• New Horizons on Maelstrom
    Maelstrom New Horizons


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Build 14 Alpha 8.5

I'm still using the old version that had blockdamage in the code, but without the return that keeps damage from being assessed if the block is pierced. I've since made that change in my code. Don't worry about blade damage doubling up unless you have blockdamage set to a very high value. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" /> If that code is executed then other damage won't be applied at all.

The older values make some of the pistols more rare, but I'd prefer not to see so many "brace of pistols" in the game, up to you if you want to change that back. I also accidentally changed the picTexture and picIndex for the musket and musketoon. Corrected lines as follows:

<!--c1--><div class='codetop'>CODE</div><div class='codemain'><!--ec1-->n = InitStdGun(n,"pistolmtoon", "musketoon",   8,  9, 0.08,  12,  16000, 60.0, 80.0,  60, 1, 24, "", "OBJECTS\DUEL\pistol_mtoon.wav", "pg2"); // Musketoon
n = InitStdGun(n,"pistolmket",     "musket",      8, 10, 0.05,  14,  20000,100.0,130.0,  80, 1, 30, "", "OBJECTS\DUEL\pistol_musket.wav", "mb"); // Musket<!--c2--></div><!--ec2-->

Hook
 
So.... can you please update the fully corrected files in the weekend or so? Just to keep things simple. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_mrgreen1.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":cheeky" border="0" alt="icon_mrgreen1.gif" />
And I TOLD you those musket(oon) interface pictures are cursed!!! <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/piratesing.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":shock" border="0" alt="piratesing.gif" />

If blockdamage is executed, no other blockdamage is applied at all? If so, the blade's block values probably have no effect whatsoever! That's not good! <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/modding.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":modding" border="0" alt="modding.gif" />
 
<!--quoteo(post=304801:date=Mar 5 2009, 09:41 AM:name=Pieter Boelen)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Pieter Boelen @ Mar 5 2009, 09:41 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=304801"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->So.... can you please update the fully corrected files in the weekend or so? Just to keep things simple. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_mrgreen1.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":cheeky" border="0" alt="icon_mrgreen1.gif" />
And I TOLD you those musket(oon) interface pictures are cursed!!! <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/piratesing.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":shock" border="0" alt="piratesing.gif" /><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
You've got all my changes, and I don't have all yours. I'm still using the previous version of the code. The new numbers I just posted appear to have fixed the pics at the store. When I'm done fixing old bugs, I'll download the newer version and start fixing new bugs.

<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->If blockdamage is executed, no other blockdamage is applied at all? If so, the blade's block values probably have no effect whatsoever! That's not good! <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/modding.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":modding" border="0" alt="modding.gif" /><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Pieter, it's working exactly as you wanted it to. Don't worry about it. Pierce and block work as they're supposed to.

If you revert the blade damage, we need to make a change to the SellAllLoot to revert it as well. itemstrade.c:

<!--c1--><div class='codetop'>CODE</div><div class='codemain'><!--ec1-->// LDH new calculations 28Jan09 - reverted 05Mar09
JunkBladeMaxDamage = 12;    // below level 5 sell daggers only, max_dmg < 12 (20)
if (CharLevel >= JUNK_BLADE_LEVEL_1) JunkBladeMaxDamage = 20;    // at level 5, start selling blades with max_dmg < 20(40)
if (CharLevel >= JUNK_BLADE_LEVEL_2) JunkBladeMaxDamage = 25;    // at level 9, start selling blades with max_dmg < 25(60)
if (CharLevel >= JUNK_BLADE_LEVEL_3) JunkBladeMaxDamage = 30;    // at level13, start selling blades with max_dmg < 30(70)

//if (sti(refitm.dmg_max)+sti(refitm.dmg_min) < JunkBladeMaxDamage) SellMe = true;    // for higher damage version
if (sti(refitm.dmg_max) < JunkBladeMaxDamage) SellMe = true;
if (sti(refitm.piercing) > 40 || sti(refitm.block) > 40) SellMe = false;    // remove this for higher damage version<!--c2--></div><!--ec2-->

It's messier than the original because I left some notes in for the higher blade damage version. The numbers in parentheses were the numbers I used with the high damage code.

