Fixed RE-Joining the Pirates

[Pieter Boelen]

I wouldn't necessarily go that far. If you leave the Brotherhood on good terms, they might not necessarily need to turn hostile unless you actively turn against them. They're wondering what you're going to do next. But I'd imagine that rank in the Brotherhood is measured by your piratical deeds and if you're not doing them any more while someone else is, he's the one everyone else is going to look up to and you're just a nobody now.

Of course, if you've got yourself a new LoM from one or more nations and are now attacking pirates then they won't take long to turn hostile. But that's going to happen anyway, so no need for any further action.

Basically, what we have now works well enough, apart from getting Isenbrandt Jurcksen to use the correct dialogs and to revert to his normal one if you leave Pirate service.

With "reset the pirate-friendly world" I mean purely the changes made to the game world through the "piratefun" quest case in quests_common.c .
That changes the Pirate governor dialogs to become "REAL" governors and also changes a useless blacksmith to a useful one and can change Tortuga to be a real pirate town too.
Part of that definitely NEEDS to be undone (specifically those governor dialogs) and we may want the rest to be cancelled as well.

Please have a look at that section of code so that you know what I'm going on about.

What I am NOT suggesting is to "turn the pirates more hostile". I thought all of that already worked as we wanted, so no need making further changes to it.

(I'm now thinking of my storyline in which the plot may call on you to stop being a pirate, but you may not want to turn against your former mates. You just aren't one of them any more. Of course, if you sail around under a nation's flag then pirates are going to want to attack you and if you don't want to become hostile to the Brotherhood then you have to avoid rather than fight them. I'd like for that to still be your choice.)

Should all be possible.

After all recent changes, if you are in the Brotherhood but flying a nation's flag and sink/capture Pirate ships, the pirates will STILL not immediately turn hostile.
They used to, but we decided to make them even more forgiving in that respect.

 

[Grey Roger]

What I am NOT suggesting is to "turn the pirates more hostile". I thought all of that already worked as we wanted, so no need making further changes to it.

Fair enough. It was your comment about making the world "pirate UN-friendly again" which confused me. The bottom line is that we're in agreement, the system works already, no need to change it.

After all recent changes, if you are in the Brotherhood but flying a nation's flag and sink/capture Pirate ships, the pirates will STILL not immediately turn hostile.
They used to, but we decided to make them even more forgiving in that respect.

That's if you're in the Brotherhood. Presumably if you're a pirate but not in the Brotherhood, they won't be so forgiving. And they certainly shouldn't be so forgiving if you've renounced piracy and then fight them! (The storyline doesn't check whether, having renounced piracy, you then turn round and rejoin the Brotherhood. It does check if, having made peace with Spain, you then turn hostile to Spain again. So if you're going to resume piracy, pick your targets carefully...)

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Fair enough. It was your comment about making the world "pirate UN-friendly again" which confused me. The bottom line is that we're in agreement, the system works already, no need to change it.

The "piratefun" quest case does what I generally call "making the game world more pirate-friendly".
So if you leave, that has to be reset back the way it was before and that is what I was referring to.

But yes, as you say, we do actually agree.

That's if you're in the Brotherhood. Presumably if you're a pirate but not in the Brotherhood, they won't be so forgiving.

If you're at -30 with the Pirates but sink a Pirate ship anyway (generally worth 1 point), you only go to -31 and not all the way to -60 in one go.

And they certainly shouldn't be so forgiving if you've renounced piracy and then fight them!

I don't know how @gianflores left the Pirate Brotherhood.

There is a "leavebad" variable that can turn a nation hostile upon leaving.
But that depends on the conditions of you leaving and I don't know how that works with the Pirates.
Also, I got the impression there may be an error in the way that function uses reputation.
I didn't bother to check that properly, because I have enough other things to do as it is and it looked to do little harm.
But still not quite right....

The storyline doesn't check whether, having renounced piracy, you then turn round and rejoin the Brotherhood. It does check if, having made peace with Spain, you then turn hostile to Spain again. So if you're going to resume piracy, pick your targets carefully...

A the moment, the game does not maintain a record of your previous relations.
The only thing that can be done is to check if you have an "old rank" with a nation to see if you used to be in their service.
But that is currently used in only one case: When you rejoin their service.

