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Solved Some comments on New Horizons

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Ron foster

Landlubber
Banned
It's not a matter of "free to not play" it is a matter of this game is not playable.

A good simulation written by competent coders and schemed by knowledgeable developers does not use gimmicks (childish gimmicks) since the play is the enjoyment not the Dungeons & Dragons invocation of supernatural events by the master on a whim and just to be irritating.

Just try to reduce the La Tortuga fort... for example. the SAVE GAME does not work to save advances during the play since all it does is reset the game to start over and over and over, you get the idea. Anyone here tried to play that scenario? Where in the Carib is there such a geological structure as this caldera of granite? Why so much cannon in such a small harbor that has nothing in it other than a ridiculous (impossible) fort. The Russian developers must have had a childish mentality to think this in any way resembles what is reasonable in the Carib. Just google Tortuga and see what the island and harbor look like... that should be the working model for this to be an adult simulation game.

While laying siege I had one of my War Pinnace suddenly transported into the fort area where it was quickly destroyed. A full-frontal attack is not the right tactic in this situation... just gets a lot of ships destroyed and people killed (even simulated), for no benefit... after all, it's just a huge granite donut with no commercial or ag enterprise, not even a military target with the French fleet as a prize. This is so gimmicked it amounts to malware. Approaching the outer ring my cohort (fleet) is bombarded by shot, raining out of the sky.. often collated onto my ship with unreasonable accuracy. The cannon of the time did not use high trajectory, such as land mortars, which could fire accurately over high barriers such as the 400 Meter ring-cliff, with accuracy to hit a small target sailing, but without observation or fire-control watch towers to guide the artillery this is not possible and needs to be removed. The 100 tonne cannon could not be rapidly or easily elevated to higher than 45 degrees, nor could they be moved in arcs at the mount so as to track a moving target. Mounted on trunnions the cannon recoil moves the cannon back to a restraint position where it can be serviced (reloaded) then pullied (run-out) into firing position. Turrents and rotating platforms capable of the weight and movement were not yet created, which is why long lengths of side-by-side cannon were used to cover a firing-field that would intercept a moving ship at range.

My cohort ships ordered to stand-down (heave to boarding drill ?) so as to not get in the way or other stupid antics such as ramming me or sitting with lowered sails in front of a fort while being destroyed, will randomly fire broadsides into the cliff face, for no reason, benefit, or direction. If my ship happens to be passing alongside I get the full broadside... now, will anyone explain why this is reasonable and not malware? This needs to be removed.

Ships in a fleet also need a command to take station and not move about on their own without command guidance. This is nonsense and more gimmick malware. Coordinated attacks by the cohort have no resemblance to rational battle of the time. A little time reading some of the literature of the period would be all that is needed to understand the tactics and coordination used. Think of it as a football game... do players "swan about" on their own or does the coach direct the play action and give assignments for key players to carry out in the scheme to win the game?

The firing angles from the attacking ship is distorted terribly. When positioned at the entrance slot presenting a broadside to the fort the shot strike the cliffs to one side or the other at about a 45 degree angle from the line of sight. Often the cannot will not fire on the command, using the space bar. No information is given as to why the shot is not taken. As the captain has 10 rating in cannons and accuracy, as well as a gunner who has the same maxed ratings, along with every enhancement charm for gunnery and accuracy, there is no rational reason for this to happen. What is need is a gunnery information line providing sighting and readiness needed to make a firing solution. Anyone up to this task?

People working on cleaning up this game and making it into something fun and exciting should focus on shiest like this. Make Tortuga look like Tortuga (google it). Make the play rules consistent and reasonable to the limits of the available technology. I realize nobody is getting paid for this, and likewise I am disgusted that people were paid to creat shiest like this. Those that enjoy a good challenge and appreciate good craftsmanship, the normal coder, would really have fun fixing this trash. Just make the scheme consistent instead of being so variable you never know what will happen when you take an action or push a button. Good game play, like reality, is consistent. We live in a Newtonian existence, of cause and effect that is predictable and consistent. Would you enjoy a football game where the referee changes the rules of play on a whim or just to make one side disadvantaged. This game is designed to disadvantage the player, hence the malware.

If you hate malware, fix this game and have fun doing it.
 
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I downloaded the August update to the build 14 and as suggested cleaned out the old and did a new game install.

The installer could not find the .tar file, even though it was in the same folder and was the same file that the original build 14 used to install the game.

Is there a newer .tar file that goes with this revision and needs to replace the older .tar file? I could only find the new install file and saw no reference to a new .tar.