I did a couple more dungeon crawls and was able to get killed once. I think the worst opponent I faced was armed with a dagger; she almost killed me. What is it with these women? <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin.gif" />

Hook
 
So, Hook... In the Inititems.c, you want to totally remove all of Ron Losey' changes? I don't know if it's the right solution. I didn't agree with all of his view ; for example he had a very poor opinion about rapiers, but he tried to make something equilibrated. He wanted to remove 'magic weapons' good in everything, so that all weapons have good and bad points. For example, he gave great damages for the cutlass, but associated with poor pearcing & blocking values, and on the other hand gave rapiers low damages but high of pearcing & blocking. Of course, it didn't worked too well. Maybe we should either completly rewrote the entire system, and not make intermediate changes. Hard to say.

I found the re-evaluation of prices a good idea, at least for basic weapons. The idea was to make the player earn much less by selling back weapons. I had personnally begin to test in Build 13 some basic code to give all random guys only 0-20 gold coins - after all, 20 gold coin is the basic monthly salary for a sailor, if I remember well. Why would random bulgars always carry 2000 gold, expensive swords and elixir with them? And it's true that in the stock PotC you had few common weapons, with very poor stats, used by nobody, and expensive-too good looking-heavy stats weapon, carried by the first beggar you can met.
 
<!--quoteo(post=304805:date=Mar 5 2009, 05:34 PM:name=Hook)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Hook @ Mar 5 2009, 05:34 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=304805"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->You've got all my changes, and I don't have all yours. I'm still using the previous version of the code. The new numbers I just posted appear to have fixed the pics at the store. When I'm done fixing old bugs, I'll download the newer version and start fixing new bugs.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->There shouldn't be much additional bugs in Patch 1; it contains mainly fixes. Anyway, I meant to say "can you please upload your code files in the weekend"? You posted some on the forum, but it's hard for me to keep track of them and I'm afraid I'll miss some. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/modding.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":modding" border="0" alt="modding.gif" />

<!--quoteo(post=304805:date=Mar 5 2009, 05:34 PM:name=Hook)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Hook @ Mar 5 2009, 05:34 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=304805"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Pieter, it's working exactly as you wanted it to. Don't worry about it. Pierce and block work as they're supposed to.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->Well... if it's good, it's good and you won't hear me complaining. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/dunno.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":shrug" border="0" alt="dunno.gif" />

<!--quoteo(post=304824:date=Mar 5 2009, 09:19 PM:name=a simple virtual sailor)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (a simple virtual sailor @ Mar 5 2009, 09:19 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=304824"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->So, Hook... In the Inititems.c, you want to totally remove all of Ron Losey' changes? I don't know if it's the right solution. I didn't agree with all of his view ; for example he had a very poor opinion about rapiers, but he tried to make something equilibrated. He wanted to remove 'magic weapons' good in everything, so that all weapons have good and bad points. For example, he gave great damages for the cutlass, but associated with poor pearcing & blocking values, and on the other hand gave rapiers low damages but high of pearcing & blocking. Of course, it didn't worked too well. Maybe we should either completly rewrote the entire system, and not make intermediate changes. Hard to say.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->I agree; the idea was certainly good, but the execution wasn't quite perfect. Of course he came up with those values pretty quickly for testing purposes with the intent that we'd be able to work further from there. Basically, the stock game system isn't quite perfect and nor is the new system and I'd like to end up with something that is at least better than either of those two.

<!--quoteo(post=304824:date=Mar 5 2009, 09:19 PM:name=a simple virtual sailor)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (a simple virtual sailor @ Mar 5 2009, 09:19 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=304824"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I found the re-evaluation of prices a good idea, at least for basic weapons. The idea was to make the player earn much less by selling back weapons. I had personnally begin to test in Build 13 some basic code to give all random guys only 0-20 gold coins - after all, 20 gold coin is the basic monthly salary for a sailor, if I remember well. Why would random bulgars always carry 2000 gold, expensive swords and elixir with them? And it's true that in the stock PotC you had few common weapons, with very poor stats, used by nobody, and expensive-too good looking-heavy stats weapon, carried by the first beggar you can met.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->Agreed, agreed, agree and agreed. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/yes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":yes" border="0" alt="yes.gif" />

What we could do is decrease the number of blades readily available in the game and balance the ones that are left to all have their pro's and cons. Those blades don't need to have a high monetary value and the choice would depend on your preference. Then there can be quest-only blades which you get as a reward and you can either sell them because they ARE valuable or keep them, because they're better to fight with or give a skill bonus or something like that. And we can also put different blades in different periods, giving them all a purpose without having too many in the same period. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I just really don't see the point of having dozens of different blades. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/mybad.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":facepalm" border="0" alt="mybad.gif" />

And the overkill of rich people walking around at random isn't quite right either. I do think there should be rich and strong people, but only occasionally.
 