 

[gianflores13]

I don't know how @gianflores left the Pirate Brotherhood.

There was an option to leave. "I could not serve the Pirate Brotherhood" something dialog with Isenbrandt

 

[Pieter Boelen]

There was an option to leave. "I could not serve the Pirate Brotherhood" something dialog with Isenbrandt

Deliberately leaving then; not kicked out because you betrayed them. Thanks.

Out of curiosity, why did you choose to leave?
I don't think many people ever use that "leave" option, so I'm quite excited to hear feedback from someone who DOES!

 

[gianflores13]

I left because I discovered land opportunities when serving imperialistic nations. So I served all of those nations to be able to get all the land. 78,000 acres to be exact that earns an estimated 30,000 gold a day. Then I went back to being a pirate because it has more plundering option than serving any other nation because it is at war with everybody.

MOOOO' MONEEYYY...

 

[Pieter Boelen]

If you join the Pirates first, then you can still get a Letter of Marque afterwards; even multiple if you like.
Only issue is that if you get LoMs from everyone, it gets tricky to remain friendly with all nations.

MOOOO' MONEEYYY...

Now I'll be curious if you'll manage to break the game simply because it can't handle that amount of wealth and money!

Would you say the game is maybe a bit too easy? Or are you using Cheatmode?

 

[gianflores13]

Would you say the game is maybe a bit too easy? Or are you using Cheatmode?

Easy? This mod build is difficult even on the easiest setting. I play it just because I find it therapeutic and fun.
I play cheat mode, when I only want to pass time.

If you join the Pirates first, then you can still get a Letter of Marque afterwards; even multiple if you like.
Only issue is that if you get LoMs from everyone, it gets tricky to remain friendly with all nations.

truly? I've never done that before.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Easy? This mod build is difficult even on the easiest setting. I play it just because I find it therapeutic and fun.
I play cheat mode, when I only want to pass time.

Well, you're making crazy amounts of money, which ideally should take rather a long time.

But then.... you've been playing the April release, so for all I know, you DID take a long time.
Did you? If so, that suggests game stability is actually none too shabby now!

truly? I've never done that before.

One more thing to try out then! Good luck.

 

[Grey Roger]

If you join the Pirates first, then you can still get a Letter of Marque afterwards; even multiple if you like.
Only issue is that if you get LoMs from everyone, it gets tricky to remain friendly with all nations.

Not really, it just means you need to only attack pirates, though this does mean there wasn't much point in joining the Brotherhood.

Well, you're making crazy amounts of money, which ideally should take rather a long time.

If you want to make crazy amounts of money, you do need to be hostile to at least one nation, because merchant ships are much more lucrative targets than pirate ships. Especially if you're lucky enough to find one loaded with gold or silver. I'd made about 4,000,000 by raiding merchants with lesser cargoes, then found one with such a load and doubled my money in one go. Also, if you're hostile to a nation then you'll eventually be able to steal one of its battlewagons, at which point forts become viable targets. The trick is to pick a nation which is at war with everyone else, join everyone else, then only attack that one. Just keep an eye on international relations because they can change in a free play game, and that target nation might make friends with someone...

What might break the game is if you have so much money that it can't be stored in a single integer. What's going to prevent that is the regular demands from your crew to split the loot with them. Unless, that is, you get a merchant licence.

 

[gianflores13]

What might break the game is if you have so much money that it can't be stored in a single integer. What's going to prevent that is the regular demands from your crew to split the loot with them. Unless, that is, you get a merchant licence.

I have my money stored in multiple banks in places I control. I hope that doesn't break the game. And I constantly reduce the amounts with sharing the plunder.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Will probably work for quite a while.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Proper "reset" case has now been added to the game and is called when you leave the service of the pirates in any way:

     // PB: Reset Back to Normal -->
     case "pirateend":
       makeref(period, Periods[GetCurrentPeriod()]);
       DeleteAttribute(period, "Nations.OfficialName.Pirate");

