A list of my desires for the next release of New Horizons

[rogueranger1993]

First post here after downloading the game and playing the mod - and I gotta say, I've really enjoyed it so far, you guys have probably created one of my all-time favorite games, even among those not of the pirate genre! So, with my intro now out of the way, below is a list I have made of new features or changes I woould like to see implemented in future versions of the New Horizons build mod. Some of them could be pretty ambitious, and I don't have any real experience with coding (besides a tiny bit of HTML in my youth, now mostly forgotten) or game design, so take everything I talk about with a grain of salt. That said, I would like to hear other people's opinions on the things I mention, and if possible why or why not such a thing would not be possible or not a good idea.

#1. Online Co-Op Multiplayer: This is probably the one thing I most want to see so long as it can be properly implemented. I don't want the game turned into an MMO, but the ability to jump into the world with a friend to go pirating together would be very fun. I know things like this have been done before (I personally know of a mod for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim that does exactly this), and it may not have to be too complex or difficult a task, either. I know that games can support this without needing a third-party server - if I recall correctly, they do it by linking the two computers and then using one of them (usually the one with the best connection) as a 'pseudo-server' that serves the same purpose as regular third-party server. I think this was a pretty common method in older games, so it may not be too difficult to implement, and there may even be examples using the Storm Engine that could be used as a basis for a comparable system in New Horizons.


#2. New Game Manual: I enjoyed the manual currently included with New Horizons, especially the 'story' portion. However, my copy of the game didn't come with the manual - something that seems distressingly common from the product desriptions on Amazon, despite the discs often costing near fifty dollars nowadays. That made the learning curve for my first playthrough rather steep, and I still don't understand certain things - among them a few of the displays, a full understanding of the economy system, or how/where to find diplomats so I can increase my reputation with the nations. So, long story short, I'd really like to have a manual that goes over the systems in the game - combat (personal and naval), the economy, reputation, etc., and giving the player an overview of how each of them works.


#3. New Ships Manual: Honestly, the current guides are okay at best for me. The Willemstead Builders Guide was somewhat useful, since it had an identification image for the ship and some information about how it sailed, but that was about all I could get out of it - it doesn't even include the full selection of vessels in the game. In addition, while the manual does look beautiful, it would run the ink in my printer dry, so a print-friendly version without the fancy parchment backgrounds would be much appreciated. I'd like to see a new ship manual that goes a bit more in-depth on the different vessels in the game. To me, such a manual would include all of the ships in the game, as well as the following information about each vessel;

· Name/Class & Tier

· Type (Navy, Merchant, Versatile)

· Periods in which the vessel is available

· Cargo capacity

· Speed & Turning rate

· Number of gun mounts & gun positioning

· Mountable gun types & calibers

· Min/max crew

· Hull strength

· Top speed & Best sailing direction

· Cost


#4. More Clear-Cut Naming for ships: To be frank, the current selection of ships is somewhat tricky for me to understand, mainly because there are so many that share the same name! There are two different brigantines, multiple pinnaces - it's hell to understand. Could we implement something like the class-name system used in modern navies to make the different ships easier to identify? Instead of just two different types of 'pinnace', there would be a 'Papegojan-class pinnace' and a 'Berlin-class pinnace' - much easier to identify.


#5. Better ship info at campaign selection: Honestly, I always have a hard time choosing which vessel to start my new game with - mainly because there's no really useful information about the ship when selecting my starting vessel, just a few pretty sentences.

WTF!?

Why don't I get a window showing the ship's cargo capacity, starting and max gun size, number of guns and where they're mounted, top speed and turning rate, crew requirements, and generally anything that would be USEFUL in making an educated choice about my starting ship? Not trying to be an @$$ here, but I feel it would be extremely helpful to include this kind of info about the player's starting ship choices.


#6. Friendly Fire OFF!: This really bugs the heck out of me. I once shot my gunner in the back (entirely by accident) when using auto-aim to try and hit the bugger he was fighting. Is there any way we can make a system that will prevent a player from shooting an ally by accident? Maybe 'ally' and 'enemy' tags for NPC characters?


#7. Tactics Manual or Research Reference: I don't know a huge amount about useful tactics in the Age of Sail, only the bare bones basics. I'd like to see a manual describing simple, real-world tactics that we can use in the game, which would be a huge boon for new players. If not, then I'd at least like to see a reference sheet that provides us with a list of books, movies, etc. that we can use as a starting point from which to acquire such information.


#8. Trade Goods/Economy Tweaks: I like the function of the current economy system, but I'd personally like to see a few improvements. First of all, it seems like import/export lists effect an entire island, rather than individual settlements - which is a bit jarring if two different nations share a single island, since I doubt they would have the same interests. If possible, I'd like to see import/export lists effect single settlements, rather than entire islands - this would even allow for settlements on the same island to trade certain goods with each other, which could become a unique opportunity for a crafty merchant.

