Fixed Officer Skill Contribution on Companion Ships

[Hotshot]

Didn't find any info via search, so here goes nothing^^

I've bought a new ship, with a very high skill First Mate as Captain.

But now that I want to give this ship 3 other officers the game tells me:

"This officer has too low Leadership and Sailing skills to command this ship. Assign anyway?"​

I do this via Ship > Ship Transfer > (select both ships) > Transfer between these ships > Assign officers
And now I can add one officer to the other ship; somehow I cannot add the others in one go. Then I have to exit this screen and select Assign Officers again to add the next officer.

BUT this doesn't change the Skill Summary Page at all?
At least the gunner should contribute to the cannon-skill...

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Maybe the "reset" functions aren't being called when you do that?
This probably has to be moved to the Bug Tracker.

Officers on NPC ships are technically possible, but only half-supported.

@Mere_Mortal was doing some substantial work to make that a more integral part of the game.

 

[Hotshot]

Officers on NPC ships are technically possible, but only half-supported.

Ok, I didn't know that!
I thought I should have 4 officers on every ship! If not, that would save at least some money

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I thought I should have 4 officers on every ship! If not, that would save at least some money

Not really much need. The only skills really relevant for companion ships are Leadership and Sailing.
NPC AI is relatively stupid anyway, so don't expect much help from them in a battle....

 

[Grey Roger]

Don't companion ships make use of Gunnery, Repair and Defence skills, or their associated perks? At least if those skills are owned by the captain himself, not secondary officers.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Don't companion ships make use of Gunnery, Repair and Defence skills, or their associated perks? At least if those skills are owned by the captain himself, not secondary officers.

They would do, yes.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

@Hotshot: I moved this to the Bug Tracker as it sounds like something that is meant to work indeed doesn't work.
Have to admit I never really tested this particular scenario, so that isn't entirely surprising. I'll check it out.

 

[Hotshot]

so don't expect much help from them in a battle

Hm, sry to hear that :-(
I really hoped it would be better then in Sea Dogs, where I instead opted to sail alone after trying otherwise a few times...

I never really tested this particular scenario

Well, that's what the community is for

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I really hoped it would be better then in Sea Dogs, where I instead opted to sail alone after trying otherwise a few times...

I have no clue what it was like in Sea Dogs, so cannot compare.
Companion ships do try to help, but they're not particularly clever.
Still.... better than not having them at all, I imagine.

Well, that's what the community is for

Right you are!

 

[Pieter Boelen]

@Hotshot: Could you upload the savegame on which you experienced this, along with the exact steps you use to trigger the issue?
Also upload the file named "options" from your main game folder and InternalSettings.h as your settings might affect this.

On default settings, I do notice that while within the "Officer Transfer" screen, the "Skill Summary" does not update based on what you do.
However, when I close the interface afterwards and check the captain's skills, I do see the skills from his officer being contributed.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Turns out that this sort-of does work, but not very well.
Mainly because certain functions, such as AddPassenger and RemovePassenger aren't being used very consistently.
This is probably also what @Mere_Mortal ran into in the past, causing the same passenger to end up on MULTIPLE ships.
So.... definitely some clean-up required.

As a bonus, I'm adding the "skill colour coding" to this transfer interface because that makes it easier to test.

 

[Hotshot]

> I'm adding the "skill colour coding" to this transfer interface because that makes it easier to test.
Sweet!

Do you still want me to upload a save/configs/detailed description?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Extract attached to your main game folder to try my fixes for this.

Contains the following changes:

- Ship and Passengers Interface: Skills only shown in gold if that character has '10' for the skill (so will show as green if another character contributes that skill instead).

- Transfer Characters Interface: Skills are now ALWAYS shown for the character you select, even if that character is on the "companion ship".
As consequence, now if you select an "empty" officer slot, you'll see zeros instead of the "general ship skill summary".

- Adding/removing officers to the companion ship calls AddPassenger/RemovePassenger so the officer is only passenger of ONE captain at the same time.
This also ensures the "ship skills" get updated for the relevant captain immediately while in the interface.

- To be able to see this more clearly, the colour coding from the Ship/Passengers Interfaces has been added to this interface now as well.

