Solved A few questions regarding the game

[Tingyun]

Hi! I have just started playing recently, trying out different starts, and I ran into a few questions. Could I ask for some advice from experienced players?

1) I tried the castaway start, and it was a great deal of fun. I used the stones to knock some bandits out, made my way to the town, things went well. But I never was able to find the lifeboat--I searched the jungle looking for another shore where it might be, but never found one, and it wasn't at the dock in town.

Am I supposed to find the lifeboat physically sitting somewhere? If so, any hints on the best way to locate it?

2) As I was walking through the jungle a group of bountyhunters entered dialogue when I entered a new screen, and said someone had hired them to kill me. Later in town, another group stood by while I finished talking to a citizen, and then drew swords. Why are bounty hunters looking for me? I hadn't done anything yet, are they always looking for the player?

3) I found the monk that gives crosses that prevent saving. Is there any long term use to accepting the quest? In other words, xp gain or some skill enhancement from returning the cross, or is it just that you get the bonus until returning it and then it is gone?

4) I found officers willing to join sitting in a tavern and proposing you help them in a quest, and others generated when you talk to the innkeeper and request a specific type, and a third type where you promote a crew member to officer. Is there any advantage or disadvantage to one kind over the other? Any particularly good source of strong officers?

5) In general, should I be aiming for low level officers so that I can choose their skill progression, or higher level starting officers?

6) If I am playing freeplay and I want my charecter model to change to reflect different armor I am wearing, do some character models work? I tried with one but the appearance didn't change, are there any recomended models that have that implemented?

7) Is there any good source for learning naval tactics? I have been spoiled on the more videogamish style of Sid Meir's pirates and such, and I really need to learn how to sail and fight properly, including basic things like when to use half sails or full, and what to do when aiming cannons in first person mode to have a good chance of hitting when on stormy seas.

8) Should I generally accept quests even if I can't immediatly do them, or are most quests on a time limit? Do you forever miss out on quests if you first refuse them? (For example, I have seen townspeople offering to sell a treasure map when I didn't have enough gold, and a governor asking me to sink an enemy ship).

Thanks so much! I am loving the mod, it is enormous fun.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

1) I tried the castaway start, and it was a great deal of fun. I used the stones to knock some bandits out, made my way to the town, things went well. But I never was able to find the lifeboat--I searched the jungle looking for another shore where it might be, but never found one, and it wasn't at the dock in town.

Am I supposed to find the lifeboat physically sitting somewhere? If so, any hints on the best way to locate it?

The "Lifeboat" is your ship and it should be somewhere at either one of the shores or in the ports on the island you're on.
You may even be able to use the [Enter] menu to "Go to Ship" and that should instantly find it as well.
If you can't locate it at your current island, please upload a savegame.

2) As I was walking through the jungle a group of bountyhunters entered dialogue when I entered a new screen, and said someone had hired them to kill me. Later in town, another group stood by while I finished talking to a citizen, and then drew swords. Why are bounty hunters looking for me? I hadn't done anything yet, are they always looking for the player?

Their appearance is, for the time being, 100% random. If you play the Standard Storyline, Malcolm Hatcher explains them a bit.
I do have the idea to link them to specific conditions instead, but that hasn't been done yet.

3) I found the monk that gives crosses that prevent saving. Is there any long term use to accepting the quest? In other words, xp gain or some skill enhancement from returning the cross, or is it just that you get the bonus until returning it and then it is gone?

Nothing long-term. As long as you carry the cross, you get the bonus from having it. When you give it back, everything goes back to normal.

4) I found officers willing to join sitting in a tavern and proposing you help them in a quest, and others generated when you talk to the innkeeper and request a specific type, and a third type where you promote a crew member to officer. Is there any advantage or disadvantage to one kind over the other? Any particularly good source of strong officers?

Officers sitting in a tavern and proposing you to help them in a quest sounds like actual Side Quests.
There are also the random officers sitting in a tavern who you can hire directly.

Side Quest officers have fixed skills (unrelated to your own), their story might be worth playing and/or there may be some reward somewhere down the line.
Claire Larousse, for example, offers the prospect of treasure.

Random officers sitting in a tavern and just that. Their type is random and their level should be relatively in line with your own.
Asking the tavern owner should give you an officer of a similar level as well; the main difference is that you can ask for a specific officer type.
This could be useful when you're desperate for a certain type, but the random ones aren't what you're looking for.