       // Tortuga: Not in Jack Sparrow Storyline
       if (sti(GetStorylineVar(FindCurrentStoryline(), "JACK_SPARROW")) != 1)
       {
         if (GetTownNation("Tortuga") == PIRATE)
         {
           CaptureTownForNation("Tortuga", FRANCE);
           SetTownName("Tortuga", "La Tortue");
           Preprocessor_Delete("Tortuga");
           Preprocessor_Save("Tortuga", FindTownName("Tortuga"));
         }
         Characters[GetCharacterIndex("Bertrand Ogeron")].Dialog.Filename = "Bertrand Ogeron_dialog.c";
         Characters[GetCharacterIndex("Bertrand Ogeron")].Dialog.CurrentNode = "First time";
         DeleteAttribute(CharacterFromID("Bertrand Ogeron"), "Dialog.Filename.GroupDialog");
       }

       // Turks: Not in Jack Sparrow Storyline
       if (sti(GetStorylineVar(FindCurrentStoryline(), "JACK_SPARROW")) != 1)
       {
         Characters[GetCharacterIndex("Dante Siciliano")].Dialog.Filename = "Nathan Kell (Gov)_dialog.c";
         Characters[GetCharacterIndex("Dante Siciliano")].Dialog.CurrentNode = "First time";
         DeleteAttribute(CharacterFromID("Dante Siciliano"), "Dialog.Filename.GroupDialog");
       }

       // Nevis: Not in Standard Storyline
       if (sti(GetStorylineVar(FindCurrentStoryline(), "START_MIN_LEVEL")) != 1)
       {
         Characters[GetCharacterIndex("Isenbrandt Jurcksen")].Dialog.Filename = "Isenbrandt Jurcksen_dialog.c";
         Characters[GetCharacterIndex("Isenbrandt Jurcksen")].Dialog.CurrentNode = "First time";
         DeleteAttribute(CharacterFromID("Isenbrandt Jurcksen"), "Dialog.Filename.GroupDialog");
       }

       // JRH&Levis: Change the Nevis blacksmith to gunsmith -->
       if (ENABLE_WEAPONSMOD)
       {
         // Modify the reload icon
         Locations[FindLocation("QC_town_exit")].reload.l6.go = "QC_blacksmith";
         Locations[FindLocation("QC_Gunsmith")].id.label = "Pirate Blacksmith";
         Locations[FindLocation("QC_Gunsmith")].id = "QC_blacksmith";
         Characters[GetCharacterIndex("QC_blacksmith")].Location = "QC_blacksmith";
         
         // Modify the Fast Travel icon
         makearef(curTable,objFastReloadTable.table.QC);
         curTable.l6.pic = FRP_BLACKSMITH;
         curTable.l6.tex = FRT_BLACKSMITH;
         curTable.l6.note = FRN_BLACKSMITH;
         curTable.l6.location = "QC_blacksmith";
         RecalculateJumpTable();
         
         // Give him the alternate dialog
         Characters[GetCharacterIndex("QC_blacksmith")].Dialog.Filename = "Blacksmith5_dialog.c";
         
         // And enable the correct fetch quests
         Characters[GetCharacterIndex("QC_blacksmith")].Dialog.Filename.Groupdialog = "Blacksmith_fetch.c";
         makearef(store, Stores[PIRATES_STORE]);
         DeleteAttribute(store,"gunsmith");
         store.blacksmith = "Arne Saknussem";
       }
       // JRH&Levis: Change the Nevis blacksmith to gunsmith <--
     break;
     // PB: Reset Back to Normal <--

Tested and works. As an added bonus, I fixed an issue where the Fast Travel to the Nevis Blacksmith would disappear upon joining the Pirates.
Now it updates as it was meant to.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Perhaps this would work to make the check for LoM's period dependent?

       if (GetNationRelation2MainCharacter(PIRATE) != RELATION_ENEMY && !HaveLetterOfMarque(PIRATE)) // PB
       {
            if (makeint(GetLetterOfMarqueQuantity()) == 0 || GetCurrentPeriod() < PERIOD_GOLDEN_AGE_OF_PIRACY) // PB + GR
           {
             dialog.text = DLG_TEXT[34];
             link.l1 = DLG_TEXT[35];
             link.l1.go = "piratefun";
             link.l2 = DLG_TEXT[36];
             link.l2.go = "exit";
           }
         }

By moving the check for not already having a Pirate LoM to the first condition, the second condition can then be changed to look at your period. If it's earlier than "Golden Age" then the Brethren are themselves privateers and don't mind if you're one as well.

I just remembered you suggested this chance, but I didn't add it to the mod.
Will be rectified for the next update.