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Praise and criticism

Bathtub-pirate

Sailor
Storm Modder
I wanted to give you guys some feedback about the Build 14 mod. There will be praise and some criticism. Let me first and foremost tip my pirate hat. All in all the Build 14 mod is an amazing piece of work and greatly enhances the experience that POTC has to offer. Now I could never imagine to even bother playing the stock game, since with Build it brings so much more to the table.


Let me get a bit more specific about the things I like and also about what I think could need some further polishing.


What I like


Improved economics: It was nice that the trading system in the stock game was there at all. But it suffered quickly from being as bare-bones as possible and completely static, which provided no challenge and made it also kind of pointless. I love how there is now a dynamic system, in which the prices adapt to the amount of goods being sold or bought (both in long and short term). Now the trading system makes a whole lot more sense and it requires more attention to make better profits.


New gameplay elements: I love all the new stuff that has been added like surrendering opponents, signing articles, the improved system for officers (and the fact that the annoying officer bug seems to be gone), looting carcasses, dynamic relations between nations, multiple storylines, upgrading and berthing ships etc. The scope of the game is now so much bigger and richer. All in all the game feels a lot more realistic. I also love the little things like your crew using gear out of your weapon's locker when boarding enemy ships etc.


Vastly improved freeplay: Due to the new elements and the Caribbean being way bigger, freeplay is now so much more fun. Where the freeplay in the stock game lost it's appeal entirely at a certain point, Build 14 is built to last.^^ Mostly because it is profoundly more challenging and coming by top tier ships is not as easy as in the stock game (where it just was a question of not even that much money). BTW - do you ever master the tiers 1 and 2? My char could always just sail vessels of tier 3 at best without penalties.


Being a pirate: In the stock game you could basically just fantasize about being a pirate. Now being a pirate is perfectly possible and has consequences over time ... as it should have.


Micromanagement isn't a pain in the ass anymore: Managing ships and crew requires a lot of micromanagement. And finally it all can be done in the menu after hitting F2. No more pixelhunting officers to speak with 'em in real time and no more tedious maneuvering giant vessels in tiny harbors to exchange 200 units of leather. Fantastic!


The sea battles: Even though the AI doesn't strike me as very bright, the sea battles (that I already liked the most in stock POTC) are now far better than ever! They still can be challenging if you dare to confront a patrol or top tier battle ships or if you throw yourself in a battle between two parties that both oppose you. The satisfaction when you shoot the front and the main mast of that battle ship in twain with chainballs makes you truly feel like the horror of the seas.


Special Events triggered only in 3rd person sailing: I really like that one. It gives you an incentive to sail iron man style. Because you never know what you mind find/encounter. Matter of fact: In all the many hours of playing Build I only once had bombs as ammunition for my cannons. And it was because I found them in a deserted vessel. Gotta appreciate the little things ...^^


If I would think longer about it I probably could come with more things I liked (Clint Eastwood!) - but the essential improvements that really make this mod are all covered.




What I don't like
Now on to the minor and major hassles that I think could or even should be improved. Not all of these points are things that are wrong with the mod itself. So let me first talk about some stuff that already was bad in the original game and that is still bad in the mod. Bear in mind that I am not really into the ins and outs of modding POTC. So I don't know if the game/engine related problems I now will address next are even fixable for you guys.


No "take all" option: Why isn't there an option to simply take the whole stuff with one click when opening a container? Instead there is just this useless "swap item" function, that probably just has been used by 10 people in the entire history (and eight of 'em did it by accident). Especially now that looting bodies is a viable option a "take all" button would be much appreciated.