Promoted crewmembers are normally very low-level, which means they're probably quite cheap. You can then control their development throughout the game.
If they've been with you in a shore party for a while, then they might have gained some useful skills too.
They're mainly useful though if you need an officer right now and don't have the opportunity to find an officer anywhere else.

Potentially the best officers are found randomly walking the streets.

5) In general, should I be aiming for low level officers so that I can choose their skill progression, or higher level starting officers?

I think that is probably your own choice.
In the original game, people suggested getting low-level ones so you can control their progression, but it shouldn't matter so much anymore now.

6) If I am playing freeplay and I want my charecter model to change to reflect different armor I am wearing, do some character models work? I tried with one but the appearance didn't change, are there any recomended models that have that implemented?

Look at the RESOURCE\MODELS\Characters folder. Any models that have "_A1.gm", "_A2.gm" and "_A3.gm" variations do show armour when equipped.

7) Is there any good source for learning naval tactics? I have been spoiled on the more videogamish style of Sid Meir's pirates and such, and I really need to learn how to sail and fight properly, including basic things like when to use half sails or full, and what to do when aiming cannons in first person mode to have a good chance of hitting when on stormy seas.

General naval tactics should be similar to what you can learn from the history books as we've tried to make it relatively real-to-life.
Some stuff is simplified though. And the AI isn't always very clever either.

Full Sails = High speed, low manoeuvrability, Battle Sails = Medium speed, better manoeuvrability.

As for first person aiming in storms, that is quite difficult. You'll have to learn how to time it.

8) Should I generally accept quests even if I can't immediatly do them, or are most quests on a time limit? Do you forever miss out on quests if you first refuse them? (For example, I have seen townspeople offering to sell a treasure map when I didn't have enough gold, and a governor asking me to sink an enemy ship).

Some quests do have time limits, but most don't. This is usually mentioned on the Wiki: New Horizons | PiratesAhoy!

Treasure quests from the random town folk remain active until you find the treasure. And until you do, you won't be able to get another one.

Governor Ship Hunting Quests, however, do expire. You've got 7 days, if I remember correctly.
This is intentional since sometimes the target ship may disappear and if the quest expires, at least that doesn't prevent you from getting new ones in the future.

 

[Grey Roger]

To add to what @Pieter Boelen said:

4) I found officers willing to join sitting in a tavern and proposing you help them in a quest, and others generated when you talk to the innkeeper and request a specific type, and a third type where you promote a crew member to officer. Is there any advantage or disadvantage to one kind over the other? Any particularly good source of strong officers?

5) In general, should I be aiming for low level officers so that I can choose their skill progression, or higher level starting officers?

When you hire an officer, check his skills and attributes. They may not match his advertised job. Occasionally if you talk to someone in the street, they'll offer to join you as an officer as well, and often they'll be officer type "Civilian". Press F2, go to "Passengers", then you can change the officer's job to whatever you need. Personally I get all mine either from random officers sitting in the tavern or from the occasional street encounter, then assign them to whichever job I need filled, and let them build up their skills and abilities accordingly.

6) If I am playing freeplay and I want my charecter model to change to reflect different armor I am wearing, do some character models work? I tried with one but the appearance didn't change, are there any recomended models that have that implemented?

"Give me something with black trousers and vest, in the Russian style." = Blaze
"Give me something with black trousers and vest, in the Russian style. But don't forget the razor!" = Blaze_NB
And pretty well anything which starts with "I remember Jack Sparrow as ...", which are variants on a theme of "9Ja", "9JdEng", etc.
There are some others as well, but it's "PROGRAM\Models\initModels.c" you probably want to search. If, below a model description, you can find another one below it describing the same model in armour then you should be able to see that character in armour, and the model ID, name or description will match what you will find in the character selection menu or in a tailor's shop.

8) Should I generally accept quests even if I can't immediatly do them, or are most quests on a time limit? Do you forever miss out on quests if you first refuse them? (For example, I have seen townspeople offering to sell a treasure map when I didn't have enough gold, and a governor asking me to sink an enemy ship).

Treasure quests don't have a time limit but if you don't have enough gold then you won't be able to accept the quest in the first place, and when you leave the area, the person offering the quest will disappear and won't be there when you return. Anyway there's little point in paying silly money because there's always a chance that the treasure chest will be empty, and although the price of the map is supposed to be a factor, my personal experience is that it has very little effect. I'm no more likely to find treasure after paying 200000 for the map than if I pay 20000, so I never accept a map from anyone demanding more than about 50000.

