.

I hope your wife enjoys the story. Feel free to ask questions or report problems!

 

[Tingyun]

Thanks Grey Roger! She is excited to have a female option--while I prefer freeplay, she loves storylines, and she says she is very grateful to you for having added a female one!

Thank you for sharing the updated version. I will pass along any feedback or problems she encounters. She is wrapping up her Witcher 3 playthrough, and has now made Ardent her next plan for as soon as she finishes.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

If you install the "Unfinished Storylines", there is also the Devlin one which has a female main character.
But development on that stopped ages ago and there isn't much story there yet.
Ardent would probably be a better choice!

 

[Tingyun]

@Grey Roger can I ask a couple more questions on Ardent? About to start a real play through later today once I finish testing duties, and Ardent looks very fun.

1) does the update posted to new content have all the latest files, or should I still use the link you provide above to your directory?

2) are the full free play options and side quests available?

3) are dynamic national relations enabled, or are national relations fixed if playing ardent?

4) when the story reaches its current end point, is everything good for continuous free play afterwards?

5) should I avoid doing any final quest so as to be able to continue the storyline if future updates expansions are released, or would they not be saved game compatible anyway?

Thanks so much for the information, I am really looking forward to playing it.

Edit:

One more, sorry

6) if I change my character model with change outfit, will everything still work fine?

 

[Grey Roger]

The link I provided contains everything. Since I only uploaded it today, it's unlikely to be in any other update. (The update I posted to new content contains the same link.)

Storylines aren't free-play. Free-play is effectively a storyline minus a plot - it started life as exactly that, "Tales of a Sea Hawk" with all the story stuff stripped out, and then expanded to allow lots more characters and options. All side quests are available, though.

Nation relations are fixed. The story is set in the War of the League of Augsburg and relies on certain relations. (I didn't know that bit of history at first, and the Downing family in Port Royale was originally going to be the Decaux family in Port au Prince. But the part of the story which I'm about to work on next relies on you needing to fight France, so I went looking for a genuine historical excuse for Spain and France to break their alliance, and found that in 1691 they were at war anyway. Yes, I have been planning this for a long time. )

There's nothing stopping you from continuing free play after the current story ends. The only restriction is that one of the earliest quests is time limited and if you go off on side quests then you'll miss the boat, literally. Once that quest is complete, you're free to do what you like in addition to the main story.

Future expansions are likely to need a new game anyway as they'll involve additional characters being added.

You can get away with changing outfit so long as you don't try to change sex. This is because the story allows you to choose between male and female main character, and key NPC's are based on that, so if you change sex, you'll get the wrong NPC's. However, Charles and Helen are wise to this and if you change to an invalid model, it won't be long before they change back. There's also a point when you change into a Spanish uniform automatically. It would be wise to stay in that uniform until you're sure it's safe to change back. (Helen finds the uniform very uncomfortable and will change out of it of her own accord...)

Have fun!

 

[Tingyun]

Sounds awesome!

Sorryy, I know I ask tons of questions, I promise the below 3 are my last.

1) After all the quests are all completed, can I use console or some other means to make nations relations dynamic again? I only mean when I've completed everything so nothing will break, and I wish to keep playing for a long time. Or is it not possible to do that in an already started game?

2) About how many hours of quests and content are currently in? How much are you planning to add?

3) I take it from your description you end up being a Spanish privateer at some point--is it mostly play as a privateer in national service, or as a pirate?

Again, sorry for the additional questions, I am rally excited about playing it. My wife ended up going back to Sid Meier's Pirates, since she said she missed the dancing and Governor's daughters, so I might not need to save it for her anymore, as long as she doesn't change her mind. (we always watch each other play, so we divide things up).

 

[Pieter Boelen]

1) After all the quests are all completed, can I use console or some other means to make nations relations dynamic again? I only mean when I've completed everything so nothing will break, and I wish to keep playing for a long time. Or is it not possible to do that in an already started game?

You can indeed do that; just execute this through console:

AddStorylineVar(FindCurrentStoryline(), "CHANGING_RELATIONS", "1");

The Hornblower one already has that in place at its very end.

3) I take it from your description you end up being a Spanish privateer at some point--is it mostly play as a privateer in national service, or as a pirate?

If I understood correctly, this storyline is very piratey indeed.

 

[Grey Roger]

Sounds awesome!

Sorryy, I know I ask tons of questions, I promise the below 3 are my last.