Leveling opponents: Okay, this will take a few lines but its is going somewhere. Bare with me.
Leveling opponents pissed me of in the stock game .... and they still do it in Build - if not even more. Let me make one thing perfectly clear about leveling opponents: I hate 'em! Leveling opponents are one of the dumbest things in RPGs. Whenever the gameplay mechanic of leveling opponents raises it's hideous mug in any RPG that I play, my world becomes a tad more miserable.
"Well, what's the deal about leveling opponents? Why the hassle?", some of you may ask. Let me explain: Leveling opponents undermine one of the main, if not THE main appeal in RPGs .... felt progression! It is really, really cool when your character becomes stronger due to his gear and stats. You see it, you feel it, you "experience" (!) it. However - leveling opponents put a serious dent into this sensation. Because no matter how strong you get - they always provide more or less the same challenge throughout the game, which in the worst cases completely negates the defining RPG mechanic of getting stronger.
To this day I have very fond memories of the game Morrowind. When I started playing this game, the "atronarchs" (elemental creatures) where among the fiercest of opponents and had me running for the hills (or dieing) instantly. Can you imagine the satisfaction when I came back some 50+ levels later and mauled these atronarchs to death on the highest difficulty setting .... doing it with MY BARE HANDS! I felt like a god among people! Leveling opponents completely kill off this experience - since one will never get there.
Leveling opponents in POTC/Build are a problem as far as the melee fighting goes. And out of all enemies in the game it have to be the run-of-the-mill bandits, who are the worst offenders. Despite the fact that these bandits are easily the most mundane thugs one may encounter, they become the deadliest foes the further you play. All because they level with you like crazy. As soon as you are like north of level 7 or 8 these guys will become well equipped elite fighters. It is a laughably humbling experience to be the "horror of the seas", sinking and boarding enemy vessels of all nations and sizes ..... but as soon as you dare to step foot in a forest, plain, shirtless bandits will take you to school. The bad thing about this is that these guys become even stronger in the game the further you progress. From a certain point on they are a constant source of frustration. At least as long as you don't have a shitload of energy to compensate their strong offensive somewhat. BTW - the more energy you have, the more energy they have. And your healing potions will take forever to heal you in the heat of a battle.
An other problem is that nearly all enemies in the game instantly wield the finest rapiers etc. So weaponry that is supposed to be somewhat rare becomes as special as a spade, since you can pick it up from enemy corpses left and right. Matter of fact: By the time you will find one badly worn down spade you will EASILY have found three to five swept hilt rapiers in solid too tip-top condition ..... just another example how leveling opponents undermine balancing and purpose in RPGs. It is also a problem in so far that these weapons make the bandits profoundly stronger. The bland melee system in POTC is VERY dependent on weapon stats. So having these bandits running around with strong gear makes them far more dangerous.
All this leads to the absurd situation that killing bandits for exp. is a perfectly viable option in the beginning of the game. But later on it becomes suicidal. Even though you became "stronger". It only gets better when you make it far enough to have well over 200 HP, because then you at least don't die after like two hits.
I don't know if and to which extend you guys have the means to do something about that. But if you could fix that in the future, I will include you in my morning prayers.


Ship A.I. wastes ammunition on obstacles: <---- This. Apparently the ship A.I. can't distinguish obstacles from thin air. Be it an ally (often me) or a rock formation, the ship A.I. will fire no matter what, as long as an enemy is "in reach".






Now I am gonna write a little bit about things in Build 14 that I didn't like that much or that need further polishing and that were introduced through the mod.


Mass Encounters: I certainly get the appeal of the idea to have some fights in bigger numbers. The problem is that it just doesn't work very well with the rather flawed melee engine in the game. And dependent on the location and/or circumstances such encounters can be downright impossible to survive. For example, I walk into a tavern and am a known pirate. Some guy approaches me and tells me that he wants to kill me. And he isn't alone. To make matters worse a bunch of french soldiers bursts through the front door. I now have to face like nine opponents in a narrow tavern and I can't move left or right, because as soon as I or somebody near me pulls a weapon, the most shitty collision detection system on the face of this earth is in full effect. Whenever this or a comparable scenario unfolds I might as well hit "load" game. Because I will be pummeled to death in seconds. Of course, many ambushes can be survived by escaping or smartly moving throughout the territory. But especially in taverns there is no fighting chance in hell to survive in one piece. The melee gameplay is just too damn clunky and purely dependent on stats for this. Oh, and I assume many of these encounters will confront you with the pain in the ass that are ...... leveling opponents. Right now for example, I am stuck in a cavern on Hispanola. I am looking for a treasure but I have to kill a load of bandits in a narrow cave .... it is next to impossible! I literally am encouraged to exploit the sidestep glitch and go through the walls, to use some hit and run strategy.
BTW - it feels especially stupid when I get attacked for being a pirate .... in Tortuga. What!?


