Included in Build Improving the Smuggling System

[Hylie Pistof]

Talking you you is a waste of time.

Those ships should not have been there in the first place.

Smuggling is completely broken and is not worth doing.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I beg your pardon?!?
If you hadn't noticed, I was AGREEING with you that indeed those ships should not have been there.
As far as I can tell, there IS indeed a real bug there that should definitely be fixed.

So I don't know what you think I said, but clearly there is some misunderstanding here.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

What I see is you ranting about fighting ships that should not be there.

1) I could have stopped playing when it happened.
2) I could have continued playing but never ever go back to Jamaica.
3) I could deal with those ships and then continue playing to see where this new career path goes.

I chose door number three.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

You try and make well-thought-out, short and concise posts every time!

Here's a summary of my rant:

1. I agree those ships should not have been there; that is a bug that should be fixed
2. The effect of sinking/capturing those ships on your nation relations is not a bug
3. Coastguard ships never used to disappear after escaping, but that is a feature that should be added

Make sense?

 

[Talisman]

OK - I am going to live dangerously and comment on the above - please don't shout back at me. Some of the things I am about to say need confirmation from @Levis - so I might be wrong. If I am I apologise, I am just trying to work out what has happened here.

@Pieter Boelen

1) ( in above post Confirmed Bug - Coastguard Ships not Disappearing When they Should | Page 2 | PiratesAhoy! )- I have a horrible feeling that those 3 coastguard ships that 1st attacked @Hylie Pistof - were there correctly according to @Levis 's new smuggling system.

I have a suspicion ( @Levis - would need to confirm this ) that the coast guard ships are now independent of the coastguard soldiers - so there may be no soldiers on the beach - but when you go back to your ship the coastguard ships are waiting for you. . i.e. @Hylie Pistof was caught smuggling.

@Hylie Pistof

I think that under the new system the only safe time to smuggle is between the times given in the Quest Book ( which are too short in my opinion - they should be at least 1 hour to allow for those players who use direct sailing).

If the Save you posted here : Fix in Progress - Missing Quest NPCs in Taverns | PiratesAhoy!

is from the same game then the quest book shows that you do not have a "Safe Time" entry - ( see image and compare to image of my smuggling Quest Book ) - so I assume you did not manage to talk to a soldier in the tavern and get one ( soldiers not being in the tavern to provide this is a really stupid and annoying bug ( I hope it is not actually deliberate ) - the last entry in the smuggling quest also shows that the coastguard have found you ( as above not the land soldiers but their ships).

Yes the new Smuggling system is vastly different from the old one - far more complex, - maybe unnecessarily so, and I have not even mentioned the dynamic prices - and seems designed to give those who play free play something to do.

The whole thing needs much more feedback from players - unfortunately there are not enough people playing Beta 4 ( probably only 4-5) and with all the problems there have been with the basic game code very little time has been spent "play testing" these new bits.

The sooner that a public version of Beta 4 is released and much more people get to play it, the more varied feedback will be and a better judgement about how to improve the various new parts can be made. But until a lot more people play the game ( and give feed back ) it is impossible to say whether these new parts are an improvement or not.

Please feel free to reply to this - please don't shout as I am a very timid person

 

[Hylie Pistof]

1) Please remember that until very recently I have been playing other games and only checking into the WIPs every few months or so. It was only when the performance suddenly became very good that I started playing the WIP again. Thanks @Levis
This means that I know nothing of what has been done in the last year or more. My input is what to expect from some random new player.

2) I seem to remember smuggling 3 times.
The first time I found a soldier and then had to wait 22 game hours before successfully smuggling. That was a tedious wait.
The second time I didn't find a soldier so just confirmed the deal and took off. There were no soldiers or ships and all went well.
The third time I again didn't find a soldier again, went anyway and there were no soldiers but there were ships that became a permanent blockade force.

Understand that I was learning the new smuggling system by doing it. A funny thing: I can not remember where White Bay is.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

1. It is definitely useful to have feedback from someone who doesn't quite know what has all been done.
So that much is appreciated.

Though Smuggling and Nation Relations both have tutorials and some warnings in place to help people like you.
So I would very much like to know of those are serving their purpose at all.
And if not, what would be needed.

The performance at sea being back was actually my work.

2. There is an option to wait on your ship deck for a certain time.
Should be no need for tedious manual waiting.

I think @Talisman may be right that if you smuggle at the wrong time, there are MEANT to always be coastguard ships.
Then the main thing that needs adding is that they get deleted when you escape to prevent that permanent blockade.
Seems fair enough to me.