Other quests may well be offered only once, so if you decline, you may not get another chance. Few quests have time limits and they usually warn you. For example, if you're doing the quest to find the Spanish admiral's son, there's a point where you need to complete a task within a month, and you'll be told this. So means it's usually worth accepting quests when you can. The only danger is that occasionally one quest can interfere with another, e.g. if they both need you to be in the same place.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

When you hire an officer, check his skills and attributes. They may not match his advertised job. Occasionally if you talk to someone in the street, they'll offer to join you as an officer as well, and often they'll be officer type "Civilian".

Does that still happen? It isn't supposed to anymore!
See here: Fixed - Levelling: Strange Occupations | PiratesAhoy!
And: Included in Build - Random Hireable Officers Get Appropriate Types | PiratesAhoy!

There are some others as well, but it's "PROGRAM\Models\initModels.c" you probably want to search.

Good point; that'll probably be easier.

Treasure quests don't have a time limit but if you don't have enough gold then you won't be able to accept the quest in the first place, and when you leave the area, the person offering the quest will disappear and won't be there when you return. Anyway there's little point in paying silly money because there's always a chance that the treasure chest will be empty, and although the price of the map is supposed to be a factor, my personal experience is that it has very little effect. I'm no more likely to find treasure after paying 200000 for the map than if I pay 20000, so I never accept a map from anyone demanding more than about 50000.

Check MAXIMUS_Functions.c, which is where the chests are filled.
If I recall, the chance of there being treasure at all is luck-related, not price-related.
It might have been at some point in the past, but not anymore.

Other quests may well be offered only once, so if you decline, you may not get another chance.

What examples are you thinking of there?
The only one I know is the Hitman (Hard Labours of an Assassin) one and I changed that last month.

 

[Grey Roger]

Does that still happen? It isn't supposed to anymore!
See here: Fixed - Levelling: Strange Occupations | PiratesAhoy!
And: Included in Build - Random Hireable Officers Get Appropriate Types | PiratesAhoy!

http://www.piratesahoy.net/threads/random-hireable-officers-get-appropriate-types.26812
It shouldn't happen any more with officers hired from the tavern, but I'd imagine citizens hired from the street are still "Citizen". If not, perhaps they should be - this could be someone bored with a town life who wants to start a career as a sea officer.

Check MAXIMUS_Functions.c, which is where the chests are filled.
If I recall, the chance of there being treasure at all is luck-related, not price-related.
It might have been at some point in the past, but not anymore.

And so, as I said, there's no reason to pay silly money for a treasure map. The only reason to pay up to 50000 is that there aren't many people offering them for 5000 or less, so if you're waiting to save even more money then you may be waiting for some time...

What examples are you thinking of there?
The only one I know is the Hitman (Hard Labours of an Assassin) one and I changed that last month.

I'm not sure off-hand if, having declined to play a gambler who offers you the chance to win a girl as a prize, you will get another chance. And certainly if you've won the game and told Virginie d'Espivant that you're not taking her to St. Pierre then you won't get another chance.

You'd better take Peter Blood while you have the chance, as I found out yesterday. Not because he'll disappear due to code reasons. But if a tavern fight breaks out and he gets caught in the crossfire, he won't be able to offer his quest if he's dead.

Basically, I wouldn't like to guarantee that all side quests are available again if you decline them.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

It shouldn't happen any more with officers hired from the tavern, but I'd imagine citizens hired from the street are still "Citizen".

If the code does what it is supposed to, then that doesn't happen.

When the random citizen is initialized, the game now checks what kind of officer type would be appropriate for the character's outfit.
The actual "Citizen" type is not hireable, so shouldn't ever get those.

If not, perhaps they should be - this could be someone bored with a town life who wants to start a career as a sea officer.

In Enc_Walker.c there is a check to prevent "non-hireable" officer types from being hired. You can get rid of that check and see what happens.

If I recall, I added that on purpose because such "strange" officer types didn't always quite work like they should.
But maybe that is better now?

@Levis probably has something to say on this one.

And so, as I said, there's no reason to pay silly money for a treasure map. The only reason to pay up to 50000 is that there aren't many people offering them for 5000 or less, so if you're waiting to save even more money then you may be waiting for some time...