Instant Millionaire: If one wants to become an instant multi-millionaire, all it takes is a poisoned throwing knife and an unaware street merchant. Street Merchants (those with stands) often carry several millions in money (at least later on in the game) and goods that are worth anything between one and two million if sold with a high commerce skill and the commerce attributes. That truly is a major exploit in the game. It could easily be bypassed by giving the street merchants far less money. As it stands these guys are richer than any governor ...


Randomized dialogue options?: I am not sure if it is something with my installation of the game or if it is so in general. Dialogue options in several multiple choice cases seem random. For example: I rarely get the option to demand ransom for a prisoner. I sail to an island of his nation, even take the risk to moor in the port under a false flag. But still I often just get the option of letting him run, seldom the option to sack in some good, old ransom.
The same applies when I am negotiating with a Captain, who has surrendered. Sometimes I get the option to take him as a prisoner, sometimes I don't ..... without any indication on what it might be dependent on if I get the option or not. Therefore, it seems just random and it is annoying, since what I want to do is at times just not possible for whatever reason.


Glitchfest during naval battles: As far as I know this is a known problem. I mean the "exploding colors" during some of the sea fights. They really can be a major pain since they distract and look pretty damn ugly. Especially in intense sea fights with bigger fleets these glitches can occur and just will not go away, which completely ruins the experience. Out of all the things mentioned here this should definitely get fixed somewhere down the line .... this and the leveling opponents (oh boy ... do I hate 'em ...).


Transition between 3rd person and world map is sometimes buggy: Sometimes when I go from the 3rd person to the world map I make enormous "jumps". For example, I once was at the northern coast of Isla Mona. When I hit the world map button, I was north of Hispanola. What????


Barely or completely inaccessible shores: There are several visible shorelines (in 3rd person) on a few islands that require quite some tedious trying around, before the game let's you moor there. Curacao for example. And Isla Mona and Petit Tobacco are completely inaccessible as it seems. I never managed to moor there, despite there being visible shores.


The narrative in most of the new quests is too non-responsive at times: I often had to go to the wiki here on pirates ahoy to find out how too proceed in a quest, because the game or the in-game dialogues would give me no leads whatsoever. That is not because the tasks demanded from me were too extraordinary. Most the time they were actually quite basic.
SPOILER: Just as an example - in the Bartolome quest I was looking for Nathaniel Hawk and was meant to find out about his whereabouts on Tortuga. I didn't find the guy, who would give me the lead. Not because he was well hidden or hard to find. It was because I didn't even mind looking for him. I could talk to all the persons of interest (shopkeepers etc.), who all offer a standard dialogue option for "information". But never was I even offered the possibility to ask for mister Hawk. Also you can talk to everyone in the street and will never be offered the option to ask about Hawk. Unless you talk to that ONE person, that gives you the lead anyway. And that is my problem. If the game expects you to ask around, then why doesn't it let you? If I would have been offered the option to ask anyone on the street for Nathaniel Hawk or his French buddy, the game would at least confirm that doing so is an viable option and encourage me to keep going on this path.
And that is a problem, I ran into rather frequently. All to often it is so within the storylines that if you are meant to gather some information of any kind, but do not know, who you could ask, you end up scratching your head. Because many times the only one you CAN even ask is the one person that gives you the answer anyway. But if you don't bump into this person relatively early, you often will give up on "asking" the people, since you are not asking anybody anything. Which makes you wonder if you are doing the right thing.
I also can recall one case were the game expected something from me, but wouldn't let me know it, in the Jack Sparrow storyline.
On one occasion I was meant to land on a certain port with a certain officer, so he would trigger a dialogue. The only reason why that was so, was obviously because the scripting demanded it. Not because it would make sense from a narrative-standpoint. Ingame there was absolutely no hint. So I ended up running around for hours on the island, wondering what I am missing. And after I looked into the wiki, I knew I had to board my ship in the port (and nowhere else ...), "land" again and HAD to have this one officer with me. The funny thing is, that I had this officer with me all the damn time, when I was running around on the island. I would talk to him (since he was the guy, who led me to the island) - but he wouldn't tell me what to do next. He only would get the idea to do so, when landing on the damn port ... Well, how is someone meant to figure that one out ingame?




