Discussion New Horizons Promotion

[Grey Roger]

@Grey Roger: Do you think you could arrange for some nice screenshots of your work on the Hornblower storyline, your various ships and also the Ardent one?

To start with, there's the picture which I posted here:
Screenshots thread
That's the Spanish version of the CastelF after Ardent has captured it. It's therefore both a screenshot from the "Ardent" storyline and a screenshot of a ship which is new to Beta 4.

Also from "Screenshots thread", Sharpe's new face for "Hornblower":
Screenshots thread

And a comparison of British and new French battle frigates:
Screenshots thread

Meanwhile, back to Ardent, here he / she is:


And him in disguise:

 

[Pieter Boelen]

But I think already there are people who have looked on the beta 14.4 and mistook it for a HoO demo, and vice versa

Yep, I saw that as well. The fact that they've got COMPLETELY different names is apparently not enough.

Thanks for the reminder though; I'll do everything I can to make it clear that HoO and PotC are decidedly NOT the same.
That actually works well with my "slight promotion for HoO idea" because that should serve that purpose quite nicely.

To start with, there's the picture which I posted here:

Brilliant; thanks for the overview!

 

[Grey Roger]

The new Napoleonic French fleet, showing off the new hull colour, proper tricolour flags, and the tricolour-based pennant:

(Enable cheat mode, start life as a French naval officer, then get yourself a lot of free promotions, and you too can have a fleet like that. )

Hornblower gets married:


Why are Hornblower, Sharpe and Harper fighting against British soldiers? Find out by playing the extended "Hornblower" story:

Spoiler

They're not British, they're Voltigeurs in disguise, and the extension is already in the official Beta 4.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Thanks a lot, @Grey Roger! Those are going to be some VERY useful screenshots when I start writing the article.

I do have one slight request to make, which actually applies to @Jack Rackham as well:
If you are able to make future screenshots in a higher resolution, that would look even better in the article.
Normally I add thumbnails to the article itself, but then add a link to the full-size versions.

Enable cheat mode, start life as a French naval officer, then get yourself a lot of free promotions, and you too can have a fleet like that.

You can go even further than that! Select a French admiral character model and you'll start AS admiral already having that fleet.
No need to change any code then at all.

 

[Jack Rackham]

 

[Grey Roger]

I do have one slight request to make, which actually applies to @Jack Rackham as well:
If you are able to make future screenshots in a higher resolution, that would look even better in the article.

Higher resolution is not an option on my game PC. This is why, when there was discussion about the default resolution to be written into "engine.ini", I mentioned that there was a reason why all my screenshots are 1024x768. If you want higher resolution screenshots from "Hornblower", you'll just have to take a break from working on PoTC and play it so you can get them yourself.

You can go even further than that! Select a French admiral character model and you'll start AS admiral already having that fleet.

If you want higher resolution shots of French warships, you know what to do.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Higher resolution is not an option on my game PC. This is why, when there was discussion about the default resolution to be written into "engine.ini", I mentioned that there was a reason why all my screenshots are 1024x768.

Fair enough. What isn't possible is not possible.

If you want higher resolution screenshots from "Hornblower", you'll just have to take a break from working on PoTC and play it so you can get them yourself.

I am already taking a bit of a break from it and have been focusing on more promotion-oriented stuff since Sunday.
If I need screenshots I don't have, I'll probably end up making them myself.
That isn't much of a issue. Though any that I don't need to make myself do save me some time and effort.
Either way is OK.

 

[imado552]

The new Napoleonic French fleet, showing off the new hull colour, proper tricolour flags, and the tricolour-based pennant:

(Enable cheat mode, start life as a French naval officer, then get yourself a lot of free promotions, and you too can have a fleet like that. )

never knew that so i can get that fleet only if i'm naval officer of France and have the highest rank does other nations have this the same

 

[Pieter Boelen]

never knew that so i can get that fleet only if i'm naval officer of France and have the highest rank does other nations have this the same

When you are promoted as a Naval Officer, you get new ships. Once you reach Commodore, you start getting companion ships as well.
This applies also when you give yourself promotions using the Cheatmode.

Alternatively, you can use the Free Play character model selection to find a high-rank character model for the nation you want.
Then you'll start the game with ships and skills appropriate for that character, no cheats required.

The ships you get are usually appropriate for the specific Free Play Naval Officer character you selected.
The foundation of this feature was laid by me many months ago and @Grey Roger did all the main work to make it fully functional.
It works for all nations and all periods.