I want to totally remove all of Ron Losey's changes. And don't bother with a toggle, we can get a very similar effect by averaging the min and max damage with 60, the pierce and block with 50, and dividing the price by 10.

I'd like to caution against changing to numbers that are more intellectually satisfying, but change the game in ways that aren't intended. Not just in this mod, but everywhere in the game. No matter how well intentioned, those changes to the game are never to the good. This mod was an extreme example of this. It ended up doing exactly the opposite of everything it was apparently intended to do.

If you make weapons cheap to sell, you also make them cheap to buy. Where before I would have picked up the two bosun's choices totally without thinking about it on the chance I might have a use for them later, with the higher prices I had to consider the purchase very carefully. Same with every other item in the game. If they're expensive, I can sell them. If they're cheap, I can buy them. An inventory full of swords and gold from a dungeon crawl wasn't enough to buy two bosun's choices. If you make everything that's always cheap to sell and expensive to buy, the commerce skill goes away.

The amount of money carried by the bad guys is pocket change. It's barely enough to replace bandages you've used in the fight. I don't know why bad guys carry good weapons and lots of money in some people's games. It's supposed to be based on your character level and luck skill. I personally haven't seen many spectacular weapons carried by bad guys. I think in all the dungeon crawls I've done I've seen two bosun's choices and one shotgun. Most of it is junk, as evidenced by the fact that a dungeon crawl didn't get me enough to buy those two bosun's choices at the store with the higher values.

I think I came away with about 40K, which I could make rummaging through chests on my ship in less time and with considerably less risk than that dungeon crawl. It's about how much the governor pays for you to sink a frigate. It's not enough to pay my monthly salary requirements. It's enough to buy one bosun's choice, but not two. It's less than half the price of a schooner, not including upgrading guns. On the other hand it's worth more than the sell price of any cargo you can carry in a schooner, not including contraband. It's more than you'll get selling most captured ships at the shipyard, although maybe not as much as the ship plus cargo.

And even with the lower damage you'll still get killed. Happened to me during a boarding when I wanted to test the weapons and boarded a ship with more crew than I had. You can't do that anymore.

With Ron's code, THE magic weapon is the bosun's choice. Everything else fades before that. And that's the kind of thing that made me restore the old code.

Hook
 
I'm thinking it's about time to do the "forced divide the loot" mod. My character has enough money to test it properly now.

If your character has over a certain amount of money (I'm thinking 1 million) and isn't paying shares, the crew morale will go down by one point for each 50K over the million. So my Heroic morale (94) ship would slip toward Normal (54) at 2 million, Awful (14) at 3 milliion. You could, of course, pay to raise morale, and your crew morale might go up after a boarding... could go down, too. If you think you can board an enemy ship if your morale isn't high, keep in mind that the enemy crew's hit points are partly calculated by the difference in morale between the two ships.

When a crew is paid shares, they have a separate morale system and morale will go down if you DON'T make lots of money AND divide the loot occasionally.

Of course, given that an economy is perverse and anything you do to change it will have the opposite effect, even if you take this into account beforehand, this will probably make people complain even more about how much money a character makes. Maybe I should have a lower limit as well so that morale goes down if you DON'T have much money. This won't affect a starting character because his crew morale can't get that high anyway.

The daily morale update is fairly sophisticated. It calculates a target value based on your leadership, the iron will perk, probably some other stuff, and attempts to move toward that target. Given that there's a float to int convert in there, the crew morale can get "stuck" going either up or down. This means that if your morale is high after a boarding, it will tend to stay high even if your normal target morale is lower. Same for raising it. This is why your companion ships might have a different morale than your ship.

Please note that if you're paying shares, you have to make quite a bit of money to keep morale high. Doing cargo quests will get you a mutinous crew. But paying shares will also give you a higher morale than paying salary... IF you're making good money.

Clever players will figure out how to "hide" money from the crew to keep morale up. My suggestion is to deposit it at a loan shark, which is the safest and pays interest. Now that we have captured colonies, depositing money at the local loan shark should give the economy there a boost.