Wow - quite a piece of post here. Thanks to anybody, who cared enough to read it all. Even though it might sound like a rant towards the end, rest assured that it isn't meant that way. Not at all actually. I just wanted to make my points in order to give you guys some ideas what could be improved even further. But even these in parts fundamental flaws don't take away the fact that Build is one amazing improvement for a game, that was more of a guilty pleasure before I found this mod. So keep going guys! You are doing a top job and I can't even begin to imagine the amount of time invested.:onya
 
:ahoy matey! We are all glad that you like New Horizons. :cheers

That is a wall of text and I will only hit a few points.

I like the dynamic economy too, and enjoy playing as a merchant/smuggler. It is fun to tip the economy this way and that helping your friends and hurting your foes.

Sea battles are fun and frustrating. The AI maneuvers well to put you at a disadvantage but then never fires their cannons, which makes them easy to defeat. Then there are the graphic anomalies. We have never been able to get rid of it and it is a major problem. Almost as bad as the collision detection that has ships in close combat bouncing around off each other into any other ship that is around. This makes even more difficult.

You call them leveling opponents. POTC was originally an arcade game with very easy opponents. Those massive ambushes were the only challenging fights, but now they are suicide because combat is a lot harder now. You are right about how it now starts off ok but soon gets impossible. Methinks that from level 8 to level 15 it is best to avoid combat except when you have a clear advantage. Like attacking the town guards or tossing 2 dozen grenades at anybody you see. That leaves out taking surrendered ships and treasure quests. By level 16 the Golden Cuirass appears, making combat possible again. It stays tuff but possible from then on. I just hit level 16 in my game last night. :dance
 
First of all, thanks very much for taking the time to post your thoughts and comments here.
Unfortunately progress seems to have pretty much stopped dead in the water, so I doubt we're going to be able to do much about your valid concerns.
However, I'll try to give you some suggestions that hopefully at least help you enjoy the game a bit more or at least understand why things are the way they are.

Some of this requires you to change settings in the Options menu. New game required for all those to take effect.
If you want to continue play after changing the options, make a savegame BEFORE changing the options and load that afterwards.

BTW - do you ever master the tiers 1 and 2? My char could always just sail vessels of tier 3 at best without penalties.
There is a bug with the coding for that caused by our introduction of Tier 8 ships. We still didn't figure out how to fix that properly, unfortunately. :modding
You can disable the SHIPCLASS_DEPENDS_ON_SKILLS setting in Options>Advanced Options to get rid of this effect altogether.

No "take all" option: Why isn't there an option to simply take the whole stuff with one click when opening a container? Instead there is just this useless "swap item" function, that probably just has been used by 10 people in the entire history (and eight of 'em did it by accident). Especially now that looting bodies is a viable option a "take all" button would be much appreciated.
I wouldn't know how to code a "Take All" button, but you could set AUTOLOOT_ON in Options>Advanced Options and get at least the money and weapons from your opponents automatically.
Then manual looting will only be necessary for a lot less items, which might save you some frustration.

Leveling opponents: Okay, this will take a few lines but its is going somewhere. Bare with me.
I definitely understand where you're coming from. Of course it is quite difficult to come up with a system where the early game isn't TOO hard and the later game not TOO difficult.
While I doubt we can fix this for PotC, we'll definitely try to work out a much better system for our new game Hearts of Oak: Conquest of the Seas, though of course that is not going to be playable any time soon.

There IS of course the setting for ship encounters to be completely random, but that applies to the ship classes and not the characters, unfortunately.
We did do quite some substantial work trying to get the weapon assignments more sensible, but even despite that it doesn't work the way we want to in all cases.
The code giving weapons to characters is VERY difficult to work with and seems to be quite stubborn in its randomization.

Ship A.I. wastes ammunition on obstacles: <---- This. Apparently the ship A.I. can't distinguish obstacles from thin air. Be it an ally (often me) or a rock formation, the ship A.I. will fire no matter what, as long as an enemy is "in reach".
I've definitely seen that too. NO clue how we could ever fix that; I'd suspect that is handled by the game engine, which we cannot touch.

