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Planned Feature Allow Play During Waiting Times

Pieter Boelen

Navigation Officer
Administrator
Storm Modder
Hearts of Oak Donator
At the moment when you do anything at the shipyard, store or blacksmith, time passes.
This is of course does make sense, but it also means that time is being skipped beyond the player's control.

So my hope for Build 15 would be that rather than this time passing automatically,
the reload to sea is locked until the set time has passed.
If any other things are done during your time ashore that should take time, then the time that the reload to sea is locked is extended accordingly.

You would be able to immediately wait until everything is done either at the tavern or in your ship's cabin.
If you are buying a brand new ship, then the reload to your ship would be locked as well so you have to use the tavern.
Sleeping in the tavern hall should be an option only for several hours (e.g. once), but you would need to use a room if it extends to several days (or do it manually by repeating).

This would have several effects:
- You are encouraged to spend your time ashore in a meaningful way to play sidequests/do some exploring/talk with the locals/spend time with the crew/gamble/etc.
- Staying in the tavern becomes an actual part of gameplay, instead of pretty much a waste of time and money as it is now

While I don't imagine us doing this any time soon, would you consider this an interesting element of gameplay?
What more could be added or how should it be tweaked so that it actually adds to the game instead of being annoying?
 
I'd say dont lock the reload to your ship. you could for example also spend the time pracising sword skills on the deck. But you should lock the reload to sea till it's done.

I think it would be very interesting. It wouldn't be that hard.
If we just add a attribute to the mainchar which is something like "ready_to_sail_date" which is a date and time. In the interface we can just add a check to the reload icon if the current data is larger then this date. And we use a function to add time to this when it's needed for for example the shop.
This function first checks if the current date is larger then the date set there. If so it changes it to the current date.
After that the required waiting time is added to it.

We could even use this to raise crew morale for example. You could order your boatswain to "give the men some day off" which will add some waiting time but raises the morale (and possibly ends you up with a fine cause they misbehaved :p or you will be missing some crew afterwards cause they where arrested).
 
I'd say dont lock the reload to your ship. you could for example also spend the time pracising sword skills on the deck. But you should lock the reload to sea till it's done.
My suggestion was to only lock the reload to your ship when you are replacing the ship you already had.
After all, you're then waiting for the new ship and are transferring all sorts of stuff, so it is a different situation.

But actually the main reason is because I wanted "staying in the tavern" to actually be a required part of gameplay in some cases.
Why would you do that when you can stay in your own ship's cabin? Well, because your own ship's cabin is being refurbished for your brand new ship, for example. :wp

I think it would be very interesting. It wouldn't be that hard.
If we just add a attribute to the mainchar which is something like "ready_to_sail_date" which is a date and time. In the interface we can just add a check to the reload icon if the current data is larger then this date. And we use a function to add time to this when it's needed for for example the shop.
This function first checks if the current date is larger then the date set there. If so it changes it to the current date.
After that the required waiting time is added to it.
There is already a function that can disable the reload to sea, so we don't need to invent that one. I was thinking of just using a quest timer.

Indeed it shouldn't be hard, but I think this might end up becoming quite more complex than "getting the basic functionality right".
Same with the "cannons and crew take cargo space" idea. The concept works fine in the game, but there are all sorts of hidden complexities to deal with too. :facepalm

We could even use this to raise crew morale for example. You could order your boatswain to "give the men some day off" which will add some waiting time but raises the morale (and possibly ends you up with a fine cause they misbehaved :p or you will be missing some crew afterwards cause they where arrested).
I like it. :cheeky
 
Playing side-quests doesn't take much time. It doesn't take any time if there are none, either because there none in that town at all or because you've already done them.

Exploring is fine if there is something to be found. There is not much fun in wandering around a town full of nothing but locked doors, or going outside the town to see which cloned jungle locations are scattered round this island. But it should take a lot longer to walk from one end of the island to the other. (Google Maps estimates about 4 hours to walk from Bridgetown to Speightstown, and that's with modern roads and not meeting highwaymen every step of the way.)

Talking to locals is a great way to get your pocket picked, and ever since someone decided to "balance" reputation, you can't pick their pockets to get your stuff back and then give money to beggars or tell people they've dropped their purses to get your reputation back. And it won't take up much of your time either because no game time passes until you move to another location.

I'm not sure what you would be able to do while spending time with the crew. Possibly an alternative source of gambling partners if everyone in the tavern just wants you to buy them a drink. Or training - the game doesn't take account of crew skill, only yours and your officers', so maybe spending some time training the crew could raise your shipboard skills. (Even if you're not actually firing the guns, practising loading and cleaning them would help your Gunnery skill.)

There's no reason to put the ship off-limits if you're not buying a new ship. Or, for that matter, if you are buying a new ship and you're assigning it to a companion officer first. Your own ship is still available in these cases.

Have a new option for the tavern, "How many days will you be staying?" That way you don't need to keep going to the barkeeper every day to tell him you're staying until the next day. That way anyone who doesn't want to take the time to do any of this new stuff can just let time pass and then continue on his way. We might think the new tavern gameplay is awesome, other people might just want to get the delay out of the way so they can continue with pirating.

Incidentally, since the game is already moving towards "adult" with the new drugs stuff, the brothel may also provide a place to spend some time. :wp
 
The brothel already provides time right :p?

