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Unconfirmed Bug Random captains in taverns

Grey Roger

Grey Roger

Sea Dog
Staff member
Administrator
Storm Modder
There are two problems with "Random_captains_sit_tavern_dialog", the dialog used by captains you might find sitting at a table. One is that all the dialog is hard-coded into "Random_captains_sit_tavern_dialog.c", while "Random_captains_sit_tavern_dialog.h" is just a place-holder so that the dialog code can find it.

The other is that the captain might offer to buy contraband from you:
Dear friend! You're always the welcome in this colony! How are you and what wind led you on this shore?
Can I hope that you bring us some smuggling goods you have taken to our enemies and you want to donate to our town?
Of course we'll pay you a good sum to assume your war damages. Our governor will be proud to be your friend! Believe me.
You could become a honoured citizen of the town! What do you think about that, captain?
Click to expand...
This eventually leads to:
Code: 
ChangeRMRelation(pchar, sti(Npchar.nation), -points);
You're led to believe that selling him your contraband will improve your relations, but in fact it does the opposite, which is what alerted me to both problems - I'd sold a load of ebony to one such officer in Charlestown and immediately lost my newly bought LoM. Is this an intentional trap, or is he really supposed to give you a boost to your relations?

Meanwhile, I'm in the process of moving all the text into "Random_captains_sit_tavern_dialog.h" and replacing all the text lines with "DLG_TEXT" references. This shouldn't make any difference to the game in English but should make a big difference to the translation projects currently in progress.
 
Grey Roger said:
Is this an intentional trap, or is he really supposed to give you a boost to your relations?
Click to expand...
I suppose it is a trap but I didn't make the dialog so it's better to get the opinion of the one who made the encounter.
 
That's probably @Levis as this is likely to be part of his "Extra Atmosphere" mod for taverns, which according to "Build Info.txt" dates back to Beta 3.1.

I'd also be interested to know what other people think. Looking at the code, you get half price for your contraband as you're supposedly doing the colony a favour. Should you also be penalised with a surprise relations drop?
 
Grey Roger said:
Looking at the code, you get half price for your contraband as you're supposedly doing the colony a favour. Should you also be penalised with a surprise relations drop?
Click to expand...

If @Levis imagined it as a trap then you are engaging in illegal activities and the "honest" captain tricked you to make more profit.

Anyway, I'm also interested in what @Levis and other people think.
 
Grey Roger said:
...I'd also be interested to know what other people think. Looking at the code, you get half price for your contraband as you're supposedly doing the colony a favour. Should you also be penalised with a surprise relations drop?
Click to expand...
Based from the random captain's line:
Dear friend! You're always the welcome in this colony! How are you and what wind led you on this shore?
Can I hope that you bring us some smuggling goods you have taken to our enemies and you want to donate to our town?
Of course we'll pay you a good sum to assume your war damages. Our governor will be proud to be your friend! Believe me.
You could become a honoured citizen of the town! What do you think about that, captain?
Click to expand...
It makes sense to me that you're selling them your contraband for cheap as you are doing them a favor. But you should get plus points from the governor and the nation. Also, he mentioned they'll give you money for repairs as well. But, if this is just one of the scams in the tavern then, that's awesome and a good one! :rofl I guess you got tricked by a random scum @Grey Roger ? xD:razz I believe this to be a "trap" as well because I wouldn't trust anyone in any tavern unless spoken to first by the governor or someone trustworthy or have heard good rumors of the man. :read:bird:
 
I agree with @DavyJack's assessment/perspective. :drunk

To me, this sounds dangerously close to the Ranger-Man in CT (which, incidentally, is also buggy/unfinished), that ended up being fully implemented in COAS. Perhaps this has been the inspiration for @Levis to add this interaction to the game? The overall idea is amusing -- that you are able to interact with other privateers/captains in the tavern -- but the implementation has been weak in all versions, in all games, as far as I'm aware...
 
I've been giving this some thought. There seem to be a few possibilities:

1: The Scam
The captain promises to improve your status with the governor. You sell him your contraband at half price. He then goes on to sell it at full price, making a big profit at your expense, but he was lying. He has nothing to do with the governor. Or perhaps he does; the governor is crooked, is importing contraband, buys it from you at reduced price, then what should have been taxes for the benefit of the colony goes into the governor's pocket instead. Either way, your relations don't change at all. If it's just the captain, he has no influence on your relations. If it's the governor, he won't want to report you to his superiors in case his own naughtiness is exposed at the same time.

2: The Sting
The captain is playing his own version of "Smuggling for a Governor". After you leave, he'll write his report to the governor. The nation now knows you're a smuggler. Your relations should take a much larger hit than the small amount at the moment, perhaps the same -10 as if you're caught by the coastguard.

3: The Real Deal
It's exactly as advertised. Smuggling isn't about beating a prohibition, it's about beating the taxman. Contraband isn't banned, it's taxed, and smugglers make their big profit by not paying the tax. This guy is working for the governor, and by selling to him at half price, you're paying the tax and selling the stuff legally, taking a big hit to your profit. The governor likes that, which is why you get a small increase in relations.

Which way do we want this to play out? Scam (no change), Sting (big penalty), Real Deal (small increase)? If it's Scam or Sting, perhaps also add something to the Smugglers' Handbook as a warning to anyone who actually bothers to read it. (If someone subsequently complains about not getting the promised improvement in relations, the answer is then "Did you read the handbook?" :p) If it's Real Deal, perhaps change the dialog text to say something about paying tax and selling legally.
 
The snag there is that it involves all the work of all three - add the warning in the Smugglers' Handbook, change the dialog to mention taxes, and add the code to produce random results. All this for a type of character who doesn't appear all that often (I've been trying to test this by going in and out of taverns, my character is now a regular drunk, there are plenty of random folks wanting to join as crew and some wanting to join as officers, but very few captains). So you read the Smugglers' Handbook or have one Scam or Sting encounter, never take the deal from these characters again, and all that work is for nothing...
 
Grey Roger said:
"Random_captains_sit_tavern_dialog"
Click to expand...
I think that file is much older than @Levis' involvement with the mod.
It was either @Maximus' or @Screwface's, if I recall correctly.

I don't believe it is an intentional trap.
More likely, my complete overhaul of the Nations Relations code many years ago inverted the original behaviour. :facepalm

So to me:
Grey Roger said:
3: The Real Deal
It's exactly as advertised. Smuggling isn't about beating a prohibition, it's about beating the taxman. Contraband isn't banned, it's taxed, and smugglers make their big profit by not paying the tax. This guy is working for the governor, and by selling to him at half price, you're paying the tax and selling the stuff legally, taking a big hit to your profit. The governor likes that, which is why you get a small increase in relations.
Click to expand...
Sounds like the simplest approach to me. :doff
 
I would side with @The Nameless Pirate with this one, if possible and if someone wants to do it. Make the three choices random and increase chances of the random captain being in the taverns. This way, you'll never know and just adds more mystery and fun to the game not to mention more immersive :D, if I say so myself. :)
 
Increasing the chances of these random captains appearing means decreasing the chances of random officers for hire, and they're the main reason I go into taverns in the first place. So the relative chances can stay as they are!
 
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