Mass Encounters: I certainly get the appeal of the idea to have some fights in bigger numbers. The problem is that it just doesn't work very well with the rather flawed melee engine in the game. And dependent on the location and/or circumstances such encounters can be downright impossible to survive. For example, I walk into a tavern and am a known pirate. Some guy approaches me and tells me that he wants to kill me. And he isn't alone.
Are you having crewmembers (note: not officers) following you ashore? That enables a mod where you'll get large fights at random for a bigger challenge.
If you don't like that, tell all your crew to return to the ship and those overly large encounters should end.

BTW - it feels especially stupid when I get attacked for being a pirate .... in Tortuga. What!?
The being recognized feature is triggered by hoisting the Jolly Roger through the Enter menu and does not occur in Pirate locations.
However, Tortuga is technically French in all except the Jack Sparrow storyline and therefore manages to bypass that the "no Pirate" code. :facepalm

Instant Millionaire: If one wants to become an instant multi-millionaire, all it takes is a poisoned throwing knife and an unaware street merchant. Street Merchants (those with stands) often carry several millions in money (at least later on in the game) and goods that are worth anything between one and two million if sold with a high commerce skill and the commerce attributes. That truly is a major exploit in the game. It could easily be bypassed by giving the street merchants far less money. As it stands these guys are richer than any governor ...
To avoid this from being too much of an exploit, if you kill a trader, a big group of extra-strong soldiers should immediately appear to deal with you. Is that not happening for you?

Randomized dialogue options?: I am not sure if it is something with my installation of the game or if it is so in general. Dialogue options in several multiple choice cases seem random. For example: I rarely get the option to demand ransom for a prisoner. I sail to an island of his nation, even take the risk to moor in the port under a false flag. But still I often just get the option of letting him run, seldom the option to sack in some good, old ransom.
The same applies when I am negotiating with a Captain, who has surrendered. Sometimes I get the option to take him as a prisoner, sometimes I don't ..... without any indication on what it might be dependent on if I get the option or not. Therefore, it seems just random and it is annoying, since what I want to do is at times just not possible for whatever reason.
Demanding ransom is supposed to work only if you are at the time in the port of the captain's original nation.
There IS a "ransom" option in the Passengers menu that is enabled by changing the "Anchoring and Ransom" option under Options>Advanced Options.

Quest characters cannot be captured to prevent bugs with the quest and there is some code in place to prevent you from capturing captains if there is "no more space".
Other than that, technically they should all work.

Glitchfest during naval battles: As far as I know this is a known problem. I mean the "exploding colors" during some of the sea fights. They really can be a major pain since they distract and look pretty damn ugly. Especially in intense sea fights with bigger fleets these glitches can occur and just will not go away, which completely ruins the experience. Out of all the things mentioned here this should definitely get fixed somewhere down the line ....
I think you're talking of the weird graphical artefacts that occur at times. We think it is related to the Different Flags mod and ships losing their masts, but all our attempts to fix it have failed so far. :(

Transition between 3rd person and world map is sometimes buggy: Sometimes when I go from the 3rd person to the world map I make enormous "jumps". For example, I once was at the northern coast of Isla Mona. When I hit the world map button, I was north of Hispanola. What????
I suspect that is the DirectSail worldmap coordinates messing things up. I've seen that too. :modding

Barely or completely inaccessible shores: There are several visible shorelines (in 3rd person) on a few islands that require quite some tedious trying around, before the game let's you moor there. Curacao for example. And Isla Mona and Petit Tobacco are completely inaccessible as it seems. I never managed to moor there, despite there being visible shores.
Isla Mona and Petit Tabac are only accessible during specific times in the storylines, but not meant for ordinary play.

The narrative in most of the new quests is too non-responsive at times: I often had to go to the wiki here on pirates ahoy to find out how too proceed in a quest, because the game or the in-game dialogues would give me no leads whatsoever. That is not because the tasks demanded from me were too extraordinary. Most the time they were actually quite basic.
Definitely a valid point. I think using the "rumours" of the random town citizens could work wonders in these instances, but those would have to be coded in.
Unfortunately making a storyline that technically works is a WHOLE lot easier than making one that can be played without a walkthrough.
A few years ago, I did some work rewriting various new sidequests to be clearer, but doing so for all the newly added storylines is just too much work.
Haven't heard from Bartolomeu in quite some time either; he wrote the Bartolomeu and Assassin storylines as well as part of the Jack Sparrow one and would be the one to add this functionality.
 
