Simplified Code for Build 14 Beta 3.3

[Hylie Pistof]

My wife just found something funny. It seems a case of Coke got shook up enough that one exploded.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Wow!

 

[Jason]

I am now having the disappearing officers. Hire them in the tavern and they don't make it to the next location.

Also the Nathaniel promotion model to Post Captain isn't Nathaniel.

Finally I think the flush deck Frigate is under gunned. It has 12 pounders. In the Napoleonic Wars Indefagitable had
24 pounders. Perhaps in the game we might use 18 pounders, if someone can find a way and the time. Just a thought.

 

[Red Back Dude]

i think you can just change that in ships_init.c just change the refShip.MaxCaliber value for that ship you want

 

[Jason Maffettone]

i think you can just change that in ships_init.c just change the refShip.MaxCaliber value for that ship you want

Yes, but you need to change both of these lines or you may get runtime error crashes:

    refShip.Cannon                = CANNON_TYPE_LONG_LBS18;
    refShip.MaxCaliber            = 18;

 

[Pieter Boelen]

I am now having the disappearing officers. Hire them in the tavern and they don't make it to the next location.

How many have you got?

Also the Nathaniel promotion model to Post Captain isn't Nathaniel.

What model did you get? Should be "47_Blaze_brtcpt".

 

[Grey Roger]

These are long-standing problems. You should be able to have up to 36 officers, passengers and prisoners total, including yourself, and I've managed it once. The disappearing officers bug can strike long before you reach this maximum. (On one occasion I had the bug, then as inexplicably as when it started, it stopped again and I was able to hire more officers without previous ones disappearing. That's how I was able to reach the 36 limit.)

The models which claim to be Nathaniel in uniform don't look much like Nathaniel. They're some other guy with a beard.

There's another frigate which does have 18 pounder guns, the Essex class if I remember correctly. Besides, the flushdeck frigate isn't restricted to Napoleonic era - I've been using it in "Tales of a Sea Hawk", about 30 years before the real HMS Indefatigable was launched. (The Essex class also appears in the same storyline.) Perhaps define a new frigate similar to the flushdeck (or Essex class) with 24 pounders which is restricted to Napoleonic era?

Incidentally, this discussion about HMS Indefatigable proves that cutting off a ship's superstructure should not be limited to pirate shipyards. It is reasonably certain that those Royal Navy ships which underwent the procedure, including HMS Indefatigable, did not visit pirate yards to have it done.

 

[Jason Maffettone]

Incidentally, this discussion about HMS Indefatigable proves that cutting off a ship's superstructure should not be limited to pirate shipyards. It is reasonably certain that those Royal Navy ships which underwent the procedure, including HMS Indefatigable, did not visit pirate yards to have it done.

I have been thinking about this myself. Indeed it does make sense for the deck flushing to be a generic upgrade but, at the same time, I know from the research I did for my novel years back that pirates of this era were famous for their ship modifications. The very first thing they did when they got their hands on a new vessel was to rebuild it almost from the keel up. What i would suggest is a special pirate yard modification that doesn't necessarily need to be shown in the boxes but rather affects several aspects of thie ship and is a one-way transformation.

*Decrease cannons by 1 class (to a minimum of 4 lbs). This was a common practice. They didn't want the extra weight as they lived and died by their speed and, truth be told, about 90% of their prey was taken without a shot fired. They relied on the enemy crew's knowledge that they would be well-treated if they gave-in and butchered if not.

*Decrease Hull HP by 10%. They were known to rip-out a lot of superstructure for extra space and to reduce weight.

*Increase Cargo Capasity by 15%. In addition to making more room physically it had been remarked by several sources that they had a special genius for portage since they were open to ideas from every member of the crew regarding where and how to store equipment and cargo. They were also able to use dead space all over the ship for storage since they didn't have paranoid officers who thought they would steel anything and everything gven the chance. People who are members of a group rather than subjects of a master will put up with greater inconvienance to advance the group's goals. Look at the conditions the Viet Cong happily endured during their war of indapendance. Conditions that would have led any western army to rebellion. This is true of rebel groups everywhere in fact.

*Increase speed by 10%. This is what pirates cared about first and formost. The name of the game was getting away with it. This is why they almost always sailed smaller ships. Black Beard's "Queen Anne's Revenge" was an anomoly. He took the frigate as an ego-thing and even he abandoned her fairly soon as the down-side of having a big ship like that outweighed the benefits of the extra firepower.