Secondly, I'd like to see a bit more diversity in the imports and exports of various towns - many settlements have almost the exact same import and exports (the Dutch colonies of Bonaire, Curacao and Aruba being one example during my 1680s playthrough). Some repetition is obviously expected, but a greater amount of diversity would be far more appreciated than I can really put into words.

Thirdly, I'd like to see some tweaks in how contraband is handled. In the real world, the goods listed as contraband were hardly ever outlawed entirely. Instead, the settlement in question would charge a hefty import tax, or require that the trader purchase a special license, or perhaps even pay an official part of the proceeds. The goods were smuggled into these places in order to avoid the tax, the need for a license, or the need to pay off certain officials, since going the legal route cut into the overall profits of the venture. I'd like to see these situations represented in some way - perhaps smuggled goods could be sold for a minimal price at the store from the outset, and the perk that unlocks this in the current system could be tweaked to raise the sale price of these goods somewhat? This kind of implementation could provide the players with more interesting choices when dealing with contraband, rather than the current, relatively simplistic choice of 'smuggle, trade somewhere else, or dump'.


#9. More music tracks: The music already included is good, but it gets a bit repetetive because the number of tracks is limited. Adding more music would help alleviate this issue, and make the overall experience much more enjoyable.


#10. Additional voice acting: I'm honestly tired of hearing similar lines over and over again - "You're too stupid to be Dutch" is a line I hear in just about every tavern I've entered. So, I'd like to see New Horizons add in new voice acted dialogue to spice up what is already an amazing game mod. Replacing some of the original dialogue would be nice, too - I'd like to have two different voice lines when setting battle sails and all sails, for instance.


#11. More Sidequests: The current sidequest seem a bit sparse to me, so I'd like to see more of them being created and implemented. Things like guarding an expedition trying to find an ancient temple/treasure, leading a raid on a Spanish treasure port (anyone up for visiting Portobello a la Henry Morgan style, anyone?), wiping out a nest of bothersome bandits, acquiring a cargo of medicine for a settlement struck by plague, finding some poor woman's castaway father, getting a shipment of fine wine to the governor's important gala, spying on an enemy troop movement, all that good stuff.


#12. Sex & Romance: Yeah, this one's a touchy subject for a lot of folks. The Witcher series did a lot to push the presentation of this subject into mainstream gaming, and in a responsible adult manner as well. When I mention this, my main points are the presence of brothels and their services, and romantic relationships between characters - both subjects were quite prevalent in the time period we're recreating, and feature to varying degrees in modern RPGs. I'll go over each point separately;

· So, brothels and their services - they are included in the game, but the only one I've seen so far was in Charlestown, Nevis. Personally, I'd like to see them featured more broadly in the game, since every port town of the period was likely to have at least one, if not more, of these establishments. Perhaps we could even include a sidequest in one town where some prominent person wishes to close down the brothel, and the player is then presented with the choice of helping them run the place out of business, or fighting back and protecting the welfare of the women running the brothel.

In addition, I wasn't fond of the fact that I basically got a fade out-fade in when I chose to use the brothel services. About the only use I got out of it was the chance to rob the chests in the brothel bedroom. I want to see something with a bit more substance to it - maybe a cutscene showing my character and one of the females eating a quick meal together, before heading up to the room and then fading to black as you hear them laugh in enjoyment, then fading back in to show them sharing a kiss or hug before the female leaves the room, or something like that. It doesn't have to be explicit (and no one really wants that kind of thing, anyways), but something that provides these interactions with more substance, romance -whatever you want to call it - than the current setup does would be very much preferred to what we have right now. Besides, we already have an option that allows us to turn off access to brothel interiors, so what's stopping us from including this kind of thing if we can already turn it off if we don't like it?

· Many modern RPGs include romance, with the Witcher series being the prime example - both in its inclusion, and in how to handle it in a way that isn't totally irresponsible. It's a gameplay feature I've oft enjoyed when it's well written/executed (mainly because I'm a romantic at heart), and I'd like to see a number of romance questlines included in New Horizons, too - heck, I'd be willing to help write them, if I had to. I like to think that this would add more options for a playthrough, and it would also increase the diversity of content, something which helps to attract players to this type of game.


#13. More Ship Upgrades: This is something I'd like to see - the current upgrades are nice, but a wider selection that provides more gameplay choices would be really nice. Perhaps mods that make your cannons weigh less, or do more damage, or have longer range. Extra crew quarters to make room for more boarders at the expense of cargo space. Swivel guns that increase the amount of damage you deal to an enemy ship's crew . A broad rudder that increases your turning rate. Things like that.


#14. More alternate paint schemes for ships: I think it would be nice to see each ship get unique paint schemes for each different nation, and maybe a few more for the fun of it. This would probably take a lot of time, so it's not a high priority, but it would be a nice feature to see implemented.