A few numbers from a recent boarding: I got a quest from the governor to sink a schooner. The total take was around 150K, which included 18K in loot taken from corpses. Selling the ship full of cargo was only 28K. Corpses yielded about 2K each in gold, some were much less. Too much money if there's nothing to spend it on (like expensive swords and armor for the boarding locker). Just about right for keeping morale up if paying shares, you just have to do it fairlly often.

The various numbers used in the calculation will be defines so they can be fine tuned by the player.

Hook
 
Sounds like Ron's experiment failed. Oh well, at least we tried. Do you think there's any improvements that can/need to be made to the original values to improve on them?
I do know the original values weren't quite perfect, so I imagine something should still need to be done.

As for the morale changes: it sounds good to me, apart from the fact that morale can get stuck. Any chance you can sort that out too while you're improving on the system?

Are you going to take the amount of money in your ship's chest into account too? Seems to me like it'd be rather easy to hide money all over the place; perhaps even store it with your officers or something. Should that be prevented to some extent?

The economy boost when you store money with a loanshark sounds like an interesting idea. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/me.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":onya" border="0" alt="me.gif" />
 
<!--quoteo(post=304896:date=Mar 6 2009, 02:25 AM:name=Pieter Boelen)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Pieter Boelen @ Mar 6 2009, 02:25 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=304896"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Sounds like Ron's experiment failed. Oh well, at least we tried. Do you think there's any improvements that can/need to be made to the original values to improve on them?
I do know the original values weren't quite perfect, so I imagine something should still need to be done.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
What specific complaints do you have about the old system?

<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->As for the morale changes: it sounds good to me, apart from the fact that morale can get stuck. Any chance you can sort that out too while you're improving on the system?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The morale getting "stuck" is part of the elegance of the system. Once the target morale moves past a certain point, the morale will change again. This basically means that once your morale gets raised above the target value, it tends to stay there unless the target morale is lowered enough to make it move again.

<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Are you going to take the amount of money in your ship's chest into account too? Seems to me like it'd be rather easy to hide money all over the place; perhaps even store it with your officers or something. Should that be prevented to some extent?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Storing it with your officers is dangerous. They might get killed. Or desert. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" /> The ship chest and weapon locker are reasonably safe... at the moment. Heck, I've even put excess money into a chest in town, and it was there every time I went back, even after the chest respawned.

<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->The economy boost when you store money with a loanshark sounds like an interesting idea. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/me.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":onya" border="0" alt="me.gif" /><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I was suggesting that a couple of years ago. Even if you don't own the colony, money deposited at the loan shark should improve the economy for that town. If we cut down on the amount of money merchants have, this should give them more. Of course, after I'm done, people shouldn't want merchants to have less money.

I'm curious, though. If people think there's too much money being made in the game, how much money does your character have? What's your "comfort limit" on the amount of money your character has? Mine is 10 million, mostly because it causes the numbers to overflow the space provided for them.

Hook
 
<!--quoteo(post=304906:date=Mar 6 2009, 10:55 AM:name=Hook)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Hook @ Mar 6 2009, 10:55 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=304906"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->What specific complaints do you have about the old system?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->Having not played the game properly for quite a while, please take all of the following with a grain of salt, but these are the kinds of issues I remember from playing myself and remarks I read on the forum:
- Too many different blades without specific uses
- Too easy to make money by finding and selling blades
- Random characters wielding insanely good swords (is there any proper relation between NPChar HP, weapons, skills and appearance?)
- Some swords having monetary values equal to almost a whole ship
- Infinite effective blocks (hopefully properly countered with BLOCKDAMAGE mod; but does it still take into account the blades' block values at all?)

