Discussion New Horizons Promotion

[Pieter Boelen]

Thanks again to Robert for making his write-ups.

Here are some comments and corrections of mine.
They don't necessarily all need to be incorporated into the final text; just mentioning them here for completism.

Needless to say your character's skills and traits will fit accordingly.

The "background profession" you select at the start of the game does affect your skills (but not your abilities; you assign those yourself).
Your ingame career should have nothing to do with your skills though.

You can check your 'career' in the bottom right hand of Character screen.

In case you're interested, careers aren't necessarily mutually exclusive.
You can be a "Privateer who has also joined the Pirates and even has a Merchant License".
Of course that may not work out very well, but it's not impossible.

Selecting 'Naval Officer' career at the beginning of the game ensures you a well paid, lucrative job in your regent's very own Navy! This is a highly polished corner of gameplay, in which you can not only be promoted, get given powerful ships and hire free crew as you progress, but also get given land and titles! Be careful though; breaking the rules or firing on friendly ships may have strong consequences....

If we did our balancing properly, it shouldn't really be "well paid" anymore.
It definitely was before and maybe it still is, but that isn't really intentional....

Also important to mention here that as a member of the navy, you have to abide by their rules.
This means you cannot choose what ship to command until you reach Rank 7.
That is a rather huge difference from "regular play" and could be quite confusing for new players.

Fed up with those governors and all their rules? Or maybe you dream of nothing but bloated cargo vessels, ripe for the taking? Well now you can actively seek such a living! With our improved pirate gameplay, you can explicitly choose the life of a Pirate; and benefit greatly from corsair ship designs, brilliant blacksmiths and high resell prices on all captured vessels! You can now also gain ranks from within the pirating community. All you need to do is break any allegiance you have with the great nations of the game, and pirates will welcome you among their bretheren!

You need to officially join them by talking to the pirate leader on Nevis. Joining isn't automatic.

Perhaps, though, you have slightly different dreams; dreams of bloated cargo vessels, en-route to financial freedom? Pick up a merchant license (by selecting the 'Merchant' career at game start) and start watching the gold flood in! Say goodbye to hardship!

You can also buy a Merchant License ingame from the WIC (Curacao) and EITC (Jamaica) offices.

you still have the will of the great West and East India Companies to appease

Technically, that isn't true. There are no "companies that enforce their will on you" once you get a license.
Basically the only disadvantage is that they're stupidly expensive (if you have to buy it) and easily lost through piracy.

As a non-commissioned servant of your chosen nation/s, you'll still benefit from promotions and ranks within that nation's forces, whilst at the same time being free to pursue your own desires. So long as they don't include piracy, the horizon really is yours! Simply visit any governor with whom you have zero relation count, and ask for a Letter of Marque.

Any non-hostile governor should be willing to sell you a LoM; though they're much cheaper if you indeed have a "zero relation" with them.
You can raise your relation with them up to zero by doing Governor Ship Hunting quests.

As long as your piratical acts aren't directed at any nations allied to the one(s) you serve, you won't lose your LoM.

Capturing/sinking any non-pirate ships is considered an "act of piracy", unless you have a LoM to legalize your actions.
That makes it quite important for most players to get one!

- Unrespectable acts, such as attacking without a legal reason (ie, if your nation is at peace with them) or flying a false flag around friends (you can now change flags mid battle), may also lower your reputation among nations.

"legal reason" is actually "having a LoM" or "being in the navy".
An honest merchant basically NEVER has a legal reason to sink/capture non-pirate ships.
This will take some getting used to for players!

False flags around friends are a bit silly, unless you intend to double-cross your friends.
Normally you would use a false flag around ships/forts that are technically hostile to you.

Using false flags doesn't affect your relations; but your acts while under a false flag do.
Capturing/sinking a ship while under a flag friendly to them is considered a VERY serious offence.

It has been possible to change flags for a long time; it just didn't work right and now it does.

So for example, killing a pirate ship will evenly distribute any points you get among your various allegiances; thus reducing overall progression.

Not technically "evenly". You do get more points in total when you have multiple LoMs. But you do get less per nation.

- Your character can be recognised as being pirates by citizens; making shore parties mandatory for Horrors of the High Seas!

This is not actually linked to reputation at all, but to your "served nation".
Normally your served nation doesn't matter much (except to update your relations to follow your nation's if Changing Nation Relations is on).
But if you conduct enough unrespectable acts, your "served nation" can change to PIRATE by itself.
If this happens, you will show as "Pirate Captain" in F2>Character, the "Pirate" text will show yellow in F2>Questbook and you should get a Ship's Log entry to inform you of what happened.