Methinks that from level 8 to level 15 it is best to avoid combat except when you have a clear advantage.

Yeah, that appears to be the critical phase to me, too. I always hire a bunch of muscleheads to do the dirty work for me.

There is a bug with the coding for that caused by our introduction of Tier 8 ships. We still didn't figure out how to fix that properly, unfortunately. :modding

Is it possible to work around that with the objects, that give you bonus points on sailing and leadership?

Of course it is quite difficult to come up with a system where the early game isn't TOO hard and the later game not TOO difficult.
While I doubt we can fix this for PotC, we'll definitely try to work out a much better system for our new game Hearts of Oak: Conquest of the Seas, though of course that is not going to be playable any time soon.

One idea might be leveled lists. Leveled lists determine the ratio of how likely it is for the player to encounter various opponents. These lists correspond to the level of the player. So let's say when the player is on level 3, it is 80% cannon-fodder, 15% mediocre and 5% ultimate badass. Over time these values change as the player proceeds. This way he doesn't run into Behemoths on every turn in the beginning of the game. But later on stronger opponents will become more in order to not underwhelm the player.

The advantage of leveled lists is that the various types of opponents stay pretty much the same in strength and therefore there is a sense of which opponents provide a minor or a major threat. In contrast to that leveling opponents just means that everybody becomes artificially stronger. Leveled lists also allow you to make the opponents feel more believable. No more cannibal Indians with braced pistols and finest rapiers out of the blue.^^

Are you having crewmembers (note: not officers) following you ashore? That enables a mod where you'll get large fights at random for a bigger challenge.

No, I was more referring to the ambushes. And I mostly just pick crewmembers when going after a treasure in a forest.

To avoid this from being too much of an exploit, if you kill a trader, a big group of extra-strong soldiers should immediately appear to deal with you. Is that not happening for you?

No, not if I kill him sneaky with the poisoned throwing blade from a safe distance. I think that is because the game regards that as a "stealth kill". All that happens is I get like minus 2 on reputation for attacking an unarmed person. So I am still a hero. Only then I will be a filthy rich hero.

Another funny approach towards a merchants throat and purse is available on Isla de St. Martin. I go to the port, talk to everyone until I find one of those "mobile" merchants. I interact with him just for the sake of opening the trading window (because only then I will be able to loot all this stuff later on). Then I end the conversation and wait for this poor soul to go near the docking area. It is then that I talk to a French soldier, which triggers the Dutch soldiers to attack the area. One spawning point typically is the docks. So our unsuspecting merchant will have to deal with a bunch of bloodthirsty invaders and will probably die. I don't even have to touch him. All it takes is timing and some waiting.:popcorn: When the dust settles, I just grab his stuff and walk away without my life or my reputation being in jeopardy for one second.:razz .... Jack Sparrow would approve.^^

Demanding ransom is supposed to work only if you are at the time in the port of the captain's original nation.

Oh, I had the nation covered. Or has every captain a specific (!) island? Like it could be Barbados, Antigua, Cayman, Jamaica or Nevis for an English man?

Haven't heard from Bartolomeu in quite some time either; he wrote the Bartolomeu and Assassin storylines as well as part of the Jack Sparrow one and would be the one to add this functionality.

Funny, these are exactly the storylines I bothered playing so far. That explains at least why there are similar problems. But I really like the Bartolomeu storyline so far.
 
Is it possible to work around that with the objects, that give you bonus points on sailing and leadership?
Not entirely sure. I'd recommend just disabeling that options; don't think it adds to much to the game experience anyway.