<!--quoteo(post=304906:date=Mar 6 2009, 10:55 AM:name=Hook)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Hook @ Mar 6 2009, 10:55 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=304906"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->The morale getting "stuck" is part of the elegance of the system. Once the target morale moves past a certain point, the morale will change again. This basically means that once your morale gets raised above the target value, it tends to stay there unless the target morale is lowered enough to make it move again.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->That doesn't sound bad then. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/icon_mrgreen1.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":cheeky" border="0" alt="icon_mrgreen1.gif" />

<!--quoteo(post=304906:date=Mar 6 2009, 10:55 AM:name=Hook)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Hook @ Mar 6 2009, 10:55 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=304906"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Storing it with your officers is dangerous. They might get killed. Or desert. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" /> The ship chest and weapon locker are reasonably safe... at the moment. Heck, I've even put excess money into a chest in town, and it was there every time I went back, even after the chest respawned.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->There is no deserting officers feature at the moment, is there? I do believe there should be, especially if your reputation and your officer's differ greatly. I also think having such officers aboard should increase the chance of mutiny. This goes into the 'ol officer-personalities mod that I'd want to have made at some point. Right now, all officers are pretty much random and have no personality whatsoever.

BTW: You can loot your money off your killed officers, can you? Should that be possible? Should officers be subject to pick-pocketing too?

<!--quoteo(post=304906:date=Mar 6 2009, 10:55 AM:name=Hook)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Hook @ Mar 6 2009, 10:55 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=304906"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I was suggesting that a couple of years ago. Even if you don't own the colony, money deposited at the loan shark should improve the economy for that town. If we cut down on the amount of money merchants have, this should give them more. Of course, after I'm done, people shouldn't want merchants to have less money.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->I already hate it when merchants run out of money. Anyway, the suggestion sounds good to me. Beats me why it wasn't done a couple of years ago. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/mybad.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":facepalm" border="0" alt="mybad.gif" />

<!--quoteo(post=304906:date=Mar 6 2009, 10:55 AM:name=Hook)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Hook @ Mar 6 2009, 10:55 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=304906"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I'm curious, though. If people think there's too much money being made in the game, how much money does your character have? What's your "comfort limit" on the amount of money your character has? Mine is 10 million, mostly because it causes the numbers to overflow the space provided for them.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->I imagine that it happens when you've made so much money that you can buy pretty much anything you want without having to really consider the costs.
 
<!--quoteo(post=304909:date=Mar 6 2009, 04:18 AM:name=Pieter Boelen)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Pieter Boelen @ Mar 6 2009, 04:18 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=304909"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Having not played the game properly for quite a while, please take all of the following with a grain of salt, but these are the kinds of issues I remember from playing myself and remarks I read on the forum:
- Too many different blades without specific uses
- Too easy to make money by finding and selling blades
- Random characters wielding insanely good swords (is there any proper relation between NPChar HP, weapons, skills and appearance?)
- Some swords having monetary values equal to almost a whole ship
- Infinite effective blocks (hopefully properly countered with BLOCKDAMAGE mod; but does it still take into account the blades' block values at all?)<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I think the blades without specific uses are mainly to give random characters a variety of weapons. Just because you'd never want to use it yourself doesn't mean it shouldn't be in the game.

It's too easy to make money by finding and selling anything. Most of the blades you find aren't that valuable, even with the higher prices. If you've taken them off dead enemies, then you've earned that money fair and square.

I haven't seen many instances of random characters with great weapons. It normally doesn't happen until your character level is higher. Besides, that ruffian who just attacked you probably just came from robbing the blacksmith. That's why he's got so much money and a good weapon. I don't want to see it get to a point where the only thing you get from a swordfight is experience.

Lousy swords are cheap. Good swords are expensive. Really good swords cost as much as a house, or a year's wage for a family. Some of the swords we have in the game are good enough to cost as much as a mansion. A tartane doesn't cost much, maybe 2K. A schooner costs around 80 to 90K. There aren't any swords worth that much.

If you think swords should be super-cheap, try this: Using a saved game from the old system with cheap swords, sell all the swords and pistols in your weapons locker. Also, sell your own sword and pistol and all those of your officers. No need to sell armor, or really rare stuff like the shotgun as they're already priced high. Install the new itemstrade.c file. Hit F11 to reinit and get all the new values. Then, try to reequip yourself and your officers and fill your weapons locker. This will cost you a bundle if you're high enough level to get the good swords.

<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->There is no deserting officers feature at the moment, is there?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Not that I know of. There may be something hidden in the code.

<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I already hate it when merchants run out of money.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
You do realize that that is the only real way to limit the amount of money a player can make? It won't matter how much a sword sells for if the merchant can't buy it and you have to sail to another island.

<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I imagine that it happens when you've made so much money that you can buy pretty much anything you want without having to really consider the costs.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
That's why you make good swords expensive, so that you have to consider the cost. But I want to know actual numbers. How much is too much?