*Increase Turn Rate by 10%. As per above. Lighter ship, more agile ship.

I have been playing about with ways to impliment something like this for BBF. My first idea was to make an alternate "Corsair" version of many appropraite ships and have them available only at pirate locations (through the NATION line in shipsinit) where you could use the "Appearance" function at the shipyard to "repait" the ship to the corsair version. Is there a way to make a particulat repaint option cost money?

There are downsides to doing this anyway of course in that a massive number of new ships would have to be added but they can use the same skins for the most part.

Another possibility is if it could be a standard upgrade. Adding another box would be difficult from an interface standpoint but maybe we don't need to do that if there is some other way to indicate that the ship has undergone this modification.

 

[Grey Roger]

*Decrease cannons by 1 class (to a minimum of 4 lbs). This was a common practice. They didn't want the extra weight as they lived and died by their speed and, truth be told, about 90% of their prey was taken without a shot fired. They relied on the enemy crew's knowledge that they would be well-treated if they gave-in and butchered if not.

And on that note, perhaps make an enemy's probability of surrender dependent on your reputation. They should be more likely to surrender if they think you're a hero who is going to treat them well, and less likely if you're a horror of the high seas who is just going to feed them to the sharks anyway.

I have been playing about with ways to impliment something like this for BBF. My first idea was to make an alternate "Corsair" version of many appropraite ships and have them available only at pirate locations (through the NATION line in shipsinit) where you could use the "Appearance" function at the shipyard to "repait" the ship to the corsair version. Is there a way to make a particulat repaint option cost money?

From what I've seen so far, repainting doesn't cost money and doesn't alter the ship's performance, only the model which is used for its appearance.

There are downsides to doing this anyway of course in that a massive number of new ships would have to be added but they can use the same skins for the most part.

Another possibility is if it could be a standard upgrade. Adding another box would be difficult from an interface standpoint but maybe we don't need to do that if there is some other way to indicate that the ship has undergone this modification.

I don't see that lots of new ships would be needed. No additional models were added to reflect cut-down versions of ships, taller masts or extra stay sails. And most of those pirate modifications are internal anyway, e.g. removing some bulkheads to reduce HP and increase cargo. The bit about reducing firepower doesn't need to be part of a pirate upgrade, you can do that at any shipyard already. Perhaps make the cannon type affect the ship's weight and therefore its performance, so you gain a point or two of speed and turn by installing lesser guns. The other effect of fitting lower calibre guns is that they require less powder to fire, so you can carry less powder and more cargo. (Cannonballs are cannonballs, the game makes no distinction between calibres, so the fact that your ammo weighs less per shot with a lower calibre cannon can be part of the reason why installing smaller guns improves performance.)

 

[Hylie Pistof]

I don't think that there is a limit to the number of ships, but there is a limit to the number of ship pictures.

 

[Jason Maffettone]

And on that note, perhaps make an enemy's probability of surrender dependent on your reputation. They should be more likely to surrender if they think you're a hero who is going to treat them well, and less likely if you're a horror of the high seas who is just going to feed them to the sharks anyway.

That would be ideal though I don't have any idea how to code that myself.

From what I've seen so far, repainting doesn't cost money and doesn't alter the ship's performance, only the model which is used for its appearance.

The repaint completely swaps the ship for a new one. Those in-game that are set-up for it are all identicle except for their textures but you can change anything. You can have a lugger replaced by a 1st rate ship of the line through repainting if you want.

refShip.Model = "SuperFrigate"; //Armada

Is what matters. There is no cost but there might be a way to add that. The thing is how to make that price change with the ship type and how to not apply it to normal, non-upgrade repaints.

I don't see that lots of new ships would be needed. No additional models were added to reflect cut-down versions of ships, taller masts or extra stay sails. And most of those pirate modifications are internal anyway, e.g. removing some bulkheads to reduce HP and increase cargo. The bit about reducing firepower doesn't need to be part of a pirate upgrade, you can do that at any shipyard already. Perhaps make the cannon type affect the ship's weight and therefore its performance, so you gain a point or two of speed and turn by installing lesser guns. The other effect of fitting lower calibre guns is that they require less powder to fire, so you can carry less powder and more cargo. (Cannonballs are cannonballs, the game makes no distinction between calibres, so the fact that your ammo weighs less per shot with a lower calibre cannon can be part of the reason why installing smaller guns improves performance.)