 

[Robert Nutter]

Thanks Pieter, I'll fix them tomorrow To be honest I'm not surprised I made that amount of mistakes; I've only been able to scratch the surface of the game myself since I started playing again so was mostly using Build Info to influence it!

 

[Pieter Boelen]

It wasn't that many mistakes; most of my comments are just me mentioning extra information.

These new things can be quite complicated and confusing; they're definitely quite different from before.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

@Robert Nutter: Probably on Wednesday I'll end up doing some more article tweaking.
Anything you can get done before then saves me the trouble then.
Would be quite awesome if would just need to do the final combining; then we could post it within the week!

 

[Robert Nutter]

I was planning on modifying the existing ones and getting something down about skills and periods tomorrow, so hopefully that's doable

 

[Robert Nutter]

@Pieter Boelen , are there any good threads which go into the officers/skills and abilities and periods system in more depth? As I'm having trouble finding which are the three new abilities and what exactly the periods bring etc

Also, should I include sections on Improved Smuggling and Escort Quests?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

@Pieter Boelen , are there any good threads which go into the officers/skills and abilities and periods system in more depth? As I'm having trouble finding which are the three new abilities and what exactly the periods bring etc

There is always "Build Info.txt". And also this Wiki page:
New Horizons Abilities | PiratesAhoy!

Periods have been in the game for years, but some recent improvements were made to them.
@Grey Roger would know, since he's the main person who did those.
In fact, check his posts earlier in this thread and you'll probably find some details already.

Also, should I include sections on Improved Smuggling and Escort Quests?

Why not?

 

[Robert Nutter]

I couldn't find many details on the new abilities in Build Info, as that's what I'm following to write this.

 Skill and Ability System rewritten by Levis
      > Different officer types get rank and HP bonuses
      > Three new abilities
      > Explanation of officer types added when you first hire an officer; limited to the Landlubber and Mariner difficulty levels
      > All characters have an offictype assigned and will advance accordingly

Unless I'm missing something? I'll check the wiki out though it''d be good to know what those three are so I have something more to write about in this section!

I have pictures done for the first two sections, so I'll get the skills section done and get that all on here

 

[Robert Nutter]

Also; I notice some members posted screenshots on the FTP for this. Would they be handy for me do you think? I'm going to make some new ones of Grey Roger's French Fleet as I can do them in very highres, and already have one of the British fleet in a previous selection. However, was there any extensive tweaking beyond these aesthetic changes to the period code? As aside from these additions, I'm at a bit of a loss what to write...

 

[Grey Roger]

Periods have been in the game for years, but some recent improvements were made to them.
@Grey Roger would know, since he's the main person who did those.
In fact, check his posts earlier in this thread and you'll probably find some details already.

Periods have always affected which weapons are available, which character models you can expect to see, which ships you can expect to see. More recently, @Jack Rackham did a lot of work to give soldiers period-accurate muskets. And I've done a bit of work to make "Early Explorers" a bit more accurate, though several islands which hadn't been colonised at that time are available anyway because a lot of side quests would be disabled without them - especially Martinique and Barbados. The Satanist Fluyt of War which you'll see in the promotional video is my work, a replacement for the Animist frigate as ships of that type wouldn't have existed in "Early Explorers" and "Spanish Main".

The War of the League of Augsburg, also known as the Nine Years' War, was from 1688 to 1697. I'd already arranged international relations to fit this for my "Ardent" storyline and I believe @Pieter Boelen has arranged for it to happen in Free Play as well. During this part of the "Golden Age of Piracy" period, everyone hates France and most of the other nations are allied with each other. One of the Free Play characters, Jean-Baptiste du Casse, has "War of the League of Augsburg" as his title so now he will be playing with appropriate relations, giving him a target-rich environment.

 

[Robert Nutter]

Thanks for that, should really help with the section now I know all this! As Pieter said, it's a challenge keeping it concise but I'm going to try getting as much about periods in as possible because it's a pretty major part of gameplay.

Just one noobish question regarding ships; I've written that fleets in general are now more realistic, especially in the later periods and 'Early Explorers'; with a couple of details to support this ie the Fleut and tricolour flags. Would you say this is an accurate depiction or have there been more widespread changes than I give credit for? Again, I ask as I'm keeping myself very limited word-count wise...

 

[Talisman]

You should make a Wiki page with that text! Looks like too good an explanation to lose.

There is now a page on the Wiki Here:- Wiki - How to Create a New Page | PiratesAhoy!


It is linked to the Wiki Home Page

 

[Pieter Boelen]

@Robert Nutter: Apart from the greater variety in ship skins during the Napoleonic time period, fleet encounters aren't much different than they were in earlier mods.
Of course ship appearances does depend massively on time period, but that isn't a new feature anymore.

 

[Robert Nutter]

I see! Well I've pretty much done it now so I just hope it's ok....