Hook
 
It seems that there is a slight little problem...

After a few fights, and saves, theres some bad consequences:

After I load back a game, Nathaniel have a blade in his hand, AND one at his belt, but the blade isnt drawed... If you draw it, the graphical glitch disappears.

And now, If I block, after two, or three hits, suddenly the block isnt work at all...
Not even in apprentice. The first few strikes ok, its received by the difficulty level, (with apprentice: nothing) but after that, the hits are TOTALLY in...

Ive made a return code line, so if block is activated at all, all the damage calculating are shut off.
Same result... First few strikes ar blocked totally, but after that, nothing...

so the variable: ( bool isBlocked ) doesnt result "true" after the first few succesful block..
This problem wasnt occured for a long time, but yet its here.
How comes, that the game isnt sense the block at ALL after a few hits?
No joke, the full damage received, and the block isnt active after 2-3 succesful blocks.

(just graphically)

What can cause this?

Edited:
Ok mates, Im a total idiot...
The graphical glitch still present, but as the otehr error: there isnt any problem...
I fought a "bit", to test my block system, so my fine schiavona turned into a worn...
And after 2-3 block, it breaks... I just isnt realised... And with fist, you cant block..

Sorry about that... The good news is, that my difficulty driven thing appears to work.
(uh, how dumb I can be...)

Edited2:
By the way, Hook, if I put that line, with the random back to its proper place, its causes to stop all blocked damage. No damage at all, if you block. Even from lv 12 soldier with meelee 7.
It seems it has a "true" all the time, and returns the function without damage. I deleted it, now the fighting system appears playable to me-

Now testing the difficulty driven blocking system with critical hit: I removed the line which makes critical 0.0 if you block. Hope they wont kill me at the first duel ^^

Edited3:
Died from 4 hit, while blocking. 2 of them was critical ^^.
I have to use the same multiplier to critical too, to lower it, in syncron with the basic damage.
It should correct its size.
 
<!--quoteo(post=304917:date=Mar 6 2009, 07:50 AM:name=Captain 'Dan the Lunatic Wol)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Captain 'Dan the Lunatic Wol @ Mar 6 2009, 07:50 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=304917"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Died from 4 hit, while blocking. 2 of them was critical ^^.
I have to use the same multiplier to critical too, to lower it, in syncron with the basic damage.
It should correct its size.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
If you're still using the overpowered weapons you'll get that a lot. Need the new inititems.c file and an F11 to make sure it's used.

Hook
 
Ok, I try it. It may causes, that I need to recalculate the blocked damage multiplier, as it decreases the damage caused by the weapon... So with lower damage weapons it may turn out to be too easy in all difficulty levels.
But it shouldnt be a problem <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile.gif" /> only two line to modify at all yet.
So its better if I adapt to other changes.

Pieter:

<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->- Infinite effective blocks (hopefully properly countered with BLOCKDAMAGE mod; but does it still take into account the blades' block values at all?)<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Im sure its caused by the accidentally deleted "if" tag, containing the: rand(1000), if its in the code, it blocks all damage somehow.
After I putted it back, to try, it caused ALL the blocks are 100% efficient. And as I remember, with the old system (played alot with 13, and 14 alpha 6) almost, or totally never got cut while blocking.
After I removed, all went back to normal.

Edited:
Downloaded the Inititems Hook posted.

I try it with the following values of my mod in Fightparams:

<!--c1--><div class='codetop'>CODE</div><div class='codemain'><!--ec1-->   if(isBlocked)
  {
    damage = damage*((GetDifficulty()-1)*0.1);  
    critical = critical * ((GetDifficulty()-1)*0.1);  
  }<!--c2--></div><!--ec2-->

As *0.05 seems too easy with the new Inititem blade values.
Back to testing ^^

Edited:
Ok, back to testing with *0.05 to damage. With *0.1 In lv6 with meelee4, two midnight bandits at the jungle took me apart very soon in Journeyman diff, while I block. Critical remains *0.1

results:
Ok, all two values back to *0.05.
^^ I like challenge, but its a bit interesting.

Looks reasonable: at Journeyman difficulty in lv6 as meelee4, with a good Highlander i can take down two forest bandits, if I hardly try.

