NathanKell
...
{UPDATED TO BUILD 12.1 `03-23`-05}
FIRST: If you don't like a feature, odds are you can tweak it or disable it yourself! Open the PROGRAM folder in your POTC folder, and then open the file BuildSettings.h in Notepad. Follow the instructions in the comments. Note that some settings require you to start a new game for them to take effect.
Some more controversial mods that can be toggled: Food Consumption, Vice City / Coast Raiders, Weapon Quality, class limit based on town size, limits on the Sail To function (both speed check and minimum distance check).
For a list of quests added, see that document (Quests Added.txt). For a description of changing crew morale and the divide the plunder mode, see that document (Docs for Crew Morale - Divide the Plunder.txt).
PLEASE read the readme first; your question may well be answered therein!
If you get stuck in the middle of a quest, read your quest book, there may be info there that you need. That, and ask `passers-by` for rumors. You may get a hint that way! In fact, try to do that a good deal; sometimes there's some pressing news that relates to you!
Questions:
I.Q: What should I download/install?
I.A: If you don't have Build 12.0 or above yet:
If you would like to download an online installer, grab the "Build V12.1 Online Installer", the first `Build-related` file on the files page. If you want to download one big file and install it later, download the "Build V12.1 Full Download", the second file on that page.
If you already have Build 12.0 or above and just want to update to the newest version, run your online installer (if you don't have it download it) and select only Updates.
II.Q: This game is too easy! (or: This game is too hard!)
II.A: Change the difficulty level. Either through the Game Options menu, or by talking to a `tavern-hired` office. Choose the option "About me..." and tell him "I don't fit in right in this world..." to be presented with a choice of difficulty level. The game defaults to apprentice level. Please see the Readme for info on what changes at different difficulty levels. Note you can also toggle (via the menu or the dialog) whether you are told about sighting ships far more powerful than yours (it defaults to ignoring them).
III.Q: What happened to my money? I have two money amounts, and they're different!
III.A: Now money is separated into two different things: the party's money, and your personal wealth. The former is what you're used to; you use it to buy and sell things (ships, cargo, items, etc.). The latter is your personal wealth, used to determine how famous you are, which is helpful for recruiting crew and eventually courting a wife (note that you can donate from your personal wealth into the party fund if the party fund is running low). The Build also introduces a new concept, one familiar if you've played Pirating games before: dividing the plunder. You can choose to either pay your crew (and your officers, and yourself) salaries like normal, or you can choose to pay your crew, your officers, and yourself in shares of the plunder. You can change modes by talking to a `tavern-hired` officer and choosing either to Sign Articles (switch to DP mode) or Pay a Salary (switch to salary mode). Only one will appear at a time, and you can only switch back to salary mode right after you divide the plunder. Note that some of your crew may desert if you switch modes! In the first mode, once a month you pay everyone a salary. You are paid (5 + Rank) x 100 gp, as are other captains in your party. Officers are paid (5 + Rank) x 40 gp. All salaries are modified by Difficulty Level: at higher difficulty your officers and crew (and you!) are paid more. In the second mode, you can choose at any time to divide the plunder. Doing so will take 10% and save it to start the next expedition; take anywhere from 5% to 20% to pay you (and your officers and other captains, if you have any), and split the remainder equally among the crew. Note that officers' and other captains' shares are modified by the amount of the expedition during which they served; if they only were captains half the time, they get half their share. These two methods are the only two by which you can directly increase your wealth; if you've been awarded land by a governor, however, that land will give you a daily profit in gp that will increase your wealth. Lastly, note that if you are in DP mode, the crew will, as time goes by, get anxious for the plunder to be divided and morale will sink; once your expedition length goes too far the crew may mutiny!
IV.Q: If I pay my crew salary, can I still divide the plunder?
IV.A: No. You can either sail as a privateer, or as a normal captain. You can switch modes by talking to an officer and choosing to sign articles (go to DP mode) or tell him you'll now pay a salary (go back to nomral mode). Furthermore, you can only switch /back/ to a normal captain directly after dividing the plunder; if you wait, your crew will demand you divide the plunder again first. Note that officers too are paid salaries in normal mode and draw shares in DP mode.
V.Q: If I store money or items in the ship's cabin, will it stay there or dissappear?
V.A: It will stay.
VI.Q: When I board a ship, my level 10+ character dies in one blow. Why?