 

[Talisman]

1) Please remember that until very recently I have been playing other games and only checking into the WIPs every few months or so. It was only when the performance suddenly became very good that I started playing the WIP again. Thanks @Levis
This means that I know nothing of what has been done in the last year or more. My input is what to expect from some random new player. ............
............... Understand that I was learning the new smuggling system by doing it.

I am sorry I was assuming that because I see you on the forums regularly you had been playing, or at least trying to play, the recent updates to the game and therefore were aware of the changes that had been made. I apologize for the misunderstanding.

Given that you are approaching the changes as a "new player" of the game the more feedback & suggestions you can make for improvements the better.
It is always very difficult for people who do something regularly to understand that what they take to be obvious and easy to understand is exactly the opposite to someone who is new.

2) I seem to remember smuggling 3 times.
The first time I found a soldier and then had to wait 22 game hours before successfully smuggling. That was a tedious wait.
The second time I didn't find a soldier so just confirmed the deal and took off. There were no soldiers or ships and all went well.
The third time I again didn't find a soldier again, went anyway and there were no soldiers but there were ships that became a permanent blockade force.

The old smuggling was quite simple to understand - buy goods - talk to agent in tavern - go to beach & depending on Luck and other skill levels there would be coastguard soldiers and maybe their ships to deal with as well as the smugglers themselves.

The new smuggling is a lot more complicated ( I don't even fully understand it myself - I think only @Levis does ) - that is why I wrote the page on the Wiki. To complement the Smugglers Handbook that the player is given in the game.
There is a lot that I have not put on that page yet (e.g. the opium smuggling , having a reputation with smugglers, the smuggling guild etc. ) because I do not understand it myself and have not played any of it, so I don't even know if it works.


I agree the soldiers ( coastguards) not being in the tavern are a pain in the neck - either there should be one of them permanently in the tavern - or there should be a dialog option when you talk to the smuggler agent for the 2nd time to enable you to cancel the meeting because you could not find out the "safe time" to go to the beach.

The talking to a crewman on your ship to change the time by 1, 3, or 8 hours - I am not sure if this is a new thing or if it is making more use of a ability that has been in the game for a while but has had very little use - and is therefore not well known about. - I admit I did not know about it until I started looking at the new smuggling.

And as I said above I feel that the "safe time" period is far too short - especially for those who use direct sail - almost forcing them to use the "Sail To" menu to get to the beach in that window of time.

A funny thing: I can not remember where White Bay is.

That is from my own game - not yours - I was using it to show that your quest book did not have the "Safe Time" entry and that you had probably not talked to a soldier in the tavern. Apologies for the confusion.
NB: - White Bay is on the opposite end of Nevis from Charlestown

I think @Talisman may be right that if you smuggle at the wrong time, there are MEANT to ashtrays be coastguard ships.
Then the main thing that needs adding is that they get deleted when you escape to prevent that permanent blockade.
Seems fair enough to me.

WARNING - NO Smoking area - no naked lights near the Gunpowder - --- Sorry it was the only " ashtray" joke I could think of.


P.S.
OR - Are all coastguards smokers then? --

OR - Why are they going to sea in Ashtrays, can't they afford proper ships.

Please post any other suggestions

PPS - Perhaps most of what I have said should be in a more specific thread about "New Smuggling -Bugs & improvements"

 

[Pieter Boelen]

The new smuggling is a lot more complicated ( I don't even fully understand it myself - I think only @Levis does ) - that is why I wrote the page on the Wiki. To complement the Smugglers Handbook that the player is given in the game.
There is a lot that I have not put on that page yet (e.g. the opium smuggling , having a reputation with smugglers, the smuggling guild etc. ) because I do not understand it myself and have not played any of it, so I don't even know if it works.

I think I've got a fairly good grasp of it and should be able to tweak it if necessary when @Levis isn't around to do it.
But I haven't tested it in forever and don't really know how it affects the game or not.

I agree the soldiers ( coastguards) not being in the tavern are a pain in the neck - either there should be one of them permanently in the tavern - or there should be a dialog option when you talk to the smuggler agent for the 2nd time to enable you to cancel the meeting because you could not find out the "safe time" to go to the beach.

The soldiers' appearance is completely random, but there is a higher chance in the evenings, I think.
You may be able to catch some by using the tavern in/out trick.