#15. Tweaks to the ship's log: I would definitely like the ability to write longer log entries if it's possible - currently, if the entry runs on too long, pressing backspace to fix a mistake deletes the entire entry instead, which is seriously aggravating. Also, while we're at it, the 'write new log entry' button blocks the bottom text lines of longer entries, so is there any way to fix that? And could we change the clicking sound made when typing to something more like the scratch of a quill on parchment?


#16: Refined way to access personal item and trade good windows: I'm getting rather tired of having to initiate a new conversation with the merchant every time I want to switch between the trade good and personal item inventories - is there anyway we can streamline this so that we don't have to do this? Say combining everything into one menu, or perhaps having the player exit the menu to the conversation where you select which menu to look at?


#17. More NPCs in larger towns: The larger towns (like Cartagena) seem rather empty as is, and I'd like to see more NPCs populating these areas to give them a more 'lived in' feel. Perhaps we could make this an option that can be turned on/off, so that systems that can't handle the load don't have to just to play the game and others who do have the system capacity can have the additional NPCs.


#18. More Building Interiors: There seem to be a lot of doors that don't have anything behind them currently. Ideally, I'd like to have an interior behind every door in a settlement that would reasonably have one, but that takes time and effort that could be better spent on other projects, so this is kind of a low priority on my list of desires.


#19. More Shops: When I say this, I really mean that I think it might be fun to take the single 'store', and make it into multiple establishments. As an example, the base store would become a trading company that sells and buys trade goods; then, weapons would be sold at a weapons shop (and can be upgraded at a blacksmith or gunsmith), books and maps would be sold at bookstores, gems and other rocks at a jewelers, medical supplies at a doctor's office (which could also heal you), and instruments like clocks, sextants and compasses would be sold at a tool crafters. It's an interesting concept that might be a bit more realistic than the current system, but I don't know about how popular or practical it would be in game.


#20. More Settlements (Especially on the mainland): I enjoy sailing between various settlements already, but I think I'd really like to see a few more added - especially on the mainland, as that part of the ocean seems pretty empty right now. Places like Portobello, Panama, and other famous port towns would be very fun to visit or raid in this game, don't you think?


#21. More Places to Explore on Land: To me, the current areas beyond the settlements seem a bit sparse. I'd like to see more areas available for exploration on the islands - the mountain range of Jamaica, ancient ruins on the mainland, native encampments, gold and silver mines, large plantations, orchards, old cave systems, bandit hideouts, untamed jungles, farm fields, etc. We could even use the trade good lists as a reference when creating new areas to explore on the islands - a town exporting wood and gold would obviously have sawmills, logging camps and mines that we could explore.

 

[Grey Roger]

First post here after downloading the game and playing the mod - and I gotta say, I've really enjoyed it so far, you guys have probably created one of my all-time favorite games, even among those not of the pirate genre! So, with my intro now out of the way, below is a list I have made of new features or changes I woould like to see implemented in future versions of the New Horizons build mod. Some of them could be pretty ambitious, and I don't have any real experience with coding (besides a tiny bit of HTML in my youth, now mostly forgotten) or game design, so take everything I talk about with a grain of salt. That said, I would like to hear other people's opinions on the things I mention, and if possible why or why not such a thing would not be possible or not a good idea.

Most of this can be answered very easily: if you want it, you'll need to do it yourself. Those who are actively involved in modding have their own pet projects - indeed, some probably got involved because they had an idea of how to add to the game.

A few specific points:

#1. Online Co-Op Multiplayer:

Probably never going to happen, as it would require both a major rewrite of the game and a server to host the multiplayer sessions.

#5. Better ship info at campaign selection:

Honestly, I always have a hard time choosing which vessel to start my new game with - mainly because there's no really useful information about the ship when selecting my starting vessel, just a few pretty sentences.

Normally you'll start off with a fairly small ship anyway, and work your way up to something bigger. If you already know which ship you like best - and if you have Cheat mode enabled - then you can choose whichever ship you want.

#6. Friendly Fire OFF!:

This really bugs the heck out of me. I once shot my gunner in the back (entirely by accident) when using auto-aim to try and hit the bugger he was fighting. Is there any way we can make a system that will prevent a player from shooting an ally by accident? Maybe 'ally' and 'enemy' tags for NPC characters?

In reality, shooting into a melee is a really bad idea for exactly this reason - people fighting with swords don't tend to just stand there and swing at each other, they move around, and you are indeed as likely to hit your friend as your enemy. At least you don't do much damage to your friend if you hit him by accident.

Have you tried getting the "Expert marksman" perk? That enables you to switch to first person and aim the gun manually.