VI.A: Your, your officers', and your crew's HP, and your enemies' base HP, are scaled by your crew's morale and their crew's morale, respectively. This scaling is anywhere from 0.05x for lowest morale and 2.0x for highest morale. Note that the enemies' HP is also scaled by how many there are of them vs. of you; also, their HP is scaled by your Difficulty Level, and the damage done and received by you is also scaled by the Difficulty Level. Note that the scalars used in these calculations can be changed in BuildSettings.h.
VII.Q: Can I get a Letter of Marque from more than one country?
VII.A: Yes. You can buy a Letter of Marque from any country, so long as you are not hostile with them. If you are hostile, you must buy amnesty first (which you can do by sneaking into town and asking the governor for it, or by paying an Agent for it, though the latter costs more).
VIII.Q: If I hoist the Jolly Roger in battle, how do I bring it back down?
VIII.A: When you raise a Jolly Roger in battle, two things happen. First, all nations' ships that are involved in the battle instantly become hostile to you, and their nation(s) become Wary of you (and you will no longer lose reputation when attacking them) and pirates become neutral; and second, your your flag changes to a pirate flag. To counter the first, you must buy Amnesty with the various nations that are hostile to you (if any); to counter the latter, go to the F2 screen, choose International Relations, and choose the flag you want to fly. Note that you have neutral or better relations with a nation to fly its flag, but the Jolly Roger and the custom flag are always available.
IX.Q: When I fight a battle, the NPCs never use pistols. Why?
IX.A: They may not have pistols. Only at high difficulty levels are NPCs generated with pistols. Also, even if they do have pistols (or if the NPC is an officer and you've given him/her a pistol) they may not fire them. It depends on range (at very close and very long ranges they don't fire) and melee skill (if they're not accurate enough they won't fire). Rest assured that `high-level` NPCs /will/ use their pistols.
X.Q: The store shows wheat, but it won't let me buy any!
X.A: To prevent you from starving a town, you can't buy so much wheat that the town's wheat supply falls under 3/4 normal (i.e. 3/4 town pop worth of wheat; for a `2000-person` town that'd be 1500). You need to either wait for the town's wheat supply to increase, sail to another town, or, the preferred alternative of a True Pirate, simply raid a ship and take some wheat.
XI.Q: The taverns always have zero crew available to be hired!
XI.A: The crew available for hire is based on town size, and your fame and your average share size for crews (if a privateer). If you haven't signed articles, you neither gain nor lose based on share size. Fame is based on rank, personal wealth, leadership, luck, the Iron Will perk, rank in service to the various nations, etc. If you've hired all the sailors in a town, you can wait a few days for more to straggle in (up to a week or so for the number to go back to normal); also, as the town grows, that increases the crew available even if your fame stays constant.
XII.Q: How do you bring down a mast?
XII.A: Hit the mast with your guns. Chain (knippels) do the most damage, followed closely by bombs, then balls, and lastly grape. If you see a little explosion graphic /on/ the mast, vs. a hole in the sail or a hit on the hull, you've hit the mast.
XIII.Q: What effect does an officer's reputation have?
XIII.A: None at all.
XIV.Q: How do I raise a different flag? / How do I change my nation?
XIV.A: Go to the F2 screen, choose International Relations, and choose the flag you want to fly. Note that you have neutral or better relations with a nation to fly its flag, but the Jolly Roger and the custom flag are always available. This is separate from which nations you are /serving/; to serve a nation you must buy a Letter of Marque from that nation's governor; from then on whenever you attack that nation's enemies your relation with that nation will be improve (and eventually you will be promoted).
XV.Q: Sailing is too slow! Or: The wind is always from the wrong direction, and I never move!
XV.A: Welcome to the Age of Sail. But if you prefer a faster, less complex game, that's entirely understandable, and the choice is included. Simply go to Options->Sailing Mode and choose Arcade. If sea combat /still/ moves too slowly, open BuildSettings.h and scroll down until you find the Arcade Multipliers section, and tweak each to taste.
XVI.Q: Why are there two numbers for skills on the character sheet?
XVI.A: The first is the character's "native" skill; the second is the skill after bonuses and penalties from items have been taken into account.
XVII.Q: Those two numbers don't match! Why? Or: How do I know what effects an item has?
XVII.A: Check each item's info screen. Usually it will say at the bottom what effect(s) if any it has, and if the effect needs more than one of the item.