How it works -yet-:
Original fightparams file multiply the damage with *0.3 in all cases.
Its shockingly hard. Now
apprentice multiplies it with *0.0 (making no damage at block)
journeyman *0.05,
adventurer *0.1, and
Swashbuckler *0.15.

Though if you require, I can change, so Swashbuckler will multiply with the original: *0.3,
and Adventurer with *1.5. Others remain the same. What do you think?


Ok, heres the new fightparams file, with the difficulty linked blocking, now added the criticals into it also:
(the missing line of the "if( rand(1000) etc." isnt in it, it caused to stop all damage)

[attachment=2630:LAi_fightparams.c]
 
Appears fine.

Ok: theres some bug (?) I found out:
I have a crew of 48 men. My officers salary together is around 2300.
Salary multiplier in advanced options was 3.
When I started from Bridgetown, they suddenly (after 1-2 days) wanted 6300 gold...
(maybe with the wont payed sum?)
Reloaded to the port, changed the number to 2.
Now they want the exact same sum. <b>Payed them. </b> After sailing a bit, almost reached Jamaica, they asked me again, now for 8600(????) gold. Ref<b>used them. </b> Buyed some things there, made some shopping (so days passed with the load of cargo) and after Im started from there, they wanted 11000... <b>refused them..</b> Short trip to Puerto Rico, after that, on my way to Bridgetown with contraband they wanted 14000... <b>Refused of course.-</b>

Something is not right, I past only that mutch time in each port, how long they packed the cargo. I had a Lugger, with very few cargo space.
ANd headed RIGHT into the another islands, no big trips.

What can be the cause of this? The first time I PAYED the 6000, afther that, (only a few days past, til I almost reached Jamaica) they wanted 8000... WHAT???
XD
And my officers only take 2300.

Also, I have an idea for a sound mod, I post it to ideas!
 
If paydays are coming that close together, you must be using worldmap sailing and spending too much time there with time passing too quickly. Look in InternalSettings.h for this line:

<!--c1--><div class='codetop'>CODE</div><div class='codemain'><!--ec1-->#define MAP_VOYAGELENGTH    8.0    // FLOAT - ccc maptweak is 8.0: lets voyages take longer, original 4.0, slower days on worldmap is 2.0<!--c2--></div><!--ec2-->

Change 8.0 to a lower value. I've got mine on 4.0 and it takes about the same amount of time to do a directsail as it does to use the worldmap, but I have to sail directly where I'm going and can't explore. There's no good reason not to change it to 2.0 so you have more time to look around. Higher values here make the days pass more quickly so there are more of them during a voyage.

The increasing pay each time isn't right. It sounds like they're not resetting one of the pay variables, such as how much the captain gets paid. I thought that seemed high in my game.

Talk to one of your officers, ask about ship and crew, and select ship finances. It will tell you how much pay is owed. The total amount is higher than the sum of crew and officers and I think it includes the amount you get paid (it goes to your personal wealth). Write down the numbers before and after a payday, and write down what your personal wealth was at the time as well. I'll look in the code to see what's happening.

Hook
 
There was a problem with constantly increasing pay once, but that was fixed already in Build 13 Update 3 by Jonathan Aldridge if I remember. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/piratesing.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":shock" border="0" alt="piratesing.gif" />

So apart from the new (old) initItems.c file and the new fightparams, what do I also need to include in the next update? I recall something about wrongly placed quest characters that should be in common instead of standard. Any other things too? Changing MAP_VOYAGELENGTH to a different default value, for example?

About the blades: All valid points. We'll use the old values in the next Alpha then and see how that goes. Once Alpha 9 is done proper, we can do some thorough testing on all accounts. Of course we're already doing that, but maybe other people will join in if the installation process is simpler.
 
I found the problem with the pay. The fix is posted in the modding section.

I'll look around and see what else needs to be included. I've got a few changes I haven't posted as well.

Hook
 
Thanks a lot, Hook! I'm planning to have a look through those standard storyline characters and check which ones need to be moved to the common files as well. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/yes.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":yes" border="0" alt="yes.gif" />
 
MAP_VOYAGELENGTH really needs to be 4.0 instead of 8.0. The days just pass too quickly at the higher value, making it almost impossible to enter the map during the day. Besides, it matches directsail at 4.0 a lot better.

I'm not going to try to mess with the dialog files. Good luck with that.

Update posted in modding section.

Hook
 
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