#8. Trade Goods/Economy Tweaks:

I like the function of the current economy system, but I'd personally like to see a few improvements. First of all, it seems like import/export lists effect an entire island, rather than individual settlements - which is a bit jarring if two different nations share a single island, since I doubt they would have the same interests. If possible, I'd like to see import/export lists effect single settlements, rather than entire islands - this would even allow for settlements on the same island to trade certain goods with each other, which could become a unique opportunity for a crafty merchant.

It would pretty much ruin game balance because all you'd need to do is load up your ship with goods in one town, walk across the island, sell the goods, load up again, then walk back, repeat until rich. Or, if you have a map of the island, you could just Sail-To between the ports - even easier, as you don't need to worry about meeting bandits on the way.

There have been attempts to overhaul the economic system in the past. They didn't end well.

#9. More music tracks: The music already included is good, but it gets a bit repetetive because the number of tracks is limited. Adding more music would help alleviate this issue, and make the overall experience much more enjoyable.


#10. Additional voice acting: I'm honestly tired of hearing similar lines over and over again - "You're too stupid to be Dutch" is a line I hear in just about every tavern I've entered. So, I'd like to see New Horizons add in new voice acted dialogue to spice up what is already an amazing game mod. Replacing some of the original dialogue would be nice, too - I'd like to have two different voice lines when setting battle sails and all sails, for instance.

Music: find some tracks you like, convert them to .ogg format, put them in "RESOURCE\Sounds\MUSIC", then edit "PROGRAM\sound\ALIAS\music_standard.c" to use them.

Voice acting: find someone to do the voice acting and record some new lines!

#11. More Sidequests:

If there's one which really goes into the "learn how to do it, then do it yourself" category, this is it. Writing a sidequest takes time and effort - I know, I've recently finished one. Anyone willing to put in that time and effort probably has his own idea of what sidequest he wants to write. The one about spying on enemy forces does have some merit and one of these days I might get round to it, as I had a similar idea to add some sort of spying quest specifically for those players who chose the "Agent" career at the start of the game.

#13. More Ship Upgrades:

This is something I'd like to see - the current upgrades are nice, but a wider selection that provides more gameplay choices would be really nice. Perhaps mods that make your cannons weigh less, or do more damage, or have longer range. Extra crew quarters to make room for more boarders at the expense of cargo space. Swivel guns that increase the amount of damage you deal to an enemy ship's crew . A broad rudder that increases your turning rate. Things like that.

Cannons: try installing carronades instead of long guns, or vice versa. Carronades do more damage as you can put a heavier calibre carronade than long gun onto your ship, but they're shorter range. Beyond that, any extra upgrades would need a lot of work, not just to implement the new upgrade's effect but also to extend the box of icons which shows upgrades. Either that, or for each new upgrade which is added, one old upgrade type would need to be lost.

#14. More alternate paint schemes for ships:

I think it would be nice to see each ship get unique paint schemes for each different nation, and maybe a few more for the fun of it. This would probably take a lot of time, so it's not a high priority, but it would be a nice feature to see implemented.

Not only would it take a lot of time, it would also add to the total size of the installation as each new paint scheme is literally a copy of the entire ship model.

#17. More NPCs in larger towns:

The larger towns (like Cartagena) seem rather empty as is, and I'd like to see more NPCs populating these areas to give them a more 'lived in' feel. Perhaps we could make this an option that can be turned on/off, so that systems that can't handle the load don't have to just to play the game and others who do have the system capacity can have the additional NPCs.

Edit "PROGRAM\Characters\init\Colombia.c" and add whichever characters you like. You may also need to use Inez Dias TOOL to create new locators where your new characters can stand.

Note that there is an absolute maximum of 32 characters in any one location at any one time. That includes permanent citizens defined in those files, random walkers who spawn when you go there and aren't stored permanently, you, your officers, and any characters needed in storylines or sidequests. An excess of characters in a single place can cause problems - Tortuga is particularly bad for this as it does have a lot of people wandering around, and not surprisingly also features in several storylines, which therefore sometimes break if you go there to meet someone and he can't appear because there are already too many characters in place.

#18. More Building Interiors:

There seem to be a lot of doors that don't have anything behind them currently. Ideally, I'd like to have an interior behind every door in a settlement that would reasonably have one, but that takes time and effort that could be better spent on other projects, so this is kind of a low priority on my list of desires.

Not every door has a locator near it - again, you could use Inez Dias TOOL to add them. Beyond that, edit "PROGRAM\Locations\init\<pick a place>", find the code for your choice of town area, specifically the bit headed "Reload map", and add a bit to have your locator go somewhere. Then add a definition for the location where that door leads.

 

[Homo eructus]

#5. Better ship info at campaign selection: Honestly, I always have a hard time choosing which vessel to start my new game with - mainly because there's no really useful information about the ship when selecting my starting vessel, just a few pretty sentences.

WTF!?