- The "Change Passenger" function has been corrected to NOT affect completely unrelated characters anymore.
It actually did that, which was VERY WRONG and was probably the cause for this bizarre and nasty error:
Fixed - CTD At Sea due to "Allied" Quest Enemy | PiratesAhoy!
Since this bypasses AddPassenger/RemovePassenger (to maintain the order in the "passenger scroll"), I added some "reset skills" function calls there too.


As far as I've been able to determine from my tests, this now behaves a whole lot more reasonable.
Plus I find the modified behaviour of the interface more convenient myself. Hopefully the same goes for you players too!

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Do you still want me to upload a save/configs/detailed description?

Probably no need; I think I covered all bases.
Please test what I did (see above) and if anything still seems wrong, let me know.

Also, thanks very much for notifying me of this error!
It definitely looked very wrong in several spots (one of them potentially quite nasty!), so it'll be great to have this behaving itself a bit more sensibly.

 

[Hotshot]

Ok, after overwriting the files from this patch and loading a save, I had to re-initialize via F11 (which thanks to you works again^^).

Besides the improvements in color-coding, it does update the skills!!

But the following still remains:

• one cannot at or exchange more then 1 officer at a time (you set a new officer and have to go back to the "transfer screen" and go back to "Assign Officers")
• it still warns me when assigning more then the captain, that the officer I'm adding has too low a level to command this ship. And it even writes at the bottom "This officer can command ships up to class: 7", although this officer is not the captain, and even has a leadship skill of 10
• the updating of the skills summary page on the npc ships is still a little ... finicky. I've been playing around for the last 40min or so and sometimes it takes multiple times until the 2nd and 3rd officers skills will be taken into account
  • But it could also be, that even after F11, you have to give the ship to a completely different officer, and then add the officers you want. This seems to work.

 

[Hotshot]

Another thing: it doesn't update on my 4th ship.
I currently have my 2 frigates, then the "Adventurer" from the sidequest and as the fourth I've got the Ship from Peter Blood. And on this ship the skill page doesn't update:

Maybe it's because the 3rd ship doesn't really belong to me as it's only here for the side-quest.
Maybe it's because this 4th ship is "added" after the "Search for Peter Blood's ship".

I'll definitely know more after doing all sidequests and continuing free2play, then there shouldn't be any quest-hooks or what not that might interfere with the "normal game".

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Ok, after overwriting the files from this patch and loading a save, I had to re-initialize via F11 (which thanks to you works again^^).

Why did you need to reinitialize? For this particular change, there should be no need....

Besides the improvements in color-coding, it does update the skills!!

one cannot at or exchange more then 1 officer at a time (you set a new officer and have to go back to the "transfer screen" and go back to "Assign Officers")

Huh? How come then that yesterday I managed to assign 3 officers to the same ship without exiting that interface?

it still warns me when assigning more then the captain, that the officer I'm adding has too low a level to command this ship. And it even writes at the bottom "This officer can command ships up to class: 7", although this officer is not the captain, and even has a leadship skill of 10

The "can command" text shows up for each officer. Maybe that isn't quite required though and should not be shown for the extra officers on the ship?

Note that not only Leadership affects the command an officer can have; the code looks to the lowest number between Leadership and Sailing.
So if an officer has 10 Leadership, but 1 Sailing, that officer would not be fit to command very big ships.

the updating of the skills summary page on the npc ships is still a little ... finicky. I've been playing around for the last 40min or so and sometimes it takes multiple times until the 2nd and 3rd officers skills will be taken into account

Curious; it worked in all situations that I tested myself, including assigning/removing/swapping officers.

But it could also be, that even after F11, you have to give the ship to a completely different officer, and then add the officers you want. This seems to work.

Changing the officers indeed triggers a "reset".

Another thing: it doesn't update on my 4th ship.
I currently have my 2 frigates, then the "Adventurer" from the sidequest and as the fourth I've got the Ship from Peter Blood.

Do you have a savegame for me to test from?
Also, if you could mention exactly what buttons to press and in which order, as well as what you expect to see, that would be very useful.

Upload also the file named "options" from your main game folder, as well as your PROGRAM\InternalSettings.h file.
I did all my tests on Arcade Game Mode, so maybe indeed the realism mode is still a bit iffy?

