Being a pirate

[Bathtub-pirate]

Generally I do like the emphasis of there being various playing styles. Maybe you guys could implement a smuggler playing style in the future.



But onto the topic of this thread: Being a pirate is way too easy imho. Fun, but very easy. Especially as you go on.



Why is it for example, that I still can use other hostile (read: any nation's) ship yards and stores? At least from time to time. Sometimes I can bribe the owner into letting me use them, which is FAR too convenient. Especially the ship yards, since that way you can sell a bunch of loot as well by simply having it on the ship that you sell. I would really limit these services to pirate friendly settlements and smugglers.

Historically, pirates were utterly reliant on save harbors. So opportunities should be few and far between. Only smuggling should provide an all around available way (in the sense that it is available on every island).



Also, once somebody is a notorious enough pirate, the governments should come really more after him. To me it feels as if once I get my hand on anything that qualifies as a ship suitable for war, let alone a ship of the line, I basically become unstoppable. Even as a pirate. Everything becomes a peace of cake. When essentially the navies of this world should be after me. I mean ….. I am well in triple minus digits with all nations and rank as a well known pirate.



Consequentially it often feels as if being a pirate has no real endgame to it.



One idea would be this: The more well known/notorious somebody is as a pirate, the more likely it should be that naval vessels of significant threat spawn in the waters that he is in, the longer he stays there. Especially if he is plundering local shipping all the time. No more “all you can board” buffets off of Nevis.^^ This mechanic could also be implemented in the chances of a “sail ho” spawning.



This would really add an ongoing and persisting challenge when playing as a pirate. Something that I think is really lacking as it is right now. Because the more successful you are as a pirate, the easier everything becomes …… when it should be exactly the other way around. After all, notoriety is what got many a pirate killed.^^

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Smuggling was greatly expanded quite a while back.
@DeathDaisy is further improving on it now: Feature Request - About morale

If you are an official pirate, occasionally you will get into trouble ashore.
Even that ends up being "too much" for some players to whom this happens by accident.

Also, once somebody is a notorious enough pirate, the governments should come really more after him. To me it feels as if once I get my hand on anything that qualifies as a ship suitable for war, let alone a ship of the line, I basically become unstoppable. Even as a pirate. Everything becomes a peace of cake. When essentially the navies of this world should be after me. I mean ….. I am well in triple minus digits with all nations and rank as a well known pirate.

I would like that to be rectified, actually. I've had ideas aplenty.
But being realistic, I don't see how I'm ever going to find the opportunity to implement them.

Consequentially it often feels as if being a pirate has no real endgame to it.

Does anything in the game have an "endgame" of sorts? Even most storylines are open-ended.

 

[DeathDaisy]

Generally I do like the emphasis of there being various playing styles. Maybe you guys could implement a smuggler playing style in the future.

There actually is a smuggling system in place, but it's quite obscure and risky as most of the system hasnt been explained in-game. I'm working on expanding and explaining it atm tho! If you wanna check it out it's on Page 6 of About morale (which were originally about an entirely different thing I think? ) it's not quite finished, but it works and I'd appreciate the feedback !

But onto the topic of this thread: Being a pirate is way too easy imho. Fun, but very easy. Especially as you go on.

Why is it for example, that I still can use other hostile (read: any nation's) ship yards and stores? At least from time to time. Sometimes I can bribe the owner into letting me use them, which is FAR too convenient. Especially the ship yards, since that way you can sell a bunch of loot as well by simply having it on the ship that you sell. I would really limit these services to pirate friendly settlements and smugglers.

Historically, pirates were utterly reliant on save harbors. So opportunities should be few and far between. Only smuggling should provide an all around available way (in the sense that it is available on every island).

Also, once somebody is a notorious enough pirate, the governments should come really more after him. To me it feels as if once I get my hand on anything that qualifies as a ship suitable for war, let alone a ship of the line, I basically become unstoppable. Even as a pirate. Everything becomes a peace of cake. When essentially the navies of this world should be after me. I mean ….. I am well in triple minus digits with all nations and rank as a well known pirate.

Consequentially it often feels as if being a pirate has no real endgame to it.

One idea would be this: The more well known/notorious somebody is as a pirate, the more likely it should be that naval vessels of significant threat spawn in the waters that he is in, the longer he stays there. Especially if he is plundering local shipping all the time. No more “all you can board” buffets off of Nevis.^^ This mechanic could also be implemented in the chances of a “sail ho” spawning.