Why don't I get a window showing the ship's cargo capacity, starting and max gun size, number of guns and where they're mounted, top speed and turning rate, crew requirements, and generally anything that would be USEFUL in making an educated choice about my starting ship? Not trying to be an @$$ here, but I feel it would be extremely helpful to include this kind of info about the player's starting ship choices.

I have entertained this idea myself, of at least standarizing the ship descriptions so that they all follow the same pattern and are easier to ascertain at a glance. Keep in mind that the descriptions in the campaign selection are shared with the descriptions in the shipyard, particularly the descriptions of the different paintjobs. As the shipyard already has the stats window, having it in the description (if that's even possible without a major UI redesign, which I doubt) would be redundant, but a more simple description could be added that would work for both instances and be both informative and consistent. Something like "A [number]-gun [ship type], with [good/bad] [speed/maneuverability/upwind performance], painted in [colors]".

The same could be said for the character model selection: some have quotes, some have descriptions, some have jokes... Again, those descriptions are used both by the selection menu and the tailor's shop dialog, so any changes would have to work for both of those functions.

I'll keep thinking about it and give it a go sometime.

 

[Grey Roger]

Character model descriptions are found in "PROGRAM\Models\initModels.c", in the "model.description" line for each model. The same line must appear in "RESOURCE\INI\TEXTS\ENGLISH\models_description.txt" if it is to show up on screen. In that case, the description will appear both in the selection menu and in the tailor's dialog. (You will probably need "RESOURCE\INI\TEXTS\SPANISH\models_description.txt" for your Spanish translation.)

Some character models have additional information. If the entry in "initModels.c" has a "model.name" line then the character can be selected in the "Named" category during character selection. Or, if the entry has a "model.storytitle" line then the character will show up in the "Specific" category. The "model.storytext" line, if it exists, will also show up in the character selection.

Basic ship descriptions are in "RESOURCE\INI\TEXTS\ENGLISH\ShipModels_descriptions.txt". These are used both in the ship selection screen and in the shipyard "Appearance" interface, so if you change it to give more specific information during ship selection then you'll get the same information again in the shipyard.

 

[Homo eructus]

Yeah, I've handled all those files already for the translation. The thinking about it was more about what should be in the texts themselves rather than the technical side of it, which I think I have covered. I'd like to give it a go once I'm done with the last storyline questbook that I'm translating, so I don't have too many open fronts at the same time.

 

[rogueranger1993]

Yeah, sounds pretty simple, so maybe I could try my own hand at it in the meantime. I can do some very basic things with the code, and I've already made a few tweaks to suit my own game preferences, but I don't have the know-how to do anything really complex, nor am I skilled in anyway at the modeling aspect of things. I like to think I'm an okay writer, though, so I could certainly try to help out with writing books/quests and such.

EDIT:
And maybe I could see about working some new music tracks into the game, since the current selection tends to be somewhat limited from my own experience. Having a wider variety of music eliminates repetition, an hopefully makes for a more enjoyable experience.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Probably never going to happen, as it would require both a major rewrite of the game and a server to host the multiplayer sessions.

Make that "never". Not in PotC.

In reality, shooting into a melee is a really bad idea for exactly this reason - people fighting with swords don't tend to just stand there and swing at each other, they move around, and you are indeed as likely to hit your friend as your enemy. At least you don't do much damage to your friend if you hit him by accident.

Isn't there a way to disable that in InternalSettings.h?
Worth to have a scroll through that file and see what's possible.

An excess of characters in a single place can cause problems - Tortuga is particularly bad for this as it does have a lot of people wandering around, and not surprisingly also features in several storylines, which therefore sometimes break if you go there to meet someone and he can't appear because there are already too many characters in place.

Can be mostly mitigated by well placed vcskip lines.

And maybe I could see about working some new music tracks into the game, since the current selection tends to be somewhat limited from my own experience. Having a wider variety of music eliminates repetition, an hopefully makes for a more enjoyable experience.

We already added a fair bit extra compared to the original game, but indeed not a huge amount.
The idea is that music packs can be made as additional downloads.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

#2. New Game Manual: I enjoyed the manual currently included with New Horizons, especially the 'story' portion. However, my copy of the game didn't come with the manual - something that seems distressingly common from the product desriptions on Amazon, despite the discs often costing near fifty dollars nowadays. That made the learning curve for my first playthrough rather steep, and I still don't understand certain things - among them a few of the displays, a full understanding of the economy system, or how/where to find diplomats so I can increase my reputation with the nations. So, long story short, I'd really like to have a manual that goes over the systems in the game - combat (personal and naval), the economy, reputation, etc., and giving the player an overview of how each of them works.

Documentation for the stock game wouldn't explain all the mod added functionality.
And certainly the mod documentation isn't as good as I'd like either.
But somebody would need to step in and make that happen, which nobody bothered to in many years.
You could be the first! We can answer any questions you might have.