True.
If you have any thoughts for a better logic between "chance of finding treasure" and "map price", I'm open for suggestions though.

Basically, I wouldn't like to guarantee that all side quests are available again if you decline them.

Fair point.

You'd better take Peter Blood while you have the chance, as I found out yesterday. Not because he'll disappear due to code reasons. But if a tavern fight breaks out and he gets caught in the crossfire, he won't be able to offer his quest if he's dead.

Should he perhaps be immortal?

I'm not sure off-hand if, having declined to play a gambler who offers you the chance to win a girl as a prize, you will get another chance. And certainly if you've won the game and told Virginie d'Espivant that you're not taking her to St. Pierre then you won't get another chance.

True as well.

 

[Grey Roger]

In Enc_Walker.c there is a check to prevent "non-hireable" officer types from being hired. You can get rid of that check and see what happens.

If I recall, I added that on purpose because such "strange" officer types didn't always quite work like they should.
But maybe that is better now?

Ah, OK. That's why I'm still getting "Citizens", then. I did remove that check so that any citizen who wants to go to sea has a chance to do so.

If you have any thoughts for a better logic between "chance of finding treasure" and "map price", I'm open for suggestions though.

I'm not particularly bothered. It just means I don't accept a map from anyone demanding too much money for it.

Should he perhaps be immortal?

That would probably have caused even more trouble in this particular incident. Some random stranger had picked my pocket, then wandered up the stairs, so I followed him with a thieves' knife. But first I'd unassigned all my officers so that, when I got the -2 reputation for mugging this guy, they wouldn't get a share of it. Sometimes when you use a thieves' knife, the target doesn't notice, so all that happens is you get the -2 reputation and all his possessions. And sometimes he does notice, in which case he fights back and everyone in the area joins in, which is what happened this time. By the time I got back downstairs, my now independent officers had massacred most of the inhabitants of the tavern and one of them was trying to get to a survivor who was sitting at a far seat by a table. Peter Blood was not a survivor. But if he'd been immortal, I suspect the fight would not have ended well for our side... Either way, if I wanted to do Peter Blood's side quest then I'd have had to go back to an earlier savegame, but he wasn't the reason I was in Cayman and I'm not bothered about being unable to do that quest in this playthrough. (There's another side quest available in Cayman which I always do after I've got the Sovereign of the Seas...)

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Ah, OK. That's why I'm still getting "Citizens", then. I did remove that check so that any citizen who wants to go to sea has a chance to do so.

You did that on purpose already? That indeed does explain it.

If it works as intended then, any such "officer" with a REAL officer type should still get his appropriate skills set.
But indeed Citizens and other "non-hireable" ones could go either way.

Does this mean it does actually work OK like that? No other strange side-effects from doing that?

Out of curiosity, why exactly do you want those types?

I'm not particularly bothered. It just means I don't accept a map from anyone demanding too much money for it.

If I recall, the price is related to the size of the player ship. Which just screams "exploit", doesn't it?
It might make more sense to link it to the size of the treasure, with a random or Luck-based chance that it is a dud.

That would probably have caused even more trouble in this particular incident. Some random stranger had picked my pocket, then wandered up the stairs, so I followed him with a thieves' knife. But first I'd unassigned all my officers so that, when I got the -2 reputation for mugging this guy, they wouldn't get a share of it. Sometimes when you use a thieves' knife, the target doesn't notice, so all that happens is you get the -2 reputation and all his possessions. And sometimes he does notice, in which case he fights back and everyone in the area joins in, which is what happened this time. By the time I got back downstairs, my now independent officers had massacred most of the inhabitants of the tavern and one of them was trying to get to a survivor who was sitting at a far seat by a table. Peter Blood was not a survivor. But if he'd been immortal, I suspect the fight would not have ended well for our side... Either way, if I wanted to do Peter Blood's side quest then I'd have had to go back to an earlier savegame, but he wasn't the reason I was in Cayman and I'm not bothered about being unable to do that quest in this playthrough. (There's another side quest available in Cayman which I always do after I've got the Sovereign of the Seas...)

 

[Grey Roger]

You did that on purpose already? That indeed does explain it.

If it works as intended then, any such "officer" with a REAL officer type should still get his appropriate skills set.
But indeed Citizens and other "non-hireable" ones could go either way.

Does this mean it does actually work OK like that? No other strange side-effects from doing that?