1) After all the quests are all completed, can I use console or some other means to make nations relations dynamic again? I only mean when I've completed everything so nothing will break, and I wish to keep playing for a long time. Or is it not possible to do that in an already started game?

2) About how many hours of quests and content are currently in? How much are you planning to add?

3) I take it from your description you end up being a Spanish privateer at some point--is it mostly play as a privateer in national service, or as a pirate?

Again, sorry for the additional questions, I am rally excited about playing it. My wife ended up going back to Sid Meier's Pirates, since she said she missed the dancing and Governor's daughters, so I might not need to save it for her anymore, as long as she doesn't change her mind. (we always watch each other play, so we divide things up).

1: See @Pieter Boelen's answer.
2: No idea. If you know what you're doing and rush through it, you might be able to complete it in two or three hours. Mind you, if you do that, you might not have the skills and equipment necessary to take on the challenge of the convoy battle. Some freelance plundering on the way to your next quest destination is good.
3: Yes. That is, it's up to you. Depending on what you do after you've kidnapped Lucia, you may end up being offered a free Spanish Letter of Marque. You don't have to accept it. Most ways you play it, Lucia is patriotic and won't serve as an officer if you're hostile to Spain. And if you make peace with Spain to win her over, then renege and become hostile to Spain again, she won't like that at all... But there's now one way to play through in which you won't get the free LoM, and Lucia is desperate enough to get out of an arranged marriage that she doesn't care about your status with Spain. Summary: you can play as a privateer in Spanish service or as a pirate.

As for dancing and governor's daughters: PoTC doesn't have dancing, but the option to marry a governor's daughter is part of it, and has been for quite some time. As with Sid Meier's "Pirates", you need to earn the governor's respect before you can meet the daughter. "Ardent" provides the opportunity to bypass the normal system and marry a specific governor's daughter, though I thought your wife wanted to play as the female character, in which case she may be able to marry the governor's son instead.

I don't know what recent versions of "Pirates" do. I had it for the old Atari ST, and in that version there was no dancing, and marriage just ... happened. The same is generally true in PoTC. But if Ardent gets married, he or she does it properly:


Don't apologise for asking questions! I'm pleased someone is taking an interest in the story. Feel free to ask more.

 

[Tingyun]

Thanks so much for all the info @Grey Roger . And thank you @Pieter Boelen for the console note, that will be of great help.

Yes, the 2004 remake of Sid Meier's pirates had extensive dancing sequences:

My wife spends hours dancing with girls in every port.

Yes, she would definitely be playing a female character if she is the one to play through it. But she says she would ignore the governor's son, she prefers female partners in games. According to her, romancing a governor's daughter is impressive, while marrying his unacomplished son would be an insult.

The marriage scene is quite impressive! A nice touch, it is clear you have done amazing work with this storyline, and we (or one of us) very much is looking forward to enjoying it.

Thanks again!

 

[Grey Roger]

Yes, she would definitely be playing a female character if she is the one to play through it. But she says she would ignore the governor's son, she prefers female partners in games. According to her, romancing a governor's daughter is impressive, while marrying his unacomplished son would be an insult.

There is little difference between Lucia and Edmundo, code wise. They're both equally talented. Well, not quite - Lucia has one trick up her sleeve which Edmundo can't match, as you'll find out if Lucia ever finds silk on any of your ships... But in general the romancing aspect, and their contributions to quests, are exactly the same for Lucia and Edmundo.

 

[Tingyun]

OH, so it is a joinable companion? That is very different, she was under the impression it was a stock NPC who you can only interact with when you visit ports.

If it is a cool officer who contributes stuff, she says that is a different story. Her attitude is in that day and age it is fine for women to be spoiled aristocrats who sit around a port, because that is what they were forced into doing most of the time, but a spoiled aristocrat guy is a different story.

Joinable NPC companion is 100 percent a different matter entirely.

 

[Grey Roger]

Edmundo may start out as the spoiled son of an aristocrat but, as you may find out if you talk to the citizens of Santiago, he's not happy about his future prospects. Exactly what you do with him is up to you, but he'll almost certainly end up as an officer at some point, and has a key role to play in the convoy quest near the end of the story so far. He is certainly not a stock NPC who stays in port! (All the above applies equally to Lucia, of course, if you're playing as Charles.)

 

[Tingyun]

Yep, I was thinking of the governor's duaghters from the stock mod I think. I'm going to start a feedback thread, if that's ok, to organize feedback as I play. I may wait until Levis finishes fixing the merchant captain generation to play very far into it, but the opening is GREAT