If your ship is being worked on you should indeed not be able to reload to your ship. I agree time passes to slow on land and I'm planning on fixing that if we are going to do this. Also for example gambling should pass time and maybe even talking to someone.
I mean I have in the dialog system a counter now for how many dialog options you've done because I'm going to need that for some other stuff :p. What stops us from adding a little time after each dialog line. or if you had a dialog longer then X options a certain time has passed.
I do agree we want some more stuff to do on land if we are going to do that.
I want to include the capture smugglers tasks for a gouvernor. This would take place completly on land. You could also choose to do the bodyguard task in houses to spend some time.
Maybe we could add a simple common quests which asks you to deliver something to someone in the jungle?
It would also allow you to search for a good officer. Seeing the tavern produces one each day you could check a few of them before you can head back to sea again.
 
Indeed at the moment there isn't enough to do ashore to spend the time generated by a change such as this, ergo the "hidden complexities". ;)
So that should definitely be changed, so that spending time ashore actually serves a purpose.

There's no reason to put the ship off-limits if you're not buying a new ship. Or, for that matter, if you are buying a new ship and you're assigning it to a companion officer first. Your own ship is still available in these cases.
I never suggested the first part. :no
Indeed reasons can be thought of to allow you to still visit a ship when you're buying a new one, but that gets complicated and wasn't my point anyway.
The point is that I want there to be a REASON to stay at the tavern.

Have a new option for the tavern, "How many days will you be staying?" That way you don't need to keep going to the barkeeper every day to tell him you're staying until the next day. That way anyone who doesn't want to take the time to do any of this new stuff can just let time pass and then continue on his way. We might think the new tavern gameplay is awesome, other people might just want to get the delay out of the way so they can continue with pirating.
For sure! I actually thought of having a default "I'll be staying for x days" option where "x" is automatically the number you need to get back underway.

Incidentally, since the game is already moving towards "adult" with the new drugs stuff, the brothel may also provide a place to spend some time. :wp
Which reminds me.... There IS an ENABLE_BROTHEL toggle that is still OFF by default.
I'm thinking some other features, including the drugs stuff and maybe the "sampling charms" stuff with the tavern wenches, should probably be linked to that toggle as well.
 
I mean I have in the dialog system a counter now for how many dialog options you've done because I'm going to need that for some other stuff :p. What stops us from adding a little time after each dialog line. or if you had a dialog longer then X options a certain time has passed.
That would make sense. :yes

I want to include the capture smugglers tasks for a gouvernor. This would take place completly on land. You could also choose to do the bodyguard task in houses to spend some time.
Maybe we could add a simple common quests which asks you to deliver something to someone in the jungle?
It would also allow you to search for a good officer. Seeing the tavern produces one each day you could check a few of them before you can head back to sea again.
Agreed on all accounts. The option to do bodyguard duty in random houses is already there. But why would you do that when you can just go straight to sea again?
But if you have a reason to be landlocked (cargo transfer/ship repair), players might be more inclined to make use of these existing features.
 
So just make it an adult toggle ....
I must warn you tough, I'm going to use the opium for smugglers. But I might be able to put in some kind of replacement item instead .... guess dutch people have way less problems with these kind of things as american people XD.
 
Personally the opium doesn't bother me that much because I am not aware of it being a relevant problem anymore in this day and age.
Other types of drugs certainly are though, but thankfully they have no place in the game.

Stuff related to brothels and other non-feministic treatment of women is a different story though.
We've had a female modder here before who STRONGLY objected to any such features in the game, which is the main reason for the ENABLE_BROTHEL toggle and that remaining disabled by default.
Indeed expanding that to an "adult content" toggle would make sense.

That shouldn't be taken as an excuse to add excessive adult content into the game though as I myself most certainly have no interest in that going overboard.
I recall the original Supermod for AoP had some actual videos related to the brothel which is certainly NOT something I consider to be tasteful at all and has no place in our excellent mod.
The current dialogues at least are more funny than anything else and should not be taken seriously. I don't mind jokes. :cheeky
 
Note that different activities have totally different time scales. Dialogs should only take a few minutes. A good long gambling or drinking session should take a few hours. Moving from one jungle location to another should probably also account for an hour or two. Cargo unloading can take hours, especially if you're clearing out the contents of a large galleon. Most of the other activities proposed here are also on the scale of a few hours.

Weapon polishing and ship repairs take days. The main ways of passing that scale of time are still going to be spending a night in the tavern (or brothel), or visiting someone's house. (Where, incidentally, standing guard is not an option until you have high enough Melee skill. You always have the option to stay and chat, though.) So it doesn't really matter if these other fun things to do on land happen. If you need to pass a few days while your ship is being repaired or your sword is being polished, somewhere or other you're going to need a place where a day or three just pass and then the job is done and you go on your way. So the main effect of what is being proposed is that instead of time passing right away in the shipyard or blacksmith's, you need to make your way to the tavern, initiate another dialog, pay some money and then the time passes. I can see this being entertaining at first for the novelty value and then annoying when you have to keep on doing it.
 
It can be like that and a toggle might be in order.
Still, if players actually get to make use of some of that time, it could serve some purpose.
I'd imagine getting the large jobs started, then doing some stuff ashore until I'm bored, wait the last bit and continue play.

Perhaps when you can wait on your ship, have a dialog there to skip the waiting and go straight onto 3D sailing mode or have this occur automatically upon activating the reload to sea.
That would bypass just about all extra actions.
 
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