It certainly does not work for officers I hire from tavern tables, so it probably doesn't work for officer-type citizens either. Skills are not always related to the officer's advertised post and perks never are. In fact, the tavern table officers often have an even spread of skills and few if any perks. So I just disregard the type he claims to be, put him in whichever slot needs to be filled, then assign perks and let him build up skills according to his new post. What's more important is his reputation because often the officer's main job isn't to do anything specific on my ship, it's to command a prize ship long enough to get that ship to the nearest port where I can sell it.

Out of curiosity, why exactly do you want those types?

It's not so much that I specifically want those types, as I don't not want them. I don't like extra limitations which prevent me from hiring walkers. Anyway, removing that limitation improves the chances that a walker will be an officer. And, as above, I don't much care what type of officer he is as he's going into whichever slot needs filling, or into the next prize ship I take.

If I recall, the price is related to the size of the player ship. Which just screams "exploit", doesn't it?
It might make more sense to link it to the size of the treasure, with a random or Luck-based chance that it is a dud.

That can't be right - the price being linked to the player's ship, that is. Otherwise I'd always be getting the same sort of prices so long as I keep the same ship, but I do keep the same ship for quite a while and get different prices anyway. Also, the "exploit" would presumably be to sell or berth your big ship and buy a tartane in the hope of finding someone who will offer you a treasure map at minimal price, then sell the tartane and relaunch your original ship. Maybe someone would consider that a worthwhile exploit, but I don't.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

It certainly does not work for officers I hire from tavern tables, so it probably doesn't work for officer-type citizens either. Skills are not always related to the officer's advertised post and perks never are. In fact, the tavern table officers often have an even spread of skills and few if any perks. So I just disregard the type he claims to be, put him in whichever slot needs to be filled, then assign perks and let him build up skills according to his new post.

That is concerning. @Levis will need to investigate that, because the whole point of Levelling is so that this would work.

That can't be right - the price being linked to the player's ship, that is. Otherwise I'd always be getting the same sort of prices so long as I keep the same ship, but I do keep the same ship for quite a while and get different prices anyway.

It is probably randomized, with the maximum price depending on your ship.
It used to be anyway; check Enc_Walker.c .

Also, the "exploit" would presumably be to sell or berth your big ship and buy a tartane in the hope of finding someone who will offer you a treasure map at minimal price, then sell the tartane and relaunch your original ship. Maybe someone would consider that a worthwhile exploit, but I don't.

That is indeed what I was thinking of.
Does seem quite annoying to do that at all and I would personally never bother.
But it also sounds very strange.

 

[Tingyun]

Thanks so much to both of you. I learned a great deal from reading your discussion, and all my questions are answered. I think I just missed the right shore location to find my lifeboat then, I will try again.

I only have two quick follow-up questions:

1) do you have any recomendations of books or articles on naval tactics to study? I am not sure where to start, but am willing to spend many hours reading any books or resources you would recomend.

2) using the three sail settings in the game, are there any special principles of sailing different from historical naval tactics? For example, any special considerations involved in tacking into the wind? Do sails take less battle damage when at half sail?

Thank you so much!

By the way, my wife saw me playing last night and thought it looked amazing fun to her as well, so she has temporailly halted her Mount & Blade campaign and is now playing an Agent freeplay start this morning. This mod is amazing fun, thank you so much for creating and maintaining it.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

do you have any recomendations of books or articles on naval tactics to study? I am not sure where to start, but am willing to spend many hours reading any books or resources you would recomend.

Maybe @Armada, @Captain Armstrong, @Grey Roger and/or @Hylie Pistof know any?
I myself don't.

using the three sail settings in the game, are there any special principles of sailing different from historical naval tactics?

Historically, captains would have far more control over their sails.
And the "less sails = better manoeuvrability" logic in the game was not necessarily true in real life; it all depends on what sails you set.
I am no expert on that though, so this is just about the limit of what I know....

For example, any special considerations involved in tacking into the wind?

Assuming you're playing on Realistic Game Mode (mod default), the most important for tacking is to ensure you make enough speed to actually complete it.
You don't want to start moving backwards.

Do sails take less battle damage when at half sail?

They do indeed for the simple reason that if they're at half sail, then there is less surface for the enemy to shoot at.

By the way, my wife saw me playing last night and thought it looked amazing fun to her as well, so she has temporailly halted her Mount & Blade campaign and is now playing an Agent freeplay start this morning.