If we do it through repaint there will have to be a new entry in ships.init for each though we can get around having to make models and textures for all of them.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

The models which claim to be Nathaniel in uniform don't look much like Nathaniel. They're some other guy with a beard.

A BEARD!?!?
Anyway, the F2>Character>Choose Outfit screen should tell you the exact name of the model.
Could you check that, please?

Another possibility is if it could be a standard upgrade. Adding another box would be difficult from an interface standpoint but maybe we don't need to do that if there is some other way to indicate that the ship has undergone this modification.

By the sound of it, doing it as a Ship Upgrade would be by far the best option.
Is there something to be said for replacing the flush-deck upgrade with the real pirate upgrade?
After all, flush-deck should be visual anyway and it isn't, so it doesn't really appear to do what it should anyway.

The repaint completely swaps the ship for a new one. Those in-game that are set-up for it are all identicle except for their textures but you can change anything. You can have a lugger replaced by a 1st rate ship of the line through repainting if you want.

Careful with that; I seem to remember that doesn't work quite right.

 

[Hylie Pistof]

"You can have a lugger replaced by a 1st rate ship of the line through repainting if you want."

I seem to recall an exploit where that can be done but never tried it. The more common issue is similar but different ships being put in the same group giving one the opportunity to upgrade in the paint shop. The problem there is that the ship stats get garbled and can cause a crash.

 

[Jason]

How many have you got?

What model did you get? Should be "47_Blaze_brtcpt".

I had 7 officers. When I lost one I hired a replacement, interacted with him and he never made it to the second location. I did this twice with the same result.

The model I got was brtcpt_18.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

The model I got was brtcpt_18.

What "clothes" were you wearing before the promotion?
Should have been "47_Blaze_brtlt", which causes you to get "47_Blaze_brtcpt".
If you wear anything else, you'll just get the default.

 

[tum0]

Maybe I misunderstood something, but at 3.2 and 3.3, it is too difficult to meet the ship 1st class.
GiveShip2Character console command seems not working
About the new pirate upgrade
In game it will be useful to a merchant vessel, less for a pirate. Maybe add 1-2 upgrade limited in class?

 

[Grey Roger]

What "clothes" were you wearing before the promotion?
Should have been "47_Blaze_brtlt", which causes you to get "47_Blaze_brtcpt".
If you wear anything else, you'll just get the default.

I have both of those, plus the "47_Blaze" version for a Spanish uniform. (Having Letters of Marque for various nations helps. There does not seem to be a "47_Blaze" version for Portugal.) They're not quite as bad as I remembered - I did an experiment by giving those uniforms to my officers and lining them up for inspection, though I didn't get round to taking a screenshot. They do have beards and so does the standard Nathaniel model, though the "47_Blaze" uniform variants have longer sideburns.

Is there something to be said for replacing the flush-deck upgrade with the real pirate upgrade?
After all, flush-deck should be visual anyway and it isn't, so it doesn't really appear to do what it should anyway.

Tall masts and extra stays would also alter a ship's appearance but don't in the game.

Flushdecking doesn't seem to do much anyway. I can't remember the stats off-hand but I do remember going to all the effort of getting it done to one of my ships, not being very impressed with the result, and not bothering to do it to any other ships. Replacing it with the full pirate upgrade would make sense, especially if you have to be at a pirate shipyard to have the upgrade done.

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Indeed nobody made any officer uniforms for Portugal or Holland.

Maybe I misunderstood something, but at 3.2 and 3.3, it is too difficult to meet the ship 1st class.
GiveShip2Character console command seems not working

In the screenshots thread, people have recently posted some images of huge tier-1 fleets. They are still around, but only on the worldmap and fairly rare.
For console.c, make sure you are using switch(1) and not switch(0) , which is the defauly setting.

 

[DavyJack]

Indeed nobody made any officer uniforms for Portugal or Holland.

I thought @Jason Maffettone made uniforms for them? Besides the personal one which I've imagined was included in the latest version?

 

[Pieter Boelen]

Did Jason actually make those? I know I asked, but don't remember if he got round to it yet.