This would really add an ongoing and persisting challenge when playing as a pirate. Something that I think is really lacking as it is right now. Because the more successful you are as a pirate, the easier everything becomes …… when it should be exactly the other way around. After all, notoriety is what got many a pirate killed.^^

I think some of this can probably be done with a bit of tweaking, frex increasing the chance of enemies seeing through your false flag would make it much harder to use hostile ports.

If you wanna have a look at the numbers the GetChanceDetectFalseFlag() function is in nations.c

float GetChanceDetectFalseFlag()
{
    // original code -->
    //    float rank = GetRankFromPoints(GetScore(GetMainCharacter()));
    //    return CHANCE_DETECT_FALSE_FLAG_BASE+(CHANCE_DETECT_FALSE_FLAG_MAX-CHANCE_DETECT_FALSE_FLAG_BASE)*rank/MAX_RANK;
    // original code <--

    // PB -->
    if (iForceDetectionFalseFlag ==  1)    return 1.0;
    if (iForceDetectionFalseFlag == -1)    return 0.0;
    // PB <--

    // LDH -->
    ref mchr = GetMainCharacter(); // KK
    float score  = GetScore(mchr); // KK
    float rank   = GetRankFromPoints(score);
    int   sneak  = CalcCharacterSkill(mchr, SKILL_SNEAK);
    int difficulty = GetDifficulty();
    float chance = rank/MAX_RANK * (11.0-sneak)/10.0;
    chance = chance * difficulty/2.0;        // 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0
    if(IsCharacterPerkOn(mchr, "Disguiser")) chance = chance * 0.9;
    //    chance = chance * (difficulty+1)/3.0;        // alternate difficulty calculation 0.67, 1,0, 1.33, 1.67
    chance = fclamp(CHANCE_DETECT_FALSE_FLAG_BASE, CHANCE_DETECT_FALSE_FLAG_MAX, chance); // PURSEON: so chance doesn't go over min/max
    //    LogIt("False Flag Detection - Score: " + score + ", rank: " + rank + ", Sneak: " + sneak + ", Chance: " + chance*100.0 + "%"); // for testing
    //    LogIt("The chance of your false flag being detected is " + chance*100.0 + "%");    // Tell the player, it might get him used to looking for it.
    return chance;
    // LDH <--
}

looking thru it, I'm not quite sure how it works... there are a lot of variables declared, but I don't know if they aren't included in the chance calculation or if I just don't understand it.. If I read it right, the chance is based on difficulty and luck? Maybe notoriety isn't implemented yet? I'm sure @Pieter Boelen would know, he seems to have a good grasp of most of the code anyway, tweaking/inventing that calculation could go some way to what you want

EDIT: or is rank notoriety? I assumed it was level and score was notoriety, but I might be wrong EDIT2: I was definitely wrong. But still, that calculation is what to tune

 

[Pieter Boelen]

@DeathDaisy: Indeed the higher your "fame", the higher your "rank" and "score" and the smaller the chance your false flag will work.

 

[DeathDaisy]

yes, it was an embarrassing conclusion, now that I look at it again..

 

[Bathtub-pirate]

@Pieter



With trouble ashore you mean the civilians or guards recognizing you, I trust. Just always have in mind where the nearest exit is. Than you will be a-okay.^^



With “endgame” I mean more of a difficulty curve. But then again, I of course am not likely to be very representative of the average player, since I play ironman only. Can't be bothered with the world map.^^ And the thing is that playing as a pirate in this play mode is typically not hard at all. Just make sure that you have a swift vessel, that can ideally sail well into the wind. Then you will be able to pick or avoid fights with impunity. The rest is just a matter of sound judgment. I typically end up with something like a gaff schooner for this purpose. From there on it is just a matter of pirating around, waiting for an opportunity to get your hands on something with fire power. Which in my case was of fifth rate warship. I then used this fifth rate warship and the gaff schoner to best a 76 gun 3rd rate ship of the line, which is my current vessel.



Now I rarely even hide my colors but sail around openly as a pirate. Also I used this ship of the line to take Charlestown, so that Nevis is now entirely in the hands of the pirates.





@ Daisy



I will probably engage in some more smuggling soon. So far I 've done it a bit on the side. And I do like it, since it now doesn't seem to be driven solely by how good your luck is. Maybe I will play as a full on smuggler next.