Cancelling the meeting does sound like a reasonable request though. You could also proceed with the chance of being caught, but you should have the choice to NOT do that.
But I think the smuggling quest expires by itself after a while anyway? So you don't need to manually cancel it; just not actually proceed with it?

The talking to a crewman on your ship to change the time by 1, 3, or 8 hours - I am not sure if this is a new thing or if it is making more use of a ability that has been in the game for a while but has had very little use - and is therefore not well known about. - I admit I did not know about it until I started looking at the new smuggling.

That option was added by Levis specifically for these smuggling purposes.
If you may have to wait, then you want to NOT physically have to wait as that is just annoying.
So he added that dialog for that very purpose.

And as I said above I feel that the "safe time" period is far too short - especially for those who use direct sail - almost forcing them to use the "Sail To" menu to get to the beach in that window of time.

If I recall, the "safe window" available to you depends on the "smuggling state" of the island.
When they are on "high alert", then you will have small windows. But if they're on low alert, then it is much easier.
Could that be affecting you?

WARNING - NO Smoking area - no naked lights near the Gunpowder - --- Sorry it was the only " ashtray" joke I could think of.

Something something "early morning", something something "auto-correct", something something....

 

[Hylie Pistof]

So Pieter fixed the at sea performance? Good job! It is now even better than POTC 3.3.

My small experience with this new smuggling system is all bad. I have nothing good to say about it. I did not know about the time thingy aboard ship, and it is useless to me anyway as my ship is on the other side of the island.

Sailing into port = sunken ship.

The whole time window thing does not work for me as even if I am on a friendly island where I can come into port I have timed out in the past and not made it to the smugglers in the required three days. So unless I drop anchor there and travel overland into town and back there is no way to make it to the rendezvous at the required time. On a related note, is it possible to have the clock run continuously on land like it does at sea? Having to go back and forth between doors and gates to find out the time is tedious.

So far I can see no upside to smuggling at all. It is a good way to waste time, get sunk, and get your reputation trashed even with friendly countries.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Is there no note about waiting on the ship deck in the Smuggling tutorial book you get?

The three day limit can be increased if that is too short.
How come it takes three days to Sail around an island though?
You use the Open Sea Mod, don't you?

Is there not a "continuous time update" option in InternalSettings.h? Though I think that is disabled for a good reason (that I cannot remember).
Time truly does not pass at all while you're in a location.

The reputation thing is no bug with Smuggling, though that is indeed an obvious example.
Like I've said before though, there are simple ways to avoid it.

I haven't actually done any real playing with @Levis' advanced Smuggling system so I don't know how it works out for playing.
The main advantage that I see in the concept is that you can DELIBERATELY avoid the coast guard.
That was never possible before as being caught used to be completely random.
Now it's not.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

Book? The one the smuggler gives you?

It can take days to get out of port if the winds are contrary.

All I do in internalsettings.h is set the open sea mod and the jewels thing. Time does too pass in a location but the clock does not show it.

In the HOO forum someone posted some documents from an English colony from an early period and from a late period. The purpose was to show how fonts evolved over time. Well I read those documents and they showed that the earlier, smaller colony was generating more income for the government than the later, larger colony was.

It is known that smuggling was and is popular in the Caribbean so it must have been and still is much easier than this current system is.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Book? The one the smuggler gives you?

That one, yes. Had a quick look through the text though and I'm not seeing a mention of it.

QUESTION: Players who don't know that feature now exists, won't be finding out about it except by accident.
How could that be communicated to them in advance?
Could be added to the book too, of course; but we all know that "wall of text" equals "players ignoring it all".

It can take days to get out of port if the winds are contrary.

Wow, even when an hour does NOT take a day. That's.... a long time.
We do still have a wish to look at that weather system, but we won't get to that for quite a while, I'm afraid.
But we CAN change the "3 days" limit to, say, "7 days".

All I do in internalsettings.h is set the open sea mod and the jewels thing. Time does too pass in a location but the clock does not show it.

Looks like you're right; there IS some sort of "counting seconds" functionality ashore now that I look into it.
I remembered right too, though; that toggle I mentioned does exist:

#define TIMEUPDATE_BLOCK_LAND     1       // BOOL - whether time updates per minute or on location change (i.e. in blocks)

I cannot guarantee that this will work entirely as you hope, but you can try it and find out.

It is known that smuggling was and is popular in the Caribbean so it must have been and still is much easier than this current system is.

I've got to ask: Of all the times you tried to smuggle, how often did you try to find out the appropriate time to do it?
If you skip that, there is of course a large chance that you show up at a time that there IS a patrol.