I was looking forward to playing a less-buggy more stable (Win95 style frequent crashes for no apparent reason) program, but nothing seems to be working.

Anyone know the hidden secret to installation and what is missing in my experience?

I'm using a Lenovo Thinkpad t61 that ran build 14 just fine and I was led to understand that this install is the same as the previous B14... so let me in on the secret... what is the trick?
 
For sure... the meteorology of this game in no way represents the Carib... which is A LOT DIFFERENT THAN THE NORTH ATLANTIC. A little time spent perusing the reams of weather info on the Carib would do wonders for the authenticity of the play conditions. Why, like the Med do sailors love the Carib? Most of the few remaining tall ships are located in and sail the Carib... not the Atlantic or Baltic Sea.
 
Pieter,

Can you guide me in installing the revised Build14_installer_31082017

I had only a few problems with the original, which resolved when I learned a few tricks to overcome the unspoken tricks.

This build does not recognize the .tar file which is located in the same file... I even moved it into the POTC game folder where the game is installed on the drive.

I would really like to be able to play this revision in order to enjoy the benefits of all the work done to correct the gimmicks and inconsistencies, as well as the frequent crashes, that make play very irritating and disgusting.

Danke,

Commander Ron
 
Wassamatter? Did the ol' lady cut you off again? :nerbz

No one is going to change the islands now. They are what they are and it is up to us to adapt to them. That said, for years I played the standard storyline over and over and over chasing and squishing bugs. I now have a hearty dislike for Barbados and especially Bridgetown. :rumgone

It takes lots of really big ships to take down a fort. The Black Pearl/Wicked Wench is too small. I found it best to just stay off to one side and let the others do the heavy lifting. And as you have noticed, it takes lots of attempts before the winds and planets align properly. Chanting and incantations help. :boom:

As for your installing troubles, that has been mentioned before although I had no such problems. :shrug
 
"Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself." ~ A. H. Weiler

@Ron foster, you keep going on about the "childishness" of this game. You do realise this game (not a simulation, but a game) was licensed by Disney as a tie-in to their film "Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl", which in turn was based on the now 50-year old Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland? The ride has supernatural elements, as does the film. Therefore, so does this game. Take away the basic underpinnings - Jack Sparrow, the Black Pearl, walking skeletons, cursed treasure, etc - and it wouldn't be a Pirates of the Caribbean game at all.

Before the modders began their work, the game had more bugs than an abandoned New York City flat. The setting was a purely fictional archipelago of eight islands. Most of the storylines were quite broken, due primarily to Akella having to meet an incredibly short deadline imposed by Disney. If it were not for the tireless efforts of modders past and present, I would not be playing this game 14 years on. Is it perfect? No. Is it far richer and more interesting than how it started out? Unquestionably yes.

I respect that you want a high-fidelity pirate life simulation. I'd love it if someone could come up with one. But expecting a handful of unpaid people to meet your expectations with technology that's nearly a decade and a half old? Unreasonable in the extreme. You might as well ask Admiral Lord Nelson's HMS Victory to best a modern battleship.

My advice is that you adjust your expectations accordingly, or move on. But do not belittle the people who have chosen to put effort into keeping this game alive.
 
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It's not a matter of "free to not play" it is a matter of this game is not playable.
Then don't play it at all. Nobody is forcing you to. :shrug

As for your installing troubles, that has been mentioned before although I had no such problems. :shrug
That very nearly virtually always ends up being a problem that exists between chair and computer.

"Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself." ~ A. H. Weiler
Brilliant! :cheeky

@Ron foster, you keep going on about the "childishness" of this game. You do realise this game (not a simulation, but a game) was licensed by Disney as a tie-in to their film "Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl", which in turn was based on the now 50-year old Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland? The ride has supernatural elements, as does the film. Therefore, so does this game. Take away the basic underpinnings - Jack Sparrow, the Black Pearl, walking skeletons, cursed treasure, etc - and it wouldn't be a Pirates of the Caribbean game at all.
And of course the mod made mostly all of that content completely avoidable.
So people who want realism, can have that. And people who want fantasy stuff can have that too.

Most of the storylines were quite broken
If we're talking literal storylines, all except "Tales of a Sea Hawk" were added by the mod.
So they weren't so much broken as "they weren't there". :rofl

I respect that you want a high-fidelity pirate life simulation. I'd love it if someone could come up with one.
Eventually we do have hopes of that. But not with PotC:NH. With NHR, maybe yes.