@Grey Roger, I used part of your description as I couldn't have put it better myself really. I trust this is still ok?

 

[Robert Nutter]

Ok so here's how it looks. I've made some moderately OK screenshots (very high res hence the thumbnails) but don't really have time to edit them too...they should suffice though. Also made all Pieter's suggestions a reality.

I plan on doing short sections on Smuggling and escort quests next. If there's anything more I need to do, now's the time to tell me! I havn't mentioned new towns yet, should I? Only the trailer covers that pretty well...

================================================================================

All-new styles of play


Career choices just became far more immersive! We've been working hard to give you a more definitive choice of careers in-game, and the new Player Types system does just that! There's also a new 'Background Profession' option when starting the game; select your chosen past profession for all the experience that comes with it! (Note that only Naval Officer, Corsair and Merchant affect career options from this menu).



What will you do? How will you do it? What have you done? You decide!

You have four career choices selectable either before or once in the game;


Selecting 'Naval Officer' career ensures you a reasonably paid, potentially lucrative job in your regent's very own Navy! This is a highly polished corner of gameplay, in which you can not only be promoted, get given powerful ships and hire free crew as you progress, but also get given land and titles! Be careful though; breaking the navy's rules can have strong consequences. You also have no choice of ship command until Rank 7, so this career is advisable for players who prefer to just get out there and fight with minimal micromanagement!



Have your very own battle fleet, at no personal cost!


Fed up with those governors and all their taxes? Or maybe you dream of nothing but bloated cargo vessels, ripe for the taking? Well now you can actively seek such a living! With our improved pirate gameplay, you can explicitly choose the life of a Pirate; and benefit greatly from corsair ship designs, brilliant blacksmiths and high resell prices on all captured vessels! You can now also gain ranks from within the pirating community. All you need to do visit their leader who lives on Nevis, and the pirates will welcome you among their bretheren!



Do ye have what it takes to fly the 'Roger? Or arr thee a 'lubber?

Perhaps, though, you have slightly different dreams; dreams of bloated cargo vessels, en-route to financial freedom? Pick up a merchant license (by selecting the 'Merchant' career at game start or visiting an India Company office in-game) and start watching the gold flood in! Say goodbye to hardship!



Perhaps a life of weighing the books...and gold...is for you?

Ok... maybe it's not quite that easy. Afterall, you still have the expense of a license to begin with and the constant threat of losing it to piracy; not to mention the very real risk of losing your license should you be caught involved in any illicit activities...

Let's assume, though that you're not interested in following orders, pirating or trading. What then?


Welcome to the life of a privateer!



Your very own flag! Who hasn't dreamed of that?

As a non-commissioned servant of your chosen nation/s, you'll still benefit from promotions and ranks within that nation's forces, whilst at the same time being free to pursue your own desires. So long as they don't include piracy, the horizon really is yours! Simply visit any non-hostile governor to discuss getting one, or start the game with a Corsair background!

A good tip is to complete ship hunting quests for them beforehand; this way, your LoM will be far cheaper to get in-game! So what are you waiting for? Be the captain of your own destiny!



It is not advisable being this close to a hostile fort. A friendly one behind you attacking a mutual enemy on the other hand, can yield dividends in booty!

Nation Relations


Always a flagship feature of the Build Mod, we have further enhanced the relations mechanic! You'll notice a much more robust punitive/reward system than seen in previous releases, as well as a deeper integration with the Letter of Marque. Just make sure you select your chosen nation before starting the game, else you may have some reparations to do!



'Yes, sir, me and the Pirates are through. That relationship just wasn't worth it anymore...'


However, even for the best of us it can be confusing at times to quite know who's on your side and who isn't. That's why we've implemented a Relations tutorial into every game start, intended to get you familiar with how to make or break relations in the game. There's also a new book you'll get given; The Art Of War, by the end of which you should be ready to dabble in international affairs!



Green means you're ready for a promotion with that nation.

A very brief overview can be found below. However, if you wish to find out more about this, once again the Build Info text included in the game directory is a good place to be!


- Actively betraying your served nation will give you a serious relation hit with them and their allies.


- Disrespectful acts, such as attacking without a legal reason (for example, a Merchant never has a legal reason to attack any ships bearing non-pirate flags) or committing acts under a false flag friendly to the victim will immediately lower your relations.



Attacking a Spanish fort under Spanish colours isn't recommended if you want to keep your nose clean!

- While you can have multiple Letters of Marque, this will have the effect of spreading your reputation points. So for example, killing a pirate ship will yield less points per nation than if you were to have a single allegiance; thus reducing overall progression.


- You can ONLY gain points with a LoM. Otherwise, you'll be at zero or lower with friendly nations.