With this new system, you cannot avoid being caught; if you're not caught ashore, then you'll be caught by the coastguard ships when you set sail.
I can understand that would be annoying. But if you do find out the correct time, then you can "play the system" and should be able to avoid getting caught almost every time.
That does require paying more attention that was ever necessary before. Keep up with the tavern news as well as there are occasionally rumours that you would need to know about.

When you get caught ashore the first time, you can loot a book with the smuggling schedule off one of the soldiers.
Then next times after that, things should be a lot simpler.

In concept at least, the system sounds fine to me.
If there are any particular features that you or anyone else objects to, please say so as that cannot be improved on if you don't.

Though I think the problem may be more related to the balancing of the system than with the concept itself.
The "safe time windows" could be too short; it may be too hard to find out; the "patrol schedules" may change too often; etc.
That all requires detailed feedback and a willingness to help make the system better than it was.

As far as I'm concerned, the old system was serviceable, simplistic, but got the job done.
The new one is a lot more advanced and requires a lot more involvement from the player to actually deal with.
That may be a good thing as you'll really need to "think like a smuggler" to do the smuggling.
But it could also be a bad thing if you just really can't be bothered and just want something simple.

 

[Talisman]

QUESTION: Players who don't know that feature now exists, won't be finding out about it except by accident.
How could that be communicated to them in advance?
Could be added to the book too, of course; but we all know that "wall of text" equals "players ignoring it all".

Could be added to the quest book entry which gives you the "Safe Time". Something like --I must talk to my crew about the time when I should meet the smugglers, so that I arrive on the beach at the right time ( this is not very well worded )

Wow, even when an hour does NOT take a day. That's.... a long time.
We do still have a wish to look at that weather system, but we won't get to that for quite a while, I'm afraid.
But we CAN change the "3 days" limit to, say, "7 days".

Would it be possible - if the player missed the "3 day" limit - for the player to go back to the smuggler agent in the tavern & say 'Sorry I was not able to get there because of the winds & tides and other bad weather. Please can we cancel the deal, or can we rearrange the meeting.

Agent could either:
1) agree to cancel ( no damage to player reputation with smugglers ) - smuggling deal cancelled.
2) suggest try again ( 3 day or 7 day or whatever it is limit reset - player tries again)

Player can choose which option they want.

I think at the moment if you just leave the quest open it automatically cancels in 3 months - but I am not sure if this now damages the players reputation with the smugglers.

The agent could also occasionally say " No, we had an agreement, you failed to deliver, we no longer trust you as much as before ( quest cancelled and players reputation with smugglers reduced).

As far as I'm concerned, the old system was serviceable, simplistic, but got the job done.
The new one is a lot more advanced and requires a lot more involvement from the player to actually deal with.
That may be a good thing as you'll really need to "think like a smuggler" to do the smuggling.
But it could also be a bad thing if you just really can't be bothered and just want something simple.

If you are playing a quest and just need to earn some money quickly the old smuggling system was a useful means of doing so. And perfectly sufficient.

As I think I said earlier the new smuggling system appears to be designed to be played mostly for Free Play, since there is so much that has to be taken into consideration.

But what we really need is as much feedback as possible from as many players as possible and that requires a public release of Beta 4.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

Bottom line: You......will.......get.........caught. Totally unrealistic and making the player jump through flaming hoops to...... maybe......not get caught is poor game play.

 

[Talisman]

The soldiers' appearance is completely random, but there is a higher chance in the evenings, I think.
You may be able to catch some by using the tavern in/out trick.

Cancelling the meeting does sound like a reasonable request though. You could also proceed with the chance of being caught, but you should have the choice to NOT do that.
But I think the smuggling quest expires by itself after a while anyway? So you don't need to manually cancel it; just not actually proceed with it?

I think that there is now a relationship between the Player & the Smugglers ( not sure how much of it has been implemented ) The better the relationship the better prices they will give the player for the goods supplied etc.

I am not sure but if the player lets a smuggling quest expire then possibly this damages their relationship with the smugglers.

I think I am going to have to read through these Smuggling threads again carefully

Included in Build - Revamped Smuggling [3.3 compatible] | PiratesAhoy!

WIP - Enhanced Smuggling | PiratesAhoy!

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Bottom line: You......will.......get.........caught. Totally unrealistic and making the player jump through flaming hoops to...... maybe......not get caught is poor game play.