But expecting a handful of unpaid people to meet your expectations with technology that's nearly a decade and a half old? Unreasonable in the extreme. You might as well ask Admiral Lord Nelson's HMS Victory to best a modern battleship.
Fair point! :onya
 
By the way, it is entirely possible to defeat Tortuga's fort. You don't need a fleet, you need one ship, but it needs to be a big one. A pinnace of war is not a big ship. A first rate man of war such as the one you get at the end of "Tales of a Sea Hawk" is a big ship. And if you think Tortuga is tough, you probably don't want to go anywhere near Cartagena. :p
 
"Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself." ~ A. H. Weiler

@Ron foster, you keep going on about the "childishness" of this game. You do realise this game (not a simulation, but a game) was licensed by Disney as a tie-in to their film "Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl", which in turn was based on the now 50-year old Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland? The ride has supernatural elements, as does the film. Therefore, so does this game. Take away the basic underpinnings - Jack Sparrow, the Black Pearl, walking skeletons, cursed treasure, etc - and it wouldn't be a Pirates of the Caribbean game at all.

Before the modders began their work, the game had more bugs than an abandoned New York City flat. The setting was a purely fictional archipelago of eight islands. Most of the storylines were quite broken, due primarily to Akella having to meet an incredibly short deadline imposed by Disney. If it were not for the tireless efforts of modders past and present, I would not be playing this game 14 years on. Is it perfect? No. Is it far richer and more interesting than how it started out? Unquestionably yes.

I respect that you want a high-fidelity pirate life simulation. I'd love it if someone could come up with one. But expecting a handful of unpaid people to meet your expectations with technology that's nearly a decade and a half old? Unreasonable in the extreme. You might as well ask Admiral Lord Nelson's HMS Victory to best a modern battleship.

My advice is that you adjust your expectations accordingly, or move on. But do not belittle the people who have chosen to put effort into keeping this game alive.

You do realise this game (not a simulation, but a game)

BTW...all simulations are a game... this is no different. This is no longer a Disney operation based on the juvenile marketing target for monetizing a Disney farce.

Just because it was licensed by Disney from Akella and half-assed developed by Softworks does not excuse the lack of authenticity nor the extreme bug content. Only the most incompetent... or no QA/QC could explain such a disgusting fraud sold to the public as a monetizing of the Disney debacle called Pirates of the Caribbean. The film lost them money and this is likely why the funds ran out during development of the game and everyone just walked away.

The need and demand for this genre of game is obvious by the world-wide attempt displayed by this site to resurrect a game out of this trash-heap of badly coded programming.

I have given up playing due to the disgusting repetition of insulting malware written into this code by people who had no idea of the reality of the period and made no intelligent attempt to create something resembling the activities and relationships of the era.

The people associated with this site are doing a remarkable and honorable job of taking this trash and forging a game that will be a legend. They are the people with a dream and are putting a lot of very professional effort into removing the malware and creating an enjoyable gaming experience... such as what Sid wanted to do, but was betrayed by Atari.

We should all post our admiration for the leaders of this world-wide effort for the gaming community... an example that this world needs in this time of strife and hate.

If you enjoy such a game... rejoice! You have it... for the rest of us that expected a Sid Meier update and increased enjoyment of the sailing era genre... keep working POTC community, you are doing a great job.
 
I'm so confused.

The original game was not particularly incredible, but "malware" is certainly a very strong word to describe it.
It never harmed anyone's computer as far as I've ever heard. And I've heard a lot by now! :shock

I played the unmodified version of the game for quite a bit back in the days.
Maybe the US release was worse, but I only ever had access to the EU one and that was fine.
I tend to be ridiculously good at finding bugs, so if there were something terribly wrong with the original game, surely I would've noticed?

Anyway, it doesn't matter now.
The mod is much better either way, so I don't know why anyone should still care about the original game. :shrug
 
Wassamatter? Did the ol' lady cut you off again? :nerbz

No one is going to change the islands now. They are what they are and it is up to us to adapt to them. That said, for years I played the standard storyline over and over and over chasing and squishing bugs. I now have a hearty dislike for Barbados and especially Bridgetown. :rumgone

It takes lots of really big ships to take down a fort. The Black Pearl/Wicked Wench is too small. I found it best to just stay off to one side and let the others do the heavy lifting. And as you have noticed, it takes lots of attempts before the winds and planets align properly. Chanting and incantations help. :boom:

As for your installing troubles, that has been mentioned before although I had no such problems. :shrug

I have found the War Pinnace with 34# guns do a good job reducing forts as long as the wind is about 20knts or better so that a moving target is hard to hit. A fast smaller ship such as War Sloop with at least 12#s is a good diversion to keep the guns off the heavies, capture a pirate to sacrifice while at least two WPs are reducing the fort. Hit and tun tactics work best with Tortuga anything else is just wasted effort with no benefit.