I'll definitely know more after doing all sidequests and continuing free2play, then there shouldn't be any quest-hooks or what not that might interfere with the "normal game".

Quests shouldn't really interfere with this. Unless perhaps there is some code in place to mess up the skill stuff for "non removable ships".
I didn't think there was, but once I have your save, I can check.

By the way, have you been capturing any ships since installing this fix?
I wonder if the "Transfer Officers" interface that you get after boarding is actually the same interface or not.
Easy enough now to tell because if it has the "skill colour coding", then it must be the same one.

 

[Hotshot]

For this particular change, there should be no need

Hm, precaution? Just so that it cannot be said I didn't try everything

that officer would not be fit to command very big ships.

Oh! I know that I always reference Sea Dogs, but it is it's predecessor and there it was only the sailing skill that mattered.

Changing the officers indeed triggers a "reset".

What I meant was: not only do I need to change the officers, but first I have to change the captain of the ship, and then add back the officers.

Do you have a savegame for me to test from?

Sure, just try this one!

Also, if you could mention exactly what buttons to press

Well because it is even more detailed this way, I've made the linked video
Wait a sec: where is that link anyhow? Am I mad or something... (maybe I posted it in the wrong thread; too much going on here )
->

I did all my tests on Arcade Game Mode, so maybe indeed the realism mode is still a bit iffy?

Well, I am playing arcade... but with some realistic settings via Internal.h

By the way, have you been capturing any ships since installing this fix?

No, but as soon as I'm done with the "Silver Train" I will be able to again; right now I cannot attack any Pirate ships and I figured that side-quest must be the cause of that...

 

[Hotshot]

OK SCRATCH THAT! -> it works!

I don't know why, but I was under the impression that officer-roles had no impact in NPC ships... but of course they do
So... I guess this is actually fixed

But one question remains: the skills of the First Mate, which is now a on the companion ship, count all, right?
So basically, if I have a captain with all skills maxed out, one officer would be enough!?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Hm, precaution? Just so that it cannot be said I didn't try everything

Can't hurt anyway.

Oh! I know that I always reference Sea Dogs, but it is it's predecessor and there it was only the sailing skill that mattered.

I've never played Sea Dogs, so wouldn't know about that.
The "skills required to command big ships" thing is a mod-added feature and wasn't part of the original game.

Actually, I'd be quite curious to know what overlap there is between the original Sea Dogs and PotC.

What I meant was: not only do I need to change the officers, but first I have to change the captain of the ship, and then add back the officers.

Really? That shouldn't be necessary. Have to check....

Sure, just try this one!

Well because it is even more detailed this way, I've made the linked video
Wait a sec: where is that link anyhow? Am I mad or something... (maybe I posted it in the wrong thread; too much going on here )

I see a video; don't worry.

Well, I am playing arcade... but with some realistic settings via Internal.h

I generally just use Build Default settings. Good thing someone is trying those other options too.

No, but as soon as I'm done with the "Silver Train" I will be able to again; right now I cannot attack any Pirate ships and I figured that side-quest must be the cause of that...

Huh, in what way can you not attack pirate ships? Please elaborate...

OK SCRATCH THAT! -> it works!

Now I'm confused.... what does and doesn't work now?

Watching your video, I don't see anything that is obviously wrong.
Apart from you having to open/close the interface several times in a row; I don't know what's going on there.
But as far as I saw, the skill contributions were indeed updating the way I'd expect them to.

I don't know why, but I was under the impression that officer-roles had no impact in NPC ships... but of course they do
So... I guess this is actually fixed

Indeed officer roles do still play a role on companion ships.

But one question remains: the skills of the First Mate, which is now a on the companion ship, count all, right?
So basically, if I have a captain with all skills maxed out, one officer would be enough!?

The skills of whoever you assign as captain count all. The captain is the character in the upper left "officer slot".
The other three officer slots contribute those skills appropriate for their officer type.

If you assign a First Mate as captain, then all his/her skills count. But not because it is a First Mate, but because it is a captain.
Actually, you should notice the "officer type" changing from "First Mate" to, for example, "Privateer Captain".
The same happens if you assign a Carpenter or any other officer type as captain.