Also, do be sure to play the Tutorial at the start of Tales of a Sea Hawk.
That isn't fully comprehensive, but should be enough to get you started.
It includes some explanation on new mod functionality too.

#3. New Ships Manual: Honestly, the current guides are okay at best for me. The Willemstead Builders Guide was somewhat useful, since it had an identification image for the ship and some information about how it sailed, but that was about all I could get out of it - it doesn't even include the full selection of vessels in the game. In addition, while the manual does look beautiful, it would run the ink in my printer dry, so a print-friendly version without the fancy parchment backgrounds would be much appreciated. I'd like to see a new ship manual that goes a bit more in-depth on the different vessels in the game.

That document was comprehensive at the time of writing, but that was many years ago.
We don't have the original file any longer.
We used to have a searchable list of all ships online, but that died again too.
My personal opinion is that it is very nearly pointless to make a list because any list gets rapidly outdated anyway.
Only correct ways are to have it in game or check the ships_init.c file manually.

Instead of just two different types of 'pinnace', there would be a 'Papegojan-class pinnace' and a 'Berlin-class pinnace' - much easier to identify.

Can you give examples where that isn't already the case?
That certainly fits in without what we already started doing a few years back.
Not difficult to change either, so why not?

Why don't I get a window showing the ship's cargo capacity, starting and max gun size, number of guns and where they're mounted, top speed and turning rate, crew requirements, and generally anything that would be USEFUL in making an educated choice about my starting ship? Not trying to be an @$$ here, but I feel it would be extremely helpful to include this kind of info about the player's starting ship choices.

Because the person who created the Select Storyline interface never finished it.
I stepped in and made it at least functional, but never had time to further expand on it.
The starting ship doesn't matter so much anyway; you'll probably get a new ship fairly soon after game start anyway.

#7. Tactics Manual or Research Reference: I don't know a huge amount about useful tactics in the Age of Sail, only the bare bones basics. I'd like to see a manual describing simple, real-world tactics that we can use in the game, which would be a huge boon for new players. If not, then I'd at least like to see a reference sheet that provides us with a list of books, movies, etc. that we can use as a starting point from which to acquire such information.

Real life tactics should translate relatively well into the game. That is the intention, at least.
So you can use whatever sources of information you feel like.
There used to be some threads in the forum with details, but I think those are all very, very old.

Secondly, I'd like to see a bit more diversity in the imports and exports of various towns - many settlements have almost the exact same import and exports (the Dutch colonies of Bonaire, Curacao and Aruba being one example during my 1680s playthrough). Some repetition is obviously expected, but a greater amount of diversity would be far more appreciated than I can really put into words.

Main reason for it being the way it is would be sure to copy/pasting of the code.
Nobody really cared until now, but you'd be very welcome to do something about it.
It is easily changed.

Thirdly, I'd like to see some tweaks in how contraband is handled. In the real world, the goods listed as contraband were hardly ever outlawed entirely. Instead, the settlement in question would charge a hefty import tax, or require that the trader purchase a special license, or perhaps even pay an official part of the proceeds. The goods were smuggled into these places in order to avoid the tax, the need for a license, or the need to pay off certain officials, since going the legal route cut into the overall profits of the venture. I'd like to see these situations represented in some way - perhaps smuggled goods could be sold for a minimal price at the store from the outset, and the perk that unlocks this in the current system could be tweaked to raise the sale price of these goods somewhat? This kind of implementation could provide the players with more interesting choices when dealing with contraband, rather than the current, relatively simplistic choice of 'smuggle, trade somewhere else, or dump'.

@Levis expanded on the original system quite substantially already.
He wanted to take it even further, but then real life happened...

#11. More Sidequests: The current sidequest seem a bit sparse to me, so I'd like to see more of them being created and implemented. Things like guarding an expedition trying to find an ancient temple/treasure, leading a raid on a Spanish treasure port (anyone up for visiting Portobello a la Henry Morgan style, anyone?), wiping out a nest of bothersome bandits, acquiring a cargo of medicine for a settlement struck by plague, finding some poor woman's castaway father, getting a shipment of fine wine to the governor's important gala, spying on an enemy troop movement, all that good stuff.

There is one more now, courtesy of @Grey Roger.
Plus there are many very varied main quests you can try.
Those ones do cover many of the ideas you mention at one point or another.

brothels and their services

Honestly, that was only ever added as a joke and even the was controversial for some people even WITH a toggle on it that defaults to off.
They barely serve any gameplay purpose whatsoever.
As far as I'm concerned, I really don't care about seeing this being expanded on either.
But if someone decides to do it, I won't stand in the way.

· Many modern RPGs include romance, with the Witcher series being the prime example - both in its inclusion, and in how to handle it in a way that isn't totally irresponsible. It's a gameplay feature I've oft enjoyed when it's well written/executed (mainly because I'm a romantic at heart), and I'd like to see a number of romance questlines included in New Horizons, too - heck, I'd be willing to help write them, if I had to. I like to think that this would add more options for a playthrough, and it would also increase the diversity of content, something which helps to attract players to this type of game.

