Fixed Marc Blaque

Hylie Pistof · Apr 27, 2014

If England does not like you the saga of the Blaque Family side quest is broken because Thomas O'Rielly will not talk to you. This means you can not ransom Marc Blaque and take him to Martinique.

Pieter Boelen · Apr 28, 2014

Broken or just delayed? You should be able to do this once you DO get friendly with England, right?

And with the recent release, the traders will do business with you even if you are hostile, unless they recognize you.
But in the early game at least, that should not occur so easily.

Hylie Pistof · Apr 28, 2014

The only way to do business with him is to sell at reduced prices, and if I remember correctly once you do that with one merchant they all do that and prices are already very low with little margin. Bad deal.

It costs far more to get friendly with England than Marc Blaque is worth. Bad deal.

Pieter Boelen · Apr 28, 2014

Reduced prices should be an option if the merchant is hostile to you and doesn't believe your false flag.
But that is a dialog option and has no business "sticking around".

We might be able to move that "ransom" dialog outside the "don't want to trade" dialog.

Hylie Pistof · Apr 28, 2014

False flag? That is not used.

Levis · Apr 28, 2014

Pieter Boelen said:
Reduced prices should be an option if the merchant is hostile to you and doesn't believe your false flag.
But that is a dialog option and has no business "sticking around".

We might be able to move that "ransom" dialog outside the "don't want to trade" dialog.

I think that's the best way yes.

Pieter Boelen · Apr 28, 2014

Hylie Pistof said:
False flag? That is not used.

Yes it is. Here in PROGRAM\Characters\CharacterUtilite.c:

Code:

//find if merch will allow char to trade, based on char's RMRel with merch's
//nation, and char's rep.
bool TradeCheck(ref char, ref merch, bool first)
{
   if (LAi_IsCapturedLocation) return true; // KK
   int mNation = sti(merch.nation);
   int rep = sti(char.reputation);
   float rel = 0.0;
// KK -->
   if (ENABLE_FLAGS == 0) {
     rel = GetRMRelation(char, mNation);
   } else {
   // PURSEON -->
     rel = GetActualRMRelation(mNation);
     if (rel <= REL_WAR)
     {
       if (frnd() > GetChanceDetectFalseFlag() && !CheckAttribute(merch,"FalseFlagDetect"))   // check if merchant already detected false flag on prior encounter
       {
         rel = GetFlagRMRelation(mNation);                           // if not, use false flag for relation check
       }
     }
     else
     {
       DeleteAttribute(merch, "FalseFlagDetect");
     }
   // <--PURSEON
   }
// <-- KK

Pieter Boelen said:
We might be able to move that "ransom" dialog outside the "don't want to trade" dialog.

Can you see if this allows you to complete the quest? Extract attached to PROGRAM\Storyline\[Storyline]\DIALOGS .

Levis · Apr 28, 2014

mind Thomas O Reily has some storyline related things also sometimes so if you overwrite the dialog this can cause problems.
Best to change this in all dialog files for thomas and then upload those.

Pieter Boelen · Apr 28, 2014

I just checked and his dialog is exactly the same in all relevant storyline folders.
The above change will be in my next upload as well for testing purposes.

Hylie Pistof · Apr 28, 2014

I meant the false flag is not used by me as it causes more problems than anything else. There isn't an upside to doing it.

Pieter Boelen · Apr 28, 2014

Hylie Pistof said:
I meant the false flag is not used by me as it causes more problems than anything else. There isn't an upside to doing it.

Getting in and out of hostile ports? Dealing with merchants while in hostile ports? Getting close to enemy ships before suddenly attacking them?

Hylie Pistof · Apr 28, 2014

I get recognized right away anyway and then I'm a traitor getting constantly attacked in towns. If you get into a battle with other ships you have to change flags anyway to board. It's better to just fly your flag and land on a secluded beach.

Pieter Boelen · Apr 28, 2014

If you do get recognized, that should happen only once. Until the next time you turn traitor anyway.

Also, if you hoist your false flag away from other ships, you will NOT be marked as a traitor.
So that allows you to make use of the false flags without necessarily getting into more trouble than you would expect.

