Poll Experimental features, in what form to continue testing?

[Tingyun]

EDIT now included with Levis version with major revisions.

INCLUDED
- Trade winds will now blow towards the west and slightly south much of the time, per Caribbean wind patterns, with other directions still possible of course.
- AI equips Armor/full weapon variety/low tier weapon rebalancing/gun rebalancing/cost changes (balance maintained, AI takes less damage because of armor, and does less damage from greater variety of (somewhat buffed) low tier weapons still used)
- deleveled consistent bandits regardless of player level (slightly revised due to changes in RANDCHAR stats)
- minor fixes to things, like reload times incorrect for some braces of pistols
- longrifle_C no longer unique to player, available in early periods rarely
- First Mate takes over ship defense perks from Doctor

HEAVILY REVISED (no longer as in original experiment)
Officer types (captains, crews, officers)

OPTIONAL ADDITIONAL
- double running speed

NOT INCLUDED (will be discussed later)
- english female officers no longer sound like 80 year old grandmothers

 

[Levis]

Well if you take a look at the comments I made about the officertypes the rest looks good to me if indeed we scrap the captain changes
If you are able to make a zip with this before the end of the day I could include it in the new zip.
do you think you'll manage @Tingyun ?

 

[Tingyun]

@Levis If that is ok, then that is WONDERFUL from my perspective. I always hoped this might lead to broader testing.

I'll get a zip ready for you. I will not include any of the officertypes file, since you are already considering which to keep on those.

I replied there with my thoughts on officer types--do whatever you think is best after reading my thoughts, I trust your judgement completely (and I agree with almost everything you said anyway. )

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I strongly request to keep the two completely separate until after I have updated the Main EXE again.
But really the earliest I could do that is probably two weeks from now. I just can't afford to spend the time.

It'll be difficult enough for me to sort through what is a "fix" that should be included and what is "not confirmed stable" and should therefore be excluded for the time being.
That would only get harder if more changes are added to the same archive.

It would be a different story if you or @Levis could make a true "fixes only" archive that is confirmed safe.
Then I could focus on just that for starters and possibly speed things up a fair bit.

 

[Tingyun]

EDIT: Nevermind, Levis is willing to do a fixes only version, ignore everything I said.

Pieter, I can confirm that my changes are 100% stable. Extensivelly tested, I spent 20 hours or more just trying to break them rather than playing.

There is one exception--I don't know if the doubled running speeds will mess with how quests work. That part is thus an exception, and someone else might know better.

They do change game balance pretty radically though.

So then, maybe this?

1) Levis prepares his patch without these experimental changes. That will be what Pieter uses for the exe, and the main release.

2) After he posts, I use merge to prepare a new version of everything but the officer types

3) Levis prepares the new more experimental officer types based on his judgement (we discussed in another thread)

4) Levis releases the new more experimental version under his management, as part of his Levis version, and it can be considered based on feedback for next exe.

 

[Levis]

I strongly request to keep the two completely separate until after I have updated the Main EXE again.
But really the earliest I could do that is probably two weeks from now. I just can't afford to spend the time.

It'll be difficult enough for me to sort through what is a "fix" that should be included and what is "not confirmed stable" and should therefore be excluded for the time being.
That would only get harder if more changes are added to the same archive.

It would be a different story if you or @Levis could make a true "fixes only" archive that is confirmed safe.
Then I could focus on just that for starters and possibly speed things up a fair bit.

@Pieter Boelen I think I'm going to include it in the zip so we get some feedback. I should probably be able to make a "just fixes" zip somewhere in the next two weeks also for you, so they can be compared.

 

[Tingyun]

Ok, ignore my previous post, since @Levis is willing to make the fixes version.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Pieter, I can confirm that my changes are 100% stable. Extensivelly tested, I spent 20 hours or more just trying to break them rather than playing.

I'm not worried about your changes being stable or not.
But until players have confirmed they want them in the main mod, I must still exclude them from the main EXE.

There is one exception--I don't know if the doubled running speeds will mess with how quests work.

Why would they have anything to do with quests?

Or maybe... some of @Jack Rackham's and/or @Bartolomeu o Portugues' ones where running speed really IS crucial....

They do change game balance pretty radically though.

That is indeed my main reason for being a bit cautious.

@Pieter Boelen I think I'm going to include it in the zip so we get some feedback. I should probably be able to make a "just fixes" zip somewhere in the next two weeks also for you, so they can be compared.

If you can make a "fixes only" archive very soon, maybe I could spare the time on a weekday to quickly add those to the main mod and update the EXE.
The main thing that is delaying me is that it takes a lot of time and mental effort to think through all the new stuff and decide what is OK and what isn't.
Which means I should really find a weekend in Wageningen without anything in particular to do. But it's been ver busy lately and I didn't manage that.
This coming weekend I probably go to Lelystad again, because Wageningen is noisy and I can't sleep well there and I'm already exhausted.

 

[Levis]

If you can make a "fixes only" archive very soon, maybe I could spare the time on a weekday to quickly add those to the main mod and update the EXE.
The main thing that is delaying me is that it takes a lot of time and mental effort to think through all the new stuff and decide what is OK and what isn't.
Which means I should really find a weekend in Wageningen without anything in particular to do. But it's been ver busy lately and I didn't manage that.
This coming weekend I probably go to Lelystad again, because Wageningen is noisy and I can't sleep well there and I'm already exhausted.

Check fb, send you a message there.

About the running speeds:
I think we might not want to include them yet but first just do the normalized ones (which I asked for in the bug tracker).

 

[Tingyun]

I did post the normal running speeds for the AOP new man and new woman models there, so you have that part for the main mod in the topic.

Agree on the running speeds are easily kept seperate, since it is an entirely seperate folder. We can release that as a seperate file pretty easily and people can say whether it hurts anything.

 

[Levis]

I did post the normal running speeds for the AOP new man and new woman models there, so you have that part for the main mod in the topic.

Agree on the running speeds are easily kept seperate, since it is an entirely seperate folder. We can release that as a seperate file pretty easily and people can say whether it hurts anything.

it could even be added as a seperate installation option if we think that's needed.

 

[Tingyun]

For future reference of people stopping by, the significantly revised changes included with the Levis experimental releases are

INCLUDED
- Trade winds will now blow towards the west and slightly south much of the time, per Caribbean wind patterns, with other directions still possible of course.
- AI equips Armor/full weapon variety/low tier weapon rebalancing/gun rebalancing/cost changes (balance maintained, AI takes less damage because of armor, and does less damage from greater variety of (somewhat buffed) low tier weapons still used)
- deleveled consistent bandits regardless of player level (slightly revised due to changes in RANDCHAR stats)
- minor fixes to things, like reload times incorrect for some braces of pistols
- longrifle_C no longer unique to player, available in early periods rarely
- First Mate takes over ship defense perks from Doctor

HEAVILY REVISED (no longer as in original experiment)
Officer types (captains, crews, officers)

OPTIONAL ADDITIONAL
- double running speed

NOT INCLUDED (will be discussed later)
- english female officers no longer sound like 80 year old grandmothers