@Grey Roger, doesn't your Ardent storyline cover that to some extent?

#13. More Ship Upgrades: This is something I'd like to see - the current upgrades are nice, but a wider selection that provides more gameplay choices would be really nice. Perhaps mods that make your cannons weigh less, or do more damage, or have longer range. Extra crew quarters to make room for more boarders at the expense of cargo space. Swivel guns that increase the amount of damage you deal to an enemy ship's crew . A broad rudder that increases your turning rate. Things like that.

Realistically speaking, I think many such upgrades would offer pros as well as cons.
If not, they'd end up unbalancing the game.

#15. Tweaks to the ship's log: I would definitely like the ability to write longer log entries if it's possible - currently, if the entry runs on too long, pressing backspace to fix a mistake deletes the entire entry instead, which is seriously aggravating. Also, while we're at it, the 'write new log entry' button blocks the bottom text lines of longer entries, so is there any way to fix that? And could we change the clicking sound made when typing to something more like the scratch of a quill on parchment?

That's another example of a feature that never had all its bugs worked out.
It is functional, but not perfect. And now there is nobody around who does interface work any longer.

#16: Refined way to access personal item and trade good windows: I'm getting rather tired of having to initiate a new conversation with the merchant every time I want to switch between the trade good and personal item inventories - is there anyway we can streamline this so that we don't have to do this? Say combining everything into one menu, or perhaps having the player exit the menu to the conversation where you select which menu to look at?

In theory, certainly possible.
In practice, who is going to step in and do it?

#19. More Shops: When I say this, I really mean that I think it might be fun to take the single 'store', and make it into multiple establishments. As an example, the base store would become a trading company that sells and buys trade goods; then, weapons would be sold at a weapons shop (and can be upgraded at a blacksmith or gunsmith), books and maps would be sold at bookstores, gems and other rocks at a jewelers, medical supplies at a doctor's office (which could also heal you), and instruments like clocks, sextants and compasses would be sold at a tool crafters. It's an interesting concept that might be a bit more realistic than the current system, but I don't know about how popular or practical it would be in game.

The intention was once there. Even some preliminary code for it exists.
But again: no manpower = no change.

#20. More Settlements (Especially on the mainland): I enjoy sailing between various settlements already, but I think I'd really like to see a few more added - especially on the mainland, as that part of the ocean seems pretty empty right now. Places like Portobello, Panama, and other famous port towns would be very fun to visit or raid in this game, don't you think?


#21. More Places to Explore on Land: To me, the current areas beyond the settlements seem a bit sparse. I'd like to see more areas available for exploration on the islands - the mountain range of Jamaica, ancient ruins on the mainland, native encampments, gold and silver mines, large plantations, orchards, old cave systems, bandit hideouts, untamed jungles, farm fields, etc. We could even use the trade good lists as a reference when creating new areas to explore on the islands - a town exporting wood and gold would obviously have sawmills, logging camps and mines that we could explore.

These two are at odds with each other.
If more towns are added, they'll be empty with nothing much to do there.
Alternatively, if that same time and effort were spent adding new interesting locations to existing towns and islands, the number wouldn't change.

With New Horizons Remastered now getting slowly underway, we'll have an opportunity to do things better in the future.
One day.

 

[Grey Roger]

Isn't there a way to disable that in InternalSettings.h?
Worth to have a scroll through that file and see what's possible.

I can't find anything in "InternalSettings.h" relating to friendly fire.

Can be mostly mitigated by well placed vcskip lines.

I know - I've used them myself. The point is, if you add lots of new characters somewhere else, e.g. Cartagena, then that place is liable to end up having the same problem.

 

[Grey Roger]

Also, do be sure to play the Tutorial at the start of Tales of a Sea Hawk.
That isn't fully comprehensive, but should be enough to get you started.
It includes some explanation on new mod functionality too.

You get the same tutorial when you start FreePlay as well. But "Tales of a Sea Hawk" is the original PoTC game storyline and is still well worth playing as a way to introduce yourself to the game. (Or at any other time, for that matter.)

Can you give examples where that isn't already the case?
That certainly fits in without what we already started doing a few years back.
Not difficult to change either, so why not?

Few ships have class names, mainly because few ships are historically accurate models of specific classes.

Main reason for it being the way it is would be sure to copy/pasting of the code.
Nobody really cared until now, but you'd be very welcome to do something about it.
It is easily changed.

And very easily broken. Remember version 3.2?

There is one more now, courtesy of @Grey Roger.
Plus there are many very varied main quests you can try.
Those ones do cover many of the ideas you mention at one point or another.

In particular:

leading a raid on a Spanish treasure port (anyone up for visiting Portobello a la Henry Morgan style, anyone?)