A lady playing the mod again? I think that has been a while ago since that happened! I hope she enjoys it as well.
Is she playing as Milady de Winter by any chance? Good luck with that really low starting reputation then!

This mod is amazing fun, thank you so much for creating and maintaining it.

You're very welcome. I can't speak for anyone else, but I myself do it so that other people can have fun playing.
So it's very gratifying to hear that our time and efforts are appreciated!

 

[Tingyun]

Thank you Pieter!

She is actually using the Lara Croft character (she compared the outfit and looks of milady de winter and lara croft, and ended up liking the lara outfit better). Mainly, she liked that it kind of resembles the Sid Meir's pirates outfit, which is one of her favorite games.

Actually, she just asked me to ask you a question: she is experiencing a tad bit of motion sickness from the game, She thinks from the camera bouncing up and down as the character walks. Are there any settings you know of for the camera we could edit to reduce any of the camera shaking? It isn't too bad and certainly playable, but she wanted to ask.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Actually, she just asked me to ask you a question: she is experiencing a tad bit of motion sickness from the game, She thinks from the camera bouncing up and down as the character walks. Are there any settings you know of for the camera we could edit to reduce any of the camera shaking? It isn't too bad and certainly playable, but she wanted to ask.

I've never noticed the camera bouncing up and down at all in 3rd person mode.
In 1st person mode it does, but I never use that as I don't like that motion much either.

I had a very quick look through the PROGRAM\Locations\locations_camera.c file,
which 'd expect to be the most likely candidate for something related, but I don't see any settings to tweak there.

 

[Tingyun]

Thanks for checking Pieter, she will try out the other viewing mode, and she says she will just get used to it eventually. It was very nice of you to look into it!

 

[Levis]

@Pieter Boelen and @Grey Roger I don't know how much is changed. but in the past you where indeed able to hire merchants and citizens with an enc walker. You might want those because they might have specific perks or skills boosted which some of the normal officers wont have (especially on lower levels this will be the case). The idea eventually was/is to have the officer type be tied to the kind of dialog the enc_walker has. Altough I was thinking about adding the ability (for navel players maybe) to reqruit civilians also when in war or stuff like that.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

What has changed:
- In Leveling.c, the characters' officer type is now based on their character model.
So if a character looks like a carpenter, it probably will be a carpenter.
Try this out using the O-key on the various characters in the game.
If no officer type can be found for the outfit, then the character becomes a Citizen.
- To prevent errors, only "hireable" officer types have the related line in Enc_walker.c enabled.
I can't remember what was the specific need for preventing "strange types" to be hired though. I probably did it to simplify things a bit.
@Grey Roger disabled that limitation in his game though and seems to be happy with it that way.
So maybe it's OK to do that by default again too?

 

[Levis]

What has changed:
- In Leveling.c, the characters' officer type is now based on their character model.
So if a character looks like a carpenter, it probably will be a carpenter.
Try this out using the O-key on the various characters in the game.
If no officer type can be found for the outfit, then the character becomes a Citizen.

Can't find this in the code. I do find something about the model, but this will only work if the character isn't a officer, altough I don't know for sure if encouter officers get the "isOfficer" attribute, these are only for questofficers right?

- To prevent errors, only "hireable" officer types have the related line in Enc_walker.c enabled.
I can't remember what was the specific need for preventing "strange types" to be hired though. I probably did it to simplify things a bit.
@Grey Roger disabled that limitation in his game though and seems to be happy with it that way.
So maybe it's OK to do that by default again too?

it's a matter of adding the usableoffictype attribute to the specific officertype.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Can't find this in the code. I do find something about the model, but this will only work if the character isn't a officer

It is there. I wrote a specific function for that.
Can't remember is name, but look for "model" in Leveling.c and you'll find it soon enough.
It affects all non-officer types in the streets so that only those that look like officers actually are hire able officers and get a type in line with their outfit.

it's a matter of adding the usableoffictype attribute to the specific officertype.

It is a matter of removing the if statement from the dialog file that prevents it.
If you add that attribute to all officer types, then it doesn't do anything.

Personally I don't mind being able to hire only regular officer types.
Keeps this simple and prevents random town girls from joining up as that might be a bit weird.

 

[Levis]

Keeps this simple and prevents random town girls from joining up as that might be a bit weird.

If I where a pirate captain I wouldn't mind the the town girl joining me on my ship