One idea might be leveled lists. Leveled lists determine the ratio of how likely it is for the player to encounter various opponents. These lists correspond to the level of the player. So let's say when the player is on level 3, it is 80% cannon-fodder, 15% mediocre and 5% ultimate badass. Over time these values change as the player proceeds. This way he doesn't run into Behemoths on every turn in the beginning of the game. But later on stronger opponents will become more in order to not underwhelm the player.
Nice idea. Probably not feasible for PotC, but definitely one to consider for Hearts of Oak.
Another thoughts I'd have is to make all characters just about equally strong with blades only defining the type of fight, but not being stronger or less strong than another.
As the game progresses, rather than the fights becoming easier/harder, you would get more different challenges to deal with.
For example, in the early game your challenge would be "staying alive" while later on your concern would be more with keeping the crew happy and making money while even later you'd delve into politics and whatever else.

No, I was more referring to the ambushes. And I mostly just pick crewmembers when going after a treasure in a forest.
Ambushes can happen in two instances:
1. Talking to BuildingSet characters
2. Randomly, but only if the Land Crewmembers mod is enabled

No, not if I kill him sneaky with the poisoned throwing blade from a safe distance. I think that is because the game regards that as a "stealth kill". All that happens is I get like minus 2 on reputation for attacking an unarmed person. So I am still a hero. Only then I will be a filthy rich hero.
[...]
.... Jack Sparrow would approve.^^
LOL! Those are quite some clever work-arounds, I must say! :rofl

Oh, I had the nation covered. Or has every captain a specific (!) island? Like it could be Barbados, Antigua, Cayman, Jamaica or Nevis for an English man?
As far as I'm aware, it shouldn't matter which island it is as long as the nation is correct. I think there is a bit of a bug with the ransoming though that makes it sometimes not work.
I'd recommend trying that interface-based version and see if that works better.

Funny, these are exactly the storylines I bothered playing so far. That explains at least why there are similar problems. But I really like the Bartolomeu storyline so far.
There's a lot of cool stuff in all of them for sure, definitely some very clever scenes. I like the "stealth" scenes as they make for gameplay quite unlike the original game offered.
 
Allright. I will turn off the ship class option and will perform the ransoming via interface and see how it works.

BTW - is there already some footage for this Hearts of Oak thing? I read a little bit about it in the Google doc concept and it definetely sounds most intriguing. Quite a piece of work, though. But if that would get of the ground, it may be marvelous. I am really excited to see if the Unreal engine delivers a solution. Too bad that Akella's Storm Enginge didn't really change that much, did it? When I look at COAS it looks and more so feels remarkably like POTC - engine-wise that is.
 
BTW - is there already some footage for this Hearts of Oak thing?
Footage? Not at all. Progress is very slow and we've only just started.

Too bad that Akella's Storm Enginge didn't really change that much, did it? When I look at COAS it looks and more so feels remarkably like POTC - engine-wise that is.
True that. All more recent games are still very much based on PotC's Storm 2.0 engine.
 
Haven't heard from Bartolomeu in quite some time either; he wrote the Bartolomeu and Assassin storylines as well as part of the Jack Sparrow one and would be the one to add this functionality.

Don't worry, I'm still alive :p . I'll work again on the mod this spring.
 
The narrative in most of the new quests is too non-responsive at times: I often had to go to the wiki here on pirates ahoy to find out how too proceed in a quest, because the game or the in-game dialogues would give me no leads whatsoever. That is not because the tasks demanded from me were too extraordinary. Most the time they were actually quite basic.
SPOILER: Just as an example - in the Bartolome quest I was looking for Nathaniel Hawk and was meant to find out about his whereabouts on Tortuga. I didn't find the guy, who would give me the lead. Not because he was well hidden or hard to find. It was because I didn't even mind looking for him. I could talk to all the persons of interest (shopkeepers etc.), who all offer a standard dialogue option for "information". But never was I even offered the possibility to ask for mister Hawk. Also you can talk to everyone in the street and will never be offered the option to ask about Hawk. Unless you talk to that ONE person, that gives you the lead anyway. And that is my problem. If the game expects you to ask around, then why doesn't it let you? If I would have been offered the option to ask anyone on the street for Nathaniel Hawk or his French buddy, the game would at least confirm that doing so is an viable option and encourage me to keep going on this path.
I need to check this part of the story. Maybe the solution should be giving to the player in the rumor dialog a lead to the man you need to talk to.

To Pieter: As I said, I'll be the last to "abandon the ship":D
 
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