Go to Tortuga tavern, talk to the tavern keeper, then go and find Will Turner. You don't raid a port but you do raid a Spanish silver train. Alternatively, get yourself a big ship, then go and raid the fort of your choice - no sidequest is necessary.

acquiring a cargo of medicine for a settlement struck by plague

That specific scenario is not used, but try your luck with general "Fetch" quests for tailors, shipyards and blacksmiths.

finding some poor woman's castaway father

You need to be fairly high level, then go to Port au Prince and look for Angelique Moulin.

spying on an enemy troop movement

This one I might try, at some point in the unspecified future, because I've been having similar thoughts about setting up missions like this specifically for "Agent" characters.

@Grey Roger, doesn't your Ardent storyline cover that to some extent?

To a limited extent, yes. You have the option to propose marriage to the major NPC, and then have to do a couple of things to win her/his hand. It's all family-friendly, though. There is a post-marital bedroom scene, and you're very pointedly invited to not watch. If you want gratuitous sex scenes, you're going to have to add them yourself. Also, even a simple hug is probably not going to happen because character model animations don't exist for that.

Perhaps we could even include a sidequest in one town where some prominent person wishes to close down the brothel, and the player is then presented with the choice of helping them run the place out of business, or fighting back and protecting the welfare of the women running the brothel.

That exact scenario does not exist, but the second "Peter Blood" sidequest involves you talking to one of the brothel women - at home, though - as part of the quest to find a ship. The "Assassin" storyline requires you to visit the Charleston brothel, talk to one of the women, then mug her on her way home. And the "Woodes Rogers" storyline involves rescuing one of the women from the brothel in Nevis Pirate Settlement. There's also a brothel in Point a Pitre, Guadeloupe, and not surprisingly, there's one in Tortuga.

These two are at odds with each other.
If more towns are added, they'll be empty with nothing much to do there.
Alternatively, if that same time and effort were spent adding new interesting locations to existing towns and islands, the number wouldn't change.

Besides, if you want to raid a tough mainland port, try your luck with Cartagena...

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I can't find anything in "InternalSetting

Hmm... Thought there was something.
Not in the game's options menu either?
I'm sure something could be added without too much effort.

I know - I've used them myself. The point is, if you add lots of new characters somewhere else, e.g. Cartagena, then that place is liable to end up having the same problem.

True. Plus, how many citizens providing directions do you really need anyway?

The truly random citizens already fill up the available spots.
And vcskip doesn't affect fixed direction-giving citizens.
So I don't think there is much to be gained here.

And very easily broken. Remember version 3.2

That was a completely different and far more complex problem!

I was suggesting merely to edit the import/export goods in the island init files.
What can go wrong there?

That specific scenario is not used, but try your luck with general "Fetch" quests for tailors, shipyards and blacksmiths.

I can't remember now; does the Apothecary also offer a Fetch Quest?
If not, at least there IS a quest of some kind there.

 

[Grey Roger]

True. Plus, how many citizens providing directions do you really need anyway?

In a large town, probably more than one, scattered around the place so you have a reasonable chance of finding one before you start banging your head into walls in the hope that one of them is the door to the store.

I can't remember now; does the Apothecary also offer a Fetch Quest?
If not, at least there IS a quest of some kind there.

That's the Mysterious Plants quest, which is also nothing to do with curing a plague. According to the walkthrough, it's bugged in several places.

 

[Homo eructus]

There's also a tavern rumor about a town being struck by malaria, but it only serves to inform the player that the garrison is weakened, doesn't have an effect in the price of medicines or anything, I don't think.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

In a large town, probably more than one, scattered around the place so you have a reasonable chance of finding one before you start banging your head into walls in the hope that one of them is the door to the store.

Those are already in place, so no further action required.

That's the Mysterious Plants quest, which is also nothing to do with curing a plague. According to the walkthrough, it's bugged in several places.

I think that is less bugged now than it was when the walkthrough was written.
@Jack Rackham did some fixing and finishing on it.

 

[rogueranger1993]

Well, I have a cousin who likes to play around with modeling and coding, especially on older game engines. Maybe I can get him to help me out with some of my projects while I try to play 'catch-up'. Besides that, I'm thinking of trying to work up a music add-on pack sometime in the near future to try and familiarize myself a bit with the workings of the engine, could I share a download link here for people to to use when/if I get around to it?

Other than that, I think I'd definitely be capable of working up a new game manual, since it works well with my current talents, so I'll see what I can do on that front. I might also try my hand at writing some in-game books and perhaps a few plots/storyboards for new quests and submitting them for your perusal. I'll also look around and see if I can draw up some modding help/interest in other people outside the current community, maybe that'll even draw in a few new modders - no promises, though. Thanks for the prompt responses and enlightening comments so far, great community and awesome game. Can't wait for the team's future updates.