I have found the War Pinnace with 34# guns do a good job reducing forts as long as the wind is about 20knts or better so that a moving target is hard to hit. A fast smaller ship such as War Sloop with at least 12#s is a good diversion to keep the guns off the heavies, capture a pirate to sacrifice while at least two WPs are reducing the fort. Hit and tun tactics work best with Tortuga anything else is just wasted effort with no benefit.
As for the islands... bummer... such a jarring inconsistency with reality.... perhaps a future revision since professionals are obviously working on the ships?
 
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As for the islands... bummer... such a jarring inconsistency with reality.... perhaps a future revision since professionals are obviously working on the ships?
@Armada already did the best he could possibly do and it's so much better than it used to be.
Further improvement may happen in NHR, but don't count on it in PotC:NH. :no
 
Have you ever heard of deconstructing a document? After deleting all of your mindless rants there is almost nothing left. I would suggest that you start taking your meds again.

Btw, I have played Sid Meier's Pirates and it wasn't that good. His other games were better.
 
The original. It was an ok little game with humorous land battles between armies, but the sailing part was very basic.
 
The original. It was an ok little game with humorous land battles between armies, but the sailing part was very basic.
Wasn't that a DOS game, even? I'd expect those to be fairly basic.
Though for it's time, the first Civilization was pretty extensive!
 
## Content of original post skipped due to disgusting repetition and insulting rambling. ###
Ron, despite your redundant protests to the contrary, you clearly have not given up on playing Pirates of the Caribbean or tantrum-throwing troll.

You are not going to bully anyone over to your offensive, stilted view of things. You have, however, succeeded masterfully at making me care even less about what you have to say.

As before, have fun searching elsewhere for whatever it is you think you want.
 
I'm so confused.

The original game was not particularly incredible, but "malware" is certainly a very strong word to describe it.
It never harmed anyone's computer as far as I've ever heard. And I've heard a lot by now! :shock

I played the unmodified version of the game for quite a bit back in the days.
Maybe the US release was worse, but I only ever had access to the EU one and that was fine.
I tend to be ridiculously good at finding bugs, so if there were something terribly wrong with the original game, surely I would've noticed?

Anyway, it doesn't matter now.
The mod is much better either way, so I don't know why anyone should still care about the original game. :shrug

Malware is the term for any piece of software with malicious intent. Malware includes spyware, worms, viruses, and other malicious programs.

Malicious software inserted into a game that destroys the intended enjoyment for no reason other than the malicious intent of the coder fits this description. Tell me what makes the cursed coin such a beneficial part of the NH experience? Does it further your enjoyment of the game or totally disrupt the concept on which the game is based?

For me it is a game ender. While the original POTC is Disney based and the rather tenuous association with the carnival ride in Anaheim may be your view point, it is not what Sid envisioned and not what he described in the promotions for the new (Akella based) game.

NH is intended to be the type of game that features simulated sailing ships and activity during the very romantic tall ships era, based on the C. S. Forester series of novels, which I have read and you should.

If you enjoy the gimmicks like the cursed coin... perhaps the modders working could make this an option selection on the list at the start of the game and let those who want the Disney (Bethesda Softworks interpretation) allow them to enjoy the gimmicks. A gimmick-free game is what the C. S. Forester devotees seek.

Ron, despite your redundant protests to the contrary, you clearly have not given up on playing Pirates of the Caribbean or tantrum-throwing troll.

You are not going to bully anyone over to your offensive, stilted view of things. You have, however, succeeded masterfully at making me care even less about what you have to say.

As before, have fun searching elsewhere for whatever it is you think you want.

Offensive? Who is offended...you? Why? I directed none of my diatribe to you. I am stating my reactions to a game that is all potential and very poorly executed. The coders who did this hatchet job should be working for MicroSoft since they seem to be trying to emulate Win95.

If you feel bullied I suggest you might want to discuss this with your psychologist.

Stilted? Are you a literate person? Stilted indeed.

This effort is the best yet attempt to get a C. S. Forester based game into the gaming community and due to the efforts of world-wide gaming community coders it is possible if they just have the right motivation.

Since you enjoy the game as-is, keep on trucking, and stay out of my lane.
 
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