 

[Grey Roger]

never knew that so i can get that fleet only if i'm naval officer of France and have the highest rank does other nations have this the same

You can only get that fleet if you are a French officer because it's a French fleet. Other nations have their own ships, so if you're an officer in some other nation's navy then you will get a different fleet.

The reason I posted a picture of the French fleet here is that I retextured a number of Napoleonic period ships for use by the French. Until then, they either used the same dark red hull colour which is now specific to Spain, or they had the same cream and black hull used by the British. They're also showing the proper tricolour flag - previously they'd been using a white flag with a small tricolour in the corner, which was briefly used by the Revolutionary navy until they decided that white was the colour of the monarchy and not suitable for the Republic. All of which means that one of the new features of Beta 4 is a proper Napoleonic French navy, which is significant whether you're playing as French (you get proper ships) or British (you get proper targets).

 

[Pieter Boelen]

@Grey Roger: Do you mind if I copy/paste various sections of your posts in this thread in the article(s) I'll be writing?
I think your words serve that purpose quite nicely!

And by all means, please keep going. At this rate, I won't have to write anything myself at all!

 

[Grey Roger]

Go ahead. Certainly copy the pictures - I thought the whole point of putting them here rather than in the normal "Screenshots" thread was to offer them for use in such articles. I've no objection to you copying words either, if I hadn't wanted the public to see them then posting them on a publicly viewable forum would not be sensible.

That reminds me - I need to get on with writing a walkthrough for "Ardent" for submission to the wiki...

 

[Jack Rackham]

I have uploaded on the ftp some more screenshots Pieter. Use them if you want.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I have uploaded on the ftp some more screenshots Pieter. Use them if you want.

That "GoldenHind & Drake" one is ESPECIALLY useful!

Go ahead. Certainly copy the pictures - I thought the whole point of putting them here rather than in the normal "Screenshots" thread was to offer them for use in such articles. I've no objection to you copying words either, if I hadn't wanted the public to see them then posting them on a publicly viewable forum would not be sensible.

Thanks a lot!

That reminds me - I need to get on with writing a walkthrough for "Ardent" for submission to the wiki...

That'll be great! I think you should even be able to put it on there yourself.
But if you ask @Talisman very nicely, he may be willing to do it for you as well.

 

[imado552]

When you are promoted as a Naval Officer, you get new ships. Once you reach Commodore, you start getting companion ships as well.
This applies also when you give yourself promotions using the Cheatmode.

Alternatively, you can use the Free Play character model selection to find a high-rank character model for the nation you want.
Then you'll start the game with ships and skills appropriate for that character, no cheats required.

The ships you get are usually appropriate for the specific Free Play Naval Officer character you selected.
The foundation of this feature was laid by me many months ago and @Grey Roger did all the main work to make it fully functional.
It works for all nations and all periods.

You can only get that fleet if you are a French officer because it's a French fleet. Other nations have their own ships, so if you're an officer in some other nation's navy then you will get a different fleet.

The reason I posted a picture of the French fleet here is that I retextured a number of Napoleonic period ships for use by the French. Until then, they either used the same dark red hull colour which is now specific to Spain, or they had the same cream and black hull used by the British. They're also showing the proper tricolour flag - previously they'd been using a white flag with a small tricolour in the corner, which was briefly used by the Revolutionary navy until they decided that white was the colour of the monarchy and not suitable for the Republic. All of which means that one of the new features of Beta 4 is a proper Napoleonic French navy, which is significant whether you're playing as French (you get proper ships) or British (you get proper targets).

oooohhh!!!! thanks for the replay this is a great feature i never knew it was does pirates have that also(doesn't make sense does it?)proper target +proper navy for that era great time to serve a nation

 

[Pieter Boelen]

does pirates have that also(doesn't make sense does it?)

While the ships for each pirate promotion ARE defined, they are deliberately not used because, as you say, it doesn't make sense.
You do get the occasional sword and unlock some abilities on pirate promotions though.

 

[Flannery]

@Pieter Boelen
I wrote an answer for the voicing actor on FB - but for some reason it will lot send

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I wrote an answer for the voicing actor on FB - but for some reason it will lot send

I have upgraded you to Admin now; please try again. Hopefully that fixes the problem.

 

[Grey Roger]

That'll be great! I think you should even be able to put it on there yourself.

How?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

How?

On the New Horizons Quests | PiratesAhoy! page, try to press this button:

Don't be fooled by the "Locked" text. I don't know why it says that; it should actually say "Edit" as that is what it does.

I myself never updated the PiratesAhoy! Wiki; @Talisman is the real expert on it.