Didn't we go over the "recognizing chances" before? I seem to remember suggesting changing some values for you so you wouldn't get recognized all the time.
But that never made it into the modpack, I think. Still.... If you DO get recognized all the time, that defeats the purpose of the feature and it therefore should be rebalanced.
Are you up for some testing with that?

Hylie Pistof · Apr 29, 2014

Yes that was worked on a little bit last year and methinks the distance at which you are recognized was reduced a bit. As I remember it the distance was reduced to maybe the other side of the island. About the only use the false flag has is that forts will not fire on you if you are flying their flag.

Ya I can try it again.

Pieter Boelen · Apr 29, 2014

I changed the distance at which the "traitor" marking happens, which is now the same distance at which you yourself can see their flag in the Sail-To menu.
This means that outside that distance, you changing your flag is considered "fair game", since the other ship didn't see the actual change happen.
However, this is completely unrelated to the actual false flag detection itself, which happens without you changing flags on purpose.

The false flag detection chance depends on the following factors:

- "Score" in the game, which is a value used to determine how well-known you are: The more famous you are, the higher the chance of being recognized.
So in the early game, nobody knows you and you should be able to go about your business using fake flags. But not anymore later on.

- Luck Skill: Obviously higher luck = lower chance of being detected.

- Difficulty level: Higher difficulty = higher chance of being detected. This is probably where your issues come from.

All of this is calculated here in PROGRAM\NATIONS\nations.c:

Code:

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

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

For starters, you could try to put // in front of this line:

Code:

chance = chance * difficulty/2.0;     // 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0

And enable this line instead:

Code:

//   chance = chance * (difficulty+1)/3.0;     // alternate difficulty calculation 0.67, 1,0, 1.33, 1.67

That will decrease the detection chance on higher difficulties (and slightly increase it on the lowest).

What difficulty level are you playing on anyway? And should this be difficulty-dependent at all?
We could easily remove that as a factor altogether, which could at least simplify things.

Hylie Pistof · Apr 29, 2014

Well, I gave this false flag thingy a try. I was level 20, a famous pirate, my luck is 8 plus I have 2 good luck charms, Mr. Gibbs at 8 and Fred Bob at 10. The difficulty is swashbuckler.

I sailed from San Juan to Port Royale with a stop half way to change to British flags for my 2 ships. I sailed right on in past class 3 ships and just before I dropped anchor a small ship in the harbor recognized me and shot out my sails. :rumgone

So I went to the shipyard and got my ship repaired. :aar

Then went to the store and got Marc Blanque. :wp

Then went to the tavern and talked to a smuggler, and then sailed out of the harbor for our rendezvous. I was out of the harbor when a small ship again recognized me and shot my sails. :rumgone

Sailed on and met with the smuggler and then sailed away. :pirateraft

So, it seems this false flag thing is working ok now. :onya

Like I said I quit using it because it did not work at all before but maybe now I will try it again.

Pieter Boelen · Apr 29, 2014

If there are any other features that you quit using because they don't work, please do try them again!
The intention is, of course, for EVERYTHING to work. So if anything doesn't, it is best we know about it.... :wp

Levis · May 1, 2014

I guess we can mark this as fixed?

Hylie Pistof · May 1, 2014

Yes, the false flag thing does seem to be working so far in this new game.

Fixed Marc Blaque

Hylie Pistof

Curmudgeon

Pieter Boelen

Navigation Officer

Hylie Pistof

Curmudgeon

Pieter Boelen

Navigation Officer

Hylie Pistof

Curmudgeon

Levis

Find(Rum) = false;

Pieter Boelen

Navigation Officer

Attachments

Levis

Find(Rum) = false;

Pieter Boelen

Navigation Officer

Hylie Pistof

Curmudgeon

Pieter Boelen

Navigation Officer

Hylie Pistof

Curmudgeon

Pieter Boelen

Navigation Officer

Hylie Pistof

Curmudgeon

Pieter Boelen

Navigation Officer

Hylie Pistof

Curmudgeon

Pieter Boelen

Navigation Officer

Levis

Find(Rum) = false;

Hylie Pistof

Curmudgeon