Fixed Animists Sidequest: Modify Hostile Montanez Behaviour

[Grey Roger]

Thinking about the Montanez issue a bit more, I'd prefer if the condition to send you to the lighthouse isn'tfixed. We've been concerned about keeping storylines as they originally were, e.g. keeping specific officers for Nelson and Aubrey as well as starting off at high level as that's how those stories were originally written. The quest to meet the Montanez and escort her has always had you teleport to the Greenford/Bridgetown tavern and then to the Greenford/Bridgetown port, and this has never been a problem until the betrayal mod for escort missions fouled everything up. If that's been fixed so that storyline ships no longer object to flag changes then there is once again no problem with arriving at Barbados under a Spanish-friendly flag to avoid annoying Montanez on the way in, then switching to a British-friendly flag to avoid annoying Bridgetown fort on the way out. Since you teleport to the tavern straight after sinking the Animist ships, you need to go to Bridgetown if you have any intention of restocking supplies, selling off any looted cargo or ships you took on the way there, etc., and I'd rather not have to trek through the canyon both ways in order to do it.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Thinking about the Montanez issue a bit more, I'd prefer if the condition to send you to the lighthouse isn'tfixed. We've been concerned about keeping storylines as they originally were, e.g. keeping specific officers for Nelson and Aubrey as well as starting off at high level as that's how those stories were originally written. The quest to meet the Montanez and escort her has always had you teleport to the Greenford/Bridgetown tavern and then to the Greenford/Bridgetown port, and this has never been a problem until the betrayal mod for escort missions fouled everything up. If that's been fixed so that storyline ships no longer object to flag changes then there is once again no problem with arriving at Barbados under a Spanish-friendly flag to avoid annoying Montanez on the way in, then switching to a British-friendly flag to avoid annoying Bridgetown fort on the way out. Since you teleport to the tavern straight after sinking the Animist ships, you need to go to Bridgetown if you have any intention of restocking supplies, selling off any looted cargo or ships you took on the way there, etc., and I'd rather not have to trek through the canyon both ways in order to do it.

With the latest changes, I think the behaviour is now the way it was intended to be by Nathan Kell. But indeed that is only any good if you want to go right back to sea after the quest scene.
Automatically hoisting an English flag if you are hostile to England would make more sense and would keep you in the town.

Of course the behaviour depends on the flag you fly when you rescue the Montanez even now.
If you want to go right into port, then all you need to do is to fly an England-friendly flag before.

 

[Grey Roger]

That is the problem. You have to fly a Spanish-friendly flag when you approach Barbados otherwise the Montanez is hostile to you. Since it's a tiddler with pea-shooter cannons, that may not do much harm to you, but it does mean any companion ship you already have is liable to attack Montanez. So are you if you press Space to auto-aim cannons rather than V to aim manually and the Montanez happens to be in one of your fire arcs. It would be embarrassing to sink the Montanez yourself while trying to save it from the Animists.

But the teleport of your ship to the lighthouse seems to be done before you talk to Mergilo Hurtado, so you don't have time to then hoist a Britain-friendly flag to prevent it. Basically, put the condition back the way it was or remove it entirely, then you always teleport to Bridgetown port just as you always have done in the past. Or reschedule the check and teleport to lighthouse so it only happens after you've had a chance to change flag.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I'm thinking the SafePortLeave function might be a better idea as found in the BraveBlackFlag/FreePlay copy of both_reaction.c .
So if you're actually hostile to whatever nation holds Bridgetown, then you'll automatically hoist a false flag.
And we can do away with the shore trick altogether.

 

[Grey Roger]

The quest used to work fine as it was. It was only the betrayal mod which fouled up this and any other quest involving a storyline ship. If that's been fixed then the Montanez portion of the "Strange Things Going On" quest may as well be put back as it was.

The shore trick may still be useful for someone who is genuinely hostile to Bridgetown's nation. A false flag won't do you any good if there's a battleship in harbour which recognises you as you try to leave... (Though I'd probably try to board and capture it. )

 

[Pieter Boelen]

The shore trick may still be useful for someone who is genuinely hostile to Bridgetown's nation. A false flag won't do you any good if there's a battleship in harbour which recognises you as you try to leave... (Though I'd probably try to board and capture it. )

In that case find:

if (GetNationRelation(sti(PChar.nation), GetTownNation("Greenford")) == RELATION_ENEMY) // PB: was hardcoded for ENGLAND

Replace with:

if (GetNationRelation2MainCharacter(GetTownNation("Greenford")) == RELATION_ENEMY) // PB: was hardcoded for ENGLAND

That will enable the shore thing only if you REALLY are hostile and won't care about your flag.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

^ The above change will be implemented for the next update.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

I had no problems at all there again. I was friendly with Montanez and hostile to England and flew my personal flag, and it all worked fine. I brought along a 2nd ship this time so all went well.

 

[Grey Roger]

Meanwhile I also had no problems as a character friendly to England who was only flying a Spanish flag to placate the Montanez. This wasn't entirely successful, due to the ongoing problem with recognition of false flags; Montanez saw through the clever disguise and turned hostile. Then it realised that it had now made itself hostile to everything in sight - the Animists who were already attacking it, me, and Bridgetown fort, which made its presence known by claiming the credit for sinking the first of the Animist ships. Montanez surrendered! I finished off the second Animist ship, after which things proceeded as normal - teleport to tavern, talk to Mergildo Hurtado, teleport to port because I'm friendly to England, then the fix for Montanez took effect as I raised an England-friendly flag (can't remember now whether it was English or Portuguese) and Montanez didn't object.

So it looks as though this is now working well for both friends and enemies of England. Thanks, @Pieter Boelen!