If the system works as intended, then the bottom line is: You.... will.... not.... get.... caught. As long as you do your preparations properly.
If it doesn't work out like that, then something somewhere is wrong.
It may be player error, but it could also be balancing or something went awry between concept and implementation.

I think that there is now a relationship between the Player & the Smugglers ( not sure how much of it has been implemented ) The better the relationship the better prices they will give the player for the goods supplied etc.

There is and I'm pretty sure it is fully implemented. Or nearly fully anyway.

Could be added to the quest book entry which gives you the "Safe Time". Something like --I must talk to my crew about the time when I should meet the smugglers, so that I arrive on the beach at the right time ( this is not very well worded )

Should be possible.

Would it be possible - if the player missed the "3 day" limit - for the player to go back to the smuggler agent in the tavern & say 'Sorry I was not able to get there because of the winds & tides and other bad weather. Please can we cancel the deal, or can we rearrange the meeting.

Agent could either:
1) agree to cancel ( no damage to player reputation with smugglers ) - smuggling deal cancelled.
2) suggest try again ( 3 day or 7 day or whatever it is limit reset - player tries again)

Player can choose which option they want.

I think at the moment if you just leave the quest open it automatically cancels in 3 months - but I am not sure if this now damages the players reputation with the smugglers.

The agent could also occasionally say " No, we had an agreement, you failed to deliver, we no longer trust you as much as before ( quest cancelled and players reputation with smugglers reduced).

All nice ideas, but between the lines, I read a lot of "development time".
Changing the number "3" in the code somewhere in a number "7" is very quick.

As I think I said earlier the new smuggling system appears to be designed to be played mostly for Free Play, since there is so much that has to be taken into consideration.

But what we really need is as much feedback as possible from as many players as possible and that requires a public release of Beta 4.

There is truth in that. Though also some very serious difficulty.
I'll continue that here: WIP - Build 14 Beta 4 Master Plan | PiratesAhoy!

 

[Talisman]

All nice ideas, but between the lines, I read a lot of "development time".
Changing the number "3" in the code somewhere in a number "7" is very quick.

That is the best option - as a quick fix - until we get more feedback

 

[Pieter Boelen]

That is the best option - as a quick fix - until we get more feedback

PROGRAM\smuggling.c find:

   PChar.quest.Rand_Smuggling.win_condition.l1 = "Timer";
   PChar.quest.Rand_Smuggling.win_condition.l1.date.day = GetAddingDataDay(0,0,3);
   PChar.quest.Rand_Smuggling.win_condition.l1.date.month = GetAddingDataMonth(0,0,3);
   PChar.quest.Rand_Smuggling.win_condition.l1.date.year = GetAddingDataYear(0,0,3);
   PChar.quest.Rand_Smuggling.win_condition = "Rand_Smuggling";

Replace with:

   PChar.quest.Rand_Smuggling.win_condition.l1 = "Timer";
   PChar.quest.Rand_Smuggling.win_condition.l1.date.day = GetAddingDataDay(0,0,7);
   PChar.quest.Rand_Smuggling.win_condition.l1.date.month = GetAddingDataMonth(0,0,7);
   PChar.quest.Rand_Smuggling.win_condition.l1.date.year = GetAddingDataYear(0,0,7);
   PChar.quest.Rand_Smuggling.win_condition = "Rand_Smuggling";

And in RESOURCE\INI\TEXTS\ENGLISH\QUESTBOOK\smuggle.txt I added the phrase
"I may need to wait for that by talking to one of my crew on deck." for each line that mentions the #stime# .
Hopefully that will help players to notice that they can skip time without manual waiting.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The code suggests that quite a lot of the desired functionality is already in there.
This seems to be the sequence of events:
- When you are ready and accept to meet with the smugglers, quest case "Made Deal with Smuggler" is triggered from the "Smuggler Agent_dialog.c" file
- When you reach the smuggling location, the quest case "GenerateCoastGuard" is triggered
- At that time, the soldiers and coastguard ships are pre-generated, but NOT at their appropriate spots
- A continuous checking function is then started that may or may not result in the soldiers coming to intercept you while in the shore location

- The chance for being intercepted while ashore takes into account a LOT of variables, including:
. Island smuggling state
. Governor involvement (from the sidequest for privateers)
. Player Luck Skill
. Moon state (full/new)
. Weather (storm/rain/fog)
. Difficulty level
. Player Abilities (Improved and Advanced Smuggling)