FIRST: If you don't like a feature, odds are you can tweak it or disable it yourself! Open the PROGRAM folder in your POTC folder, and then open the file BuildSettings.h in Notepad. Follow the instructions in the comments. Note that some settings require you to start a new game for them to take effect.
Some more controversial mods that can be toggled: Food Consumption, Vice City / Coast Raiders, Weapon Quality, class limit based on town size, limits on the Sail To function (both speed check and minimum distance check).
For a list of quests added, see that document (Quests Added.txt). For a description of changing crew morale and the divide the plunder mode, see that document (Docs for Crew Morale - Divide the Plunder.txt).
PLEASE read the readme first; your question may well be answered therein!
If you get stuck in the middle of a quest, read your quest book, there may be info there that you need. That, and ask `passers-by` for rumors. You may get a hint that way! In fact, try to do that a good deal; sometimes there's some pressing news that relates to you!
Questions:
I.Q: What should I download/install?
I.A: If you don't have Build 12.0 or above yet:
If you would like to download an online installer, grab the "Build V12.1 Online Installer", the first `Build-related` file on the files page. If you want to download one big file and install it later, download the "Build V12.1 Full Download", the second file on that page.
If you already have Build 12.0 or above and just want to update to the newest version, run your online installer (if you don't have it download it) and select only Updates.
II.Q: This game is too easy! (or: This game is too hard!)
II.A: Change the difficulty level. Either through the Game Options menu, or by talking to a `tavern-hired` office. Choose the option "About me..." and tell him "I don't fit in right in this world..." to be presented with a choice of difficulty level. The game defaults to apprentice level. Please see the Readme for info on what changes at different difficulty levels. Note you can also toggle (via the menu or the dialog) whether you are told about sighting ships far more powerful than yours (it defaults to ignoring them).
III.Q: What happened to my money? I have two money amounts, and they're different!
III.A: Now money is separated into two different things: the party's money, and your personal wealth. The former is what you're used to; you use it to buy and sell things (ships, cargo, items, etc.). The latter is your personal wealth, used to determine how famous you are, which is helpful for recruiting crew and eventually courting a wife (note that you can donate from your personal wealth into the party fund if the party fund is running low). The Build also introduces a new concept, one familiar if you've played Pirating games before: dividing the plunder. You can choose to either pay your crew (and your officers, and yourself) salaries like normal, or you can choose to pay your crew, your officers, and yourself in shares of the plunder. You can change modes by talking to a `tavern-hired` officer and choosing either to Sign Articles (switch to DP mode) or Pay a Salary (switch to salary mode). Only one will appear at a time, and you can only switch back to salary mode right after you divide the plunder. Note that some of your crew may desert if you switch modes! In the first mode, once a month you pay everyone a salary. You are paid (5 + Rank) x 100 gp, as are other captains in your party. Officers are paid (5 + Rank) x 40 gp. All salaries are modified by Difficulty Level: at higher difficulty your officers and crew (and you!) are paid more. In the second mode, you can choose at any time to divide the plunder. Doing so will take 10% and save it to start the next expedition; take anywhere from 5% to 20% to pay you (and your officers and other captains, if you have any), and split the remainder equally among the crew. Note that officers' and other captains' shares are modified by the amount of the expedition during which they served; if they only were captains half the time, they get half their share. These two methods are the only two by which you can directly increase your wealth; if you've been awarded land by a governor, however, that land will give you a daily profit in gp that will increase your wealth. Lastly, note that if you are in DP mode, the crew will, as time goes by, get anxious for the plunder to be divided and morale will sink; once your expedition length goes too far the crew may mutiny!
IV.Q: If I pay my crew salary, can I still divide the plunder?
IV.A: No. You can either sail as a privateer, or as a normal captain. You can switch modes by talking to an officer and choosing to sign articles (go to DP mode) or tell him you'll now pay a salary (go back to nomral mode). Furthermore, you can only switch /back/ to a normal captain directly after dividing the plunder; if you wait, your crew will demand you divide the plunder again first. Note that officers too are paid salaries in normal mode and draw shares in DP mode.
V.Q: If I store money or items in the ship's cabin, will it stay there or dissappear?
V.A: It will stay.
VI.Q: When I board a ship, my level 10+ character dies in one blow. Why?
