Fixed Are all treasure maps bogus?

[Jason Maffettone]

I have done four treasure map missions in a row and in all four cases the treasure chest was empty... Do they not work? Is this somebody's idea of funny? What's up with this?

 

[ANSEL]

They sure works fine. Your skills in luck has to be good for it to work.
I found a lot of fine treasures. The last one: Jewels,gold ,silver and 64 four barrel guns.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

Huh! I thought I posted here a half hour ago.

I'm currently 4 for 9 methinks. It evens out over time.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Generally, if you pay a lot of money for the map, there is a higher chance of the treasure actually being there. I think.
They do work. But you have to be lucky.

 

[Dextr]

I'd like to have a glimpse on the relevant code, where should I look? The whole thing looks a bit fishy, you can get empty chests with luck 8, while with 9 it is possible to get millions in no time.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

PROGRAM\MAXIMUS_functions.c search for "treasure".

 

[Hylie Pistof]

Overall it works out to about 50/50 as to whether you get a treasure or not. It helps to build your luck up early and you can go on a roll, but eventually you taper off. In game after game it works out to about 50% for me.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

PROGRAM\MAXIMUS_functions.c search for "treasure".

The relevant code starts with if( Calc_luck > rand(11) ) .
That basically means that on low luck skills, there is a higher chance that there won't be any treasure at all.
Then the amount of treasure is also based on your luck.

By the time you reach a luck of 10, there is still a small chance that there won't be any treasure.
Also, the size of the treasure would average out at 50% of the maximum size.

Actually, there may be a slight lapse of logic in that code relating to this line:

Calc_luck = rand(Calc_luck);

That can return 0 as well, which would mean that there won't be any treasure even if the prior code DID return that there should be treasure.
Suggest changing it to:

Calc_luck = rand(Calc_luck-1)+1;

That will return a value between 1 and 10 instead of between 0 and 10.

 

[Dextr]

I think I'll try that, since I had a cascade of empty chests with luck 10. Ironically, I firstly posted in this thread after a funny occasion - while testing Jack's storyline, I cheated the player to the max, got the treasure quest for the very first time and came across a chest with thousands of gems and idols, some 70 muskets and battle cuirasses, 5 gold cuirasses and English officer's sabers and hundreds of thousands coins. Now, by boosting player's luck conventionally, I never got that much staff. Must be some inherent luck of Jack's

 

[Pieter Boelen]

LOL! The code simply looks at your regular luck skill and that is that.
But of course there is also such a thing as REAL luck (aka. the "random" factor. )

 

[Jason]

IN playing the last two versions 12/8 and 12/22 I have gone on about six treasure quests and have yet to find any chest with treasure in it. Just bad luck? Or some unintended consequence of some leveling fix? Or something else?

 

[Levis]

Bad luck

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Yep, definitely bad luck. Occasionally Hylie mentions having a lot of treasures and sometimes people report finding no good ones at all for a while.
The code never changed inbetween all those reports, so it must be pure randomness.

Luck skill is factored in, of course. But even with 10 Luck you still don't get 100% chance of good treasures.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

There is this old related thread if you're interested:
Fixed - Are all treasure maps bogus? | PiratesAhoy!

 

[Hylie Pistof]

Ya, it is totally random. In one game I can get 3 of 4 treasures and in the next I can get 1 of 4 treasures.

 

[Jason]

Thanks all