- Pirates use a slightly different set of rules to other 'factions', and this is reflected in how their relations system works. Just do the opposite of what you're meant to do when serving a nation, and you'll soon enough find your allegiance has automatically changed...


- Your character can be recognised as being a pirate by citizens; making shore parties mandatory in those cases!


Tip: If you become a 'Pirate Captain' and don't quite know why, visit the Questbook under the F2 menu and find the yellow 'Pirate' entry. This will tell you how you went from honest sea captain to bloodthirsty corsair!


Skills and Abilities


With a completely rewritten code for skills and abilities, it's now possible for you to hire officers with specific traits and bonuses; who will then get rank and HP (health) bonuses based upon where you post them on your crew. This brings a whole new level of immersion to fleet management!



This fella is clearly a gunner. How do I know? The stats in green tell me his specialized traits...and the title gives it away, of course!

We have included a new explanation in-game to aid you when hiring your first officer. A tutorial on this aspect of gameplay may also be planned for future releases. Levelling has also seen some tweaks; notably, battle performance has been enhanced by stacking XP for the end of battle.

Four new abilities have also been added; Improved Potions, Poison Resistance, Master of Disguise and Cooking. The first three are intended to improve your survivability in the game....if you live long enough to attain them, that is...whilst cooking saves you gold by reducing the amount of food you need to buy the crew!


Periods and new Ships!

Aesthetics across the board have seen changes. Among many other fixes, French naval ships now feature greater model accuracy, with new colour schemes and tricolour flags in the late period which means you can now sail a convincing Napoleonic French navy!



This is significant, whether you're playing as the French (you get proper ships) or British (you get proper targets)!

Beyond this, there are several brand new ship models for you to sail the seven seas in other periods with, as seen in the trailer! From heavy Pinnaces to a light Brigantine, and the addition of a Satanist Fleut and several others to the early periods; meaning you can now field a more diverse range of ships than ever before to launch against your foes! At sea isn't the only facet of the game to receive new period additions, however. For instance, soldiers will all now carry period-accurate muskets! Perfect for when you want that added bit of accuracy to your town brawls!



Just don't get on the wrong end of one!

Aside from numerous fixes to make quests fit periods better and vice versa, in-period nation relations have been made to reflect great conflicts of the period; for example, the historical Nine Year's War can be experienced between 1688 and 1697 ('Golden Age of Piracy'), most notably with a mutual hatred for France! This is significant as it has the effect of giving certain characters a changing or unique situation; such as Jean-Baptiste du Casse's French lineage giving him a target-rich environment from the get-go!

Just don't forget to check your period at the beginning of a game; as this can have a *major* effect on how your campaign/scourge goes!


Improved Smuggling and Escort Quests

Enjoy smuggling illegal goods right under the nose of an island's authorities? Well, now the stakes are higher than ever before! With more effective coastguard patrols, increasingly distrustful smugglers, wagers to get schedules and officers who will do the scouting for you, every step you take or decision you make increases the risk! A new tutorial on smuggling [America only, Pieter?] and improved dialogue also makes the whole process more straightforward for the amateur smuggler!

[Pic]

Let's assume, though, that the life of illegal goods isn't for you; that you'd prefer waging war in the open sea, in defense of trade? Escort quests have also seen huge improvements since the last build, meaning it's now possible to get paid more for defeating threats...but also that more threats come to you! You'll also need to pay closer attention to which nation owns the destination, as raising a false flag around your escort without prior notice will not go down well...

[Pic]

So, there it is! A by no means unabridged list of what's new and improved in Build 14 Beta 4! If you're interested in more info on a particular section or subject, feel free to consult with the Build Info.txt document in your game directory, or visit the Pirates Ahoy!.org forums for a friendly chat with the team!

Now...go get that horizon!

[Pic]

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Very awesome! I'll read it through properly later, but THANKS VERY MUCH!

 

[Robert Nutter]

I know it's not much but i've had to nerf quite a lot; else it'll end up being a dissertation!

I feel I could maybe add a little more about skills and abilities though; and it'd still be good to find out for certain what those new abilities are, as it seems a shame to not write *something* about them.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I think the abilities are Improved Potions, Poison Resistance and Cooking.
Master of Disguise is new as well.

 

[Grey Roger]

Under the section about naval officers, the screenshot of the fleet shows the ships flying a Personal flag - perhaps not the most appropriate for a naval officer whose duty is to King and Country.

The easiest way to get a Letter of Marque is to start the game as a Corsair, then you get a free one from your choice of starting nation. That's if you're playing a Free Play game, of course. Some storylines give you a LoM when appropriate to the plot.

Nice work, though!

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I think starting the Standard Storyline as a Naval Officer should actually put you in the navy gameplay.
Can't remember now if that also works for Corsairs though. It might do...