- If you ARE caught, then the "Rand_ContrabandInterruption" quest case is called; you then get intercepted by soldiers ashore
- This sets the soldiers on the shore where you are and gets them to talk to you
- This also calls "SetCoastalGuardPursuit", which sets the coastguard ships as enemies at sea

- If you DO get caught, there are several possible dialogs; some also contain the code to make the coastguard ships disappear upon entering worldmap
- This ALSO contains a call to UpdateRMRelation, which is my recently rewritten function to trigger consequences from sea battles and such

- When you exit the location, then the continuous checking function is stopped
- If at that time you DID get caught, but did NOT get to talk to the soldiers, then the coastguard ships will be removed when you enter worldmap

As far as I can tell, this does have the potential to work well.
But there may be some instances where the coastguard ships are NOT removed upon entering worldmap, which seems to be the original problem.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you can, please DO keep smuggling, both deliberately showing up at times that there IS a patrol and times that there isn't.
If anything is to be done, we need to know exactly how that behaves and in which way that is wrong.
When you do, be sure to set DEBUG_SMUGGLING to 1 (or even 2 or 3) at the top of PROGRAM\smuggling.c !

Then do your smuggling runs and whenever something seems wrong to you, explain here what happened, why you think this is wrong AND post your compile.log file.
We can then compare your sequence of events with the log file to see what code actually got triggered and if that is actually correct.

 

[pedrwyth]

If you are playing a quest and just need to earn some money quickly the old smuggling system was a useful means of doing so. And perfectly sufficient.

That's me in a nutshell (or is that cockleshell? no "ashtray" jokes please).

As I think I said earlier the new smuggling system appears to be designed to be played mostly for Free Play, since there is so much that has to be taken into consideration.

But what we really need is as much feedback as possible from as many players as possible and that requires a public release of Beta 4.

So you already know I'm not a "user" of smuggling changes but...

With this new system, you cannot avoid being caught; if you're not caught ashore, then you'll be caught by the coastguard ships when you set sail.
I can understand that would be annoying. But if you do find out the correct time, then you can "play the system" and should be able to avoid getting caught almost every time.
That does require paying more attention that was ever necessary before. Keep up with the tavern news as well as there are occasionally rumours that you would need to know about.

When you get caught ashore the first time, you can loot a book with the smuggling schedule off one of the soldiers.
Then next times after that, things should be a lot simpler.

The main advantage that I see in the concept is that you can DELIBERATELY avoid the coast guard.
That was never possible before as being caught used to be completely random.
Now it's not.

In concept at least, the system sounds fine to me.
If there are any particular features that you or anyone else objects to, please say so as that cannot be improved on if you don't.

There seems to be a flaw in the "real world" logic of the patrol time system. If there were a set schedule then the first people to know would be the smugglers and there would be no way you would find them hanging round on a beach out of a "safe" period so you couldn't even try to chance it. That may be the "reality" that this is heading towards.

In "gameplay" terms you can get the enhanced rewards of a high risk activity (high prices for contraband) without any of the risk (by staying in the safe period) - There's no gameplay logic there (unless there's new risks hidden in the additional complexities of smugglers liking you, guild etc but I think that's mostly about level of remuneration).

However that aside, in 3.4 you could ignore all the schedule stuff and immediately have a second chat with the agent and just take your chance (with a back-up saved game in case you ran into trouble you couldn't handle) so fair enough. However now there is no "chance", whilst the land part does still have a chance element it seems the ships will always be there. So either you use a safe period and meet no-one or you are guaranteed at least a sea skirmish (with possible relations consequences) - no option. So all we effectively have is a time limit for when to safely trade contraband or a guaranteed fight with the excise men. We're back to the "dictating how someone plays" conundrum. I don't care if the ships are independent or linked to on-land encounter (they never were before anyway) but they should have a chance encounter element for gameplay AND realism. A full time blockade apart from the safe slots makes no "real" sense since if they were already there you would sail away -not land -and as such their "gameplay" timing to arrive just as you leave (you just dump your cargo on the beach) has to be very fortunate not guaranteed.

So as well as changing the length of the smuggling period (there is a penalty with the smugglers if it a meeting just expires -which is reasonable since you messed with them and left them on the beach) - although I don't need it, I just use sail to. I think it needs a re-introduction of some chance to the ship element encounter outside the safe period.

[Oh and make sure your ships cannons are only loaded with chain or grape in case if you do meet them you accidentally sink a coastguard]

EDIT posted this before seeing your latest @Pieter Boelen - so leave it to one side for now and I'll look through yours!!