VI.A: Your, your officers', and your crew's HP, and your enemies' base HP, are scaled by your crew's morale and their crew's morale, respectively. This scaling is anywhere from 0.05x for lowest morale and 2.0x for highest morale. Note that the enemies' HP is also scaled by how many there are of them vs. of you; also, their HP is scaled by your Difficulty Level, and the damage done and received by you is also scaled by the Difficulty Level. Note that the scalars used in these calculations can be changed in BuildSettings.h.
VII.Q: Can I get a Letter of Marque from more than one country?
VII.A: Yes. You can buy a Letter of Marque from any country, so long as you are not hostile with them. If you are hostile, you must buy amnesty first (which you can do by sneaking into town and asking the governor for it, or by paying an Agent for it, though the latter costs more).
VIII.Q: If I hoist the Jolly Roger in battle, how do I bring it back down?
VIII.A: When you raise a Jolly Roger in battle, two things happen. First, all nations' ships that are involved in the battle instantly become hostile to you, and their nation(s) become Wary of you (and you will no longer lose reputation when attacking them) and pirates become neutral; and second, your your flag changes to a pirate flag. To counter the first, you must buy Amnesty with the various nations that are hostile to you (if any); to counter the latter, go to the F2 screen, choose International Relations, and choose the flag you want to fly. Note that you have neutral or better relations with a nation to fly its flag, but the Jolly Roger and the custom flag are always available.
IX.Q: When I fight a battle, the NPCs never use pistols. Why?
IX.A: They may not have pistols. Only at high difficulty levels are NPCs generated with pistols. Also, even if they do have pistols (or if the NPC is an officer and you've given him/her a pistol) they may not fire them. It depends on range (at very close and very long ranges they don't fire) and melee skill (if they're not accurate enough they won't fire). Rest assured that `high-level` NPCs /will/ use their pistols.
X.Q: The store shows wheat, but it won't let me buy any!
X.A: To prevent you from starving a town, you can't buy so much wheat that the town's wheat supply falls under 3/4 normal (i.e. 3/4 town pop worth of wheat; for a `2000-person` town that'd be 1500). You need to either wait for the town's wheat supply to increase, sail to another town, or, the preferred alternative of a True Pirate, simply raid a ship and take some wheat.
XI.Q: The taverns always have zero crew available to be hired!
XI.A: The crew available for hire is based on town size, and your fame and your average share size for crews (if a privateer). If you haven't signed articles, you neither gain nor lose based on share size. Fame is based on rank, personal wealth, leadership, luck, the Iron Will perk, rank in service to the various nations, etc. If you've hired all the sailors in a town, you can wait a few days for more to straggle in (up to a week or so for the number to go back to normal); also, as the town grows, that increases the crew available even if your fame stays constant.
XII.Q: How do you bring down a mast?
XII.A: Hit the mast with your guns. Chain (knippels) do the most damage, followed closely by bombs, then balls, and lastly grape. If you see a little explosion graphic /on/ the mast, vs. a hole in the sail or a hit on the hull, you've hit the mast.
XIII.Q: What effect does an officer's reputation have?
XIII.A: None at all.
XIV.Q: How do I raise a different flag? / How do I change my nation?
XIV.A: Go to the F2 screen, choose International Relations, and choose the flag you want to fly. Note that you have neutral or better relations with a nation to fly its flag, but the Jolly Roger and the custom flag are always available. This is separate from which nations you are /serving/; to serve a nation you must buy a Letter of Marque from that nation's governor; from then on whenever you attack that nation's enemies your relation with that nation will be improve (and eventually you will be promoted).
XV.Q: Sailing is too slow! Or: The wind is always from the wrong direction, and I never move!
XV.A: Welcome to the Age of Sail. But if you prefer a faster, less complex game, that's entirely understandable, and the choice is included. Simply go to Options->Sailing Mode and choose Arcade. If sea combat /still/ moves too slowly, open BuildSettings.h and scroll down until you find the Arcade Multipliers section, and tweak each to taste.
XVI.Q: Why are there two numbers for skills on the character sheet?
XVI.A: The first is the character's "native" skill; the second is the skill after bonuses and penalties from items have been taken into account.
XVII.Q: Those two numbers don't match! Why? Or: How do I know what effects an item has?
XVII.A: Check each item's info screen. Usually it will say at the bottom what effect(s) if any it has, and if the effect needs more than one of the item.
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